I'd hate to be a fly on the wall during that most awkward of father/son conversations: "Dad, can we name this next song 'The Sacred Slut'?" So it musta went at some point during the making of this EP from New York's Vomit Fist, a grind-y band who are better known for having a father and son in their ranks (kid on drums, dad on guitar; both play great) than for their tunes. And I think that made me write this one off at first (I gave it a 4.0 during our early courtship): while it does have annoying qualities (the humour's gotta go, and the sudden forays into groove metal rarely work), Forgive But Avenge (which is not, by the way, called Forgettable But Average, which is what my eyes see every time I see this album in my iTunes... maybe it was doomed from the start), is a varied and fun listen. There's something preventing me from falling in love with this (maybe because I am morally opposed to the mixture of big grooves with song titles like "Frogmen" and "Ass Hammer," even if the band then immediately turns around and confounds and delights me by delivering grindcore of a golden-era-Relapse quality). I dunno, man; throwing my hands up in the air with this one... lotsa respect for the playing here and the grind mind-messery (and when they play it straight, like on "Sodom," there's potential all over the place), but just too much zaniness makes me think repeat listens are gonna be hard to come by. Still, I'm on board for seeing what they get up to next time.