grindcore

2019 Albums

Album Review: Sugar Wounds – Mechanical Friends (Grind/Gaze)

October 6, 2019 zaxrecordreviews

Like many things in the information age, extreme metal has become over saturated and more accessible than ever. Now, this is a good thing and a bad thing for bands and listeners alike. As a listener, you have access to tons of amazing albums by tons of amazing bands that you would have never heard otherwise, but you’ll find yourself getting bored with certain sounds and styles, things can get redundant. As a band, it’s easier than ever to make and promote your music, but it’s hard to standout in a musical landscape where most things have been done. I will always stand by the idea that generic does not equal bad, however it’s always exciting and refreshing to hear something you’ve never heard before. […]

2018 albums

Esoteric Tape: My Minds Mine/Sick Of Stupidity (Grindcore)

September 15, 2019 Melinda (Carcassbomb)

Splits can be done for many reasons but the ones I’m thinking of first and foremost are that they make for a great promo package for labels and is a great way for bands to put out music that just isn’t very long. It can also be a good way for multiple bands from one scene location to reach globally. Might as well put in with another band or two rather than add filler to create the new EP or LP. Perhaps they want to experiment with another genre or something like that too. The split is a utilitarian format for these reasons and many more. It’s collaborative and if all goes well, it’s a lot of fun. I’m always more likely to stick around for a B side if it’s just another bands A game. […]

2018 albums

Album Review: OVER POWER – Ruination 9 (Grindcore)

September 13, 2019 Melinda (Carcassbomb)

OVER POWER are an Indonesian death grind trio with an addictive grindcore sound, brace and behold the downstrokes and audio samples. I have a soft spot for this style of music, it’s so rooted in having a good time that I can’t bring myself to scrutinize it. Ruination is a mosh a minute and a head-nodder at the very least. There’s some interesting takes on here, especially vocally. […]

2019 Albums

Tape Review: Maggot Cave – Pub Full Of Maggots 9.69 (Grindcore)

August 28, 2019 Melinda (Carcassbomb)

I knew I was in for some grindcore but I wasn’t expecting it to be this good. The deal with this project is that if I can, I will listen to an album for the very first time on tape. It’s a great approach that leads to a lot of surprises and discovery. There’s things you just don’t notice or care about digitally because our attentions spans are just fucked when we’re given a screen. There’s quite a few vocal techniques used throughout the tape – even at one point offering a howling heavy metal scream which completely caught me off guard. Combined with the great use of comedic samples there’s a lot of appreciate here, most of which seem to be taken from films, sitcoms and Australian radio shows. They all sounded super familiar to me but I can’t quite place them, I suspect the opening one is from Reno 911.  […]

2018 albums

Album Review: Whoretopsy – Take My Breath Away 8.5 (Brutal Death)

July 30, 2019 Melinda (Carcassbomb)

Whoretopsy recently got a new vocalist and I have to say right off the bat that he sounds awesome. The style is far more hardcore influenced than a lot of the brutal and grind death still around, it’s a really nice blending of genres that doesn’t shift hard enough to ever betray what makes them so metal. From Australian accented hardcore shouts to full blown pig sequels, it’s all here and it all feels valid. Musically they are technically proficient and playful, just down-tuned to hell. They often qualify under death metal and grindcore in equal measure, some more purist metalheads might not enjoy this offering but I consider it refreshing and a heap of fun. They embody “Australia” in a lot of ways – often sarcastically which in it’s self is very Australian. Nothing here is done without anger coated humor or humor coated anger. […]

2019 Albums

Album Review: Disentomb – “The Decaying Light” 9/10 (Death Metal)

July 12, 2019 Melinda (Carcassbomb)

I was surprised by the opener to be honest, I was expecting some pretty standard death with an emphasis on being as “hard af”. There’s quite a bit of motion and emotion to this introduction, leading into some down-tuned guttural grind with often complex and excited guitars. The aggression feels genuine and sometimes even wounded. My exposure to Disentomb is entirely live and local from some time ago, so I’ll have to go back and check out previous releases. This easily stands up to a lot of the work of Full Of Hell or Unique Leader label-mates Ingested, which seem to be the death grind kings at the moment. […]

2019 Albums

Album Review: Full Of Hell – Weeping Choir 8.8 (Grindcore)

June 11, 2019 Melinda (Carcassbomb)

I’m developing a fondness for this balls deep heavy kind of sound. Since hearing their previous release I’ve explored more of what the Grind tag has to offer, from the classics recommended to me by the community to the newer bands like Iron Eagle and Ampallang Infection. I’m definitely getting a feel for it now but still have a way to go. What I am finding is that across all the grind styles are some pretty wild decisions made about album composition and song presentation. It’s like extreme metal wasn’t cutting it so people have tried to condense it’s heaviness into the smallest frame possible. To be the loudest the fastest without ever compromising brutality… well, they do comprise a little on this record and it’s quite eloquent when it happens. […]