When we last heard from Australia’s Beyond Terror, Beyond Grace they were bludgeoning there way through Extinction/Salvation with a ferociously thick production and maniacal, grinding blasts. This time around the band let loose with Our Ashes Built Mountains comprised of twenty fetid, raw and high energy blasting grind tracks.

Sure the vocals are unintelligible and the production is insufferably thick at times, but overall, these dudes have out done themselves with a more varied sound and improved song writing despite a few hiccups here and there (poorly timed or misplaced samples). There’s a good deal more atmosphere to the band’s sophomore release that gives the album a more adventurous feel.

Mannequins
This thirty second opening blast and hellish screams are sure to put you in the right frame of mind for the album. Layered vocals and a little distortion go a long way in making this short track that much more chaotic, violent and powerful.

Amnesia
I’m digging the thicker than thick bass that thuds along in this one. Again, more layered vocal destruction awaits you among massive blasts and frenetic guitars.

Husk
“Husk” is a frantic, grinding blast with a feel of urgency along with the introduction of a more guttural vocal delivery. There’s all sorts of noise and textures going on within this sub two minute song.

Information Scars
Despite the cacophonous noise that’s integrated into this one, it’s got a bit more of a traditional grind vibe with a slight industrial tinge. It’s also one of the few tracks that sees the band slow it down a bit and let you catch up. There’s a break of silence from 1:21 that lasts a few seconds before ambient background noise slowly fades in for the remainder of the 2:11 long track.

Tumour
That same noise transitions into the more experimental and noise fueled “Tumour.” Massively thick bass dominates this song as a variety of vocal deliveries (high shrieks to guttural death growls) battle with one another for supremacy. The more restrained moments of this song offer huge grooves and plenty of head banging mayhem.

Shadowhalo
Fifteen seconds of clashing drums, raw guitars and layered growls. Cool.

Words
“Words” brings in an Entombed-like tone to the guitars of this raucous, high-paced track. I’m digging the incorporation of more traditional death metal influences into the mix. It offers a nice change of pace.

Exposure
A catchy vocal pattern gets this next one under way with death metal inspired riffs along with frantic drums and a good deal of chaos before the guys give way to atmosphere building samples and noise for the rest of the track — one of those moments where it just doesn’t fit too well.

Fugue
I love the darker, slower start to this next one despite the layered samples over top of the funeral dirge guitars. Thankfully, a huge scream just after the one minute mark shocks us from a premature burial and hurls us head first into a grinding mass of drums, violent vocals and thick, staggered guitars.

Flightless
“Flightless” has a much more urgent opening than the last track as the dual vocal attack lets loose with a barrage of screams and growls. There are a couple of well timed tempo shifts in this one that work nicely to keep you entertained between the bestial blasts and thick grooves. Too bad the last minute or so is taken up with more random, ambient noise.

Coil
A brief sound clip and distant guitars get this next one going before the band settles into a much slower paced, bruising attack. Man, the vocals on this one are evil as fuck — guttural, raw and violent. As a huge departure from the blinding grind these guys have been throwing around, “Coil” turns out to be a fairly simple, yet stand out track.

Paradigm
“Paradigm” is another more experimental piece by the band. Building in from distant noise the band takes on an almost Sepultura like vibe, yet swallow that same vibe with layered vocals and lots of textured noise.

Hang Them By Their Crowns
Crusty and chock full of punk vehemence, “Hand Them By Their Crowns” is a raw, aggressive one minute blast of mid-tempo violence. I really like this one a lot.

Answers (In Front of Broken Eyes)
That same confrontational feel from the last song is carried through with this next track that also has a more traditional vibe to it. The slow down in the middle of the song is packed with massive bass and guttural vocals.

Control
For as raw as the last two songs were, they were also a bit more structured. Well, you can through that out the window with “Control.” This thing is like shoving the nozzle of a high powered sand blaster into your ear and pulling the trigger. Well, the first 25 seconds or so are like that. The remainder of the track would more represent the deafening void of hearing loss after such a stunt.

Aesthetics
Unrelenting drums and driving riffs accompany layered growls and screams in this short, violent burst of frenetic energy. For all the experimentation these guys are playing with on the album, it’s nice when they come back around to a simple, barbaric ass whooping — in under a minute, too.

Ashes
“Ashes” has some slick bass work that’s a bit tough to pick out at times amongst the din of texture riffs and noise. This is another track that’s a bit all over the place. From industrial grind to misanthropic black metal, the band throws a little bit of everything at you.

Pathetic
Buckle up and hold on for the next 39 seconds.

Murakami
I’m not quite sure what to make of this next song. At just under 8 minutes in length, it’s easily the longest song on the album, yet it’s also the most varied. Light guitars and softer, distant drums fill the first two minutes or so before a more melodic riff comes in along with heavier drums. There’s also an interesting layer of sludgy and textured noise smeared atop this song that takes a bit away from the musicianship, but is still in line with the rest of the album. All in all, the song amounts to a pretty well written albeit lengthy instrumental.

