I know I’ve done my job properly when I see you sobbing in the comments. The matches are getting more even and the choices are only getting harder from here on out. No upsets yet, so here’s your 2-7 champions. I didn’t pick em so don’t blame me.
North America
Despite some spirited defense of Noisear, GridLink’s 12 minutes of grind perfection (don’t forget the track from Our Last Day, folks) ruled the day by a vote of 11-3.
Asia and Australia
Absence (absinthe?) makes the heart grow fonder and despite not gracing our turn tables with new noise in four years, crust busters 324 narrowly out blasted left field loonies Swarrrm 9-6.
Scandinavia
What Splitter will be mourning will not be unknown because everyone should have seen Sayyadina’s victory coming. They outlasted their countrymen by a vote of 13-3 with the most robust defense of the round.
Continental Europe and the United Kingdom
Bleed for me, bitches. Holland’s Blood I Bleed talked shit and spit blood all over Cyness by 8-3. While I agree with Shantera that Massgrav won the split with the Dutch band, anyone who’s basked in the glory of Gods Out of Monsters knows what I’ve been raving about.
As always, the full updated brackets can be perused here. Meanwhile, your toughest task yet is before you with the 4-5 faceoffs. You've got until Tuesday. Now if you'll excuse me, the Blues-Sharks game is on.
North America
Brutal Truth (4) vs. Total Fucking Destruction (5)
Brutal Truth shook off the munchies long enough to drop a trio of the most essential grind albums of the ’90s. But that’s ancient history. After a decade hiatus, it’s time to ask the New Yorkers what they’ve done for you lately. Reupped and rearmed with ex-Lethargy/Sulaco guitarist Erik Burke in tow, Brutal Truth gave us a handful of songs on the first This Comp Kills Fascists and Evolution Through Revolution, a 21st Century blend of Need to Control ferocity and Sounds of the Animal Kingdom experimentalism. However, does the new batch stand up to the glory days or are they just milking the nostalgia circuit?
Rich Hoak certainly didn’t sit idle after Brutal Truth went the way of the dodo. Left with a load of free time, a love of jazz and a yoga driven rejuvenation, Total Fucking Destruction has been pushing grind into ever weirder corners with each release. Blast jazz, acoustic grind and stand up poetry screeds all get hotboxed by his coterie of likeminded cohorts. The only rule: nothing is off limits.
Asia and Australia
Agents of Abhorrence (4) vs. The Kill (5)
Any band that comes with Zmaj’s imprimatur is one to take seriously; the Blogfather knows his shit. Agents of Abhorrence earned the Cephalochromoscope seal of approval for their brew of Discordance Axis acceleration and strains of power violence with Iron Lung and Neanderthal getting namechecked. Taken together, their influences brew up an exemplary example of modern grind’s potential.
Featuring members of Super Happy Fun Slide and Fuck…I’m Dead, you wouldn’t expect The Kill to suddenly start spouting tea time niceties. Instead they set the intentionally stupid to the deliberately thrashy. It’s the point/counterpoint of lethal precision musically and the frat boy humor sentiments of “Tracksuit Pants are Thrash,” the abortion-riffic “Dead Babies” and unambiguous sentiments of “Fuck Emo” that set them apart. Agents of Abhorrence list the Kill as an influence. Who does it better?
Scandinavia
Gadget (4) vs. Crowpath (5)
Go, go Gadget grindcore. Gadget ringleader William Blackmon’s sci-fi steeped grind has only gotten more focused over two full lengths even as he’s broadened his vistas with expertly deployed downbeat interludes. Sleek, composed and poised, Gadget distill Ridley Scott’s interpretation of a Phillip K. Dick dystopia into its audio essence, alternately embracing its potential and pitfalls in ways that are consistently thought provoking and electrifying.
Crowpath’s dystopias strike closer to our temporal home – their last album was a Swedish serial killer concept that crawled out of a miasma of grindcore and power violent sludge. Maruta may have taken the sound in grungier directions, but Crowpath’s music is marked by a sociopathic sense of control that's eerie. They’re the frightening musical secrets lurking behind Jeffrey Dahmer’s everyday guy normalcy.
Continental Europe and the United Kingdom
Looking for an Answer (4) vs. Nashgul (5)
The pain from Spain will sear into your brain. It’s just a question of who does it better.
Denak descendants Looking for an Answer brew up a savage beating that harks back to grindcore greats all in the name of animal rights and crushing noise. Their raucous rage consists of to the point songs strung together into an interlocking chain of blast driven noise. The master craftsmen have increasingly refined their sound paradoxically by shedding the modern sheen, connecting with something more primal and atavistic with time.
