For Those About to Squawk: Waldo’s Pecks of Grind, Death and Power

Happy 2017, motherpeckers! This time of year is traditionally slow on the releases. I know I say this every year, but, hey, at least we have the potential for a “classic” Fear Factory reunion… zzzzzz… OOPS, I just drifted off there for a second. Anyway, where were we? 

So, Spanish death metallers Avulsed are celebrating their 25th year anniversary with Deathgeneration on Xtreem Music. So for those who aren’t in the know, Avulsed are death metal, like borderline gore death metal at times, and they have some melodic leads, thrown in here and there.  But, let’s talk about Deathgeneration. This is a little bit of a confusing release; this is a re-recording of songs spanning their career, and on the 19 tracks they feature here, there are 18 (!) guest singers. So, to sum this all up, this is cool and a cool little retrospective of their career, and definitely has an updated sound compared to some of the previous releases, but is this double disc/double LP necessary? I don’t really know. Also, check out the cover of their ‘classic’ “Stabwound Orgasm.” Uh, 6 Fucking Pecks.

First of all, I gotta say that Grave Digger is a cool band name, and Germany’s Gravedigger is releasing a new record entitled Healed by Metal. This is not that good, and while some of their back catalog is pretty cool, this sounds too contemporary for my feathers. Think an updated version of Thor or Anvil. Odes to metal and rocking and things like that, and while there are some cool riffs here and there, it just sounds too modern. I guess I should just take a stand on this perch of mine: this is pretty blah… I mean if you’re a speed/thrash/heavy metal band, and your opening track is blah (which it is, and so is the rest of the album), I mean, just get over it. Healed by metal? You should’ve stayed sick… 3 Fucking Pecks.

Grinders The Drip really stepped it up on their second release for Relapse. The Haunting Fear of Inevitability is not just a grind record. There are elements of crust, d-beat, powerviolence and straight up punk in this. The Drip really stepped their game up on this one and the production here is crisp and clean, although one does wish that it was a little nastier. That’s not to say that Joel Grind (who produced this, also from Toxic Holocaust fame) did an admirable job, but I wish this had a little more “punk” sound.  The song writing here is varied enough that this moves and doesn’t sound all the same, but is firmly nestled in the grind category. Good job, guys. 7 Fucking Pecks.

Waldo out.