G&P Review: Bangsat/Exogorth

Bangsat/Exogorth
Depart of an Illusion/Split
Grindfather/Incursion/Opaqus/Witch Bukkake
I've always had a soft spot for Bangsat even when, as on their split with Archagathus, the parts just didn't seem to be coming together. There was just something about the Indonesian trio that suggested they were on the cusp of joining that rising tide of awesome Asian grind that includes scene leaders Wormrot as well as Compulsion to Kill and SMG. With their latest 7-inch split, they've really made great strides toward mastering their grind.
Over six originals and an Extreme Noise Terror cover, Bangsat bang heads with the right mix of lo-fi and high energy that keeps me coming back for more blastbeats. The riffs are all '80s hardcore by way of Scum Side A. The barely-holding-it-all-together blastbeasts create the perfect storm of cacophony. The production is nice and hot letting the songs just shimmer off the wax.
Bangsat are backed up by Seattle space slugs Exogorth who would be just about perfect if it weren't for the annoying, monotonous shrieking vocals. That aside, they have a killer command of grindcore song structure. The fast parts thrash, the (relatively) slow parts chug and they know how to expertly powerslide between the two without throwing off the song's momentum. So they rampage through three of their own songs and a Proletar cover (yeah, me neither) before they bring the 7-inch squealing to a close.
This is a record so fun it took four labels to put it out.

G&P Review: Daighila/Sarjan Hassan

Daighila/Sarjan Hassan
Redefining D.I.Y.
Revulsion
Southeast Asia has been kicking so much ass the last few years that it was overdue for a clunker. This thrashtastic Malaysian tag team manages to blend the inoffensively pedestrian with the outright unlistenable into a single cassette that screams caveat emptor.
For the merely inoffensive, Daighila sound a tad like old Anthrax or maybe Corrosion of Conformity's Technocracy played at the wrong speed. Their side of the cassette rounds up eight songs recorded between 2007 and 2009 whose sound quality varies wildly, making it hard to enjoy the whole experience. The double picked "Between Lines" and the ironically menacing "Every Cloud Has a Silver Lining" are probably the two best of the bunch and smartly kick things off. So while the sound quality takes a noticeable dip from there, it's still manageable and the wonderful "Certainty Approaches" hits that blurred relativistic space where thrash bleeds into grindcore.
Things go from passable to worse when you flip the cassette. Sarjan Hassan, who swiped Nuclear Assault's logo, failed to learn from Daighila's example and start with the shittiest sounding song of their 12. To say that things improve from there is only an acknowledgement that there was nowhere else to go but up because you have to strain to tell that "Live Free" is not an instrumental. Unfortunately, when the singer does become audible in the later songs, his featureless delivery, repeating the same phrasings line after line, detracts rather than adds to the songs.
It's a shame because Sarjan Hassan's fractured English (see "Greatest Fucking Sham Ripoff," "Do It Yourself Not Means Do it Crappy But Do it Properly" or "Hardcore Scene Not For an Asshole") has a certain smile inducing charm. Sarjan Hassan, I'd say skip the English lessons, spend some more time in the rehearsal space and invest in a decent studio next time out.

[Full disclosure: Revulsion sent me a review copy.]

