Friday, November 26, 2010

Chainsaw Justice Vol. II- Eastern Bloccore

I'm pretty sure Lenin's(?) introducing the importance of grinding down the capitalist system to that youngster. And no, I don't speak Russian so don't be cute and tell me this picture has nothing to do with grindcore.

There's a lot of things to give thanks for, but today I'll narrow it down to the grind and the core of Eastern Europe. This is the second installment of the Chainsaw Justice Volumes. I'm having a lot of fun doing them. Unfortunately good grindcore seems to be hard to find outside of Poland and the Czech Republic, most bands (especially in Russia) play awful goregrind. I was tempted to call this comp "Czech out Poland" but decided against it based on the excluding factor. (I know the Czech Republic is more central European , but I wanted to include them, so fuck you).

Without further adieu, here's the list of Chainsaw Justice Volume II: Eastern BlocCore
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1."Prawo"- Selfhate (Poland)
Poland's answer to Phobia, Selfhate rejoice in thick and buzzy guitars and bring that fine aftertaste of punk into a brutal grindcore sound. Taken from their album At the Beginning God Created Fear, Selfhate establish themselves as a crucial force in Poland's ripe grindcore scene.

2. "Birth Cleanliness" -Idiots Parade (Czech Republic)
Making a splash in the states on Scott Hull's crack frenzied baby of a comp, This Comp Kills Fascists 2 Idiots Parade play a very modern style of power violence with absolutely skin shredding vocals. This is taken from the adformentioned comp; brilliant.

3. "News From Pedigree" - Orchestral Pit's Cannibals (Russia)
Oddest band I've come by for this comp by far, and probably oldest too. They play a style of grindcore that sounds really similar to Impetigo, but gets all kind of bizarre (note the duck vocals please-no pig squeals here). Taken from their 1998 debut Exalted Oestrum.

4. "Kazdy Powod Wystarczajacy" -Suffering Mind (Poland)
Making giant steps, Polish grinders Suffering Mind just released their s/t lp this year and boy does it kill. Maybe my inspiration for this comp, Suffering Mind's defiantly the toast of the...country... if that works. Track taken from the self-titled full length.

5. "Two-faced Politics" - Wojtyla (Poland)
Wojtyla are just fucking awesome, they're my favorite recent discovery. Maybe there's something in the water, but like Suffering Mind, Wojytla rocks a female vocalist that has some of my favorite vocals I've heard yet. The vocals are very black metalish, and they match perfectly with Wojtyla's super heavy and dark grinding affair. Track taken from their split with Canadian grinders Archagathus.

6. "Rotten Glory" - Onanizer (Czech Republic)
Straight ahead grindcore that got you moving back in '86. Perfect mixture between punk and metal, viscous vocals; all killer-no filler. Taken from their split with UK jokesters Joe Pesci.

7. "Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Ass" -Squash Bowels (Poland)
Poland's favorite gore-drenched sons make themselves a mandatory player in this comp with their highly modernized take on Carcass's gory antics of the 80's. Too clean a production to get much of a play from me, they're still worth a listen. Heavy Grindcore that stays away from the putrid aftertaste of many goregrind bands. Track taken from their '09 Grindvirus.

8. "Samota" - Extreme Smoke ( Slovenia)
Holding the proud title of "Slovenia's first grindcore band." Playing gruff, lo-fi grindcore all the way from '93 Extreme Smoke are just that, not too hot but deadly if too much is taken in. Track taken from their 3 way split with Agathocles and Epilepsija.

9. "Skřípot" - Gride (Czech Republic)
Bad ass thrash-grind bastards Gride know how to do everything I want. There's thrashy grooves, grindy blasts, punky d-beats, gang vocals, riffs galore, and lyrics in a cool sounding language I can't understand. There's a reason why I kick myself for missing this band at last year's MDF. Track taken from their split with Lycanthrophy.

10. "Gore Ne Može" - Dislike (Croatia)
The former Yugoslavia countries seem to really know how to grind. Dislike, one of the only bands I know of from Croatia play a slick pseudo-death metal style of grindcore. This is from their 2006 demo Ctrl, dunno if anything else exists by this band, hopefully they keep trucking as it's pretty damn good.

