Pharmacist - Vertebrae After Vertebrae (2026) Review

There ain't a more entertaining early Carcass-worshipping force in the modern underground than Tokyo-based duo Pharmacist (among the many, a lesser known but totally admirable case is Finland's Galvanizer). The band has been around since 2020 and immediately made impact with the scene through the debut Medical Renditions of Grinding Decomposition, a true grindfest of grotesque medical imagery and pathological terror in the most Symphonies-of-Sickness-esque manner possible. While having been quite active until 2022 with another full-length album and several mini-releases, a four year break (an eternity in goregrind time) was taken before the release of third record, Vertebrae After Vertebrae - another round of valuing disgust as a charm.

Crisp yet crunching production with a certain appeal of analog warmth is the only source of comfort you might find on this record, as Pharmacist's world remains repellent in both music and text. From all phlegm-soaked screams to guttural lows, I fully enjoyed the Jeff Walker carbon copy execution of the vocals, and they couldn't have been otherwise. These guys enjoy sounding exactly like themselves, but there's expressly evident introduction of more dynamics to the record compared to before. While tracks like the opener "Propelling Inwards", "Lazure Sphacelation" and "Mimicking the Organics" are mostly relentless in speed and diction, one can notice more melodic the self-titled track and "Endogenica", more reminiscent of the later, melo-death era of... You know, the other band.

There is smartly placed groove across all tracks, and an almost clear breakdown section at the closer "Zenith of Mnemonic Forensication", which features a gorgeous stop-time riff over mid-tempo drums that could be the record's highlight. Vertebrae After Vertebrae feels to me as a more concentrated record from a band that now doesn't aimlessly try to shock and provoke anymore (they have already achieved it), allowing for space to be catchier and more dynamic, but always eventually within great goregrind. It's not going to convert skeptics into liking the sewage, but it surely has the grit and effectiveness of a well-done (pun intended) album of that style.

Release: May 29th, 2026 | Hells Headbangers Records
Website: Facebook
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Gadget - Coerced (EP, 2026) Review

First of all, The Funeral March is one of the best grindcore albums of its time. Secondly, I hope Gadget doesn't make it a habit to put out a major release once per decade, as The Great Destroyer came out 10 years later, and now this new EP, ten years after that. There hadn't been complete silence all this time if you think about the split release with Retaliation in 2021, but I don't mind being patient if it's to witness evolution and artists refusing to rest on their laurels. A comeback after a not so linear timeline (departure of original vocalist, pandemic struggles) sees Gadget in their most audacious form, with a mini-album of eight tracks and a duration as long as Unsilent Death - a golden standard.

The band pre-released "Gnistan" for the EP's promotion, the shortest track and a true grindcore speed stalwart, but Coerced isn't merely a collection of such bursts of aggression. Opener "Nonsense" instantly explodes into blast beat fury, which is maintained at maximum capacity across the remarkable guitar lines of "No Sense of Self" and the massive middle-paced groove on "Who Doesn't Serve You". New vocalist Emilia Henriksson (who has previously screamed her lungs out in Radium Grrrls) does a remarkable job on all tracks, and along the presence of new guitarist Kristofer Jankarls (Livet Som Insats, Axis of Despair) brings a fresh ferocity to Gadget, still testing the levels of intensity the band can reach with this new lineup.

An older track, "Funerary Rites", finally found its appropriate release space, and slaps the face as much as the fast-paced "Flatline", which has a wonderful open chord introduction and a slightly noisy ending that connects perfectly with the most experimental piece on Coerced, the five-minute "False Pulse". Here, Gadget expand upon a fully noisy / dark ambient texture that gets more and more uncomfortable as it moves on and reaches the second longest track of the EP, "Violenty Silent". The doomy sludge inclinations of this piece would surely make Eyehategod giggle in happiness, and concludes a rather bombastic and interesting work by these grindcore legends.

If you've tripped with the bizarre album covers of Pyrrhon, know that the stunning artwork of Coerced was done by the same artist, Caroline Harrison, who apparently mixes repulsive imagery with unexpected beauty as if it's sugar with coffee. The EP is short enough to leave you wanting more, but it's also notably diverse for its kind and hints how Gadget's new configuration is a work in progress, and at a period of renewed, and even darker inspiration. Let's hope for the next full-length to not be a product of distant futures and distant galaxies.

