BOLESNO GRINJE (Hrv): “Pobjeda Je Nasa” Cd 2002 Cryptas/Endless Brutality of Men

I am not 100% sure about the release date of this album, but it says it was recorded in April 2002, hence I guess it was released the same year. That makes it three years older than “Od Nesvijesti Do Grinda”. The music is however not extremely different. We still have fairly political oriented grindcore with rough, drunk vocals a la Extreme Noise Terror/Concrete Sox/Nausea etc., groovy riffs, and a couple of close up pictures of fleas on the booklet. This time the cover looks even more deluxe with the use of this gold pantone color, I like the way it turned out. The lyrics are not extremely readable but that’s part of the design that wants them on the same line. I can just repeat my appreciation like I did for the other album: this music has the constant crusty swing which is fundamental for fun-enjoying grind, this must be excellent to see on stage. There are some attempts at using dissonant vibes which have been dropped on the newer stuff, but they were really not fundamental. The overall sound seems even a bit fatter here, with some added bass distortion and a strong metallic bass backbone. We’re far from minimalist though, the sound is clear and the guitar riffs diverse, more oriented towards the pure mosh. Hmm. Not much to add, get this if you liked the other one, can’t say much more. This is good honest groovy grind.

BOLESNO GRINJE (Hrv): “Od Nesvijesti Do Grinda” Cd 2005 Cryptas/Endless Brutality of Men

I know I sound irritating when I repeat myself, and I know there is surely a load of grammatical errors in my reviews as well, since I never double check them and my English is surely not transcendent, but why, exactly, don’t labels supervise the layout work and act on correcting the lyrics before they go to the printer? Why I do have to read lines like “I am must fuck”? Sarcofago were justified by the time and place they were born, but a band can’t make thus kind of mistakes in 2006. The lyrics are not hugely advanced, half about fun things like fuck frenzy, holidays in Paraguay and drinking oneself out at the local pub, while the other half is about fucking the police, daily routine (“Walking Corpse”, anyone?), fucking the national radio broadcast etc. The layout and artwork are both nice, on super glossy paper, with a microscope caption of a flea on the cover which must be Bolesno Grinje’s lucky charm (looks like the same flea that resides in the logo). Bolesno Grinje play forceful grind/crust with a huge groove, not much dissimilar to Neuropathia in the approach, but with a rough, bleary sound that would make the Dark Throne of “Transylvanian Hunger” envious. The energy level is constant, even during the slam dance riffs chock full of sing along choruses. The guitar riffs are razor sharp and full of punkish vigour, the vocals sounds a bit like old Extreme Noise Terror, coarse and drunk as fuck, a mix or orc blood and nicotine, the drums pounding unerringly from start to finish, again this is a band which is surely a big fun to watch on stage or to play at full volume on a beer festival. All the attention here is pointed at the fun element, even if I probably prefer Birdflesh if we talk about purely crusty mosh-grind. I especially like the double vocals, they add much breadth to the mix. I am not much into fun grind, but this is a band which is a must have for those into powerful rocking and rolling groovy grindcore. Let’s crack on!

BOLESNO GRINJE (Hrv): “Nitko Mas Ne Vidi…” Cd 2006 Deathbag

Ah! So Blythe was serious when she was talking about her Deathbag records and this Bolesno Grinje release! This means I am the only cunt who’s not able to release a Cd on his own, dammit! Anyway the Claudia fuckin’ Schiffer of Grind Core started out with a grand debut for her label with this Cd, quite different from the previous material. For once, I can tell there’s real progression here, from every angle you eye it. Dropped the fleas, the packaging is real top level, the lyrics are finally understandable (if contorted) and what’s even better, the music has bloomed into a schizoid and thoroughly original pulp of Grind, Death and general extreme music elements. First off the production is sharp and well balanced, the sound has a bit more emphasis on the metal side, with some intreesting turns which even reminded me of some Neurosis stuff and the songs really difficult to pigeonhole. There is just a track which I cannot swallow easily and that’s “Uvdek Problemi” which sounds a bit too emo-progressive post-something at first yet even this one branches out quickly into a plethora of different styles, all at the same time. It is interesting how this band manages to explore and define a sound of their own yet paying homage to a lot of distinct genres. It’s one of those concoctions which just amalgam finely and without sharp contrasts. Surely there is a huge English/Swedish crust vein, expecially in the vocals, but heaviness and complexisty are definitely borrowed from metal. Yet I wonder: to this day, after hearing bands like Nasum and Rotten Sound does it really mean something to talk about labels? Whatever, even if I am still all for teenage gore bands, my critical sense admits there is something big developing here, this band is developing fast, with a lot of logic and inner consitency. Simply put, for being one of the very few bands I can think of from Croatia, this is absoutely the best I know from that country. Were I in you I’d buy it, eh.

SPEARHEAD (Eng): “Decrowning the Irenarch” Lp Cd 2007 Invictus

Before I start the whining, let me state that this Cd looks real terrific. The design here is tremendous, woefully elegant and definitely classy. The cover art is not only intricately beautiful, but it also reflects a very strong concept that permeates the whole release. War. Struggle as the means of man to overcome mediocrity and avoid corruption and degrade. Historical references appear as pictures of iconic representations in a sleek sepia packaging that is perfect even in the choice of fonts. This is really beautiful to look at. I was even remotely intrigued by the lyrics and foreword on their take on the irenarchs of the past and present.

