Pungent Stench Been Caught Buttering Review
Pungent Stench
Been Caught Buttering
Hammerheart Records
2026
Reissues of stone-cold classic albums can often be hit or miss. Sometimes, the artists or bands re-record parts, remix them until its initial charm is all but erased or remaster it to the point that it resembles nothing close to said classic album. We are going to dig into one of those classic albums here. The album in question? UK death metal disgust merchants Pungent Stench's shocking and groundbreaking 1991's Been Caught Buttering.
The twisted trio of Alex Wank - drums, Martin Schirenc - guitars, vocals and Jacek Perkowski - bass originally unearthed this slab via Nuclear Blast. The album title alone was subversive, as “buttering” could be easily misconstrued as a self-pleasuring euphemism, but in English slang it simply means that you are “Buttering someone up” as we say here in the States. You're complimenting or being overly nice to perhaps gain favor or to ask for one. Curiously, the album title has absolutely ZERO to do with the album cover (done by Joel-Peter Witkin [The Pixies, Devourment]) and titled “The Kiss”. It's a photograph of a cadaver head split down the middle, and the two halves laid side by side as if caught in an amorous embrace. Like I said, pretty intense and full of wtf value back then, shit, even today. Anyway, gasp-inducing cover art notwithstanding, the album was recorded and mixed at Donnersound Studio in August 1991 and remastered by Erwin Hermsen at Toneshed Studio (Trouble, Master, Pestilence, Therion, Legion of the Damned, Sinister). The remastering doesn't hinder the vibe here. If anything, it just updates the volume levels and clears up the original all-analog recording while retaining its muck-infested, grime-filled raw presentation.
For those unfamiliar with Pungent Stench and this album, it is gleefully old school with a sinister sense of dry humor and chaotic yet surprisingly diverse song writing. Buzz saw guitars dripping with bottom-heavy sludge and biting treble are backed by throbbing bass and dry but upfront drums. Searing guitar solos and vocals that aren't so much as growled as they are gruffly/maniacally barked. Pungent Stench were/are known for quite a varied sound after this record, but these songs all go for the throat with their urgent, violent pacing and distilled arrangements. This is pure, unfiltered knuckle-dragging muck-encrusted death metal filth with a pronounced “fuck you” attitude behind it.
For this particular reissue we get the original 11 songs in addition to 12 live songs (one of which is a complete piss take on Guns N’ Roses' “Paradise City”). PS are unabashedly brutal and intentional on “Shrunken Mummified Bitch” with its plodding intro and muddy chugs before breaking into an oddly timed palm-muted/double-bass verse then crusty speed. Next, “Happy Re-birthday” ramps up the speed a bit but also contains a rocking Sabbathesque mid-section that unwittingly probably gave birth to “death n’ roll” before Entombed or Dismember ever gave it a thought. That's what was undeniably cool about Pungent Stench from the drop. They were absolutely some of the most extreme at the time (“Brainpan Blues”, “Sputter Supper”), but they also showed no fear in including these elements as well as hardcore punk, and even funk metal (“Sick, Bizarre Defaced Creation”). Their most well-known cut here is “Daddy Cruel”, which forgoes any genre jumping and is just straight up abrasion and vile making it a fantastic and genre-defining album closer. I'm not going into great detail about the live tracks as I am not a fan of live tracks on albums. I will say this; they more than adequately capture these bizarre blokes in full throttle maim and kill mode and actually sound pretty good. I'm not sure if they were culled from a number of old live recordings or just one show, but they definitely point to how exciting and heavy these dudes were to witness 35 years ago.
If you are itching to revisit your long-lost cassette or CD copy of this, now with more clarity and packing twice the punch, then you should grab this new iteration of Been Caught Buttering. If you are wanting a snapshot of the earliest days of death metal (particularly the dynamic and DIY punk-led approach of the UK scene) or the band, grab it for those reasons too. Last of all, if you want a singular vision and an elemental, definitive early 90's death metal benchmark, then grab your headphones and let these bizarro bastards audibly rip you to shreds with their sewage sounds of yesteryear…
RIYL- Carcass, Slaughter, Autopsy, Repulsion, Macabre, Hellhammer, Impetigo
~TB