[September 2011]

LYCANTHROPHY Cd

(Bones Brigade Records - BB055)
Release date: 2011
Running time: 18:58

Review: This blistering bit of czech fastcore is the perfect musical whirlwind to redirect any of your bubbling anger into. 20 tunes in barely 18 minutes is ultra breezy for an actual full length album but this stuff is a pure concentrate of rage without any boring extra filling so you shouldn't feel short-changed. I'm guessing 18 minutes is probably the average length for a Lycanthrophy liveset! The female vocals bring about undeniable appeal, this lady's bloodcurdling shrieks are definitely impressive and her range of screaming rage suits me perfectly (not as shrill as most female grind vocalists I've heard so far!). You're also getting pissed off male back-up barking as well. Crushingly fast and sharp drum blasts, a massive barrage of grinding riffs with a thick, heavy low-tuned guitar sound,just solid, steadily grinding songs; this stuff is maybe going too fast to truly make a lasting impression, this is a spur of the moment, speed-ball of frenzy going at a hundred miles an hour, so alot of the songs kind of blur together for me. The band is maybe guilty of overkilling it with the breakdown effect too, with the sound completely fading out/cuting off, I usually dig this stuff but it can get a little gimmicky at times... The sound production is very polished and very impactful. It could also use some more rawness in my opinion but otherwise I think I'll keep this cd handy to put on whenever I feel a little stressed out. This is clearly some of the most effective and fastest, screaming type of grind out there! I'm really digging the artwork, and there's an alternate black and white cover art plus a complete lyrics sheet in english language (and the vocals actually seem to stick to the lyrics closely, most of the time!) Bones Brigades is releasing this for the first time on Cd but this actually already came out on LP before (supposedly 666 copies) Either way, this lycanthropic attack is worth getting your throat slashed for!

Mp3 Sample: Lycanthrophy - Tighten Your Belts

Tracks: 1)Tighten Your Belts 2)Born With Debts! 3)Don't Trust Them, Trust Yourself 4)Deep Below Zero 5)Machines Of Success 6)Emptiness 7)Vomit And Celebrities 8)PC@HC 9)Ironbound 10)Neverending Frustration 11)Only Words 12)The Mask Of Arrogance 13)Virtual Bliss 14)The Morning After 15)Primitive Game 16)The True Face 17)I Have To Hate 18)No Respect, No Remorse 19)At The End 20)Fuar Farms

Band: www.myspace.com/lycanthrophy
Label: www.bonesbrigaderecords.com

LYCANTHROPHY "Collection 1998-2009" Cd

(Blastasfuk BAF007)
Release date: 2009
Running time: 58:13

Review: Got this cd just in time to finish up my czech grind exposé... This band has been around for more than 10 years and have steadily been putting out split ep's all this time, thankfully this collection cd makes it easy for lazy latecomers like me to catch up to all of it. Musically this contains some of the fastest, tightest and most precise blastbeat work I've ever heard, some of the most intense, bad-ass grindcore riffage imaginable, and as vocalists a pissed off grindcore mama screaming at the top of her lungs along with a furious and disgruntled sounding male counterpart, this stuff almost sounds like a brutal domestic brawl at times. The sound on most of this material is darker and edgier than their more recent "full length" album (reviewed above), I think I prefer the slightly rawer sound production on most of the material here, the opening 9 tracks (Split 7" Ep's with Kursk & Black Hole of Calcutta) have the clearest and most powerful sound on there, the rest of the songs sound pretty nice and heavy too except maybe slightly distorted at times, songs from the Split w/Gride sound very brutal and raw, Split w/ Suffering Mind features the heaviest guitar tone on there, really killer sound... And then there's the pre-2003 material which is a different monster, mostly taken from split cassettes and is actually not featuring the lovely Zdisha on vocals! This sausage-fest era stuff still sounds totally awesome though and is almost my favorite on the whole cd, it's like a totally different band: you still get enraged vocal tradeoffs but this time in a lower register, the guttural and sometimes almost muffled growling vocals actually suit the band perfectly too, together with the crude, filthy sound it all reminds me of early Enemy Soil and early Napalm Death mixed with Protes Benct... Even some pitch-shifted growls can be heard here and there, fuck that stuff totally rules! It's almost like the early Retaliation demos or something, somewhat of a contrast compared to the more incisive Dropdead fastcore kind of style the band later took on. There's also an interesting array of cover versions from Siege, Infest, Warsore, Despise You, Rot, Unholy Grave, Agathocles included on there that should give you a pretty good idea of the band's influences and sound. The booklet is really complete with all the pertinent releases & line-up information as well as tons of brainy lyrics to ponder about. 68 tracks in about an hour is alot to take in, but you can be sure this stuff stays uncompromising, unrelenting and stupid fast all throughout!

