Animate Records recently published a 30-year retrospective re-issue of Blood Impulse to Destroy with the “lost” rough mix of the original, added photos, and the “Recognize Yourself” EP with undiscovered rarities. The cassette tape comes in a limited edition of 200.
13 Comments
Nearly thirty years after the heyday of death metal and grindcore (1983-1994) one of those “odd” bands, Xysma, similarly situated outside normalcy as Disharmonic Orchestra, Phlebotomized, Comecon, Afflicted, and Carbonized, finally releases a mass production compilation of its oeuvre of experimental death metal and grindcore.
2 CommentsTags: death metal, deathgrind, experimental, Grindcore, xysma
Phil from Nuclear Death returns with his new project Feral Viscera which continues on the path originally set out by the band but without the influence of the other members. The Nuclear Death Cult consists of eleven rerecorded Nuclear Death songs and two brand new songs. Songs remain the same in regards to composition but are produced in a much more modern manner. Gone are the demented screams of Lori Bravo, now replaced with a cold heavily distorted growl. The guitars are much louder and though are just unpolished are easier to make out due to the overly compressed nature of the music.
5 CommentsTags: death metal, feral viscera, Grindcore, nuclear death, nuclear death cult
After having hidden in obscurity for a short while, Chicago death/grind band Cianide returns with some of its darkest material to date. The track kicks off with an Autopsy-styled introduction, then detours into Deathstrike-style Motorhead-influenced riding rhythms before venturing into Celtic Frost territory.
15 CommentsTags: cianide, death metal, doom-death, Grindcore
On Symphonies of Sickness Carcass integrated a stronger Death metal influence into their music in regards to structure as the unorganized noise was given a clear vision and the short blasts of vitriol now communicate sickening short tales that have a greater sense of dynamism and progression. With these added tools, Carcass now had the ability to make the greatest gore related of all time. Though many band would use all the elements present here with varying levels of success as the style fell into the joke genres of Porno and Goregrind. Carcass remain the masters of this through meticulous arrangements as seen in one of the greatest introductions in metal.
2 CommentsTags: carcass, death metal, Grindcore, reek of putrefaction, symphonies of sickness
As the nation mourns the deaths of 9 people killed in the Dayton, Ohio shooting on Sunday more information about 24 year old shooter Connor Betts is surfacing based on his newly unearthed Twitter profile. While mainstream media outlets such as the Daily Beast have falsely reported that Betts had no links to extremist ideology, the account contains tweets that profess the gunman’s support of socialism, Satanism, and “Antifascism.”
46 CommentsTags: antifa, Antifacist metal, Antifascism, Antifascist grind, ben umanov, Brooklyn Vegan, Connor Betts, Dayton shooter, dayton shooting, domestic terror, Goregrind, Grindcore, Invisible Oranges, Kerrang, Kim Kelly, left wing, mass murder, Menstrual Munchies, metal, metal journalism, metal media, MetalSucks, neckbeard deathcamp, pornogrind, radicalization, rolling stone, Teen Vogue, terrorism, vice magazine
Street Cannibal Gluttony/rehearsal 05/2019 consists of the Cannibal Gluttony demo and two new songs played in rehearsal,”Sadistic Drive” and a cover of Discharge’s “Maimed and Slaughtered”. A short release clocking in at just over seventeen minutes but shows the progression from a band alternating between Demilich like riffs and rapid fire Grindcore, to a band combining both in a smooth melange.
5 CommentsTags: Carbonized, Finnish Death Metal, Grindcore, sadistic drive, street cannibal gluttony: rehearsal 05/2019
The task before a reviewer varies widely. If you want to be a big shot, you need to write about what the labels want, since they are the only source of top-down money coming into the genre. They will then reward your publication with advertising, it will then reward you with a promotion, and eighteen months later, you can ditch it and move up to the big leagues.
25 CommentsTags: 2018, Angantyr, archgoat, best of, black funeral, Black Metal, condemner, death metal, deceased, Drawn and Quartered, Grindcore, Heavy Metal, internal bleeding, iskandr, judas priest, kever, master, monstrosity, nachtlieder, phosphore blanc, progressive metal, retortion terror, Satan, slam metal, sludge, Speed Metal, Summoning, Therion, trenchant, underground metal
Grindcore reduces music to basic chromatic riffs which operate solely by pattern contrast in the changing of phrase and rhythm, making it one of those rare musical instances that creates a new “space” within music where other musicians do not deign to tread. This makes grindcore often resemble a kitchen sink: you turn on the tap, and grindcore pours out, about like all other grindcore.
1 CommentTags: gridlink, Grindcore, retortion terror
At its most direct and well-calibrated, grindcore is a viciously effective medium for both emotional and corporal catharsis. But, as is often the case with experiential intensity, those equally delightful and terrifying moments seldom endure and will at best leave us grappling with a sensation of unresolved clarity. Whether or not this observation resonates with the reader, it may well be applied as an analogy for the grindcore phenomenon at large. Once a fortuitous offspring of hardcore punk and primordial death metal, early grindcore managed to tap into the deeper recesses of human discontent and paranoia and somehow channel this raw force into musical form. However, it didn’t take long before this short burst of essentially intuitive creativity gave in to rationalization and before anyone had realized it: game over.
The main point in case here would be Carcass. As have been previously chronicled on these pages, early Carcass lifted grindcore out of its self-inflicted musical and ideological circumscriptions with their debut Reek of Putrefaction (1988) —somewhat ironically, given its crude nature and presentation— before embarking on a steady slope into insignificance as the band got caught up with making music to please audiences. Since then, a veritable substyle has been founded upon Carcass’ earliest works reaching up to their third LP. Not surprisingly, the artistic results have been chiefly meagre because most successors have focused on mimicking style rather than the essential qualities of the music. Consider this in parallel to the poignantly limited musical palette of grindcore and a scenario takes form where novelty rather than substance is rewarded; because in a field where everything sound practically identical on the surface, the easiest way to gain notoriety is through aesthetic manipulation. Consequently, discovering worthy material quickly turns into a struggle of Sisyphosian proportions, as it requires extensive and often in-depth digging.
Unanimously forgotten by the metal world at large, Putrid Offal’s 1991 split LP with Exulceration comes across as a seemingly indistinctive affair at first glance. However, a deeper acquaintance with the material reveals this to be one of the more rewarding non-canonical works within the genre. Putrid Offal comfortably operates within a style somewhere between the first and second Carcass album if played with the intense rigidity of an early Napalm Death. Where the band excels is in a conjoinment of Reek of Putrefaction’s playful and frequently destabilizing nature with the more cogent and death metal-oriented riff sequencing witnessed on Symphonies of Sickness (1989). Riffs strive to expand beyond the simple chromatic patterns that has become a staple among grindcore acts. This allows the band not only to apply greater textural nuance to phrases, but also an opportunity to string riffs into sequences that defy binary modes of communication. While intensity remains as main focus throughout the playing time, both structure and riffology implies an undercurrent darker than what is usually expected of such a direct form of music.
Setting aside aspirations of petty “uniqueness”, Putrid Offal ironically enough belongs to the infinitesimal cadre of bands who’ve managed to expand upon the Carcass legacy.
4 CommentsTags: Grindcore, putrid offal
