Personas para el Tratamiento ético de los Animals: Looking for an Answer Grind for a More Humane Society

Looking for an Answer’s late 2009 surprise 7-inch La Caceria was a minor revelation for me and not just for the joy of seeing the Spaniards win Relapse’s backing. All well and good, but the true pleasure was listening to the band loosen up their assault, making it more feral and unpredictable over three new songs and a Repulsion cover. Extincion had been masterful bit of extrapolation on Nasum’s need to control – that precision that defined the Swedes – but the 7-inch was far more loose and rangy like early Napalm Death’s punk shocks.
In fact, guitarist Felix called the 7-inch “the best stuff we have recorded ever until now, music, lyrics and artwork.”
All of that gets even better when you learn La Caceria was essentially a demo for the band’s pending full length for Relapse. They band forwarded the four songs to the Pennsylvania major label after learning from friends in Suppository Relapse was scouting out new bands.
“Well it is the demo, but it was re-mastered for the 7-inch EP version,” Felix said. “The sound of the original demo, it’s rawer than the 7-inch EP for sure. But we really love that kind of sound, raw and intense. That´s 100 percent grindcore.”
The deal only runs through the upcoming longplayer for the time being, but Felix said the band intends to maximize the shot Relapse is giving them by building on the intensity and aesthetics of La Caceria.
“I think we have improved in some facts like the intensity, velocity, dirty sound and lyrics written,” Felix said.
Looking for an Answer’s blend of gore grind imagery, vegetarian sloganeering and whipcrack grindcore intensity should also make them a natural fit for the Relapse stable.
“Definitely. We are not a gore grind band. We play grindcore and we have lyrics about animal liberation and veganism, that´s all. We are not an animal rights org just a band. We feel [it’s] necessary to write about we care.”
As a stubbornly carnivorous volunteer for the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, I’ll be the first to admit I have certain respect for the purity of Looking for an Answer’s ethical vision even if I won’t follow as far down the same path. However, where far too many grind bands are too content to spew invective without backing it up in fact, Looking for an Answer put grind to deeds.
“We are three vegans and two vegetarians in LFAA and we have not any other connection to the animal protection world,” Felix said. “I am also a volunteer in a humane society (feeding people from the street with no resources, homeless etc) and I also was a meat eater years ago, but I think that [it] never is so late to get the compassion as life style.”

G&P review: Looking For An Answer

Looking for an Answer
Extincion
Living Dead Society
When punk and metal dip their toes into the political pool, they’re generally known for breeding some fairly extreme stances. And if we’re honest, some of the scene’s politics are hilariously questionable.
Take d-beat defenders Tragedy, who, while unarguably are one of the most dedicated and honest practitioners of a 30-year-old style that prizes integrity and DIY over the increasingly mainstream trappings of the current punk and metal business world, also tend to pop off at the mouth about the evils of technology and how it will strangle civilization and the planet. But somehow that ludditism doesn’t extend to electric guitars, recording studios, and CD pressing plants. Just sayin’.
Madrid’s Looking For and Answer, ideological kindred to Cattle Decapitation, suffer from the same conundrum with their “Animal Liberation, Human Extinction” motto. If you’re serious, I say extinction begins at home, so lead by example and step in front of a bus.
Luckily, these grindcore conquistadors, featuring members of Denak and Unsane Crisis, have yet to go gently into that good night, because their latest 29-minute platter of Terrorizer-basted bunny hugger metal is a meaty slab of medium rare grind.
Lopping off the obligatory intro/outro of squealing pigs being led to the slaughter, Looking for an Answer rage against the impending Perdición Mundial through 17 songs of breathless, rampaging, grindy goodness.
Though the obligatory high/low vocal interface comes into play, frontman Inaki is perfectly content to let his gut busting grunt do the talking for most of the album, holding the screech in reserve for highlights and texture. And just in case your Espanol no es bueno, LFAA conveniently provide English translations for the rest of us.
The title track’s bass heavy battery recalls the low end crunch of crusty grind forefathers Phobia while “Cada Nacimiento es una Tragedia” and “Ruptura” chug along like early Bolt Thrower on fast forward.
Mixing Carcass’ penchant for provocation, Cattle Decapitation’s ideology and Terrorizer’s execution, Looking for an Answer have pulled together a crisply produced package of grind that would slot neatly next to Insect Warfare or ASRA in any CD collection. And if you see them at a show, don’t invite them out for a burger.