If The Inalienable Dreamless were a child, it would be old enough to start high school this year.
In the nearly decade and a half since Discordance Axis gifted the world a masterpiece and then summarily retired, the New Jersey trio has gone from that band that few had heard of and even fewer liked to a significant touchstone in grindcore. A whole generation of grind musicians has grown up with Dave Witte’s tendon-testing speed, Jon Chang’s upper register screech and pop cultural fixations and particularly Rob Marton’s uniquely phrased guitar parts as part of the musical heritage they have inherited. That influence is coming to fruition as a recent of wave of Discordance Axis clones.
“I think that we identified with Discordance Axis because they're different from other grindcore bands,” said Jonathan Thompson, whose band, Vertigo Index, cribbed both their name and style from one of Jouhou’s songs. “Despite the fact that they do adhere in some sense to the sort of the grindcore blast-heavy template, they really managed to do so in a way that was forward thinking. Rather than rehashing the bands that came before them, they took their ideas and morphed them into something that was wholly their own. That is, they were able to write short fast songs that still feel like songs rather than simply bursts of aggression. Their song writing skills, specifically on The Inalienable Dreamless, are unparalleled in grindcore. While the songs are still ferocious in their own right they contain more interesting tonal characteristics than the simpler fast power chords and blast beats of their contemporaries.”
But for Discordance Axis, after years of being marginalized, seeing other bands adapt their sonic template is a bizarre reversal.
“I have always found it surreal that DA has any kind of following today given how completely people were disinterested with us when we existed,” Chang said. “It seems like the music has influenced people in the form of bands, individuals or other artists who have nothing to do with music.”
Cloning is intrinsic to musical evolution. Nobody would be grinding now if it weren’t for shamelessly ripping off Siege, Napalm Death and Repulsion. Hell, Carcass has been cloned more times than a Mandalorian bounty hunter. Indeed, Discordance Axis’ first album, Ulterior, owed a significant and obvious debt to From Enslavement to Obliteration.
“In the case of clones or cover bands, I hope those people are getting their sea legs and working to eclipse what we did. I know when we started we were very influenced by the Scum, SOB-split era of Napalm Death, SOB, Assuck and Anal Cunt, but we found our own voice in time,” Chang said.
Showing posts with label maruta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label maruta. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Monday, July 29, 2013
Good Reads: Danger Bird
The book: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle might be the Murakmi-est of Marukami’s novels. It ticks off a list of several recurring motifs in his writing, including vanishing women, passive men, symbolic cats and sudden shifts into the realm of bizarre magic realism. There’s a bone-deep melancholy to the allegorical tale of an unwittingly unraveling marriage. But Murakami makes a fascinating choice to pair the intimate tale of two people falling out of love with a digression into the history of Japan’s atrocities in Manchuria during World War II, something the Japanese tend to gloss over. Early on, the protagonist meets an elderly veteran of Japan’s China campaign who recounts the horrors he’s witnessed committed by every nation involved, the horror of which still haunts him and erodes his confidence in his country and culture. Murakami pairs a couple whose breakdown in communication ruptures their marriage, thematically playing that off of Japan’s unwillingness to face to its own history of atrocities.
A representative passage:
Before long, the entire skin of Yamamoto’s right arm had come off in a single thin sheet. The skinner handed it to the man beside him, who held it open in his fingertips, circulating among the others to give them a good look. All the while, blood kept dripping from the skin. Then the officer turned to Yamamoto’s left arm, repeating the procedure. After that he skinned both legs, cut off the penis and testicles, and removed the ears. Then he skinned the head and the face and everything else. Yamamoto lost consciousness, regained it, and lost it again. The screams would stop whenever he passed out and continue when he came to again. But his voice gradually weakened and finally gave out altogether. All this time, the Russian officer drew meaningless patterns on the ground with the heel of his boot. The Mongolian soldiers watched the procedure in silence. Their faces remained expressionless, showing neither disgust nor excitement nor shock. They watched Yamamoto’s skin being removed a piece at a time with the same kind of faces we might have if we were out for a stroll and stopped to have a look at a construction site.
The album: Forward into Regression by Maruta
Florida’s recently reanimated Maruta take their name for the Japanese word for "log of wood," which was the derogatory term members of the infamous Unit 731 would use for the Chinese prisoners that they experimented on in ways that would appall Joseph Mengele. So that’s the obviously overlap. More importantly, I think, the concept suggested by the title Forward into Regression really captures something about the mindset of someone who is willing to commit the most horrific of atrocities all in the name of advancing their nation. There’s a point where violence becomes to repetitive that it becomes happenstance and that opens the doors to brutality like that committed by Unit 731, whose members never stood trial for their war crimes. The mental compartmentalization necessary to brutalize your fellow human beings while simultaneously sublimating your will to a leader you consider divine really shows the breadth of human insanity.
A representative song: “March Forward (Into Regression)”
Slave driver. Stand forth lead blind-fully, these chains of hope shall drag us with you. Drag us deep, into the ground, into the grave, into blissful obliteration. March without questions. Advance with no objection. Bound to your cables. Embodied entities in chain sequence. Move towards the ash, towards the crimson horizon. Mindless. Obedient. Devoted to follow. We march forward. Onward into regression.
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle might be the Murakmi-est of Marukami’s novels. It ticks off a list of several recurring motifs in his writing, including vanishing women, passive men, symbolic cats and sudden shifts into the realm of bizarre magic realism. There’s a bone-deep melancholy to the allegorical tale of an unwittingly unraveling marriage. But Murakami makes a fascinating choice to pair the intimate tale of two people falling out of love with a digression into the history of Japan’s atrocities in Manchuria during World War II, something the Japanese tend to gloss over. Early on, the protagonist meets an elderly veteran of Japan’s China campaign who recounts the horrors he’s witnessed committed by every nation involved, the horror of which still haunts him and erodes his confidence in his country and culture. Murakami pairs a couple whose breakdown in communication ruptures their marriage, thematically playing that off of Japan’s unwillingness to face to its own history of atrocities.
A representative passage:
Before long, the entire skin of Yamamoto’s right arm had come off in a single thin sheet. The skinner handed it to the man beside him, who held it open in his fingertips, circulating among the others to give them a good look. All the while, blood kept dripping from the skin. Then the officer turned to Yamamoto’s left arm, repeating the procedure. After that he skinned both legs, cut off the penis and testicles, and removed the ears. Then he skinned the head and the face and everything else. Yamamoto lost consciousness, regained it, and lost it again. The screams would stop whenever he passed out and continue when he came to again. But his voice gradually weakened and finally gave out altogether. All this time, the Russian officer drew meaningless patterns on the ground with the heel of his boot. The Mongolian soldiers watched the procedure in silence. Their faces remained expressionless, showing neither disgust nor excitement nor shock. They watched Yamamoto’s skin being removed a piece at a time with the same kind of faces we might have if we were out for a stroll and stopped to have a look at a construction site.
The album: Forward into Regression by Maruta
Florida’s recently reanimated Maruta take their name for the Japanese word for "log of wood," which was the derogatory term members of the infamous Unit 731 would use for the Chinese prisoners that they experimented on in ways that would appall Joseph Mengele. So that’s the obviously overlap. More importantly, I think, the concept suggested by the title Forward into Regression really captures something about the mindset of someone who is willing to commit the most horrific of atrocities all in the name of advancing their nation. There’s a point where violence becomes to repetitive that it becomes happenstance and that opens the doors to brutality like that committed by Unit 731, whose members never stood trial for their war crimes. The mental compartmentalization necessary to brutalize your fellow human beings while simultaneously sublimating your will to a leader you consider divine really shows the breadth of human insanity.
