1349 - Massive Cauldron Of Chaos

Urrrrrghhhh! 1349 returned from the misty fjords last year with the excellent Massive Cauldron Of Chaos. Personally, I would have called it Massive Cauldron Of Endless Blastbeats to more suitably match 1349's sound, but that would just be silly. Despite the expected ticking of mental drumming speeds, MCOC gets fairly melodic now and then, something which admittedly caught me off guard at first (see the tinkling passages between brutality in "Slaves" as an easy example of what I'm waffling about).

This album screeches past at lightening speed, breaking pace for song intros and then slowing somewhat for the beginning of "Postmortem" (which definitely isn't a Slayer cover). "Golem" is a strange one, at one minute forty in length (right up my alley haha), "Chained" returns to Hellfire speed/territory, mixing up extreme precision with Venom-esque riffage and swagger. Finally, "Godslayer" rounds off the swirling maelstrom with a six minute dose of epic black metal savagery. Beast. 

They might have taken a four year break between records but 1349 are as fresh and vibrant as ever. The sheer speed of this band never fails to totally floor me. 

Jesus Crost - Tot

Holy mother of fuck this is some fast fucking grindcore. This shit puts shame upon a whole world of bands claiming on "fast" and "brutal"; Tot is a short, sharp explosion of anger, distortion and all the blastbeats left in Holland. I guess it helps that the production is proper high-end and crystal clear, giving Jesus Crost all the professional space they need to fully unfold their maelstrom of football-themed fastcore fuckery. Soccergrind? Maybe not, but at least it sounds amazing!

Opener "Taurin 400" really sets the pace and bar for the rest of the record; a blasting and pummelling assualt of the senses that lasts a mere matter of seconds. It is hard to really tell the tracks apart by name, although there is the odd riff casually thrown in for good measure. Other than that though it's all blast blast blast, fast fast fast! I guess Jesus Crost know what they are about, and just get the fuck on with it, and quickly too. If you know what you're looking for in your music and this happens to be it then look no further my friend! Ha ha!

The "Bonustrax" live recordings from OEF 2008 tacked onto the end of the record leave a lot to be desired, however. I'm not sure how an accurate portrayal of Jesus Crost live these recordings show, but this is pretty awful. The band here sound nothing like the amazing band on the studio tracks here.

This is also available on a white 10" but I bought it on CD first so what are you gonna do...out on France's excellent Bones Brigade records.

Phobia / Suffering Mind - Split 5"

Two grindcore titans going head to head on a ridiculously novelty-sized record? What more do you fucking want from this genre, I ask? Phobia rip into something very fucking impressive, which is great news for me as I've not been too impressed with their output as of late (it's not bad, it's just they used to be so good!). "Grind Bleed Your Soul", the only song here, is fast and tight as fuck, and the drums are absolutely mind blowing. Brilliant stuff.

 

Poland's Suffering Mind have been ones to watch for a good while now, churning out crazy-sized wreckords and splitting like it was nobody's business. This is my first purchase by them though, as I've been putting it off because I know I'll want to fucking buy all their shit, some of which is impossible to find! Nevertheless, when I saw this 5" at Obscene Extreme I couldn't resist it. Suffering Mind sound a lot like Insect Warfare to me, and this can only be a good thing.

This fucker is limited to 666 copies on Behind The Mountain. I have number 406, which is like a piss yellow. You can also get this on black vinyl, which is much rarer and comes with two patches. Hardcore!

Wormrot / I Abhor - Split 7"

I Abhor are a weird mixture of sounds. Slow, dissonant riffs lead into unbelievably fast blasting grind; the drumming really is something you must all hear! The vocals are distorted and hellish a la the sound used on earlier Pig Destroyer records, only not as high; the singer utilizes mainly lows in his delivery. I Abhor are kinda similar to Wormrot in a way; they both peddle the same grinding mix of excellent riffing and flat out blasting.

 

Wormrot on side B contribute 8 (yes!) tracks to the 7". Opener "Twelve" is bloody hilarious, before "Critical Human Stupidity" blows your fucking head off like it was nobody's business. The production here betrays to me that these songs are from the same sessions as the Abuse album, or at least that's what it sounds like to me! 

 

For a grindcore band, Wormrot haven't really done that many splits, which is odd (but great for me as I have literally everything they have released, barring the odd demo tape or two). Anyways this 7" was put out by Fat Ass Records in Poland and is truly excellent as fuck. I recommend!