This is the third album from UK grindcore band Human Cull.
Somehow I missed this when it came out in January, so the fact that it’s now had a vinyl release seems the perfect opportunity to see what Human Cull’s third album has to offer. If you’re unfamiliar with the band, make sure you check out 2014’s Stillborn Nation and 2018’s Revenant for some great grinding fun. Continue reading “Human Cull – To Weep for Unconquered Worlds (Review)”
This is the second album from UK grinders Human Cull.
Was it really 2014 when Stillborn Nation came out? Where does the time go? Well, in Human Cull’s case, it seems to have been well-spent by pouring time and effort into crafting 18 tracks/minutes of blistering contemporary grindcore. Continue reading “Human Cull – Revenant (Review)”
Human Cull’s latest release Stillborn Nation is a fantastic slab of top quality Grind chock full to the brim with maximum aggression. I quizzed them for more info…
For those who are unfamiliar with your band – introduce yourself!
We are Human Cull, a 3 piece grindcore band from south-west England.
How did you form?
Human Cull was the refocused effort of a former band. We had a bit of a line-up change after our old drummer left, so I moved from guitars to drums and Edd added playing guitar to doing vocals.
What are your influences?
The usual mishmash of old and new grindcore bands, early (proper) death metal, thrash, crust, heavy metal, lots. Basically anything we think we can get away with chucking into the mix.
What are you listening to at the moment that you want to recommend?
Everyone should check what the UK grindcore scene is putting out at the moment, because there are some excellent bands in there; Fetus Christ, Atomck, The Atrocity Exhibit, Evisorax, Godsick, Oblivionized. There’s a list as long as my arm of lots of different takes on fast noise.
What was your writing process like for the songs of Stillborn Nation?
It was very organic (as cliché as that sounds). Edd and I would hash over ideas ’til something stuck. There were no shortage of ideas so we had to be pretty brutal with it all to weed out the weaker bits. Eventually we got to a point where we were happy with all the new stuff. There’s some re-recordings of older tracks on there too that had slowly changed over the course of playing them live so many times.
What can you tell us about the lyrics?
We try and take a few different themes and construct a bleak narrative about them. It’s a mix of current and often political situations, apocalyptic future sci-fi esque shit and some other bits and pieces, but all from a pretty nihilistic point of view.
In my review I praise the growling of the vocals in particular, comparing them to the characterful delivery of The Red Chord. How much thought went into the vocal patterns and rhythms?
With Edd and I both having to play instruments as well as doing vocals we tried to make sure we could play the songs live as well as just record them. Some are easier than others. The vocals are an important aspect to the texture of our music to us so we try and make them as fitting as possible.
Are you happy with how the album came out?
Yes. We always have set out to make music we’d enjoy listening to and I think we’ve managed it. We recorded with Dan Couch (from Godsick) and the album was mixed by William Blackmon (from Gadget), and they both did a great job of capturing the kind of sound we were after.
What does the future hold for Human Cull?
We’re hitting Europe next month for a tour with Oblivionized, Temples Festival in May, and more writing and recording for some more releases and splits we have lined up. We like to keep ourselves busy.
Thanks!
Coming from the UK, Human Cull play Grindcore and Stillborn Nation is 23 tracks in 25 minutes, which should tell you something, (especially as 5 minutes of the playing time is taken up with final track Echoing Silence).
This is ultra-brutal Grind with short songs and maximum aggression. The vast majority of the tracks are on, around or under the 1:00 mark so the entire album is essentially short episodes of shocking violence and mayhem.
But is it any good? Why, yes! Primitive riffs that don’t last for long tear out over rigorous drums and stringy bass. The band’s sound is rough and ready and perfect for the delivery. Each song wants to rip your face off and stomp on your skull.
For such short songs they do mix in a bit of variety in the sense that it’s not full on blasting all the time; a hardcore influence can be felt on occasion, as well as a debt to the more restrained and inventive, (relatively speaking), approach taken by Nasum. The tracks may be short but the songwriting doesn’t suffer due to this.
The vocals are impressively gruff and deep, accentuated with much higher screams here and there. The growling works really well for the band, with the singer having the same kind of characterful voice and delivery as the singer of The Red Chord which elevates the vocals above those of most bands of this ilk.
Top quality Grindcore. Get it while it’s hot!
Wonderbox Metal 