Vancouver’s underground at its heaviest—EROSION storms in with razor-edged crust riffs and D-beat urgency that recall MARTYRDÖD in their most feral moments. ALTERED DEAD counters with grotesque, suffocating death metal that grinds the air out of the room. Two sides of sonic punishment—one sprinting, the other crushing—that together feel like the walls closing in.
Grindcore is a bit like Marmite, innit? You either love it, own 100 AGATHOCLES split EPs, know the medical terms of a lot of disgusting diseases, and are able to decipher the messiest and hairiest band fonts, or you absolutely hate it and leave the venue as soon as you hear the first blastbeats. I am somewhere in the middle (for Marmite as well). I can really enjoy some old school primitive grindcore (the punkiest side of the spectrum) if the time is right, but I cannot stand technical grindcore (which I associate with metalheads). You guessed it, HACKED APART is a grindcore band, from Canada, and this is their first LP. The artwork says it all, I suppose—this is filthy extreme music, and thanks fuck for that. We are deep in primitive and raw grindcore territory here and it is bloody brilliant. Thrashing riffs, all sorts of fast beats, hoarse bear-like vocals, and a production overall highlighting the Neanderthal brutality of the music. This is the old school of WARSORE or ROT. They remind me of MASSGRAVE because they have that manic crust vibe at times. A full album of grindcore can sound a bit long, but this is quality.
