WORMROT: Dirge

Released: 2011

You can tell by the cover that Singaporeans Wormrot aren't ones to muck around. There's a sticker on the front declaring "This. is. GRINDCORE" and that's precisely what it is.

Busting through twenty-five tracks in eighteen minutes, Dirge is no more and nothing less than neck-breaking, bastard heavy bass-less grind and crust punk. Forget about silly samples and soundbytes from porn, Wormrot play unadorned noise terror. Songs roar by in seconds, some ("You Suffer, But Why is it My Problem") so short it takes longer to say their names. Each one is a brutal assault of ferocious percussive grind with an old school feel an lyrical approach like pre Earache-Napalm Death and ENT with no thought to melody and even less to structure. "Overpowered Violence" almost breaks into a groove for about three seconds; "Semiconscious Godsize Dumbass" very nearly becomes catchy. "Fucking Fierce So What" would give the late Seth Putnam a run for his money in savage, pointless brevity and "The Final Insult" could have been lifted off something by Nasum. If there is a criticism, it's that some of the tracks are just too short, but that's an accusation that could be levelled toward the entire scene, so that hardly counts. What counts here is the furious barrage of unrelenting, head-caving grindcore. You either get it, or get out of the way.

Wormrot are the real deal: pure, unadulterated grind. If that's your poison, Dirge is essential.

1. No One Gives a Shit
2. Compulsive Disposition
3. All Go No Emo
4. Public Display of Infection
5. Overpowered Violence
6. Semiconscious Godsize Dumbass
7. Spot a Pathetic
8. Evolved Into Nothing
9. Butt Krieg is Showing
10. Fucking Fierce So What
11. Ferocious Bombardment
12. Principle of Puppet Warfare
13. Deceased Occupation
14. Waste of Time
15. Stench of Ignorance
16. Meteor to the Face
17. Addicts of Misery
18. You Suffer But Why is it My Problem
19. Erased Existence
20. Back Stabber Mission Accomplished
21. Destruct the Bastards
22. Plunged into Illusions
23. Manipulation
24. A Dead Issue
25. The Final Insult

Rating: 85%

BURGERKILL: Venomous

Produced by Yayat Ahdiat and Burgerkill
Released: 2011

With my limited knowledge of Indonesian metal, I would hazard a guess that Burgerkill are somewhere near the top of the tree. Four albums into a fifteen year career and these Javanese lads have delivered something equal to anything you'd find coming out of just about anywhere.

Venomous isn't reinventing the wheel and is not the most original album you'll ever hear -- they wear their influences prominently -- but at the same time it is also something right out of the box. Ordinarily I would suggest that any band trying a mix of early Sepultura-style thrash, Morbid Angel, commercial metalcore and dashes of electronica would be doomed to fail, but not these guys. Somehow, they've managed to pull it off and do it very well.

Intro track "Through the Tunnel" incorporates snatches of techno to the point where I first thought I'd put in the wrong CD by mistake, but then "Age of Versus" erupts with a Beneath the Remains style attack and things only get better from there. The next three tracks all exhibit a furious, well-directed death-tinged thrash assault with enormous drums, mighty riffs and the versatile vocals of Vicky who allows himself some melodic singing in between burst of bellowing growls but never goes too far with it; I'd hesitate to call it "clean" singing the way it's come to be known these days.

Then, in the middle of the album they plunge into an amazing, beautiful acoustic instrumental called "This Coldest Heart". The shift is stark and dramatic, leading into the ominous opening of "For Victory", a melodic metalcore track that could sit comfortably alongside something by Shadows Fall. Then comes the hugely grooving "My Worst Enemy" that ends by dropping the album's biggest unexpected turn as the band breaks into about a minute and a half of something that's almost jazzy. But the surprises keep coming with the hidden track "An Elegy", a Killswitch-like metalcore song complete with strings that sounds like a totally different band. To top it all off it comes with stellar production and in a neat digipak with stylish, understated artwork.

Burgerkill has delivered a real surprise packet here, and with local distribution through Perth's Firestarter, Venomous is the perfect introduction to this chameleon-like band. An excellent release.

1. Into the Tunnel
2. Age of Versus
3. Under the Scars
4. Through the Shine
5. House of Greed
6. This Coldest Heart
7. For Victory
8. My Worst Enemy
9. Only the Strong

Rating: 90%

LACERATION MANTRA: Prolonging the Pain

Produced by Laceration Mantra & Joe Panetta
Released: 2011

Brisbane has a proud history when it comes to death metal and no band from that city stands out more than Misery and their bludgeoningly effective mixture of death, grind and doom. Featuring two of the people from that group in the shapes of guitarist Scott Edgar and drummer Anthony Dwyer, Laceration Mantra set to work in precisely the same relentless fashion.

Prolonging the Pain is non-stop bulldozing grind-flecked death metal from beginning to end. "Thrown to the Wolves" erupts with a brutal ferocity, with a stinging and savage guitar tone that is maintained throughout. Rob Rieff deploys some Benton-style double-tracked vocals and Edgar and second guitarist Michael Perry step up with some effective lead breaks in the likes of "Realisation", where a slower grind comes to the fore. "The Global Straitjacket" works in some tempo changes while Rieff's lyrics, unlike Edgar's previous outfit The Dead with their silly and occasionally non-sensical songs relating to gore topics, tackle themes like fear and manipulation. "Barney" shows the band's pure grind side as something of an ode to Napalm Death and there are also snatches of classic Morbid Angel apparent. Like the best bands though, Laceration Mantra don't merely ape their influences or regurgitate their history. They adopt them into a style of their own that is fast, brutal and menacing.