Blast(beat) from the Past: SMG/Carcass Grinder

SMG/Carcass Grinder
Split Tape
Revulsion
2010
Mieszko Talarczyk was not only Nasum's soul and principle songwriter, but he was also a studio wizard whose work drastically advanced the sonic form of grindcore, introducing bigger, punchier sounds. Talarczyk's studio work bolstered not only his band's sound, but gave full life to albums by Rotten Sound, Disfear and Expose Your Hate.
That's all well and good, but sometimes the shitty, tinny, punky sounding albums scratch that grinding itch better than the most pristine, big budget record. That's where albums like this 2010 split between Japan's Carcass Grinder and SMG from Malaysia come in. Each side of this cassette sounds like the bands skipped fineries like tuning and checking sound levels. Instead they set up in a big room in a cut rate studio, plugged in and just banged their shit the fuck out.
Carcass Grinder's side is so raw you can hear the amp humming in the background when the instruments cut out. It's a great trick because the guitar, itself, is completely buried under an avalanche of blown out, pounding snare and face first screaming. But it really works against the head-nodding thrash attack of "NFCB" or the Napalm Death-snarking "CG of Power," which may be the best song of the lot, is a staggering cheap shot straight to the jaw that leaves loose teeth and pooling blood in its too brief wake.
SMG are still raw as skinned knees after a skateboard wipeout, but their attack is more balanced. Each instrument stakes out its own space in the tornadic swirl of noise. When I start up a new blog in my next life, I'm totally stealing "Speed Shit Sayonara" for the name. It's just a bonus that it's actually a pretty kickass little song that entropically collapses in on itself in a wash of yowling guitar feedback, slamming shut the door on the album.
There are big name metal bands who probably spent more on catering than these two spend recording the whole album, but I doubt they achieved half the spontaneity and energy to be had here.

[Full disclosure: Revulsion sent me a review copy.]

G&P Review: Compulsion to Kill

Compulsion to Kill
Lack of Tolerance
Revulsion
I found myself fighting Lack of Tolerance's production, straining against the murk because what I could pick out from Compulsion to Kill gave me heart palpitations. The production, courtesy of the band, ably captures that raw, live in the rehearsal room feeling, but it leaves very little texture and definition. It's unfortunate that the snare drum, in particular, sounds like a wood block because this is the calling card of an upcoming percussive badass. The speed and precision at play are goddamned astounding.
Compulsion to Kill's self-styled "peninsular grind violence" features ex-members of the late Malaysian grinders Torture Incident. Like that prior band, Compulsion to Kill specialize in straightforward grind beatings without recourse to subtly or nuance. I think; again, it's hard to pick out pieces of riffs when they all blur together into unremitting buzzsawing noise on their latest cassette. But that's also part of Lack of Tolerance's charm. The songs bleed into each other with barely a pause between to draw a breath. It's just a constant barrage of energetic noise poking and prodding at you. When they rise above the noise, Compulsion to Kill do pull some pretty nifty tricks, like the pitch-perfect Scum-style dun Dun DUN, dun Dun DUN riff that punctuates "Corporate Slayer."
This racket may not compel you to kill, but it will get your ass up off the couch and moving.

[Full disclosure: Revulsion sent me a review copy.]

G&P Review: Tools of the Trade

Tools of the Trade
Pulse
Stoneville
Tools of the Trade? I bet you have a pretty good idea what this Malaysian death-grind band sounds like just based on that don't you? And yes, while Symphonies of Sickness looms large over Pulse, I bet you didn't expect that vaguely Arabian, rather Cryptopsy-ian clear guitar riff that broadsides opener "Embodiment of Confrontation" or the out of nowhere full on wah pedal psychedelic freakout that explodes closer "Science Failure." They immediately yank you out of the musical experience you've mentally prepared for yourself. It's jarring but in a delightful way, like taking an unexpected boat ride with Willy Wonka.
Those unexpected digressions aside, Tools of the Trade comfortably prowl that murky gray area between traditional death and grind, that twilit gloom of things more felt than half-seen typically haunted by Circle of Dead Children. On that front, Pulse is unrelenting, constantly moving like an ADHD child on a caffeine bender. The snare, in particular, just refuses to ease up. There's not much here you haven't heard a hundred times before, but Tools of the Trade give episode 101 a thorough trashing, proving they can stand with the pack even if they barely separate themselves.
However, there are some interesting production choices lurking here if you listen carefully. I was particularly intrigued at the way the guitar leads of "Implementation of Hates" were suffocated in the mix where other bands would have shoved them screaming to the forefront. Instead, Tools of the Trade just make them one more swirling bit of shrapnel in their tornadic chaos.
Tools of the Trade are clearly comfortable with their forceps and blades. While Pulse doesn't deviate far from the death-grind playbook, the cassette is just one more datum pointing to the rising dominance of Southeast Asia on the global grindcore front.