Mp3 Sample: Lycanthrophy - Greasy Machinery
Lycanthrophy - Terror Machine

Tracks: Split 7" Ep with Kursk & Black Hole of Calcutta: 1)Greasy Machinery (0:49) 2)The Mask Of Arrogance (1:19) 3)No Respect, No Remorse (0:47) 4)Fuar Farms (0:43) 5)To Betray Myself! (1:05) 6)Boarders (0:39) 7)Masters Of The World (1:10) 8)Slave Of The Faith (1:10) 9)Another And Another War (1:24)
Lp/Cd w/Saywhy?: 10)The Morning After (0:57) 11)Machines Of Success (0:52) 12)Living In Lie (1:05) 13)Beware (1:07) 14)Iron Bound (0:48) 15)Conform (Siege) (2:16) 16)Feeding (0:46) 17)Political Pigs (0:40)
18)Through Development To Doom (1:26)
Split 7"Ep w/Gride: 19)Choose! (0:51) 20)The Way (0:48) 21)In Moderns Age Trap (1:00) 22)Those Evil Eyes (0:59) 23)Burn The Past Bridges (0:30) 24)Progress (0:47)
Split 7"Ep w/ Suffering Mind: 25)Two Sides To A Coin (1:02) 26)The True Face (0:41) 27)I Have To Hate (0:40) 28)Queue For Perfectness (1:07) 29)I Don't Believe (0:44)
Split 7"Ep w/ Malignant Tumour: 30)Caste System (0:47) 31)At The End (0:41) 32)Social Nihilism (0:53) 33)Mass Breeding (0:36) 34)Sick Talk (Infest) (0:33) 35)Usual Day (0:34) 36)Mirrors (0:48) 37)Little Killers (0:46) 38)Burial Ground (Warsore) (0:57)
Split w/Nesoucast Stroje: 39)Mental Simplicity (0:35) 40)I Listen (0:49) 41)Bombs And Death (0:27) 42)To Make One Happy (0:54) 43)Life (0:28) 44)Blind Illusions (0:45)
Split Cassette w/Neni Uniku: 45)No More Feelings (Despise You) (0:28) 46)False Crucify (0:51) 47)Worthless (1:23) 48)I Hate You (0:39) 49)Sloth (0:06) 50)Audio Coma (0:06) 51)Audio Coma II (0:06) 52)Sentences By Yourself (0:31) 53)My Questions (0:33) 54)Russian Roulette (Rot) (0:44) 55)Terrorists 0:37) 56)Start To Hate (1:14) 57)Usual Day (0:32) 58)Choice?! (0:47) 59)Wasted Life (0:37) 60)Blind Illusions (0:47)
Split Cd w/ Human Error: 61)Political Pigs (0:19) 62)Human Indifference (2:01) 63)Terror Machine (0:55) 64)Grind N Roll (0:53) 65)Industrial Suicide (Warsore) (0:30) 66)No Racial Superiority (Unholy Grave) (1:31)
67)Trust The Future (Live) (1:10) 68)Enough! (Agathocles) (2:08)