Bias
“Bias” wraps the album up in a tattered, blood soaked bow with blasting rhythms, hellish scream and discordant guitars. I’d have to say that, for as bludgeoning as the band’s debut album was, I think I’m preferring the more varied sound they’ve produced with this latest effort.

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Additional Notes:
n/a

Don’t even bother buckling in for the latest from Rotten Sound. Napalm will tear through your core with the unbridled ferocity of a charging rhino. For a six song EP, this disc packs a nasty punch comprised of three new tracks and three Napalm Death covers (hence the homage to Scum era cover art).

The first three tracks on the EP are new material from these Finnish hell raisers are violent, faster than fast and raw like fresh road rash. Each of these songs are thick with textured guitars, manically firing drums and massive amounts of grinding aural abuse. As for the Napalm Death covers, well, they’re more than just your traditional cover. They’re more of an interpretation filtered through Rotten Sound‘s blast furnace of hell — true to the original song, but so much more violent, layered and destructive.

As far as grind-core goes (especially 11 minute long EPs), I usually play an album a couple of times and come back to a song or two some time in the future after the initial spins. Napalm, however, keeps reappearing in my CD player, dropping cinderblocks on my skull each and every time. I can’t seem to get enough of this one.

Mindkill
“Mindkill” is the first of the three new songs from Rotten Sound. It’s a minute and a half of caustic, raw, layered and abusive grind-core that only these dues could deliver. This is a powerfully amped up track with some seriously manic drum work and vocal destruction.

Dead Remains
There’s a bit more structure to “Dead Remains” than the AP opener. It starts off slowly with some thick bass and riffs before quickly erupting into a frenzy of blasting drums and driving riffs. Vocally, the delivery is throat shredding perfection, matching the animalistic nature of the music to a tee. There’s a bit of bass heavy groove that comes in around 1:15, but it doesn’t stick around long as all hell engulfs the song about 30 seconds later.

Brainload
“Barinload” wastes no time getting down to business with blasting drums right out of the starting gate. Holy hell this is a gnarly track that packs more than enough brain bashing in it’s 1:16 length.

The Kill
The first Napalm Death cover is just as powerful and violently short as the original, but with a denser texture smothering the whole thing.

Missing Link
“Missing Link” is another prime cover of a classic ND song. Rotten Sound‘s style works wonderfully on this track from the band’s 1989 EP Mentally Murdered. The production on the song is raw, dense and suffocating as these guys do their damnedest cause some serious cerebral bruising.

Suffer The Children
Harmony Corruption is one of my favorite albums from Napalm Death so it’s pretty damned awesome to hear a cover of this song done pretty damned well. Again, Rotten Sound deliver a more than faithful rendition of the song complete with vicious vocals, layered textures and a dense wall of grinding mayhem. Damned fine effort.

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Additional Notes:
Three new songs as well as three Napalm Death covers.

It’s one thing to pull influences from the likes of legendary bands Napalm Death, Carcass and Bolt Thrower. It’s another to infiltrate that blend of elements your band’s own hardcore roots. Landmine Marathon‘s latest album does just that. Through small evolutionary steps and a cleaner production Sovereign Descent isn’t anything revolutionary from this band — it’s exactly what you would expect and want to hear from this Phoenix based group. It’s an album full of thundering, grinding death metal with just enough punk crust to give the music held within its nine songs a feeling of spit-in-your-face disgust.

While Landmine Marathon‘s influences have altered their own brand of death/grind, this quartet seems quite content on perfecting a sound they all fell in love with. There’s something honest amongst the ferocious barks, screams and bludgeoning rhythms that keeps the band’s sound refreshing and free of stylistic stagnation. Perhaps it’s their delivery — wild and unconstrained. Then again, perhaps I’m just mentally stuck in the heyday of death metal and grind (damn you Dan Seagrave and your awesome album art).

Exist
“Exist” fades in slowly until you are surrounded by galloping drums, thundering bass and driving riffs that can’t help but remind you of Bolt Thrower. That feeling, however, only lasts a minute or so before the grind core influences and Grace Perry’s ferocious screams and barks come in with a vengeance. I hope you’re ready to take an ass whoopin’ because that’s exactly what you’re going to get with this song. The warbling lead at 3:20 is pretty sick.

Shadows Fed to Tyrants
The band wastes no time getting down to some nasty business with this blasting, grinding song. “Shadows Fed to Tyrants” is as violent a song as you can find. It’s unrelenting, yet has enough of a groove and flow to give you plenty of opportunities for some serious head banging. If there’s anything I’ve learned from listening to this album a few times now is that it needs to be played loud — real loud.

