grind – Page 29 – Wonderbox Metal

Livet Som Insats – Check Your Grind (Review)

Livet Som Insats are a Swedish Grindcore band. This is their second album.

With 24 songs in just under 24 minutes, you can pretty much gather the kind of thing this is going to be before you press play, and when you do you’re not disappointed. This is Swedish Grindcore played exactly as you want it to be played – fast, direct and relentless.

The songs have an audible Hardcore influence that gives the tracks a vibrancy about them. The speed work is streamlined and sharp, and when they slow down they reveal a nice heaviness to the guitars.

The singer’s rabid screams are just as streamlined and sharp as the music, with the two parts going together nicely to create the finished product.

The recording quality is right where it needs to be too and everything sounds clean, clear and brutally correct.

Check Your Grind is a really satisfying release. With a change in album title and album cover, I could easily see this being picked up and released by one of the larger labels out there in the world of Extreme Metal. For us lucky people who have already discovered it though, get your fill now.

Highly recommenced for all Grindcore fans.

Gadget – The Great Destroyer (Review)

Gadget are a Swedish Grindcore band and this is their third album.

Gadget play furious, vicious Grindcore that’s fast, angry and lives up to the high standards of the best of Swedish Grind.

The songs on The Great Destroyer have a modern sound that’s relentless and gripping. However, just boiling underneath the surface is enough remnants of old-school Hardcore swagger and energy to imbue the tracks with a real confidence and presence.

The singer’s vitriolic screams are a pleasure to hear; snarling, deranged diatribes are delivered with a passion bordering on insanity and the songs on this album benefit from the singer’s presence greatly.

These sharp, cutting tracks are like unstoppable slices of ultra-brutality, seamlessly performed with real fiery relish and a taste for all things bladed and dangerous. Occasionally the band slow things down to a groovier grind, but these parts are short-lived and soon degenerate into blast beats and high-speed guitars once more.

Snippets of tense melody appear here and there, just enough to enhance the songs without detracting from the main frenzied focus of the music.

I love it when bands play this kind of Grind – with a heavy, modern sound, a bleeding-edge disposition and more blast beats than you can shake a stick at, Gadget have the talent and skill to hold attention across these 27 minutes, and before you know it you’re left breathless and bewildered, wondering what just happened.

Highly recommended for all fans of quality Grindcore.

Convulsif – IV (Review)

Convulsive are an experimental band from Switzerland. This is their fourth album.

After the blackened mindfuck, (in a good way), that was CD3, Convulsif return with something a bit different that’s actually superior. It’s mostly instrumental, dark and surprisingly addictive.

Featuring bass, clarinet, violin and drums, this is an experimental foray into noise and unusual Rock. These instruments come together in a variety of ways to produce music that is always trying to push the envelope and always manages to be emotive, in one fashion or another.

Largely gone is the experimental Black Metal of their previous release, although stylistically and atmospherically we’re not a million miles away from it with some of he crawling Doom/Drone here; IV can still be dark and foreboding when it wants to, as well as displaying any number of other moods.

Instead, this release has an even more diverse approach than its predecessor. Doom, Post-Rock, Black Metal and Grind are all merely ingredients to be liberally sprinkled around during these 37 minutes, and Convulsif leave few stones left unturned in their quest for sonic excess.

Disturbing noises and unsettling vibes are frequently the order of business for IV, mixed in with Grindcore-level extremity and exploratory bludgeoning. Add in some Jazz and some sexy bass workouts and you end up with a compelling collection of twisted soundscapes that really succeed where such an eclectic, esoteric assortment of tracks could so easily fail.

If you’re in mind for something a bit different that has a lot to offer, check out IV; you won’t regret it.

The Mild – Left to Starve (Review)

The Mild are a Grindcore band from Italy. This is their début EP.

Here we have just under 11 minutes of grinding Hardcore action. It’s sharp, nasty and liable to leave cuts.

The vocals are high pitched screams that sound absolutely scathing. The singer sounds pissed and I suspect he’s not entirely happy about something.

Each song rips along at a fair old pace, slowing down occasionally to mop up any listeners who somehow think they can get away without a good ear-bashing.