Release: May 8th, 2026 | De:Nihil Records
Rating: 4 out of 5

Barren Path - Grieving (2025) Review

In a sense, Barren Path's Grieving is indeed a debut album. However, one will feel a tensely familiar cataclysm once the needle drops, as such musical debauchery can be conceived and reproduced by only a few individuals on Earth... Or maybe even just one: Takafumi Matsubara. Alongside him is also the infamous gang behind now defunct Gridlink, and the new addition of Mitchell Luna (Maruta, Noisear, Shock Withdrawal) on vocals. You guessed right, modern technical grindcore's deadliest tacticians once again channel their collective fury into a work that's clean-cut as it is merciless, with twelve tracks and barely a quarter of an hour total duration of precision-feral mayhem.

Brevity remains a virtue here. In its compact and tight presentation, Grieving is extremely packed with terrifically moving ideas, going down as a deliberate but masterful tantrum of noise. The violence is directed and quantified, the tempos are cleaved, and the blastbeats constantly dance with cross-sectional riffing. Barren Path moves in confidence and delivers with exceptional clarity, something that is sometimes amiss in grindcore albums, yet this is not your everyday collective we're talking about. There's an unexpressed connection to the clan of No One Knows What the Dead Think and Gridlink, but Grieving isn't nostalgic. The record slices in both ways, provoking internal entropy as well as external terror.

Musically, the band glances slightly more towards old-school death and crossover thrash metal instead of the distinctive cybergrind overload that Matsubara has spewed in the past. Yet, the technical, chaotic edge is fully maintained throughout, and recognized basically immediately when the opener "Whimpering Echo" flares up at mind-blowing speeds. "The snare tone is meaty" and the material is relentless but articulate, with all the micro-fills, pauses and twists perfectly calibrated for maximum impact. As exhilarating as the music feels, it also comes out intelligent, full of nerve and mechanical precision. Barren Path slash and hack towards the ultimate purpose to perfect this form of existential manic-grind, and they almost succeed with Grieving. 

Tracks like "Relinquish", "Subversion Record", "No Geneva", and "The Unreliable Narrator" (if you liked the latest Wormrot album, here we are again) are hallmarks of this sound. The melodic tremolo picking in "Lunar Tear" and the furious fret board maltreatment a la Brain Drill on "The Insufferable Weight" are exquisite, while even the noisy atmospheric respite in "Celestial Bleeding" adds some sort of a strange tenderness, like a moment of negative space among highly ferocious tracks. "Horizonless" is wonderfully connected to the last piece "In the End… The Gift is Death", where the band delivers a final delivers a concluding blast of melodic-death laced grind. I'm not the biggest fan of low-volume spoken vocals like on "Isolation Wound", but the riff in the back is so formidable, you might not even notice.

Despite the overall musical massacre, you would wonder why Grieving, a grind record, might leave you feeling mournful. To me, Barren Path examine alienation and dissolution without failing to keep a self-awareness under the constant duress caused by their creation. It's extremity as an existential spectacle, through brutal techgrind of the highest order from a set of musicians known for their non-stop hustle, (r)evolution and refinement as their own act of defiance. Despite its hostile side, the record's underlying vulnerability was an instant win for me, but what instantly catches the ear, is of course the trademark Matsubara inspiration. They have survived, and they keep morphing into scarier and scarier entities.

To be atoned a flat world

Release: October 31st, 2025 // Willowtip Records
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 

Napalm Death - Scum (1987)

It can be argued that the first grindcore or goregrind was created by accident. Much like the first album of Carcass, which was a thunder-in-a-bottle kind of blunder, I almost feel the same about how much all over the place the debut of Napalm Death is. 

Scum is a timeless classic for extreme metal by now, but imagine casually browsing your local record store and stumbling upon this back then. 

I almost felt the same happiness when I found this on LP at a completely neutral store around here, but of course it's not ever near the first presses. My copy (still great) is the 2022 re-release from Earache Records "from original tapes" as they say.

Clocking in at just over half an hour, the album is a whirlwind of aggression, with songs averaging less than a minute in length. Yet within these fleeting moments, Napalm Death manages to distill a potent brew of anger, disillusionment, and social commentary.

The album's lyrics tackle themes of political corruption, environmental destruction, and social injustice with unflinching honesty and unbridled fury.

Beyond its lyrical content, Scum also serves as a rallying cry for the disaffected and marginalized. Its DIY ethos and anti-establishment ethos resonated deeply with the burgeoning punk and metal scenes of the late '80s, inspiring countless bands to embrace a similar spirit of defiance and autonomy.

Its raw aggression, socio-political commentary, and uncompromising ethos have cemented its place as a classic of extreme music, ensuring its enduring legacy in the pantheon of metal history.

