New Music from Mindless, Total Fucking Destruction, Gets Worse, Nails

New music is coming at me from all sides, so let's try to make it all nice and neat here and list a few bands in one article, shall we? Starting with the long overdue and sure to be triumphant return of the almighty Mindless! A new 7" EP has been in the works for a while now, and recently, To Live A Lie was nice enough to debut 2 brand new tracks from the record. Killer stuff, as I'm sure we all were expecting. The main track is a nearly 2 and a half minute slow trudger, followed by a short and sweet blaster. The band sounds heavy as hell, and Faiza is really getting her lower vocals down very well. "Planet Of Pestilence" will be released by To Live A Lie sometime this year, very excited.

Next up, a new 2 track EP from Total Fucking Destruction, entitled, "Monsters"! I've always really gotten a kick out of TFD. Their blend of humor, tight musicianship, and just overall insanity really captivates me. There's really no other grind bands that sounds quite like them. The tracks on "Monsters" are some of the most unapologetically goofy that the band has made. Wild, arena-rock-on-psychedelics-guitar solos are all over the place, cleanly sung back up vocals, lyrics about everyday suicide, and of course, monsters. It's a super short, but super enjoyable listen. Check it out.

Next is a new 4 track EP from UK powerviolence bruisers, Gets Worse. I guess this was released as a companion to their "S/T" EP (which recently came out on a 10" record, which looks amazing and should definitely be purchased), the new tracks here naturally follow the same formula as that release. Super heavy, beefy powerviolence, like a mix of Weekend Nachos and The Afternoon Gentlemen. The songs here a little more straight forward and blasty, but still keeping the chunky monkey grooves. This young band is really going to get a lot of attention soon, I can feel it. Lookout.

And finally, continuing my trend of staying way behind on the current hot topics, the new track from Nails! This is a band that has always kind of had people wondering where they fit in; "Are they grind?", "Are they a hardcore band?", "Nah dude, they're a metallic hard-grind band". While I definitely don't think they are a grindcore band, I know a lot of grinders like them, and fuck me if I'm not head over heels ecstatic about their new full-length, "Abandon All Hope". This track is a monster, and the band sounds as intense as ever. The new album should be out sometime in March on Southern Lord Records. Way too pumped. But screw that craptastic cover art.

~VII

5 Grind Albums You Need To Hear

I don't claim to have supreme knowledge of music, or that I know of grind record there is. But I do think that I'm pretty well versed, and I have heard a lot of damn fine records, some of which a few of might not have heard before. All of these records mentioned below are ones that I consider to be of supreme quality, and that I think don't get talked about enough. Who know's, maybe I'll introduce you to something new.

Parlamentarisk Sodomi - "Har Du Sagt "A" Får Du Si "Nal": My favorite one-man grind band, without a doubt. This crusty, grindcore behemoth of an album is just a full on assault to your ears. But not in a "it's so raw and lo-fi it's painful to listen to" type of way. Instead, this album is a masterfully produced and executed piece of work that opts to hit hard with it's riffs in addition to its prefect production sound. Pretty much amazing in every way!

Mindless - "Human Conditioning": This record did get a lot of well deserved praise when it was released in 2010, and it bears repeating. This record is a devastating piece of down-tuned, sludgy powerviolence. Not as much Infest worship, as the name would suggest. Soupy and distorted-bass heavy production with a Dystopian aura around it. Plus it features what I consider to be the best vocals Faiza Kracheni has ever spewed out. 

Gadget - "The Funeral March": I just got this record a few days ago, and I loooove it! While this was released several years ago on Relapse Records, Gadget(and this album) haven't really gotten a whole lot of praise, at least to my knowledge. Hopefully the recent vinyl re-issue and their new album will help them break out some more. I can make comparisons to bands like Rotten Sound and Nasum, but Gadget have enough of their own sound to keep them from being another clone band. 

Suffering Mind - "s/t": Suffering Mind's 2010 full-length is pretty much a perfect grindcore record; it's under 20 minutes, it has great riffs, rabid dog vocals, a tight snare sound, and it ends with a Phobia cover. Bada Boom! I can listen to this album and enjoy every single track, each one is a blaster. The lack of low-end might bother a few people, but I still think that this is a damn fine grindcore album that you all should hear!

Psychic Limb - "Queens": I've sung this albums praises a few time on this blog, and named it my 2nd favorite album of 2011. But just in case some of you didn't get the message; Listen.To.This.Album.Now! Beyond amazing and phenomenally enjoyable, Psychic Limb are able to kick more ass in 9 minutes than most bands are able to in half an hour. It's short, it's oh so sweet, and more people need to hear it!

~VII