Prolonging the Pain is a fine addition to the local death metal landscape. The intensity of the delivery echoes the great Australian death metal tradition of bands like Misery and Psychrist and this can sit beside albums by those bands in comfort.

1. Thrown to the Wolves
2. Purveyors of Torment
3. The Innermost
4. Victims of Hate
5. Realisation
6. The Global Straitjacket
7. Surreal Reality
8. Prolonging the Pain
9. Barney
10. Blinders

Rating: 78%

CUNTSCRAPE/GORESLUTS/REZUME/MORBID VISION: Split My Bitch Up

Produced by: VariousReleased: 2011

Those filthy Perth bastards are back with more of their puerile and perverted porn grind, and this time they've brought some mates along for the ride. Split My Bitch Up features four bands spewing out death and grind that is depraved, ugly and stupidly fun all at once.

Serial offenders Cuntscrape kick off proceedings with some brutally heavy and groove-infested death grind fused to their usual array of pussy-obsessed lyrics and samples from porn films (although there is also a well-placed Pulp Fiction one). The 'Scrape do exactly what you'd expect, but they also do it very well because they don't allow the music to suffer for the sake of a sick joke.

Goresluts from Kuala Lumpur follow along almost identical lines, although they do have more of a pure grind style. Again, porn samples are everywhere, infiltrated by blast drumming, raw, fast guitars and the roaring voice of (seriously!) Sperm in Gore. Their tracks start off with a hokey bossa nova beat like the one those cheap keyboards come with, making for a nicely humourous touch.

Bali's Rezume are also fond of the porn sample, and use them as much as possible. Their style is primitive and undeveloped, as you might well expect for a band from that part of the world. Rezume really don't differentiate much between songs, all of which are built around rather similar sounding thrash riffs and a terrible, terrible plastic drum sound as well as Rizky's incredibly gutteral and raw vocals.

Tokyo based reprobates Morbid Vision sound like the only band that used a human drummer, who they then mixed way too loud, all but drowing out the catchy death riffs in their songs. Vocalist Shogun has a very low growling style that really fits their style of pure underground filth well, and Morbid Vision has steered away from the porn-obsessed themes of the other bands, finishing up with a grimy cover of Sepultura's "Biotech is Godzilla".

All told, it's generally tasteless, butt-ugly death n' grind fun. Split My Bitch Up may be purely for fans of the style, but those fans will not be disappointed.

1. Cuntscrape - March of the V.A.G.
2. Cuntscrape - Vaginomicon
3. Cuntscrape - Giving Head to Mr. Ed
4. Cuntscrape - Armed Hold Up at the Wank Bank
5. Cuntscrape - Teddy Got Fingered
6. Goresluts - Triple Cums in Bossa Bukake
7. Goresluts - E.G.S.
8. Goresluts - Karma Pussy
9. Goresluts - Demoniac Sado-maso Fucking Sluts
10. Rezume - Distimulasi Payudara
11. Rezume - Fucking Every Hole
12. Rezume - Shoot My Fucking Ass
13. Morbid Vision - Koenji Love Story
14. Morbid Vision - Harayama
15. Morbid Vision - Jedi Butcher
16. Morbid Vision - Biotech is Godzilla

Rating: 65%

AUTOPSY: Macabre Eternal

Produced by Adam Munoz
Released: 2011

When Chris Reifert and Danny Coralles put Abscess to bed after last year's disappointing Dawn of Inhumanity, it was really just a matter of time before Autopsy would stagger to life once again. For their first album in 16 years, the California quartet has upped the production values to bring it into line with modern expectations, thus leaving behind the dirty, crusty sound of their early masterpieces, Severed Survival and Mental Funeral.

Macabre Eternal might sound a lot cleaner, but that doesn't mean Autopsy has forgotten how to be one brutal and evil band. The opening track rips out a path of relentless violence that sets a tone of furious and filthy death metal. Then "Dirty Gore Whore" goes into an almost-Abscess direction with a berzerk riff and a breakdown reminiscent of Slayer with Reifert sounding like he's gone completely insane. "Always About to Die" and the cuts that follow revert to vicious slabs of brutal death that shift almost imperceptibly between tear-your-face off speed and slower slab-like parts.

Enter then "Seeds of the Doomed", where Autopsy gears down into a doomy sludge with a surprisingly melodic riff. It's so different from everything else, but still unaccountably Autopsy and close to the album's best moment. Following this are some weaker, non-descript tracks of which only "Born Undead" stands out. It's almost as if the band has used up all their ideas on the first half. Until, that is, "Sadistic Gratification" enters the picture, a sprawling, sinister 11-minute plus exploration of human depravity. A slow, doomy intro builds towards sections of wildly thrashing death metal that recede and then explode again to a gruesome climax of purely evil vocals and slamming riffs underscored by the screams and pleas of a female torture victim. It's creepy, hackle-raising, uncomfortable, disturbing and insidious, exactly what death metal should be. Macabre Eternal should end there, but Autopsy adds a jarring coda in "Spill My Blood" that veers between blazing thrasher and sludgy drone before a sudden finish.

All told, it's a somewhat exhausting 65 minutes, making it about twenty minutes too long with the inclusion of the various filler tracks around the middle but even so it is a solid return from some true masters of real death metal.

1. Hand of Darkness
2. Dirty Gore Whore
3. Always About to Die
4. Macabre Eternal
5. Deliver Me From Sanity
6. Seeds of the Doomed
7. Bridge of Bone
8. Born Undead
9. Sewn Into One
10. Bludgeoned and Bloodied
11. Sadistic Gratification
12. Spill My Blood

Rating: 76%