This is the debut album from US grindcore band Defigurement.
Defigurement are described as playing a technical/avant-garde/experimental form of grindcore. Couple this with the fact that the band contain current/ex-members of bands such as Bad Acid Trip, Changeling, Fear Factory, Invidiosus, Malignancy, Success Will Write Apocalypse Across the Sky, and Zillah, and this was one I wanted to check out.
Aaaaannnnd, I’m very glad I did. This is the stuff, right here. This is the sort of inventive grindcore that reminds my why I first fell in love with the genre all of those many, many moons ago.
Across 16 tracks, Endbryo delivers a 30-minute psychedelic sci-fi grindcore workout. It’s intense, merciless, yet unexpectedly approachable and textured. A whole host of guests join Defigurement on their journey into raging insanity, including members of Cephalic Carnage, Gridlink, Impaled, Invidiosus, and Visceral Disgorge.
The songs are brutal and aggressive, as you’d expect, but there’s a lot more than this here too. Dynamics, melody, structure, and pacing have all been considered for each track, no matter how brief or violent, and there are a range of creative ideas and choices on display across Endbryo. It makes for a listening experience that’s paradoxically both unreal and earthy.
There is an underpinning layer of classic deathgrind, but it has been enhanced by elements of progressive grindcore and jazzgrind, amongst a myriad of lesser influences at key points throughout the record, (ambient, noise, powerviolence, piano interlude, etc). If I had to throw some names out as a rough starting point for the Defigurement sound, I’d say a combination of bands such as Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Brutal Truth, Cephalic Carnage, Gridlink, and Thekevorkiansolution. Endbryo takes me back a few of decades, when grind was essentially at its most fertile and creative, while successfully bringing that creative energy into 2025. Endbryo is that good.
This is a creation of scathing tech grind hostility, but one that is also able to conjure up the transcendent and otherworldly. Layered sounds and emotive melodies allow the band to explore moods and feelings that are rarely associated with the style, elevating the material considerably. Defigurement have an interesting and engaging way of presenting brutality alongside melody and atmosphere in such a way that it feels seamless and natural. Endbryo is both satisfying and rewarding.
What an album. Endbryo is a beautiful marriage of blistering hostility, fevered melody, and hallucinogenic atmosphere. Don’t miss out on Defigurement’s multifaceted grindcore attack.
Essential listening.
Wonderbox Metal 