Magrudergrind - Crusher

I can't decide which one looks cooler? Above is the original Scion art, below the repress art. 

The boys in Magrudergrind seem to always catch an awful lot of flak for "selling out", perhaps more so than any band that's done this Scion A/V shit. I'm not gonna go into the bands dodgy appearance on a crappy TV show, I'm focussing entirely on the Scion thing here. I don't understand why I never hear anybody slagging off Wormrot for doing the same thing? Wormrot's Noise EP is up on some revered grind-pedestal, which I'm glad for, because it's awesome, but what makes them so different? Why do Magrudergrind catch it in the neck so much over this shit? If some useless car company wants to pump money into releasing grindcore music (for free) then what's the issue? Nobody's making you buy a fucking car.

Anyways, Crusher is awesome. It's everything you/we/I love about Magrudergrind rolled up into a nice 11 minute package. I don't think anything'll ever top the self titled album for me, but this is like a condensed version of everything that makes that album awesome. Magrudergrind have this fantastic ability to rip a cripplingly good riff and keep it nice and clear as the blasts and vocal barrage unfold. Mix in a few slow, almost sludgey interludes and a minute or two of sneaky (but not so good) hip hop, and job done! 

Asides from the original Scion A/V release of this EP on vinyl and CD, this has also been re-issued on 10" by Bones Brigade and Kaotoxin Records, on CD by Regurgitated Semen, and again on 10" in the USA by To Live A Lie. So there you go, if you wanna play punk and are against Scion, you can still pick this up off one of several reputed DIY or underground labels. Get in. 

Joe Pesci - At Our Expense!

Joe Pesci play really blurry sounding fastcore, somewhere along the grind highway between sounding like Anal Cunt and (really) early Magrudergrind. At Our Expense! sounds like more of a demo than anything, but it is a great, yet sadly quite short, trip through a grinding world of total speed. Bones Brigade released this CD back in 2009 after some self-released splits/demos and a 12" four-way which the band appeared on around 2007. After the release of this album, 4 years ago now, Joe Pesci seems to have dissappeared into thin air. It might have something to do with The Afternoon Gentlemen being rather busy, but, hey, what do I know?

 

The first thing I notice about the sound here is that the drums are oddly panned to one side, with a slight echo of the track on the other side a split-second later. I'm not sure if the guitars and drums were recorded separately in a rehearsal environment and what I'm hearing is the drums bleeding through on the guitar track, but it takes a while to get my head around this confusing anomaly. Oddities aside, this CD is a fucking animal! The guitars are an endless blur, rarely stopping to break into the odd riff, and with the drums the standard speed is "blast, motherfuckers!", sometimes slowing down to a crust-punk kinda speed and sometimes even speeding up into gravity blasts. What is this, a death metal record? Ha! Check it out in the link belowwww.

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.

P.L.F. / Nashgul - Split 7"

While most grind leans towards hardcore and hardcore punk, some of it leans more into the death metal and thrash territory. P.L.F., on this release at least (to date, the only thing I've heard by them), play some chuggy, metal-heavy grindcore. The production is huge, the drums sound amazing, and the vocals are low and rumbly like the good ol' death metal stock. The riffs though, are much more thrashy, yet retain that nasty, venomous edge that is required for the grindcore style.

There are like a hundred bands called Nashgul, or some variety of that spelling. I remember seeing some crappy black metal band with this name up in Leeds a few years ago, but that's another story. I prefer Nashgul's stuff here over P.L.F. (that's not a diss at them, though, their shit is great too!); I just prefer the over-all sound here, although it is a close one. Thrown into the vicious grind mix, Nashgul also bring some moments that aren't a million miles away from some d-beat vibes, and this mixes things up greatly. It sounds fucking amazing.

 

Limited to 100 on green, with the rest out on black, thanks to Bones Brigade Records.

Last Days Of Humanity - The Sound Of Rancid Juices Sloshing Around Your Coffin

Oh wow, on first impressions this album sounds absolutely huge on vinyl. There is definitley a depth of tone that CDs just cannot hit, no matter how crystal clear digital production can get. I don't dislike the CD format like some die-hard vinyl fans; I think that certain music is better suited to certain formats. It all depends on the nuisances and over-all sound the band is trying to achieve, I think. This is one of the pitfalls of the modern-day vinyl renaissance; I think that a lot of stuff that is ending up on "deluxe" vinyl really shouldn't be there. That's my two cents, at least!

 

Back to the record at hand; Last Days Of Humanity are an absolute testament to the development of the goregrind genre through the ninities and into the new millenium. Their dank and heavy sound is reminescent of a more classic underground death metal approach, but the song structures and those fucking acrid vocals make sure that things stay firmly lodged in the goregrind ballpark. I don't think Rancid Juices.... has ever sounded so good; this is surely related to what I was saying about certain things belonging to certain formats?

 

I suppose it helps that the album got the remaster and repress treatment thanks to Poland's Fat Ass Records, but still, it sounds fantastic on wax. Speaking of Fat Ass, fucking get a copy of this shit right now! Out of a variety of colours, but it's probably worth mentioning that the colour I have here is limited to one copy only...which I am totally proud and chuffed to pieces about owning. U jelly?

