grindcore

I’ve seen this band name bandied about for a while now, so our inevitable date was only a matter of fate’s interest. Here we are then, when mine own ears met the lucid and juice-drenched tunes of Tribbing Is My Religion. Think brutal death with drum machines, leaning more towards the chugging approach than the Mortician-esque explosion of blastbeats. Couple this with vocals that would make Gutalax happy and throw in a bunch of hilarious…

Blind listen of the day award goes to the madfolk in Psudoku, which despite the slightly silly name live up to the head-scratching promise of their moniker with this epic cataclysm of mathematic chaos. Owing more to certain experimental metallic genres than anything too far into the grindcore camp, Space Grind is however an excellent and perplexing listen. If you like your metal absolutely bonkers, then come one come all.

I’ve had good experiences with ExCx in the past, but here the rehearsal room feel is a little too rustic. The riffs sound fuckin’ great – when the rest of the din stops and you can hear them. But hey, this is sloppy goregrind, can I really complain? Biological Monstrosity are the most solid band on this split by a country mile. They play extra dirty, lightening fast goregrind topped with disgusting watery vocals. They…

Nasty Face are one of my favourite goregrind projects of the last 5 years or so. Playing in the crusty / old school style rather than the tupa-tupa OEF-fodder style, Nasty Face is garlging sickness down the very core. Expect, of course, pustulent pitchshifters, shredding guitars, and barely audible drums at practice room quality. I would have it no other way.

Another stomping entry from the ever excellent Haggus. It is literally impossible to fault this stuff. Totally, utterly insane and on point, crusty, grindy, mincecore. Golem Of Gore are new to me, but make a good impression. I look forward to crisscrossing into their crazy world in the future as I meander through the grindcore underworld.

Plasma’s second album is a lesson in how to take goregrind influenced metal seriously. Punctuated by disturbing samples about body snatching (and reminding me of The Berzerker’s Reawakening album in the process, if that album had just been any good eh), Dreadful Desecration is a solid and well made production that doesn’t stray too far from its sloppy gore roots.

Ooh, what an stomper. Putting most (if not all) pornogrind and digigrind bands to shame with an absolutely savage programmed attack of the senses. Everything is synthesized, from guitars to blasts, and honestly it sounds amazing. Gets a bit glitchy in parts, but this just adds to the chaos that unfurls. Its a shame that this appears to be a one-off release.

Well this is just absolutely ridiculous. But, would you expect any less from Spermswamp? Absolute digigrind idiocy prevails, and that is perfectly ok with me. On the flipside (it’s a CD so actually I need to shut up), Rigor Mortis practise the divine art of Mortician worship, with a decent Carcass cover thrown in. All in all, a good clean fun listen for the whole family.

Time Waits For No Slave is the all singing, all dancing highpoint to the 2000s era Napalm Death revival. I think The Code Is Red… is probably my favourite in regards to having songs that I love, but Times Waits is a monument to grindcore and the many genres and styles that Napalm can mix into it. The most recent release by the band, the Throes… album, has been hailed as some sort of experimental…

Mongrel was the only full length record that we did as the Judas Cradle. It kinda turned out to be our Chinese Democracy, even though it was a combination of reworked tracks off our earlier EP or splits alongside a whole bunch of newer thrashier kinda tracks (Agathocles the 2nd over here). Mongrel then went through a protracted period of mixing, and by the time it came out, we had all but broken up, which…

Wowzers! This is a dirty one. Intense, well produced grindcore from French Polynesia with a cheeky mincecore stomp to it. A short EP, but one to watch, for fans on the grindy side of life.

Baptized… is yet another re-release of the band’s first two demos. That initially sounds impressive, and necessary, but when you realise that the bands first album Knee Deep In Her Pussy is literally just these two demos stapled together with no changes, this re-release becomes infinitely more pointless. Knee Deep… already has a CD release and a (granted, now very expensive) vinyl re-issue, but still. I digress. I’ve included this release on Lines In Wax…

Spermswamp is one of those bands that sets the gold standard for how ridiculous pornogrind should sound. For example, if fellow genre-mates S.M.E.S. is the equivilent to one of those automatic fucking machines solemnly pounding away at a low level, humming mechanically as it bores methodically into your orifice of choice, then Spermswamp is one of those machines but fused to some mecha-octopus technical fuckmonster. What I’m trying and probaby failing to convey is this:…

