Grind – Page 22 – Wonderbox Metal

Piss Vortex – Piss Vortex (Review)

Piss Vortex are a Grindcore band from Denmark. This is their début album.

Piss Vortex play the kind of monstrous, visceral Grind that’s just such a pleasure to listen to. Their brand of mayhem is infused with a healthy wedge of Sludge and the two influences have conspired to create a caustic blend of hatred and venom.

The short, violent tracks on this release are a testament to a band who clearly want to rip out your insides and equally clearly don’t care how they do this.

Blasting, atonal and dissonant Grind is mixed with Sludge’s harsh churn to create tracks that don’t always go the direction you might expect, although every one of them is lethal.

Inventive and interesting riffs are backed up by inhuman drumming and vocals that are aggressive enough to carry a health warning.

Piss Vortex have an impressive amount of ways to kill and maim. Some Grind can fall into the trap of just repeating itself, but Piss Vortex manage to sound fresh, enticing and relatively varied for a band that are essentially harnessing pure anger and rage.

Absolute class. For connoisseurs of violent music.

Internal Rot – Mental Hygiene (Review)

This is the début album from Australian Grindcore band Internal Rot.

This is short and hyper-aggressive Grind where every track, (bar the last one), is under 2 minutes in length and most are a lot shorter than that.

Noisy, angry, fuzzy and filthy; Internal Rot stink up the place with their destructive Grind.

As the first track, Muciferous, shows though, they also know how to slow it down when warranted and take a heavier, Sludgy route to devastation. Granted, this slower side of the band doesn’t appear much over the 20 tracks but it’s good to see the band are capable of more than just instrument demolition at top speeds.

One of the enjoyable things about this band is that they do get into a nice groove now and again in between bouts of blasting. Now, I love me some blasting grind, but it’s also nice when it’s interspersed with other tempos as otherwise it can risk becoming dull.

Mental Rot have this covered though. This is music for those with short attention spans and even shorter tempers, so dullness is not an issue here.

The proto-Hardcore chugging and brutal Deathcore riffs are condensed into violent blasts of Crusty Grindcore that really hits the spot.

I’ve really enjoyed this album. Grind on.

Torch Runner – Endless Nothing (Review)

This is the second album from US Grinders Torch Runner.

Their début album Committed to the Ground was a very enjoyable release containing some extremely harsh and abrasive Grindcore. I’m very pleased to say that on Endless Nothing the band have kept up the intensity levels and this new release is just as acerbic as the first.

They show off once again that they may be committed to extremity but it’s not all about the blast, (although there’s still plenty of that). They know how to use dynamics and slow proceedings down when necessary to create heavier atmospheres before ramping up the intensity once more and going in for the kill.

The guitars seem to have a bit of a Swedish Death Metal tone going on, which is interesting to hear when combined with the infections high-energy riffs. The songs explode out of the speakers and alternate between sheer scything hate-filled blasts and bouncier groove-laden sections that threaten to level the house.

With this kind of ultra-violent Grind there’s nothing to not like really. It’s as if Napalm Death released a short covers album of all of the most extreme Converge songs whilst playing with a Swedish Death Metal sound and dragging the At The Gates singer in to do some high-pitched screaming.

You know Converge’s cover of Wolverine Blues? Like that, only Grindcore.

In other words, this is a great release and should you be privileged enough to hear it you’ll be instantly hooked.

Warfuck – Neantification (Review)

Warfuck are from France and this is their second album. They play Grindcore.

Over the last few years France has proven to be adept at producing quality Extreme Metal bands and Warfuck are no exception.

I have enjoyed their previous work and Neantification is just as pleasingly unhinged and rabid as the rest of their output. More so perhaps.

Warfuck play furious Grindcore with insectile screams and pinpoint precision guitars sharp enough to puncture flesh. The riffs are frequently angular, atypical and mark the band out as different from the larger part of the Grindcore herd.

There is a touch of the old noisecore scene about these tracks. Warfuck’s songs bleed out from a chaotic Hardcore base and the band channel this twisted spirit into something immense and dangerous.

In some ways they come across as the Grindcore cousins of a band like Uphill Battle, (who were already pretty extreme in their own right), and have similar levels of intensity.

Short songs, short album. This release may cater towards people with a short attention span but there’s enough content here to keep even the hungriest Extreme Metal fan satiated.

Why sell youself short by listening to only the latest Deathgrind clones? Get Neantification and remind yourself how interesting, exciting and devastating real Grindcore can be.

Top marks.

Die Choking – II (Review)

This is the latest EP from Grindcore band Die Choking.

Their previous EP was a tightly compressed ball of rage and hatred, played with obvious enthusiasm and savagery; II is no different, although if anything they have stepped up the heaviness and aggression this time round.

Once again it’s a short EP – five tracks in just under 6 minutes. Due to this there’s absolutely no room for filler and all of the songs are blistering with wrath and fury, exactly as Grindcore should be.

Furious, modern Grind like this is always an enjoyable treat when played and delivered well. Die Choking raised my expectations of them with their first release and the second keeps these expectations high.

So what comes next? Well, hopefully a full album is in the works, because after these two brutally short EPs I’m now primed for a meatier release from this band. I get the impression it will be worth the wait.

A top quality grind release; get your grubby mitts on II and revel in the carnage they unleash.

Tips for next time? More. Oh yes. More.

