Animals Killing People at Myspace

I’m not exactly a fan of extreme animal liberation groups. Whether they’re comparing Holocaust victims to livestock, staging sophomoric stunts involving naked women or completely ignoring the problem of animal-on-animal violence, I wouldn’t want to be even remotely associated with them even if I were a vegan. However, Animals Killing People have been inspired by their ideology to craft a solid album of deathgrind.

After a sample starts off the album, the first thing you’ll notice are the vocals. The vocals are some of the deepest, most guttural grunts I’ve ever heard, like some jagged, rusty chainsaw assembled by the devil himself. Unfortunately, the instrumental backing is just  too low in the mix, making the music too hard to hear. If you don’t normally listen to music with headphones, I advise doing so for this album; you won’t get the full effect otherwise. The music is chaotic, as is typical for grindcore, but without being completely directionless. Samples are used well, but sparingly; the band was smart enough not to put them in every track.

My biggest complaint was that the band put one of those lengthy hidden tracks at the end of the album. I HATE that gimmick. Aside from that, though, there’s really not much to complain about here, unless you’re so set against PETA-style propaganda that you can’t bear to listen to it even when it’s delivered through incomprehensible growling.

Rotten Sound at myspace

Rotten Sound along with Pig Destroyer are the joint world leaders in the modern Grindcore scene. Both bands have a distinct style which is deeply rooted in the genre’s 80’s Hardcore Punk roots and neither could be described as technical as certain other grind bands. Where Rotten Sound differ on this release from both their main competitor in Grindcore and those bands such as Phobia and Kill the Client who are snapping at their heels is the influence of Stockholm Death Metal on their sound particularly Grave. Amidst the fast punkish grinds there are several chunky breakdowns that wouldn’t feel out of place on “Into the Grave” and some of the riffs are more reminiscent of the Stockholm sound than say Napalm Death or Terrorizer and are effortlessly slotted into the Grindcore structures of the songs. Other songs like “Praise the Lord” sound like Amebix at 100 miles per hour.

The most common criticism of Grindcore is that all the songs sound the same, but this is definitely not a complaint one can make about the songs on “Cycles” with the barely structured Crusty chaos of “Deceit” being placed next to the groove laden two minute epic “Caste System” being a prime example. This is truly top draw grind and this album would be my recommendation for anyone looking to get into the genre.

(For Samples Click Artwork)

The Berzerker at Myspace

“The Reawakening” marks The Berzerker’s fourth studio album and also his first, truly, independent release.  After the release of “Animosity”, Luke Kenny was apparently very disillusioned by Earache Records, and the entire record industry as a whole, and decided to create his own record label for his music; he even posted a small movie on how the profits in the music industry is really distributed.  In reality, this is no surprise because the current state of the recording industry is at the weakest state its ever been with everyone having home recording equipment and software that could literally master an album in no time with little to no money needed.  But that is a topic of another time, the music of The Berzerker is really what matters and on this record, he comes out with more force, more focus, and more creativity than he ever has in his last few records.
The album starts off with “Wisdon and Corruption” features a more gabber flavor than his last two albums; not to say that the last few albums were crap or unfocused but the idea of “The Berzerker” was to create a living Death/Gabber band and he did achieve it on “Dissimulate” but the idea can sometimes cloud the creativity or uniqueness of the art.  This album is actually more “artful” than “World of Lies” and “Animosity” put together because Luke decided to not hide his Gabber/DnB side and instead incorporate it into the music.  I, personally, think what he achieved on this record is what he was trying to do with all the albums but maybe the record label wanted a more “conventional” sounding electronic death metal act.

Honestly, after “Animosity”, I thought The Berzerker was going a bit stale because his idea of trying to make the fastest, brutal death metal band/album and when you compare “World of Lies”, “Animosity”, and “Dissimulate” you hear someone trying to create/program drums that are 150x faster than any human drum can create and to a degree it works but after a few attempts, and possibly rehashing of the same patterns, the art of music gets lost.

So when I first heard “The Reawakening”, I was blown away that this record a pattern or structure that made some sense given the music.  The guitars are still ever fast/Carcass-est but the focus on the drums was actually a HUGE breath of fresh air because Luke changed the patterns, for example “Disassembly Line” features a short DnB pause that helps build the song and carries it through force.  The song “Your Final Seconds” starts off with fast Gabber kicks but suddenly stops and goes almost “Breakcore-ish” and then returns to its Industrial Grind.  These little changes and additions to the song structure are the things that made the first Berzerker album soo standout.  In 2000, the self titled masterpiece of “The Berzerker” opened my ears to a new sound in Death Metal and I think was the first, focused example of creativity and imagination being used to recreate a genre that is so set in its own ways.