The perhaps excellently titled Lust For Feculant Orgasm is the first (and still rather low key) released album from goregrind mainstays Spasm. The album itself is very well put together, the tone of the bass (acting here as a lead guitar) is so crunchy and sick. This dirty little three piece has more weight to it than more fully fleshed out bands. What makes this record so long is the inclusion of the Spasmatic Secretion…

I’ve been a fan of the hyperblasting froguencies of Phyllomedusa for some time now, so it was excellent news all around when I found out they would be doing a split with the lovely chaps in Catastrophic Blunt Force etc. etc. etc.  The Phyllo stuff is harsh and perfect for inner skull excoriating or some such horrendous practice. I may be biased in regards to my relationship with CBFx, but they offer something different to…

Rotten Sound is truly god tier grindcore. Grindcore perhaps even, for people who don’t listen to much grindcore. Cursed is super tight and ultra polished, with even the crusty d-beat passages hitting with lightening precision. A blisteringly fast performance from start to finish, with dat Entombed-core crunch, yo.

In regards to the title of this record: what more could you possibly want? TFD are clusterfuck made flesh. Their super dense, almost impenetrable, jazzy grindcore is an acquired taste, but one that is not easily replicated. Zen… is bolstered by a series of acoustic reworkings of TFD classics, my favourite being “Kill The Jocks And Eat Their Brains”. Top stuff.

Ahh, Too Large For Digestive Capacity lives up to its name by almost being just that; an undigestible mess of different sessions and chunks from around the Tumour world. Presented in seemingly no particular order at all, this “full length” captures songs recorded between 2001 and 2005, with zero cohesion or visible plan. There’s even a 10 minute or so live session thrown in, but more studio tracks follow it before the record finishes. Yes,…

When I was a teenager this record used to make want to go out and punch cars. Nowadays, I just like to sit and bask in the sheer audacity of the audio mindfuckery on offer. Like, this * shouldn’t * work, but it is just perfect. The way the synths and guitars just feed off each other in some bonkers loop, before you even get to the drumming and the hydra-headed vocal attack. If you…

Wow, this is all over the place! Oxidized Razor are fucking incredible when they are on point, but unfortunately in regards to this MCD, that is about only half of the time. Dirgy, stinking guitars and warm, pots and pans drums are led by some of the most savage, shrieked gore-style vocals ever. It just seems that the tracks here are cobbled together from a series of different sessions, some of which are definitely lacking…

I love a shot of pornogrind now and then, especially when it’s done well. Cuntshots session here is pretty lo fi, but all the bits are in the right places and cohesion is an art form when it comes to this junky genre. However, there’s still a soft core of my heart (lol) that enjoys such sleazy entertainment, and off the back of this EP, I will be keeping my eyes peeled for more Cuntshots…

These guys must have one of the coolest band names ever. I mean cool in relative terms to the grindcore and goregrind worlds, of course. Nevertheless, Cutterclit is a brutal lesson in the world of Czech madness, where the goregrind and death metal scenes almost seem to blur into one. European goregrind can also often be utter trash, but ‘Anal Garland’ are consistence and a great listen.

I’ve been snoozing on the happenings of British madman The Atrocity Exhibit for quite some time, so I was beyond hyped when this little fucker dropped a few years ago. Man, does this album hit hard. Seriously grindy, but with some nice metallic riffage to keep it grounded. Just look at that cover art. You know you wanna listen to this.

You gotta laugh at Minch. It’s been years since I’ve heard them, but I’m thrown straight back into thier crazy world. I’m not sure what the intention or vibe is, but this is ridiculous and I can’t help but love it. Gore Beyond Necropsy should, of course, be called Gore Beyond Reproach. Tons of grinders crawl up the ass of this band and honestly it is so easy to see why. Brutal, lightening fast grind…

Deterioration are fucking savage. I could have sworn that they had more of a mince thing going on in the past, but it’s been a while since I’ve spent some time with their material. The Unnatural Mind is all grind; balls out riffs and fucking mental blastbeats. I’m reminded of Insect Warfare if I could make such a comparison, especially in the vocal department. Truly, this is a fantastic grindcore album.

