grind – Page 38 – Wonderbox Metal

Kalibas – Rumors Of Our Demise Have Been Barely Exaggerated (Review)

Kalibas come across as fury incarnate – the type of band that like to get angry and stay angry. This is furious Grindcore played at speeds fast enough to break necks and with enough time changes and asides to frighten even the most eclectic grinder.

This is crazy stuff and guaranteed to appeal to Grind fans who like their music fast, complex and impenetrable. These are not 30-second-blast songs though, the average length is 3-4 minutes so you know with each of the 8 tracks you’re getting a good meal. It may just taste like broken glass…

The vocals are the very definition of savage. The singer sounds absolutely inhuman, and there is absolutely no let up whatsoever. At all. How he managed to keep that level of intensity up without rupturing something is beyond me.

The music is probably 99% absolute controlled chaos, with drums blasting and pounding, guitars grinding and shredding and everything seemingly doing its own thing yet amazingly managing to contribute to a coherent whole. The other 1% accounts for those exceedingly rare moments of, well, not calm, but very brief subtler moments that pepper the album like diamonds in the filth. Blink and you’ll miss them. They are there purely to emphasise the extremity of the rest of the music, but they are vital nonetheless.

This is a great album from a great band and unfortunately it was their last one as they have now split up. Do yourself a favour and get this in your collection before the sands of time bury it forever into obscurity.

Interview with Gutslit

Gutslit are a brutal, slamming Death Metal from India who have recently released their début album Skewered in the Sewer. This is a top-quality release that I really enjoyed and even made it into the recent Wonderbox Metal Best of 2013 list, so I’m pleased to have had the chance to ask them a few questions.

Hi! How would you introduce your band for people that have never heard of you before?

Gutslit (Gurdip Narang): Let’s just say, imagine somebody feeding off your pain, torturing you, bleeding you to a level where you go numb and can only see the blood pouring out of your body while the chisel and saw used to amputate your limbs lie coated in blood and tissues. A faint smile on the face of the person who has done it to you. Pleasure and feeling of contentment showing on his horrific, calm yet evil face, already planning his next kill. That feeling there is what Gutslit is all about. The unstoppable force of butchery, torture and pain that will hit you with every riff, the punch in your groin with every drum beat, the haste and momentary pauses between the blows like the bass and the screams and grunts of the pain felt in every vocal note.

When we started out, there was not even a single band from our city that played Grind. Slam wasn’t known to many. Pig squeals were thought of as some processed noise worked out in a studio. Only a few people knew what it was to play with programmed drums on stage. Bands were asked to cover the famous thrash and a few death metal bands. We just picked up our favourite band, Dying Fetus and covered their track “Kill Your Mother Rape Your Dog”. Then there were songs from our EP with the French band, Pulmonary Fibrosis. Having a split with a foreign band was also the first for any Indian extreme metal band. We played an International show with Putrid Pile. That too was the first for any Indian extreme metal band. From then, to now with ‘Skewered in the Sewer’, we’ve just worked harder and harder.

What are your main influences?

Dying Fetus, Disgorge (USA), Brodequin, Inveracity, Coldworker, Defeated Sanity, Devourment, Vulvectomy, Beheaded, Immolation, Vader, Putrid Pile, Cephalotripsy, Condemned, Krisiun, Mumakil, Mindly Rotten and a lot more.

What are you listening to at the moment that you want to recommend?

The new albums by the veterans have blown us away this year. Defeated Sanity, Dying Fetus, Gorguts, Carcass. They all have justified why they deserve the respect through these years. Mindly Rotten, Infernal Revulsion are few bands that one must have in their list for future greats.

This is a great début album – how did you come up with the songs?

Gutslit Singer

All our songs were written by our former guitarist Dynell, drums and bass were worked out later by Aaron and Gurdip respectively and the songs were finalized with the addition of vocals by Aditya. All lyrics were written by Gurdip. Except for one song, “Circumcised with a Chainsaw”. Lyrics and Vocals on that track are done by Mallika Sundaramurthy from Abnormality and Parasitic Extirpation USA.

The songs you have written are not only brutal but really catchy. In my review I compared you to Gorerotted in some ways. Are you familiar with them and do you think it’s a fair comparison?

