To put it mildly, Grindcore is king.
Sub-minute songs; albums that pack dozens of tracks in less than ten minutes; and the most chaotically bombastic sounds you can possibly combine and still label music. Continue reading
Tag Archives: grindcore album reviews
EP REVIEW: Slugcrust – Discharge(d)
Slugcrust embody everything – and I mean everything – that makes grindcore the most intense, most unique and most captivating subgenre in the entire scene. Having released a pair of EPs and the hellacious slab that was Ecocide (number 10 on my album of the year list) in 2022, the South Carolina-based maniacs have blessed us all with another EP.Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Apes – Penitence
At this point, anything Extreme Metal that comes from Canada is sure to be a punishing, gruesome affair. It’s as automatic a thing as a Canuck apologizing for merely existing. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Full Of Hell – Coagulated Bliss
Maryland’s Full of Hell are not fucking about. 6 studio albums, 5 collaboration albums, 9 EPs, 8 splits, and 4 live albums in 15 years, and with their latest album Coagulated Bliss (Closed Casket Activities), the band continues to demonstrate their refusal to stand still. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: BRAT – Social Grace
Where to start with BRAT? The potential is on the wall as I don’t recall too many bands that get to release their debut LP – Social Grace, by the way – via Prosthetic Records. And bear in mind that this is an outfit that formed right before the golden days of the Coronavirus pandemic so it’s not like they’ve been toiling away in the dark for the better part of a decade. So, therefore, these kids must have the goods. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Pestilength – Solar Clorex
Art is a reflection of life. Thus the upswing in Death Metal – a renaissance that is not just a matter of marketing hitting just right. There is a wide breadth of different stylistic turns being taken, rather than just a worldwide tribute to the Tampa of the eighties. As someone who lives in Tampa at present, this might be the one city without an abundance of the deathly goodness that the rest of the world is nailing right now. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Yersin – The Scythe Is Remorseless
A beguiling atmosphere. A deliberate sense of urgency. A cacophony of turmoil and finality: blackened Grindcore-meets-crust purveyors Yersin needed only a hair under twenty-five minutes to effectively and enthusiastically encapsulate all of the above mentioned techniques, and then some.
The Scythe Is Remorseless (Trepanation Recordings) sounds as if the Sunderland-based trio recorded seven tracks in the midst of an apocalyptic phenomenon known only to them. The sound bites and pierces; the vocals pummel and decimate. Together, it’s enthralling.Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Head Cleaner – The Extreme Sound Of Truth
For ten years, Head Cleaner stewed in the grindcore pot, leaving fans wondering what was in store next. The product of that decade of inactivity is an eleven-track, sub-twenty-five-minute onslaught that eloquently calls back to the origins of grindcore and the pioneers who paved the way for such an extreme sub-genre.
ALBUM REVIEW: Wormrot – Hiss
It has been a very long six years, but finally, the world is graced with a new record from Singapore grindcore legends, Wormrot! Entitled Hiss and released once again through Earache (though with no #MakeEaracheGrindAgain this time – Reviews Ed), the three-piece absolutely shreds through twenty-one tracks of aggression that made the wait well worth it. Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Knoll – Metempiric
In what seems to be the year of the sophomore releases for new bands in the scene, Knoll has come stomping back with their second full-length, Metempiric (Self-Released). Somewhere between grindcore and horror movies is where this record will be classified years from now. The use of shrieking vocals, traditional grindcore instrumentals, and uncomfortable brass sections (oh yeah, there are trumpets!) peppered in really make this album a formidable contender for end-of-year discussions, but is just uncomfortable overall, which is a commendation that is not handed out often.