Nashgul have blinkered themselves to the last 20 years of grind evolution. Instead they blew the dust off their copy of Horrified and took that as their template, banging out tunes derived low budget movies and zombie lore. Their musical inspirations are drawn from the same era as the films they pillage for inspiration – Mad Max, Toxic Avenger and the finer slices of the Fulci cannon all get musical nods. For all the talk of rotting corpses, unsightly horrors and other monstrosities, Nashgul keep everything appropriately light hearted and limber.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
G&P Review: Cellgraft
CellgraftExternal Habitation
Self Released
I learned my lesson from the great Crowpath uprising of 2008: give the people what they want. So, with that instructive experience firmly in mind, I present you with Cellgraft, with whom, if comments are to be believed, most of you are already intimately familiar. I mean, I did put them on my Napalm Death covers comp.
If that were not enough to start your salivary glands flowing with Pavlovian delight, External Habitation is a biologically-themed blast of 10 quick jabs and the aforementioned Napalm Death cover that just are good enough to erase the Florida tag on Fark. Florida and the Cellgraft’s black and white art should also prod your thoughts toward Assuck, whose meaty punk bleats get crossed up with Jouhou-era Discordance Axis caffeination. And neither reference point is much of an exaggeration. Cellgraft, with two self released albums under their studded belts, possess masterful songwriting skills. While just about every song is a wild eyed experiment in acceleration, Cellgraft know just when to throw a few angular hiccups into the rhythms into “Divine Resistance” or the staccato floor tom thunder that studs the colonic “Codex Alimentarius.”
Fiercely DIY, releasing their own albums, Cellgraft defy lyrical expectations with their scientifically-minded diatribes that don’t devolve into gore (like their Retribution EP) or rehash like-minded political slogans. This is a band that's poised to be major players in grindcore’s future if they can maintain their stellar quality and crash through the internet noise to reach a wider audience.
External Habitation, their eponymous debut and a gore-tinged EP are all free for download at the band’s blog.
Grindcore Bracketology: The 1-8 Winners/The 3-6 Matchups
The people have spoken and it wasn’t even close. Here are your 1-8 winners.
North America
Pig Destroyer terrifier-ed crust grind lifers Phobia, blowing them out 17-4. Turns out a fairly consistent record over 20 years and an unwavering commitment to DIY ethics just can’t compete with Hull et al’s scathing art grind nightmares. (Bonus points go to Bill Willingham IV Esq. for better articulating my problem with recent Phobia albums. I also agree they’re too safe.)
Asia and Australia
In the most lopsided contest of the lot, Wormrot eviscerated Captain Cleanoff by a vote of 18-2. Though many of you argued fiercely for the Australians’ right to slot in the contest, their booze drenched nods to classic Carcass just couldn’t stand in the face of Wormrot’s exquisite ferocity.
Scandinavia
Though a few of you offered up spirited defenses of Infanticide’s new jack noise, Rotten Sound’s legacy of consistently crushing records drove them to a 16-5 victory. Give Infanticide a few more years to build up their reputation and I suspect the results would be much closer.
Continental Europe and the United Kingdom
Maybe it was just wishful thinking since I’ve been on an Agathocles binge lately, but I had smelled upset going into this one. You, the voters, were having none of it. Old dogs Napalm Death’s new tricks crushed Agathocles’ relentless singelmindedness by 15-6. It was the tightest contest of the day, but it wasn’t even close.
The winners have advanced and you can check out the revised brackets here.
Meanwhile, we move on to the 3-6 matchups. The faceoffs should be more evenly matched so I expect closer calls and some really interesting arguments. Let the streets flow with the blood of the unbelievers. Argument’s open until Saturday.
North America
Kill the Client (3) vs. Graf Orlock (6)
Go mess with Texas. I dare you. Yeah, didn’t think so. Kill the Client are an audio pipe bomb packed full of nails and the knucklebones of lesser competitors who shred their fingers to the nub vainly trying to keep pace. But there’s just not another band working right now that’s as purely pissed as Kill the Client. Champ Morgan is a man possessed and he’s backed by of top shelf musicians. Jesus, is there any grind band that Bryan Fajardo hasn’t joined? But the secret sauce to the Dallas barbecue may be bassist James Delgado who anchors the chaos and quietly shapes the sound from behind the scenes.