Yes we are aware of Gorerotted and have heard almost everything that they have released. We were really happy to be compared to them and were quite ecstatic about the same. We even mentioned the same on our social media pages.

Being from India do you feel this has influenced your sound at all?

There was never a relevant band to connect to in India. There were many in other sub genres of extreme metal. There are many that are coming out with good promising material and we are really glad to see professionalism in music.

What is the Indian Metal scene like? Do you feel much connection to it?

Indian Metal scene is as vague as the people. Almost every genre which is known and played abroad finds its place here. Many have even tried and merged Indian classical music with the metal and the results have been quite good.

Gutslit Drummer

What are your plans for the future?

We are working on a 4 way International Split with all the other bands being from Europe and the UK. This should be released before summer of 2014 and before we hit Europe for a few shows and the mighty Obscene Extreme Festival in Czech Republic.

And finally…Do you prefer Chris Barnes or George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher?

As our vocalist Aditya Barve says,”I prefer Chris Barnes for the lyrical madness that he does, but Corpsegrinder is definitely a more powerful vocalist, live and on record!”

Thanks for your time!

Thank you very much brother for this interview!

C.O.A.G. – Sociopath (Review)

C.O.A.G. play the kind of Grindcore that you can cut yourself on. C.O.A.G. is short for Coalition of Abnormal Grindcore and as a statement of intent and sound this is a pretty good one.

This is abrasive, sharp and so full of aggression it makes most bands sound tame by comparison. It’s an old-school blast-fest combined with elements of other Extreme Metal genres, (bits of Hardcore here, some Death Metal there), to create a very satisfying listen.

The vocals are kind of shouted but in a very strange way; almost like the singer of Crowbar straining through a filter. It shouldn’t work but it does. The same of which can be said of the Hatebreed cover.

A very short but very enjoyable release. Who doesn’t like a good, honest blast now and again?

Sulaco – Build & Burn (Review)

Inventive, modern Grind is what Sulaco have in store for us here, with the odd dashing of Death Metal thrown in for good measure. Think longer-song-style Grind, rather than the shorter-song-style. Like somewhere between Cephalic Carnage and Gorguts or Gorod. Only not quite like that…

This is harsh music and not for the unwary. Choppy, changing, discordant guitars lead the way challenging the listener at every turn, while the drums both set the pace and hold everything together. Needless to say these are skilled musicians who know their Grind, which is only to be expected as they contain a now-former member of Brutal Truth.

The vocals are mostly halfway between a scream and a more hardcore-style shout, which immediately gives the band more of an individual slant than a lot of generic Grindcore bands. It works well here and complements the harshness of the music with an almost Drowningman-type intensity that adds an extra layer of depth to the tunes.

With plenty of ideas, some sharp technicality and the odd flourish of melody and sustained aggressive Metal this is a most enjoyable album.

Corrupt Moral Altar – Whiskey Sierra (Review)

UK based Corrupt Moral Altar play dirty sludgey Grindcore with lashings of filth and passion. This is ugly music for people who know what they like and couldn’t care less what the latest trends are.

The first song blasts out of the speakers like a ferocious angry animal; all teeth, claws and invective. It’s only three minutes long but it’s amazing how much content they cram into it.

Blasting, mid paced, sludge, atmospherics – all raise their bruised heads and have their time in the sun. It’s amazing that they find the time to slow down and inject quality Doom and sludge into their sound – this band are certainly not a one-trick blast pony.

Throughout these four songs the vocals lash and rage in high-pitched screams, as well as deeper shouts and even a nice bit of pig-noise depending on the whims of the Grindcore muse.

Ten minutes is all we get, but ten minutes of highly-inventive grinding extreme Metal that manages to pack more ideas into its short running time than a lot of bands do in a career. If you like Grind or just top quality extreme Metal then this is as near to essential a ten minutes as you’re going to find anywhere.

Infected Society – Get Infected (Review)

Infected Society play a modern form of grind that nonetheless harks back to a golden age of grindcore where grinding was more than just about speed; swagger and attitude counted for something.