Also, it has the shortest track ever recorded, with a Guiness World Record. Well done!

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Brutal Truth - Sounds of the Animal Kingdom (1997)

It’s unfortunate to say this since this album has maybe one of my favourite grindcore related openers ever, which is a phrase that I find myself repeating in my head when I generally listen to suboptimal music: still not loud enough, still not fast enough… As much as Brutal Truth is not your typical band of the genre, and Sounds of the Animal Kingdom was definitely another bold creation, it’s a bit all over the place, with damaged production and not nearly as good as the first two masterpieces from the band. The 22-minute mayhem at the end was kinda unnecessary and numerous tracks are skippable, yet there’s a few really amazing riffs and sections around, but you have to find them. I dig the Marvel-like cover, the title and the first three tracks. Then it’s a hit or miss. [2.5 out of 5 - Average]

Release: September 23rd, 1997

Label: Relapse Records

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Full of Hell & Primitive Man - Suffocating Hallucination (2023) Review

Through different practices of establishing oppressive darkness, it is not unreasonable to consider Primitive Man and Full of Hell were actually churned out of the same furnace. The main distinction is of course the speed of each band's material, the former stomps an overwhelmingly heavy and slow doom metal palette, while the latter skins sound to its extreme with fast paced grindcore. Common ground is found - which is also what distinguishes both from the larger part of the aforementioned genre families - in the excessive use of noise and power electronics. 

Once noticing a collaboration album between these two artists, it feels like such an act was just bound to happen eventually, especially among such like-minded individuals. Suffocating Hallucination is characterised by a thick, impenetrable, ugly and intimidating atmosphere, as it is met in the works of both bands. 

It is a record that features both their capabilities under the same blanket, yet each respective identity somehow stays intact, and you can be pretty sure of what material was written by which of the two. The vocals also swap between Primitive Man’s growls and Full of Hell’s screaming, but in terms of tempo compromises, most of the record is middle to slow paced with a few distinct faster moments. 

The listener gets what was promised with Suffocating Hallucination, as it ticks boxes for: an ultra speedy, 25 second track “Bludgeon” as the stamp of Full of Hell, a dark ambient / noise texture interlude “Dwindling Will”, a painfully decelerated Primitive Man anthem “Trepanation of Future Joys” and the clearest amalgam of the two projects, “Rubble Home”. At the longest piece, the closing “Tunnels to God”, it is the first time we witness these otherwise gruesome bands adopts more melancholic nuances through the fog and the noise, as the song slowly progresses and deconstructs itself. 

Such attempts substantiate the inspirational drive behind the creation of Suffocating Hallucination and save the record from being obsolete, as all the pieces are here, hideously refreshed and promptly served on a plate. As a follower of Primitive Man and Full of Hell by now, I see merit in both sides and acknowledge this work, as one of the better collaboration examples lately.

DAMAGE: 3.75/5 [Great]

Release date: 03 Mar 2023

Release label: Closed Casket Activities

Listen: Bandcamp

Tithe - Inverse Rapture (2023) Review

With the amount of new releases flooding our media services daily, one has to figure out what tactics to resort to in order to listen to a new album, and one way to go is by first glance of its artwork. While not judging a book by its cover is ever relevant in underground metal, it is rather impossible not to be tempted to check out Tithe’s second full length album Inverse Rapture, just because of this amazing design (done by Chimère Noire). 

While unaware of the project, it can be said that they’re making a good case on why Inverse Rapture should stay on your playlist, as the record has been carefully catered in its short duration of almost 30 minutes. You get an idea of Tithe from the first moments of “Anthropogenic Annihilation”, which demonstrates, through thick production, the menacing doom / death metal style of the band, not short of elements of dissonance, grindcore and a bit of black metal. 

With both slow and faster moments, the tracks in Inverse Rapture are ugly, fierce and with a good dosage of menacing riffs, yet there lies a hidden small disadvantage of the record in my opinion: the quality of the guitar lines at times makes waves and at other times, becomes more pale with repetitive, simplistic melodies. 

Moreover, slightly more variety in the sound of the vocals would benefit the work of the band, even if the painful high pitched singing sits well but also becomes monotonous. These two points made Inverse Rapture a bit tiring to listen to whole at once, even if it’s not so lengthy, yet in a general manner Tithe have numerous fairly great elements in their music that make the record worth listening to. 