If the MPAA sends out a flurry of new cease and desist letters, cine-grinders Graf Orlock must be back in the studio. The band has dropped a triptych of releases that follow the formula of introduction/conflict/and violent conclusion that stitches together a narrative from cinematic samples and swiped dialog lyrics. And while that has been the bit of trivia that has formed the basis of the Graf’s identity, don’t overlook their quality of the hardcore tinged noise they bang out. The music is just as sweeping, emotional and explosive of the meathead movies that inspire them.
Asia and Australia
Magnicide (3) vs. Unholy Grave (6)
A fascinating matchup between two Asian acts that are perhaps better known for their artists they ape than the music they make on their own. Singapore’s Magnicide do a capable 324 impersonation as they play second grind fiddle to countrymen Wormrot. But do Wormrot have grindcore didgeridoo? Hmm? Do they? With 324 frozen in carbonite for the time being, Magnicide are your best bet to scratch that crusty grind holocaust itch until the masters’ triumphant return.
Unholy Grave are the Asian Agathocles both because they bang out a consistently lo-fi morass of punky grind with only a fleeting acquaintance with 21st Century recording techniques and technology and because the list of their split-heavy back catalogue outweighs your average phone book. But the Japanese quartet has defined its niche in the grindcore ecosphere and have burrowed in comfortably. You don’t pick up an Unholy Grave album expecting to be wowed with the latest thinking in songsmithy. However, the band has a deft hand at grinding the fuck out, never swaying from their strengths.
Scandinavia
Afgrund (3) vs. The Arson Project (6)
Some of you have had the temerity to develop your own surprisingly cogent opinions, making lucid arguments in favor of Afgrund’s superiority to Sayyadina as Sweden’s top working grinders. How dare you? Oh, I can certainly see where you’re coming from because Afgrund raged out of the abyss (all of those who got that pun, raise your hands) with a potent brew of punk- and metal-distilled audio aggression. When the sometimes Swedish/sometimes Italian/sometimes Finnish sometimes trio/sometimes quartet (OK, their lineup is not stable) clicks, the set all of Europe aflame, like the song says. The question before you is if that is strong enough to overcome the band’s insistence of larding albums with thoroughly pointless and dreary doom passages.
Against them comes upstarts The Arson Project who only boast one EP to their name to date, but it’s a corker. Hobbled by a name stolen from the bad metalcore handbook, The Arson Project have a slick hand with a tune and a poise and energy that belies the band’s relative youth. Do 14 minutes of prime noise and bucketsful of future potential stack up against the here and now attractions of Afgrund?
Continental Europe and the United Kingdom
Suffering Mind (3) vs. Attack of the Mad Axeman (6)
Suffering Mind couldn’t be more serious; Attack of the Mad Axeman couldn’t be less. Do you prefer the rage or the jester? Poles Suffering Mind are grind incarnate. Far more hardcore inflected than many of their European kin, the band blasts and huffs and doesn’t waste its time with much else. They know their strengths and they will throttle you with their raw rage and bullwhip attack.
Against them stands Germany’s Attack of the Mad Axeman the ecologically minded grinders harness the sounds of the animal kingdom in the name of animal activism and environmental responsibility. They also know their way around a thoroughly infectious riff over the course of two increasingly awesome full lengths. And yes, they wear fuzzy animal costumes on stage, but don’t let that lull you into thinking they’re a joke band.
North America
Pig Destroyer terrifier-ed crust grind lifers Phobia, blowing them out 17-4. Turns out a fairly consistent record over 20 years and an unwavering commitment to DIY ethics just can’t compete with Hull et al’s scathing art grind nightmares. (Bonus points go to Bill Willingham IV Esq. for better articulating my problem with recent Phobia albums. I also agree they’re too safe.)
Asia and Australia
In the most lopsided contest of the lot, Wormrot eviscerated Captain Cleanoff by a vote of 18-2. Though many of you argued fiercely for the Australians’ right to slot in the contest, their booze drenched nods to classic Carcass just couldn’t stand in the face of Wormrot’s exquisite ferocity.
Scandinavia
Though a few of you offered up spirited defenses of Infanticide’s new jack noise, Rotten Sound’s legacy of consistently crushing records drove them to a 16-5 victory. Give Infanticide a few more years to build up their reputation and I suspect the results would be much closer.
Continental Europe and the United Kingdom
Maybe it was just wishful thinking since I’ve been on an Agathocles binge lately, but I had smelled upset going into this one. You, the voters, were having none of it. Old dogs Napalm Death’s new tricks crushed Agathocles’ relentless singelmindedness by 15-6. It was the tightest contest of the day, but it wasn’t even close.
The winners have advanced and you can check out the revised brackets here.
Meanwhile, we move on to the 3-6 matchups. The faceoffs should be more evenly matched so I expect closer calls and some really interesting arguments. Let the streets flow with the blood of the unbelievers. Argument’s open until Saturday.
