Yup, melody.

“But melody doesn’t belong in grind-core,” I hear you say and, for the most part, I would agree with you. There’s no melody to be found from the likes of Wormrot or the now-defunct Insect Warfare. Well, there’s some here in Xes and Strokes and it sort of works too.

Bordering on indie-rock at times, Beaten to Death take grind-core to areas that it hasn’t necessarily been to before. “Pointless Testament” starts off typically enough for a grind song with plenty of reverb and distortion and thundering drums, but it doesn’t take long for you to notice something a little different — the chugging groove that arrives along with the dual vocals is a solid clue. It’s not until after the rumbling bass of “Winston Churchill,” though, that we first hear elements of melody leak into the band’s sound.

As the short album progresses, the group introduces more and more melody into each subsequent song. “A Soulless Alarm” starts off fairly mildly with a bit of an atmospheric vibe to the guitars as the rhythm section arrive to blast as furiously as they can — and let’s not forget the string arrangement that shows up toward the end. The ridiculously titled “Cat Olympics” is all over the place with melody peppered amongst the frantic blasts and the ebb and flow of “Groundhog Day” is an interesting touch as the band injects some early Helmet perhaps into the mix.

Xes and Strokes is not an album for everyone. I’m still not totally sold on it, but much like Liberteer’s Better to Die on Your Feet than Live on Your Knees it’s all about pushing your buttons until you either finally snap into a fit of rage and destroy the stereo from which this music is coming or accept it for what it is, genre-pushing extreme metal. I haven’t personally made up my mind just yet.

I’d list out some key songs to illustrate what Widener is doing, but what’s the point. All of them pretty much kick ass — besides all 17 tracks explode out of the stereo in just over 17 minutes. There’s barely a pause as most of the songs transition from one to the next seamlessly, delivering ferociously barked vocals, buzzing riffs and unrelenting drums. The only time that there’s any respite is when the anthemic, revolutionary orchestrations arrive. And those segments, oddly enough actually fit into the mix quite well, never really causing any sort of distraction — they simply reinforce the message behind the music.

Now, this is certainly not an album for everyone. It’s going to really put off fans of no-nonsense grind. Better to Die on Your Feet than Live on Your Knees initially pissed me off. It took me several — SEVERAL — listens to fully understand why these orchestrations were even installed within what sounds like an otherwise solid grind-core album. But after listening to it for a while now, it only makes sense to have those folk and horn elements injected into the mix. Without them, I think the album (and artist) fails to deliver his message as succinctly as he could.

Take a listen below:

“Disappear” leads things off with abrasive, melodic hardcore from Skin Like Iron. The track is pretty decent with solid hardcore riffing, plenty of reverb and harshly screamed vocals. The second song, “The Parade” from the first half of this split is in the same vein as the first, but perhaps a bit more melodic in its crashing of guitars and drums. Both tracks are decent enough and no offense to these guys (their contributions are solid enough), but it’s the Nails portion of the split that I am really drooling for. Let’s get to it.

“Annihilation” is the first of the band’s two offerings on their half of the split and it is chock full of down-tuned, crunchy mayhem. At nearly three minutes in length the track is right in line with what we heard on Unsilent Death — buzzsaw guitars, a little old school Swedish death metal flavor and bruising rhythms. The second track, however, is the near opposite. Exploding through 25 seconds of unrestrained grind, Nails show us that no matter how much death metal leaks into their sound, they still know how to bring the grind. And bring it they do. Hot damn!

Four songs ain’t much to get real excited about, especially if you were really only looking forward to two of them, but the split still serves as a quick snack for those of you (much like me) rabidly awaiting the next full-length from Nails.

I’m kidding, of course. The hardship that the working class of this iconic city has seen and encountered has been well documented through the years. The boys in Heartless and the music on their Southern Lord debut, Hell is Other People, are chomping at the bit to unleash their fury upon the rest of world.

