Gridlink- Amber Grey

Official Site
Released: 2008
Label: Hydra Head Records
Release Type: Full Length, CD
Genre: Grindcore

After hearing that Gridlink are to play Maryland Deathfest for this up coming season I simply couldn't contain myself. Discordance Axis main man and vocalist Jon Chang strikes back with Gridlink's hyperfast, amazingly short release which clocks in just under twelve minutes. Disappointing that this is all there is, no idea how they play a show, but what they showcase here is brilliant.

Gridlink blaze through each track, Brian Fajardo of Kill the Client fame carries out an astonishing performance behind the kit, showing up Dave Witte if you ask me (although I'm still a huge fan of his). The drums never let up, yet break the mundane nature of hyperfast blasting with great fills, cymbal work, variances of beats and a slew of other tricks. A friend told me the only thing to be triggered on this album were his bass drums, which is excusable.

Gridlink achieve ferocious and powerful grindcore with a flurry of ear catching riffs and little moments that are easy to retain and completely awesome. The guitar work is inventive and top notch, a real pleasure and departure from typical grind riffs. Labeled by some as technical grind, it's simply grindcore with interesting guitar work and song writing. The Jenova is an outstanding track and has such a great ending, the beginning of Black is jaw-dropingly awesome, as is the whole album; jesus christ.

Chang's vocals are spot on, while there's a lack of his lower registry, the scathing vocals work perfect and project so much intensity, spot on. Even the lyrics and artwork are particularly good.
The production allows the guitars to really carry a punch as well as highlight the vocals and drums. Can't really think of too many comparisons to this album, maybe if The Inalienable Dreamless had a better production, was shorter, and contained lots of riffs.

Overall each musician nails their job perfectly, standout performances from each member. This is one of the best grind albums I've heard in awhile, a shame it's so short, but then again both Assuck LPs are like 15 minutes and those are both amazing. Chang and co. know exactly what they're doing; worth a shot for any fan of extreme metal or even punk.

Buy here
Listen here

-F

Hellacaust - Disgust

Hellacaust Myspace
Released: 2008
Label:Blood Bucket Productions
Type: Full Length
Genre: Black/Thrash Metal

Ever wonder what being buried alive next to thousands of others, then somehow sawed to pieces by some terrible mass-murdering machine? Well if you haven't I don't know what you're doing with your day, but if it had a soundtrack it would be Hellacaust. Grinding black metal with huge flirtations towards the realm of crust and old fashioned thrashcore, Hellacaust pull off a polished release full of spite, anger, malice and misanthropy.

A filth ridden sound matched with a sparklingly clean production create and furious sound and works quite well for these Candian godstompers. The guitarwork jumps from catchy thrash leads to full blown black metal tremolo affairs. The guitarwork is spot on and flawless, very interesting and enjoyable. The drums blast and stomp, ranging from hyper fast blasts, the thudding d-beats, and everything in between; high energy. The vocals stay in the crust/black metal region, becoming quite understandable at times, and at others just venomous and scathing howls.

The in your face attitude reeks of punk demeanor and could be a strong reason why I make this band out to be some kind of punk hybrid. The music is really angry and pissed off, something that makes it a whole lot better. Fuck christians, fuck this, fuck that, fuck the world I say! Serious stuff here, but not without some fun (listen to the gang chorus and beers clinking together in Millennial Regression). Riffs and solos really stand out, Whore sounds like some (un)holy grail of awesome riffs that Destruction left laying around somewhere. Half way through Feeding the Wound a great riff leads to a nod to older metal in a bitchin' solo and all kinds of shit, not to mention the awesome chant- Stand, Stand, Take a fucking stand!.

This album is a great mixture of the nihilism and ferocity of black metal, the riffs,rhythm, and attitude of thrash and the anger of crust punk. Great stuff buuuuuuy!

