G&P Review: Water Torture/thedowngoing

Water Torture/thedowngoing
Nerve Altar Split
Grindcore Karaoke/Nerve Altar
If I had my shit together (I know, I know; just pretend, ok?), somebody would have gotten bumped from my best splits of 2012 list because this violent and violenter pairing towers over the landscape like a classic Godzilla/King Ghidorah smackdown. No matter who wins, Tokyo's ass is getting leveled. Water Torture and thedowngoing are two bands at the peak of their abilities arbitrarily laying waste to the landscape.
If you haven't jumped on the Water Torture bandwagon yet (and seriously, what more does VII need to do to get your attention?), this is a perfect entry point because the bass/drum neo-violence duo have never been tighter or more abrasive. This is a bad mood, morning after hangover, waking up with your skanky ex kind of bummer trip, drool faced, red eyed and pissed off at the world. The secret to Water Torture's downtrodden groove is their blend of Iron Lung stumble getting electro shocked to the balls courtesy of The Endless Blockade. It's a devastating, thoroughly modern combination that nods to masters old and new while still leaving its own indelible mark.
Flipside, Aussie dervishes thedowngoing play a cold eyed game of chicken, piling all seven of their songs into a single, unrelenting five minute track. There is no off ramp, no exit and they dare you to blink. Musically, the duo are picking right up from where the awesome ATHOUSANDYEARSOFDARKNESS and their contribution to Monomaniac left off. In Water Torture, thedowngoing have finally found a band that can match their auditory killing spree. These are two of the most hostile, abrasive and uncompromising bands working today and each need only two members to drown out every other band that fancies themselves extreme. So yeah, I was too slow to get this one lined up for 2012, but 2013 isn't so old that we can't fondly look back one more time before we step forward.

G&P Review: Sayyadina

Sayyadina
Mourning the Unknown [Reissue]
Nerve Altar
We shouldn’t even be having this conversation. You know that, right? You’re smart people, so you already know Sayyadina hold the post-Nasum Swedecore crown for second album Mourning the Unknown. It’s an album you already know and love, so my work here should be done.
But on the off chance some of you are not among the converted yet [*side eye*], the nice people at Nerve Altar have pressed Mourning the Unknown on a lovely slab o’wax – with three bonus tracks.
While Nerve Altar tells me it hasn’t been remastered, some quirk of the vinyl format seems to have given Mourning the Unknown an extra pop, especially the drums that just explode off the wax. Also, the 12-inch format really highlights the album’s evocative artwork.
But likely the hook here will be the bonus tracks.
The most rounded of the trio is “Like Rhinos,” a whip snapped rip that turns poaching endangered species into a metaphor for human suffering. Unlike the other two bonus tracks, it’s easy to imagine “Like Rhinos” having been included on Mourning the Unknown originally. The remaining two songs, while decent enough, don’t stack up against a modern grind classic. “Come Visit Sometime” rides a loping riff up and down the stairs that could pass on a Victims album with no comment. “Just Like a God” is just a straight up ripper.
It’s been three years since Sayyadina gifted us with Mourning the Unknown and its status as a modern classic is being cemented every day. But if Sayyadina intend to stay at the top of the heap, they may need to hit the studio soon. Afgrund and The Arson Project are nipping at their heels.

[Full disclosure: Nerve Altar sent me a review copy.]

G&P Review: D.E.R.

D.E.R.
Quando A Esperanca Desaba
Nerve Altar
If grindcore ever codified its equivalent of lofi black metal, Brazil’s D.E.R. would be running with wolves, standing backlit in foggy forests and generally trying to pretend the last 20 years of musical evolution just didn’t happen. Quando A Esperanca Desaba (roughly, When Hope Collapses) sounds like it was vomited forth from the bowels of Venom’s rehearsal space in Mantis’ mom’s basement somewhere back in 1977. Instead it’s being reissued on vinyl from 2008.
And for all I can tell D.E.R. (not to be confused with the derp) slapped the same song on this LP 16 times in a row, and I couldn’t give a shit if they did. D.E.R. are not a band overly concerned with niceties like dynamics, slow parts, vocals that are intelligibly human or making songs sound unique. They’re too busy grinding the shit outta your lower intestine to care. Every song starts in medias res and doesn’t end so much as just stop. A deep breath and it’s on to the next neck-cracker. The guitars are gristly knots of overdriven unintelligibility, the vocals indecipherable and the drums pound away, fighting not to be swept away by the noise.
Described like that, Quando A Esperanca Desaba sounds like a discordant mess (and to a certain extent it is), but there’s a spontaneity and intensity at work that shoves the music higher than it has any right to go. There are plenty of established grind bands that lack half the urgency these Brazilians are packing. Though it’s far from original or even acquainted with conventional definitions of well produced, D.E.R., in the immortal words of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, have guts, and sometimes that’s enough.
[Full disclosure: Nerve Altar sent me a review copy.]