Kandarivas (Japan) - Grind Surgical Shrine (2019)
To "preserve" traditions, many present culture as it was for one moment, frozen in amber. Kandarivas instead opts for a more practical approach, melding the traditional with the modern and preserving through innovation. They take traditional Japanese taiko drumming and insert it into a framework of experimental grindcore in a way that respects both ideas equally. The band is a trio, with Tomoki on guitar and lead vocals, Onobone playing the drum kit and Kaiki on the taiko drums. The taiko take the place both on stage and in the mix o…
SINGLE-MINDED BLASTBEATS: Sikora (Canada) - 5 Torments (2020)
In the first installment of Single-minded Blastbeats - namely, an ongoing exhibition of one-human solo grindworks and other blastbeat-adjacent projects - I present Sikora, aptly powered by Sarah Jane Cooper, member of Minitel , a defunct band of (totally understandable) Discordance Axis worship. The low, dragging start to Imposter Syndrome is a self-conscious far cry from professed "false grind" clichés, and it certainly doesn't prepare one for the rest of the blasting tracks that grace the EP. Rare breakdowns rain down hard; i…
Holy Grinder (Canada) - Divine Extinction (2020)
I've recently gotten deep into lesser-known '70s and '80s horror movies, and there's a certain feeling of risk that comes along with dredging the depths for your next favorite film. Sure, you may come across a Messiah of Evil (1973) or Fascination (1979), movies with a surprising level of craft and beauty beneath their meagre budget and lurid subject matter. But when searching a distributor like Vinegar Syndrome , whose mission is to release rarely seen horror and exploitation films (among other genres) you're just as like…
MOUTH BREATHER (Texas, USA) - Welcome to the Hellmouth (2020)
The problem with fast 'n' noisy music is that there is no problem, but there are only so much adjectives to describe it as such. Sure, I'd have it easier if there were less kickass bands to check out, yet having it easy is hardly the point of life. As the old saying goes, life sucks and then you die, at least for us mortal working folk, so maybe the best you can do is to get all powerviolent about it, something like the four Texans who call themselves Mouth Breather. Welcome to the Hellmouth is no-nonsense grindviolence in the sen…
Socioclast (USA) - Socioclast (2021)
While all grindcore sounds like blasting noise to the untrained ear, as grindcore fans we know the genre plays in a number of modes. Some bands bring influence from punk, some from death metal; some employ intricate, technical riffimg and some stick to more straightforward fare. This first LP by Socioclast, a brand new trio of California grinders led by In Disgust's Matt Gomes on guitar and vocals, features a blend of elements from across the genre that should appeal to a large swath of the grindcore listenership. They play metallic grindc…
Final Exit (Japan) - ノイズの若大将 (Young Guy of Noize) (2020)
Movies often serve as an inspiration for grindcore bands. Grind albums are littered with film dialogue samples, bands like Repulsion take their name from films, and bands even occasionally use a still from a film as an album cover. And as is befitting grindcore's chosen subject matter, these films are predominantly in the horror genre. Long-running Japanese noisegrind stalwarts Final Exit, however, take a different approach. Their new LP Young Guy of Noize blends fragmented noisegrind with smooth, competent surf rock. It also, unusually …
![SWARRRM (Japan), ゆめをみたの - i dreamed... + The [re]Birth of Cephalochromoscope](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3DFmaphZ_Bln6bx7ajugMsK1Mbrq-aZboX_gRvMDn-Jui1H-w5zpw9bfq8aUyDvKLVxl9-U7G8SWw3Ba1Dsq6TO3cs4ZRCIIADmywbJJSwpfGCHSaktY6sl77UvNXlDik6AxFePtwUZw/w640/1610444997_band.jpg)
SWARRRM (Japan), ゆめをみたの - i dreamed... + The [re]Birth of Cephalochromoscope