Brutal gory grindcore! Imagine, I dunno, Exhumed but on crack. Slower, groovy passages mingle with disgusting blasts and rabid vocals to provide you, the listener, with a wondrous concerto of diseased malpractice glorification.

Can you believe this has been the longest gap between Napalm records? It doesn’t feel that long since Apex Predator dropped. I guess that means that I’m getting old as fuck. Either way, here she blows, coming in from the horizon like a steamboat with a deceased crew and smashing head on into the dock with “Fuck the Factoid”, before pulling out all the usual tricks (and I’m sorry, but that same goddamn Russ Russell…

Now this is how you do a Napalm Death record. Order Of The Leech is fucking ferocious, and was a phenomenal return to form after a patch of slower albums. Following on from Enemy Of The Music Business, Order… keeps the pace up, with flesh-ripping metallic grindcore carnage. Literally that’s all I can say. This started a trend in how Napalm records would appear and even sound. Favourite track: “Narcoleptic”.

The original Napalm Death Peel Sessions have to be some of the most brutal sounds put to tape. I cannot fathom the sheer energy, speed and ferocity that is going down on this recording. It is the polar opposite to Swans’ Public Castration Is A Good Idea, but on the same chart in regards to pushing the extremities of music. Truly essential noise. (This review covers the first two Peel Sessions released in 1988 and…

Head Cage is a solid (yet decidedly not grindcore) offering from all-round good eggs and metallic riff kings, Pig Destroyer. Immediately, I’m taken aback by how “compressed” and artificial this album sounds; it’s like everything is fighting for competition and the drums sound treated and false. I’m sure this is some technical engineer’s wet dream but honestly it sounds like complete shit. Thankfully, after the initial adjustment to this production style, it gets a bit…

Anticapital is my favourite out of the two main Assuck releases. I love the sound, not just in terms of the incredible production but also in terms of the blend between death metal styles and incredibly fast grindcore speed and precision. It is a match made in heaven, and whilst Assuck haven’t always been “up there” on my list of favourite grindcore bands I have a lot of respect for them, and for this record.

What surprised me the most about this split is how great both Rectal Smegma and Cliteater sound. I’ve not really been feeling the output by either band recently for a number of years now, but on this split they both sound like bands which have been energised; in the boggy world of “groovy” “goregrind” there are acidic oceans of absolute drooling shit, but both sessions here sound incredible. The shame however is that the same…

There’s a whole bunch of bass n drums two piece grindcore bands these days, but Reeking Cross have to be amongst the best, if not taking the crown entirely. As 2015’s short, sharp and fucking chonky Cloaked In Vermin shows us, Reeking Cross’s frenetic, batshit crazy powerviolence is not to be scoffed at. CLOAKED IN VERMIN (Septik Brain 2015) by Reeking Cross

This is probably not a term used to describe goregrind very often, but this delicious little record is simply divine. I only played it because the artwork / theme reminded me of Dead Infection’s Corpses Of The Universe, but I got more than I bargained for. The mix here is near perfect; the sickness of the instruments dance together in some sort of gracefully macabre unison – like, you could say, an exploded cadaver floating…

Going in to a record named Vaginator, you have to expect certain things – there is a checklist of items that are often present on records in a genre such as this. Most are accounted for on Namek’s debut (and I believe only) album, but what I did not expect was the incredibly high end production job, which allows this muddy full band pornogrind romp to breathe and to be delivered with all of its…

One of those awkward, weird things that sits between noisecore and just kids fucking around. Then again, FWTKM has always had an unusual streak. I traded away this tape many, many moons ago (it was the Sludgesicle Records re-issue).

This dual-EP (its like the band has done a split with itself!) was one of the only early Gut pieces that I ever got around to owning on vinyl. It has now gone to a better home, but I do miss it. This is classic Gut; dirgy, barely audible snails pace “grindcore” with disgusting vocals and harrowing horror movie samples. This may not win any awards for recording quality, but makes it up for it…

Seriously poor fucking effort from LDOH – this live set is fucking useless. Like, this level of bad live recording thrown half arsed into a 7” split would put even Agathocles to shame (lol). Absolutely pointless in every sense. 2 Minuta Dreka on the other hand are killing it here, expanding on that funky, groovy sound that came with Porno Bizarro. 2MD have never sounded so alive. LDOH though, fucking sort it out guys. I’m…

