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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Swarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrm / ATKA

Atka Myspace Swarrrm Myspace
Released: Autumn 2010
Release Type: Split, 7"
Label:Ecocentric Records
Genre:Experimental Grindcore

A match made in a mental hospital, German tech-grind wizards Atka pair up with Japanese bizzaro grind masters for this 11 minute blastapiece. Seriously, I wonder if being schizophrenic is as off the wall as these two bands; each one displaying an eccentric and extremely different take on grindcore pushed past its sanity.

Atka cover every possible inch of their side with their noodlely, technically drenched and Dillinger Escape Plan loving track "untitled." The first minute's unrecognizable from the last, and yet it all works. I hate gimmicky technical shit, so thankfully this ain't it. The high-point of song is the last minute in a half which sounds straight out of Murray and Smith's playbook but jumbled with blast beats and varied vocals. Here's a snippit of the song.

A different kind of crazy is what Swarrrm always is. "Maborosi" is a ballad a'la typical Swarrrm (i.e. pretty acoustic guitar paired to gibberish vocals which washout in an avalanche of drums and distortion). "Kono ude ni" is a great track, the best of the split. As always fantastic shifts from artsy/melodic riffs to pummeling blast beats and jazzy sections of harmony between the guitars and bass. Swarrrm still continues to be the most dynamic, powerful and interesting grind band out there; shame on you if you've never heard them before.

Here's that ballad to sooth yourself to sleep

Don't question your sanity listening to this, question the sanity of those who refuse to listen. Swarrrm and Atka are outstanding this time around, so pick it up!

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Rediscovering the Dead

No Official Site

Label: Selfmadegod Records
Released: 2005
Release Type: Compilation
Genre: Death/Grind

Not for the faint of heart, Sewn Shut of Sweden play a serious conglomeration of death metal and grindcore. The band reminds me strongly of Belgium's Aborted, their first album anyway; but beyond that comparisons are few for me. Sewn Shut's one of the few bands where death-grind actually fits. Blast-beat bouts come to groovy transitions and double bass romps that would get your local crew floor punching in no time. The lowly gurgles foil the sky scratching screams which allows some room for the throaty, wet mid-ranged rasps. There's a welcomed touch of technicality that heightens the death metal vibe, not to mention some sweet pinch harmonics.

One thing that really gets me hooked is their rhythmic attack. It's hard to describe, but it's like a rocking chair, or when you're headbanging and the sound comes and goes because of your motion. The drums crash at every quarter and the guitar plays an ascending melody, then starts over. It's pretty gnarly. You'll have to hear it yourself.

The release itself is a compilation of all their work leading up to 2005 (except their first ep and the split with Unholy Grave). That means: splits with Squash Bowels, Embalming Theatre, Ulcerrhoea, Mind Collage, Man In Shackles and three additional tracks taken from "Polar Grinder" LP). The only thing post Rediscovering... is a split with Nashgul that's quite good as well. Odd how many great, or well received bands they've done splits with, but how relatively unknown they are.

Anywho, if you like stomach churning, heavy, and dark grindcore that knows how to properly groove then I can't recommend Sewn Shut enough.

Here's a taste (samples are very hard to come by, 2 tracks on youtube, no proper myspace, etc).
Link taken from Brutal Zone

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