11. "Queue for Perfectness" -Lycanthrophy (Czech Republic)
Possibly my favorite band here, Lycanthrophy rock a totally authentic and brutal style of power/fast/grind/whatever/core all with a female vocalist of course! Can't get enough of this band. In their 12th year, they've just released their debut LP, something I'm very excited to get my hands on. Track taken from their split with Suffering Domepiece (Mind)

12. "Lord of The Shits" Ass to Mouth (Poland)
With more goregrind then you can shake a dead, disfigured, prostitute at, Eastern Europe leaves a lot of shit to sort through (literally!), fortunately, Ass to Mouth are actually good. No lack of pig squeals, blast beats, or an absolutely crushing guitar tone, Ass to Mouth know how to grind and stay away from inane blasting and shit riffs. Taken from their album Kiss Ass.

13. "Starec" - Saywhy? (Czech Republic)
Blistering hardcore with male/female vox, how can I lose? Saywhy? know what's up and add a huge touch of punk which works so well. For fans of U.S. power violence/ fastcore bands. Taken from their split with Bastardass.

14. "Wicked faith" - БУТ (Czech Republic)
Reminds me of modern day Napalm Death if they didn't suck and knew how to write riffs and had a badass punky vibe. Track taken from their 2009-2010 promo.

15. "Suicidal Philosophy" - Needful Things (Czech Republic)
If you thought the Czech Republic only had awesome beer and sausages, I hope this comp helped change that; especially with the final contributor. Similar to bands like In Disgust who tread a line between death metal, grindcore, and power violence. Needful Things don't need shit, they're awesome the way they are. Track taken from their split with Genital Gore.

A lot of fun to do this, and eye opening as to how goddamn fruitful the Czech Republic is when it comes to grindcore. I hope you enjoyed this, await Vol. III due sometime around Christmas(sacre).


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-F

15 comments:

Alex Layzell said...

Fantastic Choice! Without any bias of being Half Polish, I think the Grindcore scene in eastern and balkan europe is one that is growing at fantastic rates, putting some of the best material out there!

Flesh Monolith said...

Definitely dude, Poland's a solid country all around in terms of extreme music. All the awesome grind cancels out the NSBM. I was disappointed to not find much in Eastern Europe proper, but whatever.

Alex Layzell said...

I know there are quite a few good ukrainian Grindcore bands, as for Russia, they seem putting out loads of Brutal Death Metal.

Gravemarker said...

Awesome post here. I only knew about three of these bands before reading this post, I've got a slew of new bands to check out now.

Andrew Childers said...

a masterful collection. the only adds i'd recommend would be exit wounds and maybe some f.a.m. or possibly rzeznia.

i'm starting to think a history of economic malaise is necessary for quality grind given the example of the former eastern bloc and south east asia.

Alex Layzell said...

@Andrew Childers
Perhaps in the future we can see the Childers academic paper on the heuristic effect of the economy on the quality of Grindcore.

Flesh Monolith said...

It's true andrew, the 80's were the best time for punk, because? Regan/Thatcher.

There's the line from the Third Man:
Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.

Andrew Childers said...

gettin' all harry lime on me, are you?

but i think that helps explain why european and north american grind has been in a bit of a funk the last decade or so. it seems like all the intensity is coming out of other, more fucked up portions of the world.

sakatat sent me a cd yesterday and HOL-LEEEEE SHIT. that stuff rages in a way i haven't heard locally in quite some time.

Flesh Monolith said...

Yeah dude, look forward to an interview here with Sakatat. Was so close to sneaking them onto this list.

Flesh Monolith said...

appreciated. I gotta do something besides bending spoons with my mind.

Zmaj said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Zmaj said...

Great post, FM.
Dislike is actually a fairly old band, albeit they weren't always top notch death-grind like today. They kill everything live + there's a split coming up (finally) with another kickass crust/grind band from here. I posted their Ctrl on Cephalochromoscope ages ago ( http://cephalochromoscope.blogspot.com/2008/10/dislike-croatia-ctrl-2006.html ). You also ought to check out Mercenary Cockroach, while we're at it: http://cephalochromoscope.blogspot.com/2008/08/mercenary-cockroach-croatia-steps-to.html Insect Warfare-grade tough shit, soundwise.

Yet I'm pretty baffled that you stepped around THE most popular Croatian grind band, Bolesno Grinje, while the post obviously ain't so much about the old school stuff, i.e. Patareni. So if you'd like, just let me know and I can up / send more Balkan grind your way.

[Bleh, forgot to check the "Email follow up comments.." box in the last comment.]

marwin22 said...

btw it's not Lenin
title means "people's dreams have come true" it suits to article=)

Alex Layzell said...

Reminds of Trotsky who has forgone balding and laser eye surgery.

Andrew Childers said...

oooh yeah. belated ditto on bolesno. cool ass band.