Buy here or here
Listen (link courtesy of Attila)

-F

Infanticide - Sonic Punishment EP

Infanticide MySpace
Release: 2008
Label: 625 Thrashcore
Type: 7"

The tone on this EP is great. It's like a punk band trying to pin down the Swedish Death Metal sound. Infanticide come across a little grittier, but since they are from Sweden they were able to approximate it rather well. In many ways though they sound a lot closer to Florida act Shitstorm then Entombed. Another way to describe them is as a bridge between powerviolence and grindcore.

They only served up 10 songs on the EP and managed to squeeze them into nine minutes. In true 625 Thrashcore fashion they at least made the songs interesting. The bonus is in the production. So far as 7" vinyl goes, this is a good recording. It begins with a 25-second hardcore-influenced churn - the calm before the storm approach. From this point on it's an assault of grindcore riffs. There is a fair amount of death metal riffing tossed in here and there, even some double-picked versions of grindcore riffs (executed well on "Blame Yourself") but the preferred direction for Infanticide should be rather obvious by the second track.

Behind the mic, the vocals reach our ears in the form of (death metal influenced) hardcore rasps - sounding just like Shitstorm - and fit very well with the music. There is not much to mention in terms of drumming other than it is serviceable. Aside from the blasts we get some thrash and d-beats. I am picky when it comes to drums: I think the odd slower parts and the brief breakdowns could have been filled in better ways. However, to be fair, the presentation and intensity of the songs makes up for this.

Overall I think EPs are more an avenue for being heard than a medium for putting out a band's best work. I am happy to overlook basic drumming and a lack of vocal dynamics if the songs are good, and all of these are. What the EP shows is that Infanticide has plenty of potential and should be able to address these concerns by the time they get out a full-length (which they deserve). I would like to see them live.

These songs stuck out most for me: Disbelief and Oblivion Descends. I also liked the trip down memory lane courtesy of Defaced, with it's main riff sounding like the verse riff for "The Chains That Bind Us" by Napalm Death.

Buy this if you have a record player. I'm too lazy to convert this from vinyl to mp3, but someone else seemed to have the time: you can check out a good sound-quality version here.

Ancestors- Ancestors II

No Site
Release Date:2009, April 14th
Label: Youth Attack
Release Type: EP; 7" white vinyl limited to 333, Cassette
Genre: Black Metal

Mark McCoy's enigmatic feedback drenched and punk ridden black metal project Ancestors strikes back with just over eleven minutes of harsher-than-thou music. For those of you unaccustomed to Mark McCoy he's the dude behind Youth Attack Records, Charles Bronson, Das Oath, etc and has more of a punk grounding when it comes to music (I even hear he's moved into visual art too, nowadays). That said, none of this is included in the Ancestors package. Info is rare and hard to come by for this band, owning the actual EP offers no help, except for eerie, but ultimately nice packaging and a thick white disc that appreciates the value.

Ancestor's style is defiantly an acquired taste. The guitar unleashes a fury of feedback and static throughout the whole record playing what sounds like sped up punk riffs. The frantic howls and drums are set against a permanent wash of static that weaves in and out of the music. While the production sounds like it's piss poor, it's obviously intentional and trying to capture that vibe that made the LLN so special (or horrible). Walking that line between punk and black metal like his American contemporaries Bone Awl, Ancestors strays from the stagnate and hypnotic virtues that seems to be Bone Awl's game and offers plenty of variation within each song.

In all honesty, each song sounds pretty spontaneous and like some sort of self satisfaction for Mr. McCoy. The songs are enjoyable, but they don't carry the feeling that serious and long term thought were put into them. If not listening too closely, the two songs can feel like many more shorter songs simply smashed or segmented together. Overall the music is harsh and bombastic, but there are instances of melody and some sense of relief (around the end of the second track is a good example). But be ready for high energy, loud, and painful as hell music.

I like this EP, and Ancestors is certainly gaining popularity in the underground, just try to find the first EP for a fair price. A cool direction to take black metal in, and a very cool and mysterious vibe to put out. Hopefully a more cohesive full length is in the works.

