MAGRUDERGRIND

Recently I made a point that Anaal Nathrakh had abandoned their noise leanings a little on their latest album, which had made them more accessible to me. The point being that I appreciate some of the noisiest music on this planet, but I have to draw the line at a point. Well, the baton has been passed to Magrudergrind (the stylistic clue being in their name). This is fast, short, noisy, grind. Now when I say noisy, I mean "sounds like shit", because the production is some of the worst I have heard in a long time outside of demo land. Seriously, whoever produced this should head down to their local Career's Advice centre, because this isn't your forte. So, I've written this off as tiresome wank. Except I haven't, because eight tracks in, and the band surprise us with a mid-paced sludge tune called 'Bridge Burner'. It's great (save the production of course), and heralds the start of what is a near-delightful second half of the album. There are still some of the tunes that sound like people being fed through a rusty meat-processing plant, but they sound less harsh and irritating when intertwined with the sedate (for them) musical pieces that weave and surround. Like a more mental 'EyeHateGod' if you will. The samples are worth mentioning too. Not content to merely 'borrow' from movies, they have taken what sound like field recordings; real people from ghettos talking real-world issues. Considering the bands roots, this is not entirely unexpected, but is far more effective than I expected. A record of two halves then. Shame one of them is shit.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Candlelight Records

Album

MAGRUDERGRIND

Review by Steve Cowan

RUNNING TIME:

27:05

RELEASE DATE:

29th June 2009

TRACK LISTING

1) The Protocols of Anti-Sound; 2) Pulverizing Hate Mongers; 3) Rejecting The Militant Promise; 4) Assimilated Pollutants; 5) Abuse of Philanthropic Self Gain; 6) Fools of Contradiction; 7) Heretics; 8) Bridge Burner; 9) Cranial Media Parasite; 10) Excommunicated; 11) The Price of Living By Deliquent Ideals; 12) Built to Blast; 13) Lyrical Ammunition For Scene Warfare; 14) Rise and Fall of Emptiness Past; 15) Heavier Bombing; 16) Martyrs of the Shoah

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

USA

"This is fast, short, noisy, grind. Now when I say noisy, I mean "sounds like shit", because the production is some of the worst I have heard in a long time outside of demo land."