Monday, December 13, 2010

Grindcore Bracketology: There Can Be Only One

OK, Connor MacLeod, fire up the Queen soundtrack because this is it: The very last round where you will hash it out for your favorite grind band working right this very fucking second. For a quick recap of how we reached this momentous decision, you can review the brackets that led us to this juncture here.

So, your final two, survivors of four rounds to date, are GridLink and Rotten Sound.

How did we reach this conclusion?
If Singapore upstarts Wormrot ever decide to put paid to their current venture and strike off in a new direction, maybe they’ll also have accumulated enough goodwill to power 12 minutes of awesome music to date to the precipice of grindcore perfection. But for now, GridLink romped all over them by 17-7.
Rotten Sound finally pulled off the upset I’ve been expecting since round one, sidelining Napalm Death by 14-10 and for that get their shot at the title crown. Will the Finns’ recent return to a rawer sound be enough to tackle living legends again?

Once again, you’ll have until Saturday to make your case for the king of all grind. Given the momentous import of such a decision, evening attire is requested.

45 comments:

DesiccatedVeins said...

This isn't anywhere NEAR being a close decision. Gridlink. Gridlink. Gridlink. If I could vote more than once I would. Rotten Sound are about two steps away from Napalm Death dinosaur status to me anyway, and I've already voiced my displeasure with the "Scandinavian grind sound" as defined by bands like Nasum and RS, so this shouldn't come as a shock. Gridlink still manage to do exciting things with a genre that's older than I am, and as a bonus are instantly recognizable to fans of Chang and Matsubara's previous bands without sounding derivative of either. Can I say Gridlink one more time for good measure?

brooke said...

Gridlink- without a doubt, hands down, etc.

Flesh Monolith said...

Apples and Rotten oranges here, you can't compare the two.Gridlink's the grind band of today, tomorrow, and 4,000 years from now. Rotten Sound had something going for them, but like many of the bands that have fallen out of favor within this competition they've lost it (for quite a bit now).

This is Hemingway vs. Dickins; no contest.

GridlinkGridlinkGridlinkGridlink

gamefaced said...

holy shit how did this happen.

gridlink.

Grinddozz said...

It's hard to go against the flow, but i do know with what i go.

Here is my little Rotten Sound's representation of all the eras, too bad that i can't upload more than 15 minutes of stuff, 'cause they have a lot standouts and releases:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXZi_gp7sOE
forever nasum-clone?

And i post again that awesome live performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr-4KFOO2LM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBci8l5Dqa4

grindcore is always better when it besides being "extreme", being (simple or complex) structural, and when vocals are rhythmic. obviously time-tested

anyway, good luck, Gridlink! "Orphan" should be next "The Inalienable Dreamless"

Sean said...

An unexpected finale. Gridlink.

Zmaj said...

Grindozz: "grindcore is always better when it besides being "extreme", being (simple or complex) structural, and when vocals are rhythmic. obviously time-tested"

Nah, that's just metal.

Just kidding, but I can't say that I agree in regard to the rest, anyhow. My favorite Scandi grind bands are mostly noisy spazzes, though, and not stuff like Nasum, Rotten Sound, Afgrund, or Sayyadina.

The time might be coming to hand GridLink their e-award, even if it appears overbearingly concluded, but the whole thing seems to be ending in somewhat of an anti-climax, really. I mean, it is happening a bit bluntly, but what can be done? Maybe we're in for a surprise! Maybe not. But this very situation might be considered the surprise.

Ryan Page said...

clearly gridlink

Anonymous said...

Gridlink!!!
They're the Grinding sounds of tomorrow.

Alex Layzell said...

I cast my vote to Gridlink, what they offer to the genre no one else can match, and the quality of what they offer only few can match.

SunnyvaleTrash said...

Rotten Sound

Unknown said...

I normally need to get stupid high to reach a conclusion but not now.
Gridlink. Even if Johnny Chang is a pompous prick on the Internet. It's just the internet so i won't take it personally. And Gridlink melts my face. Seriously. That's an amazing band that deserves the win thy got. Rotten Sound is sick, bu not sick enough. Maybe it comes in Cycles. OH!

Alex said...

Nice to see my two favourites in the final!
i will have to go gridlink, going so far with so few (but so excellent) material needs to be rewarded.
Gridlink!

Antti said...

Rotten Sound

Bill Willingham IV, Esquire said...

Gridlink.

I've voiced my concerns about how clean the last RS LP was. Their "Napalm" EP sounds promising, though.

Gridlink it is.

Grind-as-reductio ad abusrdum is pleased with this outcome.

Anonymous said...

gridlink. easiest decision of the whole saga

I, Monarch said...