North America
Kill the Client (3) vs. Graf Orlock (6)
Go mess with Texas. I dare you. Yeah, didn’t think so. Kill the Client are an audio pipe bomb packed full of nails and the knucklebones of lesser competitors who shred their fingers to the nub vainly trying to keep pace. But there’s just not another band working right now that’s as purely pissed as Kill the Client. Champ Morgan is a man possessed and he’s backed by of top shelf musicians. Jesus, is there any grind band that Bryan Fajardo hasn’t joined? But the secret sauce to the Dallas barbecue may be bassist James Delgado who anchors the chaos and quietly shapes the sound from behind the scenes.
If the MPAA sends out a flurry of new cease and desist letters, cine-grinders Graf Orlock must be back in the studio. The band has dropped a triptych of releases that follow the formula of introduction/conflict/and violent conclusion that stitches together a narrative from cinematic samples and swiped dialog lyrics. And while that has been the bit of trivia that has formed the basis of the Graf’s identity, don’t overlook their quality of the hardcore tinged noise they bang out. The music is just as sweeping, emotional and explosive of the meathead movies that inspire them.
Asia and Australia
Magnicide (3) vs. Unholy Grave (6)
A fascinating matchup between two Asian acts that are perhaps better known for their artists they ape than the music they make on their own. Singapore’s Magnicide do a capable 324 impersonation as they play second grind fiddle to countrymen Wormrot. But do Wormrot have grindcore didgeridoo? Hmm? Do they? With 324 frozen in carbonite for the time being, Magnicide are your best bet to scratch that crusty grind holocaust itch until the masters’ triumphant return.
Unholy Grave are the Asian Agathocles both because they bang out a consistently lo-fi morass of punky grind with only a fleeting acquaintance with 21st Century recording techniques and technology and because the list of their split-heavy back catalogue outweighs your average phone book. But the Japanese quartet has defined its niche in the grindcore ecosphere and have burrowed in comfortably. You don’t pick up an Unholy Grave album expecting to be wowed with the latest thinking in songsmithy. However, the band has a deft hand at grinding the fuck out, never swaying from their strengths.
Scandinavia
Afgrund (3) vs. The Arson Project (6)
Some of you have had the temerity to develop your own surprisingly cogent opinions, making lucid arguments in favor of Afgrund’s superiority to Sayyadina as Sweden’s top working grinders. How dare you? Oh, I can certainly see where you’re coming from because Afgrund raged out of the abyss (all of those who got that pun, raise your hands) with a potent brew of punk- and metal-distilled audio aggression. When the sometimes Swedish/sometimes Italian/sometimes Finnish sometimes trio/sometimes quartet (OK, their lineup is not stable) clicks, the set all of Europe aflame, like the song says. The question before you is if that is strong enough to overcome the band’s insistence of larding albums with thoroughly pointless and dreary doom passages.
Against them comes upstarts The Arson Project who only boast one EP to their name to date, but it’s a corker. Hobbled by a name stolen from the bad metalcore handbook, The Arson Project have a slick hand with a tune and a poise and energy that belies the band’s relative youth. Do 14 minutes of prime noise and bucketsful of future potential stack up against the here and now attractions of Afgrund?
Continental Europe and the United Kingdom
Suffering Mind (3) vs. Attack of the Mad Axeman (6)
Suffering Mind couldn’t be more serious; Attack of the Mad Axeman couldn’t be less. Do you prefer the rage or the jester? Poles Suffering Mind are grind incarnate. Far more hardcore inflected than many of their European kin, the band blasts and huffs and doesn’t waste its time with much else. They know their strengths and they will throttle you with their raw rage and bullwhip attack.
Against them stands Germany’s Attack of the Mad Axeman the ecologically minded grinders harness the sounds of the animal kingdom in the name of animal activism and environmental responsibility. They also know their way around a thoroughly infectious riff over the course of two increasingly awesome full lengths. And yes, they wear fuzzy animal costumes on stage, but don’t let that lull you into thinking they’re a joke band.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
G&P Review: Gigantic Brain
Gigantic BrainThey Did This to Me
Self Released
Gigantic Brain is dead
Long live Gigantic Brain.
The evolution of one man Virginia band Gigantic Brain from Nintendo-core blip-grind origins through its cosmically-tinged grind opera denouement has been nothing but staggering and a career trajectory plenty of bands would seize with envy. Very quickly after the Invasion Discography’s battery to the ’nads assault, it became quickly apparent that mere grindcore was not going to be enough to constrain Gigantic Brain’s increasingly cosmic vistas. The grindcore increasingly became the icing on a dense cake of ambient electronics and expansive emotional catharsis, culminating in They Did This to Me, easily the Brain’s high point and sadly also its epitaph.