Buy here
Listen here (Great blog by the way, be sure to check it often)
-F

Japanische Kampfhörspiele - Luxusvernichtung EP

JaKa MySpace
Release Date: 2009
Label: Unundeux
Release Type: CD; 10"

Japanische Kampfhörspiele, or JaKa, as the band so kindly refers to themselves, roughly translates to Japanese Combat Radio Plays. This little gem is subtitled Vierundfünfzig vertonte Kurzgedichte which translates to "Fifty-four composed short poems." Haiku would be the better term, since like haiku these are songs that are done before you know it, with only an image of what you heard remaining in memory.

With that subtitle in mind, it is easy to see that what we have here is a concept album. The play list contains 55 songs in 38 minutes. It would be equally easy to jump to the conclusion that the "concept" is nothing more than paying homage to the cornerstone of Grindcore: the Micro-Song; one riff blast fests that serve little purpose beyond adhering to the grindcore mantra of "Short, Fast and Loud." JaKa actually takes a different route; in fact they are on an altogether different autobahn: there is maybe one minute of blast beats on the whole release.

The simplest way I can describe their approach to this EP is ADHD Thrash. The are playing thrash within grindcore's micro-song structure. And I mean they play proper thrash; ripping out riff after riff that, when compiled, would easily provide enough fuel for a lesser band to use over the course of two or three albums. True to the title, less than 10 of the 54 main haiku are over 30 seconds, with only two of these breaking the one minute barrier. Like a collection of poems, which can follow a theme but must inevitably consist of individual pieces, these guys took great pains to ensure nearly every song, no matter how short, has its own recognizable riffs. There is little obvious borrowing or altering from song to song.

Also of note: the vocals are in German. We get a two-fronted attack, with the main duties coming from a thrash snarl/rasper and accents coming in the form of death growls. The vocals are generally humorous (see: Metallica) but non-native speakers are far from missing out: like death metal and grindcore vocals (which you can't understand anyway) the vocal pace creates rhythms that fit well with the songs. Finally we come to percussion. Thrash drumming and double bass abound. As mentioned, there is very little blasting to be had. What blast beats we do hear are well placed and organic - you might not even notice them until after the fact.

Taken as a whole, I have no interest in this approach to music. It begs a serious question: what's the point of all these songs if they tend to end right as you are getting into them? The answer is simple: Track 55. I call it the Moment of Greatness. Here we get a 19-minute instrumental slab of the previous 54 songs. Many of them are mixed together, while others are separated by a one-second gap. It plays like a sample platter and is truly Reason Number One to buy the EP. Throughout the album there are riffs galore, loads of quality thrash drumming (a ton of double bass) and a general feel that JaKa are tremendous musicians - but the micro-song approach featured here is an understandable distraction. Track 55 addresses this issue triumphantly - I can't recommend it enough.

If you appreciate what they are doing but want lengthier songs, you will enjoy their previous releases. The songs are indeed longer while more importantly, the music is pretty much the same. Win-win situation.

Songs that stood out:
Leben; Enttieren; Uberall; Werd Doch; Vernetzte Welt Geht Unter; Halsabscneider.

Infernal Stronghold/GATT- Pests

Official Sites:GATT----Infernal Stronghold
Released: February 2009
Label: Metalwar/Bullshit Propaganda
Release Type: 7" Split limited 500
Genres: Black Metal/Crust/Death Metal/Thrash Metal

Being just one of the goodies I picked up from the awesome Repulsion show, Pests, is a butting of heads between Philly's own Infernal Stronghold and GATT of Indonesia. What drew me to this release immediately was the beautiful packaging. The jacket is covered in beautiful gold detail via silkscreen and the inside is the same. There's writing galore and plenty to keep you intrigued and interested. If the pretty packaging wasn't enough, there's two patches included, much in the same style (with the dark gold print it's pretty hard to tell what's going on in the patches, but who cares? they look neat). Anyway, before even listening I was won over by the amount of effort simply put into presentation on both band's behalf.


So never hearing either band I was skeptical, worried that all this packaging was a guise to cover up shitty music; thankfully I was wrong.


