Lucio Fulci is a beloved name in the horror community, he struck fear in the hearts of censors back in the 1980s during the video nasties with several of his films being banned in the UK. Naturally, his films are the perfect subject for a death metal band and that’s where Italian death metal band Fulci comes in.
Their latest album, Duck Face Killings, is based on perhaps his most controversial film: The New York Ripper, an infamously nasty Giallo that remains cut in the UK as of July 2024. The grisly acts of violence depicted in New York Ripper are perfect death metal fodder with grisly tracks like ‘F*cked With A Broken Bottle’ being graphicly depicted in the film.
The record opens with dialogue from Edward Mannix which already makes it a 10/10 record before leaping into a violent and unhinged barnstormer with ‘Vile Butchery’. The easiest way to describe the Fulci sound is a blend of Mortician and Barnes-era Cannibal Corpse. There’s a mix of slower sludgy slam breakdowns mixed between the grotesque and menacing samples from New York Ripper and moments of breakneck death metal riffing on tracks like ‘Duck Face Killings,’ which features the bizarre voice of the killer.
‘Rotten Apple’ feels like it could been included on Cannibal Corpse’s 1994 album The Bleeding with absolutely no changes, it perfectly encapsulates the mid-90s death metal sound in a way very few modern death metal bands have been able to with its slamming frantic riffing. The best tracks on the record are the mid-tempo doom-laden tracks that do a stellar job invoking that feeling of dread and imminent evisceration, ‘Maniac Unleashed’ and ‘Stabbed Gutted and Loved’ have a Morbid Angel style grinding feel to them as the listener vividly pictures horrific acts with the aid of Fulci’s grim lyrics.
‘Duck Face Killings’ is a fairly experimental record considering the set-up is fairly familiar. ‘Knife’ features a rap verse explaining the plot of the movie and there’s even tracks that do a fantastic job imitating regular Fulci collaborator and legendary composer Fabio Frizzi. The final track of the album ‘Il Miele Del Diavolo’ is named after another Fulci film, The Devil’s Honey, this track feels like it was ripped straight out of Fulci’s world with its sleazy and unsettling tone complete with a beautiful saxophone solo.
The average Italian horror fan will find something to latch onto with its easter eggs and references such as the instrumental track, ‘A Blade In the Dark,’ which is named after a Lamberto Bava film. Death metal fans will feel a familiarity with the sludgy grinding sound as they make their way through a violent gore-fueled epic that is sure to upset even the strongest of stomachs.
Lucio Fulci may not have been a death metal fan considering he passed in its infancy but I’m sure he’d be proud that his work had gone in to inspire a wealth of grotesque and visceral horror, be it from film or this latest masterpiece by Fulci. Hopefully, this starts a trend of concept albums about Italian horror movies, the possibility of a Cannibal Ferox, Burial Ground, Rats: Nights of Terror or even Fulci’s own Cat In the Brain death metal album is immensely exciting as a fan of both Italian horror and death metal.
