This is the debut album from Finnish grindcore band Sonic Poison.
I enjoyed Sonic Poison’s 2016 debut demo Harsh Demonstration, but missed out on the split and EP that the band released after this. It’s now time for their debut album though, and I was determined not to let this one slip by me too. Eruption is an appropriately titled 22-minute assault of vicious deathgrind. Prepare yourself for mayhem. Continue reading “Sonic Poison – Eruption (Review)”
This is the third album from US death metallers Ripped to Shreds.
Featuring current and ex-members of bands such as Azath, Disincarnation, and Spinebreaker, 劇變 (Jubian) contains 36 minutes of meaty death metal heaviness. Continue reading “Ripped to Shreds – 劇變 (Jubian) (Review)”
This is the debut album from international grindcore band Kill Division.
Kill Division boast current and ex-members of bands such as Aborted, Bent Sea, Gruesome, Inhuman Condition, Malevolent Creation, Megadeth, Soilwork, and Venom Inc. in their ranks, so you know a lot of experience has gone into this album. Continue reading “Kill Division – Peace Through Tyranny (Review)”
Both hailing from the US, Y-Incision and Treasonist each play variants of grindcore.
Y-Incision open the split with 10 minutes of material – 6 songs, one of which is a Treasonist cover. Continue reading “Y-Incision/Treasonist – Mechanical Perdition – Split (Review)”
Implore are a German grindcore band and this is their second album.
What’s in a genre tag, eh? Grindcore this may be, but that appellation doesn’t tell the whole story, for that we have to expand the genre label a tad. Quite a bit actually; blackened crust deathgrind. How about that? Closer to the truth, but definitely an unwieldy mouthful. Continue reading “Implore – Subjugate (Review)”
Cicatrix are a Polish deathgrind band, and this is their second album.
Featuring 10 originals and 2 covers of Dead Infection and Terrorizer songs, Cicatrix wear their influences on their collective sleeves and deliver 29 minutes of utter carnage.
This is a mix of brutal death metal and ugly grindcore. The band know how to play fast, but Continue reading “Cicatrix – Suffocated Faith (Review)”
This is the second album from Australian Grindcore band Captain Cleanoff.
Here we have 16 tracks in a brief and violent 21 minutes. Napalm Death and Terrorizer are your instant points of reference for Rising Terror and it lives up to these lofty expectations by demolishing everything in front of it in a tidal wave of raw savagery.
The songs are fast and furious, with everything dedicated to the Grindcore assault, although it frequently stops short of becoming a complete blastfest.
These short and nasty tracks are all brutality and teeth, snarling and gnashing their way through the seconds like a hungry predator. The main exception to this high-speed delivery is the final track Threads, which is more of an atmospheric track; slower and Sludgy, (and at just under 5 minutes long it’s pretty much 25% of the album).
There’s a lot of d-beats involved on Rising Terror, as well as it having a Hardcore energy. Good groves and riffs are used and Captain Cleanoff have a clear understanding of dynamics within the Grindcore template.
The vocals alternate high-pitched acid-drenched vocals with deeper growls. The latter sound rough and angry while the former sound insanely psychotic.
This is an enjoyable 20 minutes from a band with a solid sound and style who know how to get down to business and get the job done.
Recommended.
Mindful of Pripyat are an Italian Grindcore band and this is their début EP.
This is Old-School Deathgrind with a devastating sound that’s heavy enough to crush a tank.
Mindful of Pripyat are all about the brutality. Blast beats and energetic fast-paced mayhem is the order of business and business is good.
The vocals are a three pronged approach, consisting of deathgrunts, pignoise belching and serrated screams. All are performed well with the main growls sounding especially brutal.
The music is short and to-the-point, as you would expect from the style. The guitars are half-way between Death Metal and Hardcore which lends the album a vitality that can sometimes be lacking in some Grind.
Like the best Extreme Metal, Mindful of Pripyat are just plain satisfying. Everything about their music from the overpowering sound to the merciless riffing to the barbarous vocals just appeals to my sense of what savage music should sound like.
Like a mash-up of Napalm Death, Terrorizer and Misery Index, Mindful of Pripyat have unleashed a storming first release here, and one can only imagine what they will get up to in the future. If they can retain this level of production value and songwriting skill then they can only go from strength to strength.
If well-produced Deathgrind is your thing then Mindful of Pripyat have got you covered. This really is quite an exceptional release; not because there’s anything ground breaking or innovative here, but purely because of the strength of the music alone. …And Deeper I Drown in Doom… is invigorating and like a welcome, painful shot of adrenaline right through the skull.
Quality Grindcore can never be kept down.
Usurpress are a Death Metal band from Sweden and for this split they have gone halves with International Grindcore supergroup Bent Sea.
Usurpress give us three tracks, the first of which is an intro.
The second song, A Tidal Wave of Fire, is the main meat of their split and is 7 minutes of impressive death-dealing, whilst the third is shorter but no less rabid.