Longer tracks “Inverse Rapture” and “Killing Tree” contain not just highlights, but basically the whole arsenal of the band, with shorter snippets found in the smaller pieces “Demon” or the closing “Pseudologia Fantastic”, and thankfully there are no unnecessary instrumentals or interludes anywhere. Inverse Rapture is overall enjoyable, with just a few points to be looked over and then Tithe can be discussed as a band of top calibre in the future. [3.25/5 - Good]

Release date: 17 Feb 2023 (Profound Lore Records)
Listen: Bandcamp

Sonic Poison - Eruption (2023) Review

After a short series of mini releases, all in good spirits with speed and brutality, Sonic Poison from Finland unleash their debut full length Eruption through the solid Me Saco un Ojo Records. The band's blend of death metal, grindcore and hardcore shines in this short and fierce release, comfortably rooted in classic extreme metal of the late 80's.

The record is 20 minutes long and features 16 tracks, showing absolutely healthy levels of track duration / number ratio for such a release. Not at all as polished as more popular acts of the continent across the Atlantic, Sonic Poison still present the same amalgamation of frenetic riffs, potent grooves, frequent tempo changes as what you would expect from a band of the aforementioned genres. I was thinking of an unlawful marriage between really early Napalm Death and Extreme Noise Terror of the same time when it comes to the undulating tempos and overall madness Eruption, an album that lives up to its name.

Equally deranged are the vocals, which go on wild rides as the tense tracks come hammering one after the other at frequencies that the listener might give up trying to keep up with all the riffs. Sonic Poison don't invent the wheel with the record, and there are no unusual meanderings at any point in Eruption, so it is one of the cases of knowing really well what you're getting into. Nevertheless, the recipes are executed successfully and the outcome is a quite enjoyable grind record, especially for fans of a more old school approach instead of the ultra noisy new influences that more modern bands introduce.

With Eruption, Sonic Poison make a clear and solid case for themselves and bring forth a well-made record that can live up to the expectations, considering their earlier, smaller releases. It is fully jammed with ongoing riff ideas and everything is pleasingly heavy in what would be another piece of work that more fanatic fans would use as a “machine to keep posers away”.  

DAMAGE: 3.5/5

Listen:

Bandcamp

Vermin Womb - Retaliation (2022) Review

It's been six years since Vermin Womb's relatively decent but undeniably heavy debut Decline, and the band has returned with a vengeance in 2022 with an equally smashing work. Retaliation clocks at just 18 minutes (shorter than before), and takes no breaks, as all weapons in their arsenal are thrown at once from the first second. I am not sure if such approach has been more and more common among new bands that attempt extremity in their sound the last few years, or that I have been oblivious before, yet there's nothing less than non-stop hammering of violent riffs, ugly growls and background noise throughout the whole of Retaliation, which feels like the tree trunk feels when going through the wood chipper. Once you dig behind the aural malevolence, the guitar work is not groundbreaking, consisting of simplistic black / death / war metal lines, sometimes in irregular timestamps, the vocals - while brutal enough - barely change and the drums sometimes miss out, which clears out a tactic followed in Retaliation, the use of the production. The aim of this work is to create a thick layer of fast, uncomfortable and stressing music, making it more of a texture rather than a set of compositional undulations, and that's why the record can often sound a bit flat or indifferent if you look at it closely. I understand Vermin Womb have clear goals in their mind and negativity blisters everywhere in the essence of their work, which should go hand in hand with the material itself, yet I would have seriously prefered more insight in terms of musicianship. That being said, Retaliation has everything to be praised by fans of this extreme style, but do a test for yourself: play the tracks in shuffle and then see if you can tell one from the other. Nevertheless, the band's latest work keeps it up and is a solid effort that is worth listening, but if you enjoy it, then maybe you missed the point. [3/5 - Good]