This EP is very short but packs a punch. Four original songs that certainly leave their mark on the listener, and two covers. The original songs are catchy and diverse, and recall Groinchurn at their punky, grinding best. No 20-second-wonders here – each track has thought put into it and feels crusty but fresh, ready for the challenges ahead. As a taster for a full length some time in the future this does its job perfectly.

The two covers are by Napalm Death and Pantera. Wearing their influences on their sleeves, Infected Society pay homage to their heroes with honour.

One of the most noticeable things about this release is the energy levels – this is frantic and frenetic stuff. That’s not to say it’s sloppy of course, not at all; the band are obviously extremely enthused about what they’re playing. This comes through in the music and it’s a joy to hear. This is not tired music-by-numbers – this is fresh and exciting.

Very short but very worthwhile. Seems about time now for an album!

Lycanthrophy – Lycanthrophy (Review)

Grindcore! Pure, unadulterated, no-frills grindcore.

The guitars have a very punk/hardcore feeling to most of the riffs and this is just a joy as it almost feels like a band such as Madball have gone all grind – an aural beating but one where you ask for more. The drums are a relentless battering when going all-out, but also know when to hold back and provide a just a back-bone to the music and supply the groove for the punky riffs.

The vocals alternate between shouting (essentially) and screams. Basic but performed well; it fits the music perfectly.

There’s no great mystery or secret to this style of music – you either like it or you don’t. Me? I like grindcore. I especially like grind that’s done well. This is grind that hits the spot perfectly. Simple, stripped-down and rabid. 17 minutes, 20 tracks, perfection.

If you like grind you should get this. It really is that straightforward.

https://myspace.com/lycanthrophy

Exhumer – Degraded by Sepsis (Review)

Italian band Exhumer play brutal Deathgrind, and they play it well. It’s not a very long album, but with this style of music that’s a given. It’s not necessary either; too long and it could outstay its welcome. As it is the running time is just right for the dose of brutality that is dished out here. And brutal it is.

After a perfunctory intro; first track proper “Vapours of Cadaveric Mucilage” sets the scene perfectly. Straight out of the gate they lay their cards on the table and go for the kill. The song blasts out of the gates like a rabid attack dog that knows exactly where all of your weak points lie.

A tendency sometimes for bands such as this can be to go for the ultra-ridiculous pig-noise vocals. Thankfully that isn’t the case here. The vocalist acquits himself nicely, having a nice and satisfying deep growl which is used to great effect across the album. The overall sound is not a cold and clinical one as you may expect either; rather it is warm and pulsing – like you can feel the blood coursing!

It’s not all blast though. They do throw in the odd brief respite from the carnage as well, in the form of “Misery” and “Scent of Decomposition”, and then we’re back to the mayhem once more!

For a short album with short songs the tracks are remarkably well composed. As well as the blasting carnage there are also slower paced parts occasionally, as well as some nice meaty riffs to get sucked in by.

All in all a superior deathgrind release for sure – a lot of bands could learn from Exhumer.

https://www.facebook.com/exhumer.official

http://www.last.fm/music/Exhumer

Misery Index – Retaliate

Retaliate is a quality grind album from 2003 – if you are a fan of intelligent grind then I heartily recommend this.

For fans of Napalm Death/Brutal Truth/Dying Fetus-style grind in the sense that there are actual songs with lyrics that are better than just the usual gore/sex/etc. tirade.

The songs are quite catchy in places, which just reinforces the quality of songwriting available here. Admittedly there is nothing groundbreaking here; but who needs groundbreaking when grind is done so well? I’d take Misery Index over a whole host of lesser “innovative” bands any day.

Check them out –

https://www.facebook.com/MiseryIndex

http://themiseryindex.tumblr.com/

Abnormality – Contaminating the Hive Mind (Review)

Female-fronted brutal/technical death metal, although if you didn’t know the vocalist was female you wouldn’t necessarily think so – that’s how brutal and guttural the vocals are.

If you like this style of music then you know what to expect here. What is to separate them from any number of other brutal death metal bands? Well, quite simply the’re just better than most! How so? Excellent vocals and tight musicianship; combined with a massive production and great songs mean this is a must for any death metal fan.

I seriously recommend this album.

Find out more –

https://www.facebook.com/AbnormalityOfficial