A representative song: “March Forward (Into Regression)”
Slave driver. Stand forth lead blind-fully, these chains of hope shall drag us with you. Drag us deep, into the ground, into the grave, into blissful obliteration. March without questions. Advance with no objection. Bound to your cables. Embodied entities in chain sequence. Move towards the ash, towards the crimson horizon. Mindless. Obedient. Devoted to follow. We march forward. Onward into regression.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Grindcore Bracketology 2: Week 4 Clusterfuck Bonus Round
The first round should be over now. But nooooooooooooo Chaosphere got his/her/its/their votes in under the wire and had to fuck it up. For the first time in Grindcore Bracketology history we have not one but two ties. This is why we can't have nice things.Here's how it went down.
The Old Guard
Pintado sieged Habelt's power in this round, causing the Siege guitarist's world downfall (I apologize for that whole sentence) by 13-3.
The Innovators
You guys deadlocked between Johnson's consistent history of grind innovation and Borja's promise of continued evolution by 7-7.
The Punks
Rotten Sound placed two overall last time we did this. Guitarist Aalto won't even make it out of the first round, squashed by Rasyid by a perfect 16-0.
The Technicians
In the least popular matchup of the lot, Antigama's Rokicki and Psyopus' Arp got all stranglefucked together at 5-5.
So that means we can't move on to the next round because I can't reseed the matchups. Ergo, we enter the lightning round. Once again our contestants are:
The Innovators: Johnson (Enemy Soil/Drugs of Faith) v. Borja (Maruta)
The Technicians: Rokicki (Antigama) v. Arp (Psyopus)
This week's challenge is to go back over the comments from the last round and tell me who most convincingly argued their case in these two matchups. I'll pick the two best arguments and those people's picks will move on. May the best argument win. Once again you've got until Sunday. Don't fuck this up too.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Grindcore Bracketology 2: Week 3 Results/The 4-5 Matchups
I'm sorry to tell you all, but every single vote you've cast so far has been completely wasted. We're going to have to start over completely from the beginning because we all missed one guitarist who will run away with the whole competition. I don't know how we missed her in the beginning, but bow before your queen.
8-Year-Old Guitarist Makes Us All Look Bad - Watch More Funny Videos
While you sit there looking ashamed over your inability to remember the complex chord progression of "You Suffer," here's the 3-6 results.
The Old Guard
Gurn ran away with it, squashing Toshimi a perfect 10-0.
The Innovators
We're all going to infinity and beyond with space grinder Papirmollen, who edged out Talarczyk 7-5.
The Punks
No contest, Insect Warfare's Beau ran the table against Kill the Client's Richardson 12-0.
The Technicians
Another blowout with Erik Burke taking a 9-0 lead over the Creation is Crucifixion dudes.
So, we're moving on. As always you can check out the updated bracket here. Meanwhile, here's the last batch from round one, on to the 4-5s.
The Old Guard
4. Pintado (Terrorizer/Napalm Death/Resistant Culture) v. 5. Habelt (Siege)
Habelt had no clue he was inventing grindcore with Siege. Pintado helped perfect it over the next two decades.
The Innovators
4. Johnson (Enemy Soil/Drugs of Faith) v. 5. Borja (Maruta)
I've said this a lot, but Richardson has done a buttload to drag grind kicking and screaming into the future with drum machines and grindcore swing. Borja invented an instantly recognizable guitar tone that perfectly encapsulates grindcore's grizzly edge.
The Punks
4. Aalto (Rotten Sound) v. 5. Rasyid (Wormrot)
Finland and its Scandinavian kin represented the best grindcore had to offer during the first decade of the century. The next decade belongs to Southeast Asia. Who rules right now?
The Technicians
4. Rokicki (Antigama) v. 5. Arp (Psyopus)
I don't have the foundation in advanced chaos mathematics to keep up with either of these guitarists, but I recognize the insane talent involved.
As always, you've got until Sunday to make your best arguments.
8-Year-Old Guitarist Makes Us All Look Bad - Watch More Funny Videos
While you sit there looking ashamed over your inability to remember the complex chord progression of "You Suffer," here's the 3-6 results.
The Old Guard
Gurn ran away with it, squashing Toshimi a perfect 10-0.
The Innovators
We're all going to infinity and beyond with space grinder Papirmollen, who edged out Talarczyk 7-5.
The Punks
No contest, Insect Warfare's Beau ran the table against Kill the Client's Richardson 12-0.
The Technicians
Another blowout with Erik Burke taking a 9-0 lead over the Creation is Crucifixion dudes.
So, we're moving on. As always you can check out the updated bracket here. Meanwhile, here's the last batch from round one, on to the 4-5s.
The Old Guard
4. Pintado (Terrorizer/Napalm Death/Resistant Culture) v. 5. Habelt (Siege)
Habelt had no clue he was inventing grindcore with Siege. Pintado helped perfect it over the next two decades.
The Innovators
4. Johnson (Enemy Soil/Drugs of Faith) v. 5. Borja (Maruta)
I've said this a lot, but Richardson has done a buttload to drag grind kicking and screaming into the future with drum machines and grindcore swing. Borja invented an instantly recognizable guitar tone that perfectly encapsulates grindcore's grizzly edge.
The Punks
4. Aalto (Rotten Sound) v. 5. Rasyid (Wormrot)
Finland and its Scandinavian kin represented the best grindcore had to offer during the first decade of the century. The next decade belongs to Southeast Asia. Who rules right now?
The Technicians
4. Rokicki (Antigama) v. 5. Arp (Psyopus)
I don't have the foundation in advanced chaos mathematics to keep up with either of these guitarists, but I recognize the insane talent involved.
As always, you've got until Sunday to make your best arguments.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Grind in Rewind 2011: The 20 of '11
Where 2010 was a disappointing wasteland of blandness, 2011 overfloweth with awesome grind. Unfortunately, the attrition rate was also high as we lost Maruta, Defeatist, Ablach and The Endless Blockade. But let's focus on the positive: there was a hell of a lot to smile about in the last 12 months. And that was before my copy of the new Brutal Truth album finally showed up this month after a lengthy detour through the limbo known as "back order."
So let the arguments begin!
20. Total Fucking Destruction
Hater
Translation Loss
Take another trip on Rich Hoak et al's grindfreak railroad. Hater's crazy train isn't so much going off the rails as it is forcing everyone to reroute their travel plans. Total Fucking Destruction's bullet train battery meanders further afield than even Brutal Truth. Though Hater is the most straightforward of TFD's experiments, it still tap dances its way through musical minefields most other bands choose to circumnavigate. It's an approach that either means they're going to accomplish the unthinkable or somebody's going home short a leg. Possibly both.
19.
Ablach
Dha
Grindcore Karaoke
Scottish grindcore archeologists Ablach were inextricably tied to their country's storied history. Putting on Dha was like cracking a textbook on warring clans, witch panics and getting blitzed on whiskey. Good wholesome fun, all. Dha, which will be the band's epitaph, was a perfect step forward from flawed first album, Aon. Dha just did everything right, demonstrating the consummate skill that I knew was lurking behind their debut's craptacular production. With the kind of growth they've shown it's a shame they won't get to Tri.
