Blastbeat Reviews: Behemoth, Gridlink, MEASURE X UP

Here are some quick reviews for some awesome releases, cause I haven't posted anything since forever. Ludicrous speed, go!

BEHEMOTH - THE SATANIST

After punching his leukemia in the dick, Nergal regrouped with his blaspheming bandmates Inferno and Orion to craft one hell of a "reunion album", Yeah, yeah, I know, Behemoth never actually broke up, but whatever, I don't care.

The Satanist is Behemoth reconstructed out of all the great parts of their different musical eras. It isn't the outrageous speed-for-speed's-sake Behemoth of Evangelion or Demigod, but it isn't the mediocre (read: pretty shitty) black metal Behemoth of yore. This is a blend of technical horsepower, bleak and dark atmosphere, and most importantly, competent songwriting. Nergal and the boys stepped back on the wankery, stepped up their black metal soundscaping, and made sure that every note, beat, word, and fill on this album was exactly where it was supposed to go, and nowhere else. This Behemoth has some restraint, and I like it. Score: 3.5/5

GRIDLINK - LONGHENA

Gridlink have quickly shot up through the ranks of my favorite grindcore bands, notably for their hyper-speed playing, outrageous technical chops, and consistent quality of musical output, even if everything they've ever recorded fits into less than an hour's worth of time (Hey, it worked for Minor Threat).

Longhena sets the bar to an impossibly high level for any band that plays this strain of grindcore. Chang's banshee vocals, Matsubara's rhythm playing that somehow fits under the category of "shred guitar" (not to mention his actual lead playing), Fajardo's accompanying drumming, the string sections, the interlude track, holy shit people, everything fits so nicely together that I honestly cannot find a weak point to this album. It even comes with a set of "karaoke versions" of the tracks for those of you who hate Jon Chang.

This album should be the soundtrack to the hardest video game bosses ever (I'm looking at you, Sephiroth from Kingdom Hearts), because once this shit gets going, you notice how sweaty you've become even though you haven't budged an inch, and that whatever you were previously doing, you're now doing with the intensity and ferocity of a New Jersey guido grinding on an orange chick with bolted on tits. Score: 5/5

MEASURE X UP - DEMO 2014

You guys remember MEASURE X UP from my last Blastbeat Review, don't you? This Halifax straightedge hardcore band's appropriately titled Demo 2014 is more of the same of last year's equally appropriately titled Demo 2013. These dudes dish out hardcore the way it's supposed to be, a la Minor Threat and Youth of Today. I find that in this new demo, everything's been beefed up. Production is heavier, the vocals seem more powerful, and everything sounds crushing and purposeful. Every d-beat hits you right in the face and every word hangs out in your head, even well after the demo's less than 7 minute run time. This is just as good as their last demo, and I'm pumped to hear anything else these guys churn out in the future. Listen to it here and download it for free! Score: 4/5

That's all for now folks, hopefully I can put up some more reviews for you guys soon!

-DG

EP Review: Miserable Failure - "Hope"

We're back with the first review of 2014! I'm pumped for all the awesome music coming out this year, and I figure we should start with something awesome to kick off this next revolution around the sun.

I'm sure you all remember France's Miserable Failure from my review of their three-way split with F Stands for Fuck You and Infected Society. These dudes play some outrageously brutal nihilistic grindcore at speeds that rival those of the mighty Agoraphobic Nosebleed.

Honestly, this review is going to be super short, because there's not much to say other than that this EP is some top notch grindcore. It clocks in at just a few seconds short of 4 minutes with each song taking about a minute to pour out of your speakers rip off your ears and throw them in a meat grinder. The album comes across as a blend of Magrudergrind's self-titled album and the newer material released by the aforementioned Agoraphobic Nosebleed. I legitimately believed that for this release, Miserable Failure were a drum-machine grind band, but after looking it up, I was pleasantly surprised to see that drums are credited to one Elvis Jagger Abdul Jabbar, whom I believe to be the first human able to break the sound barrier simply by moving their arms.

The riffs are chunky and pretty groovy (at least as groovy as grindcore can allow), which is in part where I draw my Magrudergrind comparison from. The production gives the guitars and bass a thick, wall of sound tone and everything is mixed and mastered surprisingly well for an underground grind band EP, especially since this is their second release, ever.

On a Playlist With: Magrudergrind, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, GridLink

Overall Score: 4/5

Hope is a hell of an EP, made only more impressive by how new Miserable Failure is on the scene. Kaotoxin Records found a gem by signing these guys, and I'm real fuckin' excited to see what they're going to put out next.

You can download Hope for the awesome price of free over here, and be sure to throw Miserable Failure a like on their Facetube page. The EP will be out on extremely limited CD and cassette pressings that will only be available directly from the band sometime soon. I'll let you guys know once I figure out the date.

That's all for now, folks! I hope you guys have a kick-ass 2014!

-DG

Album Review: Grind-O-Matic - "Flower Power"

Everyone shut up. I know I've been gone for a while. School is happening (that reminds me, I have robotics and signal processing labs to do, fuck), I've started recording a project with a friend, and I'm now writing for the online zine Cinema Terrible. I only have so many hours in a day, so I'm trying my best to balance not failing my courses, keeping creative content rolling on weekdays, and feeding my borderline alcoholism on weekends.

As many of you regular readers know, the French grind scene is fucking nuts right now. Tons of wicked bands are surfacing and pumping out rad EPs and albums like no tomorrow. If you want a taste of the French scene, check out the compilation In Grindo Veritas released by Kaotoxin Records, and Grindhouse: Vol. 1 put out by your's truly. I recently got a CD in the mail all the way from France of Grind-O-Matic's newest album, Flower Power.

GOM have been around for ten years now, and have been steadily releasing music for nine of them. They hail from Paris, France and have shredded onstage with bands like Cloud Rat, Chiens, and Yattai over the years. I really don't have much of a bio for them, so I'm going to jump right into the album.

First thing's first. This album is fast and loud. The album might churn through 20 tracks in just under 40 minutes (mid paced for grindcore standards, for those of you who don't know),  but this band can play blisteringly fast. I usually tap along to the drumming of my music with pens and pencils in hand, but sometimes here I can barely keep up. Don't get hung up on speed here, though. Unlike mechanical speed demons Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Grind-O-Matic blends a nice amount of mid-paced and slower chaotic dissonance into the fray to break up all the grind. Majority of this album sounds like a cross between Nasum, Gridlink, and early Dillinger Escape Plan to me. Sometimes, all three influences come together into a giant clusterfuck of sound that makes me stop whatever I'm doing and audibly say "holy fuck". Paired with the band's great choice of samples before and after songs, the band sets the bleak and twisted tone of the album.