Did anyone say Carcass worship? Anatomical Amusements is medical goregrind turned up to 11, with insane drumming, gorgeous production, and sickening riffs n’ vocals. A short EP, but every second is enjoyable. Anatomical Amusements by Crash Syndrom

Pulmonary’s session is a little thing aurally, but musically its on point. Rehearsal room grind with that dirty shifted bubble vocal sound! Cakewet are a bit louder, and a bit more precise, mixing sloppy grindcore with elements of death metal. Raspy low vocals and lightening quick blasts throughout. Vomitrocity have a bit more of an old school death metal vibe (demo tape vibe of course), but Flesh Disgorged and Copremesis kinda just blur into one….

The material on display here is quite possibly the definitive NxVx sound. It is a shame really then, that the limited nature of lathe cut releasing (both a pro and a con) allows only a small number of people to hear this properly. Thankfully, it’s on YouTube, which isn’t quite the same, but it gives the rest of us a chance at experiencing the noize. Apologies for the mega lo-fi art on this entry, I…

What an absolutely bloodsoaked whopper of a record! I was recommended Sulfuric Cautery by a friend and quickly set out to check them after the description I was given. Featuring members of Couple Skate and Pizza Hi-Five, I was eager to check these guys out. Imagine blasting chaotic goodness from say, the more legendary LDOH records, with the new world (lol) viciousness of projects like Hyperemesis, all distilled into one dustbin lid tinged assault of…

Demo 1991 looks like just about any other early 90s / late 80s underground demo, so its easy at first glance to dismiss this as an early record, but no – this came after Horrified. The noticable difference is that the songs are a bit pacier; a 12 minute record consists of 4 tracks, with the blast dialled back a little in favour of grime-chocked thrash metal.

Now this is an interesting window into the pre-grind, proto-formation of Napalm Death. In all my years of Napalm Death fandom I’d never gone back and checked out the early demos, so this was a learning experience for me. There is a lot of misinformation floating about online about this record. Miles Ratledge (the OG drummer here) has cleared it up in some YouTube comments. The TLDR is that a lot of uploads claiming to…

Well this just fucking blew me the fuck away. Chepang’s name is spoken of highly in grindcore circles and now I can totally understand the muted hype that this group has generated. A low key sleeper for sure, Chepang can match any grindcore great in ferocity and speed. Truly one for the hardcore speedfreaks out there. DADHELO – A Tale of Wildfire by Chepang

I have chastised LDOH several times recently for phoning it in when it comes to splits; Agathocles’ing it to the bank with crappy live records and old shit that should have stayed old. Despite this, one must admit that this live session from Eindhoven is a very enjoyable romp through classic LDOH material, and with a decent sound to boot. When the shifter comes in, sometimes it eclipses all in a muddy gloop, but hey,…

I caught Coldworker’s last ever show, I think at probably OEF 2013. At the time I thought to myself, “Shit, I never checked out the Contaminated Void!”. Several years later then, it’s time to commit Coldworker’s debut to the site. Let’s not mess around with long paragraphs here, as the band themselves are certainly not fucking about. Featuring the same drummer as Nasum, the opening track quickly sets the pace on a breakneck trip through…

NxVx bring that dirty grinding bass romp that we all know and love, where the Nunriders offer a more, how should I say, “nuanced” approach to the noisier side of life. This is one of those more interesting split release combinations, where you wonder how the two bands even got together. Interesting stuff. 

I vividly remember not being very impressed with Fuckin’ A upon its release. I was baying like a crazed hound for more nasty noisecore, but instead we got this nonsense. However, I can thankfully say that in my old age I have grown to appreciate this bizarre album. Like, its Anal Cunt but doing hair metal rock and/or roll tracks, of course it sounds awful! But y’know, considering the band in question, the songs are…

Spiders is a relatively short EP from Czech technical grinding madmen, Pigsty. Whilst not as Voivod-y as the full length Planet Of The Pigs, Spiders is still a clanking nightmare in the brutal style of grindcore that almost borders on death metal (deathgrind doesn’t really feel like the right word here, though). Perhaps most surprisingly of all on this EP, is the cover of Rage Against The Machine’s “Wake Up”, which despite best efforts from…

