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Grind My Gears – Chepang/TEST + The Best Of The Rest

God. Damn. It’s so nice to come back to Heavy Blog for a new week with fresh as fuck grindcore to share. The time I allocate myself for checking

6 years ago

God. Damn. It’s so nice to come back to Heavy Blog for a new week with fresh as fuck grindcore to share. The time I allocate myself for checking out new music has had to take a pretty hefty cut recently because of (no one cares) but I’ll never give up on the one true love of my life – blast beats, bitchin’ riffs and ear fucking noise. This month I have the greatest of pleasures in featuring one of the most exciting bands in grind today, alongside the Brazilian grind project they share their newest split with. Because of the neglect I’ve let build up with Grind My Gears I’ve knocked up a small playlist of The Best Of The Rest too. A little bit of everything grind, for one and all.

Other than a brief mention in my end of year GmG article, Chepang haven’t received the love they deserve from Heavy Blog (I’ll take the blame guys, it’s cool). Last winter’s DADHELO – A Tale of Wildfire was an eye-opener to the world of immigrindcore. The Nepalese/New York members banging out blackened, brutal, and oppressive grindcore with flourishes and tributes to their homeland dispersed throughout. The full sound of a live band absolutely wrenching the life out of their instruments is often missing from a lot of the grind we share here, but not in this case. Chepang beat absolute fuck out of themselves in their performances, both on record and on stage. That’s why I need to tell you about their new split with the two strong chaos machine from Brazil, TEST.

I do have one gripe with this split. The right panned drums that open the Test side made me think I’d broke yet another pair of headphones, nearly causing a conniption fit that ended the life of my poor, beaten laptop. But alas, the samba bangs kicked off in my left ear and rolled right into a diabolically fun six minutes of Brazilian brutishness; all offered up by one Joao Kombi and his percussion monster, Barata. TEST might be the brainchild of just two humans but it sounds like a hundred pissed off South Americans, wearing Brutal Truth and Sepultura shirts and attacking the government with glee. Style-wise, it’s hard to pin down anything in particular. It’s ripping grindcore with dynamic percussion and some super groovy sections too. It’s playful, punishing and ultimately segues, noisily and perfectly, directly into the Chepang side. Kombi himself can probably put it better than me:

“Besides the connection of being from the third world, playing music that is not popular in our countries, I can see a lot of other similarities. Both bands, in their own way, going in the same direction. Looking forward to sharing this Split with my Chepang brothers”

He’s right. There are definite similarities outwith the third world comparison. Chepang might the same amount of drummers as TEST has in their entire lineup, but the attitudes and delivery of their material come from the same place. The Chepang side of the split definitely comes from a different starting point than anything from DADHELO… but retains the immigrind attitude and bite. Think several rows of shark teeth gnawing on your raw, freshly tattooed skin, electrify the whole situation with a leaky car battery and mix it up in a Boston shaker made of dystopian misery. Or something along those lines. It’s been awhile and my use of imagery is clearly a bit off. It fucking rips, basically. “Kyacha Pyakha” might just be the grind track of the year. It shifts from full fuzz ferocity into two-stepping tribal beatdowns easier than any extreme metal band should be capable of doing. Everything about their double-barrel blast on this split screams with passion and vigour. Exactly like it should be.

“This split is about two different bands that are so far apart, from two different continents, but so close in terms of the message of the of their music and the intention to portray it with full emotion and power. Nomad Grindcore Meets Immigrindcore- Streets Meet Caves. A tale of two stories but with one ending, a celebration of life and freedom that we all deserve regardless of race, colour or religion.” – Kshitiz Moktan


The Best Of The Rest

Whoresnation – Ridiculously tight grind from the French. If Revocation burned through twenty tracks in twenty minutes – this, I guess.

Wreath of TonguesNightcrawler/Hivesmasher members now grinding in a dervish fashion, not unlike a more primal Pyrrhon.

Human Cull – Bristol deathgrinders ready to get violent in the not too distant future, with a record about the horrifying not too distant future. Dystopicore.

Throat Breach – More disgusting grind with industrial sludge pouring out of its collapsed veins. Phenomenally lo-fi and all the better for it.[bandcamp width=100% height=120 track=1400261813 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small]

The Mild – The kinda ‘core that will turn your hardcore friends into slaves of the grind. Really cool vocals and lyrics, especially in the delivery.

Done. For awhile. If you or anyone you know has been involved in a grind band recently, you might be eligible for nothing. Nothing but a mention somewhere in here, if the grind is good. Thanks to Joao from TEST for the words and the terrifying music and a special thanks to Kshitiz from Chepang for setting me up with the split in advance. I’ve played it to death and back and to death again already.

Matt MacLennan

Published 6 years ago