Gorotica crawls from the depths of Australia’s extreme metal underworld, wielding riffs as sharp as axes and humour as black as a plague pit. Blending deathgrind, grindcore, hardcore, and unexpected melodic or folk interludes, they craft music that’s brutal, chaotic, and proudly unrefined — a soundtrack for those who revel in rot, rebellion, and the absurdity of existence. With their second full-length, Daily Grind of the Medieval Age, Gorotica returns to drag listeners through plague-ridden halls, blood-soaked banquet tables, and the absurdities of medieval torment. Filthy, furious, and riotously entertaining, the album blends hyper-speed grind assaults with grotesque humor, mid-paced death, and unexpected melodic detours — a relentless feast of extreme metal carnage. We caught up with Jon Von Cannibale to talk about narrative chaos, musical experimentation, and the dark comedy that drives their grotesque world.
GROTESQUE GRINDCORE AND MEDIAVAL DEATH METAL ABOMINATIONS
H.A. - Firstly, that album title instantly hits - Daily Grind of the Medieval Age. What initially sparked that idea?
G. - Thanks, I wanted to keep the medieval themes that we initially touched on from our debut record and bring them more into focus as the main theme along with the cannibalism of course, but it was important to have a unifying idea and the Daily Grind moniker seemed to be the perfect title to tie everything together and represent what this album is all about.
H.A. - Daily Grind of the Medieval Age picks up the carnage where your debut left off. How conscious were you of continuing the story and sound, and what did you want to evolve this time?
G. - There were definitely things I wanted to bring into this album that were influenced from the last record, some themes and lyrical concepts mainly, and yes this was definitely a conscious choice. After comparing both albums musically though I think they did turn out quite different, Daily Grind almost a bit more traditional in the song structures and the riffing maybe not as frantic and chromatic, so it could be debatable calling it an evolutionary
change, maybe just a small detour from the same path would be better fitting.
H.A. - The opener, Dirge of the Breaking Wheel, is almost solemn before A Helping Hand shatters the calm. Some songs are hyper-speed grind assaults, others mid-paced death numbers, and a few even groove or hardcore-infused. How important was it to create a dynamic “ride” for listeners while structuring the album?
G. - Finding the correct structure of the album for the songs to flow was actually quite a challenge, I will admit I did make a chart of all the songs and all the little things and differences I heard in them and tried to shape it so similar tracks wouldn’t be too close to each other in the track list order, as you said there are a lot of different moments in the songs so you don’t want to pile up 5 or 6 grind songs in a row and then lead into a long
session of midpaced death metal tracks, so I think in the end the flow of the album turned out pretty well and kept something a little different coming after each song.
H.A. - The album is a chaotic feast of deathgrind, grindcore, hardcore, groove, and even folk-inspired interludes. How do you keep such a diverse palette cohesive while still delivering relentless brutality?
G. - It’s true that you don’t want to stray too far from your “sound”, which can indeed make things disjointed, and that really comes down to the writing and staying disciplined, for example not
throwing in a new genre or quirky riff just to fuck with people for the sake of being different; it needs to mean something within the context of the song. But of course there is always room for experimenting in the genre, especially grindcore, so as long as you’re delivering it through familiar riffs and vocal styles, and it suits the themes of the music, there are opportunities to throw those well placed curveballs that keep things interesting.
H.A. - There’s a distinct mix of grotesque horror and dark humor - torture, cannibalism, executioners, and more. Is that something you consciously lean into, or does it just come naturally when you’re neck-deep in the muck?
G. - I think some of the humour in the lyrics just comes out naturally, some parts are a conscious choice yes, other times though it’s a happy accident. If I’m writing lyrics and I can weave
something silly or absurd in there that pops into my head and it works within the confines of the song theme, I’m 100% adding that in. Making people laugh or double take at a moment in the songs is my personal mission. Now the only problem with that though is I don’t think anyone can understand the lyrics, so perhaps it remains a personal pleasure.
H.A. - Jon Von Cannibale’s vocal range is insane — guttural growls, shrieks, tortured howls — and you’ve got A.J Foy contributing hardcore screams and belches. What was the creative process behind adding that extra vocal layer to the tracks?
G. - Cheers, we love diverse vocals throughout both the albums, we find some parts just work better with different styles so I try my best to slot them in cohesively. Foy was a great guest and an insanely sick vocalist, the guy is a wonderful clean singer and songwriter too as well as an old friend of the band so that was awesome to have him jump on the two tracks and lay down some damage.
H.A. - Tracks like Connoisseurs of Human Flesh and Sage, Clove and Powdered Bone lean into theatrical, almost cinematic moments. How do you decide which ideas get the full visual or conceptual treatment?
G. - Gaspard had this idea for the Connoisseurs video about the banquet and severed head, which me and Ray both loved, and coincidentally it aligned with some of the song lyrics as well, so really a perfect representation for that song and I think it turned out really well, while being a bit of a challenge to make it was definitely worth it. That song along with Sage are both full of descriptive lyrics that set a scene, and those were the two tracks we felt would be great leading singles before the album drop, as well as being possible to create in a visual manner with what tools and space we had at our disposal.
H.A. - Each track almost feels like a chapter in a medieval tale of madness. Was that sense of narrative intentional, or did it evolve naturally while writing?
G. - That’s actually a great comment and pretty much what I was going for with the sense of narrative, it might sound really stupid and pretentious but I almost see it in my mind as each song being a different act in some sort of ridiculous, pompous faux-medieval theatre production. With that said, if any Broadway producers are reading and want the rights to it please contact us and we’ll set it up, be warned though, Raymonde will be demanding a leading role, the man has been known to rock a mean coif.
H.A. - Your live energy is palpable on the record. How do you translate the madness of the studio into a live setting, and how important is that visceral element for the band?
G. - There are no plans to bring this project to a live setting at this moment in time unfortunately, so the madness will continue to be contained to the studios and torture chambers, still though it’s great to hear the performances shine through the recorded music and we strive to have that level of energy and realness in each recording we lay down. Not everything needs to be aligned strictly to the grid or the perfect vocal take, sometimes those ultra perfect takes lose some of the nastiness and charisma and end up being blander than a take that is a little more unhinged.
H.A. - Now that the album is unleashed, what’s next for Gorotica — more music videos, live carnage, or scheming the next medieval atrocity?
G. - The next atrocity is planned and I am busy hassling Gaspard to commence some production on a batch of new songs, I think the next record might see us return to some old school, filthy deathgrind more in the vein of Morbid Menagerie, so keep your mangled ears and gouged eyes open for some of that good stuff in the future. Until then cheers for the interview and grind the fuck on! JVC
Interview conducted by Camille from Headbangers Australia.
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