You may not know this, but Swarrrm is the reason why Cephalochromoscope exists in the first place (as for the term itself, read some Philip K. Dick and get back to me). Swarrrm is also the reason why me and Orfee exchanged the first of our many, many emails (since 2008) and jumped straight into the creation of our own sentimental sketchgrind. And if Nino Rota came to be reincarnated in Japan (Kobe, to be exact), where he then developed an insatiable appetite for blastbeats at a far too early age, perhaps we could get to hear another band of …
Gasp (USA) - Stardonas (2020)
Gasp was an anomaly among the California punk scene of the 1990s. They played a relentlessly strange, deeply psychedelic blend of grindcore, powerviolence and noise. Their music was tough to categorize, but rewarding to the determined listener. 1998's Drome Triler of Puzzle Zoo People , their sole LP, is a high water mark in the blending of psychedelia and extreme music. They split up in 2004, and their last release was the 2005 collection An Earwig's Guide to Traveling . It would be easy to imagine such a singular group would just va…
Stimulant (USA) - Sensory Deprivation (2020)
Among the most promising extreme music acts of the early 2010s was undoubtedly Water Torture. They played a sludgy, oppressive brand of grindviolence that immediately made waves in the underground. After releasing a number of splits, EPs and an LP, Water Torture sadly called it quits in 2015. Rather than ending there, however, two of the three members immediately formed a new band. That band was Stimulant , a faster, noisier cousin to Water Torture's heavy blend of grindcore and powerviolence, with a similar sense of oppessive atmosphere.…
Fuck on the Beach (Japan) / Endless Swarm (Scotland) - Split 7" (2020)
This split was originally planned as a physical release to be sold at the cancelled Zesta Grande II grindcore & powerviolence festival in July 2020. Like that festival, which was conceived as a throwback to Spazz vocalist/bassist Chris Dodge's Fiesta Grande festival in the '90s, this release is a modern throwback to a classic era of extreme music. Japanese fastcore/powerviolence legends Fuck on the Beach have been releasing music for 25 years, and besides an improvement in recording quality, not much has changed. They're stil…
Minitel (Canada), seriously into Discordance Axis + Bandcamp Friday
I might have been offline for a while but I guess I always kept rotating about a discordant axis, as apparently many still do to this day and age. Present day, present time. Namely, Minitel is a grindcore band of blatant, unabashed, downright wonderful DxAx worship, and aesthetically they're like a digital runaway band straight out of Serial Experiments Lain (the anime series; take note of the cover art, as well as their use of samples) or some other Japanese creative interpretation of technology-induced alienation, with no trace of the s…
Gall (Germany) - 17:21 MIN (2020)
The term “psychedelic” often conjures to mind sunny California jangle-pop or the stoned, soulful leads of Jimi Hendrix. But psychedelia has a broader reach than tie dye and incense. It can be violent and oppressive in ways that the summer of love never imagined. Germany’s Gall play a noise-damaged, decidedly psychedelic blend of powerviolence, grindcore and sludge that meshes masterfully across 17:21 MIN ’s 18 tracks. Screeching, chittering electronics and depth-plumbing bass are anchored by drumming that oscillates between textured and blas…
Mor Thiam (USA/Senegal) - Dini Safarrar (1973/2015)
What's up cephalochromoscopers, cephalochromologists, dudes and dudettes? I may have not written a post since April 2012, which is why posting a noisy grindcore album right away just wouldn't feel 'ethical'. I hope you're all doing well, blastbeats included, and please feel uninhibited to leave a comment or send an email - I'd love to hear what's up! Judging by most of the blogs that I followed, the blogosphere is in a state similar to punk, and browsing through old posts trying to find a trace of life feels like wa…
![Cannibal Ox [USA] - The Cold Vein [2001]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3FeW8NXsiGd02osGjlAMTjjLvgYBgf08NWLU2_0QaxxTE3JS6pKfgf7hHU2NpPb89YPfCvvn1-NwGRET5YnklmUQHUU50fEGpc1rG0gWotm93M16GJlqCZksj2muRdVQTr013kl2RLOpE/w100/cannibal_ox_the_cold_vein_cover.jpg)
