Hummingbird Of Death - Goatmeal

20 songs on a 5" record? That's exactly what I'm talking about, ladies and gentlemen! Hummingbird of Death have always been known to bring the high-powered, super-fast grindcore (or powerviolence, if you're a hardcore kid), but this shy-of-4-minutes monster is just something else. Discounting the last track, which takes up the entirety of side B, each song is a microburst of super-thrashy speedy goodness.

This isn't as polished as more familiar material (like the classic Show Us The Meaning Of Haste) but the production isn't necessarily bad or so muddy that it all sounds like a pile of crap - it's still nice and clear. You can stream the whole thing below on Youtube, but you can also still pick up a physical 5" copy released by Cowabunga! Records for a decent price, even the red repress limited to 180 copies.

Warning - is fast. 

Jesus Crost - Fuck Powerviolence...This Is Groovy Gore Grind!

Ok...so Jesus Crost do groovy gore grind now? Dunno when the change over happened exactly, but it happened. Don't get me wrong, the cover art is pretty hilarious considering the usual subject matter of Jesus Crost's material...but other than that...shit....I really don't want to say it, because I hate dissing bands....but this shit sucks ass. Compared to the insane precision and ruthless insanity of material like Tot, this 7" comes across as a bit boring and as a lazy joke. It sounds like a sub-par GUT mixed with some random brutal death metal band, all the while trying to imitate Jig-Ai / Rompeprop-esque polka rhythms. The whole thing just falls flat on it's arse. Please, please go back to fastcore, guys!

The porno sample over the first track goes on for so long you'd swear that Mortician had a hand in producing it. Things pick up around the end of side A with "Rachid Bouaouzan", which has a half-decent groove, but other than that, this thing just goes nowhere. I'm not entirely sure if this record is really as awful as I'm making out or if it is just my own massive personal disappointment in the decline in Jesus Crost's output. That's the thing that hurts the most; Jesus Crost are (usually) so absolutely fucking goddamn awesome. I dunno what the fuck happened here...I'm sorry for the negativity! I'm sure most of you are already know I rarely do negative reviews, but I just gotta be honest with you here... :(

This was put out on Rodel Records. Again, I apologise for the negativity but to quote the internet: "I am dissapoint". Maybe this'll grow on me

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.