I Submit Myself to Deathstorm (Review: Deathstorm, We Are Deathstorm 2008)

“What is music? It’s my understanding that the word “music” refers to a collection of sounds organized by a conscious mind for the purpose of expression that can not normally be considered speech alone”
— Unknown Source

Noise is by all rights and attributions a post-music phenomenon, purposefully breaking conventionality and standards that have become the dogmatic confines in what we perceive to be music and forcing the scope of the term to expand with it.

For millenia music was held in the firm grasps of a physical instruments and/or vocals paradigm; a piquant liberalisation emerged through the use of digital chicane and sonic engineering, granting artists a greater canvas and an endless set of tools to explore their craft. 

Convulsed by an unholy pairing between the legendary breakcore rogue Bong-Ra and the samurai ghost seeing monstrosity of Maruosa comes a bestial matrimony known as Deathstorm, whose monolithic benchmark of musical lawlessness has pushed music into supernatural zeniths of  discordance and corruption. 

Their 2008 tesla-rod to the ears "We are Deathstorm" is so heavily overblown in its commitment to offering the most oppressive machine-driven regime to music that you can develop lead poisoning from listening to it. There is no decorum in its presentation just an incalculable tempest of electrical thorns, obtuse sonic fissures and pneumatic blasts, all the while a crushing maze of man and industrial noise screeches withdraws from the dark cybernetic abyss, forewarning one and all of the unspeakable horrors the release launches without impunity. 

Flashing between an enigma of scenes drawn from personal nightmares and telemechanical dystopias, a writhing mass of discarded musical shrapnel and charged electrons collide with one after another discharging the ultimate sonic punishment in rapid bursts of barbed packets of noisegrind unchained. The listening experience is jaw-droppingly profound and paralyzing to say the least; a radical disfigurement of what is known to be the limitations of music has been blasted into new found extremities. The speed, heaviness and all round shock value of it all push the listener into a state of sensory overload as the mind scrambles in epileptic fashion to deduce the appropriate response to what aptly is dubbed "hypergrind", a band made nomenclature that accurately brings to light the gigahertz speeds employed and just how much sheer energy the release consumes in its war on music. 

We are Deathstorm overpowers organic grind output with a parasitic assimilation to harsh noise and skewered breakcore spasms, a godless wreck of a release. However the release is far from arbitrary, cryptically cloaked in the storm of digital fury is a distinct artistic signature which in a stainless steel cold hearted fashion grants each of the 14 tracks their own unique set of digital behemoths to torture the listener with. It is in this formidable backbone of artistry hinged on mal-intent that we owe a masochistic sense of  praise to this creatively disturbed monstrosity, giving life and objective to what could of just broken down to degenerate noise, instead rising far beyond to be the most extreme piece of music ever conceived to date.

All Hope Is Lost (Review: D.E.R., Quando A Esperanca Desaba 2008)

If the Olympic Committee where ever to formally recognise blast beating as a sport then amongst the top contenders gunning for a place on the pedestal would be Brazil's savage grind act D.E.R.,of which I am certain their drummer must have had his ligaments and tendons in his arm replaced with metal door hinges due to all the wear and tear of his non-stop blast-fest mechanicality. It's fast yet ultra tight in the presentation clocking just shy of the sound barrier for under 14 minutes, of which I must confess I spent more time attempting to work out what D.E.R. stands for, the only identical Brazilian acronym  I could find was for the department of motorways, perhaps an in joke to highlight their penchant to speed, although I feel far more likely that D.E.R. stands for something more inclined to violent imagery, as D.E.R. are all about skipping the formalities and just jumping into a Grindcore beatdown. And what a glorious beatdown it is, no breathing room just a downpour of blasts, screams and some sharp edged guitar work. The full fat unmerciful intensity they so readily deliver in such strong doses is the key to its success, maximising the advantages of its wrothful and dishevelled presentation, which brings many  parallels with my limited exposure to fellow compatriotas Subcut.