Foul Revolt
Never leaning to heavily on grindcore or death metal as stand alone influences, Landmine Marathon have crafted a well structured balance between the two genres. “Foul Revolt” is solid proof of that, starting off with a chugging Bolt Thrower vibe and lead before exploding with a frenetic burst of caustic, aural destruction just after about a minute or so into the song. It’s this balance that allows the album to swell dramatically is all the right places.

Cruel Policy
I love the opening riffs to “Cruel Policy.” They’re massively heavy, dark and lead into some spastic tempo blasts and vicious vocals. The groove that weaves in and out of this track is pretty damned catchy, especially with the more traditional death metal feel of the song. This is a killer song right here.

Justify the Suffering
“Justify the Suffering” starts out a bit on the chaotic side, but eventually settles into a pummeling rhythm with thick bass, driving riffs and Perry’s vocals (which have been outstanding thus far). This is one of those songs that you can get a little too wrapped up in, leaving you bruised after flying around your bedroom like a maniac for a good few minutes. Sick fucking song.

Steadfast Hate
Coming in at over seven minutes in length, this next one has a coat of swampy sludge smeared on thick to the burly guitars. It’s a dark and foreboding song that shows that the band know how to play around at a lower RPM rate just as effectively as if they were tying to peel back a few layers of your flesh with their blistering grind attacks.

Chained by the Same Fate
After the monstrous “Steadfast Hate,” the band get into this next track with a bit more of Napalm Death inspired grind attack. It’s thick in tone and relentless in its delivery. Everyone in the group is going to town on their respective instruments — Perry included as she has got to be doing some long term damage to her throat with some of these shrieks. The lead around 2:40 is pretty damned sick and shouldn’t be missed.

Flood the Earth
The opening to “Flood the Earth” has a classic vibe to it for the first 40 or so seconds before the band settles snugly into a bruising rhythm of thick riffage and barbaric drums. This is another of those songs that has a more traditional death metal vibe akin to early 90′s Bolt Thrower — thick and heavy.

Rise with the Tide
“Rise with the Tide” closes out the album with a slightly more open and brighter tone to the guitars. They sound vaguely familiar, but I can’t place my finger on it. After the lighter, more stoner-esque opening riffs, the band gets into some meaty, grinding rhythms. This uptempo track is definitely what the band needed to wrap up a pretty damned good album.

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Additional Notes:
N/A

Fuck the Facts, simply put, is one of those bands that epitomize DIY work ethic. They book their own shows, design their own packaging and other merchandise — all the while unleashing chaotic hell in manic bursts for discordant grind-core. Their latest effort, Unnamed EP follows the band’s heritage with six songs of caustic growls and shrieks, abstract grinding noise and thick, pummeling rhythms.

Heading out on a tour of Europe in March, the band couldn’t have timed this blasting gem of a disc any better. Untitled EP will have everyone showing up at the shows frothing at the mouths and ready to tear the venue apart.

untitled
The opening track starts off with layers of reverb before jumping into a chaotic mass of crushing, textured guitars and drums that are all over the place, yet still retain a semblance of rhythm. This is a violent, train wreck of a song that will leave you dizzy and partially deaf if, much like myself, you played it a tad too loud. The short lead at 1:20 works to break up the grinding onslaught.

Loss Upon Loss
This next one’s got a bit more structure initially, but quickly descends into grinding madness with obtuse guitars, amorphis rhythms and vocal destruction. It’s a good thing the band keeps these songs relatively short, I’m not sure how much more unadulterated glee I can mentally handle.

Wake
After a brief bit of sound effects, thick guitars arrive to begin the bludgeoning. Vocally, this is probably the harshest and most violent of the songs on the EP. I love the additional noise layered on top of the swirling grind and massive riffs that’s packed into this short song. “Wake” is sure to be one of those songs that will stick with me for a while. Damn good.

Time as a Dictator
“Time as a Dictator” is a complete departure from the previous tracks, relying more on atmosphere and a bit of a drone to capture the appropriate mood with slightly distorted guitar tones, spoken vocals (or a sound clip) that meander in and out from the distance. The brief interlude acts as your only opportunity to catch a quick breathe before “La Tete hors de L’eau” erupts out of the gate.

La Tete hors de L’eau
I absolutely love the touch of melodic guitar that weaves throughout the rabid drumming and harsh vocals. There’s a bit of a black metal feel to the song — melancholy tones envelope you as the grinding noise chugs along relentlessly. For as violent as this track sounds on occasion, it’s got a great ebb and flow in momentum and feeling. It’s a huge song that has to be heard a couple of times to fully appreciate all that’s going on within its three and a half minute lifespan.

Doghead
The Ep’s final track is a 36 second shotgun blast to the face and one hell of a way to end a disc I’ll be playing for a long while after this review is published. I’m not sure if it’s just noise or some uber guttural vocals, but the gurgling evilness that shows up about half way through the song is a nice touch.