18. Hip Cops
In the Shadow of a Grinding Death
Bullshit Propaganda
There's no one less hip than a cop. Unless your cop revels in classic first wave-style grind that
smooshes together the earliest output of S.O.B. and Napalm Death. Hip Cops are not progressive. They do not have technical chops. Their songs do not advance the grindcore cause or culture a single iota. All they do is thrash the joint any time their 7-inch hits the turntable. This is the kind of unpretentious, perfectly performed grindcore record that keeps the style rooted in its history and constantly vital.
17. Noisear
Subvert the Dominant Paradigm
Relapse
More so even than GridLink or Wormrot, I'd say Noisear may be the most controversial and debated album of 2011. Some of you instantly latched on to their mixture of Discordance Axis and Human Remains, and it's hard not to be enthralled by their circus grind antics. And then there's "Noiseruption." Some of you can shrug off a 22 minute noise track that sucks up half the album's run time and has zero connection the preceding music. I had a harder time with that, but when Noisear were clicking, Subvert the Dominant Paradigm was still a grisly beast of a bitch.
1
6. Cloud Rat
Cloud Rat
IFB Records/Grindcore Karaoke
There's something brewing up in Michigan. Cloud Rat and The Oily Menace are picking up and carrying on the fastcore legacy left by xBrainiax and Threatener and turning it into something that straddles the current with the historic in a way the seamlessly blends the twin impulses. Cloud Rat just did everything right on their self-titled record, which boasts 11 songs of adrenaline pressed to wax (or bytes if you go with the download version). Cloud Rat chased their full length with a killer threeway with The Oily Menace and Wolbachia, proving the record was no fluke.
15. Trap Them
Darker Handcraft
Prosthetic
Trap Them have pretty firmly established their M.O. at this point: grab bits of every wave of speedy hardcore and metal and chainsaw their way through them all. Not much has changed album to album but Trap Them keep refining their sound each outing, jettisoning what little detritus remains. That impeccable riff to "Evictionaries" remains one of the single best guitar moments of 2011. Darker Handcraft is worth the entry fee for that song alone.
14. Drugs of Faith
Corroded
Selfemadegod
Richard Johnson added rock 'n' roll swagger to his grindcore grimace with Drugs of Faith's first full length album, Corroded. It was a moody, personal album that seethes through various shades of gray and washed out brown. Johnson has always been ahead of his peers as the cornerstone of Enemy Soil or Agoraphobic Nosebleed, but with Drugs of Faith he's blazing an even more provocative trail through his own mental landscape. Corroded bravely speaks to the personal and uncomfortable in us all.
13. Keitzer
Descend into Heresy
FDA Rekotz
Descend into Heresy is the sound of your concussed ears ringing as you stagger forth dazed and bloodied from the bomb crater in the aftermath of an unexpected rocket attack. Keitzer only have one gear: implacable. The Germans take the direct route, obstacles be damned, and plow over any bystanders in their wake. Bolstered by heaping helpings of death with their grind, Keitzer are brutal and none too specific about their targets.
12. Defeatist
Tyranny of Decay
Self Released
Facing the extinction they've so long prophesied, Defeatist left it all on the table for final album Tyranny of Decay. Self-described "apocalypse kook" Aaron Nichols howled his way to near-perfection, finally bringing some much needed variety to his throat work. Everything else, Defeatist simply turned up their already impeccable assault, led by the concussive battery of drummer Joel Stallings. Perhaps a touch slower than their past efforts, Tyranny of Decay allowed Defeatist more room to explore and expand. It's the band's most varied and expressive record. It makes for a quality tombstone to a trio of lifers' bloody career.
11. Rotten Sound
Cursed
Relapse
Rotten Sound churn out quality albums just about as often as the San Jose Sharks choke in the playoffs. It's such a regular occurrence that sometimes it's easy to take the Finns for granted. Cursed continues their career-long streak of great records, emphasizing their crust punk roots more this outing. Songs get more space to breathe without the compulsion to snap every neck in Helsinki. Instead, plenty of Cursed's best offerings are nod-along headbangers that build to a slow burn climax.
10. Wake
Leeches
7 Degrees
In their wake: That's where these young Canadians are leaving many of their contemporaries. Following up an EP that was a clear 2010 standout, Wake make their second trip to the year end countdown with their first full length, Leeches. Second time out, Wake are sounding more comfortable in the hobnail boots they use to stomp craniums. Leeches is a wonderfully huge sounding album curated by Scott Hull and he lets the boys root around in his cabinet of grind, death and power violence oddities. There's plenty they seem to have picked up from the foot of the master.
9. Robocop
II
Grindcore Karaoke
Robocop cooked up the clear winner of the hometown shout out race with power violence piss take "Maine is the Bastard." But the band's cleverness is not limited to lyrical snark. A postmodern, postindustrial, post-power violence romp through a world where the membranes between man and machine are becoming dangerously (intriguingly?) permeable, Robocop are the high priests of J.G. Ballard-core. "Aftermathematics" felt a little clunky and disjointed for my taste, but that's really nitpicking at this point. This is a band that's more on the ball, intelligent and articulate than many of the their better acclaimed predecessors.
8. Cellgraft
Deception Schematic
No Reprieve
Cellgraft are the epitome of the internet band. Their success among the grindcore masses has largely been attributable to glowing blog praise and good old fashioned word of email. Florida's premiere grindcore trio slapped us upside the collective noggin with Deception Schematic, a knotty, snarling 7-inch worth of bile, broken resisters and collapsed civilization debris into songs that (all but on one of which) never crack a minute. I prefer Deception Schematic's grisly guitar tone (some of you were more partial to External Habitation's tinny table saw buzz), but regardless of your preferences, Cellgraft never disappoint.
7. thedowngoing
Untitled EP
Grindcore Karaoke
Not only do those sneaky fucks in Australia claim Christmas and the New Year are mid-summer holidays (seriously?) but they've been plotting grindcore domination while we've been distracted by Foster's beer commercials and old Paul Hogan movies. We were convinced the Aussies are a bunch of smiling, benevolently sloshed blokes right up until the point thedowngoing decided to extrude our souls through our nostrils on the harrowing Untitled EP (recently snagged by Grindcore Karaoke). Mathias Huxley gives the vocal performance of a lifetime, fully committing himself to his finest Linda Blair impersonation. I'll never look at the land of kangaroos and koalas the same way again.
6. Wormrot
Dirge
Earache
By Wormrot standards, Dirge was a safe, slightly flawed record. By every other band's standards, Dirge would have been a career-making album. Hewing a bit too closely to the mold established by 2009 champion Abuse, Dirge found the Singaporean trio reveling in the same cross pollination of Repulsion and Insect Warfare they've claimed as their own patch of grindcore terra. Rasyid and Fitri have reached a level of musical simpatico you'd expect only from performers who have been playing together for decades and the shared joy of their performance elevates Dirge from its humble ambitions. I fully expect Wormrot to take another run at the top spot with their next album.
5. Dephosphorus
Axiom
7 Degrees
Nothing prepared for me for the journey Greek grindonauts Dephosphorus had planned with debut mini-album Axiom. Nothing excites me more than to stumble across a never before heard of band that totally kicks my ass, and I'm still walking around with a bruised rump courtesy of Dephosphorus several months later. Easily the biggest surprise of the year, Axiom is also one of the best albums. It stitches together grind, crust, atmosphere and bits of black metal's obsession with things unworldly; Axiom is one of the most compelling records I heard in 2011. The 12-inch gatefold put out by 7 Degrees is also ABSOLUTELY STUNNING and the best packaging to be found this year. Dephosphorus started the year as unknowns but they close it out with upcoming full length Night Sky Transform lodged at the top of my most anticipated list.