Speaking of tone, I really have to commend these guys for the themes presented here. Flower Power is a testament to how much we've fucked up the Earth in all our years of greed as a society. It's nothing that hasn't been done before, especially by grindcore bands, but the atmosphere crafted by the music, samples, lyrics, and artwork is definitely more striking than a majority of other socially conscious bands out there.

On A Playlist With: Nasum, Discordance Axis, (early) Pig Destroyer

Overall Score: 4/5

Flower Power is a grindcore album with some real substance behind it. All the power and perversion of the French grind you love, mixed with some awesome chaotic guitar and drum playing and top notch sampling makes Grind-O-Matic a winner in my books.

Flower Power came out on Grind-O-Records on September 13th, 2013. You can listen to it here, and you can check the band out on Facebook and Reverb Nation.

That's all for now, folks!

-DG

Blastbeat Reviews: Gore Edition! Carcass, Exhumed, Basement Torture Killings

More quick reviews because I'm a lazy asshole. This time around we're taking a crack at Carcass' comeback album, Exhumed's follow-up to 2010 comeback, All Guts, No Glory and Basement Torture Killings' just-a-few-days-short-of-a-2013-debut-release The Second Cumming. Crass, I know.

CARCASS - SURGICAL STEEL

I've been hyping this album like mad since the teaser dropped a couple weeks ago, and the wicked jam "Captive Bolt Pistol" dropped a week later, but deep down, I was so scared that the single was going to be the only good track on the album. Maybe my beloved Carcass had gone the way of the dollar (or pound in their case) and released one solid track to rope everyone in, then unleash a mediocre attempt at reliving their past fame. I mean come on, the old 1980s logo, the Tools of the Trade rip off cover, and it's been over 15 years since their last studio album. This practically spells out gimmick and moneygrab all over the goddamn place. My jimmies were beyond rustled at the thought.

I finally listened to it, and instantly, my jimmies were soothed. They entered a state of bloodthirst and transcended into a state zen, a shift only attainable from an album as good as or perhaps, dare I say it, better than my beloved Heartwork. This album is Carcassas they were meant to sound. Melodic, grinding, heavy as balls, and headbangable as balls. Go buy this. Or torrent it. I don't care, just let the almighty Carcass eviscerate your ears with this unfuckwithable album. Score: 5/5

EXHUMED - NECROCRACY

Exhumed blew me away with their last album, All Guts, No Glory. It was the first I'd actually heard of the band, a band that followed suite after Carcass pioneered the goregrind genre, and likewise, had a breakup and recent reformation. Now off the bat, I've gotta say that Guts was a way better album than Necrocracy. This album is still really solid, but it just lacks the ferocity and grind power it's predecessor did. Exhumed go for a more straightforward death metal sound here with some melodic elements thrown in. Unfortunately, everything seems to sound like a Heartwork b-side. Fortunately, everything seems to sound like a Heartwork b-side. The riffs show off some tight finger acrobatics and the album definitely gets your blood pumping, but I think the band tried to go as brutal as possible, but forgot what made All Guts, No Glory so good: how catchy it was. Score: 3/5

BASEMENT TORTURE KILLINGS - THE SECOND CUMMING

I honestly forget how I was introduced to this band. All I know is that one day I end up on their Bandcamp page blasting "31 Stabwounds to the Face", and I was loving it. This band whips out no holds barred goregrind, with non-stop blasting, tremolo picked riffs, and a wicked combo of raspy high vocals and guttural low vocals that would make even Bill Steer blush with envy. Over all I gotta commend these guys for making some goregrind that sounds like actual music amongst the masses of underground bands that release albums with production values that rival even Reek of Putrefaction. Come on guys, it's the 2010s, and BTK is doing it right. Why can't you?

The album loses some points because of the zillion samples that are used in the music which honestly take away form the crushing atmosphere of the album and get pretty annoying roughly four songs into this album, but they make it all back up with the greatest cover of "Pretty Woman" I've ever heard. Score: 4/5

That's all for now, folks!

-DG

EP Review: Purify the Horror - "Untitled"

I honestly can't think of anything to use as intro text, so here's the album cover:

Dat logo.

Purify the Horror is from Birmingham, England, a couple hours out from Liverpool, birthplace of the almighty Carcass (holy shnitzel, guys, they have a new album coming out, and I'm so fucking excited you guys, you have no idea). Despite the short distance, these Birmingham boys have developed a different style of grindcore than the old Liverpool fogies. The band is actually anonymous, although they claim to be "three individuals prominent within the underground music scene". I know nothing of the British underground grind scene, so I really can't comment on who I think these guys are, and honestly I don't really care. As long as they can make music as consistently solid as this EP, they could be the fucking royal family for all I care.

Pictured: England's biggest Insect Warfare fans.

Purify the Horror is more akin to the stylings of old school Pig Destroyer, than more traditional Birmingham grind like Napalm Death or the goregrind titans Carcass (as mentioned earlier). This band definitely goes for a more depraved, tortured sound and groovier, meatier riffs than the former, and more direct and not-a-mess-of-sounds-and-white-noise than the latter's late-80s albums. The band definitely flies the punk flag more often than the metal one, but the band twists and turns through their songs with some wonky riffs and the occasional tremolo picked passage. I'm really not here to recommend this album to you because of the riffs and drumming, though.

While the guitar work and drum prowess of Bear Pig and Lord Pig respectively is definitely solid, I've got to commend Sergeant Squeal for his amazing vocals. This man. Holy shit. This man. If you isolated Sergeant Squeal's vocal track and played it to me, I'd think you were playing a recording of someone getting their finger and toenails ripped off one by one. While additional vocals come from Fatbelly Pig, I'm not quite sure what portions of the album he contributes on. If I had my guess, I'd the vocal work is divvied up into guttural vocals and high/ mid range shrieks (seriously, these are some goddamn shrieks if I've ever heard 'em) dome by Fatbelly and Sarge respectively.

I normally make a paragraph on production here, but really, this EP is produced pretty solidly, and there isn't too much more to say about it. It's thick, it's heavy, but it isn't anything amazing. If this band got a hold of Kurt Ballou and was given the holy-fuck-Kurt-Ballou-is-producing-our-album treatment like Nails did earlier this year, this EP would be an unstoppable slab of grind. Something to think about for next time, boys.

