Review by Carl on August 20, 2023.

I primarily know this lot from their excellent North Of Nowhere ... LP, where they play a form of old school death metal mixed with a copious dose of crust, kinda like Master meets Axegrinder meets Celtic Frost. But way before that, there was this EP, and the style here is quite different from what was on the LP. Keep reading if you want to know more.

There are a couple of obvious signs that kinda give away what this is going to sound like. The band name taken from a Napalm Death song is one, but the second and most obvious clue is the fact that we are treated to 18 tracks under 13 minutes, that has grindcore written all over.

Napalm Death (and especially their "Scum" and "From Enslavement ..." albums) are a very obvious influence, but Rot (BRA) and Agathocles have also left some serious marks on the sound of the band. There are a lot of blast beats and simple but raging fast guitar riffing, all poured into short songs that sometimes last mere seconds. The gruff growling alternating with the insane screams are another staple of the genre, and in addition of those already mentioned, this approach also has me thinking of bands like Disrupt, Infest (US) and Extreme Noise Terror. The execution is maniacally energetic and hectic, and in its totality it simply oozes aggression everywhere. This is pure old school grindcore with a slight crust edge to it, and dammit, does this go in smooth!

Production-wise it is, as is to expect, all on the raw side. There is not a lot of bass present in the mix, the drums sound slightly on the thin side, and the guitars are bordering on white noise, with the vocals being what primarily keeps the music together. If you read this, you could think that this sounds horrible, but even if the production is on the raw side, this thing still emanates underground charm and you can feel the frenetic energy radiating from the music. After all, this is grindcore, not Beyoncé's new single, it is meant to sound uncivilized.

Although I prefer their debut full length, this little gem of underground delight manages to push all the right buttons in my household. It's fast, aggressive and a totally bonkers exercise in grinding insanity. All into those grind bands mentioned above, and old school grindcore in general, sink your teeth into this one!

Rating: 7.5 out of 10