Sweet merciful crap. That was fun.

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Additional Notes:
N/A

Twenty songs. Thirty minutes. You can pretty much guess how this one’s going to go.

Basque, France’s Infest erupt out of your speakers with an aggressive combination of hardcore, powerviolence and grindcore that is a welcome surprise from the land of wine and fashion. These guys tear though Nasum and Napalm Death inspired blasting grind like there’s no tomorrow, rarely letting up for a moment.

The guitars are thick and driven while the rhythm section bludgeon with the best of them. Vocally, the screams settle mainly in the mid to higher end of the range, only dipping occasionally into guttural silliness for those extra special moments. Overall, Moshroom is appropriately titled — you’re brain will feel like it’s caught in a never ending mosh after a few listens to this album.

Peace Love Freedom and Flowers
The album starts out with some pretty beefy riffs and rapid fire drums… hell the whole album is chock full of this stuff. The drum tone took a while for me to get used to, but I love the vocal destruction these guys are letting fly.

Murphy’s Law
The dual vocals really add that extra bit of oomph that pushes the album into greater depths. This is a thick, moshtastic song that will have you spinning around your room Tasmanian devil style in no time.

I Ate a Bin
There’s a nice death n’ roll groove to this one in between the manic drum and vocal eruptions. It’s definitely a stand out track on the album.

Identical Bodies
There’s a decent chugging bit of riffery weaving throughout “Identical Bodies,” a song that, for the most part, is pretty even keeled and easy to get into. The slow down at :43 has a nice groove to it.

20th Century Fucks
Full on grinding destruction can be found in the short 1:38 that this one takes up. It’s full on from the get go and never lets up.

How Many Minds
Mmmm… guttural pig squeals, or at least the French variety of them, opens up the vocal delivery on this next song. The change in guitar tone at :45 is a nice touch that lets the song breathe nicely before disintegrating into grinding blasts to end out the song.

Greatest [S]Hits
I’m digging the Napalm Death feel to the guitars on this one while the more hardcore like vocals are shouted violently over them. They combination makes for a very aggressive sound.

Future is for Us
“Future is for Us” has more of that death n’ roll vibe to the early riffing, but quickly descends into grinding madness with rapid fire drumming and much deeper guttural vocals piled into the already chaotic delivery.

Could Anybody Answer?
There’s a great punk/hardcore vibe to the guitars and drum work that gets this next one off to a voracious start. The grind kicks in a t:45 with vicious vocals and massive drumming. The bass lines running through this portion of the song are pretty damned thick.

100% Malin
Man, this song is delivered with some vehemence. The vocals are tortured and raw while the rest of the band bludgeons their way through 30 seconds or so of destruction.

Paberse Matao
The reverb that ends out the previous song fades into the meaty riffs that comprises “Paberse Matao.” For as beefy as this song is, there’s still a pretty decent groove in it’s unrelenting attack. The end of the song is a mass of verbal chaos and reverb.

This Song is Called
This is a killer track with massive riffing, thick rhythms and vicious vocal work. The burst of activity at :48 is barbaric as all get out. I’m digging the amount of effort that’s been put into the throat wrenching vocals.

The Slyness of Repercution
“The Slyness of Repercution” has a great, doomy feel to the massive guitars that fills the 1:48 long instrumental.

C2h5O5
The band gets back to the blistering grind after that brief respite with this violent trip through “C2h5o5.” I’m not sure how ethanol plays into the band’s song writing, but if this song is any indication they’ve been gargling this shit every morning.

Playboy Square
“Playboy Square” is a pretty traditional dual vocal grind attack. The guitar tones are down tuned and thick while the drums unleash hell upon your ears.

Moshroom
The title track is a brutal back alley beat down from the moment the song opens up until 30 second later when it just as violently leaves you laying unconscious in a pool of your own feces.

Shoot the Pope
Dude. This song kills it. “Shoot the Pope” is a full on death n’ roll influenced batch of mid-tempo grind. I’m loving everything about this song. Well, except for the inexplicable pig squeal around the 55 second mark. The higher end shrieks around 1:30 are intense. This is a beast of a song.

Mr Polkak
I’m not sure how much more my feeble brain will be able to withstand after listening to this album a couple of times today. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be useless at the office tomorrow. Ah well, they can suck it. I’m going to crank this shit loud through the rest of the night.

Rent a Wife
This next song is another of the few that have a more traditional grind sound ala early Napalm Death. It’s a bruising track with thick guitars and violent drum work. The vocals on this one are aggressive as all get out.

Polype
The album closer is a bestial track but has some crazy wacked out vocals that really show that these dudes know how to have some fun with themselves.

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Additional Notes:
N/A

So, what can I say about the debut album from New York’s Buckshot Facelift? Well, for one, I love the fucking band name — descriptive and genre appropriate. Secondly, the fetid grindcore that their self released, debut album Anchors of the Armless Gods is comprised of is sickening, brutal, wacky, annoying and clever — everything you could want in a grind album.