Bomb-Ass Tracks: PIG, Give Me Your Money, Imperialist

On A Playlist With: Pig Destroyer, Insect Warfare, Magrudergrind

Overall Score: 3.5/5

Purify the Horror's debut EP is a solid first foray into the grind world as a band. The individual members showcase their prowess as veterans of the scene, and it all comes together into one short, sweet, puss-filled package.

This EP is out now on Dissected Records and Sociopathic Sounds Recordings.You can download is for the low, low price of free, right here.

That's all for now, folks!

-DG

Split Review: Infected Society/ F Stands For Fuck You/ Miserable Failure - "Miserable Fucking Society"

Kaotoxin records has been rocking it recently with their grindcore releases. After dropping Nolentia's new album in March and the amazing french grindcore compilation In Grindo Veritas (listen here), they're dropping a three way split from the depths of hell (or Amiens, France. Same thing.) between french grinders Infected Society, F Stands For Fuck You, and Miserable Failure cleverly titled Miserable Fucking Society.

Get it?

Infected Society

Infected Society have already released their debut two years ago in the form of an EP and Snuff Fetish Infection, their first split on Kaotoxin, and Miserable marks their second release on this label. Infected Society contribute the first seven tracks on this 19 track split, and take up about 11 of the almost 30 minute running time.

These guys bring in a heavy and hard style of grindcore, blending the old school Carcass style goregrind with more modern riffs. They've got only got one vocalist, but holy fuck does he have a wicked growling range. Capable of Bill-Steer-pitch-shifted-like vocals, raspy Jeff Walker highs, and some powerful hardcore yells and screams, vocalist Brett is a monster behind the mic. The riffs are definitely more on the punk side of grindcore than the metal side, with tons of shifting power chords and groove laden bridges and breakdowns bringing in the circle pits. There no drummer in Infected Society, but instead a drum machine programmed by guitarist, Fack. I've gotta say they're programmed pretty well, because in addition to the usual machine gun blasting, Fack busts out some solid grooves and even a tribal beat here and there.

Production is about as heavy and thick as you can get it. Everything is mixed pretty well, but as usual, I'd love to have the bass a little higher in the mix. The drums are mixed really well into the human-manned guitar, bass, and microphone, and they don't have that usual sterile, clicky sound most drum machines are known for.

Score: 4/5

Infected Society's third of the split is definitely the strongest, with the hardest hitting music paired with awesome, awesome production.

F Stands For Fuck You

F Stands For Fuck You is a wicked hardcore/ grind project started by Adrien Guérin (guitarist of Benighted since 2012) and Kevin Foley (drummer to Mumakil, Nervecell, and Benighted. Not to be confsed with Kevin Motherfucking Talley of every fucking deathgrind band ever). This is the band's first release, and it's a damn good one. 

Adiren leaves his guitar duties to take up vocals on this split, and he does a pretty solid job. He lays out more an old school hardcore punk scream, which does along really well with the punkish riffing of Alexis' guitars. The riffs are groovy and angular, keeping you on your toes with their their shifting tempos and time signatures. Luckily, the music doesn't devolve into incoherent noodling, and Alexis manages to keep everything pretty fluid and natural sounding. The drums keep up with the guitarwork, grooving, double kicking, and blasting all the way through, sticking to the twists and turns like a fat kid sticks to the all-you-can-eat-buffet line.

Production here is a lot thinner than with Infected Society, and it really takes a huge shift aurally once the first section of this split is up and FSFFY's portion begins. There is no bassist in this band, and it really shows. If this band were able to get some Scott Hull magic going on to thicken up their sound, they'd definitely be a force to be reckoned with.

Score: 3/5

F Stands For Fuck You definitely has piqued my interest with their debut release here, but unless they do something to fill out their sound, they'll always play second fiddle to the heavyweights.

Miserable Failure

These dudes are the least well known group on the split, and the promo package I have has nothing about them other than they are "a modern Grindcore failure by miserable fuckheadz". So uhh, Miserable Failure, everybody.

The music picks up in intensity again here, going back to a more pure grindcore sound, and it definitely reminds me of an old school Pig Destroyer sound. The riffs are razor sharp and technical, the guttural vocals are absolutely gut retching, and the production is pretty thickened up. It's not as heavy as Infected Society, and a fair bit muddier, which is a little distracting, but nothing too, too bad. Contrary to Infected Society, Miserable Failure's riffage is more metal oriented than punk inspired. There's a lot more tremolo picked speed riffing than jumping power chords, and more riffs in the higher registers, which for some reason remind me of Behemoth. I dunno why.

I do want to touch on the vocals here for a second, though. There are two vocalists, Bleu handling lead vocals, and Maldito manning the backing vocals. Bleu reminds me of Jon Chang from Gridlink, except not quite as terrifying, and almost mismatched against the heaviness of Miserable Failure's music. That being said, Maldito's brutal lows fucking shred, and are definitely reminiscent of good ol' Bill Steer's vocals in Reek of Putrefaction and Symphonies of Sickness.

Score: 3/5

Miserable Failure is the weakest of the three parts to this split, if only slightly. They bust out some solid grind jams, but the mix of muddy production and blindsiding high vocals distracts me too much to fully appreciate the awesome drumming and riffage.

Overall, I think this is a really solid split. It's another release that is slowly solidifying Kaotoxin's foothold on the French grind scene, and showcases some pretty varied, but consistently enjoyable music. You can check out the bands on Facebook (Infected Society, F Stands For Fuck You, Miserable Failure) and you can listen to the whole split for free(!), here. A CD version will be available August 5th, 2013, and I highly recommend you pick a copy up.

That's all for now, folks!

-DG

OUT NOW: Grindhouse: Vol. 1!

FINALLY. It's here! It's here! After 6+ months of tracking down artists and getting artwork together, Needs More Noise Gate's first ever compilation album is out! I know most of you have been following along for a while, so for you fine folk, just scroll down and hit the play button. For those of you who aren't quite sure what Grindhouse is all about, it's a free digital compilation of the best hardcore, grindcore, powerviolence, and crust punk that I've run into over my time running this blog. It's only 22 songs long, and while it isn't the most expanive compilation album ever, I legitimately think every song on here is a winner.

Check it out below!

That's all for now, folks! Keep on grinding in the free world.

-DG

Album Review: Degraded - "Generalized Oppression"

So, for whatever reason, one of the scenes I seem to receive the most music from is the French hardcore and grindcore scene. It all started with Yattai, and moved on out to Faxe, Grunt Grunt, Nolentia, Vengeance, and Haut&Court. The newest addition to the list of awesome French grind bands I have for you guys is Bordeaux's very own Degraded!