Well then, its been a good year or so for pure LDOH-worship goregrind. However, please do not write off First Days Of Humanity – they aren’t as typical sounding as you would expect. Yes, of course, it is heavy Last Days Of Humanity worship, but there is so much grinding goodness here. People (read: experts) on the internet profess that Pixel Death is far from the project’s best release. Considering how much I love this,…

I decided to start at the beginning with NxVx, so back I went. I had my PayPal password ready to go, thinking I may need to purchase some obscure tapes off Discogs, but alas some kind and wicked soul has uploaded this rare catch to YouTube for my perverted perusal. I’m unsure why this release is marked as Untitled? Surely it’s just a self-titled EP / demo? Either way, It showcases an early template the…

Well this came from fucking nowhere! After 14 years of mostly inactivity (in the studio, at least), Gut crawl out of the gore swamp once again with the completely unexpected Disciples Of Smut. This record is the sound of a band re-energised. Gut bring their trademark downtuned pornogrind mush to a whole new gamut of influences, from black metal to elements of death and doom.  Honestly, it is fucking astounding that this is the same…

2 Minuta Dreka are incredibly hit and miss for such a high quality band. Thankfully, on this split with Pulmonary Fibrosis, the Italian noise masters swing and hit it out of the park. Noisy, rehearsal-room-feel gore, coupled with noisecore-style song approaches and length, make this a tasty slab of underground grind (undergrind?) that makes you moist between the legs. Pulmonary Fibrosis on the other side are just as good, even with the music leaning in…

This is so awful that in some ways it is rather genius, if I can say so myself. Recorded all the way back in 2014 and put out online by noise label Red Venice, the aim of Panties was to create a pornogrind imitation that was entirely synthetic. Electrotribalistic Pornitorium, for better or worse, achieves this, being an entirely synthetic record that I recorded on my Sony Xperia Z1 phone. Vocals? Nah fam, that’s just…

If you watch the Scum Story documentary from the 20th anniversary disc (sigh) – which should have really been called the Mick Harris story – and can still muster up enough interest in proceedings after listening to a bunch of talking heads verbally excreting endless fucking shite for 50 minutes, you’ll have noticed that Mick categorically says that Scum should not be fucked with. I wonder then, what he would make not only of the…

Ridin’ across the planes on a mincehorse, right? I always assumed the name was some sort of word play for heroin, but who knows? This record slays, and that’s all that matters. Archagathus have a strong output ethic, and this full length is a solid milestone in their catalog; 20 odd minutes of stomping mince, blasting grind and slurry gore vokillz.

The ironic thing is that a doc about a genre that relies so heavily on speed turned out to be the slowest production in the history of time. Fuck, I have been waiting absolutely years for this thing to come out. So much so in fact, that I had completely forgotten that the whole fucking thing existed. Roll on to the COVID crisis of 2020, and the film maker has been an absolute legend and…

As influential and praised that Assück are, they’ve never really struck a chord with me. That of course is not to say that Misery Index isn’t a ripping sonic tornado of a record (is it a full length at 15 minutes in length?), I’ve just never really resonated with Assück on a level that I do with a lot of other grindcore.

A pointless but massively entertaining 7” that came out alongside From Enslavement To Obliteration. In fact, these tracks ended up on the Scum + FETO two albums on one CD release. The opening track seems to be a variation on the track “Evolved As One”, but the record is worth listening to for “Musclehead”, “Dead” and the “Morbid Deceiver” tracks alone.

As much as I absolutely adore Olidous Operettas I cannot stomach the earlier County Medical Examiners stuff. This final stab at Medleys was my last ditch attempt to get into it, but I just can’t do it. All in all, of course, my problems would not lie with such excellent Carcass puppetry, but there are some vocals which sound as if they have been shifted up, rather than down, and it just sounds fucking atrocious…

2000s and beyond ND records – those produced by Russ Russell – sometimes catch criticism for being bricked out walls of white noise. Smear Campaign falls into that category, but despite the tinnitus inducing production, it is by far the most accessible out of what I call the Colours Trifecta (Times Waits For No Slave being yellow-ish, Smear Campaign being blue-ish and The Code Is Red being, well… red-ish). “When All Is Said And Done”,…