They Did This to Me barely qualifies as grindcore anymore, given more toward ambient passages than raging beaters that is just as often instrumental than not. Gigantic Brain gives pride of place to carefully sculptured electronic passages that have been hewn to a single emotional core, often fear, paranoia and even fleeting moments of rapture. The album is graced by surprisingly delicate moments that sparkle like diamonds among Gigantic Brain’s typical electronic wasteland. “Crop Circles” is a scintillating soundscape that likely would pass unnoticed on a broad minded pop album. They Did This to Me’s emotional center, however, is the stunning emotional ambience of “Abandoned,” which could grace a Jesu album – one of the better ones – with its keyboard crescendos and plaintive Broadrick-style wails of abject despair.
This is stunning in its ambition and flawless in its execution, guiding listeners through an electro-grind equivalent of the stations of the cross. This has to be heard. It’s easily one of the finest releases of the year, and you have no excuses since it’s free. As a farewell gesture, GB is giving away damn near every moment its ever recorded at its MySpace page (linked above). I’d highly suggest getting while the getting is good because this is music good enough to pay for.
Grindcore Bracketology: The 2-7 Matchups
We're off to a perspicacious (and occasionally surprising) start with grindcore bracketology. The 1-8 matchups will stay open for argument until Saturday just in case you've been straggling to voice your opinion. Meanwhile, it's on to the 2-7 faceoffs. You've got until Tuesday. Discuss amongst yourself.
Full bracket available here.
North America
GridLink (2) vs. Noisear (7)
It’s hot Fajardo on Fajardo action. First up is the post-Discordance Axis/Mortalized mash up, GridLink. Jon Chang is an elite lyricist with a striking vision being backed up by another superlative cast of musical collaborators as he spits and screams his way through fractured narratives that wrench philosophical musings from anime and manga, refracting a blend of neon jazz and caffeinated energy.
Discordance Axis aficionados Noisear have been toiling in the masters’ footsteps but have recently taken steps toward their own distinctive sound, a complex hornet’s nest of buzzing guitars, Witte-worthy drumming and boundless enthusiasm. Listening to Noisear is like plowing face first through a plate glass window. The question before you is if the new jacks have hijacked the masters’ noise.
Asia and Australia
324 (2) vs. Swarrrm (7)
Japanese rebel grinders 324 have pretty much owned the crust grind crown for more than a decade now even if they’ve been dormant since 2006. Sharing a three way split with Discordance Axis – and easily holding their own – 324 are masters of a hook laden riff. But the band also knows how to stretch its musical muscles on occasion. The Across the Black Wings EP featured moments that simply rocked the psychedelic fuck out. And then they immediately went back to derm-abrading your ass with their grinding goodness.
Packing a few inexplicably extraneous consonants in their name, Swarrrm also pack a few outré musical notions as well. Not content to simply be a humble grind band, Swarrrm stuff their repertoire with five minute songs that feature more switchbacks and doublecrosses than a carefully plotted heist film. I don’t know what they’ve been packing in their black bong, but it’s a potent brew.
Scandinavia
Sayyadina (2) vs. Splitter (7)
Quite simply, Sayyadina just do everything well in that inimitably poised Swedish fashion. Songs always hang from a blade sharp musical meathook and the introspective, emotional lyrics set them apart from lesser bands that are content to rehash familiar themes. Mourning the Unknown is an unfuckwithable slab of punk toned blast beaten goodness that epitomizes everything modern grind should embody.
While Splitter can bring the brutality with the best of them, what truly sets them apart are their melodic sensibilities. Combining early At the Gates (pre-Slaughter of the Soul) with demo-era Nasum, Splitter solder together two disparate strains of extreme Swedish musical outgrowth into a seamless whole. It shouldn’t work as well as it does, but the band manages to interweave the competing impulses perfectly.
Continental Europe and the United Kingdom
Blood I Bleed (2) vs. Cyness (7)
Dutch dervishes Blood I Bleed have a pedigree for perfection dating back to their prior incarnation as My Minds Mind. Shantia is top five among songwriters working right now and Blood I Bleed set off a staggering stream of audio pipebombs that grenade grind and punk without remorse. This is sonic adrenaline set to wax.
Germans Cyness have steeped themselves in grindcore history with a post graduate symposium in From Enslavement to Obliteration for good measure. They take that history and drag it into the 21st Century but otherwise keep the tradition intact. This is another band that’s been inactive for too long, but their two albums are enough to secure their spot in the discussion.
