THE BEGINNING: The Czechs seem to be stuck on death and grind much more than on, say, black metal. I think comparing basic numbers will attest to that. They can also be a weird bunch, with a notable surrealist tradition running through their culture. Czech language too, as has been noted many times by metal fans, has a certain "something" about the way it sounds. Old ROOT are sometimes brought up as an illustration. If one were to look for bands capable of channeling some of the stranger traits of the Czech national character through the mincing machine of death metal and grindcore, HERMAPHRODIT would possibly make the list.

The band's early material, as evidenced by the "Fekal Party" retrospective compilation, did not veer far from the death/grind tenets while paying respects to sex, scat and gore, but with their collective tongue planted firmly in the proverbial cheek. As main deviations, I would name track ten ("Souloz S Mrtvolou...") for its strangely dissonant guitars and tracks twelve and thirteen ("Lesbicka Devcata Si Olizuji..." and "Sexuolog Zverina?" respectively) for their unexpected forays into good, old-fashioned hard rock punctuated by well adjusted groove riffs, rhythms and precise technical solos. These two pieces became the bridge for the band's development. By the time the "Obratien a mnohonasobne rozctvrcen v zajeti ozubenych kol" demo (which makes up the metal half of this collection) came around, the band honed their chops a bit and made a dash towards an arguably leftfield territory, coming up with a fairly diverse metal medley with a bit of weirdness thrown in. But that's where it all came to an abrupt end. The head hermaphrodit Tomas Zavadil developed interest in electronic music, particularly drum & bass, dismissed the group, substituting his band members for a bunch of sequencers, samplers and synthesizers and changed the project's name to HERMAFRODIT. Part two of this compilation are HERMAFRODIT's early creations in the field.

HERMAPHRODIT: Strictly speaking, there is nothing overly weird about "Obratien...". Unlike some of their brethren, these guys did not attempt to shove totally strange and foreign elements into their grinding basket of goods. Instead, they opted for a lower-key, less ostentatious but more organic metal hybrid. It all sounds pretty straightforward, all things considered, yet there is still a flair of abnormality hovering somewhere nearby that's hard to pinpoint, as if this stuff was not so much strange and weird but a little curved (bent) into a slightly uncomfortable direction/position. Plus, the artwork on this particular disc consists of odd industrial, careening into socialist realism I'd say, drawings of milling machines or other such lathes, which for whatever reason reminded me of another Czech oddity called UMBRTKA (yea, one more Lord Morbivod project). Check out industrialized cover art on all their albums and see what I mean, or not. As for HERMAPHRODIT, the usual subject matter seemed to be kept intact. Without any readily understood lyrics (the band steadily held their national pride on display, as everything was kept in Czech, no pun intended, throughout the years), titles like "Urogenitalni Omacka s Hovezim Genitalem" or "Amputace Ztoporeneho Penisu" still show where the wind blows.

The band erected a comparatively clean sound, eschewing floods of distortion, preponderance of low, bass-heavy frequencies and general wall-of-noise swarms, not to mention almost all blast beats (they did keep the growls though), making all instruments clear-cut and audible. As a result, heaviness is somewhat compromised but nowhere near a point where the band sound thin and puny. It is more toned and lean than bulimic and emaciated. Musically, it really is a medley and a fluid, seamless one at that. Some of it could even be tagged death 'n roll. Case-in-point: "Anal Story" (these two words being the only lyrics sung) which plays out like one big, humorous classic hard rock homage replete with surprisingly catchy riffs, chorus and technical solos. The opener "Roztrveni..." and "Treba Jsme..." are another couple of tracks that more or less fit that category, while "Vaginal Sliznice" and "Chururgicky Rez..." maintain their old-school death metal vibe. The same would be true for "Dysfunkce Ritniho Sverace" and "Pohled Davu..." if it weren't for some evenly distributed, off-beat lead guitar work and some of the rhythms. "Spotreba Mleka..." along with above mentioned Urogenitalni Omacka..." and "Amputace Ztoporeneho Penisu" are short bursts of thrash, crusty punk metal and grind respectively. Finally, the title track attempts to show off the band's ability with a death/thrash 'n roll concoction embellished with spoken word samples and dissonant, sometimes nearly progressive (as towards the end of the track) lead work. Not too shabby, and so is this whole demo, even if it still comes off as a bit too low-impact to warrant an all-out recommendation. Nonetheless, if anything, it is a cool and solid listening all throughout.