Gridlink. I'm getting a hard on just thinking about Orphan.

Rosemary said...

Gridlink. I can't write anything else. Too close to the grind mayhem.

Anonymous said...

Despite the all positive reviews, i was not hooked with Gridlink. not two years ago, not now. yes, guitar work is pretty good, but production and vox are mess.
for while, Rotten Sound

Norrlands Inland said...

Even though Gridlink is an great band I have to go with Rotten Sound. Exit is awesome and Napalm isn't half bad.

Hopefully this will turn the tide.

Flesh Monolith said...

I think Gridlink would have a lot more confidence behind them if a certain LP was put out already *ahem* just in case anyone's checking in *ahem* *ahem*

eva05 said...

Flesh, I don't control release dates dude ^_^;

Luke Oram said...

Gridlink.
The live Orphan stuff sounds great, and AG is killer.

Dante said...

The Gridlink record is great, but i'm going with RS.

tomr4 said...

gridlink ftw.

Anonymous said...

Rotten Sound ftw. Not really a fan of Gridlink's riffings/song writings. RS's Cursed gonna rule all.

Da5e said...

I've heard Orphan. Have you heard Orphan? No? Then your vote doesn't count. I have(yes I have) and I vote Gridlink.

Alex Layzell said...

Although somewhat irrelevant, my baby sister has named our new kitten amber grey, after hearing me say it. (Coincidently the cat is both amber and grey)

Wooderson said...

Gridlink.

Brod said...

Rotten Sound. Legacy band, not remnants of Discordance Axis. When Cursed drops, people will be singing a different tune.

Anonymous said...

Both bands are prepared to release something in very nearest time. I more on RS side, because i never was disappointed with them and Cycles was a real grower

Zmaj said...

Brod: How are they remnants of Discordance Axis, Chang being the only DxAx member in GridLink? The bands are worlds apart, as much as GridLink and Rotten Sound are, and personally, I couldn't care less whether one of them is a "legacy band".

eva05 said...

I will say this. If GridLink wins, there will be a new streaming track from Orphan on Monday morning :-D

Svvan Ronson said...

wow

this is fucking HARD

I mean, Rotten Sound have been around longer and have been pretty consistent.

I'm not as impressed with Amber Grey as others are, but I heard Orphan live and it fucking kills.

When both of these bands unleash their new albums, my opinion might be different but as of right now though, I gotta give my vote to Rotten.

Andrew Childers said...

no fair trying to buy votes, jon.

eva05 said...

Well the only one to post after me has voted against Grid so I guess my evil plans are foiled again lol

j

Erik said...

RS records are way over-produced and fake sounding, especially the drums. It's a shame because they sound much better live. Unfortunately, they haven't written a good song since the "Exit" days. And they're dicks, which I know because I played a show with them, so that doesn't help either.

My vote is for Gridlink, because they're on a whole other level, and DA wrote my favorite grind record.

Flesh Monolith said...

@ZMJ, you said it perfectly. I don't see how Gridlink are leftovers of Discordance Axis. Besides both have Jon Chang and both being great, they're quite different sounding to me.

@Eva05, any tentative dates on the Amber Grey Vinyl?

eva05 said...

The Orphan vinyl (which will be dropping first) includes:

A side: Orphan
B side: Amber Grey (remixed with Ted Patterson bass tracks)

Digital download code for Orphan.

There might be more but I'm not 100% on it. There was talking of the Amber Grey remix and karaoke tracks being bundled...we also talked about giving all the karaoke tracks away for like $2 for all 23, there was talk of an exclusive shirt for pre-orders, yaddah yaddah.

j

eva05 said...

Well by my count, GridLink took the bracket. I have no idea why I got so hooked into this but as a special thanks to you guys we just dropped a new track on our myspace page.

Enjoy.

j

DesiccatedVeins said...

Haha, YESSSS! Now NOBODY can say nothing good ever came of these brackets! (I mean, except for those like, three people who don't like Gridlink for some weird reason.)

I, Monarch said...

Karaoke tracks of everything sounds fucking ace. If you can make it happen, Jon, make it happen.

Flesh Monolith said...

Really digging it Jon, Orphan, as well as the 'retake' on Amber Gray has had me checking your mypsace/hydra head twice a week for the past year, looking forward to it is an understatement.

And an applause to Andrew for doing all of this, we all had fun at your expense, thanks.

p.s. I think we can all agree Swarrrm were the unoffical runners up, *ahem,* right guys?

orfee said...

I spell it with caps, SWARRRM.

"ameth"

Flesh Monolith said...

i love the japanese, only country where the names of their bands easily show where they're from.