Kicking things off with a swift kick to the head, “Clean Slate” let’s you know exactly what you are in for over the remainder of this quick hitting album. Grind influenced, metallic hardcore explodes with just enough grime and sludge to do a body good. The riffs are big and the rhythm section hit like a back-alley beatdown in just 51 seconds. Vocally, the vitriol and hatred that these guys have deep seated within themselves is delivered harshly with an in-your-face bark, spit flying everywhere. Crusty, d-beat packed tracks like “Cede,” “Undulations” and “Late” get the blood flowing with plenty of aggression and fire — all the while teetering on the precipice of diving head first into full-on grindcore.

As violent as the first half of this album is, it’s not until the band settles down a bit in the later tracks that we are really treated with some good shit. “Pathogen” starts this stream of songs off with plenty of sludgy groove peppered into a destructive track packed with bruising riffs and malicious rhythms. “Out of Focus” is appropriately titled as it’s all over the place in terms of spastic tempo shifts, grinding blasts and driving riffs. “Cast Down” keeps the frenzied blasts flowing as it erupts for just under a minute with distorted guitars and vicious drums.

The last three tracks (“Blinders,” “Cop Out,” and “Hard Feelings”) not only end the album in stellar fashion, they are also some of its more complete songs. Distorted reverb, doom-fueled riffs and manic drum work accompany snarling barks and growls letting you know that these dudes are pissed-the-fuck off, yet quite adept at intelligently putting their thoughts together and not just mindlessly fuming at the world. If the rest of the album were like this ending trifecta, we’d have one hell of an release on our hands. As it stands, Hell is Other People is a solid debut effort that shows not just a pile of aggression, but also plenty of promise.

Die Miserable, the band’s ninth studio album, delivers eight solid songs packed full with manic drums, discordant guitars and vocal malevolence in just over a 35 minutes (the final track eats up 21 of them) time span. That alone right there should let you know that this isn’t your typical grind album — or grind band, for that matter. “Drift” gets things going after a short series of distant sound effect have given way to swirling, out of control merry-go-round guitars and barbaric drum work. Vocally, the band is where they have always been, delivering their message through a series of barks, growls and shouts that are so completely incomprehensible that it only makes the music backing it that much more ferocious. The short, stop-and-go rests amongst this beast of a song give it a spastic feel that I love.

A good helping of reverb and dissonance get “Cold Hearted” off to a relatively smooth start as Fuck the Facts build up to a swarming, churning mass of grinding blasts and pummeling rhythms. Much like the band’s own evolution each track on Die Miserable morphs multiple elements and influences into a cohesive and oddly fluid presence. “Lifeless” starts off with a memorable bit of riffing as group vocals announce their arrival before it jumps and dives all over the place with manic blasts and off-kilter guitar work. It’s the seven plus minute “Census Blank,” hover, that’s the highlight of the album. Fuck the Facts continue with the discordance, but at a dramatically slower pace. The opening guitars swell with a bit of a sludgy vibe. The song does eventually ramp up in tempo, but it’s not in the typical ferociousness that the band is known for — the measured and calculated increase shows a maturation from the group that we haven’t encountered before. It’s a hell of a song.

Another example of the band evolving and morphing is the calm and serene opening to “Alone.” The first minute and a half certainly doesn’t prepare you for the grinding assault that arrives shortly after. I never thought I would use the word atmosphere when reviewing a grind album, but man, there’s a heap of it in this song. The sub-two minute title track incorporates a decent bit of dissonance and melancholy into an album that is all over the place in terms of emotion. “A Cowards Existence” is chock full of noise, thundering drums and ADD guitar work. It’s as if the band decided to see just how messy and haphazard they could be with a song and still have it turn out fucking amazing — likewise with the closing track, “95.” Both songs have so much going on within them that it’ll take more than a few listens of the album to fully graphs what Fuck the Facts are doing.

I love progression in a band’s sound. The key to that progression however is to not simply abandon your core. Fuck the Facts are obviously quite aware of this fact. Die Miserable is an outstanding album containing some of their best work to date — and I am absolutely infatuated with their more primal grind material. The amount of diversity and atmosphere that the group injects into this album should be too much for it and cause all sorts of problems, but that’s not the case in the least. The music on this album may be all over the spectrum but it’s also cohesive and flowing — a testament to skilled musicians if ever there was one.

