Technophobia (Phobia/Gadget Split, 2010)

Gadget take hold of the first 7 tracks, and although the first track Torture starts off a tad slow for my liking after about 43 seconds we become reacquainted with the Gadget we last saw back 4 years ago. Now perhaps it is just me or is Slayer the new "thing" for Grindcore bands, on the second track right at the end, and at the beginning of the 5th  I spotted a cheeky Kerry King like interjection, which was nice given my love of Slayer, but was somewhat of a surprise, and have noticed it quite a bit this year amongst the newer releases. Gadget insist to start most songs of slowly, then after an indiscriminate amount of time, they release their grind and then to tone it down, up to the point of a moments silence, although this gives a more mellowed and approachable feel to it, this repetitive stop start approach doesn't please me, and would of greatly preferred if it was a non stop battery of some very progressive and enjoyable Grindcore. The guitar work as prior releases is excellent, and the same can be said with the drumming, giving a desirable technical vibe to it with the technical moments  highlighted more so with the ever present primitive screams and shouts. The Gadget half is some stupendous Grind, with plenty of examples of creativity and professionalism that reflect their dexterous nature, but their constant stalling sadly fails to fully immerse the listener 100% into it, and leaves it closer to 90% mark.

Opening upon with foul mouthed title Dick Head Life, we are greeted with a scream, a rampant drum beat and a punch in the face, and such ferocity carries on until the end of their 10 minute 20 second siege upon the listener. Although I have never claimed to be able to decipher the groans of the punkish vocals of Shane Mclachlan, every so often I would catch a snippet of a string of crude words such as "Human Error", and it seems rewarding to have finally understood something from his Neanderthal grunts and hollers. Drumming and vocals are the defining elements, of this split, and they work together intrinsically to bestow a crustcore charge, whilst the guitaring gives a depth to the release and aside from some occasional somewhat above satisfactory metal injections, has no prominence, nor is it needed.

Phobia's tracks are a rag tag collection of pissed off, hate-fuelled crusty aggression, a perfect accompaniment to thesprightly and clean shaven approach of Gadget's nimble coordinated defilement. A release highly worthy of recognition.

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Obssessive Grindcore Compulsion (Mesrine, Obssessive Compulsive, 2010)

Mesrine are a death metal styled Grindcore act who hail from the idyllic backdrop of Quebec, but punish the Franco-Canadian outset with a bomb of dirty and loud noise raging across it. Much like many death metal acts, Mesrine take their name after an infamous criminal who's exploits reached both sides of the Atlantic. These late 90's grinders have an impressive roster of albums and split releases. Band's they have done releases with include ROT, Epitome, Dahmer and Fuck the Facts. This band is no longer the new kids on the block band I mistook them for prior to releasing that I actually own their split with Fuck the Facts.

Across 41 tracks totaling 38 minutes, we have a nice blend of short and long songs,and have sufficient album length to satisfy any thirst without having to change C.D, or choose another digital album to play.  This release reminds me alot Leng Tche, it has all the elements that are required for Grindcore but fails to produce a sound that is en par in terms of "Heaviness" with other Grindcore releases. Leaving this comment as it is will be an unfair comment to the band and the quality of the release, so instead I will just say that although it is not as heavy as Grindcore it is certainly heavier than Death metal, so it may be seem as an interim between the two.
Throughout Obsessive Compulsive at the beginning of the songs I hear the Napalm Death heavily down tuned slow paced grind from Scum. This is a nice blast from the past for me, it has been something which I have not heard in a while, and was very welcome.

 The guitars are good and the general flow of the album is quite nice, now however I march into my list of criticisms.  Firstly although for the most part the vocals are pretty top notch, they for some reason that baffles me add in  deathcore vocals, and seem to use these repeatedly to pad out the songs, and I beleive if they trimmed this undesirable taint, the release would be of significantly higher quality. My rant aside, I personally would of upped the volume of drums, you do have to strain to hear the blast beat, the drumming is beyond mediocre and sadly the album only at small parts reflects this however on the compulsive arguer in me also suggests that the guitar is good and by putting that on the focus and not the bread and butter of Grindcore: the blast beat you have a release that is not generic and easily identifiable.
 Perhaps my criticism was harsh, however it is slightly frustrating hearing something that is so close to be a very impressive piece of music, only to hear them bring in something so detested. All in all this release isn't bad and is highly audible, I certainly would recommend it  for those who like their old school Grindcore with heavy death metal overtones (and a tad of Deathcore), at the end of the day 99/100 your innovations will be shit, but you might make that 1/100 which will change music forever. Perhaps I am lagging behind is Deathcore the post-Grindcore? Don't get me wrong I like some Deathcore like Oceano (well thats really about it), however I still think Grindcore is where it is at.
Grind Out
Rating 57/100

Record Label 

Myspace

Last FM

Encyclopedia Metallum 

(This is what I want to hear!)

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Yet Another Tribute to Nasum

Currently I am going through a Nasumesque phase in my musical diet, now when I say Nasumesque I mean I am listening to everything similair to Nasum but Nasum: Is it a sad thing that I listen to the copycats and tribute acts more than the original? Well whatever your opinion, it is of little Importance since this tribute album makes up for any bad press about tributes.
Released by Power-It-Up, who I am guilty of not realising existed until today, and what a mistake that was the Grindcore artists on the label are all top rate and some of the releases I seem to have in my collection, but in my blissful ignorance did not pay attention to what label released the material. I will certainly be paying more attention from now on as to who releases what.
This grindcore masterpiece features 53 tracks by 53 artists, with no artist playing the same track as another artist. The artist list is pretty much of who's who in the top 100 grindcore artists, even the artists who I have not heard of play with such great ability that I am determined to research them some more and hear more music. This is one of the few albums where you can listen to every single track, and you honestly cant fault any single of the tracks with the possible exception with the final song, given that it is not a song  but merely a 4 second grind bullet. The thing that makes this album amazing is the way everyone has a unique take on playing their songs, although the common factor is that the songs are Nasum based, they manage to warp the songs into their own playing style thus producing Nasum songs but which are goregrind, death metal and powerviolence, yet the Nasum factor is always present and never seems to be compromised. The album art is itself a more perverse and evil take on the legendary Grind Finale album pictured above to the left. Unlike my other reviews I can not review the musicianship of the album, as literally with every track there is a massive shift in stylistic and manner of play. Of the bands I have never heard of  which deserve mention are Keitzer, it may be that they got the luck of the draw for having to play one of Nasum's better songs , but in any case they pull it off perfectly, I prefer it to the  original which says alot since the original is one of my favourite songs.  At a personal level, it was heart warming to hear creative waste again, it must of been 5 years since I heard them and I loved it then, but never acquired any of their material but hearing them on here in full force is enough for me to get some of their material.
To conclude this album is a must have for any grindcore fan it is just sheer talent and everything good in grindcore compressed into 68 minutes. All the artists are top knotch and succeed at moulding great tracks into their own projects without sacrificing any of the quality of the original.
Grind Out!
Label's Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/poweritupofficial
Discogs entry: http://www.discogs.com/Various-A-Tribute-To-Nasum/release/2042541

Purchase 

C.D               L.P

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