Band: www.myspace.com/lycanthrophy
Label: http://blastasfuk.blogspot.com

GRIDE "Záškuby Chaosu" Lp/Cd

(Insane Society - IS105)
Release date: 2011

Review: Gride is one of the major czech grind bands, reviewing them is probably useless but I thought I'd cover them in these pages once and for all. This one is their latest Lp. The band started playing quite straightforward grindcore originally, but their style has now developped into a more sophisticated mix of a hardcore & thrash, going at a furiously blasting speed. A large part of the riffing and raw energy are still grind to their core though. This is really fast stuff with really intricate guitar work. I usually am not into technical grind, but this band makes it all sound effortless with catchy, with fractured and flowing song-writing, a tranchant guitar tone and captivating vocals. It's all very natural, clear vocals that always keep up a very genuine aggressive edge, never forceful but still totally pissed off. I'm not totally sure this album is quite as impressive as "Horizont Události" yet (I might need a couple more listens to take it all in), but the song-writing quality level is still quite high and the musicianship is really astounding. Texts and artwork in this band definitely have more of an artistic flare and are definitely unusual, the band is trying to inject poetry to their stuff and perhaps elevate themselves from the genre. Enormous care is given to the art & packaging here. I actually really like the more open-minded grinding feeling of this band; Lyrics are sung in czech, but the lyrics sheet has a backside with all the english translations. I had the urge to get this on vinyl! But it's also available on cd from Obscene with bonus tracks from the splits with Lycanthrophy, Lahar, etc, and actually the album is simply streaming at this address: http://www.obscene.cz/stream/gride/

Tracks: Side A: 1)Hvězda, Monstra, Jasná Noc 2)Jako Kruhy Na Hladině 3)Ufoni Jsou Tady 4)Tohle Je Definitivní 5)Na Louce V Horách Pod Lesem 6)Dlouhé Dny V Nejistotě 7)Zahlcení) 
Side B: 1)Podmínka Vývoje) 2)Kolaps - Poslední Minuta) 3)Torza Souvislostí) 4)Vítězství Eliminace Vychýlení) 5)Úděl Prvočísel) 6)K Jámě) 7)Nahota, Ochablost, Disfunkce) 8)Go Your Own Way (Filthy Christians)
Cd Bonus Tracks: 17)V kundě Panny Marie (1:55) 18)Závody Chrtů (0:55) 9)Jakoby nic (1:13) 20)Nenávist (1:05) 21)Skřípot (1:25) 22)Track 22 (1:26) 23)Lidi, děti…(cover of Telex) (1:21) 24)Nejsme Vy (cover of Lahar) (0:27) 25)Inverze (cover of Ucházím) (1:34) 26)Až najdou svůj střed - bude mír (cover of Serious Music) (1:56) 27)Vlakin-Pouzar Mix (cover of Plastic Grave & Ingrowing) (2:32)

Label: www.insanesociety.net
Band: www.myspace.com/gridecore

GRIDE "Horizont Události" Lp/Cd

(Insane Society - IS085)
Release date: 2008
Running time: 21:41

Review: I bought this album quite a long while ago and never really got into it... It took an effort for me to actually put this on, but I'm glad I finally did because this album simply blew me away. This band is playing very upbeat and energetic kind of grinding hardcore, in the vein of Siege at its core mixed with the later Brutal Truth or Cripple Bastards but really, their sound is quite fresh and original... They definitely have their own unique sound. The guitar work is often pretty elaborate, alot of high-speed thrashing riffs as well as flesh-ripping grinding parts too. Rhythmically it's very varied material built upon extremely dynamic tempo changes, some parts almost have a jazz feel but inevitably always burst into blastbeats, fast d-beats or severely moshing kind of things. This progressive type of song structures can sometimes sound twisted but Gride always keeps it together and deliver on the expeditious grind power as well. This stuff is incredibly catchy and infectious. The great care given to the thoughtful lyrics, coherent artwork and beautiful packaging layout are also notable and refreshing to experience. Amazing band and probably their best release!

Mp3 Sample: Gride - Na jatka už nastoupila noční směna

Tracks: 1)Pod povrchem (1:42) 2)Kolik višní, tolik třešní (0:36) 3)Na jatka už nastoupila noční směna (1:20) 4)Nenávist (0:47) 5)Kafe, noviny a rohlík s máslem (1:07) 6)I na barikády z popelnic prší tekutá modernita (1:26) 7)Horizont události (1:22) 8)Někdo tu byl (2:43) 9)Nenápadně, bez rámusu (1:17) 10)38° ve stínu (1:22) 11)Varieté Apokalypsa (1:02) 12)Dynamika pohybu (2:14) 13)Plán B (1:19) 14)Skřípot (1:00) 15)Červený nebo modrý (2:24)