The fact that the band feel comfortable adding in some slower and mid-paced sections around the speedy main bits in such short tracks is welcome. This makes for a release that’s nicely differentiated and willing to think about pacing and not just the next fast part.

When they take their collective feet off the accelerator their Hardcore influences shine through and I can imagine them being really enjoyable live; high energy and blasting aggression clearly go well together.

Most enjoyable. Well done chaps!

Teething/Feastem – Split (Review)

Feastem are from Finland and Teething are from Spain. Both play Grindcore and they have come together to unleash this savage split on the world.

Teething start things off and offer up three tracks lasting four minutes in total.

Their music is fast, furious and full of aggression, just the way we like our Grindcore. They slow things down here and there and offer up some mid-paced groove with a Punk edge that adds to things quite nicely.

For the most part the vocals are halfway between shouts and growls, finding that sweet spot between the two that sounds harsh as Hell.

It’s a brief few songs, but enjoyable. Their blend of extremity and energetic Punk know-how makes them the epitome of Grind in many ways and if you like the style it’s hard to find fault with them.

Feastem are up next and also offer three songs, lasting a slightly longer five minutes in total.

Compared to Teething, Feastem have less of a Punk influence and offer streamlined, sharp Grindcore that has a more modern edge than their Spanish counterparts.

The tracks are full of blasting mayhem, not happy unless they’re doing their best to damage the listener’s ears by any means necessary. There’s a decent Extreme Metal influence to the guitars, although you can still hear the Punk/Hardcore influence too.

Scathing screams are the main mode of delivery for the singer, although deep growls do join in on occasion.

Another top quality Grind split between two bands that represent different points on the Grind spectrum in some ways. Which you prefer will depend on your personal preferences, and for me it’s hard to say – occasionally Teething’s more traditional approach wins the day, whereas at other times I love the blasting speed and modern delivery of Feastem. Either way, this is short enough to enjoy again and again and packs a punch regardless.

Highly recommended.

Department of Correction/Proletar – Split (Review)

Department of Correction are from France and Proletar are from Indonesia. They’ve teamed up for this 16 track, 19 minute split.

I like Department of Correction, and this split does nothing to change that fact. Their side consists of 10 songs over 8 minutes.

Department of Correction play their Grindcore songs fast, short and brutal. For such short tracks, they’re also surprisingly sophisticated and interesting. Buzzing, razor-sharp guitars tread that fine line between Metal brutality and Punk energy, while the vocals scream, growl and even dementedly sing their way through the mayhem.

The tracks have an intense dynamic to them and include a rare amount of grinding melody, although that has to be understood in the present context, of course.

Once again the band have impressed. I do so love Grindcore when it’s done exceedingly well and is also different enough not to be yet another generic clone band. Department of Correction prove just how much Grind has to offer and just what can be done with short, aggressive songs; if you’re left with any doubt at all – it’s a lot.

Very nice.

After that impressive 8 minutes, it’s on to Proletar. These are new to me, and their side of the split consists of 6 songs over 11 minutes, including an Agathocles cover.

With longer songs on average than Department of Correction, Proletar play a more traditional Grindcore with deep growling Deathgrunts interspersed with rabid, savage screams.

This is primitive, ugly Grindcore that brutally espouses the genre forefathers with an old-school delivery and a suitably energetic performance.

It’s a good pairing of bands as in some ways this can be viewed as a showcase for the past and future of the genre, with Proletar demonstrating the classic Grind style and Department of Correction showing where it can be taken in the future.

As Grindcore splits go, this is a great listen. Check it out.

Sick of Stupidity – One Shot, One Kill (Review)

Sick of Stupidity are a Grindcore band from The Netherlands. This is their début album.

Here we have some grinding powerviolence lasting all of 14 minutes over 11 tracks. It’s unhinged, it’s nasty, it’s good.

The songs go fast as we like them to, but also take the pressure off the accelerator occasionally to give the listener a mid-paced ear-bashing now and then. It’s mostly fast-paced though, and I’m fine with this as the guitars have a very satisfying tone and the riffs hit the spot nicely.

Glass-gargled screams and aggressive growls and thrown around like there’s an infinite supply of them, to the backdrop of musical destruction and fast-forwarded chaos.

