Interview: Human Barbecue
Cannibalism-obsessed slam metal from Belgium
As I’ve said many times, my biggest influences as a critic are Gary Giddins and the late Greg Tate, the latter in particular. On the opposite side of the coin, if I have a critical bête noire, it’s Robert Christgau, who I think is a bad writer with shitty taste — even when we like the same things, we like them for different reasons and his reasons are wrong — and some truly repellent biases (he’s a patronizing sexist, and shockingly racist at times). Christgau once wrote, in a review of a Motörhead album, “I admire metal’s integrity, brutality, and obsessiveness, but I can’t stand its delusions of grandeur”… yeah, bullshit. He hates metal, which he admitted some years later in a Metallica review, saying, “One of the nice things about being old is that I’m neither wired to like metal nor tempted to fake it.”
Anyway, Joe Carducci had the perfect response to the first statement above in Rock and the Pop Narcotic, writing, “Any music with integrity, brutality, and obsessiveness is under no delusions.” And that’s exactly what I love about metal — what you see is what you get. Metal bands are fully aware of the absurdity of what they’re doing; they revel in it. And yet, the music is utterly free of irony, which is what allows an earnest attack on war and militarism to sit alongside a song about being a hopeless loser (Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”/“Paranoid”), or a song about the soul-destroying vortex of drug addiction to sit alongside one about Cthulhu (Metallica’s “Master of Puppets”/“The Thing That Should Not Be”). Metal wears its heart on its sleeve, even when it’s fucking around.
Of course, half the time it doesn’t matter what a metal song is about. Much death metal, particularly of the brutal/slam variety, features vocals which are deliberately and thoroughly indecipherable — they range from apelike roars to the gurgle of a broken toilet. Sure, the song titles offer clues to the subject matter, but what you’re really listening to brutal death metal for is the riffs, which come chugging in like a bulldozer stuck in soupy mud and punch you right in the guts.
This type of metal doesn’t often get its critical due, but I do what I can. I once reviewed Abominable Putridity’s The Anomalies of Artificial Origin for The Wire (really!), and concluded, “This is highly intricate, painstakingly arranged music that’s meant to give the impression of a fistful of nails hurled into a spinning clothes dryer, and it’s exhilarating, in its concussion-inducing way.”
One of my favorite brutal/slam bands at the moment is Belgium’s Human Barbecue. They’re a duo: Jason Lambert is responsible for the vocals and the overall concept, and Roy Feyen delivers the riffs and the drum programming. As their band name suggests, they’re kinda obsessed with cannibalism, releasing songs with titles like “Digested by Savages”, “Seasoned With Suffering”, and “Ritualistic Consumption” (and trust me, those are some of the mild ones). Since 2015, they’ve released four full-length albums, of which I’ve heard the last three: 2020’s Bloodstained Altars, 2022’s Red Sun Rising, and last year’s Decimated By Barbarity.
Their music is pure slamming death metal, all low, grinding riffs accented by shrill harmonic squeals and programmed drums that hit like machine-gun fire. Lambert’s voice makes him sound eight feet tall and four hundred pounds, and he has the demeanor of a steroid-fueled grizzly. This is not subtle stuff, but it is more intricate and layered than you might expect, and it has a level of malign energy that’ll make you want to shove your head through the nearest wall. When Decimated… came out the day after Thanksgiving last year, I bought it immediately, and after cranking it up for the better part of a week, I decided I needed to know more about these two maniacs and their work. I sent Jason Lambert a few questions by email; his answers are below.
How did you first get interested in this style of metal? Can you remember the first records that inspired you to want to make this kind of music yourself?
My dad has always been listening to music at home. He used to be a punk when he was a teenager. So I have been listening to all kind of music [since] a very early age. I remember that he was listening to bands like Guns N’ Roses, Suicidal Tendencies, Rollins Band... I guess it just grew on me. The older I got, the harder the bands were. I discovered death metal and hardcore music during my nu-metal phase when I was 12-13. I always loved the very brutal side of death metal. Even though I started being active in the hardcore scene (still am), death metal has been by my side since those days.
For the first few years, Human Barbecue was just you, with occasional guests. How did Roy become a full-time member, and what inspired that decision?
So, I started my first death metal project named Putrified J in 2009. I cannot play guitar so I always depend on guitar players, ha ha. In 2015, when I wanted to start a second thing, I thought the name Human Barbecue was pretty badass. I did some online research to make sure that this name wasn’t being used already and it turned out that there was only an Obscenity album using that name. To make sure to “lock” the name, I need to secure it ASAP. So I recorded that first demo all by myself with my very very basic guitar “skills” just to have something out and to have the band born. This is the only HB release where I did everything. Then I had a few guitar players with me in HB. My friend Mats [Funderud] from Kraanium recorded guitars for the first album, Cannibalistic Flesh Harvest, but it was just a session thing.
Meanwhile, Roy and I started Klysma and he quickly became part of HB too. Its been the two of us since the Abhorrent Atonement EP. It was easy because we live like 1 hour from each other and I like his writing style. He is also able to program drums ... Less work for me, ha ha ha.
What is the division of labor at this point, creatively speaking? Do you write together and then he records the instrumental tracks, or is music his “job” and lyrics/concepts yours, or something else entirely?
We have now released 1 EP and 3 albums together. He basically takes care of the instrumental side and I do the vocals (and everything that comes with the “band”). My friend Luke [Talbot] from Secreted also helps me with lyric writing. Pretty simple process.
What do you think is the strength of having HB’s music so focused on the cannibal theme? What about that fascinates/inspires you?
I thought that sticking to a theme that matches the name of the band was a good and simple idea. I’m a big horror fan so it’s not so hard to keep going this way. We have some tracks that don’t stick to the cannibal theme lyrics-wise, but the visuals remain cannibal-focused.
What do you think sets Human Barbecue apart from your other projects, Klysma and Neuromoral Dissonance, both of which also released records in 2024?
We could say that HB and Klysma are alike, since Roy is the main writer for both bands. For Klysma, I recorded the demo and the first album before quitting the band due to my busy schedule with my work and all. Roy asked me to record vocals for the latest album, but they have a live singer.
Neuromoral Dissonance is completely different. Blasting fury and almost no grooves. It’s pretty intense compared to my other projects.
Putrified J is now pure death metal, no more slam parts or [anything] else I would say.
I’m pretty bad at labeling things. I just want to do music that I enjoy and have fun with it.
The drum programming on HB records really sounds great, and the mix generally is really thick and powerful, but clear. What software or gear do you use, and do you record everything yourselves or use a professional studio?
Roy uses Cubase 5 as recording software, and his old Line 6 POD HD as interface. We record everything ourselves. I have a good friend who has a vocal booth in his basement that records all my vocals. For the 3 albums on Reality Fade, the label covered the costs for pro mastering and mixing too.
What’s your favorite song on Decimated By Barbarity and why?
I would say that “Seasoned With Suffering” is my favorite. Powerful opening track that sets the direction of the album straight up. Cool breakdown at the end and all. The HB way.
What do you do for a living, and do your coworkers know about HB (or any of your other bands)?
I work in aircraft maintenance. I also have a label named Death Farm Records as a side business [currently on hiatus]. They know but they live in a very “normal” world so they don’t understand. I don’t really like talking about my personal stuff with my coworkers because I don’t like most of them... So I don’t bring some parts of my life to work to mainly avoid talking about things they don’t understand and [would] judge.
That’s it for now. See you next week (or Friday, if you’re a paying subscriber)!