Origin: United States

Label: Closed Casket Activities

Release date: 02.09.2022

Listen: Bandcamp

Wormrot - Hiss (2022) Review

Throughout all these years of obsessively listening to countless albums after albums, the times when I was blown away to this extent by something have been as rare as crossing paths with a unicorn. It is the case of a band with a really clear upwards trajectory, steadily for over a decade, offering the musically richest and most intriguing material of the genre they are devoted to. And finally, all planets align, all of their little flaws are not just erased but boosted with the opposite sign, to create Hiss, Wormrot's best record to date and one of the best pieces of grindcore ever made. I believe this is how a genre defining work should be, glorifying the highest qualities of that music style, while shedding light on why it is not mere noise or aggressiveness. It exemplifies grindcore's best self, a rapidly paced bludgeoning of endless ideas molded into short durations, with multiple unexpected turns, excellent musicianship, overwhelming compositional inspiration and my goodness, how great are these aesthetics, the concept and the lyrics. All the tracks are perfect, the record flows like a pristine river despite all of its acute content and changes in sense, there are scarce clean vocals, brilliant violin use, slight black metal hints (as they have had in the past) and generally, there is no better musicianship in grindcore right now. Wormrot surpassed themselves, and this organic production fully helps with the outcome this time, while a sector that was not ideal so far is maybe another of the highlights of Hiss: the demonic drum playing. It is impossible to not recognize the sheer magnificence of this band's effort at the moment, whether you are a fan of the genre or not, and I don't think Hiss will be ever overlooked in the future when discussions arise about this kind of extreme metal. I hope the record proves to become a modern classic and Wormrot placed among the best bands of the trade. Just congratulations. [5/5 - Masterpiece]

Origin: Singapore

Label: Earache Records

Release date: July 8th, 2022

Listen: Bandcamp

Agoraphobic Nosebleed & Converge - The Poacher Diaries (Split, 1999) Review

Release date: November 1st, 1999
Genre: Grindcore / Hardcore Punk
Origin: Massachusetts, USA
Label: Relapse Records
Listen: Bandcamp

This is the only split album I have heard from Converge, being alone their hometown gang Agoraphobic Nosebleed, and next in line is “Deeper the Wound”, released in 2001 in collaboration with Japanese hardcore / death metal band Hellchild. Considering the stunningly massive impact Jane Doe has had to extreme sound, it almost naturally comes as a notion to split their history to before and after this release, and this release here stands right before the earthquake but gives away Converge’s talent quite openly. At the same time, I met Agoraphobic Nosebleed with 2009’s Agorapocalypse, as one of the first experiences I had with grindcore, without necessarily being a fan of their earlier, endless song number clocking at 16 minutes, type of albums. 

For the time this was released, it hits bull eye on what you would expect to listen. Agoraphobic Nosebleed kick in with a dirty, battered production, speedy tracks of constant unusual tempos, strange short sound effects here and there, they play as heavily as they can and hammer down a semi-distinct, semi-typical grindcore hurricane, with socially aware lyrics and nice samples. Some songs seem to have a bit different guitar sound than others, but in general what you have a frantic and uncomfortable set of cacophonies that makes up a fairly enjoyable listen. I can say I prefer this to the full lengths they were releasing at the time even though I’ve not been through everything, what Agoraphobic Nosebleed manage is to fire up some entertaining grindcore, with a slight personal touch and the sound to come with it. 

What is highly more interesting is the Converge side, where the band is jumping off the roof with six amazing tracks that round up almost all the ideas in their arsenal back then. Musicianship shines through the harsh sound, and brings up a lot of powerful melodies you didn’t even know existed, more often than not Converge have me thinking “how did he even think of this riff?”… While not their biggest fan, in The Poacher Diaries the band manages to display its highly skilled technical play, with middle paced emotional tracks, as well as scourging vocals, both clean and growling, in a rather addictive pack of attacking tracks. Again, beautiful samples used in various moments, but this time they are not what makes the tracks special. 

It starts of with two bulldozer heavy, fast tracks, “Locust Reign” and “This is Mine”. They feature the most intense side of Converge, at its fastest with intense riffing and unbelievably effective breakdowns, a long time before the technique would be adopted by deathcore butter bands and used as basis in their songs. These two tunes introduce an assault that will have you off your chair, and then the band moves on to even more daring directions. As the compositions get longer, there is more space for their one-of-a-kind writing style, as the psychedelic, clean guitar part of “They Stretch for Miles” starts, with clean vocals that vaguely remind of distorted alternative rock / shoegazing, but much heavier, indicating the first hints of the grooves the band would play later on and become worldwide famous.

Converge mix their faster playing with even slower parts, and it worked naturally. Points need to be given on how good the vocals sound in this release, but the praise in that section is unnecessary, yet the magnificence of the doom / sludgy introduction of “My Great Devastator” is the stamp of proof that Jacob Bannon is a beast. All the different sections of this track are top-notch, as is “The Human Shield”, with Converge clearly flirting with mathcore and unusual musical ideas in their tracks. Filthy, tasty riffs await to be found in the album’s outro “Minnesota” as well and as a whole, The Poacher Diaries has all you need to love this band. 