[Full disclosure: The label sent me a review copy.]

You Grind...But Why?: Wormrot

Quite honestly, I don't care why Wormrot grind. I'm just eternally grateful that the Singaporean trio does (and that they're out of jail). From absolute unknowns three years ago, Arif, Rasyid and Fitri have become the standard bearers for traditional grind in the 21st Century. But to hear vocalist Arif tell it, grindcore really wasn't the plan when they got together. Luckily for us, Plan A didn't work out.


"We just love the adrenaline rush of the blast beats," Arif said. "Actually, our intended idea was to play something like death grind - gore grind a la Disgorge (Mexico). But it doesn't work out as Rasyid wasn't comfortable with the riffing or whatever. He's more into basic, straightforward punkish chords, whatever you call it. We're definitely and always a fan of grindcore and that's the closest other 'fast extreme' genre we can work on. We made the right choice. Always a fan of extreme pissed off noise. Everyone has gotta be comfortable with what they are doing. Fit was in a punk band back in the day, so it fits so perfectly and makes everything much easier. Over the years, we tend to learn and appreciate grindcore as we grew and never look back to what we were intended to be. We've been grinding proudly ever since."

Demo-lition Derby: Shangkuan Lingfeng

Shangkuan Lingfeng
Demo
If your precocious toddler formed an impromptu grind band on your kitchen floor with upturned pots and pans, it would probably sound a lot like Shangkuan Lingfeng's three song rehearsal demo. This is probably the tinniest demo I've heard all year. The drums sound like an overturned saucier getting thwacked with a kitchen spoon and I'm not entirely convinced the guitars, buried deep in the mix, haven't been swapped out for a bandsaw.
That said, this Indonesian grindcore troupe succeeds by dint of sheer grit and chutzpah where technology failed them. It's got a certain energy and panache that redeems its amateur origins. (The band called it "raw as fuck.") It sounds like it was recorded in your living room and listening to it is like inviting them over for a private show, cruddy garage-quality equipment and all. But when you can cut through the squall, there are hints of 324, Terrorizer and countrymen Bangsat lurking in their songwriting.
Final song, "Bodoh," is the demo's gem. It boasts the most robust guitar sound and features the best overall balance of songwriting, production and performance. It's the best indication of what Shangkuan Lingfeng could accomplish with some decent equipment and a real recording budget. If they can clean their sound up (but not too much) this could be yet another fun Southeast Asian grind band to watch. Check out their demo here.

Demo-lition Derby: Busuk

Busuk
Beats of Rage
There’s a difference between stripping and burlesque. Indonesia’s Simpsons-sampling encrusted grinders Busuk nail a perfect musical bit of burlesque on their three song demo Beats of Rage. They taunt and tease but at the end of it all, you walk away with the sense that you haven’t seen all they have to offer. They haven’t stripped bare their full repertoire of songwriting skills, but they’ve shimmied and shaken enough that you won’t leave feeling disappointed.
Crusty and grindy in ways that may recall Resistant Culture, Busuk have the perfect blend of thick and jagged guitars and a snare that snaps with a palpable thump. Additionally, the singer, recognizing when the band is just on and raging, is smart enough to know when to just STFU and let them play, like on the first half of intro “Blow Your Mind.” That all speaks of an impressive confidence in their cheese grater grind and neither “Dance at the Freaky Circle” nor “Virus Mind” will let you down. The only negative to this demo is that it’s a scant five minutes and a mere three songs, but I haven’t been this thoroughly titillated and teased since Amputee’s two minute lap dance last year. You can download Beats of Rage here.

