Not that I’ve ever thought about this musical cocktail, but what would happen if you took Slayer, Napalm Death and added a dash of Burnt By The Sun and strained into a Collins glass? The result and subsequent hangover could be downright frightening or approximate what Australia’s King Parrot have produced on Ugly Produce (Housecore Records). If that description borders on hyperbole for you, fuck off for questioning me, and I politely urge you to spare a half an hour and listen.

At first inspection (especially early on) you might not totally be convinced. And that’s not saying Ugly Produce has a slow start, ‘Entrapment’ gets to the grinding early and often with its rapid blasts and raging grooves. ‘Piss Wreck’ and ‘Disgrace Yourself’ channel Pig Destroyer’s uncanny and unwieldy ability to make grindcore sound catchy. There’s a bit of Dillinger Escape Plan math magic sprinkled throughout ‘All Hail The Grub’ with its start-stop staccato riffs. All very good slabs of modern extreme metal fuckery, but you still think I’m full of it because of my opening statement. Well, welcome to the rest of Ugly Produce.

For the Slayer portion of influence, please turn to ‘Ten Pounds of Shit in a Five Pound Bag’ and ‘Scattered’ and their amphetamine-fueled guitars, gurgling bass tone and multi-armed drum attack. If more speed is what you need, ‘Now It Stokes Frenzy’ lives up to the moniker by having drummer Todd Hansen lead the blitzkrieg and guitarists Andrew Livingstone-Squires and Ari White cutting through anything standing with surgical precision. ‘Numb Skull’ plays like Utopia Banished Napalm Death featuring James Hetfield on rhythm guitar holding down the track with a sinister chugging lick. While on the topic of shred, any axe men owe it to themselves to check out the ever-evolving riffs on ‘Die Before You Die.’

Brutality, technique, and catchiness all in a 27-minute package. Make it a double.

9.0/10

HANSEL LOPEZ