Full of Hell – Broken Sword, Rotten Shield (Review)

This is the latest EP from US grindcore band Full of Hell.

A new 15 minutes of Full of Hell‘s scathingly charismatic grindcore? Hell yes! Broken Sword, Rotten Shield is a compendium of different influences, all brought together with the band’s consummate skill into seven adventurous tracks. It’s harsh, but delightful.

We open with the title track, a blistering outburst of brutality. Savage screams and guttural growls power through music that’s ferociously delivered. It’s a deathgrind monster with a hardcore heart that’s devastating.

From Dog’s Mouth, a Blessing is the shortest, offering up a punk-fuelled noise rock cut that’s over before it even really starts. More please!

Next up is the industrial lethality of Corpselight. It’s atmospheric and dark, twisting with corrupted grace through its running time. Reeking of both urban decay and forest rot, the song carries a mysterious aura that’s out of time. A fascinating and immersive sidestep into another world.

After that it’s time for Lament of All Things to explode into being with mechanised barbarity. The song brings grunge-esque melodies and riffs along for the ride, sort of like a warped Nirvana spliced with punky grindcore DNA. Top stuff.

On Mirrorhelm we once again enter the alternate dimension that Corpselight inhabited, or at least maybe one adjacent to it. It’s a sparse mood piece, a mournful lament that paves the way for what comes after.

Knight’s Oath is full of hardcore attitude and hard rock swagger, as seen through the inimitable Full of Hell lens. It’s comparatively restrained and composed, with a darkness at its core, and its fury largely restricted to the screams and growls. This is a song that has stored its malevolent potential rather than fully unleashing it, making for a song that becomes more malignant over time.

The EP closes with the longest track, the four-minute To Ruin and the World’s Ending. This is Full of Hell worldbuilding with hybridised noise rock, death metal, and doom sludge. The music seems alive, the sound shaping itself as it wills, as the band channel it as best they can into a harrowing nightmarescape.

Full of Hell can apparently do no wrong. This is yet another essential release from one of the most interesting and enjoyable extreme metal bands out there. Don’t miss out on Broken Sword, Rotten Shield.