Menacing Glare
Where they from? Baldwin Park, California. Baldwin Park was named after one of the great pioneers of business in 19th century California, Elias Jackson “Lucky” Baldwin. He was nicknamed “Lucky” after his seemingly endless string of business success. He was also personal friends with Wyatt Earp and was known for his fair employment practices, hiring many African-American, Chinese and Native Americans during an era of open discrimination in the workplace.
What do they sound like?
Pure oogy-boogy European grindcore.
Why the hype?
During my band’s recent west coast run, we were fortunate enough to share the stage with these guys in the hallowed basement of a tattoo shop in Bakersfield, California and I was pretty much sold when all three members came out in ski masks and sampled “WHAT THE FUCK IS UP, DENNY’S?” at the opening of their set. It felt raw and stupid and subversive, the way grindcore is meant to be done and was, at the very least, notable enough to wake me from my jet-lagged semi-stupor.
When I went back to listen to their music I was incredibly surprised by how polished it was. This band has the whole European grindcore sound down to a tee, from the unbearably thick guitar tone to the “OY-YOY-YOY-YOY-YOY” sound of the vocals. It’s honestly nuts that these guys are from the outer suburbs of Los Angeles and not Copenhagen. If your thing is bands like Disturbance Project and early Fitcage, then you really need to check out Menacing Glare. You probably also need to stop watching so much anime porn, but that’s a conversation for another time.
Latest Release?
2018’s Drowning In Loathe. You know, in a world of hackneyed powerviolence HM-2 worship, can we just take a minute to appreciate the fucking guitar tone here? It’s so robust and heavy and overwhelming and pairs perfectly with the tightly tuned snare drum that it almost makes the actual riffs secondary. This band could cover “Sweet Caroline” and it would still sound heavy as fuck. And honestly, judging by how tongue-in-cheek the offerings are here, they might just do that on their next album.
