The pixels had barely dried at the end of 2009, which I declared the year of Singapore’s ascendence based on the strength of Wormrot’s monstrous debut alone, when I had it pointed out to me I’d been missing another outstanding grind trio from that Asian nation. I was totally remiss in somehow missing Magnicide’s stunning 2009 album Rise to Annihilation, but Deathgrindfreak, whose eyes are sharper than mine, quickly straightened me out. I owe that guy a cold mug of his favorite fermented beverage.Quite simply, if Wormrot is Singapore’s Insect Warfare, then Magnicide is that country’s 324: a chunky, crusty grind assault on the senses and purveyors of the finest grindcore didgeridoo since “Godplayer.”
But if I’m late to the party, it’s my own fucking fault for not paying better attention because clearly I’ve been missing out.
“Actually, grind music has been in Asia for such a long time,” Magnicide bassist Mameng said. “Only maybe because we are in Asia that the world won’t give us another second opinion, but with the internet and such, Asian music, in this case grind music, is easily heard throughout the world. Grind bands in Asia particularly has its own style.”
Along with guitarist Iem and drummer Jali, Memeng beats out a brutal, satisfying stew of grind and crust punk that the trio honed over nearly 20 years spent kicking around the Singapore music scene.
“Myself and Jali used to played in old grindcore band named Demisor,” Memeng said. “You could check it out in Metal Encyclopedia, I think. Jali also played in Edora, Secret 7 while I played guitars in Bombarde. Iem played guitars in a band called Hasrat till we roped him in to Magnicide and the rest is history.”
And yes, that history includes time spent collectively raging to 324. Read pretty much any blog post on Magnicide at random and the Japanese band’s name will variably be mentioned. Not only does the band toil in the same crusted mine as their doppelgangers, but the vocal approach bears a distinct similarity as well. For Memeng and Magnicide, they accept their influences can be so easily divined, but also recognize the pitfalls that come with being too closely associated with another band.
“Yeah 324 is big influence on us,” he said. “It’s the style of grindcore that we hope to achieve one day. What I mean is the style that it is original and grind but really blows your mind! With brilliant songwriting, great lyrics and delivery. A good professional sound is also important for us to achieve our goal. To be compare with 324 is a heavy burden but it’s a nice compliment.
Anyway much grind bands influence us from time to time but we dig other genres.”
For those of us (read: me) who were late to the party, we’re about to be graced by even more Singaporean goodness from the trio. Splits with Black Hole of Calcutta and Punished Earth are in the works and Magnicide are already talking about their next full length.
This time I will not be caught unaware.
