Review by Sam on May 3, 2026.

This vocalist, who goes by the stage name of Pharmacist, sounds like a carbon copy of Jeff Walker in 1988. But I wouldn't go so far as to describe the band Pharmacist as an early Carcass worship ensemble or clone. For one, most of the songs are four to five minutes in length. Secondly, the production is superb. And some of these riffs man, are quite eye popping. The drum production is also very well done as the kicks and snare have a clear yet analog sound. Who knows if this record was recorded to tape; outlook not good on that since the year is 2026 and it's just too easy to record digitally, but the drums sound great whether blasting your ass with the snare or kicking your ass with double bass.

Most of these songs stay true to grind in that they are frantic and frenetic in nature. The tempos are pretty much turned up to ten nonstop, but when they do slow it down a notch it dials up the brutality considerably, kind of like on the rare occasions when Napalm Death plays slow. One of the most effective techniques that Pharmacist employs is using a half time beat a la Slayer's "Criminally Insane" that allows the riffs to articulate themselves nicely. Based on other reviews here for Pharmacist, I gather that they are strongly influenced by Pathologist, and as only a casual listener of grindcore, I was unaware of this band. Pathologist has a 1991 demo entitled "Medical Jurisprudence" that has 974 tracks, as well as 1990's "Sexual Cadaveric Mysophilia" with 385! Grindcore dudes, amirite?

There are times throughout this LP where the band really locks in to a groove and they proceed to destroy. There are no guitar solos to speak of, which is fine as that would only distract from the malaise, and a lot of these riffs are rather stunningly melodic. There's only one specific riff here that I'm going to single out for discussion, and it's found on the closing track, "Zenith Of Mnemonic Forensication", which has a reek of "Heartwork" to it. At three minutes in, they start doing this stop-time riff over a slow-ish beat and it is without question the highlight of the album. When they go double time with this, the guitar keeps playing the same stop time pattern while the bass, fuzzed out and filthy, continues onward in all its putrescent glory. Had they explored more of this type of riff work, I would be a bigger fan of "Vertebrae After Vertebrae". The sequence that precedes the here described awesome riff is also killer as it sets things up melodically.

My favorite Napalm Death songs are "Evolved As One" and "Contemptuous", so obviously, I can pretty much do without the warp speed tempos in which grind tends to dwell. This is why I can actually see myself repeatedly revisiting this record because Pharmacist explores a variety of velocities and textures that are uncommon in grindcore. However, one of the characteristics of grind and more specifically, goregrind, that I find fascinating is the use of highly technical medical terminology for lyrical content. On the latest release from the duo from Japan, the doctor is most certainly in.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10