Jig-Ai – Rising Sun Carnage (Review)

Jig-Ai are from the Czech Republic and this is their third album.

This is utterly brutal Grindcore in the vein of Regurgitate’s style of Goregrind.

The vocals are deeper than a pit full of pig corpses, although you can occasionally hear higher screams coming from the bottom of the heap.

The band play brutally fast with the guitars being hammered and the drums tearing off left, right and centre. They are also aware that a full album of that can potentially get dull so they inject slower, groovier moments into places that need them.

At just under 40 minutes this is on the long side for a Grind release and the constant onslaught of gore and butchery will probably put some people off. However, although it won’t set the world on fire, if you are a hardened Grinder there are some nice cuts on this release.

If you like Goregind then this is ably played and competently delivered.

Have a listen and see what you think.

Favourite Track: Rest in Piss. Quality riffing and some nice groove.

Siftercide – Self Titled (Review)

Siftercide are from the US and play Grindcore.

This is abrasive, violent Grindcore with everything turned up to DESTROY.

The vocals burp, pignoise and shriek their way through the 19 tracks on this album and extremity of voice and music is the aim of the game.

So far, so Grind. However, Siftercide have an additional weapon in their arsenal – horns. Horns break the chaos like flashes of colour; little excerpts of cleanliness in an otherwise sea of rank odour and corruption.

The horns aren’t overdone and don’t appear on every track but it’s still an interesting addition that surprisingly does work rather than just sounding like some novelty tag-on.

This is Grind for the hardcore Grinders out there who like their music dirty and gritty. Give them a listen.

Listen to them here.

Columns – Please Explode (Review)

Columns are from the US and this is their début album. They are a Grindcore band.

Columns play Grind that’s groovy and passionate. This is the kind of music that ignites pits and gets even reluctant Metalheads to start moving. Even when they’re playing at top speed and blast beats are flying everywhere the band have a definite swagger and rhythm to their grinding destruction.

Think rhythm, groove, brutality and individuality; think Pig Destroyer meets Aborted with the odd Carcass riff. That’s right, it’s wet-dreams-made-reality time.

The music is full of high energy riffs, crushing chugs, eviscerating speed and the occasional, remarkably Rock ‘n’ Roll, solo. For songs that are this short and brutal there is a surprising amount of variety and interest to be had.

The vocals are deep and growled or higher and intense. The singer has a good voice and range with some variety between these two ends of the spectrum occurring throughout the tracks as well.

Please Explode has a Hell of a lot of personality and each song is a hothouse of great riffs and brutal design. The thing Columns excel at, however, is ensuring that the songs become more than the sum of their parts. These riffs make full use of the band’s songwriting skills to really maximise the impact they have throughout the songs.

Rather then merely a few, (or a lot of), riffs stitched together to create a fast song, as a lot of Grind bands do, Columns create dynamic and purposeful riffs that gel with every other instrument and work synergisticly with the rest of the tracks to create a complete listening experience. It’s even more remarkable that this happens in songs that average about the 2 minute mark.

This is impressive, modern Grind that has a unique identity. It’s destined to be mentioned in the same breath as bands like Pig Destroyer as forerunners of the genre.

I loved this album. I’ll be very surprised if this doesn’t place highly on my year end list.

Essential listening for Extreme Metal fans everywhere.

Atara/Miserable Failure – Hang Them Split (Review)

This is a split between French Grindcore bands Miserable Failure and Atara.

Atara are up first and they give us 6 tracks of Punk and groove influenced Grind.

These are enjoyable short, sharp adrenaline shots of modern Grind with Punk attitude and a touch of Nasum added in.

The singer is particularly acerbic and he heads the tracks here like the focal point of devastation.

Scathing vocals and a rounded, heavy sound that’s not overproduced means that the band shine filthily and so do the songs. Top work by Atara.

We’ve met Miserable Failure before with their last EP Hope. They continue to impress here with 8 tracks of furious Grind that mix the best of the extreme nature of Grindcore with the violence of modern Hardcore.

The utterly demented vocals are present and the music sounds just as unhinged. Slabs of distortion that pass themselves off as riffs crash into your skull and before you know it you’re left wondering what the hell just happened. And then, without warning, Miserable Failure loom in suddenly for the killing blow.

There’s no reason at all you shouldn’t get this. None whatsoever.

Collision/The Rotted – Split (Review)

Collision are a Grindcore band from the Netherlands and The Rotted are a Crust-influenced Death Metal band from the UK.

This is a short split at just over 6 minutes in length that shows off what both bands can do, so let’s see what we have here.

Collision have two songs. The sound is raw and brutal, with serrated vocals screaming and shouting out over speedy Grind. Both tracks are a fast and furious blend of Hardcore-influenced Grind and angry outbursts.

Both are good songs that have plenty of blastbeats mixed with moments of heavier restraint. The riffs are solid and the band seem to be having a blast.

I’m sold. Bring on The Rotted!

After Collision’s barrage of ferocity The Rotted pound out Rotted Fucking Earth which is a d-beat Punk-esque song with a good sound.

It has a drunken swagger and an aggressive temperament; it’s probably not something you want to mess with.

Simple-but-effective songwriting is powered by decent riffs and pure attitude. As Metal songs go it’s a veritable anthem.

Short but oh so sweet, this is a worthy split to add to your collection.