Album opener “Malice” lulls you into a false sense of security as it slowly crawls and methodically bludgeons you into a deep coma with crushing riffs and heavy handed drum work. It’s not until the squealing, swirling reverb and rumbling bass of “Fuck Cancer,” that you finally realize that you’ve already blasted through a few songs without even realizing it. And that’s already after the methamphetamine injection of “Simple Math” and the destructive title track to jack you all up.

These grinding stalwarts rarely let off the gas pedal even after they’ve run you down in their death mobile — you remain clutching to the front bumper for dear life, skin flaying from the vicious road rash — with standout tracks like “Celebratory Gunfire,” “Butcher” and the Napalm Death wink of “Trash.”

Rich Hoak must go through drum kits like Kim Kardashian goes through stretch pants for that ass. He’s an absolute machine, flailing and blasting, all the while maintaining a solid directional momentum. It’s impressive as hell. Throw in Lilker’s rumbling bass lines and Burke’s screaming/screeching guitar madness and you’ve got a method for destroying the Earth as we know it. Kevin Sharp’s maniacal growls and mad-man like ramblings are just the icing on the cake. He never fails to deliver the goods.

23 songs in about 53 and a half minutes. That’s a daunting task to make it through in one sitting, but if you manage to make it through with your full capacities in check, then you’ll be rewarded with a slew of masterful grind. The vicious combo of “All Work and No Play” and “Addicted” are a must hear, as is the final track on End Time. “Control Room” is is 15 minutes of delusional madness of muted barks and ramblings covered with atmospheric guitars and rabid drums. It’s a track that is confusing and noisy, but suits the album perfectly as I would imagine that’s all one would hear after the world has ended.

Greyhaze Records
Aug 16, 20011
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Track Listing

1. Condenados Pelo Ódio
2. Em Sua Honra
3. Miséria Escravatura
4. Chagas Abertas
5. Manto de Sangue
6. Hereditas

Hereditas was originally recorded four years ago and is now just seeing a U.S. release in anticipation for the band’s first full-length effort (to be released later this year). The brief span of time from when this album was first released to now doesn’t make a difference in Desalmado’s impact on the grind scene. The six songs (just over 13 minutes play time) on this EP carry a sound that is anything but dated. Infusing influences from Napalm Death to Brujeria with great effect, the Brazilian band rip through death metal tinged grind core with ferocity and a focused determination.

“Condenados Pelo Ódio” opens up the mayhem with a methodically building tempo that culminates in a bruising grind attack of thick, buzzing guitars and ferocious vocals — lead growler Caio Augusttus covers the low gutturals as well as the high end, flying shrapnel-like shrieks. The band throws in a solid bit of mosh toward the latter half of the opening track that will have necks snapped in no time flat. “Em Sua Honra” unleashes crushing blows upon your upper torso with reckless abandon with a rapid fire rhythm and driving, buzzing guitars. The vocals throughout the EP are on point for the style of thick, death/grind that these Brazilians seem to have tamed and bent to their own maniacal will.

After that one minute eruption of violence, the band settles things down a bit with a solid groove to kick off “Miséria Escravatura” before ramping up the carnage with a quickened, machine-gun drum blast and chugging guitars. The Napalm Death like opening to “Chagas Abertas” is familiar in the way that your favorite instrument of blunt force damage is. Dealmado do a great job entwining their influences into the music without directly aping it — which ultimately makes for one hell of a song.

“Manto de Sangue” which loosely translates to “Cloak of Blood” is a beast of a song complete with Slayer-like guitar tones and maniacal drum work. The song is ferocious and as in-your-face as you can get with grinding death metal. The title track rounds out the EP as my favorite of the album. It’s rumbling nature is like that of an enraged silverback gorilla, teaming with pent-up aggression and ready to let loose on any one and anything at the drop of a hat.

Man, if this EP is any indication then the four years the band has spent since it’s release — presumably working on their full-length debut — are going to make for one hell of an album. Had I heard Hereditas when it was first released, I’d have flagged it as one of the best releases of 2009 despite it’s truncated length. It’s an album that I’ve been spinning repeatedly for a little while now and will continue to do so until I get a full album’s worth of Dealmado’s brand of grinding death metal.

