Grindcore Bracketology 2: The Fantastic Four

Things got worrisome there for a minute. We looked to be heading for another tie, but a last minute vote (seriously, eight minutes before midnight) broke the deadlock, forcing me to rewrite this whole post. But at least we can move on to Round 4. We started with 32, but only four guitarists are still standing. Here's how it broke down.

The Old Guard
The brutal truth? Pintado went down in a squeaker. A last minute vote broke the tie as Gurn ground it out 11-10.
Gurn is the best of The Old Guard.

The Innovators
Not even close. Hull trounced Papirmollen by 19-1.
Hull is the best of The Innovators.

The Punks
The forces of past vs. present were pretty evenly arrayed, but Heritage triumphed by 12-8.
Heritage is the best of The Punks.
The Technicians
Even the people who voted for Burke admitted it was a futile protest. Matsubara winds handily 15-5.
Matsubara is the best of The Technicians.

As we winnow the field further, Round 4 will be Old Guard vs. Innovators and Punks vs. Technicians. You can check out the updated brackets here. As always, the door slams shut on comments on Sunday. Let the best man win.

The Old Guard v. The Innovators
Gurn (Brutal Truth) v. Hull (ANb/Pig Destroyer/Anal Cunt)
Extreme grindcore demanded an extreme guitarist. The other altered the state of grindcore. Who has contributed more?

The Punks v. The Technicians
Heritage (Assuck) v. Matsubara (GridLink/Mortalized/Hayaino Daisuki)
Do you prefer your grind stripped down and bare to the bone or intricately layered with endless fractal depths to explore?

G&P Review: Smoke

Smoke
Haze
Hair on My Food
Smoke may need to reconsider this whole grindcore black metal [thanks, anon] thing because the best parts of their woefully unGoogleable album Haze are when the band backs off and just lets the drummer kick out the jams, motherfucker, like in the better parts of the interminable, nine minute “VI.” And that right there will likely be the biggest problem most of you will have with this album: Trying to ape the grind’n’roll experiments of CSSO, Smoke’s songs are just too goddamned long. The tidiest tune on this 10 song collection still weighs in at a hefty two minutes, but the bulk of the material is patience testing three to six minutes. I’m just not sure the band’s musical ideas are strong enough to warrant that kind of girth.

Smoke – “II”

Largely instrumental , all you’ve really got to work with is Smoke’s endlessly repeating musical movements. Some bands, like Orthrelm, can turn repetition into something hypnotic and psychedelic, but even they can make a misstep (I own OV but it’s not exactly an everyday kinda listen). In Smoke’s hands, it’s just monotonous. The songs blur together and when they do find a hook, they ride it into the ground. At about 40 minutes for the album, Haze just becomes excruciating to the point that even highlights, like some pretty sweet garage rock drumming, can’t hold your attention very long.

[Full disclosure: the label sent me a download.]

G&P Review: Rakus/Exacerbacion

Rakus/Exacerbacion
Split
Hair on My Food
Malaysians Rakus get a relative boost just by sharing a split with South America's Exacerbacion because compared to that band’s grindcore equivalent of elevator music, Rakus sound almost spontaneous. Simply put, neither band is going to jolt you out of your chair, but Rakus, at least, bring a small shot of energy to bear on their half of this split even if “Bush Loves War” is not the most original sentiment two years after the guy left town.
There’s absolutely nothing intrinsically wrong with either band, but I keep yearning for something a little more: a sense of passion, an earworm of a riff, a neck snapping drum fill. Instead, they both seem to go through the motions of banging out blasts and screaming away at the world. It's all so lifeless and uninspired at times I wonder if either band could successfully pass a Voigt-Kampf test.
When Rakus does mix things up, as on “Police Terror” and “P.P.,” even those songs fall into a formula of downbeat opening slowly building to blast-tastic crescendo.

Rakus – “Police Terror”

Exacerbacion’s half of the split is a more bloodless outing with uninspiring blasts, unintelligible riffs and angry Muppet garbling. The songs clank by a like a distant train, smothered by the rickety production. All of the factors that left me feeling restless with Rakus' side - the lack of focus and spontaneity - are just *ahem* exacerbated here. I'll let a lot slide in the name of grind if you've got the intensity to overcome your limitations. Exacerbacion just need to decide whether they're really all that pissed off at all.

Exacerbacion – “Asfixia Colectica”

There could very well be a solid band lurking under this unlistenable murk, but you’d never be able to tell by this split.

[Full disclosure: the label sent me a download.]