Full bracket available here.
North America
GridLink (2) vs. Noisear (7)
It’s hot Fajardo on Fajardo action. First up is the post-Discordance Axis/Mortalized mash up, GridLink. Jon Chang is an elite lyricist with a striking vision being backed up by another superlative cast of musical collaborators as he spits and screams his way through fractured narratives that wrench philosophical musings from anime and manga, refracting a blend of neon jazz and caffeinated energy.
Discordance Axis aficionados Noisear have been toiling in the masters’ footsteps but have recently taken steps toward their own distinctive sound, a complex hornet’s nest of buzzing guitars, Witte-worthy drumming and boundless enthusiasm. Listening to Noisear is like plowing face first through a plate glass window. The question before you is if the new jacks have hijacked the masters’ noise.
Asia and Australia
324 (2) vs. Swarrrm (7)
Japanese rebel grinders 324 have pretty much owned the crust grind crown for more than a decade now even if they’ve been dormant since 2006. Sharing a three way split with Discordance Axis – and easily holding their own – 324 are masters of a hook laden riff. But the band also knows how to stretch its musical muscles on occasion. The Across the Black Wings EP featured moments that simply rocked the psychedelic fuck out. And then they immediately went back to derm-abrading your ass with their grinding goodness.
Packing a few inexplicably extraneous consonants in their name, Swarrrm also pack a few outré musical notions as well. Not content to simply be a humble grind band, Swarrrm stuff their repertoire with five minute songs that feature more switchbacks and doublecrosses than a carefully plotted heist film. I don’t know what they’ve been packing in their black bong, but it’s a potent brew.
Scandinavia
Sayyadina (2) vs. Splitter (7)
Quite simply, Sayyadina just do everything well in that inimitably poised Swedish fashion. Songs always hang from a blade sharp musical meathook and the introspective, emotional lyrics set them apart from lesser bands that are content to rehash familiar themes. Mourning the Unknown is an unfuckwithable slab of punk toned blast beaten goodness that epitomizes everything modern grind should embody.
While Splitter can bring the brutality with the best of them, what truly sets them apart are their melodic sensibilities. Combining early At the Gates (pre-Slaughter of the Soul) with demo-era Nasum, Splitter solder together two disparate strains of extreme Swedish musical outgrowth into a seamless whole. It shouldn’t work as well as it does, but the band manages to interweave the competing impulses perfectly.
Continental Europe and the United Kingdom
Blood I Bleed (2) vs. Cyness (7)
Dutch dervishes Blood I Bleed have a pedigree for perfection dating back to their prior incarnation as My Minds Mind. Shantia is top five among songwriters working right now and Blood I Bleed set off a staggering stream of audio pipebombs that grenade grind and punk without remorse. This is sonic adrenaline set to wax.
Germans Cyness have steeped themselves in grindcore history with a post graduate symposium in From Enslavement to Obliteration for good measure. They take that history and drag it into the 21st Century but otherwise keep the tradition intact. This is another band that’s been inactive for too long, but their two albums are enough to secure their spot in the discussion.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Blast(beat) from the Past: Punished Earth
Punished EarthCorporate Dictatory
Self Released
2006
When I was listening to the new Circle of Dead Children album in heavy rotation, it kept tickling something in the back of my head that I just couldn’t place. That was until I slapped Punished Earth’s 2006 album Corporate Dictatory in the CD changer. The Belgians certainly exhume that same Pittsburgh vibe, especially when those hogs start squalling into the mic or when thick sided slabs of death metal get all ground up in the grind.
Punished Earth – “Parasite”
Songs vary from serial killer fascination (the narrative knife thrust of “Alterated Biosphere”) to your more accustomed political diatribes (“Dictator of a Lost Cause”). I have to admit hearing a bunch of Europeans trash talking Dubya actually made me feel irrationally defensive of the incompetent fuck. He’s our asshole. Go find your own asshole to hate. Punished Earth also manage to work in a sly sense of humor with their songs, like they way they cleverly weave The Simpsons’ themesong into the body of “Clash of the Brainless.”
Corporate Dictatory is an enjoyable on its own terms, but it does require the right headspace. The fellatio revenge fantasy of “Swallow Bitch” is juvenile and only slightly tempered by the absurd Evil Dead samples or the fact it’s immediately followed by the feminist (if you stretch and call I Spit on Your Grave feminist) revenge tale “Penis in the Pan.”