Degraded is a four-piece consisting of your usual member combination of guitarist, bassist, drummer, and vocalist. These guys play in a style that mixes the stylings of grindcore with those of crust punk and hardcore into one big, pissed off package. They're still really new to the scene, having been formed in late 2011. After a bunch of lineup changes, they managed to get a solid line-up together and release Generalized Opression earlier this month.

The band really drives home the crust punk sound with both the raspy, throaty screams similar to those of Dean Jones of Extreme Noise Terror. Vocalist Paul can dish out some solid deep growls and high, depraved shrieks here and there on the album, but I really wish he did them a bit more often than he does. Lyrics are written mostly by drummer Jérôme, and much like the many grind and crust bands to come before them, Degraded deal mostly in politically driven lyrics about oppression, greed, war, and the like. It's nothing we haven't heard before from countless other hardcore bands. While the lyrics aren't anything new or groundbreaking, they're written with a sort of directness that screams passion and honesty on the band's part.

The instrumentation has to be my favorite part of Degraded's sound. It's unabashedly grindcore with its ferocity and speed, but it's also got some damn good grooves in it, too. The galloping in "Sufferings in Laboratory" is pit worthy, and the brief disco beats in "Communihilist" definitely throw you through a loop. This album isn't just a big conglomeration of blast beats and fast riffs, it's well pieced together and a little more involved than your average grind record. Rhythms shift around. Riffs come in one direction and suddenly veer off somewhere else without losing momentum. The drums (handled by Jérôme) keep everything barreling forward like an out-of-control train, but keep everything together from becoming a big trainwreck.

Guitarist FX and bassist Matt dish out some pretty inventive riffs on Generalized Oppression, too. While there are a ton of speed picked riffs and slower slam riffs coming out the ass here, there are a couple moments of guitar and bass wonkiness that sticks in your head. The very first riff of the album, off of "Dimitris" and one of the riffs about halfway through "Security Lies" show some influence outside of traditional hardcore or grind. I'm not sure where they come from, but they sound damn good, that's for sure.

The production here is alright. If there's any weak point to the album, I'd have to pick the production. Everything is mixed nicely; you can hear every instrument all the time, but I find everything sounds really bright on Generalized Oppression. The guitars are pretty thick, but the bass is way to punchy and definitely needs to be beefed up. If Degraded went for more of a production style similar to that of Pig Destroyer or  Nails, I think this LP would have sounded much better.

Bomb-Ass Tracks: Banksters Hegemony, Nazionist, Security Lies

On a Playlist With: Extreme Noise Terror, Yattai, Haut&Court

Overall Score: 4/5

Generalized Oppression is definitely a great first LP by Degraded. It grinds, it grooves, and it pounds your face in. Considering that the band is less than 2 years old and they've already managed to pump out an album this good, I'm really excited to hear what these guys have in store for us next.

You can check out Generalized Oppressionon Degraded's Bandcamp, and you can purchase a 12" vinyl version (mine was printed on clear vinyl!) off of their BigCartel page. Be sure to throw 'em a like on Facebook, too.

That's all for now, folks!

-Grave Dave

Album Review: Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt - "Dys/Closure"

There's a certain finesse required when choosing your band name -- especially if it's a metal band. In my opinion, it's usually better to keep things short, simple, and to the point. Slayer, Carcass, Dying Fetus. Long winded names like Success Will Write Apocalypse Across the Sky, Iwrestledabearonce, and The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza, can get a quick laugh or a small "that's pretty cool, actually", but usually wear out their welcome and become cringe and eye-roll worthy by the third time you say the band's full name. A name like Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shift seems like one of these names at first glance, but the more you read it and say it, the more hilarious it becomes. I love it especially, because every time I think of the name, this image pops into my head:

Say what you want about him, this man is more of a boss than you and I could ever be.

I'm running out of words to slap together for an intro, and by now I usually show you guys the album cover, so... uh... here.

Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt is a three piece hailing from South Wales, Australia who play a sort of off-the-wall and chaotic style of grindcore/ powerviolence which to my ears boils down to what you'd hear in a Weekend Nachos and Dillinger Escape Plan collaboration. Keep in mind, this is old Dillinger that I'm talking about. The same Dillinger that thought that things like melody and rhythm could be replaced by things like sheer sonic chaos and running on people's faces (Spoiler alert: They thought right).

While I can definitely draw parallels between old Dillinger Escape Plan and Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt, the latter has a strangely accessible sound for the style of music they play. The spastic and chaotic parts don't sound like they're there to confuse and overwhelm, but rather make the songs on Dys/Closure rise and fall, ebb and flow, and build and release tension. The dissonance makes things sound twisted, sound... wrong. Not wrong as in they're playing the incorrect notes. Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt couldn't hit better combinations of notes and tones if they tried. P's cacophonous chords ring out over C's fluid drumming, making the hairs stand up on end and holding your attention in a sort of disturbing suspended state while you wait for the music to explode back into a comfortable key. Eventually you get the musical release you crave, only to have it robbed from you again in a heartbeat. Dys/Closure's pushing and pulling is what really makes me enjoy it each and every time I've listened to it. It also doesn't wear out it's welcome, with 15 tracks across just over 22 minutes, which is a decent song-to-album-length ratio for a grind band.

Organizing awesome instrumentation is one thing, and making it really engaging is damn tough, but full on emotional rollercoasters can come to flying stops if the vocals can't carry that same presence in the mix. Whether it's a weak lead or ill-suiting backup, bad vocal delivery can ruin an otherwise great album in a heartbeat. Fortunately for Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt, K is a fucking amazing frontman. He really reminds me of hardcore hero/ vocal powerhouse Jacob Bannon of Converge in his raw delivery and ability to translate emotions. They're not too similar in timbre, but even if you can't understand a word they say, you can always figure out what emotion they're trying to convey.

Production on Dys/Closure is pretty solid to boot. Things are pretty jangly and bright, which took me by surprise the first time I took a listen, but a mix of P's Fender Telecaster and no bassist leave all the low end to C's kick drum and lower toms. It sounds a bit odd when I explain it like this, but once you take a listen, you'll know what I mean. And don't worry; just because production is bright, doesn't mean things sound thin and weak. Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt still manage to get in some good old fashioned face-smashings in throughout the album.