Last Days Of Humanity - Hymns Of Indigestible Suppuration

Welcome to quite possibly the most perfect goregrind sound. Last Days of Humanity are probably better known for their later, 9000bpm efforts, but Hymns of Indigestible Suppuration is more my bag of disfigured body parts. The whole thing starts off with a frankly odd sample, before kicking into some of the best down-tuned slop I've ever had the displeasure of hearing. Could that artwork be summed up in a more perfect sound? I doubt it.

 

The guitars are a thick wall of mushy goodness; the bass and 6-stringer mingling together are seemingly inseparable  On top of that under-layer of filth are the drums; crisp, clear and clean - the ultimate opposite to the muddy thickness of the string section. The snare is one of the best sounds ever put to tape. It is bouncy, bright and brilliantly mixed in with the terminal goo oozing from the amps. The vocals...well, I don't really know what to say here! Jesus! 

 

There are still copies of this in circulation for a fairly acceptable price, although I am not sure if it is out of print or not. Out on Bones Brigade Records.

 

Unholy Grave / Total Fucking Destruction - Split 7"

 

 

Alas Babylon! What we get here from the forever excellent and fantastico! crazy grinders TFD are demo versions / different recordings of songs that appear on the Hater record, mixed with a few others for good measure. The sound is big and biting as usual, the clusterfuck drums ahead of the winding guitars. It is a condensed version of some of their excellent tracks and a great place to start if you've never heard their mental-as-fuck grindcore but don't want to commit to a full length record. 

You've also got the excellent and ever-prolific Unholy Grave on side B like a Japanese Agathocles. Suprisingly catchy for noisier-than-thee grind. One complaint is that the drums drown out everything else, but hey, it is still pretty awesome. The vocals are rabid as feck. Limited to 200 copies on black and 200 copies on white, this pressing by Bones Brigade is almost certainly out of print! It also comes with a limited mega handy dandy TFD patch.

Brutal Truth - Machine Parts +4

My copy of this record is the 2007 reissue by the fantastic Bones Brigade Records on clear vinyl. This noisy EP was originally released in 1998 on Deaf American Records (a label once run by 'Truth's own Rich Hoak, you can read about it here) on a run of red records. There is also another Bones Brigade press of 300 on white.

This is perplexing one for Brutal Truth. It is aeons away from their well assembled studio albums, having been recorded on an eight track recording in the band’s practice space. But no worries, I have plenty of shitty grind 7”s and I am one of those people who firmly believe that sometimes a “sub par” production can lend a certain charm to a record.

Starting off with a blasting punky grind number which is more akin to anything by Total Fucking Destruction that Brutal Truth, side a quickly lurches towards the title track which takes up the remaining lines on the record. It’s a slow, long and winding track of excellent horribleness.

Side b flies through 5 different live versions of “Collateral Damage” before ripping through more muddy-yet-awesome 8 track grind. If you are new to Brutal Truth I wouldn’t recommend you start here as they have material that is far superior to this (their debut album being a staple in the history of grindcore – you been hiding under a rock? Ha ha!), but if you’re a crust lover with a penchant for the harsher side of things, I would recommend listening to this and picking it up.

Not to mention, that clear vinyl is fucking wicked!

Agoraphobic Nosebleed / Total Fucking Destruction - Split 7"

This here is the brilliant split between Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Total Fucking Destruction; two of modern grind's finest acts coming together on one short record. It was originally released in 2007 by Bones Brigade Records on a press of 1500 copies, 1300 on blue and 200 rare ones on green. It was repressed in 2009 on another 1000 red copies. Not sure how many people realize this, but the record is actually marbled. You can't see it normally because of the unusually thick blue colouring, but hold it up to the light and it looks boss:

Musically, this is about the time when ANb started veering away from the flat-out Randall-fronted cybergrind of old into more, how should I put it, "progressive" territory. It's still horrible, aggressive music, but the longest song here is 3 minutes; a precursor of what was to come with later ANb splits and albums. Pete from Benumb, a long time collaberator, lends vocals to the second track on the ANb side.

This split was my introduction to the weird and wonderful world of Rich Hoak's Total Fucking Destruction. Featuring a lengthy track spanning the whole side of the 7" (barring their quick Exploited cover at the end) entitled "Last Night I Dreamt We Destroyed The World", TFD spazz out over repetitive vocal patterns and odd noise arrangements. It's not of their usual hyper-fast grind stock, but it's definitely worth a listen.

You can pick up the repress easily these days, and you can still get the original blue one fairly cheap on Discogs, although I have never come across a green one, ever. In fact, I didn't even know they existed until I did some pressing info research on this release. I highly recommend this 7" to any fans of grindcore and the related genres.

Anal Penetration / Gronibard - Split 7"

Another absolutely awesome release from Bones Brigade Records, pairing the craziness of France's Gronibard and perverse, head-rattled drum machine tunes of Anal Penetration. Pressed in 2009 on a run of 500, with 300 on black and 200 on transparent green.

Anal Penetration bring their usual watery, boxy porngrind to the mix, while on the other side of the disc Gronibard take the oppurtunity to crucify Anal Penetration at every given moment, with song titles such as "The Only Reason Why You're Making A Split 7" With Us Is Because You're Desperate To Meet New Guys", "I Don't Need To Be Freud To Know That Calling Your Band Anal Penetration Means That You Want One" and "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: The Million Dollar Question Who Is The Gayest Dutch Band Ever ? [A] Epica [B] Within Temptation [C] The Gathering [D] Anal Penetration".