It's pretty much a flawless set up  for the less ambitious, not a criticism at all, if you got a good thing going why take the risk of experimentation. Yes the songs kinda feel like one continual monotone blur, but its ok because we like what we are hearing and its what we the people never get tired of: full on ferocity, and Quando A Esperanca Desaba is practically filled to the brim with the stuff.  Also additional pat on the backs must be awarded for singing in their native lingo (why in something as niche and obscure as grind some bands feel the need to anglicise their lyrics I will never understand, especially since more often than not vocals are indecipherable), but also for taking the time and effort to translate them into English too, a win-win situation. 

What it may lack in novelty value, artistic direction, song writing skills etc etc is all negligible because none of that could ever fit into the bestial rancor they discharge without compromising the integrity of their outrage. Well worth checking out.

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Malice Aforethought (Review: Infanticide, Sonic Punishment 2008)

Too bad post millenial Terrorizer took a wrong turn somewhere after their Pièce de résistance World Downfall and ended up stumbling aimlessly through a mess of banal music that did their earlier endeavours and legacy no justice. However that being said if one was to guestimate what they should of sounded like if they maintained their threshold of awesomness and vibrant tone from 1989 in a modern day grind setting then I would suggest the grind machinations of Infanticide would be affectionatley close to the outcome. 

Their 2008 7" Sonic Punishment is appropriately named, with its modernised deployment of fleshy bass tone reminiscent of former Grind upstarts Insect Warfare, immediatley shafted against the distinct Terrorizer guitar riff work, all of which is accompanied by a constant melee of unyielding blast beats and howling savagery that passes for vocals. It works at every level of the playing field, ultimately condensing together for an exceptional powerful and demanding onslaught of grind virility. The session of castigation has a run time of seven and a half minutes long, broken across 10 tracks which all offer their own little boon, but uniformly channel the obstinant fury Infanticide have time and time again brought to the table. 

I would be reluctant to call it a test run of their 2010 jackpot From Our Cold Dead Hands, but rather a condensation of what they would later go on to, on this release instead opting for a minute or under runs, quitting the game once terminal grind velocity has been obtained and starting up the malice afresh rather than offer any solid development with the exception of Oblivion Descends. However far reaching development is not part of the game plan, if the release name didn't already give it away the master plan merely consists of all elements chasing for all out barbarity, something these Swedes in particular seem to have a natural talent for. 

Slams, F-ing Slams. (Dysentery, From Past Suffering Comes New Flesh, 2008)


In the United States, Death Metal has held up its mighty reign for years. There are many different sub-genres that can be considered the best within this primary genre. Specifically speaking, Massachusetts does not usually have any ties into a strong Brutal Death Metal (BDM) scene; however with the recent assault of extreme power from BDM band Dysentery, this may change. Dysentery has been ruling the underground for roughly a decade and has a few memorable releases under their “hell bent for leather” belts (yes that was a Judas Priest joke). Most notably and prominent is their first full length release “From Past Suffering Comes New Flesh”. This album has some very straight forward Death Metal moments, but also has some of the most brutal “slams” I have ever encountered. Track by track I am overwhelmed and awed by this bands impressive ability to make my head fucking bang. The drums are blistering, the guitar work catchy, and the vocals are diverse and range fantastically between the harshest highs to the most guttural lows. It shall be appropriate to review this journey of an album through analysis of certain individual tracks.
Disassembling the Entities: This track begins the album with a sort of Deathcore type chug riff that starts off the Groove just right. This opening track also helps transition into the next song’s sporadic intro riff.
Decimation of Fear: This song starts up with a rapidly quick riff that compliments the implementation of some of the more pig squeal type vocals that are portrayed throughout much of the album. If I were to invite a new listener to the art of BDM I would choose this song to portray what this shit is all about.
Unfolding Creation: Beginning with a catchy rhythmic shrill this song has a lot of power backing it up, along with an immense groove and slam that makes the hair on my arms stand up with chills (I’m really into Brutal Death Metal). On a bit of a side note, this track and a few others would really gain by having the vocals turned up a bit on the mix, they are very quiet and the songs lose a bit of the atmosphere due to this imperfection.
A Malignant Future Awaits: My personal favorite, this track sounds like more of a traditional Death Metal track with a classic style intro. The vocal transition a few seconds in is definitely something that I would use to help define the phrase “brutal as fuck”.
I would highly recommend checking out this great Brutal Death album. If you have not heard of this band or would like to check them out, you can find them at Myspace.com/dysenterygrind or Facebook.com/dysenterygrind. I promote this band specifically due to the fact that they are trying to get more likes on Facebook then the disgraceful “death rap” group (or whatever you want to call them) Insane Clown Posse, which I find humorous and cause worthy.
-Jordan Barsamian