Punished Earth just released a new album that I haven’t heard yet, but giving Corporate Dictatory a few refresher listens reminded me they’re a solid band playing a somewhat overdone style. But I’ll probably end up grabbing a copy of Rhapsodies of Decay anyway. I could do a lot worse.
Grindcore Bracketology: The 1-8 Matchups
Let round one of the great grindcore faceoff begin. Bring on your best arguments. Winners will be announced next week. You can view the full bracket here. Have at it.
North America
Pig Destroyer (1) vs. Phobia (8)
Though my enjoyment of Pig Destroyer has decreased slightly with every album after Prowler in the Yard, I can’t deny they’re still the most beastly and brutal band working in grind. Scott Hull’s riffs and production are consistently huge, a looming mugger crowding you in a dark alley on the wrong side of town at the worst possible time. And that’s before J.R. Hayes’ emotional violence seethes through lyrics about murder, suicide, emotional abuse and love gone horribly wrong. Fantastic drumming and the recent addition of full time electronics artist Blake Harrison only add to the exquisite torture.
Phobia are grindcore lifers. Part of that second wave that took what Napalm Death and Terrorizer had inspired, the tandem of Shane McLachlan and Steve Burda, regardless of supporting cast, have bashed out a consistent brew of no frills punk-inspired grind. Phobia have always given off the vibe of a band that doesn’t give a fuck whether it's playing in front of a club full of a 800 or a basement show with 12 people in the audience. More of a crust punk band in their infancy, Phobia have evolved into more of a traditional grind as they’ve aged, but their spit and fury have remained unchanged.
Asia and Australia
Wormrot (1) vs. Captain Cleanoff (8)
By now you should be fairly familiar with my thoughts on Wormrot: They kick your favorite band’s ass. The Singapore trio doesn’t waste time trying to reinvent the grindcore wheel so much as reinvigorate it with a streamlined, savage take on the sound that crosses straight ahead aggression with thrashtastic riffing and an unhinged energy. If they had never recorded another note beyond Abuse, that would easily stand as the post-millennial equivalent of Horrified, but the band has Earache’s backing now and their next album won’t find them positioned as upstart outsiders but rather as leaders of a new generation of grinders.
Wormrot square off with Captain Cleanoff, the clear people’s choice for this matchup. The long running Aussies dropped their Carcass-mocking first album in 2008 and people are still talking about it today. Mixing up groove with their grind and adding Bill Steer-ish soloing, Captain Cleanoff are staunchly planted in the past. Like Wormrot (but paying homage to different influences) the band doesn’t advance grindcore so much as hit all the right notes very hard and very quickly.
Scandinavia
Rotten Sound (1) vs. Infanticide (8)
The Scandinavian bracket could just as easily been the Sweden bracket because that country seems to have a grindcore factory tucked away among its fjords. Except across the eastern border Rotten Sound have planted the flag for Finn-core, a rampaging romp of Nasum-quality blasting that centers around that rarest of avi: actual grindcore songs. Armed with a batch of songs mostly titled with a single word, Rotten Sound are a grinding machine, mechanistically beating out high quality noise with a frequency and quality that’s outright stunning 17 years on.
Paired with Rotten Sound quintessence of grind is Sweden’s Infanticide who lard their blasts with a layer of death metal. Just as comfortable working at lower RPMs as they are with blastbeats, Infanticide are part of a new crop of bands that challenge our notions of what grindcore should be. Infanticide’s music is just as likely to reference Entombed and Bolt Thrower as it is Unseen Terror and Brutal Truth. Grind thrives on self-imposed limitations, but Infanticide don’t so much think outside of the box as pop the lid on it and take a look at what the rest of the world is up to.
Continental Europe and the United Kingdom
Napalm Death (1) vs. Agathocles (8)
You can’t have a conversation about grindcore without Napalm Death’s name popping up. The band, through its various incarnations, has pooped out some of the most essential noise the scene has seen. However, for this discussion, you’re limited to the current Greenway/Embury/Harris/Herrera lineup (discussions of Pintado’s contribution will be allowed). Argumentum ad Scum-um is verboten. With an entirely new cast from their glory days and playing a style that eschews straight noisy punk for a casserole of punk, grind, death, crust and thrash, Napalm Death are still innovators and are at once instantly recognizable.
Just as geriatric, if not always as widely lauded, as Napalm Death, Belgium’s Agathocles are probably better known for their colossal back catalogue than they are for the music that comprises it. Led by pivot Jan Frederickx, since 1985 the band has been banging out a punked out brew of anarchistic grind that’s grown even more jaundiced with age. Like Phobia on the left side of the Atlantic, Agathocles are the kind of band that will play a show or split a 7-inch with anybody, anytime anywhere. And it’s a measure of the band’s esteem that sharing wax with them is still considered a rite of passage for many a young grind band a quarter century later.