Label: www.insanesociety.net
Band: www.myspace.com/gridecore

GRIDE "[1996-2003]" Cd

(Pläzzmä Records)
Release date: 2004
Running time: 63:33

Review: The album title is pretty clear, this cd collects material from the band's 1996-2003 period. There's been a more recent anthology cd since collecting 1997-2009 that also included a few more releases like the Split Ep's with Lycanthrophy, etc... but also maybe missing some earlier material like the tape recordings and the band's beginnings. This collection starts with the 2003 "Tanec Bláznů" LP and then goes back in time, the more recent stuff being more accessible fastcore (with Naked City style jazzy flourishes like twisty bass lines perking up during breaks) and the older stuff being rougher and more basic grindcore-sounding, with all the subtleties of the later material not quite as prominent yet. The recordings originally featured on the Split Tape with Malignant Tumour & Cerebral Turbulency is really classic stuff and still my favorite on this compilation. I love the opening song "Lobotomie Vìrou" in particular, maybe it's only because of the pitch-shiter backing vocals, haha! But the material from the Split Lp w/ Mrtvá Budoucnost is also awesome, still raging music with an improved sound quality, and even a newly recorded version of "Lobotomie Vìrou" actually. Overall the style steadily remains in the rapid-fire, brutal hardcore-grind category, always with very disjointed song structures and rhythmic shifts going in every direction (usually super-fast or thrashing), vocals are shouted with real anger and raging singularity. The cd is peppered with cover versions of Infest, Cripple Bastards, Rupture & more... and the band's early "Green Illness" demo (Split Tape with Malignant Tumour) is also available on this cd, but unfortunately only as a cd-rom/mp3 only extra, the band had a terrific, more primitive, muddier, heavier grindcore sound back then, with really low, grotesque and extreme vocals in the style of Side A "Scum"! It's interesting to observe their musical evolution on this cd (or de-evolution given the ante-chronological order of the tracks!). The booklet is pretty awesome with ample background information, lyrics in czech as well as english translations and full-sized reproduction of most of the releases cover art.

Mp3 Sample: Gride - Lobotomie Vìrou

Tracks: 1)Kudykam (1:14) 2)Znovu A Opet Znovu (0:35) 3)Modlitba Politického Sadomasochismu (0:47) 4)Made In Hell (0:59) 5)Die Kunst Ist Tot (1:48) 6)Echelon (0:30) 7)Dnes Jiz Vime Vse (1:08) 8)Nadeje V Mìjenì (1:16) 9)Blu-82/B (0:34) 10)Geometrie Ràdu (1:04) 11)Tanec Blàznu (1:10) 12)Headfirst (0:18) 13)Nutnost (3:26) 14)Slova (0:49) 15)Ve Stìnu (2:00) 16)Hranice (1:20) 17)Commercial Shitty Music (0:35) 18)Arogance Moci (1:43) 19)Liska (0:26) 20)Argument (1:35) 21)Manipulace (1:40) 22)Moznost Volby? (0:19) 23)Tradice (2:01) 24)Posedlost (0:34) 25)Lobotomie Vìrou (1:07) 26)Pevné Hradby Normalizace (1:22) 27)Amnézie (1:34) 28)Arogance Moci (1:13) 29)Prìbeh Otevrenym Koncem (1:57) 30)Volte Boha (1:00) 31)Spravedlivy Systém (1:44) 32)Parlamentnì Utopie (3:06) 33)Tanec Blàznu (1:03) 34)Destrukce Rozumu (1:20) 35)Lobotomie Vìrou (1:48) 36)Vlast,Nàrod A Sìlenstvì (1:33) 37)I (Bringer Of Destruction) (0:40) 38)Posedlost (0:38) 39)Spravedlivy Systém (1:38) 40)Trapped (1:01) 41)Inside (1:57) 42)Klub Pràtel Vivisekce (1:26) 43)Manipulace (1:41) 44)I Hate Her (0:51) 45)Uniformita (1:19)
46)Vysàt A Zahodit (1:15) 47)Nazi Menace (1:31) 48)False Friends (0:48) 49)Modernì Spolecnost (2:10)

Band: www.myspace.com/gridecore