I always find it a bit difficult to find parallels between boys that play musical instruments on stage and maybe participate in a few weekend full contact sessions with paint guns and real soldiers that see their friends torn to pieces by shrapnels, that visit places where real people die including your strict relatives. But the philosophical message here is strong and that’s not the weak spot on this album: it’s the music that really fails here. This album is one of the best examples of hideously generic thrash/death metal I have heard this year. Sure ly some riffs are nice, and they even attempt a killer echoing “ugh ugh” during the first fast opening riff in the best Celtic Frost tradition, and the solos are actually thought out and cool – but the scattering of good chords and soporific mid tempos is quite hard to understand and to find any coherence in. It’s like that movie “Memento” where all the scenes are cut and pasted backwards. You hear the same mediocre galloping riff 8 times, and then a completely different one drops in, coming from some third grade band from Melbourne. It’s as if someone cut the film in the cassette master and hastily taped it together randomly. This again doesn’t mean they inherently suck, they’re just totally unbearable because thrashing energy never bursts out, always squeezed in a vaguely Australian styled neo “denim plus million patches” Thrash Metal composition that really tastes like Kosher meat without seasoning. The vocals are terribly banal but for once I won’t twist the knife in the wound. This band is definitely not for me, even if the premises were good it lacks completely of catchiness. If only they could take an inch of old Vader or Sadus they could as well be something. As it is I could barely keep my lids open after 10 minutes of mono-frequency vocals and semi identical riffs. Not as bad as the previous one but still light years from being interesting.

EXHIBIT-A (Aus): “Home Dentistry” split Cd with ROADSIDE BURIAL (Aus) 2008 Grindhead

No. I am not really going to take it. A few dozen tracks written between 2000 and 2001 and exhumed just for sharing plastic with Roadside Burial. I admit this band is slightly more savage and deranged, and all in all it’s nto so bad, but i don’t feel very merciful these days. This band is fast, chaotic, has some shredding Japanese like screams and a monster gruff sound, which is fine, but it really leaves much after you listen to it. Even if more varied, the constant vibration of the high screams soon make this listening a test of patience. It might be okay for a listen, but not so much as to spend your money on I am afraid. I really start to miss old dirty grindcore of the eighties/early nineties and the bulldozing energy of Last Days of Humanity – these bands really have no much soul. Still better than post-Nasum washing machine gind but even this Australian prototypical drunk grind is getting a bit overheated.

I like the weirdo approach and the unpredictable song writing, and I loved the crdue way the tracks are hacked so you can hear the moment one ends and another start. But it’s a bit little for a band to stand out of the drowd today. From Grindhead I loved Eyetofuk much, much better.

ROADSIDE BURIAL (Aus): “Such Is Life” split Cd with EXHIBIT-A (Aus) 2008 Grindhead

Roadside Burial is ex-Volatile, a rather unknown band, at least here in Europe, who supposedly played grindcore. Personally I have never heard Volatile, even if the name is so fucking cool…(1, 2, 3)… NOT! A two men band with a terrible sounding drum machine isn’t exactly what usually stirs interest in me but considering how many times I have been wrong by judging Cds by the cover lately, I swear I am putting myself in trancelike state while listening to this record so I can be as objective as possible.

Let me see… the vocals are cool, of the two-layered kind you know. The riffs are little more than crust core a la Discharge lus some metal added. These drums are unbearable so let’s skip them for once. Well to say this stuff is unremarkable would be a desperately honest judgment. If this band was from Czech republic and had Bizarre Leprous routine 2 second shit cover I would have already thrown it in the “average death metal” heap. Being a Australian band with a 15 year background, I want to convince there is more here than a bunch of riffs written after a dope party over a totally anonymous drum machine program. No – really – this is not bad stuff, but so incredibly average I would barely recommend it unless you have 5 euros in your pocket after a bad show in a local squat and need to go home with something new. There are still good bands around that have to be exploited (since we talk Australian ground, get the latest Cemetery Urn album – pure gold), I see no need to go with this, not to mention the artwork on cover is really routine too. Good guitar sound, cool vocals, if nothing else.

PROFANATICA (USA/Ny): “Profanatitas De Domonatia” Lp Cd 2008 Hell’s Headbangers

I decided to exhume an old review from the previous website (remember you can access all the old reviews by clicking the “old reviews” link in the sidebar) just for the occasion. Like I used to say, Profanatica was one of my favorite Black Metal bands, to receive their new album is a fucking event. The question is: will this reunion work? Or we’ve just been lucky with Archgoat?

In short, I will tell you that this is really one of the top 5 Black Metal albums of the year. Ask someone with a brain what Black Metal is and you’ll get similar answers. It has to be misanthropic, alienating, mesmerizing, insane, demonical, inhuman. All these elements are still present and strong in Profanatica‘s sound, goddamnit! And in a perfect balance as well. This is one of the bands that paved the genre and they still do it brilliantly. You don’t get the evocative ballads of Burzum or the merry sing along riffs of Watain here: just unrefined, raw Black Metal force, a sticky black fluid that absorbs life and happiness flows out of the stereo once you put “Profanatitas…” on the turntable. This is also one of the best releases from Hell’s Headbangers so far too, it was a cool relief to hear that some bands actually withstand the test of time so well.

Just like it should be for real Black Metal, there are no fancy evolutions here: everything is stripped to the absolute minimal – drums are just a constant droning sound in the background, an almost tribal hypnotic beating. The riffs have the crushing, slow force that pressed nails in jesus’s hands and feet. The vocals a lacerating lament, gargling with hateful spite for living things. I cannot think of a better expression of good old fashioned BlackMetal. You can almost figure yourself in the middle of a bestial orgy, surrounded by the smell of sulfur and brimstone, black robed priests with leper gnawing human bones and virgins fucking with goats and dogs. This is definitely a must-fucking-have album.

The artwork is cool but the booklet is a little bare, just folded cardboard. Thinking about it a second time, it fits the release – but I’ll personally go for the vinyl. Get the 12″ version if you find it, its force is doubled on old school vinyl with all the pops and crackling. Again, absolutely a must have.