Bomb-Ass Tracks: Dividing Line, Instrumental, Voir Dire, In Defence Of, Within

On a Playlist With: Dillinger Escape Plan, Weekend Nachos, Converge

Overall Score: 4.5/5

It's grindy. It's spazzy. It makes me want to chug a litre of gasoline and claw my own face off. Dys/Closure is for fans of engaging, visceral and emotional music, and for those who don't mind starting a circle pit in the middle of their room while blasting it at 2AM.

Dys/Closure comes out April 15th on Art as Catharsis Records. Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt has a million social media profiles, all of which can be found through their Facebook page, and you can listen to the first two singles off of Dys/Closure, as well as pre-order the album and merch on the Art as Catharsis Bandcamp page.

That's all for now, folks. Believe in your dreams.

-Grave Dave

Album Review: Gruesome Stuff Relish: "Sempiternal Death Grind"

I review a lot of grindcore here on Needs More Noise Gate, but I rarely get to review any goregrind bands. Most grind bands I get to listen to are based more in the Napalm Death and Repulsion school of grindcore, rather than that of Carcass. The groovy, heavy, d-beat riffs. The pitch shifted dual vocals. The gore and horror lyrics that are so extreme they're cheesier than the World Cheese Convention down in the Canary Islands. What's not to love from Carcass-clone bands? After the almighty Carcass started putting their grinding days behind them, the world dropped to it's knees, begging for a new band to take up the bloodsoaked and innards covered mantle. Luckily, over the years we got a fair few that not only continued Carcass' beloved goregrind sound and style, but actually did it damn well and gained a bit of recognition for it. While the more popular of the bunch like General Surgery and Hemorrhage come to mind first, today we'll be looking at the new rising stars of gore, Gruesome Stuff Relish.

Gruesome Stuff Relish are a four-piece that hail from Spain, who have just released their third album, Sempiternal Death Grind just last month. They dropped Horror Rises from the Tomb back in 2004, and Teenage Giallo Grind more than 10 years ago in 2002, as well as a whole whack of splits since.

The first thing I notice, right off the bat, on Death Grind are Noel Kemper's vocals. They're putrid. They're disgusting. They're slimy-assed, grease drenched, boil-and-wart covered vocals, and I fucking love 'em. And no goregrind vocal delivery is complete without the addition of gnarly growls pitch shifted down a couple octaves. The guitars and bass make for something really interesting here too, taking from British and U.S. hardcore riffs, but played through a gnarly '90s Swedish death metal tone, a la Dismember or Entombed. Some of the patterns get a little death metally on us, and it sounds good, but Gruesome Stuff Relish are on the top of their game when they're pounding out simple, groovy riffs. There are a couple lead lines here and there on the album, but honestly, I don't find they add too, too much to the overall effectiveness of the album.

I find that the drums really keep everything sprinting forwards on this album. Whether he's pounding out breakneck blast beats, mosh-inducing d-beats, or plain grooves, drummer Paolo Deodato holds together this  filthy, bloody mess of an album. Something a little different that Guesome Stuff Relish pull off is more of a horror theme than a gore theme. Now, the horror they incorporate is gory as hell, but songs like "S.O.S." and the intro to "They Follow Your Scent" really drive home a creepy and disturbing atmosphere. Traditional to classic goregrind, Gruesome Stuff Relish toss in a whole bunch of audio samples throughout their album. I don't recognize any of the bits used, but they all seem to be from horror movies or TV shows. They're all really well chosen and really drive home the gore and horror theme.

Now, all this gore and horror and Carcass-worship is fine and dandy, but what really sets Gruesome Stuff Relish apart from the herd is how damn catchy everything is. Sempiternal Death Grind has you wailing, headbanging, and air guitaring along to it the entire time, and each song is filled with distinct hooks that latch onto your brain and just won't let go. As gruesome as the subject matter is, these are songs you blast while you're with your buddies drinking some beers. You can tell the guys in Gruesome Stuff Relish had tons of fun with this album and put a lot of energy into their music, and you definitely get that fun and energy out every time you spin it.

Bomb-Ass Tracks: Desecrated, S.O.S., They Follow Your Scent, In Death We Breath

On a Playlist With: General Surgery, Hemorrhage, The County Medical Examiners

Overall Score

4.0

Carcass meets Dismember meets a Lucio Fulci movie. Gruesome Stuff Relish are slicing, dicing, snipping, and carving their way to the top of the goregrind scene, one bloody victim at a time. If you're into catchy, groovy grind with some truly horrendeous vocals (and I mean that in the best way possible), Sempiternal Death Grind is for you.

Sempiternal Death Grind came out January 25th, 2013 on FDA Rekotz. You can also check out the band's Facebook page here.

Look out for the song "Desecrated" off of Sempiternal Death Grind coming up on the Needs More Noise Gate compilation album, Grindhouse Vol. 1! This will be a free compilation of the best grindcore, hardcore, and powerviolence that I've come across with Needs More Noise Gate, and it'll be available on Bandcamp sometime in 2013! More details as I slowly figure out what the hell I doing.

That's all for now, folks!

-Grave Dave

Vinyl Update: Nails, Black Breath, and All Pigs Must Die

A late Christmas gift from my sister.

My sister is the best.

That's all for now, folks!

-DG

Album Review: Yattai - "Fast Music Means Love"

A couple weeks ago I reviewed Yattai's discography spanning compilation 50 Love Hymns for Grindheads, and I absolutely loved it. Yattai has got a new LP coming out early spring of this year called Fast Music Means Love. Let's dive straight into this bitch.

I'm not going to introduce the band again, because you can just click that link in the last paragraph and read the little blurb I made about them before I reviewed their compilation.

It's funny that, considering this is the band's first full length album (to my knowledge, at least) I wasn't concerned that the quality of their material would have deteriorated or that they would have thrown a complete curve ball at me. After powering through the 50 song compilation which consisted of around 7 years worth of material, I knew Yattai were really comfortable and consistent with their sound. Fast Music keeps along with the blasting chaos that we've come to know and love from these Angoulême based grinders.

Musically, Fast Music is just that: fast music. There are blast beats galore, million-mile-an-hour guitar riffs, and songs as short as 11 seconds on this album. The musicianship is as awesome as it ever has been with these guys, and they've managed to up the amount of catchy riffs and memorable passages without sacrificing their ear-crushing brutality. Unlike most grind bands that throw in catchier bits into their music, Yattai can make both the slower (I use that term loosely) and the cripplingly fast parts as memorable as all hell.

The production on Fast Music is much better than that on any of the releases featured on 50 Love Hymns. Everything sounds much clearer and more defined, but still has a raw edge to it. This album still has a claustrophobic, live sound much like their older material, with everything sounding like Yattai are grinding away right in front of you. That live element is something I really loved about their older material, and I'm really glad they were able to preserve it for this LP.