The band play Crusty Swedish Death Metal with an underground swagger and a healthy groove. Rather than adopting that famous chainsaw sound though, the band have opted for a dirtier, less-produced sound. It’s raw and nasty but suits the nature of the music.
The vocals are grim growls that alternate with infected screams, as well as a bit of semi-sung spoken word.
Bent Sea are up next with 8 tracks of furious Grind.
In contrast to Usurpress’ rawness, Bent Sea have a more professional sheen, albeit one that’s still heavy and very aggressive.
Taking cues from Napalm Death, Terrorizer and Repulsion, they savagely hack their way through the songs with aplomb and violence.
That the band is comprised of seasoned veterans is never in doubt, as their mastery of the genre is apparent from the start.
Each song is expertly executed and delivered with venom and bile. I’ve always loved the singer of Aborted’s voice and to hear him on these tracks is a great pleasure.
A very enjoyable split, with the Bent Sea tracks in particular shining bright.
Worth it.
Bones play a simple but very effective brand of no-nonsense Death Metal/Crust which can be heard on their recently released album Sons of Sleaze. I’ve enjoyed listening to this album and have loved their previous work in Usurper, so when the opportunity arose to ask them a few questions I dived in.
For people who are new to the band – introduce Bones!
Sure. Bones is a filthy metal band from Chicago. Our lineup is: Joe Warlord-Drums, Carcass Chris-Guitars/Vox and Jon Necromancer-Bass/Vox. We’re a newer band that formed in ‘09, but we’ve been around forever. All 3 of us have been in Usurper together back in the ‘90s-’00s. We play raw, unpolished metal. We’re not interested in sounding “perfect” or “clean”. We feel that Metal has lost its balls over the years. Now bands spend way too much money to make a studio perfect album that sounds stale, wimpy and terribly boring. Bones is the exact opposite of all that shit.
What are your main influences?
As a band we’re influenced by all the great metal and hard rock that mostly came out from the 70s-90s. I think it’s our individual influences that make Bones sound the way that we do. Joe is way into great drummers like Keith Moon, Dave Lombardo, Neil Peart, etc, while Chris is influenced by guitar greats like Eddie Van Halen, Uli Jon Roth, Kirk Hammett, and he’s a huge Carlos Cavazo fan. I’m way into Dee Dee Ramone, Cliff Burton, Martin Ain, and John Entwistle. Its the weird tension from combining all these influences that make us tick.
What are you listening to at the moment that you want to recommend?
Ptahil’s “Almighty Propagator of Doom and Despair” has been stuck in my stereo for awhile. Super weird metal from Indiana/Michigan. The shit is brilliant and needs be heard to be believed. They’re even better live. Also, Autopsy’s “Headless Ritual” is fucking killer. Love it when a veteran band like Autopsy can make it seem so effortless to continue making such mindfucking, influential metal. Both these bands make pure music not influenced by image or marketing.
Your songs have a savage feeling that’s mixed with a sheer enjoyment of all things Metal. How did you create the songs?
We work together on everything. Usually one person comes up with a couple riffs that go together or have a rough idea of a concept. We rehearse often, so we bring our ideas up while they’re fresh and then we start working the problem; coming up with the nuts and bolts of arrangement, whatever. We usually have 3 very different ideas and we argue them out over a couple of weeks until we got it nailed down. Same with lyrics. It’s easier when 1 person does everything and writes everything, but we think this way the end result sounds better. It takes longer but its worth it.
Your album has a very raw and nasty sound – how much of this was deliberate and how much was chance?
Well, its what we sound like. When the band formed we all wanted a break from the formula of signing with a “big” underground label and spending too much time or money in the studio. The last albums we did in Usurper were like that. We were signed to Earache who were giving us $10,000 budgets to go in the studio for weeks and create something that didn’t really represent us. By the time a band is done multitracking and quantizing and autotuning everything you’re not left with anything real. With Bones we decided right away that we never wanted to be in that situation again. We recorded the drums, guitars and bass live. We only took a couple of takes for each song. Both of our albums were done like this. We didn’t do any multitracking or doubling of parts. What you hear is what we sound like at a show or at a rehearsal.
The feeling of the album is very much one of “I don’t care, I’m playing my songs my way”, (as it should be). How do you feel you fit into the wider Metal scene?
We don’t care how we “fit” in the scene. We never did before, and at this advanced age we could really give two shits. “Scene” people are usually “lame” people.
On Sons of Sleaze you covered Fear of Napalm by Terrorizer – how did you decide to cover this particular band/song?
We usually mess around at practice with cover songs. Its hilarious sometimes, but there are always a couple of songs that everyone intuitively knows how to play like “Black Magic” by Slayer or something. We were messing around with different songs as a joke, but we kept coming back to “Fear of Napalm”. We played it with a nice groove and we thought our version sounded enough like Bones, but still stayed true to the original. We thought we’d record it when we were in the studio for “Sons of Sleaze” and see if it would make the cut with the rest of the songs. We liked the way it came out so we included it on the album.
What are your plans for the future?
As soon as I send this out I’m walking to the liquor store and then picking up a pizza…..
Thanks!
Wonderbox Metal 