G&P Review: Truth Be Known

Truth Be Known
Asphyxihate
Mourning Sound
I, apparently, have a bit of a potty mouth because at least once or twice a month Blogger’s stat tracker informs me that somebody searching for “punishment fuck” mistakenly finds their way here. But not even my prodigious proclivity for profanity can compete with Singapore’s “beer grinding death” band Truth Be Known who devote a good chunk of their 18 minute EP to telling people to fuck off and how to go about doing it.
I was able to ponder their four letter acumen because, unfortunately, my mind wandered throughout their nine song trip through Bolt Thrower’s back cataloge by way of rock and roll swagger. Things start off strong with the thrilling sustained guitar notes and martial pounding drums of opener “Men in White,” and all 25 seconds of “Sucks to Be You” is a stilettoed goose to the kidneys. But I never felt like Truth Be Known ever showed me more than those early flourishes. Take for example, “Rock and Roll Baby,” a death-vocalled stab and ’80s styled punk rock complete with declarations that “I’ll live my own life with no fucking regrets” (because it had been at least 30 seconds since they’d carpet F-bombed you) that degenerates into an overly familiar drum breakdown married to a riff that sounds like it was lifted from “Caught in a Mosh.”
Truth be known, I’m sure Truth Be Known would probably do a great job whipping up a pit while you wait for the headlining bands to play, but Keitzer already rules this turf this year.
[Full disclosure: The band sent me a download.]

Anti Homophobe-nym

Obviously, Wormrot has been much on my mind lately as I prepared my review for Dirge, which also entailed spending several intense hours with Abuse. But it wasn’t until I sat down with the Abusing the World DVD that accompanies Dirge that something occurred to me: How are you supposed to pronounce Abuse?
My mind automatically read the title as Ab-yoos. But it could also be pronounced Ab-yooz.
How you pronounce it? And does it make a difference. Oh sure, I could just ask the band how they intended it, but that would spare me the fun of drastically overthinking this.
Ab-yoos, to me, implies passivity. It is something being inflicted upon Wormrot, which they must endure. However, ab-yooz is more active in nature. It suggests something the band would be doing unto others (not as they would like having done unto them).
As Spinal Tap so adroitly noted, it's that little turn at the end that makes all the difference.
Of course, I consulted the lyric sheet for some insight, but there is nothing like a title track to provide clarity. In fact, the word “abuse,” in either form, is not actually used in the lyrics. “Exterminate” gives us one past tense variation on the word: “Build your hate. Exterminate. Pitiful creep. Been abused.” That's all we have to go by and I'm not sure that's definitive. But that’s all we’ve got to go on.
I’m curious how you read the title and whether that your preferred pronunciation makes any difference to how you interpret the album, the lyrics or the music. Toss out your theories in the comments.
Fuckin’ homonyms, how do they work?

G&P Review: Wormrot

Wormrot
Dirge
Earache
Abuse – Wormrot’s out of nowhere, totally unexpected slab of staggering awesomeness (from Singafuckingpore of all places, ferchrissakes) – was a magical, transcendental moment in 2009 and touchstone for grindcore's future. It was like seeing Haley’s Comet, stumbling on Brigadoon or Brian Burke showing restraint and not blowing up the Maple Leafs’ lineup at the trading deadline: It just wasn’t the kind of thing you expected to see in your lifetime. And without any scene buzz in advance, nothing could prepare you for it.
While it may be unfair to them, everything Wormrot does must be measured against that early pinnacle – at least until they can top it. Dirge, unfortunately, isn't that album. It is an extremely good album, but Abuse was a great album.
Dirge is a bristling, slavering old school 18 minutes of unsubtle aggression and abrasive annihilation, but it just doesn’t quite straddle the divide between adrenaline junkie and catchy riff earjaculation (thanks, Bill, told you I was stealing that term) as effortlessly as Abuse. Dirge sacrifices memorability on the altar of unrelenting speed and migraine-inducing noise. In fact, it feels overly self conscious and more than a tad safe, as though the sudden explosion of attention had gotten to them. There are fewer songs here that will mug you in a dark alley the way “Fuck…I’m Drunk,” “Murder” or “Born Stupid” roughed you up. That’s compounded by a compression to the mix - possibly an artifact of the band's ridiculously short/punk as fuck recording session - that smashes the guitars into the cymbals, making it hard to latch on to the riffs (especially in a squashed mp3 format; physical formats fare better). But all the other familiar Wormrot elements are prominently pimped out for your enjoyment: the sarcastic humor ("You Suffer But Why is it My Problem" now joins the pantheon of "Seth Putnam is Wrong About a Lot of Things But Seth Putnum is Right About You" as one of my favorite song titles ever) and symbiotic interplay between Rasyid and Fitri (guitar and drums) is on a telepathic level at this point, which frees up frontman Arif to yap and slaver like a poorly socialized pitbull guarding his yard.
Dirge rocks really hard, and I don’t want this to sound overly negative – I’ve spent three months trying to sort out my feelings about this album, assessing whether my unreasonable expectations were at fault. Dirge will certainly blow your hair back and holds its own against the rest of the field in a really crowded year. There’s just that unquantifiable quintessence that’s missing.
If you need any more convincing, Earache is giving the album away as a free download.