HERMAFRODIT: I may not know much about metal, but I know infinitely less about drum & bass. What I can say is that these being early first steps, some tracks are better than others. Half of them are incongruous sketches that require more work. That includes "Rukojmi" - an unimpressive attempt at cyber-grind. As an item of curiosity, there is a remix of the title track, but it is also give or take. What I was more disposed towards, and what I can actually vouch for are remaining four pieces "Katatonicke Strnuti", "V Zavitu", "To Neni Otazka Vule" and "Uduseni Aspiraci...". These are decidedly darker tracks mostly due to the usage of low, gloomy, bass-like synth lines (drum & bass - get it!?) under-riding the beats, resulting in a monotonous yet hypnotic atmosphere. The most accomplished of the bunch are the latter two, I'd say, with their additional morose melodies coming from a well incorporated lead guitar. Good stuff. These tracks, along with extensive (and cool) usage of Czech spoken word samples, became the jumping platform for HERMAFRODIT's masterwork album "Architektura Ostrych Hran", where Tomas honed his techno-industrial style to absolute perfection, and which comes off highly recommended.

Whether or not it is ironic that Tomas unleashed his best work in an adopted genre, he needs to be given serious credit for succeeding within a completely non-metal framework - something few former metal musicians can brag about. Unfortunately, we haven't really heard from him ever since "Architectura..." came out over a decade ago. But that's a different issue. What remains quite amazing is what lightning speed transition he made from metal to electronica within something like a year worth of time ("Obraben..." was recorded in 1995 and "Architektura..." in 1996).

THE END: This is a peculiar disc. It documents an expansion and development of one given metalhead's musical thinking, serving as a conclusion of one band's history and simultaneously capturing a transition and conception of another completely different animal. I mean, how apparent is that, but hey, I have to finish it somehow. Captain Obvious strikes again!

Satanchist (Pre-Hermaphrodit)
1989 - Smrtelnб hrozba nбboženstvн (Demo)
1990 - Svět v hovnech aneb v demokracii (Demo)
1990 - Hovennб devastace v Hondurasu (Demo)
1990 - Svět na bбzi hoven (Demo)
1990 - Digression Gott (Demo)
1992 - kacнřskэch pohlavн (Demo)

Hermaphrodit (Pre-Hermafrodit)
1992 - Pomazбnka z dětskэch varlat (Demo)
1993 - Poševnн vэtok syrovэch jater (Demo)
1994 - Fekal party (Demo)
1994 - Live Prosek '94 (MC)
1995 - Chirurgickэ řez zhnisanэm lunem rodidla (Ep)
1995 - Obrбběn a mnohonбsobně rozčtvrcen v zajetн ozubenэch kol (Demo)
1995 - Last Live 27.10.1995 (Bootleg)
1995 - Live Krest 1995 (Bootleg)
1998 - Fekal Party (Compilation)
1999 - Worked Up And Multiply Quartered In The Captivity Of Cogwheels (Compilation)

Hermafrodit (electronic/industrial/ambient /d'n'b)
1996 - Za poševnн stěnou (Ep)
1997 - Conisatio
1997 - Srdečnн arytmie
1997 - Architektura ostrэch hran
1998 - Nikdy se nedotknul vaginбlnн kůže
2001 - Major Mix (2 CD)
2011 - Planet Of Sexual Originality (jungle/drumґnґbass/crossover/grind/grindcore)