Putrid Gore Art

              

                Before Myspace cocked itself over with the new layout, I would actually follow bands and learn a good deal about small labels and those who made the art. During one of these exploratory periods, I discovered “Putrid Gore Art”. After some time and discovering that Razorback Records sold out of them, I found a copy at Hell’s Headbangers. 

                I was very pleased and disgusted with this little booklet. Some places the “Putrid Gore Art” book is advertised as being in “glorious black & white”, I would have to disagree with this elevating of the black & white pieces over the color ones. In fact the color pieces add such a huge element to the art. The gore and blood of varying reds, the putrefied skin tones, and Jesus all the shades of pus and vomit! But regardless, this is a very eye catching book! The first 4-5 pages are some of my favorite. “Plague of the Zombies”, “Impetigo”, “Black Tooth Skateboards”, “Skunk”, and “Street Trash” pieces are so good! The book continues with some covers he did for the zine “Liquid Cheese”. Putrid knows more than just how to draw zombies, he knows how to make good covers that get the viewer interested. I never heard of “Liquid Cheese”, but I would love to get my hands on some issues simply because of Putrid’s covers. The book then proceeds to show off his album covers. 

                Some of the great contemporary horror metal bands have some of Putrid’s best work. Fondlecorpse, Revolting, and Bloodfreak, have all been lucky enough to have albums from this sick bastard. Putrid does many albums in just black and white, but once again it’s the colored albums that really stick out. Whether it’s a heavily detailed cover like the Fondlecorpse/Frightmare splt or the “Dreadful Pleasures” by Revolting, color makes the piece so much more enjoyable. 

                His black and white work is still really good. What I really like is that Putrid has two styles; one which has heavy cross hatching and the other which is more linear with crisp lines and solid shading. Both styles work tremendously to show scenes of horror and blasphemy, and reflect how talented Putrid is. I hope this book has been successful for Putrid (aka Matthew Carr) and that more bands have commissioned his work. It is 32 pages in total roughly digest size, A5.

I keep this on my desk for those times when there is not enough liquor in the universe at least I have my “Putrid Gore Art”.