North America
Pig Destroyer (1) vs. Phobia (8)
Though my enjoyment of Pig Destroyer has decreased slightly with every album after Prowler in the Yard, I can’t deny they’re still the most beastly and brutal band working in grind. Scott Hull’s riffs and production are consistently huge, a looming mugger crowding you in a dark alley on the wrong side of town at the worst possible time. And that’s before J.R. Hayes’ emotional violence seethes through lyrics about murder, suicide, emotional abuse and love gone horribly wrong. Fantastic drumming and the recent addition of full time electronics artist Blake Harrison only add to the exquisite torture.
Phobia are grindcore lifers. Part of that second wave that took what Napalm Death and Terrorizer had inspired, the tandem of Shane McLachlan and Steve Burda, regardless of supporting cast, have bashed out a consistent brew of no frills punk-inspired grind. Phobia have always given off the vibe of a band that doesn’t give a fuck whether it's playing in front of a club full of a 800 or a basement show with 12 people in the audience. More of a crust punk band in their infancy, Phobia have evolved into more of a traditional grind as they’ve aged, but their spit and fury have remained unchanged.
Asia and Australia
Wormrot (1) vs. Captain Cleanoff (8)
By now you should be fairly familiar with my thoughts on Wormrot: They kick your favorite band’s ass. The Singapore trio doesn’t waste time trying to reinvent the grindcore wheel so much as reinvigorate it with a streamlined, savage take on the sound that crosses straight ahead aggression with thrashtastic riffing and an unhinged energy. If they had never recorded another note beyond Abuse, that would easily stand as the post-millennial equivalent of Horrified, but the band has Earache’s backing now and their next album won’t find them positioned as upstart outsiders but rather as leaders of a new generation of grinders.
Wormrot square off with Captain Cleanoff, the clear people’s choice for this matchup. The long running Aussies dropped their Carcass-mocking first album in 2008 and people are still talking about it today. Mixing up groove with their grind and adding Bill Steer-ish soloing, Captain Cleanoff are staunchly planted in the past. Like Wormrot (but paying homage to different influences) the band doesn’t advance grindcore so much as hit all the right notes very hard and very quickly.
Scandinavia
Rotten Sound (1) vs. Infanticide (8)
The Scandinavian bracket could just as easily been the Sweden bracket because that country seems to have a grindcore factory tucked away among its fjords. Except across the eastern border Rotten Sound have planted the flag for Finn-core, a rampaging romp of Nasum-quality blasting that centers around that rarest of avi: actual grindcore songs. Armed with a batch of songs mostly titled with a single word, Rotten Sound are a grinding machine, mechanistically beating out high quality noise with a frequency and quality that’s outright stunning 17 years on.
Paired with Rotten Sound quintessence of grind is Sweden’s Infanticide who lard their blasts with a layer of death metal. Just as comfortable working at lower RPMs as they are with blastbeats, Infanticide are part of a new crop of bands that challenge our notions of what grindcore should be. Infanticide’s music is just as likely to reference Entombed and Bolt Thrower as it is Unseen Terror and Brutal Truth. Grind thrives on self-imposed limitations, but Infanticide don’t so much think outside of the box as pop the lid on it and take a look at what the rest of the world is up to.
Continental Europe and the United Kingdom
Napalm Death (1) vs. Agathocles (8)
You can’t have a conversation about grindcore without Napalm Death’s name popping up. The band, through its various incarnations, has pooped out some of the most essential noise the scene has seen. However, for this discussion, you’re limited to the current Greenway/Embury/Harris/Herrera lineup (discussions of Pintado’s contribution will be allowed). Argumentum ad Scum-um is verboten. With an entirely new cast from their glory days and playing a style that eschews straight noisy punk for a casserole of punk, grind, death, crust and thrash, Napalm Death are still innovators and are at once instantly recognizable.
Just as geriatric, if not always as widely lauded, as Napalm Death, Belgium’s Agathocles are probably better known for their colossal back catalogue than they are for the music that comprises it. Led by pivot Jan Frederickx, since 1985 the band has been banging out a punked out brew of anarchistic grind that’s grown even more jaundiced with age. Like Phobia on the left side of the Atlantic, Agathocles are the kind of band that will play a show or split a 7-inch with anybody, anytime anywhere. And it’s a measure of the band’s esteem that sharing wax with them is still considered a rite of passage for many a young grind band a quarter century later.
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