Hand scratched into the inner rim of the vinyl one can tell that the first side is Infernal Stronghold's offering. With a cacophonous and hallowed out production, Infernal Stronghold play a very crusty version of black metal. Vocals drenched in reverb and throat blisteringly vicious, they spew lyrical venom in a very punkish attitude (although, from what I can tell there's only one singer, he kinda sounds like the chick from Nausea every now and then). The riffs exemplified jump from punk rumblings to thrashy outbreaks (listen to the second track to see what I'm talking about) all without conflict or any filler. The guitarwork is excellent and catchy. Quickly becoming a favorite, Infernal Stronghold absolutely slay with this thrashy crust meets black metal approach, something I'm a complete sucker for. They even incorporate some neat thrash breaks and blast beats, fan-fucking-tastic.


On side B we get GATT which made me an instant fan in the first 3 seconds. I cant really describe how awesome it is, but there's brief feedback then this slimy, throaty, "bleh!" (only thing close to it I can think of are some of Belphegor(AUT)'s blehs) that unleashes a really heavy thrash riff. If i had to finger them, I'd call GATT crusty death metal, similar to Hellshcok (although a hellauva lot better). Plenty of tempo changes, deep throaty vocals and downtuned thrashy riffs amidst blast beats, midpaced stomps and d-beats keeps the momentum flowing for GATT's side. The vocals are spot on, mid-ranged rasps, deep bellows, and high-pitched screeches, really ace. Each song is composed excellently and has enough variation to keep you pounding your fist but never allowing you to get lost, bored, or confused. I'm a big fan simply with this release alone. Crusty and heavy as hell, GATT absolutely fucking slay here.


This shit's cheap enough, defiantly buy it and support two bands who actually kick ass and seem to put a lot of effort into their music. Buy here

-F

Csorna - Black Horizons

Csorna Myspace
Release: 2009
Label: Self-Released
Release Type: Demo, Mp3
Genre:Black Metal

Relatively unknown, and maybe that’s how they want it, America’s Csorna offer up absolutely no information in terms of their lineup, image, or product. There’s no physical manifestation at the moment to confirm this band’s actual existence, all that exists are two demos in mp3 format with song titles and album art. The band’s myspace features no information, nor does it allude to any. When it all boils down to it, it doesn’t really matter.

Csorna’s Black Horizons blurs by quickly in a storm of static, wails, drums, and surprisingly melodic guitars. Playing a style of black metal that flirts with punk, the d-beat region, Csorna exemplifies competent and promising bedroom black metal. To unaccustomed ears, the permanent hiss of Csorna’s guitars that cuts through the foreboding intro track of ambiance could be quite offsetting, but when given time the listener is privileged to hear actual notes, melodies and progressions. The production found on Black Horizons is purposefully raw sounding and establishes mood quite well, yet it also allows everything that needs to be heard by the listener to remain in plain sight. Making comparisons is usually an unfair game, but Csorna seems to run with the school of lo-fi acts like Akitsa, Bone Awl, Vordr and Ancestors, while stepping away from the first two’s obsession with simplicity. There exists enough progressions, rhythm changes and structure so that the music maintains its vital energy and keeps your head banging.

The vocals are buried deep in the background and contribute a throaty and distorted kind of death howl a bit similar to Archgoat. The drums pound away beneath the sea of static allowing only the bass drum and various cymbal crashes to be heard on a consistent basis. Each song contains catchy, yet simple punk styled riffs which often rely upon power chords and predictable transitions. My favorite sections are when the drums break away from the ambiguity of lo-fi blast beats and slam into a powerful sounding punk beat (check out 2:25 in “Passage Through The Depths” and the beginning of “Bellows Of Ancient Souls”).

While the band isn't breaking ground, nor are they pushing boundaries, there's something I really like about them. The combination of death metalish vocals, abstract static of the most lo-fi quality, and the melding of punk and black metal in terms of song writing make this highly enjoyable.

A promising release, one can only hope that this band moves away from the crutch that is Myspace and release physical output. Download both demos here.
-F