Bomb-Ass Tracks: Fuck the Faxe, Fast and Furious 3 (Angoulême Thrashcore), Everything but Friendship

On a Playlist With: Wormrot, Assück, Faxe

Overall Score

4.5

Yattai have done it again. Top notch grindcore for any fan of the genre. Fast Music Means Love is a complete overload of grinding blasts, ear wrenching vocals, and nauseating guitar riffs. Call me what you'd like, but I think Fast Music Means Love is going to be one of 2013's best grind albums.

Fast Music Means Love is going to come out on Douchebags Records, Underground Pollution Records, and like, a zillion other different labels. It's going to be a 1-sided LP with graffiti on the non-grooved side. Yeah, it's going to be bomb as fuck. Yattai has a Bandcamp page with some of their splits as well as this full length, and you can check out their Facebook page here.

That's all for now, folks! Keep on grinding in the free world.

-DG

Bandcamp Chronicles: Vol. 1

Bandcamp is an awesome site. It lets artists host their music to stream for free, and lets them sell (or give away) digital copies of their music as well as physical CDs, vinyl, or other merch. Bandcamp is stupid easy to use (even I use it), and keeps the musician's focus where it should be: on the music. Anyways, I'm not here to slobber over Bandcamp itself, but over some awesome artists I've found on Bandcamp. I'll try to briefly introduce the artists and then get straight to shutting the fuck up so you can check out their pages and let their music do the talking.

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GRINDCORE KARAOKE

Well, this actually isn't a band, but a record label run by none other than Agoraphobic Nosebleed's J. Randall. It's a label for tons of grindcore, harsh noise and powerviolence, but there are a couple unexpected releases hosted on it including Moose Children and the ever controversial Death Grips. There's a whole shit ton of stuff here, you can easily spend hours upon hours looking through different bands and albums.

The best part? Every single one of the releases on Grindcore Karaoke are free. Check it out here. Don't forget to click their logo at the top to check out even more titles!

BLACK MASK

This is some awesome rap, emceed by Maulskull. The beats are unique, the lyrics are great, and Maulskull has unbelievable flow. There are some sketch tracks on the album, similar to old school rap groups like Wu-Tang Clan, but unlike the older stuff, I find these sketches absolutely hilarious.

The album Us and Them is free on Bandcamp, or you can pick up two CDs for $10.

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Check out these mofos and let me know what you think! If you find any other sweet Bandcamp artists, don't hesitate to let me know!

That's all for now, folks!

-DG

New Track: "Despite All My Rage, I Am Still Just Nicholas Cage"

Don't do drugs, kids.

-DG

Rad Alert: Napalm Raid

Rad Alert is where I share something that I think is pretty rad with all y'all. For those who remember my That's Pretty Rad, Bro column that never got past its first couple posts, it's pretty much the same thing with a shorter title. Yay!

This time on Rad Alert: A wicked Halifax crust punk band called Napalm Raid!

Yeah. You're welcome, everyone.

Napalm Raid have a Blogspot, Facebook, and you can pick up their full length LP Mindless Nation on Rust and Machine.

That's all for now, folks!

-DG

Album Review: Yattai - "Fifty Love Hymns for Grindheads"

More grind! More grind! More grind! Again, we've got a band that harken back to the old days of Assück, Brutal Truth, and early Napalm Death where maniacal speed and crusty and filthy depravity came first. Considering grindcore is dominantly from the US and the UK, it's exciting to hear of a band from France that  can rumble with the best of them.

Yattai come from the Angoulême region of France, a commune known for it's rich history and forts, as well as it's comic festival. It seems like one of the most unlikely places to find a proper old school grind band, but alas, here they are, and here they are to stay. Fifty Love Hymns is set to be released later this year, and is a compilation of Yattai's complete discography from 2004 to 2011. This includes their early demos, a whole slew of splits and split EPs, and a bunch of unreleased tracks as well.

These four dudes got together with the sole intention of grinding, and not only do they grind hard, but you can tell they have a blast doing it, too. The recordings all translate their intense live energy perfectly. I don't know how they've done it (especially over the many previous releases that make up this album), but everything sounds like you're right in the thick of the pit, thrashing away two feet in front of the band in some dark, dingy hole-in-the-wall bar. Yattai seem like the kind of band I really need to see live sometime.

There's honestly not too much to say about Fifty Love Hymns for Grindheads. It's a grind album for grind fans. It's literally right there in the title. If you like breakneck speeds and heavy as fuck music, there's no fucking around here: you'll love this. Singapore's Wormrot is another band that is really comparable to Yattai, with both bands' vocalists sounding pretty similar in tone, but Yattai's vocalist deserves commendation for his ridiculously low guttural vocals. They're on par with John motherfucking Gallagher of Dying Fetus. Yeah. They're absolutely awesome.

There are some pretty cool and original riffs that crop up on Fifty Love Hymns, showing a wide range of influences from doom, to crust punk, to old school DIY powerviolence. It's nice to see a grind band that really shows it's hardcore and punk influences, because too many bands are focusing on the metal, but hardcore and powerviolence is where grindcore really all started all those years ago.

The only critiques I have of Fifty Love Hymns don't really hold any weight, because they're properties that come with this album being a discography-spanning compilation. Firstly, I found that listening to it all in one go is absolutely exhausting. It clocks in at over an hour in length, which is anywhere from 2 to 4 times the usual grind album's length. If you listen to it two (or three) of the compiled releases at a time, it's a much more manageable and enjoyable experience. But the point of this album is to contain this massive amount of material all in one package rather than to behave like a studio album. Secondly, the production across the entire album changes from release to release, but obviously that's because a song from 2004 wouldn't sound like a song from 2011, even if it was written and recorded by the same people.

Bomb-Ass Tracks: 1 2 3 4, Evil Daniel Style, Hachis

On a Playlist With: Assück, Wormrot, Brutal Truth

Overall Score

4.0

Yattai are grinders have been going strong and I can only assume will continue to go on strong. With Fifty Love Hymns for Grindheads chronicling the almost 10 years they've been around, their over the top energy and love for the genre are what really show you what underground grindcore is all about.

Fifty Love Hymns for Grindheads is going to be coming out on Inhuman Homicide Records, Obskure Sombre Records, and Teriak Records with a tentative release date set in late spring of this year. Yattai has a Bandcamp page with some of their splits as well as a full length, and you can check out their Facebook page here.