As it doesn’t last long this doesn’t outstay its welcome and if anything it’s extremely easy to listen to again and again.

Recommended.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed – Arc (Review)

This is the latest release from legendary US Grinders Agoraphobic Nosebleed, although it should be noted that this release is somewhat of an abnormality, much like 2009’s Agorapocalypse. Whereas Agorapocalypse was looking at extremity from a Thrash perspective though, Arc takes in the view from a dirty great Sludge one.

This is a new and different side of the band – heavy and full of Doom. It’s a filthy, Southern-tinged slab of ugly Sludge Metal that still carries the taste of the band’s core aggression and nastiness.

The singer’s harsh screams tear out from the roiling, churning music. Her voice is sharp and serrated, cutting through the thick Sludge of the guitars with ease.

Not a Daughter is an Eyehategod-inspired seven minutes of foulness that is abrasive enough to sand down anything; all thunderous riffs and cataclysmic drums.

Deathbed follows this with a Doomier take on the style, deliberately crawling and evil in tone. Deep, guttural growls join in for this one too, adding a more menacing note to the aggressive screams. About halfway through the track picks up with a huge Southern-styled riff that gives the track quite a jaunty edge and ups the energy levels quite a bit.

Closing the EP is Gnaw, which is also the longest track here. It’s a monolithic 12 minutes of heavy riffs, angry screams and nihilistic feelings. There’s a pounding rhythmic quality to it that really drives the song home.

A positive progression for the band, in what is apparently the first in a series of four EPs, all differently themed around the preferred music tastes of the individual band members. I now eagerly look forward to the next one.

Razoreater – Vacuum of Nihil (Review)

This is the latest release from UK Grinders Razoreater.

Razoreater combine elements of Old-School Hardcore and, unexpectedly, Swedish Death Metal into their furious blend of Grindcore.

Ugly vocals with a fierce Old-School Hardcore snarl to them rage out from the tracks, angry enough to cause violent feelings just by their very presence.

The music has a dirty Swedish Death Metal feel to it that’s quite delicious, especially as it’s filthed-up Grind that’s being played. Due to this, some of the riffs also have that Swedish feel, especially when the band slow the pace and concentrate on mood and evil melodies; all of which is a great addition to the standard Grinding mayhem.

These songs are full of good riffs and decent songwriting. This is a band who play at full speed very well, but know when it’s a good idea to slow things down and try a different method of attack. 13 minutes later – faces are broken and skin has been bruised.

Interesting, very interesting. Cross Extreme Noise Terror, Entombed and Rotten Sound together and you’ll have an idea of where Razoreater are coming from.

Razoreater make an impressive din. Check them out.

Prolefeed/War All the Time – Split (Review)

This is a split between two UK Grind/Hardcore bands.

Prolefeed start us off with 15 tracks of pissed-off Hardcore, tearing it up straight away with fast beats and a razor-sharp guitar sound.

Even though the songs are all short, sometimes they do slow the pace down and give vent to their groovier side. Apart from this, it’s all Hardcore-fury as the band play fast enough to vent their rage but rarely enter blast beat territory.

The riffs are full of confident swagger and attitude, embracing their heritage and really going for the throat.

The vocals are high shouts, angry and harsh, just as we like it.

It’s a more Hardcore/Punk take on the style as beloved of Extreme Noise Terror and early Cripple Bastards, mixed with an Old-School influence à la Minor Threat and the like.

After this we have War All the Time, who contribute the final 11 tracks to this violent split.

War All the Time have an uglier, fuzzier, filthier production than Prolefeed’s sharpness, and benefit from a rounder sound in this regard.

Other than that there are a lot of similarities between the bands; short songs, (although on average slightly longer for War All the Time), Punk fury, swagger, attitude, fast but-not-blast-beats, etc.

The singer has a deeper shout than that of Prolefeed; a throaty snarl shouting belligerently across the tracks.

Like their partners on this split, it’s an enjoyable listen. On balance, I think I prefer Prolefeed’s contribution though as there’s a little more variety in attack, but both sides hit the spot for a bit of grinding angry Hardcore violence.

Have a listen.