4. PSUDOKU
Space Grind
Revulsion
Parlamentarisk Sodomi was one of my favorite bands to emerge in the last several years, churning out ass kicking albums almost effortlessly year after year. Then solo, misanthropic grindmonger Papirmollen crossed up Parlamentarisk with Parliament-Funkadelic and blasted off into the cosmos to sodomize Uranus. Piloting a neon-pink Super Star Destroyer named PSUDOKU, Mollen added weird keyboards, odd noises and space special effects to his already prodigious grind arsenal. This was the only album released all year that can compete with Orphan on a purely adrenaline basis. This atomic dog has learned some new tricks.
3. Maruta
Forward Into Regression
Willowtip
Forward into Regression was the most grisly sounding album afflicted upon the grindily minded in 2011. Maruta's (sadly/frustratingly/disappointingly) final album gnawed at your femur and sucked out the marrow inside. Hopscotching between grind and power violence is a pretty standard trick in most bands' bags these days, but nobody mixed them with the flair of Maruta. That snarling, nasty guitar tone is instantly recognizable as a serial killer's trademark flourish. It's a shame to see a band as promising as Maruta, still on the upward swing of their young careers, implode, but they left behind two excellent albums, especially Forward into Regression.
2. Looking for an Answer
Eterno Treblinka
Relapse
There is nothing flashy about Eterno Treblinka, but Looking for an Answer very quietly and skillfully turned in a flawless grindcore record. Every song is catchy and perfectly crafted. Every riff, fill and Sylvester the Cat gone grind scream serves to advance the whole. There is not a superfluous second to be found. Looking for an Answer's ideology is just as uncompromising as their music; religion, politics and carnivores all go under their knife over the course of 17 bright line political statements. Spanish grind is one of the most exciting European scenes going right now and Looking for an Answer just proved they're at the head of that pack.
1. GridLink
Orphan
Hydra Head
Helen Keller could see this coming. I think I've made my feelings about Orphan fairly clear. We all know where we are on this album, so rather than rehash past debates, I'm simply going to shamelessly quote something fellow Chang fanboi Da5e of Cepahalochromoscope fame once told me:
So let the arguments begin!
20. Total Fucking Destruction Hater
Translation Loss
Take another trip on Rich Hoak et al's grindfreak railroad. Hater's crazy train isn't so much going off the rails as it is forcing everyone to reroute their travel plans. Total Fucking Destruction's bullet train battery meanders further afield than even Brutal Truth. Though Hater is the most straightforward of TFD's experiments, it still tap dances its way through musical minefields most other bands choose to circumnavigate. It's an approach that either means they're going to accomplish the unthinkable or somebody's going home short a leg. Possibly both.
19. Ablach
Dha
Grindcore Karaoke
Scottish grindcore archeologists Ablach were inextricably tied to their country's storied history. Putting on Dha was like cracking a textbook on warring clans, witch panics and getting blitzed on whiskey. Good wholesome fun, all. Dha, which will be the band's epitaph, was a perfect step forward from flawed first album, Aon. Dha just did everything right, demonstrating the consummate skill that I knew was lurking behind their debut's craptacular production. With the kind of growth they've shown it's a shame they won't get to Tri.
18. Hip CopsIn the Shadow of a Grinding Death
Bullshit Propaganda
There's no one less hip than a cop. Unless your cop revels in classic first wave-style grind that
smooshes together the earliest output of S.O.B. and Napalm Death. Hip Cops are not progressive. They do not have technical chops. Their songs do not advance the grindcore cause or culture a single iota. All they do is thrash the joint any time their 7-inch hits the turntable. This is the kind of unpretentious, perfectly performed grindcore record that keeps the style rooted in its history and constantly vital.
17. Noisear Subvert the Dominant Paradigm
Relapse
More so even than GridLink or Wormrot, I'd say Noisear may be the most controversial and debated album of 2011. Some of you instantly latched on to their mixture of Discordance Axis and Human Remains, and it's hard not to be enthralled by their circus grind antics. And then there's "Noiseruption." Some of you can shrug off a 22 minute noise track that sucks up half the album's run time and has zero connection the preceding music. I had a harder time with that, but when Noisear were clicking, Subvert the Dominant Paradigm was still a grisly beast of a bitch.
1
6. Cloud Rat Cloud Rat
IFB Records/Grindcore Karaoke
There's something brewing up in Michigan. Cloud Rat and The Oily Menace are picking up and carrying on the fastcore legacy left by xBrainiax and Threatener and turning it into something that straddles the current with the historic in a way the seamlessly blends the twin impulses. Cloud Rat just did everything right on their self-titled record, which boasts 11 songs of adrenaline pressed to wax (or bytes if you go with the download version). Cloud Rat chased their full length with a killer threeway with The Oily Menace and Wolbachia, proving the record was no fluke.
15. Trap Them Darker Handcraft
Prosthetic
Trap Them have pretty firmly established their M.O. at this point: grab bits of every wave of speedy hardcore and metal and chainsaw their way through them all. Not much has changed album to album but Trap Them keep refining their sound each outing, jettisoning what little detritus remains. That impeccable riff to "Evictionaries" remains one of the single best guitar moments of 2011. Darker Handcraft is worth the entry fee for that song alone.
14. Drugs of FaithCorroded
Selfemadegod
Richard Johnson added rock 'n' roll swagger to his grindcore grimace with Drugs of Faith's first full length album, Corroded. It was a moody, personal album that seethes through various shades of gray and washed out brown. Johnson has always been ahead of his peers as the cornerstone of Enemy Soil or Agoraphobic Nosebleed, but with Drugs of Faith he's blazing an even more provocative trail through his own mental landscape. Corroded bravely speaks to the personal and uncomfortable in us all.
13. Keitzer Descend into Heresy
FDA Rekotz
Descend into Heresy is the sound of your concussed ears ringing as you stagger forth dazed and bloodied from the bomb crater in the aftermath of an unexpected rocket attack. Keitzer only have one gear: implacable. The Germans take the direct route, obstacles be damned, and plow over any bystanders in their wake. Bolstered by heaping helpings of death with their grind, Keitzer are brutal and none too specific about their targets.
12. Defeatist Tyranny of Decay
Self Released
Facing the extinction they've so long prophesied, Defeatist left it all on the table for final album Tyranny of Decay. Self-described "apocalypse kook" Aaron Nichols howled his way to near-perfection, finally bringing some much needed variety to his throat work. Everything else, Defeatist simply turned up their already impeccable assault, led by the concussive battery of drummer Joel Stallings. Perhaps a touch slower than their past efforts, Tyranny of Decay allowed Defeatist more room to explore and expand. It's the band's most varied and expressive record. It makes for a quality tombstone to a trio of lifers' bloody career.
11. Rotten Sound Cursed
Relapse
Rotten Sound churn out quality albums just about as often as the San Jose Sharks choke in the playoffs. It's such a regular occurrence that sometimes it's easy to take the Finns for granted. Cursed continues their career-long streak of great records, emphasizing their crust punk roots more this outing. Songs get more space to breathe without the compulsion to snap every neck in Helsinki. Instead, plenty of Cursed's best offerings are nod-along headbangers that build to a slow burn climax.
10. Wake Leeches
7 Degrees
In their wake: That's where these young Canadians are leaving many of their contemporaries. Following up an EP that was a clear 2010 standout, Wake make their second trip to the year end countdown with their first full length, Leeches. Second time out, Wake are sounding more comfortable in the hobnail boots they use to stomp craniums. Leeches is a wonderfully huge sounding album curated by Scott Hull and he lets the boys root around in his cabinet of grind, death and power violence oddities. There's plenty they seem to have picked up from the foot of the master.
