Bump N’ Grind: Slaves, Pigs, and Romance
Greetings and welcome back to my first edition of Bump N’ grind for the new year. Below I’ve collected three unique offerings from the world of grind ranging in length, speed, and depravity. Whether you like indentured servitude, even-toed ungulates, or that special bond between two bff’s, there should be something for everyone.
Sacridose – Slave World
Let’s get right to the grind and kick this edition off with some butt-chopping violence. Slave World is the latest effort in militant punk anti-authoritarianism from Sacridose, a band described by our friends at Absolute Contempt records as “hands down the best grind act in Flordia.” Listening to Slave World, it’s easy to see why. Each track is jam-packed with hard-rocking riffs juxtaposed against unrelenting blasts that start-and-stop faster than one of those tree-eating woodchippers can gnaw through a pine. Tying the whole thing together and really setting this band apart from competitors, though, are Jaydee’s tormented vocals. Across these six blazing tracks, only one of which clocks in above one minute, her vocals soar and divebomb and just generally drop blistering, skin-peeling napalm. The screams are undeniably charming even as they reduce you to smoldering ash. Got around 6 minutes to spare? Then jam Slave World here.
Pigskinner – Leech
Looking for something a little more deathly? Leech, the debut album from Athens one-pig deathgrind monstrosity should tickle your diseased pickle. This is nasty, revolting deathgrind that takes heavy influence from OSDM riffs and groovy song structures ala Birdflesh. Sole porcine member Johnny Shitkicker grants us insight into his deranged mind with 15 tracks of sewage-gurgling debauchery. Intermittent movie samples segue into surprisingly tight riffs that wouldn’t be entirely out of place in a Swedish gutter and that bounce and clang against the righteously garbage-sounding snare-driven blasts. The likely deciding factor for your approval though will be Shitkicker’s vocals. In between downtuned bass grooves and revolting d-beats, Shitkickers growls and squeals like a pack of pigs possessed by some sort of grind devil as they plunge off a cliff. The vocals are gross, but I think they’re the perfect complement to the headbanging guitar-work on tracks like “Poser Holocaust.” So grab your cleaver and join the party; the butcher’s shop is open for business.
Jungbluth – Lovecult
Jungbluth are a bit different than our usual grind fare, not just for the seamless way in which they meld powerviolence, noise rock, d-beat, and screamo into a spellbinding whole that is often not particularly brütal but always somehow heavy. The key to this gravitas is the emotional weight of this album. Below the song list on the album’s Bandcamp page is a short manifesto discussing the pseudo-religion of love as peddled by media and corporate greed. This false idol, the band argues, negates the positive impacts of communal, daily living in favor of commodifying an emotion. This dichotomy between the eros we see in callow romantic comedies and the agape that is built through enduing trials together as a unit (whether that unit is a family, a couple, or a community) is the backbone of this album and bleeds into the conflicts between the jangly, often major-key riffs and the pummeling, dire drums and torturous vocals. It’s an emotional ride, and one I highly recommend.
Sacridose | Facebook | Bandcamp
Pigskinner | Facebook | Bandcamp
Jungbluth | Facebook | Bandcamp
(Photo VIA)
