Grinding Doom ; 3/6/10

Date of show: 3/6/10
Location: Rockstar Bar, Brooklyn
Line-up: Backslider, Chainsaw To The Face, Bloodkitt, Communion, The Unmen

BACKSLIDER

"This is Backslider and we're from the ugliest city in America."

And judging from the raw, ugly assaults that these guys dish out, one could have rightfully guessed so. Personified by a clenched fist of hardcore, a punkish pissed off give-no-fuck-about-the-world attitude and just a hint of grind topping it all off, Backslider create music that wouldn't be out of place to accompany a post-apocalyptic citywide riot to. The crowd response started off weak, but 5 audial beatdowns later the floor was, for the most part, packed. Definitely one of the best opening bands I've seen in a while.

Backslider are the anthem for a disgruntled, agitated generation ready to smack you across the face with a tire iron.

http://www.myspace.com/bsfastcore


CHAINSAW TO THE FACE

This is one of those bands where the name is an accurate representation of their general sound.
The drummer dishes out some furious, blasting death consistently, complimenting the grinding guitar riffs that bring to mind Brutal Truth, all the while setting the stage for the vocalist to unleash his rage towards a world that deserves it. And rage never sounded this good. Midway through their set this journalist was nearly swallowed up into the throes of the rapidly growing pit these guys were invoking, much to my dismay. Surprisingly the bass was a huge benefactor in their sound, managing to stand out just as much as any other instrument. I have to hand it to them, musical competence and feeling were definitely present from each member. Next time these lunatic chainsaw butchers roll into town, you'll be sure to want to join in on the slaughter.

http://www.myspace.com/chainsawtotheface


Time for one of my recent all-time favorite bands ... *drumroll*

BLOODKITT

The excoriation of angels. The disembowelment of god. The complete and utter annihilation of all existence. Take that, Corrupted, Khanate, Wormphlegm, and diSEMBOWELMENT, mix them all together in a melting pot chocked full of the finest cannabis you can find, and you're not even halfway close to describing the devastating monolith that is Bloodkitt. Putting one doom band on a bill with predominately hardcore/grind bands sounds like a terrible idea.

It is not.

Although they only unleashed 2 songs from their arsenal, their mindfuck of an attack lasted nearly 45 minutes. The root of their sound is in time-stretching, sludgey doom metal, but fortunately they aren't one of those bands who restrict their style just because of their root genre. A very good portion of their set consisted of some particularly brutal death not unlike Gorgasm and a hint of black metal, all coming together in a sublime manner where nothing sounds out of place or "odd". It was pretty amusing watching people mosh in super slo-mo however. Their songs sound like they would have been just *perfect* to accompany the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki without a doubt. Check these fuckers out.

http://www.myspace.com/bloodkitt


The Communion

Fucking evil. An abhorrent old-school death metal march towards sheer insanity; they take it upon themselves to carry the torch of hatred. Flesh grinding riffs and godkilling black metal-esque vocals are the only psalms in the Church of The Communion. There really seems to be a huge grindcore overtone in this show thus far, without any of the 4 bands being a repeat of the other. In this case, an accurate description of them would be if Antaeus and Last Days Of Humanity joined together. When I came back in from a good bowl of weed I was astonished - the ENTIRE fucking floor were up and about! That itself is a testament to how sick these dudes are. Hell, the end of their set even consisted of a great drum solo beneath some droning, noisy feedback. They're apparently also playing Maryland Death Fest, so be sure to keep an eye and an ear out for them!

http://www.myspace.com/thecommunion


The Unmen

A hypersonic swarm of pestilence cloaks the land as the unbridaled, devastating force of the Unmen quartet repeatedly curbstomp your fucking face for the rest of eternity. This is music you go postal to. This is music you'd kick your snobby, arrogant boss in the nuts and toss him out of the 87th floor window to. The band had a great presence; their riffs oozed of nothing less than thrashing grind and grinding thrash. Sodom and Kreator have NOTHING on these guys. Even I ended up going batshit insane in the pit for the first time in the show. This is violence in its purest form, this is how a goddamn warzone sounds like.

P.S. I have never heard a band cover S.O.D.'s "Kill Yourself" as well as brilliantly as these guys.


One of the best shows I've been to in 2010, hands down.