9. Robocop II
Grindcore Karaoke
Robocop cooked up the clear winner of the hometown shout out race with power violence piss take "Maine is the Bastard." But the band's cleverness is not limited to lyrical snark. A postmodern, postindustrial, post-power violence romp through a world where the membranes between man and machine are becoming dangerously (intriguingly?) permeable, Robocop are the high priests of J.G. Ballard-core. "Aftermathematics" felt a little clunky and disjointed for my taste, but that's really nitpicking at this point. This is a band that's more on the ball, intelligent and articulate than many of the their better acclaimed predecessors.
8. CellgraftDeception Schematic
No Reprieve
Cellgraft are the epitome of the internet band. Their success among the grindcore masses has largely been attributable to glowing blog praise and good old fashioned word of email. Florida's premiere grindcore trio slapped us upside the collective noggin with Deception Schematic, a knotty, snarling 7-inch worth of bile, broken resisters and collapsed civilization debris into songs that (all but on one of which) never crack a minute. I prefer Deception Schematic's grisly guitar tone (some of you were more partial to External Habitation's tinny table saw buzz), but regardless of your preferences, Cellgraft never disappoint.
7. thedowngoing Untitled EP
Grindcore Karaoke
Not only do those sneaky fucks in Australia claim Christmas and the New Year are mid-summer holidays (seriously?) but they've been plotting grindcore domination while we've been distracted by Foster's beer commercials and old Paul Hogan movies. We were convinced the Aussies are a bunch of smiling, benevolently sloshed blokes right up until the point thedowngoing decided to extrude our souls through our nostrils on the harrowing Untitled EP (recently snagged by Grindcore Karaoke). Mathias Huxley gives the vocal performance of a lifetime, fully committing himself to his finest Linda Blair impersonation. I'll never look at the land of kangaroos and koalas the same way again.
6. Wormrot Dirge
Earache
By Wormrot standards, Dirge was a safe, slightly flawed record. By every other band's standards, Dirge would have been a career-making album. Hewing a bit too closely to the mold established by 2009 champion Abuse, Dirge found the Singaporean trio reveling in the same cross pollination of Repulsion and Insect Warfare they've claimed as their own patch of grindcore terra. Rasyid and Fitri have reached a level of musical simpatico you'd expect only from performers who have been playing together for decades and the shared joy of their performance elevates Dirge from its humble ambitions. I fully expect Wormrot to take another run at the top spot with their next album.
5. Dephosphorus Axiom
7 Degrees
Nothing prepared for me for the journey Greek grindonauts Dephosphorus had planned with debut mini-album Axiom. Nothing excites me more than to stumble across a never before heard of band that totally kicks my ass, and I'm still walking around with a bruised rump courtesy of Dephosphorus several months later. Easily the biggest surprise of the year, Axiom is also one of the best albums. It stitches together grind, crust, atmosphere and bits of black metal's obsession with things unworldly; Axiom is one of the most compelling records I heard in 2011. The 12-inch gatefold put out by 7 Degrees is also ABSOLUTELY STUNNING and the best packaging to be found this year. Dephosphorus started the year as unknowns but they close it out with upcoming full length Night Sky Transform lodged at the top of my most anticipated list.
4. PSUDOKU Space Grind
Revulsion
Parlamentarisk Sodomi was one of my favorite bands to emerge in the last several years, churning out ass kicking albums almost effortlessly year after year. Then solo, misanthropic grindmonger Papirmollen crossed up Parlamentarisk with Parliament-Funkadelic and blasted off into the cosmos to sodomize Uranus. Piloting a neon-pink Super Star Destroyer named PSUDOKU, Mollen added weird keyboards, odd noises and space special effects to his already prodigious grind arsenal. This was the only album released all year that can compete with Orphan on a purely adrenaline basis. This atomic dog has learned some new tricks.
3. Maruta Forward Into Regression
Willowtip
Forward into Regression was the most grisly sounding album afflicted upon the grindily minded in 2011. Maruta's (sadly/frustratingly/disappointingly) final album gnawed at your femur and sucked out the marrow inside. Hopscotching between grind and power violence is a pretty standard trick in most bands' bags these days, but nobody mixed them with the flair of Maruta. That snarling, nasty guitar tone is instantly recognizable as a serial killer's trademark flourish. It's a shame to see a band as promising as Maruta, still on the upward swing of their young careers, implode, but they left behind two excellent albums, especially Forward into Regression.
2. Looking for an Answer Eterno Treblinka
Relapse
There is nothing flashy about Eterno Treblinka, but Looking for an Answer very quietly and skillfully turned in a flawless grindcore record. Every song is catchy and perfectly crafted. Every riff, fill and Sylvester the Cat gone grind scream serves to advance the whole. There is not a superfluous second to be found. Looking for an Answer's ideology is just as uncompromising as their music; religion, politics and carnivores all go under their knife over the course of 17 bright line political statements. Spanish grind is one of the most exciting European scenes going right now and Looking for an Answer just proved they're at the head of that pack.
1. GridLink Orphan
Hydra Head
Helen Keller could see this coming. I think I've made my feelings about Orphan fairly clear. We all know where we are on this album, so rather than rehash past debates, I'm simply going to shamelessly quote something fellow Chang fanboi Da5e of Cepahalochromoscope fame once told me:
I'd go so far as to say it's grindcore 3.0... Napalm Death's early stuff was the initial release (their Crass soundalike demos being an alpha), TID was grindcore 2.0, Amber Gray was a beta release and Orphan is a new beast, fully HTML5 compliant, demonstrating that the genre has stagnated and needs to evolve and move forward. I'd stick my neck out and say Matsubara is the greatest songwriter working in extreme music.I find it hard to disagree with any of that. How many other grind bands can claim their music was used to violate the UN Convention Against Torture in an episode of Homeland?
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
G&P Review: Maruta
And thus, through the serene tranquilities of the tropical sea, among waves whose hand-clappings were suspended by exceeding rapture, Moby Dick moved on, still withholding from sight the full terrors of his submerged truck, entirely hiding the wrenched hideousness of his jaw. But soon the fore part of him slowly rose from the water; for an instant his whole marbleized body formed a high arch, like Virginia’s Natural Bridge, and warningly waving his bannered flukes in the air, the grand god revealed himself, sounded, and went out of sight. Hoveringly halting, and dipping on the wing, the white sea-fowls longingly lingered over the agitated pool that he left.
Herman Melville
Moby-Dick or, The Whale
1851
Maruta
Forward Into Regression
Willowtip
Forward Into Regression has been my white whale for the better part of the year. The travails of my futile hunt for Maruta’s latest effort are probably only of interest to myself, but I have stalked the land like Ahab in his mad quest for Moby Dick until Mitchell Luna kindly relieved my suffering.
The Floridian’s sophomore power violence-mauling-grind in a drunken party brawl effort is a stronger, more confident distillation of everything that made In Narcosis awesome. There’s a definite upward swing to their growth. The signature slouching guitars have a 3D depth and the new rhythm section (complete with bass!) doesn’t alter their wonted sound. Instead, much like GridLink’s lineup shuffle pre-Orphan, it gives the band a larger platform from which to stage their assault. In Narcosis has been run through a rigorous bootcamp the last few years and Forward Into Regression has come out more toned and muscular as a result.