I spoke much more for one of the two sides in this split album, which shows which band I liked the most but the difference is really that big. Converge saves this otherwise simply nice work that would be listened once and lost forever, but in order not to disregard Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s side, get your hands on this if you like grindcore because it is worth it. It’s always nice to discover such gems in band’s side releases, when most of the attention falls on the artists’ full lengths.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed:

1. Mantis

2. Center of the Hive

3. Glass Tornado

4. Landfills of Extinct Possibility

5. Pentagram Constellation

6. Bed of Flies

7. Destroyed

8. Gringo 

9. Infected Womb

Converge: 

10. Locust Reign

11. This Is Mine

12. They Stretch for Miles

13. My Great Devastator

14. The Human Shield

15. Minnesota

Damage: 3.5/5 [Great]

Anaal Nathrakh - Endarkenment

By now, and by the frequency Anaal Nathrakh come out with a new album, it feels like it's effortless from their side to make new music. And since they have such a good grip on their own fairly distinct and personal sound, they have become a band with an almost secured fanbase, with the odds of this changing to be very low, as they would need to seriously mess an album up to alienate people who dig their material. What I pinpointed in Endarkenment was that a lot of unusual -and to some, possibly including me, unnecessary- electronic elements that had been circulating in the last few albums are now gone and we are back to a more straightforward, Anaal Nathrakh-ish brutality. The album throws dirt on many global subjects of today, having the band heavily criticizing social / political issues while painting a rather dismal picture of the current status of the planet, without missing the vulgar lyrical touch that makes them appalling but at the same time, effective. Yes, this time you can tell parts from the lyrics from Dave Hunt's vocals, which the textual parts more understandable, but part of me always longs for the catastrophic vocals of once-upon-a-time Anaal Nathrakh. As I couldn't get into their last couple of records too much, I reckon some of the most characteristic, potent and dynamic guitar lines they have composed lately can be found in Endarkenment, even though you can't say that they haven't relying a bit on muscle memory. It's been eleven albums so they deserve a break, what I can say with certainty is that Endarkenment grows on you the more you listen to it, and you will listen to exactly what you expect: an undulating combination of scourging guitars - apocalyptic vocals, epic melodies with clean vocals, including high falsettos to remind us once again that Anaal Nathrakh are big fans of King Diamond. An issue I have had with many of their albums is the plastic drum sound, however with Endarkenment they are brutally convincing, and to me achieved some even heavier levels than Desideratum, The Whole of the Law and A New Kind of Horror. All in all, a very intense and vile album from a band whose heart is in the right place. 

Of Feather and Bone - Embrace the Wretched Flesh (2015) Review

Origin: USA

Label: Good Fight Music

Release: 2015

Type: Full Length

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In 2015, I was totally clueless about this band, which managed to release a record in 2018 named Bestial Hymns of Perversion, that made it to my top albums of the decade list. I learned about Of Feather and Bone with that release, promoted by Profound Lore Records that I follow closely, and I was impressed by their death metal stench once I finally got down to listen to them properly. I never cared to look into their back catalog at the time either, and for a long time I have only been listening to bits of Bestial Hymns...

As peculiar as the name is for a death metal band of this kind, the cover artwork of their debut Embrace the Wretched Flesh just adds to this oddity even more. Noticing the short length of the tracks, I realized that Of Feather and Bone originally started as a hardcore punk band and that's what this record is about. A year later, they made a swift change to the sound I was familiar with by releasing a two-track demo, before stomping down the earth with a full release in 2018. In all the events regarding this group, I had been late to the party, but now I finally have a clearer picture.

While I will pick their death metal side to their hardcore side any day of the week, Embrace the Wretched Flesh is an undeniably entertaining and hard hitting record. With a duration of twenty three minutes, it showcases the band's aggression through breakdown filled hardcore punk and some filthy grindcore passages that I loved, as I don't know if I have enough ape in me to listen to a purely hardcore punk album. The screamy vocals are very good, the guitar lines entertaining as hell (slightly, slightly less breakdowns might have been even better, but they don't work as song part fillers) but most of all, I enjoyed the pummeling drum work.

The album flows nicely, most of the tunes do not contain anything unnecessary and its unfriendly characters stems from both music and lyrics, being as hateful and attacking as you would imagine. "You Alone Will Suffer", "Bound to Guilt", "Proclaim of Hate" and "Ordained In Fire" are some of the highlights for me, yet as a whole Embrace the Wretched Flesh works its way to your guts fairly easily. Fans of more traditional extreme metal should move on to their later stuff, but for the hardcore audience I think it's a listen that is worth your time.