Black Market Activities
May 13, 2011
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Track Listing

1. Intro
2. Wage Slave
3. The Wraith
4. Bullet Dodger
5. Captain Shit
6. Into the Fire
7. She Creeps
8. Moth Collection (Into the Freezer)
9. The Spectacle
10. VIPs
11. Wasted Life

To say that Syracuse, NY’s Ed Gein has had a string of hard breaks sing the 2005 release of their last album, Judas Goats & Dieseleaters, would be a bit of an understatement. The appropriately title Bad Luck sees the band re-emerging as a grinding force to reckon with after a series of unfortunate events — break-ins, break downs and break ups — that has only made them more focused and stronger.

Fueled by the fires of revenge and contempt for all those who had become obstacles, the band’s newer material is succinct, to the point and pissed off as hell. The guys have force fed elements of grind, noise, hardcore and more into the awaiting gullets of the masses with a straight-forward, no frills delivery. The eleven tracks on this 22 minute album will tear through you quickly and not-so-gently.

After the brief “Intro,” Bad Luck gets down to business with the raw, raucous and hardcore-charged grind hybrid that is “Wage Slave.” It’s an aggressive intro to the band’s updated sound, but don’t worry, those of you that enjoyed their older material will fully get into “The Wraith,” which has that more grinding influence last heard on Judas Goats… The drum work is unrelenting and pummeling as the guitars tear across your speakers with a caustic vibe. “Bullet Dodger” builds from staggered grind blasts to a more punk-influenced attack — it’s a hell of a song.

“Captain Shit,” “Into the Fire,” and “She Creeps” all explode out of the speakers with reckless abandon and a sludgy, textured buzz saw vibe to the guitars. “Captain Shit” ends strong like ox, as “Into the Fire” carries a more hardcore-like rhythm through it’s chaotic overall vibe and has a chorus that will have you all shouting along with the band in record time. “She Creeps” starts off violently with blasting drums before settling down a bit into a sludgy mosh. This trio of songs is fierce and full of vitriol. “Moth Collection (Into the Freezer)” carries the textures and rawness along from the previous three tracks, but has a different vibe to it as it gallops over your fractured skull with excellent drum work and staggered rhythms.

The last three tracks, starting with the furiously delivered “The Spectacle” round out the album perfectly. Both “VIPs” and “Wasted Life” are unrelenting in their aural abuse and will leave you itching for more once they’re complete. Ed Gein have been seething in anger the last six years and it comes out in full force on Bad Luck. It may not be an album for fans of their more metalcore-based, older material, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t some of their best material to date.

Relapse Records
June 7, 2011
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Track Listing

1. Nacer.Consumir.Morir
2. Campo De Exterminio
3. Guerra Total
4. Tapias De Cementerio
5. La Peste Roja
6. Revelacion
7. Ecoterror
8. No Compasion
9. Plaga Humana
10. Terror Carnivoro
11. Christianislam
12. Supremacia Etica
13. Cheerleaders Para El Armegedon
14. Running Through The Blood
15. Esclavos
16. Estandarte De Huesos
17. Holocausto Diario

When I first received Looking for an Answer’s latest full-length (their first for Relapse Records), I was expecting some tough-guy hardcore — I can’t remember exactly which hardcore band it is, but I’ve got an album around here somewhere that’s got this Spanish band’s name as the primary lyrics to one of their songs. At any rate, I’m glad I didn’t listen to my gut before popping Eterno Treblinka into the stereo. What erupts from the speakers after hitting “play” is some of the dirtiest, ass-kickingest and nastiest d-beat influenced death-grind I’ve heard in a long time.

To put it simply, these Spaniards know their shit — delivering thick, crusty guitars over-top unrelenting, jack-hammer drums. There’s a good bit of texture applied to this album that only adds to the dirty vibe that these guys are throwing off. Toss in some deep, guttural growls/screams and you’ve got yourself one a good bit of grinding death metal akin to an unholy marriage of Napalm Death, Terrorizer and the more modern Kill The Client. And all 17 tracks in just over 30 minutes time.