Both “Stagnation Routine” and “Salient” boast are a more focused deployment of Maruta’s penchant for slow parts without stalling the album’s momentum. The knuckle draggers now feel purposeful and pointed, like a knife twisted in your ribs to prolong the pain. If there’s only one misstep on Forward Into Regression, it’s that “Failure King” rides a single musical notion too hard for an interminable three minutes. However, that’s easily overlooked considering the closing body blows of “Gaiares” and “Blood of the Luddite” quickly right the ship.
Once I landed this white whale I immediately trucked it over to the local taxidermist so it could be stuffed and mounted on the mantle among my other trophies. As of today my 2011 top 10 list has a mathematically improbable 13 albums on it. Somebody’s about to get bumped to make room for Maruta.
[Full disclosure: The band provided me with a review copy.]
Herman Melville
Moby-Dick or, The Whale
1851
Maruta
Forward Into Regression
Willowtip
Forward Into Regression has been my white whale for the better part of the year. The travails of my futile hunt for Maruta’s latest effort are probably only of interest to myself, but I have stalked the land like Ahab in his mad quest for Moby Dick until Mitchell Luna kindly relieved my suffering.
The Floridian’s sophomore power violence-mauling-grind in a drunken party brawl effort is a stronger, more confident distillation of everything that made In Narcosis awesome. There’s a definite upward swing to their growth. The signature slouching guitars have a 3D depth and the new rhythm section (complete with bass!) doesn’t alter their wonted sound. Instead, much like GridLink’s lineup shuffle pre-Orphan, it gives the band a larger platform from which to stage their assault. In Narcosis has been run through a rigorous bootcamp the last few years and Forward Into Regression has come out more toned and muscular as a result.
Both “Stagnation Routine” and “Salient” boast are a more focused deployment of Maruta’s penchant for slow parts without stalling the album’s momentum. The knuckle draggers now feel purposeful and pointed, like a knife twisted in your ribs to prolong the pain. If there’s only one misstep on Forward Into Regression, it’s that “Failure King” rides a single musical notion too hard for an interminable three minutes. However, that’s easily overlooked considering the closing body blows of “Gaiares” and “Blood of the Luddite” quickly right the ship.
Once I landed this white whale I immediately trucked it over to the local taxidermist so it could be stuffed and mounted on the mantle among my other trophies. As of today my 2011 top 10 list has a mathematically improbable 13 albums on it. Somebody’s about to get bumped to make room for Maruta.
[Full disclosure: The band provided me with a review copy.]
Monday, January 24, 2011
Sampler Platter
If, from my perch as a cranky old guy, I could offer you young bands a word of advice, it’s this: I know you think Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now are, like, totally awesome movies ‘n’ shit, but all of the rest of us already know that, too. Please stop sampling them on your albums. I’m just saying Netflix boasted about having 65,000 titles a few years ago, so why not give another movie a try?I don’t object to samples on albums; I often enjoy them. I just think they’re mostly used haphazardly. I often play the fantasy sampling game when I’m watching a movie. I’ll hear a great bit of dialogue and I’ll ponder how I would apply it to a song. What would it say about the music? Would it influence the lyrics or performance? How would it work in an album context? I don’t think enough people ask themselves those questions when they pull a bit of dialogue from their favorite movie. [Ed. Note: I’m not talking about somebody like Graf Orlock. Their shtick is so total as to place them in a whole ’nother realm.]
I can think of very few examples of bands using samples thoughtfully or for more than a superficial rhetorical point. The first would be Who’s My Saviour’s “Save Your Breath,” an album-closing 90 seconds of sludgy psychedelia that deploys creepy flat toned HAL 9000 from 2001 with expertly counterpointed music to perfectly claustrophobic effect. It’s the kind of song I end up listening to three or four times in a row because it’s so well constructed. The second would be Damad’s second album, Rise and Fall, which trickles bits of dialogue from Swimming With Sharks throughout. The choice to go with a single film and to highlight Kevin Spacey’s relentless asshole boss built a misanthropic theme that jibed with the band’s southern crust style.
I wish more bands were that thoughtful when they reach for their DVD collection. Extreme Noise Terror pretty much admitted the samples for
I read an interview with Pig Destroyer’s J.R. Hayes a few years back (I think it was circa Terrifyer) where he talked about why the band decided to stop using movie samples and start creating their own theatrical bits. He said when you hear a sample and identify it, it pulls you out of the music. It adds in other associations that maybe the artist didn’t really intend to be there. I’ve often gone back and thought about that quite a bit since then. Especially after I hear the same samples or the same directors endlessly used to augment a band’s song or aesthetic.
Do I really need to hear the exact same "pain has a face" quote from Hellraiser: Bloodline from both Kataklysm (not a grind band, I know; but they’re a repeat offender so bear with me) and Suffering Mind? Are they trying to imply that their music will cause me pain? Because last I checked I thought they wrote songs for their and my enjoyment.
Maruta and Abstain have both used the – thanks to Glenn Beck – no longer farcical Howard Beale rant from Network in their music. Beale’s character was supposed to be satirical rip on the inanity and venality of television news. Are they asking me to seriously identify with his frothing about being mad as hell and scared of the world? If so, why? According to the FBI violent crime has plummeted over the last decade.
Some movies are just overused to the point of painful cliché. Means of Existence is my favorite Phobia album, but even I have to groan at “Snail,” a midtempo, mid-album instrumental meltdown built around samples describing Col. Kurtz from Apocalypse Now. Audio Kollaps have also pillaged Coppolla’s cursed jungle epic (at least they do it in dubbed German), borrowing the Col. Kilgore hitting the beach scene (but mercifully not "Ride of the Valkyries") on an album that also pays visual homage to the movie. If there’s some sort of take home message from either, I’m not sure what it means. Is there some special commentary about the futility and madness of war (Coppolla’s intended themes) I’m not getting from them.
David Lynch is also a popular target for bands looking to boost their arty, intellectual cred. Remember Hayes said Pig Destroyer decided to stop using movie samples? Cuz they sure didn’t have a problem nicking a line from Twin Peaks for the song “Elfin” on the Explosions in Ward 6 (later 38 Counts of Battery) album. Ditto Circle of Dead Children who decided a bit of the Cowboy’s dialogue from Mulholland Dr. would make a fitting opener for Human Harvest. While the “Let’s get down to it” line does make for a nice bit of intro, am I supposed to glean anything else from their choice? Do they identify with Lynch’s vision or artistry in any significant way? Is Human Harvest informed by the themes of duality, identity and delusion that pervaded the movie? How about the Destroyers of Pigs and Twin Peaks?
So I say this as both an undying fan of film and grind: I get tired hearing the same samples on every fucking album. You wanna surprise me? Next album, sample Steel Magnolias or Terms of Endearment instead and do it in a way that’s honest to the spirit of the music.
I’ve collected some of the more egregious offenders and Who’s My Saviour’s sterling example here. Give it a listen and tell me if I’m completely off base and just a grumpy old man.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Who’s My Saviour – “Save Your Breath”
Dark City
Luddite Clone – “Oratory of the Jigsaw”
Kataklysm – “1999:6661:2000”
Network
Abstain – “Discriminating”
Maruta – “Replicate”
Hellraiser: Bloodline
Suffering Mind – “Dead Part of Cause”
Kataklysm – “Il Diavolo in Me”
Apocalypse Now
Phobia – “Snail”
Audio Kollaps – “Aussent Welt”
David Lynch
Pig Destroyer – “Elfin” (Twin Peaks)
Circle of Dead Children – “A Family Tree to Hang From” (Mulholland Dr.)