Musically, these guys layer burly guitars, grinding drums and a varied, guttural vocal delivery that fills more than one sub genre of metal. There are the obvious grindcore influences within the band’s sound, but there’s also a healthy slathering of NYC hardcore, powerviolence and more. All of it shoved into a nicely designed piece of vinyl.

Fowl Mouth Old Bigot Who Would Steal the Coat Off a Dead Man
Starting in the distance with slightly muted vocals and drums, the opening track is a steroid popping mosh machine with discordant riffs and layered vocals belches (some pitch shifted). It’s a pretty slow paced song that’s vile and sickening and sets the mood for the rest of the record.

Johnny Depp Overface
I’m not entirely sure where these dudes are going with their song titles, but they are certainly are bizarre — almost as bizarre as some of the sound clips they use throughout the album. This one is a fully layered, cacophonous assault on the senses as the band bludgeons their way though just over a minute of violent, guttural utterances and mosh.

I’ve Suffered the Plump Pheasant
The tone to this one is thick with suffocating layers, textures and noise. The super guttural growls behind the main vocals are a nice touch, though. This one is a sub 40 second beat down.

Raping the Spider Demon
“Raping the Spider Demon” sees the band slow it down a bit with some melodic tones thrown in for good measure. The layered vocals are evil as fuck and contrast nicely with the more open guitars. There’s a definite hardcore feel to this one even through the weird vocal distortions that dominate the latter half of the album.

Horny Greenfield Dragonbreath
How can you not dig a band with a sense of humor. The sound clip that opens up this chaotic, driving song is from the classic kids’ movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I know this cause I just watched it for the 13th time with my daughter the other day. Aside from that, the song is short, noisy and violent.

50 Pounder
For some bizarre reason, I actually knew from which movie the sound clip that starts off this bile retching song starts off with. Let’s see how many of you know the title to this 1993 movie. There is a healthy dose of bass running through this one as the punk tinged guitars do their best to keep up with the layered vocals and crashing drums.

The Serpent Bears the Scowl
“The Serpent Bears the Scowl” is another one minute blast of beat down hardcore tinged, nasty grind. The layered vocal effects continue to add to the mayhem as this one thunders along slowly before picking up speed in the second half of the song.

St. Peters Lobby
This one sounds like it could have come from the back catalog of Shattered Realm or Blood For Blood had they only been a bit more chaotic in their delivery. This is a bruising track with thick guitars.

Preparation Montage
Here’s another track that lays on the back alley beat down vibe thick with a nail studded baseball bat. It’s a slow, plodding track over the first 45 seconds or so before the higher end screams come in with blasting drums and driving riffs.

Drinking Spit
There’s lots of vocal effects thrown into the mix with “Drinking Spit” — so much so that this track is over the top with it’s use. There are some nice tempo changes that make up for it though.

Anchors of the Armless Gods
The title track is one of the more structured tracks that varies from rapid fire drums to slow moving mosh. The over all tone is thick and suffocating as if it were mired in sludge. More guttural utterances are layered in with the main delivery.

I Can Control Your Mind by Smoking God’s Toenail Clippings
This next one is probably the most traditional grind track. After leading in with a bunch of noise the guys bust out some old school, blistering Napalm Death inspired nastiness before devolving into a mess of guttural nonsense and noise.

Elated Mask of Winter (Diseasum: The Blessed Basket)
“Elated Mask of Winter” also sticks with the more traditional feel, as well, but shifts tempos throughout it’s short existence. The higher end screams over the crawling music around the one minute mark is evil as hell.

Sgt. Perrier
“Sgt. Perrier” starts off with blasting drums and violent guitars before settling into a chill, melodic groove as the band let’s loose with the group vocals. Tucked into this tribute, there are some massive bass lines, distorted guitars and thundering drums. This single song is as varied as the entire album and wraps it up nicely.

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Additional Notes:
N/A

Much like the progressive technical death metal tag Siberia’s Defect Designer thrive under, their debut album Wax will leave you in one of two places mentally — exhausted or geeked out. In other words, you’ll either love ‘em or hate ‘em. I’m more of a middle of the road kind of guy with this stuff, but I can appreciate some of what they are trying to accomplish on this album.

Off-kilter timing and splintered song structures fill the album with loads of technical wizardry and spazzy chaos almost to a fault. That said, the dueling guitar work throughout the disc is pretty damned impressive, as is the drumming. One minute you’ll be hanging out chill in a steady groove and bombarded by barbaric death metal blasts the next before settling into some wacky jazzcore rhythms. Vocally, the lead growler’s delivery comes across a little monotonous at times. Sticking mostly to a mid-range growl, the vocals do stretch out here and there to higher end screams and deeper, more guttural gurgles, but for the most part are pretty standard.