That's all for now, folks!

-DG

Album Review: Nolentia - "May the Hand..."

So, first off, May the Hand... isn't actually the title to this album. I cut out most of the title because the actual title is May the Hand that Holds the Match that will Set this World on Fire be Blessed Above All. Second off, it's been far too long since I've last reviewed a grindcore album. I'm really happy to have some more crushing grind to show you guys again.

Nolentia is a sludgy, noisy, grind/ powerviolence band straight from what sounds like the darkest depths of a homicidal maniac's mind. Now, sludge and grind have been blended together before and there have been some pretty sweet albums as a result of mixing filth with more filth. Nolentia don't break this trend in the slightest. May the Hand is a grimy, disgusting record that grabs you right from the get go and doesn't let go until it's beaten the complete shit out of you.

I'd describe Nolentia to be a blend between the off-the-wall chaos of Brutal Truth and the more hardcore-y dual vocal grind attack of Napalm Death. Vocalists Raf and Ghis belt out some high shrieks akin to Mitch Harris of Napalm, and some truly ferocious growls that sound like a more raw, more evil Barney Greenway. I'm really glad the two dudes both trade vocal duties within the album as well as share speaker time with awesome results. When Raf and Ghis bust out the simultaneous vocal attack, it sounds like an orc army charging down a battlefield. I'm glad that both of them contribute to the vocals because if the album consisted only of one or the other, it would get pretty boring pretty fast.

I have to applaud drummer Vince for his awesome skin pounding skills. Not only does he grind like a motherfucker across most of the album with mach speed blast beats, but they're actually in time with the rest of the music, which is something I absolutely love in my grindcore. Vince isn't just a grind machine though. He can bust out a solid groove when he needs to when things take a turn for the slower on May the Hand.

Raf and Ghis are also the bassist and guitarist of Nolentia respectively. I have to hand it to them, there are a couple really sweet riffs here. A lot of the really chaotic grinding bits have some pretty standard issue riffs, but things like harmonics in "All About" and the heavy as fuck sludgefest titled "The Second Principle" really shine through as memorable spots on the album. I really dig their sludgy bits, and I honestly think that they're what make the album stand out as much as it does. I wouldn't say May the Hand would be a bad album without the sludgy bits thrown in, but I'd think it would easily get lost among the other fifty million Brutal Truth worship bands. I can't argue that good grindcore isn't good grindcore, it's just in a market too saturated by average-to-good bands.

Bomb-Ass Tracks: Too Far Gone, Encoded, The Second Principle

On a Playlist With: Brutal Truth, Hivesmasher, Pig Destroyer

Overall Score

3.5

Nolentia have put together a really enjoyable grind/ sludge album. It's quirky enough to have decent replay value, but not enough for it to stay on permanent rotation on my iPod. It's a tried and true mix balls to the walls grind and tar-like sludge that takes on it's own disgusting and disturbing form. Like I said, good grindcore is good grindcore, and Nolentia have definitely made good grindcore.

May the Hand that Holds the Match that will Set this Wold on Fire be Blessed Above All (fuck yeah, got it right in one try!) comes out February 4th in France, March 4th in the UK, and March 12th in North America on Kaotoxin Records.

That's all for now, folks! It's almost 3AM now, and I'm going the fuck to bed.

-DG

Album Review: Hivesmasher - "Gutter Choir"

Hivesmasher are a band I heard about through MetalSucks, where they linked a stream of their song "En Route to Meat Land" off of their newest album Gutter Choir. I listened to that song and the only song available on their bandcamp, "Used Food", and I was hooked. I immediately pre-ordered Gutter Choir, and I've been waiting attentively at my mailbox ever since.

Hivesmasher are a Massachusetts based grindcore/ death metal band that play in a style comparable to Pig Destroyer. Where Pig Destroyer can lock into insta-mosh grooves that make bodies fling across rooms, Hivesmasher deal out a fucking hurricane of shrapnel that makes you run for your fucking life. Gutter Choir has to be one of the most pissed off, primal, and depraved albums I've heard in a while. It's the motherfucking Sharknado of music. Gutter Choir has a range of songs, from 30 second grindfests to 5 minute death metal tunes and even a 37 minute final track that flies between grindcore, death metal, bluegrass, ambient, and shoegaze. Yeah. Fuuuuuuck.

The album seems to feed off of a seemingly endless pool of riffs that never fail to decimate your ears. From low chugs and gallops to upper-register riffs that sound like power drills boring their way into your skull, guitarists Tyler and Julius are masters of controlled chaos. I'm not sure which one of them handle lead playing  on the album, but the solos in "And They Thought We'd Forget" and "Vulture Assassin" are absolutely wicked. Beautifully crafted to fall right between tasteful shredding and mindbending guitar madness, the solos on Gutter Choir are incredibly refreshing to hear on an album in a genre known for almost excluding lead work from their music.

The drumming on the album is something worthy of praise as well. Drummer Tim Brault is a freaking machine, cranking out every type of blast, mosh beat, and thrash rhythm known to man. The drums sound really organic despite the inhuman speed that they're played at, and when they lock in with the guitars like in the gallop/ mosh section of "Damaged (P)Inc.", the mixture of the different tones makes an absolutely nauseating groove. When Aaron Heinold's guttural and blood curdling screams start soaring over top, Hivesmasher really sound like the kind of guys your mother warns you about.

Lastly, unlike Pig Destroyer's Blake Harrison, Hivesmasher's Dan Bolton is actually audible on the keyboards. Between the beautiful ending of "Damaged (P)Inc." and the layers and layers of synth on the 37 minute epic "Send Me to Satan", Bolton's keyboard playing really adds another layer of depth to the music and provides nice little breaks from all of the relentless aural beatings. I'm not going to describe "Send Me to Satan", because holy fuck. It's just an experience in itself.

I have to say the only thing that stops this from being a perfect album for me is the length. It's just too long. Over an hour for a grind record is just brutal. I think Hivesmasher should have released the first 16 songs as Gutter Choir and then "Send Me to Satan" as a bonus EP or something. Some sort of way to separate up all the material would have made both potential releases much easier to listen to.

Bomb-Ass Tracks: Vomitouch, The Shit Waltz, And They Thought We'd Forget, Send Me to Satan

On a Playlist With: Pig Destroyer, Wormrot, Agoraphobic Nosebleed (Agorapocalypse)

Overall Score

4.5

Hivesmasher have written one of the best grind albums of the year. Yeah, I know there are a lot of them this year, but I'd put Gutter Choir up there with Pig Destroyer's Book Burner (review here). If you're a fan of any sort of extreme music, or just want a soundtrack to wreak havoc to, Gutter Choir should be your first choice.

