What the squawk? This spring looks pretty barren. Not a whole lot going on at this time. But we’ll plow through it anyway. Fuck the Easter Bunny; let’s make it the Easter Parrot.
We’ll start off with The Fatal Feast by Richmond thrash stalwarts MUNICIPAL WASTE. This is vaguely some sort of concept record of the band being in space, but not entirely. Songs don’t entirely follow the concept, as there are at least two songs about drinking (duh), a song about zombies and one about “The Man.” This is a frantically-paced record and pretty much what you’d expect from the Waste: DRI crossover riffs mixed with hyper thrash with a dose of breakdowns thrown in. This is a fun record, and to some nowhere near the classic era of Waste ‘Em All, but all in all a pretty solid release. The musicianship is, of course, exceptional here. Beaking good. 7 Fucking Pecks.
JOB FOR A COWBOY release Demonocracy. Even though a lot of people get this stuff, it’s not super easy for me to sink my beak into. I mean, the whole deathcore thing just… I dunno, kind of leaves my wings deflated. On this nine-track full-length, whose title is a play on words between “demon” and “democracy,” it goes without saying these guys can play; this stuff is tech. Heavy, crushing, creative and groovy at times, the guitar work really stands out on this record, I’m sure due to the Jason Suecof production. That being said, fans of this band will dig this; if not, the melodic mid-tempo moments will probably grate on your nerves. The real beak-scratcher is “Black Discharge,” which really seems to drag and go nowhere. 6 Fucking Pecks
GRAF ORLOCK release Los Angeles. This cinegrind (?) band does four songs in 10 minutes here, in a nasty way. Not purely grind, this EP on Vitriol Records has a few brutal, and I mean brutal, half-time hardcore moments. I pecking wish GO would release a full-length instead of this EP and really sate the need, but this thing (based off of the movie Heat) just isn’t long enough. It’s awesome, no doubt, but one wonders of the gimmick is wearing thin, although there are plenty of great musical moments to allow one to forget that fact. 8 Fucking Pecks.
Slams and more slams, my old-school peck is PYREXIA, hailing from the NY area; one can hear the clear similarities between them and Suffocation, which isn’t surprising since they shared a member. If you want your cherry popped, then check this out.