[Full disclosure: I bought my copy as soon as it came out, but after I wrote this post and had it queued up Earache sent me both the LP and CD/DVD versions.]

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.]

Death by “Manipulation:” A Sneak Peak at Wormot’s Impending Dirge

[Update: I've heard three other tracks from Dirge now, and frankly I'm mystified Rasyid thinks they'll lose fans. While the songs are uniformly awesome, I'm left wondering if it's not too much of what we expected. Is that something on their end, or a function my of sky high expectations. I'm still pondering that, but I guess we'll all hash it out in May. Meanwhile, discuss amongst yourselves.]

I don’t know, realistically, how much you can extrapolate about a new album from a single tune – especially one that falls just shy of the minute mark – but Wormrot’s “Manipulation” has had me grasping at straws for a week now, tossing out poorly founded conjecture as to what the upcoming Dirge may have to offer.
The song whips you around like Jason Voorhees hefting a sleeping bag, and I've dissecting it like a Cold War Kremlinologist poring over Politburo photos vainly trying to discern who’s in Khrushchev’s good graces this week ever since Earache honcho Digby Pearson sent the track straight from the band’s marathon two day, 30 song mixing and recording session.
“Dirge was recorded, mixed and completed in 2 days. This little fact tickles me no end,” Pearson said.
Guitarist Rasyid breaks it down by the numbers for you:
“For those of you who likes statistics, Fit and I recorded our parts on the same day from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.,” he said. “Fit did his drums in 2 hours 30 minutes (no breaks), I recorded 2 layers of guitars in 6 hours (minus 3 hours because of a recording setback which led me to re-record 11 songs, plus a 3-cigarettes smoking break), and Arif did his vocals sparingly at home in a total span of 2 days if I’m not wrong.”
Since Pearson and I talked, Earache has posted the song for all to enjoy (which some of you with sharper eyes already noticed), but let me walk you through my first listen or 12:

• The first 15 seconds, well shit, this is kind of boring. Why did Wormrot slow down to skipping skate punk? I guess the sophomore jinx caught up with them. Oh shit, that’s just a prelude…
• From 0:16 to 0:20 blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaast. Why is that steam shovel pounding pylons into my noggin? And why do I like it so much?
• From 0:21 to 0:25 sweet merciful Shiva can Rasyid write a ripping, galloping riff. It’s like the best parts of “Born Stupid” condensed.
• From 0:26 to 0:30 Wormrot make the case for forming a killer sludge band under another moniker if this whole grind shtick doesn’t work out.
• From 0:31 to the end, yet another sweet ass galloper of a riff over a giddy-up, hiyo-Silver bit of drum gymnastics. A lesser band would have made two or three songs from the bits Wormrot stitched together, which they toss out like a newly minuted rapper's benjamins at the strip club.

