Pigsty - Planet Of The Pigs

Planet Of The Pigs is the final (?) album from long-running Czech grindcore band, Pigsty. I think to still call Pigsty a grindcore band by this point is pushing it a bit; Planet Of The Pigs has a whole world of other influences building on the grinding template, from thrash to death metal, to the kooky ongoing concept ("Inspection Report" kicks this thing off with GWAR-grade sci-fi storytelling) and even the insane djent moments that randomly crop up through the chaos. 

The band have had an almost exclusive relationship with Bizarre Leprous productions, and I sincerely hope that one day they shall return from the Planet Of The Pigs to blast us with more perplexing space grind.

Lahar - Umění Strachu

Lahar is a thrashy, hardcore-tinged band from the Czech Republic (I believe thrashcore is the preferred term) and Umění Strachu is their second album (third if you count the original demo, which has a fair amount of songs on it). It kinda has a skate-punk feel to it, which mixes oddly with soaring melodies and more traditional metal parts to form an unique brew of styles. Considering I saw these guys as Obscene Extreme, this record isn't particularly speedy, but lacks no energy or punch because of this.

Doomentia Records put this out in 2013 on CD and vinyl which is still readily available. 150 copies of the coloured vinyl release came with extra heavy packaging and a record player slipmat, which is pretty cool.

Czech it out (sorry I couldn't resist).

Pothead - Jointification

Pothead are a bunch of a masked crusaders from Prague (Praha!), Czech Republic, who play downtuned death metal / goregrind infused with the wonderous sounds of hip hop and also a bit of techno. It all seems a bit ridiculous, and quite frankly it is. On the first initial listen it sounds a bit like GUT jamming with Ahumado Granujo at a Cypress Hill gig (I know, right). I caught these guys live recently, and their get-up kinda reminds me of something that would be signed to Psychopathic Records, and it made me wonder if Pothead are down with the clown, so to speak.

I'm not sure if I prefer the hip hop parts or the death metal parts more. I do think though as the record goes on it definitely gets better; the start is a bit shaky but everything gets a bit more solid as things get into a stride and the record progresses. I guess there is gonna be a whole bunch of people out there who will not like this, or even get angry at this being in any way shape or form labelled as grindcore or death metal, but those people are absolutely no fun, so fuck them.

The band have very cleverly offered this for streaming themselves, with a few extra vocal bars thrown in about buying the record (unless these bars appear on the actual album too? Haha), so you can stream it below from the band's official channel, or if you really dig this shit, you can get a copy from here. 4/20 blaze it etc. etc. etc.

Ahumado Granujo - Splatter-Tekk

Now this is a weird one... 

Ahumado Granujo (which translates as "smoked pimple" in Google Translate) are a band that I was turned on to after seeing their mental live performance at OEF 2013. They play dirgy, pig-snorting goregrind along the lines of RazorRape, Eardelete and fellow Czech countrymen Destructive Explosion Of Anal Garland (who might actually share members with this band, their sound is very similar). The biggest stand-out difference with Ahumado Granujo from other goregrind stuff is the fact that the tracks are interspersed with maddeningly unusual (and perhaps unnecessary) bouts of techno music. 

I don't really get it; it works live but on a record the techno parts seem to serve only as breaks from the goregrind, and are fairly worthless beyond that purpose. Anyways, if you farking love goregrind then you'll farking love this, techno or no techno. Bonus points to those who can pick out the sneaky Twin Peaks sample in the first few tracks.

Destructive Explosion Of Anal Garland - Sealing Off The Vagina By Sewer Lid

Destructive Explosion Of Anal Garland (who possibly take the award for most unreadable logo ever) are a Czech goregrind band with brutal death metal influences. Sealing Off The Vagina By Sewer Lid has a lot of slam-style parts and farmyard vokills associated with the realms of death metal but the overall vibe is one of groovy porno grindcore. It's got vibes of Jig-Ai, RazorRape and even Ahumado Granujo (just look at the cover art), but only if you take out the dance music parts. This band has three albums out now, but I still think that Sealing... is the best one yet.

Sealing... offers 17 traxxx of sickness that average around the two minute mark. Expect slams, tinkly blastbeats that sound like they have been done on pots and pans and a sick, dirty, heaving guitar tone. There is Leng T'Che and Regurgitate covers for good measure, but DEOAG have their own brand of goregrind that I am interested in much more than the cover songs.

Czech it out!

Malignant Tumour - Burninhell

I've had this album for years, and I can't remember where I got it from. Anyways, I got it and was expecting some nasty goregrind but instead was met with some metallic punk sound so I fucked it off and forgot that I had it. It wasn't until I saw Malignant Tumour live in Obscene Extreme Festival 2013 that I remembered I had this 12"; Gumpy said something about really enjoying them and wanting to get some albums and I just clicked that I already had one somewhere. Sure, Burninhell isn't as polished or as rock'n'roll as later, more accessable material by the band but it's still a pretty cool d-beat influenced metal record. To me it sounds like Motorhead, Discharge and Agathocles crossed over in a modern studio. I can get behind that!

Opener, "Clearance of Century" has a huge punk feel to it, whilst second track "Here We Are" brings the grind that I love so much. The ferocity here is totally non-stop; the vocals are super savage and really match the hybrid sound perfectly. "Commands from the Oval Throne" on side B is another favourite of mine. The whole thing closes out with "Oseriost som fan", which is crusty as absolute fucking fuck, before ending with some epic chanting shit. This has been out for some time now on CD and vinyl thanks to Insane Society Records. Czech it out in the link below!