In a moment of gaping shock, my jaw nearly hit my chest when I got tagged in a most unexpected post. One of the sneakiest best trios OF ALL DAMN TIME were ruining the rest of my year with their October release of IV, the eagerly anticipated follow-up to III, Die Choking‘s last wild burst of white-hot grind. Churning out more riffs and time shifts than that Revocation record you like, the Philadelphia band’s latest comes from a time in the musicians lives that would have seen a lesser group folding and fading. No sirree.
The trio of Cohen, Daniels, and Herzog have been vocal about their connection strengthening during the writing and recording process of IV, and it shows. These twenty minutes see the most focused version of the group; after heavy tribulation the techy grind troops apply time-rift heavy grind and swampy death metal towards their healing process, decimating the decibel-sensitive one minute at a time. “Chronic Hypervenelation” is the one track I’m talking about in this whole bit, by the way. It’s a twisted trip through hyperbolic, cybernetically enhanced grind that spins out into a darkwaveneosomething synth bender and bleeds out, demanding another play immediately.
If I had to dumb it down to a level only a much more stoned me would “get”, Die Choking could very well have been a trio who just heard “Desert Search For Techno Allah” from Mr. Bungle‘s Disco Volante once; their ensuing shock pushing them to create a band that only exist within the parameters of that track. If you hear something once and it takes you to the same place as hearing an absolutely imperative track from your childhood, something good is happening. Everyone has a few of those records and IV just brings me the same kind of joy as Disco Volante or Tom Wait‘s Rain Dogs still do now.
Absurdly, Die Choking only prove that they belong on any loud music bill. Playing ripping, shifting grindcore absolutely drenched in death metal and punk overtones, the trio are one of those once in a lifetime bands, and in ten years time there will be conflict over the last few copies of the record – long after the Internet has ceased. IV, Akira, The Matrix and, unfortunately, Lateralus, will all be held in the same regard. The rest of the post-Internet humanity crash survivors will wonder what all the fuss is about, The lore will keep Die Choking and the other great head-tilting extreme acts in minds of the future.