Track listing:

1. Ordained in Fire

2. Calloused Embrace

3. Confined Violence

4. You Alone will Suffer

5. Proclaim of Hate

6. The Deafening Call

7. Bound to Guilt

8. Ignore Their Remorse

9. The Profane

10. Existence Through Hatred

Abandon all life

Artist: Nails

Genre: Grindcore / Powerviolence / Hardcore

Origin: USA

Year: 2013

Label: Southern Lord Recordings

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The second album of a band that is loved by the media, is undeniably heavy, but also draws a lot of hate from fanatics in the true underground. 

Abandon All Life was the follow-up to Unsilent Death, which was praised like a god by fans of hardcore and not only. The album has a lovely total of 17 minutes, which is the starting point to get pumped about a record that you want to be hard-hitting. How hard does it hit, you ask?

Well, Nails is a kind of a band that seems like a constant, really angry thug. Merciless music, unforgiving lyrics, intense shows and playing, it doesn't give you a break and if you think it is easy to go through these seventeen minutes, you will stand corrected.

If I had listened to them in time, this would have been really high in my lists for 2013, as You Will Never Be One of Us was in 2016 (even though, this cheesy title is annoying). 

I think Nails have an awesome grindcore / powerviolence palette. They have nose-bleeding hardcore breakdowns and supreme vocals. The lyrics are sincere and agressive. Their metallic sound gives a hint of a slight, really slight though, look towards extreme metal. But their core is not in that genre.

This production, which is quite heavy on its own, makes them a bit more accessible compared to frantic, insane grindcore acts who play anti-music and talk about raping worms.

What I mean is, it is universally true that The Inalienable Dreamless is the best grindcore album ever. Nails have more popularity than usual, because their kind of extremity is actually media-friendly. They are guys to be featured on the fronts of zines.

That is not to undermine their music, as I enjoy all their stuff and I have listened to the b-sides too. Abandon All Life was an instant fall for me. It has a great title, improved artwork, improved sound (in my opinion), and much better vocals (my opinion, but also adjectivally true) than Unsilent Death.

Listening to Nails is a physical boost of testosterone and it's impossible not to get your blood going. The process of their songs is actually well thought. The death metal elements are wonderful. The band's solos are basically worshiping of early Slayer. What can go wrong? Only the fans can really go wrong.

I am very happy they are not a professional band but do this on the side, as they have their own families and lives. It's less compromising. 

I come back to Nails from time to time and share it with non-metal friends to scare them off, because to an outsider, all of us are an impassable grey, freaky cloud. Abandon All Life is one of the albums I listen to the most from this decade, when I don't feel like listening to my regular black metal playlists.

2019 might be the year they release a new album, if they keep being punctual with their releases (2010, 2013 and 2016). We'll see later this year.

Track listing:

1. In Exodus

2. Tyrant

3. Absolute Control

4. God's Cold Hands

5. Wide Open Wound

6. Abandon All Life

7. No Surrender

8. Pariah

9. Cry Wolf

10. Suum Cuique

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Listen on Bandcamp

Brutal Truth - Kill Trend Suicide EP (1996)

This is a proper lesson and example to the question of what a genre ideally sounds like, especially in the case of grindcore the recent years, which in my opinion, most of the bands are completely missing the point. Be careful what you listen to, because Brutal Truth is indeed the truth!

AOTY 2017: Top Greek Metal

I surely prefer the last two years over 2017 when it comes to my homeland’s releases and I wasn’t blown away by almost anything. In fact, I was kindly disappointed by bands I expected more from, even though in some other occasions, I went through pleasing listens. Apart from a top ten, below you will find one EP / demo and split of the year, just one in each case. As I’m very keen in black and death metal, most of the stuff here, if not all, are records of the two genres.

The main reason I post a list like this (almost) all the time is because I want to keep notes of Greek releases each year, not because I have stronger interest or appeal about it than music from around the world. There are great artists who deserve recognition here, we have history and a few bands have gone very popular in the underground and not only, but if you limit your listening choices to a single place, you totally miss the pace of a genre, as a whole. I have some thoughts I might expand in a different article one day.