Composing the End
The opening instrumental is a bit misleading in a way, filled with groovey guitars, technical flourishes and decent, yet restrained riffing. It’s got a few small elements in common with the rest of the album, but just has a really chill feel about it.

Stillborn
“Stillborn” gets things off to a burly start with thundering drums and deep, raspy guttural vocals. This five plus minute song is chock full of technical tempo shifts, pummeling rhythms and plenty of guitar standout moments. That all said, this is one of the least spazzy songs on the album, although there are some odd ball screams and noise that peppers the song here and there. Overall, this is a chugging beast of a song that fits nicely in the death metal genre. The lead at 4:00 is pretty sweet if not short lived.

You Are No More
I love how this next song builds up to the galloping, yet technical drum work as the vocals come in. The guitar work is bludgeoning, yet has a nice progressive, open feel to them. The cadence in the vocal delivery helps break up the monotony of the mid-range growls. There are some nice machine gun like blasts from the drums while melodic guitars weave in the ari above them. Not a bad song. This one gets more complicated as the song progresses to it’s bruising finale.

Unsorted
“Unsorted” doesn’t waste much time building to the vocals as a more open, progressive groove dominates the song early on. This song plunders along a course of bruising riffs mixed with nicely timed tempo shifts along with rock influenced guitar work. I also dig the bass work that rumbles in the background.

Defamation
After keeping pretty steady and restrained with the technical aspect of their music, Defect Designer let loose with a bit more of a progressive structured song with plenty of elements thrown into the mix. It’s once again got the rabid shrieks in the background which, this time around, give the song some nice depth. For all the stuff going on within “Defamation,” there’s still enough groove to easily head bang along to.

Almost Ready
After a lighter bit of guitar work, we’re greeted with a series of sweet riffs that are full of groove and catchy as hell — the kind of shit I’d blast heading to a beach, which is odd for group of guys hailing from the frozen tundra of Siberia. A highlight throughout the song is the chunky bass that sits behind the churning riffs and steady vocal work. This song also has some of the more memorable guitars around 3:20 that are anthemic in nature — I’d love to hear more of those.

Heads
Reverb and big riffs get this one underway with thundering drums and decent growl before settling into a chugging groove punctuated by guitar squeals and rumbling bass. The gtrading uitars at 1:23 feature some sweet noodling. After a decent set of blasts and riffs, the guys come back just before the three minute mark with a little guitar wizardry before descending into a churning mosh to end out the song.

Vegetable
“Vegetable” is a sweet, galloping track with a bit of a metalcore edge to its overall feel. There’s still some twangy bass that pops up here and there, but for the most part this is one of the more tame songs in terms of technical explosions. The riffing still has a progressive feel, as does the sick lead around 1:30. For a relatively young band, these guys have some serious chops, as seen on the trading leads that stretch from 2:30 to bout 3:10.

Choice Cuts
After a bit of light bass this one explodes with a fury not really experienced thus far in the album. The aggressive nature of this one is a nice change of pace, even if it’s still chock full of technical and progressive elements. It’s got a bit of a chaotic presence that shows these guys can step out of the melodic groove and into the shoes of destruction. I’m digging the staggered mosh after the two minute mark.

Forms of Illusions
The guitars that start off “Forms of Illusions” set a chill atmosphere that’s suddenly and violently torn from your mind by burly riffs and pummeling drums after a great build up over the first minute and twenty seconds or so. Lots of guitar variations and spastic drumming dominate this the remainder of this track. It’s actually pretty surprising how much these dudes pack into five minutes worth of music without becoming too overdone or stagnate. The ebb and flow is nicely timed and well executed.

When Your Face Doesn’t Melt Snowflakes
I’m assuming that the title of this next song is an alliteration to being dead, but that could just be me. The guitar tones on this one are melancholy and somber over the first 50 seconds or so before some interesting picking arrives along with manic blasts from everyone in the band. This is a violent, dark ride into the schizophrenic mind of a rapidly cooling corpse — meaning, it’s all over the place.

Indemnity
The final song has plenty to get into with sweet, groove oriented riffs, technical flourishes and thick bass work. It’s a decent track, but not the most impressive an album that has been pretty damned enjoyable to say the least.

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Additional Notes:
N/A

Take the crushing, noisy punishment of Premonitions of War, the bruising mosh and blasts of Burnt By The Sun, the angst and venom of Unsane and then throw in heaping dose of Jesus-hatin’ and you’ve got yourself Salt Lake City’s own Gaza. But how could a band hailing from the land of ultra religious beliefs not come to deliver one of the most abrasive, anti-religion and raw albums of the year.