Friday, August 21, 2009
All Your Bass Are Belong to Us
Raise your hand if you’ve had this happen to you (or if you’ve done this to someone else). A bright, eager young metal fan burns with a passion to play music, but, sadly, lacks any musical training. What instrument do you hand them? Bass, of course. (Not that I still hold a grudge or anything, guys.) Metal is full of shred heads, drum gods, and vociferous front men, but aside from the occasional DiGiorgio, bass as a whole does not command a lot respect. Especially in grind. Insect Warfare, Discordance Axis and pretty much any band to feature Scott Hull have gotten along without a four stringer crowding the van and clamoring for a cut of the profits. But such wasn’t always the case. So in no particular order, we look back fondly on some of the greatest moments featuring grind’s least favorite instrument.
Solo Effort
Nasum were just one of dozens of grind bands that got along swimmingly sans low end for two awesome full lengths until they swiped bassist Jesper Liverod from the idle Burst (who are once again idle) for masterwork Helvete. Liverod’s presence brought additional depth and contrast to Miesko Talarczyk’s godly riffing, bolstering songs like the sandman murk of “The Final Sleep.” While Nasum will always be remembered as the axis of Talarcyzk and drummer Anders Jakobson, Liverod, who would depart just as quickly as he entered, commanded his own space on Helvete, particularly at the 2:02 mark of “Scoop.” Not too many other grind bands would have the vision or the balls to close out the second song on an album with a full on bass solo.
Festerday’s News
Scott Carlson was a busy guy in seminal grinders Repulsion, not only mortaring a foundation for Dave “Grave” Hollingshead’s embryonic blastbeats and Aaron Freeman and Matt Olivo’s rusty scalpel riffs, but he also had to puke out the band’s grave robber lyrics at the same time. His sneering vocals balanced both power and clarity, setting a standard a metric butt ton of lesser gorehounds are still emulating. But Carlson wasn’t just the guy at the mic. His greatest musical contribution comes within the first 10 seconds of “Festering Boils” as a roiling, suppurating bass tone snarls through the opening bars. Though as a song “Festering Boils” may not be as strong as “Maggots in Your Coffin,” “Radiation Sickness” or “The Stench of Burning Death,” that fuzzy, overblown bass sound would become a hallmark, endlessly aped (hello, Jeff Walker) for the next two decades.
Bench Pressed
While I don’t really consider Bolt Thrower a grind band, per se, only a fucking moron is going to deny First Lady of Metal Jo Bench the props she’s fucking earned. She casually shattered the extreme metal’s gender barrier with a flick of the pick and managed to do it without really making it seem significant. Unlike the current wave of metal women being pushed by the major labels, Bench established her space without trading on her sexuality. Bench’s success does raise an interesting question though. I say this not as a name dropping douche, but Drugs of Faith’s Richard Johnson was recently telling me about meeting Bench at the Maryland Death Fest (it came up because I’d likened his S.O. and bandmate Taryn Wilkinson to the Bolt Thrower bruiser). With the exception of god awful “operatic” singers of shitty goth metal bands, if you find a woman picking up an instrument in rock or metal, chances are pretty good it will be bass. Sure there are obvious exceptions (Angela Gossow, Garden of Shadow’s Mary and God Dethroned’s Susan Gerl), but more often than not it’s bass. What up with that? Is it the few extra inches on the neck? Does size really matter?
Brutal Exit
Nobody likes being fired, but there’s no greater revenge than success. Danny Lilker is a living legend in metal, but in 1984 he was just the unemployed guy who used to be in Anthrax. Where some would take that as a sign to check the help wanted ads for joe jobs, Lilker just went on to found innovative thrashers Nuclear Assault with fellow Anthrax castoff and popularize crossover in S.O.D. Oh and he dabbled in grindcore with a couple bands you may have heard of – Brutal Truth and Exit-13. By 1990 grindcore was already ossifying. Terrorizer was gone and Napalm Death and Carcass were both grazing in death-ier pastures when Lilker and Brutal Truth shoved a weed-drenched enema of unbounded experimentation up the scene's ass. Brutal Truth combined relentless brutality with forward thinking music and a host of outré influences while Exit-13 plowed even further through fog banks of pot smoke into a land of jazz, grind and death (the skipping plucked bass of “Societally Provoked Genocidal Contemplation” should make Lilker’s career highlight reel). It’s that restless sense of experimentation that has constantly driven Lilker to innovate and that makes him such a vital metal presence. Sure Anthrax may have millions of dollars and a guest appearance of Married With Children to their credit, but does Scott Ian have a place in the Guiness Book of World Records? (The 2.18 second-long clip for Brutal Truth’s “Collateral Damage” claims the honor as world’s shortest music video.) That’s got to count for more than appearing in Vh1’s I Love the 1930s Part 12.
None More Vile
Oops. Not actually a bass, but still grisly as all shit.
Now I don’t want to sound like one of those aging, bitter assholes who think everything was better back when Digby Pearson was ripping everyone off and grind ceased to be relevant or interesting or innovative in 1987. We all know that’s bullshit. Case in point, new jacks Maruta ruled 2008. And despite not having a full time bass player on debut In Narcosis, the Floridian swamp grinders made a very significant contribution to the bassical arts. Tee up “Demise of the Humanist” for one of the finest grindcore bass moments in recent memory. It’s the sound of Scott Carlson staying up all night with a case of PBR and bootleg snuff films. The sound is vile and molders over the song like a charnel house virus. Maruta use bass like a blunt instrument. “In Perpetual Narcolepsy” is like being teabagged by Polyphemus. That image disturbs me. I’m going to stop now. You go listen to Maruta.
From Enslavement to Infatuation
From 1988 until today, Shane Embury has been the pivot of Napalm Death’s gyre. He is the grindcore center that has held for more than two decades.
The closest thing that passes for an original member in a band that has completely rotated its cast of characters, Embury is both the soul and conscience of Napalm Death. He’s also the greatest ambassador grind (hell, metal in general) could ever dream up. And he damn near missed his opportunity.
As the story goes, Mick Harris tried to rope Embury (then drumming in Unseen Terror) into replacing Justin Broadrick after he split following the first half of Scum. Though he bowed out in favor of Bill Steer, Embury would get a second crack at the band on bass, an instrument he was more comfortable with from his time in Warhammer and Azagthoth.
I can’t count how many times I’ve seen Napalm Death in my life, and without fail at every show I see Embury working the crowd before the band rips the stage. No matter how successful or how in (and out) of vogue his band may be, Embury is a tireless proponent of metal and has anchored Napalm Death through all of its member transfusions and stylistic upheavals. While I can’t imagine any frontman having the sack to step to Barney Greenway’s mic at this point, I’m convinced Napalm Death will only exist as long as Embury wills it. The day he finally calls it quits, that’s the day Napalm Death ceases to be.
Solo Effort
Nasum were just one of dozens of grind bands that got along swimmingly sans low end for two awesome full lengths until they swiped bassist Jesper Liverod from the idle Burst (who are once again idle) for masterwork Helvete. Liverod’s presence brought additional depth and contrast to Miesko Talarczyk’s godly riffing, bolstering songs like the sandman murk of “The Final Sleep.” While Nasum will always be remembered as the axis of Talarcyzk and drummer Anders Jakobson, Liverod, who would depart just as quickly as he entered, commanded his own space on Helvete, particularly at the 2:02 mark of “Scoop.” Not too many other grind bands would have the vision or the balls to close out the second song on an album with a full on bass solo.
