Deterioration (USA) - Paranoia & Violence (2024)

Payback Time

       This album starts off with a minute-long audio soundbite from the 1987 film, Predator, in which a group of machine gun toting commandos level a Guatemalan rainforest. One particular character exhausts the entire ammo reserve of a handheld M134 Minigun nicknamed, "Old Painless." I can't think of a better way to describe Deterioration—loud, incessant, brutal, devastating. 

    Deterioration is the band that you recommend to your annoying normy coworker when the subject of music comes up and you don't want them to talk to you ever again. They are relentless in speed and precision. The vocals are bloody and violent and the songwriting is tighter than a nun's nasty. The Minneapolis two-piece has an absolutely prolific output of material with multiple releases a year, almost every year, for the last twenty years. It is pretty insane to think about. 2024's Paranoia & Violence is just the latest in the band's laundry list of grindcore releases. 

    

    Deterioration are known for their total pervasion of pulverizing drums and blazing guitar distortion. The chronic speed and tight blasts are exhaustive. Paranoia & Violence is no exception, however, the album's B-side explores the band's sludgier and more moderately paced influences. These songs lean more towards the metal and goregrind with mid tempo jaunts and mince style two-step beats. 

    The production on Paranoia & Violence almost borders on the low-fi, yet isn't of a specifically poor quality, nor is it at all overly polished. It suffices to say that the mix is ample while maybe being a cheeky bit muddy. The band's tongue-in-cheek, ironically cringey, metaphorical aesthetic of duct taped combat boots with camouflage shorts and a throwback WWF t-shirt with the sleeves cut off is conducive with the band's ready-to-rock sound and attitude. The polish isn't really necessary or, in some cases, even warranted in grindcore of this caliber. Deterioration are so good at what they do. You know exactly what you're getting when you buy one of their records and you would be hard-pressed to find much of any disappointment. 

    I don't really know why this release is a full-length twelve-inch record. At only nine tracks, Paranoia & Violence seems like it could have easily been an EP. Even though a lot of the songs here have sound clips that are almost as long as the songs themselves, they are still not overly lengthy. Deterioration's normal full-length track count is typically ten or less tracks anyways, so we are definitely on par here. It just seems like grind like this would have an obscene amount of tracks per record. Perhaps it's like rattlesnake venom, in which just a dab will do you. The band certainly leaves you wanting more, in any case. 

    Deterioration and their latest, Paranoia & Violence, mows down the listener just like "Old Painless" did to that feature film foliage. The record's roaring guitar and grinding blast beats is sure to make hamburger out of your eardrums and any rogue Yautja headhunters. 

FFO: Sulfuric Cautery, Fiend, Death Toll 80K

Listen to the album: https://malokul.bandcamp.com/album/deterioration-paranoia-violence

[Originally posted on January 20, 2025, Return to the House of Grindcore]

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