That's all for now, folks!

-DG

Album Review: Gaza - "No Absolutes in Human Suffering"

It's been a while since I last posted anything, so I feel it's time for another review! Yay reviews! Today I'll be looking at Gaza, a band I've always heard about, but never got around to checking out until now. These fine bros dropped their latest album No Absolutes in Human Suffering in August, and slap my ass and call me Julie if it isn't one of, if not the heaviest fucking records this year.

"Wait a second, David!" I hear you screech. "Disfiguring the Goddess, Pig Destroyer, and Dying Fetus have all dropped albums so heavy they make Axl Rose look like Christian Bale from the Machinist!" Well, reader who probably has no idea who half those bands I just listed off are, Gaza have something that all the other heavy weights don't. Chaos. When it comes to something heavy as fuck nowadays, it almost always  needs to be the lowest, most down-tuned, fastest, most precisely executed playing possible. Not in Gaza's case. It's not like their songs don't have structures, rhythms and grooves, but Gaza aren't about the flash. There're no blistering guitar solos, no 300bpm blast beats, no cookie monster gutturals. Gaza just pump our songs that explode with energy and cause nothing but violent slamming, moshing, and powerstancing with your hands in the air.

No Absolutes is tough one to label. It's a mixture of hardcore, doom metal, progressive metal, and grindcore all pureed into one uniform blend. Vocals are 100% rooted in hardcore, with throat shredding yells being the main form of attack. The vocals are actually pretty intelligible sometimes, which comes as a nice surprise for this kind of music.

The instrumentation is where Gaza step above and beyond most other modern metal acts. The riffs on this album are brutal clusterfucks of guitar playing, but before you know it, they've smoothed out to slow, thick, lumbering doomy passages and have exploded back into utter chaos. Some riffs in particular seem to convey that "no matter how heavy it gets, it's still sounds airy and ambient" sound, and sometimes things back down completely from the heaviness. The last few minutes of the album come across as some of the most beautiful music you've ever heard after the last 40 pulverizing minutes. The outro of the monstrous track "When they Beg" reminds me of Cynic circa 1993 with its proggy and almost jazzy style. Some of the riffing and rhythms in that song also bring up memories of Pig Destroyer-esque or Wormrot-ish grind. The drums keep up with all the guitar wizardry on No Absolutes, and keep everything rushing forwards or crawling off. I'm almost certain sometimes there is even some polyrhythmic playing, which is always cool in my books.

The production on No Absolutes is what really adds to the ridiculous heaviness of the album. Production is some of the thickest I've heard, without entering entombedcore territory, which in this case is a good thing. The production on guitars isn't as muddy and sludgy as the Sunlight Studios wound, but sure as hell is as fat, warm and round. In the end, there's really nothing I can bash this album on. It's pretty fucking rad.

Bomb-Ass Tracks: Not with all the Hope in the World, The Vipers, When they Beg

On a Playlist With: Converge, Ulcerate

Overall Score

4.0

Gaza have made a fantastically engaging album that absolutely decimates you from start to finish. It's tough to make albums that are memorable in genres like hardcore and grindcore anymore, but a nice little injection of doom, death, and wallowing despair gives Gaza the kick they need to stand out. A must-listen for anyone who loves to hate.

That's all for now, folks!

-DG

Album Review: Termination Force - "Grind Thrashing Death"

Every once in a while, an album comes around that embodies a genre so perfectly that you can't help but grin from ear to ear every time you listen to it. Termination Force's Grind Thrashing Death is that album. I mean, just read that last sentence. The band is called Termination Force, and the album is called Grind Thrashing Death. Grind Thrashing Death, goddamnit. It's official: the dudes in Termination Force are more metal than you'll ever be.

A zombie band playing in front of a zombie mosh pit. I have a raging thrash metal boner right now.

Termination Force are a four piece thrash/ death band from Houston, Texas. They say everything is bigger in Texas, and apparently, the metal is too. Termination Force are primarily a thrash band and border on old school American death metal. It's like Possessed meets Pleasure to Kill era Kreator here. Sometimes, a little grindcore circa 1988 gets tossed in for good measure, just because Termination Force won't rest until your ears are bleeding from all the metal.

The band is fast, furious, and Tokyo drifting, with the guitarists punching in old school death metal riffs that would make the late, great Chuck Schuldiner proud. Hell, even the lead tone of the guitar and the soloing style seems reminiscent of Chuck's old guitarwork on Leprosy and Spiritual Healing. Not only are the riffs brutal as fuck, but they're catchy, too. Songs rarely hit near 4 minutes long over the 9 tracks and average out at around two and a half minutes, but that doesn't mean that there's a shortage of awesome riffs anywhere on Grind Thrashing Death.

The vocals are handled beautifully, with depraved, raspy growls being the main type of style used. Occasionally they plummet down to guttural, demonic levels, but for the most part, they stay at a pretty mid-high pitch, similar to Mille Petrozza's (of Kreator fame) vocals. Unfortunately I don't have access to any lyrics, so I can't comment on how well they're written, but with song titles like "Kills per Minute", "Human Intestinal Stew" and "Smashed and Thrashed into Submission", I can tell you for sure that they're totally appropriate to quote when you and your family are having dinner.

The last two things I want to touch on quickly are the drumming and the production. The drumming is phenomenal. Like, holy fuck. This dude can shred on drums. I can't even really describe it. Every beat fits every song perfectly every time. I feel like this man's kit needs to be made of cast steel or something so he doesn't break his kit every song.

I'm not sure if I told you or not, but I like his drumming.

Finally, the production is perfect for this type of music. It's raunchy and nauseatingly dirty, but clear enough that all the instruments shine through. It has the warmth and thickness of an old 1991 death metal release, but the clarity of the 2012 release that it is. Beautiful. The only gripe I have with this album is the length. It clocks in at just over 25 minutes, which just isn't quite enough for me. Death metal blue balls. Sadface.

Bomb-Ass Tracks: Repulsive Impulsive, Kills per Minute, Obligate to Obliterate

On a Playlist With: Kreator, Possessed, (early) Death

Overall Score

4.5

Like I said, Termination Force are more metal than you. Grind Thrashing Death is a fucking beast of a death/ thrash release. If only it were a bit longer, it would be perfect. You can (and should) pick it up through Horror Pain Gore Death Productions.

That's all for now, folks!

-DG