Mentally murdered was the final recording with the arguably definitive classic lineup of Dorrian, Harris, Steer and Embury. The tracks here are more long-form but retain the nastiness and savagery of the FETO sound. On another note, the guitar tone is almost identical to the one Bill Steer uses on the Carcass record Symphonies Of Sickness – this here was a good year for music! Available in a confusing array of 7”, 12”, CD and…

This is a super short demo tape from mincing goregrind outfit Gabara. It’s barely a few minutes in length but it sounds so fuckin’ good that I just had to share it with you guys. Basically it takes everything that is good about early Agathocles and mashes in a bit of goregrind sound. Slap some weirdly-fitting Godzilla-looking artwork on the cover and you can just conjure up visions of this beast smashing cities to bits…

Enemy Of The Music Business is a tremendous return to form after a period of stagnation for Napalm Death. I often try to look for positives in the mid to late 90s output (I recently saw someone online comparing the Greed Killing / Diatribes era to Fear Factory which made me look at it in a different light) but when you compare all those records to this one… it’s hard to be positive about them….

Oo er, phone the fucking doctor would you, lad? We’ve got a serious case of rib-shaking drum machine goregrind goodness on the cards, and we need a truckload of sexploitation Blu-rays and a jar of edibles, stat! Think Lymphatic Phlegm meets Mortician at a Catasexual Urge Motivation gig and you’ve got a good idea of what is going on here. Top stuff! Twitch of the Death Nerve by Blue Holocaust

I first became familiar with Swarrrm after checking out their split with Embalming Theatre. Black Bong is a puzzling affair, adding all sorts of bizarre tomfoolery to the grindcore template. It isn’t exactly Naked City, but there is a flair for the adventurous here, which I can heavily respect. Kinda reminds of Bathtub Shitter, only without the death metal elements, and presumably also the douche-bag attitudes.

RGTE are one of those bands that steer away from the death metal side of goregrind. Instead, lightening fast blasts and gargling shifted vocals are accompanied by dark, sharp hardcore riffs and fast-paced, rabid d-beat drums. Carnivorous Erection is a must if you are new to the world of goregrind, as is pretty much any Regurgitate release. However, this is probably the creme de la creme of the group’s discography. There is no better place…

What a putrid pile of perceptively perverse punishingly pummeling porno explosions! From the (f)artwork right down the audible carnage of the vokills, drums and grinding guitars, Septicopyemia have the brutality dialed in and the supreme art of slamming carnage locked down. Expect disgust from start to finish, and a dust-bin lid for a snare drum. 

Theatric Symbolisation Of Life is a weird one, doubling both as a full length album and a collection of splits. Some of this stuff I’ve already reviewed under other releases (such is the massive pain in the ass that AGx releases can be) but all in all this is a solid record. It is really long at 1hr and 13 mins in length, but if you’ve never heard Agathocles before, its probably a pretty good…

What can be said about this classic of the genre? We can pretend that later Terrorizer doesn’t exist if that makes you feel any better! Ha! Y’know how people always say that grindcore is a mixture between the craziest parts of hardcore punk and metal? Well, World Downfall really perfected the metallic side of grindcore for me. Each song is a ripper, but not in the looser, chaotic ways displayed by stalwarts Napalm Death –…

AxPx are absolutely killing it on this tape. Channelling the energy of mincecore legends such as Agathocles into their own drum-machine-led barrage of sonic annihilation. I did a show once in Hungary (drumming for DZH) with Chappa’ai, and they are just as mental and noisy here as they were live then. “Z’Tarc Programming Device” is the single track; a long dirge of bleeping noise and harsh vocals. Sad to hear the band is currently no…

Well, this is a little classic, isn’t it? Stumbled upon it almost by accident, but this is a gem in the earlier to mid Agx split 7″ gamut. Agathocles have some pounding mince stomps here, even the live tracks at the end are glorious. The title track just makes me wanna drink cheap Belgian beer and dance around like a muppet. Carcass Grinder are fucking solid too, bringing 4 tracks of lightening fast grindcore to…

Wake have come a long way since I last heard them. I think I first came across them when they were announced for OEF during my first trip back in 2013. The band have perhaps unsurprisingly come in leaps and bounds since then, having developed and matured over several records into a monstrous unit of metallic destruction. Think Corrupt Moral Altar or U.K. doomers Conjurer, but mashed into the deepest mires of grindcore and even…

