Vulvodynia
Started by Duncan Bentley and Luke Haarhoff in the beginning of 2014. Their early recordings were produced by Byron Dunwoody who later on joined the band as second guitarist.
The band takes their name from the medical condition that involves a chronic, unexplained pain in the area around the opening of the vagina.
Looking in a medical textbook will tell you the following: Vulvodynia is a chronic, severe vaginal pain with no identifiable cause. While the severe part is dead on, what a medical textbook won’t tell you is that Vulvodynia is also the name of 2014’s brightest rising star in the world of brutalizing, slamming deathcore. With lobotomizing, lurid riffs, skin-shredding blast beats and slams gruesome and filthy enough to induce septic shock, Vulvodynia are a lethal plague, spreading throughout the flesh of today’s heavy music scene—infecting one set of ears at a time, and leaving no survivors.
Spawned in 2014, Vulvodynia is a South African slam juggernaut designed with one purpose: to make the heaviest, most absurdly heavy music possible, while attempting to define themselves as more than just “another slam band.” If their mission was over-the-top heaviness, then consider it accomplished—from their debut release, Lord of Plagues, Vulvodynia’s penchant for skull-splitting technicality and eviscerating heaviness has been obvious. Rapidly gaining popularity and recognition for their prodigal slam prowess, Lord of Plagues saw the band reach ears not just in their local scene, but around the world as well. As the band’s popularity grew, their sound matured, drawing more from a greater array of influences and improving their musicianship and dynamic—until finally, in October of 2014, the band released their debut full-length album, Cognizant Castigation. Featuring Acrania’s Luke Griffin and Ingested’s Jason Evans (among many others), Cognizant Castigation is an album that cements Vulvodynia’s status as slam legends, transcending common gimmicks and staples of the genre and instead opting to generate an overwhelmingly crushing experience that fans of any style of heavy music will be able to get into.
If 2014 was the year the band finally grew into their potential, 2015 was the year they shattered their own mould, evolving into an even more aggressive and creative display of no-holds-barred heaviness. The band released a lengthy-but-lurid eight-track EP titled Finis Omnium Ignoratium, completing their contact with Vicious Instinct Records. No longer satisfied with their status as a terrifying trio, the band sought to expand—searching South Africa for more like-minded musicians willing to bring forth brutality.
Vulvodynia’s search was not in vain; with the completion of a full lineup, the band joined with Czech-based label Lacerated Enemy Records, releasing their sophomore full-length Psychosadistic Design shortly thereafter. The time that followed was a blur of tours and festivals including Deathfeast Open Air (DE),Fall In The Brawl (UK) and 2018 tours with Despised Icon, Malevolence and Archspire. It wouldn’t be too much longer before 2019 would dawn on the band and see them release Mob Justice, a record that takes a step back from the band’s lore established on Finis or the outright brutality of Psychosadistic Design to focus on music surrounding the social strife and societal tensions surrounding living in South Africa. Widely hailed as their strongest work to date, Mob Justice hurled the band into 2020 with what seemed to be unstoppable momentum—until 2020 was complicated by a global pandemic. Determined not to let COVID-19 slow their unstoppable onslaught, Vulvodynia pushed on, releasing Societal Lobotomization, a split EP with slamming deathcore legends Acrania. The “Vulvocrania” project was a landmark success, catapulting the band into heavy music’s uppermost echelon—complete with their recent signing to Unique Leader Records and the imminent release of Praenuntius Infiniti, a lore-laden, slam-riddled, riff-driven monstrosity that transcends the borders between brutal death metal, technical death metal and deathcore.
The band takes their name from the medical condition that involves a chronic, unexplained pain in the area around the opening of the vagina.
Looking in a medical textbook will tell you the following: Vulvodynia is a chronic, severe vaginal pain with no identifiable cause. While the severe part is dead on, what a medical textbook won’t tell you is that Vulvodynia is also the name of 2014’s brightest rising star in the world of brutalizing, slamming deathcore. With lobotomizing, lurid riffs, skin-shredding blast beats and slams gruesome and filthy enough to induce septic shock, Vulvodynia are a lethal plague, spreading throughout the flesh of today’s heavy music scene—infecting one set of ears at a time, and leaving no survivors.
Spawned in 2014, Vulvodynia is a South African slam juggernaut designed with one purpose: to make the heaviest, most absurdly heavy music possible, while attempting to define themselves as more than just “another slam band.” If their mission was over-the-top heaviness, then consider it accomplished—from their debut release, Lord of Plagues, Vulvodynia’s penchant for skull-splitting technicality and eviscerating heaviness has been obvious. Rapidly gaining popularity and recognition for their prodigal slam prowess, Lord of Plagues saw the band reach ears not just in their local scene, but around the world as well. As the band’s popularity grew, their sound matured, drawing more from a greater array of influences and improving their musicianship and dynamic—until finally, in October of 2014, the band released their debut full-length album, Cognizant Castigation. Featuring Acrania’s Luke Griffin and Ingested’s Jason Evans (among many others), Cognizant Castigation is an album that cements Vulvodynia’s status as slam legends, transcending common gimmicks and staples of the genre and instead opting to generate an overwhelmingly crushing experience that fans of any style of heavy music will be able to get into.
If 2014 was the year the band finally grew into their potential, 2015 was the year they shattered their own mould, evolving into an even more aggressive and creative display of no-holds-barred heaviness. The band released a lengthy-but-lurid eight-track EP titled Finis Omnium Ignoratium, completing their contact with Vicious Instinct Records. No longer satisfied with their status as a terrifying trio, the band sought to expand—searching South Africa for more like-minded musicians willing to bring forth brutality.
Vulvodynia’s search was not in vain; with the completion of a full lineup, the band joined with Czech-based label Lacerated Enemy Records, releasing their sophomore full-length Psychosadistic Design shortly thereafter. The time that followed was a blur of tours and festivals including Deathfeast Open Air (DE),Fall In The Brawl (UK) and 2018 tours with Despised Icon, Malevolence and Archspire. It wouldn’t be too much longer before 2019 would dawn on the band and see them release Mob Justice, a record that takes a step back from the band’s lore established on Finis or the outright brutality of Psychosadistic Design to focus on music surrounding the social strife and societal tensions surrounding living in South Africa. Widely hailed as their strongest work to date, Mob Justice hurled the band into 2020 with what seemed to be unstoppable momentum—until 2020 was complicated by a global pandemic. Determined not to let COVID-19 slow their unstoppable onslaught, Vulvodynia pushed on, releasing Societal Lobotomization, a split EP with slamming deathcore legends Acrania. The “Vulvocrania” project was a landmark success, catapulting the band into heavy music’s uppermost echelon—complete with their recent signing to Unique Leader Records and the imminent release of Praenuntius Infiniti, a lore-laden, slam-riddled, riff-driven monstrosity that transcends the borders between brutal death metal, technical death metal and deathcore.