Festerday’s News
Scott Carlson was a busy guy in seminal grinders Repulsion, not only mortaring a foundation for Dave “Grave” Hollingshead’s embryonic blastbeats and Aaron Freeman and Matt Olivo’s rusty scalpel riffs, but he also had to puke out the band’s grave robber lyrics at the same time. His sneering vocals balanced both power and clarity, setting a standard a metric butt ton of lesser gorehounds are still emulating. But Carlson wasn’t just the guy at the mic. His greatest musical contribution comes within the first 10 seconds of “Festering Boils” as a roiling, suppurating bass tone snarls through the opening bars. Though as a song “Festering Boils” may not be as strong as “Maggots in Your Coffin,” “Radiation Sickness” or “The Stench of Burning Death,” that fuzzy, overblown bass sound would become a hallmark, endlessly aped (hello, Jeff Walker) for the next two decades.
Bench Pressed
While I don’t really consider Bolt Thrower a grind band, per se, only a fucking moron is going to deny First Lady of Metal Jo Bench the props she’s fucking earned. She casually shattered the extreme metal’s gender barrier with a flick of the pick and managed to do it without really making it seem significant. Unlike the current wave of metal women being pushed by the major labels, Bench established her space without trading on her sexuality. Bench’s success does raise an interesting question though. I say this not as a name dropping douche, but Drugs of Faith’s Richard Johnson was recently telling me about meeting Bench at the Maryland Death Fest (it came up because I’d likened his S.O. and bandmate Taryn Wilkinson to the Bolt Thrower bruiser). With the exception of god awful “operatic” singers of shitty goth metal bands, if you find a woman picking up an instrument in rock or metal, chances are pretty good it will be bass. Sure there are obvious exceptions (Angela Gossow, Garden of Shadow’s Mary and God Dethroned’s Susan Gerl), but more often than not it’s bass. What up with that? Is it the few extra inches on the neck? Does size really matter?
Brutal Exit
Nobody likes being fired, but there’s no greater revenge than success. Danny Lilker is a living legend in metal, but in 1984 he was just the unemployed guy who used to be in Anthrax. Where some would take that as a sign to check the help wanted ads for joe jobs, Lilker just went on to found innovative thrashers Nuclear Assault with fellow Anthrax castoff and popularize crossover in S.O.D. Oh and he dabbled in grindcore with a couple bands you may have heard of – Brutal Truth and Exit-13. By 1990 grindcore was already ossifying. Terrorizer was gone and Napalm Death and Carcass were both grazing in death-ier pastures when Lilker and Brutal Truth shoved a weed-drenched enema of unbounded experimentation up the scene's ass. Brutal Truth combined relentless brutality with forward thinking music and a host of outré influences while Exit-13 plowed even further through fog banks of pot smoke into a land of jazz, grind and death (the skipping plucked bass of “Societally Provoked Genocidal Contemplation” should make Lilker’s career highlight reel). It’s that restless sense of experimentation that has constantly driven Lilker to innovate and that makes him such a vital metal presence. Sure Anthrax may have millions of dollars and a guest appearance of Married With Children to their credit, but does Scott Ian have a place in the Guiness Book of World Records? (The 2.18 second-long clip for Brutal Truth’s “Collateral Damage” claims the honor as world’s shortest music video.) That’s got to count for more than appearing in Vh1’s I Love the 1930s Part 12.
None More Vile
Oops. Not actually a bass, but still grisly as all shit.
Now I don’t want to sound like one of those aging, bitter assholes who think everything was better back when Digby Pearson was ripping everyone off and grind ceased to be relevant or interesting or innovative in 1987. We all know that’s bullshit. Case in point, new jacks Maruta ruled 2008. And despite not having a full time bass player on debut In Narcosis, the Floridian swamp grinders made a very significant contribution to the bassical arts. Tee up “Demise of the Humanist” for one of the finest grindcore bass moments in recent memory. It’s the sound of Scott Carlson staying up all night with a case of PBR and bootleg snuff films. The sound is vile and molders over the song like a charnel house virus. Maruta use bass like a blunt instrument. “In Perpetual Narcolepsy” is like being teabagged by Polyphemus. That image disturbs me. I’m going to stop now. You go listen to Maruta.
From Enslavement to Infatuation
From 1988 until today, Shane Embury has been the pivot of Napalm Death’s gyre. He is the grindcore center that has held for more than two decades.
The closest thing that passes for an original member in a band that has completely rotated its cast of characters, Embury is both the soul and conscience of Napalm Death. He’s also the greatest ambassador grind (hell, metal in general) could ever dream up. And he damn near missed his opportunity.
As the story goes, Mick Harris tried to rope Embury (then drumming in Unseen Terror) into replacing Justin Broadrick after he split following the first half of Scum. Though he bowed out in favor of Bill Steer, Embury would get a second crack at the band on bass, an instrument he was more comfortable with from his time in Warhammer and Azagthoth.
I can’t count how many times I’ve seen Napalm Death in my life, and without fail at every show I see Embury working the crowd before the band rips the stage. No matter how successful or how in (and out) of vogue his band may be, Embury is a tireless proponent of metal and has anchored Napalm Death through all of its member transfusions and stylistic upheavals. While I can’t imagine any frontman having the sack to step to Barney Greenway’s mic at this point, I’m convinced Napalm Death will only exist as long as Embury wills it. The day he finally calls it quits, that’s the day Napalm Death ceases to be.
Monday, November 10, 2008
G&P Review: Maruta (The Class of Oct. 28)
MarutaIn Narcosis
Willowtip
Dr. Josef “Angel of Death” Mengele carved himself into the modern psyche with a few flicks of his cruel scalpel, but his Japanese counterpart, Dr. Shiro Ishii, conveniently seems to have avoided the same well deserved notoriety. As commander of the infamous Unit 731 in Manchuria, Ichii and his staff performed all manner of vile experimentation on Chinese peasants and Soviet P.O.W.’s – dehumanized as maruta (“logs of wood”) – by their sadistic captors in their quest to perfect chemical and bacteriological weaponry.
In the interest of journalistic thoroughness, this weekend I subjected myself to back to back viewings of notorious 1988 Chinese exploitation film Men Behind the Sun and Andrey Iskanov’s often tedious four and a half hour shockumentary Philosophy of a Knife, two of the few representations of Unit 731’s savagery in popular culture. While neither strive toward academic levels of historicity, they bear graphic witness to World War II’s second Holocaust.
More than just another monicker to shock and evince some notion of extremity, Maruta’s potent admixture of offhand brutality and clearly thought out attack sonically channels the charnel atmosphere of one of the worst – and least discussed – atrocities of the 20th Century, painting a portrait of pain and casual sadism with a palette of curdled blood, purpled contusions and gangrenous yellow.
But it’s not all blunt force trauma experiments. Maruta also know how to wield a scalpel.
After being clubbed over the head with a blunt instrument for three straight songs, “Demise of the Humanist” sees these grindcore Neanderthals whip out slide rules and begin lecturing on the finer points of trigonometry in a song laced with enough pinch harmonics and technical snazzy to light up fans of Lethargy and Creation is Crucifixion. It’s those kinds of moments when tempos slow to let double bass work over take the incessant blast beatdowns and guitarist Eduardo Borja carves out enough space to prove he’s more than just an adrenaline junky punk banger that Maruta truly come into their own as a grind force to be faced and feared. “Rise of the Iron Moth” sounds more like a swarm of Africanized titanium bees on a kamikaze run with your face.
Add in production values thick as a week old puddle of bodily fluids on a surgery floor, and Willowtip have a sure fire winner on their hands. And this is just Maruta’s debut.
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