He Is Never Coming Back corrodes away at the foundations of all that Salt Lake City (and the religious world as a whole) is built upon with caustic, textured and noisy as fuck guitars that rise from the depths of hell with bruising ferocity only to devolve in upon themselves with a cacophony of reverb and distortion. Vocally, the band levels out heavy helpings of guttural screams, mid-range shrieks and gurgling belches in every effort to have you fully aware of their message — a truly fitting companion to the steamrolling rhythms that fill this album.

How it Is. How Its Going To Be.
I’ve thrown this one on my iPod and replayed it over and over when hitting the gym. The shear ferocity of the growls and massive size of the riffs in the first half of the song is enough to have Arnold pumping iron like there’s no tomorrow. The overall tone of the song is dark and menacing. The vocals finally come in around the 2:30 mark along with distorted, wavering guitars.

The Kicking Legs
“The Kicking Legs” certainly is spastic enough to represent the death twitch of the recently steamrolled by Gaza. This song is an all-at-once attack on the senses with blasting drums, caustic guitars and vocal destruction. At times unorganized and churning the track ebbs and flows wonderfully from structure to chaos and back again. The vocals (layered and multiple screamers) so far on the album are delivered with devastating honesty and ferocity.

Bishop
A nasty scream gets this next one off to a raucous start with manic drums and a decent blast of grinding guitars. “Bishop” has a disjointed feel driven by swirling and churning guitars and spastic drums, yet collectively it all comes together nicely in a steaming pile of grinding mayhem.

The Biologist
This sub 50 second track is comprised of light guitar strumming and serves as a brief interlude between blasts of noisy, grinding destruction.

Windowless House
“Windowless House” picks up where “Bishop” left off in the riff department. Starting off with beefy rhythms and guitars the song transitions into a churning mass of textures, growls, thundering drums and guitar squeals — yet behind the whole thing is a melancholy and melodic element itching to come forward.

He Is Never Coming Back
Distorted guitars introduce the title track with sing-along vocals sure to leave you rupturing tendons in your neck and throat as you scream with all that you’ve got. Holy hell this song is bad ass and it’s the slower tempo that makes it that much more powerful. It’s just too bad it’s only two minutes long. Then again, that’s probably a good thing.

Canine Disposal Unit
Gaza erupt into churning and rumbling blasts as this next song gets going quickly. The vocals are layered on top of one another with great effectiveness, adding a huge amount of depth to the mix. This is a rough, violent ride through some severely battered amps. The song ends quietly and peacefully with light guitars and a little atmosphere that fades into the next track.

The Anthropologist
This 40 second long instrumental is soft and touching — quite a departure from the band’s normally caustic malevolence.

The Meat Of A Leg Joint
“The Meat Of A Leg Joint” starts off with a nice Unsane feel to the guitars as the vocals come in forcefully. The guitars take on a life of their own quickly though, swirling in chaos and distortion and the rolling thunder of the drums rumbles in the background. The one minute point marks a quick shift in the tone and thickness of the guitars as they hit mosh levels deeper than the Stygian Abyss. The last minute of the song is beyond ferocious.

The Astronomer
This a dark and brooding song that starts off with burly yet slowly moving riffs and drum work, as well as distant screams. There’s a definite doom influence within the depths of “The Astronomer” that only adds another slick element to the band’s sound.

Tombless
A huge growl and awesome, churning guitars gets “Tombless” off to a sick start. The thickness to this song is nearly suffocating without being overbearing. This is another one of those scream alongs that will leave you muted for a few days. This song descends into a grinding, filthy mess before arising once again to punish the righteous with a severe beating about the head and shoulders. Man, that was a kick ass song.

The Historian
“This Historian” is another short track, but unlike the two previous interludes, there’s nothing soft of melodic about it. Revisiting the beastly riffs of the opening track, Gaza spend a a good 40 seconds on burying you in doomy riffs before fading out for the final song.

Carnivore
“Carnivore” is an exciting song with all kinds of shit getting thrown in to the churning mass of noise. Big burly guitars jump in with blasting drums and layered screams/growls to build a dense wall distortion. Hell, there’s even a few melodic touches tossed in for good measure. In the end, though, this song is all about wrapping up the raw, blood crusted bed sheets that encases all that is religious and hurling the battered package into the nearest back alley dumpster.

Hidden Track
There is a final 15 minutes to the album after the final proper song that fades in slowly to distant guitar strumming and light drums for most of the track. Quickly spoken utterances (a sound clip perhaps) come in at 7:45 and fade out quickly after. It’s not until 8:30 that we’re greeted with some decent riffing and steady drums. The music that rounds out the hidden track is well written with a nice melodic touch to the overall sound.

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Additional Notes:
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I played the fuck out of The Red Chord‘s spaz grind debut Fused Together in Revolving Doors when it first came out. I loved it’s sheer insanity and intensity. The band’s sophomore release saw nearly as much replay, but it wasn’t quite the same. Then cam 2007′s Prey for Eyes, an album which I gladly purchased, but could never really get into.