The Three Absurdateers (Birdflesh, The Farmers' Wrath, 2008)

Do you remember those ridiculous teen years when your fascination of the morbid and absurd was often displayed in a "sickening" and totally un-pc expression of humour? Despite popular belief that we all grow out of this stage, the truth of the matter is us men don't and every so often chuckle to ourselves over something as cruel as seeing mentally challenged people attempting Shakespeare. Well good news folks, there exists a band that can simultaneously cater for our inappropriate humour whilst treating our ear drums to a nice Ground and Pound: enter the bizarre world of Birdflesh.
Birdflesh hail from Sweden, most likely from a colony of nut cases and aside from being comfortable in women's clothing and presenting themselves as the biggest wardrobe malfunctions you can ever conceive, they also play a eccentric strain of Grindcore which is drenched in all manner of idiocy and humour, befitting any man who enjoys humour, post modernism and/or most importantly Grindcore.

The Farmers' Wrath is their 2008 and to date their latest release, and by a long stretch is the most bizarre of their long list of releases. Opening up with the words "welcome to the lunatic asylum" the tone has been set for the rest of the album to come, from Funny Ice Dwarfs to True Glove and The Purgatory Passion this album has them all by the dozen whatever it is they actually may be.
Visualise the originality,humour and occasional absurdity of Monty Python, well now let us make it 100% absurd all the time, throw in a large chunk of something ghoulish in lyrical and musical nature, next add infrequent totally unexplainable sexual reference  then lastly give a healthy dose of some killer catchy Grind, and before us we have some of the wackiest and funniest Grind.
Parody and joke bands have all been done before and as a concept may no longer be an original idea, however in the method and quality of presentation Birdflesh are miles ahead of competitors, and even if we ignore the humour they are also miles ahead of most bands in playing some addictive well written Grindcore.  The secret to Birdflesh's  success can easily attributed to the fact too many artists focus on making the lyrics as humorous/absurd as is in their ability, this often leads to a gross neglect to the musical ability, with Birdflesh  the music is just damn catchy and good, you are already drawn before you hear the most ludicrous possible combination of words known to man, 
True Metallica fans(you know the first 4 albums, before they went shit) and Metallica haters will surprisingly join in unison to sing along to the song Some Kind of Mongo a parody of the song and also an irrevocable disgrace to cinematic history, not to my knowledge has  a song ever had the power to unite such a disparate groups of people, Impressive.
Somewhat a rare occurrence for me is that I generally don't sing along to 99% of whatI listen to, generally to spare embarrassment or that most of what I listen to is devoid of comprehension without a lyric sheet and even then it is difficult, however I find myself singing along to The Farmers Wrath in parts I know the lyrics too, and to be honest with songs as catchy as Leprosy on Jeopardy, Some Kind of Mongo, and Wheelchair Impaler there is no reason not to sing along, other than to prevent yourself an awkward conversation that you have no intention to mock such disabled people.
The brilliant thing about Birdflesh  is that it takes a break from Grindcore's heavily reinforced anti-this and that or most savage things possible ethos, and instead make some demented fun Grindcore.