What all this may augur for Dirge, coming this spring, the band isn’t saying.
“Personally, I do not want to reveal anything about how the album would sound like cuz i want it to suckerpunch you like how Abuse did,” Rasyid said. “All I can say is that this is unlike Abuse. We’ll lose some listeners with this one, but I’m sure it’ll please many grindheads. But fuck yea 'Manipulation' is a fun song to write!”
The band you guys named the fourth best in the world (and they’re humorously annoyed at losing out to GridLink, btw) is not shy about admitting to feeling the pressure when the time came to ready their second album. Where Abuse exploded out of nowhere, Dirge will come burdened by everyone’s expectations as well as the imprimatur of Earache shoving them out into the public eye.
“Dude, we started feeling the pressure the first second Earache knocked on our door,” Rasyid said. “Abuse was a labour of almost a year of finding our own feet with the band and writing at our own pace. We can never recreate Abuse or the painful yet memorable journey it took us three. It was almost the case of the right release at the right time for the right people.”
As the hoary musical adage goes, bands have their entire lives to write their first album and about a year to write the second. Coming off their first taste of international touring, Rasyid said the band faced the prospect of hitting the studio without an album’s worth of songs in hand. Where the guitarist would previously hash out songs at his leisure, later working over the parts with drummer Fitri, Wormrot took a more collaborative approach to crafting Dirge.
“We tried this new approach whereby we come into the studio with nothing and the first question we’ll ask each other is ‘so how do you want this song to sound like’ and we’ll pick a reference song or two from any band, throw in as many ideas and try out as many possible riffs and drums patterns,” Rasyid said. “Maybe I’ll start with a riff and Fit joins in, or vice versa. It turned out to be more organic and personal: each of us talking and listening to each other, having fun creating a song from nothing, a better flow and transition in song. I realized that we had captured the true meaning of ‘jamming’ in the short period of time we had. I have to be honest that when we were writing, I was skeptical cuz I am not used to letting the steering wheel go and see where it brings us, but after hearing the final product, I’m so proud of what we had accomplished.”
Dirge is due this spring and the first run of CDs will also come packed with a DVD that includes footage from their North American and European tours as well as in-studio footage, including Rasyid’s impressive command of Malay profanity.
“Yes, I will teach you a Malay profanity,” Rasyid said. “It’s good.”

Demo-lition Derby: Failure Trace

Failure Trace
Demo 2009
I don’t know if Failure Trace’s limitations are technological or financial, but the Thai band has yet to hand me a consistent sounding demo. The production on their latest batch of tunes is all over the place from the prime time ready “Five Pills Perennially” or “Bangkok International Homeless” to the barely audible live-in-the-rehearsal-dive jams of “Continue or New Game.” It’s maddening because when you can actually hear the music, it’s pretty fucking good. Like I would pay for this good. Failure Trace sound like everything I wish Bangsat would be, a grind band that won’t shy away from a tasty mid-tempo groove. From what I can hear, the band has also tightened up its songwriting since their last demo and the progression makes me drool like Pavlov’s pup over the thought of them scraping together the scratch to fund a decent sounding session. The band has a pending four way split with Magnitizdat, Onanizer and Nervous Impulse so hopefully that will give them the leg up to make that happen. And maybe they can huddle up with Nervous Impulse to discuss their attitudes toward homosexuality. Having a song called “Faggot Regime” only works if being gay is, ya know, a bad thing. Otherwise, this is a band that’s got real breakout potential in the next few years. I’ve zipped their songs for your pleasure and give it a listen for yourself here.

Decibel’s Lack of Journalistic Standards is Appalling

This is probably an occupational hazard given my day job involves the asking of questions, collecting of facts, disseminating of information and the other folderol that generally falls under the rubric of “professional journalism,” but I feel compelled to call Decibel on a glaring journalistic lapse in their August issue. Now Decibel is easily the best metal magazine on the newsstands by a country mile and a couple furlongs on Sundays for good measure. That’s why I was absolutely floored to see the sort of parasitical asshole they give credence in an otherwise spot on interview with G&P faves Wormrot.
See for yourself:Who in their right fucking mind would for one minute give that shameless, typo-ridden hack’s masturbatory internet dribblings the most fleeting of glances, let along the dignity of being mentioned in such an otherwise laudable publication? Now, far be it from me to advocate any form of censorship, but taste and respectability should dictate some reasonable limits. I will, of course, be composing a letter to one Mr. Mudrian posthaste expressing my absolute disgust at his momentary lapse in judgment.