I’m not sure what spurred the band to the levels of reivigorated destruction that their latest effort, Fed Through the Teeth Machine, displays in spades, but the band needs to tap into that source like a junkie sifting through dead soldiers in a back alley. Teeth Machine makes Prey look like the definite weak link in the band’s short yet highly scrutinized discography. There just seems to be so much more emphasis, creativity and enthusiam on show with this latest release.

The grinding blasts are more raw, more sinister and full of power, while the jazzy noodling (when used) is balanced beautifully with the band’s natural ferocity. Vocally, Guy Kozowyk is on top of his game, dishing out menacing barks, growls and more throaty belches. Musically, the band seems much tighter in their frenzied attack. The guitars are thick and punishing yet at times mischievious and jazzy. The rhythm section delivers the thunder with precision while keeping you on your toes throughout the album.

Demoralizer
“Demoralizer” certainly seems to serve as such to other bands in The Red Chord “genre.” Opening with distant guitars that fade into an eruption of blasting drums, squeals and Kozowyk’s bruly delivery the song serves notice to all who hear it that the band is back and back with a vengeance. While not as spastic as the stuff I loved on their debut, so far the music on Teeth Machine is exactly what has been missing from their last two albums — bruising rhythms, haunting guitars and ferocity.

Hour of Rats
Holy sweet fucking shit. “Hour of Rats” explodes out of the gate without so much as a blink from the end of the album opener with blasting drums and a huge scream. This song is a brass knuckled left hook to the temple. There’s plenty of jazzy noodling and soaring leads amongst the animalistic bludgeoning the band is handing out with this song.

Hymns and Crippled Anthems
There’s barely a moment’s breath before the album’s third track gets under way with a little reverb. There’s some really nicely structured shifts in this song, highlighted with technical guitars and slick layering. Be prepared for some fierce noodling and plenty of experimental guitar noise throughout this song. It only adds to the churning chaos.

Embarrassment Legacy
The transition into “Embarrassment Legacy” is nearly seamless, as the band chug along smoothly with a mid-tempo opening. The pace picks up a bit about 20 seconds in with a decent driving clip. There are several tempo shifts in just the first minute and a half, yet the momentum of the song continues along smoothly and without pause. I’m digging the animalistic pummeling the drums take after the short lead before the two minute mark.

Tales of Martyrs and Disappearing Acts
Finally, there was more than half a second of dead air between songs… And you’ll need to too. This next one is an up-tempo monster with chugging riffage and machine gunning drums. The guitars around 1:10 are pretty sweet as the introduce a series of large growls from Kozowyk. The end of the song builds into a frenzy before disappearing into the next song.

Floating Through the Vein
“Floating Through the Vein” has an intensified feel around the overall delivery of the music. Everything seems to have a little more punch than the last song. Perhaps it’s the many manic blasts that punctuate the flow of the song. At any rate, I’m digging it. The end to this song has a very disturbing feel to it as the music degrades slowly to a close.

Ingest the Ash
Now this is what I’m talking about! Sheer destruction right from the first second that’s reminiscent of the stuff they did on their debut. The melodic and rock vibes added to the guitars here and there make for a great contrast to the moshing riffs they throw at you throughout the song.

One Robot to Another
The band keeps the bludgeoning constant with this next one that also sees some slick progressive guitar elements thrown into the mix. This is a pretty bruising track that has some highly contagious portions that will have you shouting along with the band in no time.

Mouthful of Precious Stones
Massive riffs and a brief growl get this next one off to a chugging start. The overall slower pace to this one is a nice change and makes for a darker sounding song that really explodes when those quicker moments arise. The 1:44 mark is a crushing mass of guttural vocals and riffing. The latter half of the song is more dramatic and has more melodic touches as does the lead that comes in at 3:30. This is definitely a new realm for the band that really shows what they are capable of.

The Ugliest Truth
Man, after the slower fading end to the last song, “The Ugliest Truth” is a menacing, drooling beast of a track. It’s up-tempo pace along with nicely timed guitar squeals makes for a creative song. There’s a good ebb and flow to this song as the pace shifts along with blasting drums and Kozowyk’s delivery. Nice!

Face Area Solution
Using the feedback from the end of the previous song, this next one is starts off with frenetic drumming, slick guitar noodling and a vicious layered vocal delivery. This is the shortest song on the album and packs a wallop in its two minute length.

Sleepless Nights in the Compound
“Sleepless Nights in the Compound” wraps up the band’s return to form with an off-kilter, time battering attack from everyone in the band. The drumming is all over the place (in a good way) and the guitars shift from moshing riffs to technical flourishes like it’s nothing. The track gets real creative at 2:20 with moody guitars and plenty of atmosphere. The track ends tremendously with great guitar, layered vocals and steady drum work. Well done!

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Additional Notes:
N/A