After the brief noise intro, these guys get down to business with some seriously angry punk-infused grind. Listening to this album is like sitting face-to-face with an ill-tempered silverback gorilla that is prone to violent mood swings and a sharp distaste for the human race. It’s a violent album that at times comes across predictable, but for the most part hits you from every direction possible with blinding blasts, punk rhythms and grinding vitriol. Like I said, these dudes know how to deliver the blast!

Some of the more standout tracks that you need to check out are the volcanic eruption of “Guerra Total,” the relatively slow moving “La Peste Roja,” the rising fury of “Revelacion,” the fairly groove oriented “Terror Carnivoro” and the ferocious “Christianislam.” Now that’s not to say that the rest of the album blows chunks — it sure as fuck doesn’t. Those are just some of the songs that tend to kick me in the teeth each time I hear them.

Eterno Treblinka is one of those albums that has just enough modern day technique, as well as an old school, throw-back aesthetic that the album isn’t nothing short of infectiously awesome. Thick grind delivered in quick violent eruptions of riffs and blastbeats is cool by me any day of the week.

Relapse Records
May 11, 2011
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Track Listing

1. Hometown Hero
2. Obituary
3. Black Earth
4. For Life
5. Old Friends Don’t Mean Shit
6. Frostbitten
7. The Meeting
8. Worthless
9. Friendship
10. Jock Powerviolence
11. The Fine Art Of Bullshit
12. Dubviolence
13. You Could Exist Tomorrow
14. Future

In the mood for a solid ass kicking? No? Well, tough shit.

Weekend Nachos unleash a whole pile of ass whoopin’ powerviolence and grind in the form of Worthless, an album that is anything but. Fourteen tracks are hurled at you with reckless abandon in just over 25 minutes time. In that short period sludgy breakdowns, grind blasts and a hatred fueled vocal attack will bludgeon and bruise their way through your skull with little to no regard for your personal well being. And, in all honesty, isn’t that what extreme music is supposed to do? Leave a heavy fisted impression in the side of your cranium?

“Hometown Hero” opens up the back alley beat-down with a solid minute of unrelenting drums and bruising riffs. The multiple vocal attack that starts off with this track will leave you feeling surrounded and outnumbered throughout the album. There’s little diversity among the majority of the songs, but that makes them no less powerful. Each track is jammed with aggression and violent rhythms to accompany thick, sludgy guitars. The pummeling riffs of “Obituary,” the raucous gallop of “Black Earth,” the d-beat fueled “For Life” and the ADD freakout that encompasses “Old Friends Don’t Mean Shit” all build to a culmination with the title track.

“Worthless” is the first of the songs on the album to break from the burly riff and grinding blasts that have formed the first seven songs, but that’s primarily due to the guitar feedback that fills the first two minutes of of this 4:35 long song. Thankfully the last half of the song is full of gargantuan riffs and plenty of aggressive, yet doomy atmosphere. This is a slugfest of a song.

The second half of the album starts off with classic powerviolence in the form of “Friends,” a frenetically charged song that has a solid ebb and flow in it’s meager 33 second run time. The slower “Jock Powerviolence” has over-muscled , Limp Bizkit hat wearing douche bags in its line of sight as the band let loose with a verbal onslaught. “The Fine Art of Bullshit” is an awesome track with plenty of erupting blasts and sludgy breaks. “Future” wraps up the album with a slow moving, churning series of riffs that put anything from the likes of Black Breathe or other Entombed-revivalists to shame. Don’t get to comfy enjoying those initial riffs as the track is peppered with violent outbursts sure to incite a few riots.

All in all, Worthless is one of the more violent hardcore tinged albums I’ve heard this year. Weekend Nachos blend of sludge, d-beat, grind and powerviolence is addictive as all get out. The album may not be all that varied for the most part and just as you think it’s starting to sound the same, Weekend Nachos throw a haymaker from nowhere and you’re out cold for the count.