Before starting, perhaps it's better to get the most obvious objections out of the way immediately:
A) It's not music.
Well, come on, that's too obvious. You can do better.
B) All the songs sound the same.
Better already. In fact, the songs are hard to distinguish from one another, they are also very short, on average less than a minute, which certainly doesn't help. However, I believe that this kind of work should be enjoyed as a compact whole; it's necessary to let go of the frontal impact and address the detailed analysis later. In this, I find many similarities with ambient: there too, individual tracks have a relative value, the general atmosphere, the sensations evoked, the ex post climate are more important.
I've never had someone tell me: “Wow, that track by Vidna Obmana totally rocks”. Similarly, approaching a grindcore album like this one is a bit like immersing yourself in a Jacuzzi at ten thousand atmospheres loaded with Perrier water; it's bewildering at first, then you get out, put on a robe and sponge slippers and feel revitalized. Or you feel like ending it all, sensitivities vary greatly. Anyway, I've listened to this album a lot, and I can even tell you that my favorite is 'Crap Cannon', the one that goes "aaaaaaarggghh tumtumtumtumtutumtum aaaaaaa aaaaaaaarggghhh tumtutmtumtumtumtutututututututut tutututtuttu chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga aaaaaaaaaa aaaaaarrrrrrrrrgh".
C) You listen to this stuff to give yourself an air.
Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, says the Ecclesiastes. Why deny the pleasure of listening to and appreciating what is considered “extreme”? Everyone has their ears tuned their own way, and honestly, I like being able to listen to and evaluate anything without ever having to say, “It's too much.” And besides, what air?
D) They are sick, scurrilous, vulgar, sexist, and blaspheme god.
Given the photos and biographies, I can't rule it out beforehand, but they are certainly ironic, and what do you expect from an album where the tracks end before you've had a chance to read the whole title? And if you don't like it, there are always Christian rock bands...
This “Frozen Corpse Stuffed with Dope” is not their debut for the esteemed Relapse but follows a series of split EPs with youth favorite groups including Converge and Halo, an LP, “Honkey Reduction” (Relapse), and a seven-inch, “PCP Torpedo”. I decided to review this because it seems to me their most focused work, the one where the group's peculiar characteristics stand out best, distinguishing it from the rest of the “grind scene”.
The drum machine, first of all. Despite a certain static nature of the tracks (not rare in this genre of music), the speed of the blast beats is out of this world, and it takes three vocalists/growlers to hold up to such a percussive apocalypse.
The guitarist, also in the excellent Pig Destroyer, does his best to tear what's left of the listeners' connective tissue with huge dirty but punctual riffs. Electronics also make an appearance, especially in a noise key, but overall the component of experimentation is fairly contained, and the group remains firmly rooted in the “roots” tradition of 90s grind from the Earache school, no wonder guitarist and producer Scott Hull hails from the ill-fated Anal Cunt. Everything brought to the extreme, however.
The production is very good, but on the other hand, Scott Hull has had a hand in most of the records released by Relapse and he is well-regarded as a producer. If you like experimentation in the grind field, you should get the new work “Altered States Of America”: 100 tracks on a three-inch CD with sub-human vocalizations and growls mixed with electronic samples, various noises, blast beats beyond the threshold of perception, and a guitar shot to a thousand.
In short, as an old flame of mine who loved hard-hitting judgments would have said, it's a racket, but a racket organized and planned to delight some.
For others, there’s always Michael Bolton reinterpreting Sinatra.
Loading comments slowly