So what more can I say about this album more than its refreshing to hear this band return to its roots and imagination.  One thing I forgot to mention about this record was that it features, for the first time in the bands history actually, remixes from fans and fellow hardcore techno artists that Luke Kenny has known for sometime.  The promotion for the album began with a songwriting campaign, very similar to Trent Reznor’s Year Zero Remixed campaign, that allowed fans to remix one or two of his songs in anyway that they envisioned it.  Also, the band would choose their favorite remix and the fans would choose theirs and both would end up on the album, which they did.  So not only is this Luke’s best “Berzerker” album but also his gift to fans by giving some of them a chance to appear on a release of this magnitude.

For purchasing information, go to www.berzerkerindustries.com and get the album and the newly released 12″ with bonus remixes.

Cephalectomy at Myspace

Cephalectomy hail from Nova Scotia, and they play a heavily Kataklysm-influenced style of deathgrind which they have dubbed “mystigrind”. Their latest release, The Dream Cycle Mythos, consists of just one 23-minute long song, which goes through multiple segments, including both growling and screeching vocals. Typically fast and brutal grindcore segments are punctuated by creepy synthesizer interludes reminiscent of Morbid Angel’s Formulas Fatal to the Flesh, with a little bit of mid-tempo metal thrown in near the end.

I personally greatly preferred the bear-grunting to the shrieking, but that’s just personal taste. I also didn’t like the use of a drum machine, as Cephalectomy had employed an actual drummer on previous albums, but some of the drum parts are so insanely fast that it’s understandable that they made that choice. One part near the end of the song stuck out to me as being extremely fast and noisy just for the hell of it, but most of the rest of the EP is strong. This release is definitely worth picking up for fans of grindcore and brutal death metal.

Pig Destroyer at Myspace

Pig Destroyer’s fourth full length “Phantom Limb” both rectifies the slight imperfections of the album that preceded and provides a new new dimension to the biggest remaining second wave grindcore act’s sound. Their third album “Terrifyer” was an invigorating and essential listen but it wasn’t perfect. The production just didn’t have the depth and gravitas to bring their savage bass-less assault to the same level of clarity and precision that their 2001 masterpiece “Prowler in the yard” had. On “Phantom Limb” the production accentuates these qualities in the same way the production of “Prowler in the Yard” did despite being slightly more refined.

This is not to say this is a retread of “Prowler in the Yard” though, there are as many 3 plus minute something songs as there are those that are just under 2 minutes in length. Pig Destroyer also seems to have gotten one step closer to their aim to “bring back what grindcore should be”. “Phantom Limb” is more focused, intense and well constructed than any previous Pig Destroyer release. On “Prowler in the yard” they proved they could beat all other second wave grindcore acts in 60 seconds flat.

On “Phantom Limb they prove are not just about brutality and mindless speed, as their lightning fast assaults are peppered with breakdowns and explosions of slower (but compared to other bands, still pretty fast!) riffage that bring to mind Bolt Thrower, classic Slayer and on one section on the end of “Heathen Temple” Black Sabbath. With this album Pig Destroyer have continued to do what they’ve been doing for ten years now; reinventing grindcore for the 21^st century whilst staying firmly attached to the late 80’s roots of the genre.

So in 2005, Anders Jakobson began writing demos for what could eventually become the first Coldworker album, “The Contaminated Void.” Once “The Contaminated Void” was released, it was clear that Anders wasn’t really done with Nasum. “The Contaminated Void” was full of sheer brutality, speed, technicality, and fury but on their newest record, “Rotting Paradise,” Coldworker actually slowed down a bit, think Zyklon’s “Disintegrate” when compared to “World Ov Worms”, and full of groove.

“Rotting Paradise” at times reminds me a bit of Arch Enemy at times due to the solos and the melody now present in “Rotting Paradise” but the brutality and the speed is still pure Coldworker. The album is a huge step up because it shows a side of “Death/Grind” that hasn’t been seen in a long time, not since Carcass’ “Heartwork.” This is really a great album and one that will really play well live when Coldworker performs. So look for this album and look for them on tour and prepare to come out bruised!