Checked this out on the back of the group’s split with the infamous Cuntgrinder. Raped, Butchered and Eaten will not win any awards for originality, especially with an album title like that, but let’s not forget which genre of music we are currently wallowing in. All in all, massive misogynistic overtones aside (make of those what you will), Cuntemonium present to us a slow and groovy, yet not so easily digestible slab of groovy gore…

I was surprised to see that Cuntgrinder (Cunt Grinder? Which is it?) was still going, so happily tucked into this little split CD. That infamous bludgeoning metallic pornogrind attack takes me right back to their earlier records, complete with hideous sampling and gruff shifted vocals. Cuntemonium have such a shit name. Come on! Haha! But, the band are fucking savage, and honestly, put Cuntgrinder to shame. Cuntemonium play in the same sludgy / groovy style,…

Utilitarian is a solid later-career effort from Napalm Death, with experimental variations on the group’s usual ferocious grindcore template. We’ve got clean singing (I’m getting an 80s industrial vibe) and a saxophonist guesting on one track, which is just all kinds of horrible and lovely at the same time.

Harvesting The Cunt Nectar (yes lol) is the only full length record from bizarre hyper-fast drum machine goregrind unit, XXX Maniak. The band’s linear notes, backstory and attention to gory detail really made this record stand out to me when it was released; the type of thing that perfectly appealed to the grotty 17 year old finding his footing in the world of grindcore. In the seemingly endless sea of digigrind projects on MySpace, XXX…

Bitchagram is the somewhat uninspired debut of the groovy goregrind project 666 Shades Of Shit. If bludgeoning chunks of metallic sludgey grind is your thing then by all means carry on and tuck in. Otherwise, I’d probably give this one a miss, or go for the follow up record.

I’ve forgotten how much I love Bowel Rot (what a sentence) or even just the varied works of one Bobby Maggard in general. Gonorrhoea Infection is a gory, super mushy downtuned romp that is effortlessly disgusting and very highly recommended grinding noise. Please disregard the absolutely horrendous cover art, which does this noise no justice.

Painkiller is not a million miles away from the early Naked City stuff, if not a little more streamlined – if that is even the right word! Guts Of A Virgin, as you may be able to guess by the title, is a much more brutal affair. The controversy surrounding the album’s censorship aside, this is a disturbing and batshit insane mishmash where the lines between jazz and grindcore are completely blurred.

We supported these guys on their U.K. tour in 2015 (Christ, the time… she flies) which turned me on to their unique blend of death metal or even djent-style riffs and of course, blasting grindcore. In Narcosis is a perfect example of their frenetic sound, coupled with excellent sampling and a solid production job. You’d never guess there was no bass player. Good stuff!

Heavy! Cripple Bastards are a household name for anyone into grindcore, and Nero In Metastasi cements them as a true juggernaut of the genre. Nero’s polished ferocity coupled with longer, more progressive tracks reminds of some of Nasum’s output. If I had one complaint, it would be that the record master is far far too over-compressed, but this is nothing you can’t get your head around after the first few blasts.

Just take the title of this album for a start: how can you deny yourself a listen to this record with a title like that? Thankfully, Super Fun Happy Slide are gloriously brilliant and Drop Your Pants & Grind is a perfect example of their hilarious yet gooey and disgusting grindcore sound. Fire up the grind barby, eh? Strewth.

If a misanthropic clusterfuck is your cup of tea, I would suggest to you this Warfuck record. The band name may sound a little uninspired, but this is chaotic, nihilistic grindcore at its finest. Highly recommended, cathartic listening.

Yo dawg, I heard you liked samples that were too long even for Mortician records, so we put some long-ass samples on your goregrind, because ya’ll love that long-ass fuckin’ gap between tracks right? I mean, whatever you think of what became of Torsofuck (actually, what became of Torsofuck?), and of those fucking retarded samples, Torsofuck’s full length is some serious brutality. It really scrapes the bottom of the septic tank, reaching into the very…

This was one of many cassettes I had from trading with Mike at Sludgesicle Records, back in the ol’ day, as they say. Unfortunately, I have no audio to share with you, but I’m trying to get into the habit of getting through Lines In Wax posts that have been queued up for literally six or seven years now. Honestly, I’m not even sure if I ever listened to this, but I’ve got this idea…

It is easy to ignore later Pig Destroyer as the earlier records are such classics of the grindcore genre. However, let’s not overlook that Book Burner is a solid, lightening fast metal record. The drumming from Adam Jarvis (of Misery Index fame) is on point, and melds well with Scott’s riffs and JR’s haunting, savage roars. Sprinkle in a few guesties from ANb vocalists Rich and Kat, and what more could you possibly want?