Honestly, I can only give Cosmo Lee at Invisible Oranges sincere appreciation for the opportunity to spread the holy word of grindcore, in general, and Wormrot, in particular. And thanks to Atanamar for the heads up on the Decibel article. This ranks right up there with being mentioned in the thank you list of a Parlamentarisk Sodomi album as a beyond-my-wildest-dreams triumph for the blog.

Magnicidal Tendencies: Singapore Will Rule Your Sorry Ass. Again.

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.

G&P Review: Wormrot 2: Electric Boogaloo

Wormrot
Abuse
Earache (reissue)
In a totally unexpected and extremely gracious move, Digby Pearson recently contacted me (even after I vented my spleen) and offered me one of the first copies of the reissue of Wormrot’s Abuse to thank me for the minor role I played in bringing the band to Earache’s attention.
So how does the two disc reissue of an album that was bruited and hailed by pretty much every one of us as one the single most essential albums of 2009 (Flesh Monolith, tenth? Seriously? What the fuck, man?) fare in the hands of a historic metal powerhouse that has, let's say, gotten a more mixed reaction from fans of late?
Not much has changed at first blush. While the packaging is largely intact – the colors and contrast have been punched up a tad – there is a hilariously bad Photoshop job in the thank you list where “Aziz from Scrotum Jus” has been swapped out for “Digby and Earache Records” in a glaringly different font.
Packaging chicanery aside, Earache wisely didn’t tinker with the album itself. Abuse still sounds like proctology with a block of Semtex. Name your favorite grind album of the last five years and Abuse shits down its throat and make its like it.
The real selling point for this version will be the chance to see just how stupid these Singaporeans were born because Earache has collected the bulk of the band’s demo, splits and EPs and, fittingly, an Insect Warfare Cover (“Evolved into Obliteration”) on the second disc. Now I know most of you have probably already downloaded every single one of these, but the disc also collects a handful of previously unreleased tracks, which just didn’t make the Abuse cut. “Rapid Abortions of Ridiculous proportions” filters the band’s now-established sound through Converge’s “The Saddest Day” and Alice in Chains’ Dirt, offering another datum that the band’s Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover was not some cheap toss away bit of hipster irony.

Wormrot – “Rapid Abortions of Ridiculous Proportions” [Due to a sequencing error, the song will be mislabeled when you d/l]

Having all this material in one convenient package makes for a fascinating historical document. The songs are not as explosive in their larval stages, but they also show Wormot were on to something profound from their first demo in 2007. “Condemnation,” in particular, is a scorcher and paragon of compact songwriting.
Even when the older tracks don’t reach the Abuse pinnacle, that same flailing and uncontrollable sense of abandon energizes every single note. Abuse was no accident. Wormrot are the real shit.
Go buy this shit. Again.

[Full disclosure: I'm special and Earache likes me more than you. Neener, neener.]

Demo-lition Derby

As the son of an educator and a former substitute teacher, myself, I’ve heard a lot over the years about different theories of learning and education. Some people learn visually; others need to have it explained to them. Me, I’m the type who can’t learn a damn thing until I get my own hands on it. I am your quintessential tactile learner.
All of that is a way too convoluted way of explaining – but not excusing – why it’s taken me so long to get to some of these demos. Six months in a couple cases. I’m just generally not very good at getting to mp3 submissions. Unless something physical is sitting in front of me: outta sight, outta mind. So to all the bands that forwarded their demos months ago, I apologize for taking so long to write about you. Nothing personal; I’m just really bad at getting organized.
So in no particular order:

Origami Swan
Traditional Kaiju Violence
Easily the most composed and big-show worthy of the bunch, Canada’s Origami Swan is what would happen if Gigantic Brain swapped its 1950s saucer film fixation for Japanese men in rubber monster suits and Z-grade exploitation films. Blending raped samples and frizzled electronics with their grindcore, Origami Swan are more ambitious and reach a little further than some of their peers with the degraded Merzbow hums of “Castigating Leukemia” or the Kaiju-grind of “The Return of Battra.”
Origami Swan – “The Return of Battra”

No Gang Colors
This is Your God
Following Justin Broaderick’s industrialized post-Napalm trajectory or at least steeped in the Man is the Bastard canon, duo No Gang Colors blast beat grind back to pure noise with an industrial tinged tenderizer. Sample-swamped and lacerated with black metallic screeches, No Gang Colors’ trebly assault rips through your cortex like a bandsaw crusted in high grade weed resin. Clear standouts are the deep industrial thrum of “Chicago Churches” or the rusty internal combustion rumble of “This Jug Kills Fascists.”
No Gang Colors – “This Jug Kills Fascists”

Anion
Corpse Flower Cassette
Corpse Flower’s matte black metal atmosphere lingers like a greasy film long after it’s over. Unfortunately, Anion’s songwriting just doesn’t have the same staying power. The Canadian metallic hardcore band specialize in knuckle dusting, mid-tempo hardcore that’s absolutely drenched in creepified doom and black metal spiderwebs and gloom. It’s just the songs evaporate like midnight mist come dawn once the EP is over. “We Made Our Graves” is notable for a bit of Southern swagger but the remainder, like generic pit fodder “Scum Lord” barely register.
Anion – “We Made Our Graves”

Failure Trace
Two Demos
Thailand’s Failure Trace passed along two different demos and, production-wise, they’re a pretty mixed bag. But when you can hear their racket clearly, it’s just one more indicator that the locus of grindcore vitality is inexorably shifting to Southeast Asia. This is reckless punk-inflected grindcore that hurls itself bodily at you with spittle-frothed vocals gnawing through the noise. The demo featuring “The Song,” “A New Breed of Pig” and “Killed by Making High” provide the best balance of production and attack of the two. While I certainly hold demos to a lesser standard, the second demo is so tinny sounding it’s actually rather grating after a while, even if is only six songs long. But this is a band with a future from a burgeoning region if they can afford some decent studio time.
Failure Trace – “A New Breed of Pig”

Heseai Yasokawa's Empty Orchestra
Songs of an Endless Charade
Gruesome Massachusetts twosome Heseai Yasokawa’s Empty Orchestra bring a mouthful of a name with a sinister grind assault that manages to deftly weave myriad moods and techniques into three short songs. With more of a skronk/tech vibe than your gutter grind types, HYEO smother the intellectually sublime in the deliberately retarded and got tap dancing in a tech-grind minefield as a show stopper. With an impressively cutting production for a demo, Songs of an Endless Charade is well worth seeking out.
Heseai Yasokava’s Empty Orchestra – “Pepper Jack Love Fraggle Rock”

So just to clarify...

... the mixtape I did for Invisible Oranges was "mostly ... garbage" but Earache sees fit to squander its legacy by afflicting us with vapid, nutless atrocities such as this. Which one of us seems to be wallowing in garbage?
I kid, I kid.
Sorta.
Anyway, learn the secret history of how G&P unwittingly played a humble role in Wormrot's well deserved new deal with the venerable, though no longer vital, grindcore label.

Thanks to Atanamar for the heads up. And as he pointed out, the punch line is Earache reps downloaded Abuse from Mediafire to check out the band. Way to respect those copyright laws, guys.

Ear Worm

Vengeance is Mine got the drop on me on this one, but Wormrot have announced they have signed to Earache. Guitarist Rasyid let that slip a couple months ago when I interviewed him but asked me to keep that off the record until they could make their own announcement. Now the word is out. Aside from a reason to give a fuck about Earache for the first time in about 15 years (my last foray into their recent catalogue didn't end well), this is a well deserved boost for a band that released the single best album of 2009 but was somehow still criminally slept on by too many people. I'm still busy rocking Abuse and they've already got me salivating for album number two.