Late last year we were admiring the German metal fans who saluted Darkness Divided with an epic Viking row mid-gig, but it Japan might have them beat with some ‘cockroach moshing’.
Japanese grind merchants Viscera Infest have a novel way of getting the crowd going during a particular song. In the same vein as Slipknot’s Jumpthafuckup during Spit It Out, Viscera Infest’s ridiculously fast PARACOCCIDIOIDOMICOSISPROCTITISSARCOMUCOSIS sends fans into cockroach like spasms.
And we’re not sure why.
Let’s look at the evidence. According to the Pudding Party Facebook post, Viscera Infest are the world’s fastest band, with a frankly bonkers 340bpm blastbeat during PARACOCCIDIOIDOMICOSISPROCTITISSARCOMUCOSIS. But should that send people to the floor, kicking around like injured insects? You don’t see people coming out of Ministry gigs on their backs.
Maybe it’s the song title. Conducting admittedly minimum research, it turns out that Paracoccidioidomicosisproctitissarcomucosis is a goregrind band from Mexico. But what does that have to do with cockroaches? It’s not even a real word. It’s an amalgamation of four different medical words for diseases: paracoccidioidomycosis, proctitis, sarcoma and mucosa.
Does that explain this behaviour?
To be honest, it’s unlikely if we’re ever going to find out what sends fans of Viscera Infest into dead pest mode. Although it might have something to do with their terrifying frontman with superbly spiky arms bellowing orders to do so. Or seeing the drummer kick the living piss out of his kit forces the crowd to perform some kind of ritual to the drum gods.
This footage actually came from a gig in Osaka, Japan, back in 2015, so this form of moshing might already have evolved into something more mind-boggling. Butterfly moshing, perhaps?
Here’s the gig in full. The metamorphosis is near the end.
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