If you look at them strictly, a couple are not metal, I know!

~~~

10. Kawir - Εξιλασμός

9. Procrastinate - Procrastinate

8. Dephosphorous – Impossible Orbits

7. Acherontas - Amarta

6. SepticFlesh – Codex Omega

5. Βρωμόστομοι - Αποστόμωση

4. Locust Leaves – A Subtler Kind of Light

3. Resurgency – No Worlds… Nor Gods Beyond

2. Hate Manifesto – To Those Who Glorified Death

1. Natvre’s – Early Cvlts

EP of the year:

Deviser - Howling Flames

Demo of the year:

Black Blood Invocation – Black Blood Invocation

Split of the year:

Diablery / Shadowcraft - Entropy

You Will Never Be One Of Us

Hands down to the album that will unite all the fans of extreme sound, whatever their specific tastes are. Words are void of meaning when it comes to this goliath. I can't even. Get ready to be stomped to death by this beast. I am filled with joy, I am smiling and I don't care about my broken, bloodied teeth. 

YOU.

WILL.

NEVER.

BE.

ONE.

OF.

US.

Honoring the idol Jeff Whitehead for creating the mesmerising artwork, let's listen to this and this again.

Unrelated: Throane – Derrière-nous, La lumière Review

Weekend Nachos - Apology

Final album, thank you for being around.

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Epitome (Pol) - Engulf the Decrepitude (Demo, 1994) Review

Album | Engulf the Decrepitude [Demo]
Country | Poland
Genre | Death Metal / Grindcore
Label | Guzzler

| Incarnated of morbidity |

The very first release by the death metal / grindcore band Epitome came out in 1994 with a title of Engulf the Decrepitude, and it's the only one that doesn't emphasize the word "rot", as one might quickly notice looking at their discography. These guys have been active since the beginning of the nineties and there is a new album coming out this year, meaning that they have been around for a long time.

For a first demo, this one has a rather below average production, without being completely bad. The songs display a standard and somehow simplistic form of death metal, based on a couple of riffs and repetitive fast drums. It's not anything overwhelming and it doesn't achieve much as a whole, even though under the perfect circumstances, it would be considered as solid. Epitome don't overcome the basic level of techicality and variety either, meaning it's just a typical demo.

Straying from the regular death metal vocals, there are a lot of grunts and guttural vocals here, as well as a couple of weird screams / yells at various points. It's the one thing that makes it a little more unusual than one might guess, yet they are not always done in absolute perfection. Listening to Engulf the Decrepitude, I hear an immature band with a few musicianship problems, trying it's luck for the first time.

While the tracks are repetitive, the sixteen minutes of music that can be found here are tight as a whole. Epitome play a little imperfect and dull, showing their low playing level for a first demo. Yet, since the band has a whole discography after all these years, it's possible that they have improved and moved forward as a band. Once I listen to the rest of their stuff, I'll know.

DAMAGE: 4/10

Cellgraft - Cellgraft LP (2012)

Country | USA
Genre | Grindcore
Date | July 29th, 2012
Label | Self-released

| Gain and dejection |

Cellgraft was a short lived band from Tampa, Florida (the birthplace of a whole bunch of death metal bands) that was created in 2008 and ended in 2012, with a couple of demos, EPs, splits, sadly no full length. They were heavily influenced by Insect Warfare (they have taken their name from a track of this band), using the same album structure with many songs of a short length, and a repetitive, chaotic sound as grindcore has.

In their short jam period, they pretty much rocked the house with powerful releases and stayed "true" to that scene, even though the underground grind bands are known to have plenty of passion. Cellgraft EP is the swan's song of the band and it's a twelve minute EP that contains 17 tracks, ranging from a few seconds to two minutes, right in the spirit of the genre. The production is very polished and creates a massive, heavy sound like a brick wall coming your way as the intro song "False Sequence of Value" plays, the slowest song in the record and the only one that reaches two minutes of length.

Already, one can feel the massive ear assault  the band has composed, which is not at all long but very cool for it's style, with nice riffs and vocals of growls, screams and growls / screams at the same time. You can't really tell the difference between the tracks, except "Ley Line" which only lasts five seconds, but if you look at them as a whole, it does give sense to insanity in a very distorted way, as if the notes sound random but were given care.

The grindcore freaks out there should receive this like a Christmas present, as I believe they will be blown away. As it was supposed to happen, everything ended too quickly for me to get an idea so I had to listen to it a couple of times more in order to point out some nice moments, like the sweet lines in "Conduit Conversion" and "Ebb of Cipher", while the short length is a bit disappointing after all.
As a fan of long, droning albums, I would like even more madness of something like thirty tracks, hoping that the band would have been able to create such a thing without overstaying in the same spot for too long. The album was never released in physical form and only exists on the interwebs, that's why you can buy it for free (or by naming any price) via Bandcamp.

DAMAGE: 7.25/10

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