Ah, what a forgotten classic. I sure am glad that I dug this out for the sake of this stench-filled review. So, what sounds like it was recorded onto a dusty VHS whilst underwater in the bath? You guessed it – this record! Mad props to the selection on the drum sounds however, that shit is totes brutes, fam. In all seriousness though, this takes me back to the glory days, before this fucking genre…

The Agathocles line up of 1996 decide to jam through a bunch of the band’s tracks from back in 1987, and of course this shit gets recorded and put onto a vinyl EP. But hey, I’m a cynical fuck, this shit is actually very excellent indeed. Solid studio quality tracks (insofar as much as you can expect in regards to that description matching up with Agathocles – you can hear the songs clearly, so I…

Some decent groovy gory nastiness from two big names in the business of killing. Nothing groundbreaking on offer from either band but the split is solid as fuck and the tunes are great. I’d have to say Cliteater have the edge here, if I had to pick a favourite.

Chunky, silly groovy “porno” grind from the lovely town of Tilburg, The Netherlands. Kinda reminds me of a whole bunch of other stuff in the same vein, although utmost respect to 666 Shades, Whoracle did not get boring or tired at any point through the record. It is hardly refreshing or original, but if you want some beers and a party vibe, silly samples and sillier artwork, dive right in. The sound is good and…

Compilation CD I picked up through a trade many moons ago, contains both the album Preparation Of The Patients For Examination and the EP Daddy’s Steak. Out of the two things, Daddy’s Steak takes the biscuit (or the filet?) for being the sickest and better sounding, although the Preparation… album has a Effortless Regurgitation… era Regurgitate vibe about it which is also quite charming. Tip top groovy muddy gore for the discerning gentleman.

The world is definitely a colder and much more unforgiving place now that Brutal Truth are no longer with us. End Time is a volcanic explosion of scatterfuck, ants-in-your-pants grindcore. Dollops of heavy riffage and feral vokills are barely held together by spazzy percussion. What a send off.

Yo dawg I heard you liked crickets, so we put some extra reeeees with your breeees and filled the gaps with sampled sleaze! With a band name like that I just had to check these guys (guy?) out. Turns out they are associated heavily with Cemetery Rapist, Goremonger and that breed of bedroom pornogrind shittery, so I’m really surprised I’ve never come across this shit before. Honestly though, it all sounds a little tired and…

You’re either one of those people who loves or hates Cliteater. Eating actual clits aside, the band sit – for me – in the murky no mans land between goregrind and death metal, not really massively appealing to fans of either. That probably sounds harsh, as they have done quite well for themselves, considering the limitations of this underground world. Clit ‘Em All doesn’t particularly stand out in their discography for innovation or individualism, but…

This is one of the those rare pornogrind records where none of the components can be faulted. Everything is absolutely on point. Admittedly, Anal Penetration borrow more from Mortician than they do, say, Libido Airbag, but it’s rare to find something so flawless flying under the pornogrind banner.

Hi everyone and welcome to the 1000th Lines In Wax post! It’s only taken me over 8 years of inconsistent posting (haha), but we got there in the end. I’m nowhere near completing the list on the A-Z page, and the site has gone through various identity crisis’ in its time, but we are still here, and we are still posting. Nowadays, Lines In Wax is basically a nice archive of the stuff that I’ve…

Hit and miss goregrind project from Italy. I love the swampy blur of the drum machine, but in all honesty the vocals and riffs are incredibly uninspired. All the pieces fall into place and at first listen it sounds great, but as soon as you start to dissect (lol) what it is that is going on, it is incredibly repetitive and monotonous. I traded this away a year or so ago, but took some pictures…

Pummelling assault of grinding fury from now legendary outfit, Blockheads. I guess I never really appreciated these guys until I caught them live at NDF 2016 and they absolutely fucking blew me away. Solid record.