If you know anything about Beaten to Death, the Norwegian grindcore/avantgarde/genre-defying band, you know to shed any expectations when approaching any list written by them. This is especially true when we’re talking about influences; after all, the whole point of B2D is to create a frenetic motley of genres that doesn’t rest…
What does one do when the genre-defining band they’ve played in for years, disbands? Most will pack up their instruments and kit, settling into another grind altogether – regular, boring ass working life. Not Richard Hoak. During the final days of Brutal Truth’s existence, Hoak obviously decided he hadn’t had enough. The melting pot of blasts and wicked arrangements in his mind finding a new home in Total Fucking Destruction. Nearly twenty years after the first release under this name, we find ourselves in a time where grindcore is more important than ever. It’s always been political, but the platform is sometimes a bit wobbly. Not in this case. #USA4TFD is a viral musical statement that no one is sharing. Yet.
Secret Cutter is one of those bands that I try to tell everyone to listen to, every time their self-titled debut comes on shuffle. I remember fondly the day I hit play on that, expecting d-beats and screeching but getting much, much more. The Bethlehem, PA natives were one of…
Somewhere, right now, the members of Incantation are looking at the rising crop of extreme metal bands and realizing their moment has finally come – Bandcamp referred to them once as death metal’s equivalent of The Velvet Underground & Nico and it’s impossible to disagree in the current moment. Belated appreciation of their…
Grind My Gears is back once again with the swirling streams of caustic yellow filth. I promise that I will never again let sickness keep me and the grind away from your weak, prolapsed cavities. Now, this isn’t the first time I’ve written about Piss Vortex for Heavy Blog (it’s not even the second) but these Copenhagen deviants are quite simply the best of the best; in terms of where they are taking the sound and the sickening swagger with which they do so. They’re not Napalm Death or Brutal Truth yet, obviously—they have less than hour of recorded music available to grind to—but with their recent surprise EP Soft Reboot they’ve delivered a quick wake up kick in the dick to anyone as yet unaware.
Whenever your band starts with the longtime bassist of Napalm Death (Shane Embury) and the vocalist from Brutal Truth (Kevin Sharp) it’s a fairly safe bet that you’re in for some serious grindcore. Add a drummer who has worked with Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir (Nick Barker), stir with a heaping helping of guitar from Chile’s Pentagram and Criminal (Anton Reisenegger) and you have the latest incarnation of grind supergroup, Lock Up. This crew brings us their latest onslaught, Demonization.
Every year there are albums on end of year lists that I read about, hovered over, played one track and then forgot instantly. Not ‘cuz they sucked. I just didn’t care right then and there. It happens. Thankfully, this time of year is for reflection. On every stupid decision you…
Calgary, Alberta’s WAKE are torchbearers of a specific dissonant, dark and experimental brand of grindcore that reminds of acts as diverse as Napalm Death, Brutal Truth, Discordance Axis and perhaps most of all, the late, great Nasum. It’s in the Nasum influence where this record, their third, truly shines. Channeling all the darkly melodic guitar lines and song structures they can, WAKE have crafted an album that not only does justice to the legacy of a fondly remember, gone too soon extreme metal band, but carve a niche all their own in the grindcore genre.
Despite the fact that both experimentation and atonality have become more widely accepted within the confines of death metal thanks to the likes of Gorguts and Portal, few bands are truly pushing boundaries and obliterating eardrums quite like Pyrrhon. Hailing from Brooklyn, this four-piece definitely lit a fire under the…
Maruta’s third full length, and first with Relapse, will be the benchmark for upcoming bands in the venomous subgenre that is deathgrind. The progenitors of this group of acts in Cattle Decapitation and Cephalic Carnage have their own unique sound and are instantly recognizable from the rest of the herd; the…
