This 2024 reissue of Tumor Circus's Meathook Up My Rectum single (originally released in 1991) is what threw me down the rabbit hole of this largely-forgotten but punishing heavy sludgepunk outfit. The whole hook for the band was that it was essentially Steel Pole Bath Tub with Jello Biafra on vocals and Australian noise-rock legend Charles Tolnay ( King Snake Roost, Lubricated Goat, Grong Grong) on bass. Aside from this oddball single, Tumor Circus only released a single LP and additional EP; all of this stuff ended up being collected on the band's sole 1991 CD, reviewed elsewhere here at C-Blast. These guys dropped some massively heavy and fucked-up sounding noise rock / sludge-punk scuzz during their brief run, and fans of the newer wave of blown-out, hideous noise rock that's been coming out on labels like Flenser should definitely be checking these guys out. You get Biafra's signature sardonic ranting while the band blasts out chunks of filthy Stooges-esque punk dirge, bursts of hardcore-strength aggression, agonizingly slow and metallic scum-dirges , and heavy doses of Skullflower-style guitar noise radiation that permeates the whole thing. These guys were killer.

This 7" single from Tumor Circus is an interesting little curiosity from their tiny catalog of releases. And it's of particular interest to fans of legendary author Clive Barker (of Hellraiser, Books Of Blood, Imajica, etc., etc., etc., infamy), as the sleeve features an amazing full-color painting from him, and the b-side is an etching of completely exclusive art. The first side features the somewhat notorious "Meathook Up My Rectum", a hammering anti-censorship assault from Biafra and crew that, as I described in my review of their CD, "grinds away at a heavy, fuzz-crusted groove, Biafra going batshit, the Circus battering away with bludgeoning riffs, blow-outs of demented guitar and fucked-up effects. Pretty nuts and borderline psychedelic.". It hits Melvins-like levels of heaviness, but lurching through a storm of severely fried guitar noise and searing effects fuckery. Definitely one of the standout songs from their bag, and the whole thing turns out as this sick black fantasy art-piece / esoteric noise-rock totem. It's one of my favorite things in the Alternative Tentacles discography, and I'm stoked that it was brought back into print. Pressed on black vinyl in what appears to be a single run of 1,000 copies.