Where they from?
Texas, just Texas. You quite often hear the saying “everything is bigger in Texas” and I always wondered, is that a dick joke? I’ve kind of felt that was referring to trucks or T-bone steak portions but there is definitely a large (pun intended) possibility that this was all just one giant, universally accepted wiener joke that my east coast, soy boy brain just could not properly grasp. Is this the case?
What do they sound like?
Like a band that features three members from Kill the Client.
Why the hype?
Hey, what do ya know? This band features three members from Texas legends Kill the Client! Vocalist Champ Morgan, bassist/guitarist Chris Richardson and the prolific Bryan Fajardo are back together to bring you Triage, a project whose unmitigated fury not only matches Kill the Client’s best work, but in many ways surpasses it. Whereas KTC delivered their music covered in layers of sonic rubble, Triage executes everything at a fairly clean output that allows Richardson’s myopic staccato arpeggio’s to be displayed with full intensity.
Fajardo has long cemented himself as the premiere grindcore drummer on planet earth, so to bloviate on his technical prowess feels unnecessary, but god damn it’s good to hear Champ’s wretched rasp back in action. Last we heard from Mr. Morgan grind was on a guest appearance on Takafumi Matsubara’s Strange, Beautiful and Fast, one of my favorite records from last year. Champ’s appearance on that album was quite memorable and made me yearn for those old Kill the Client records, which is why Triage is such a breath of fresh air. Morgan’s vocal work isn’t necessarily the most brutal or harshest sounding, but what it lacks in false-chord technique it makes up for in organic passion, similar to a lot of crust vocalists. This isn’t a guy trying to sound like cookie-monster, it’s just a guy who is very pissed off about the state of the world right now.
Latest release?
Triage released nary a week ago. Though the lyrics aren’t yet available on Bandcamp, it does appear that Triage is a project focused on war and other dark political themes, which I really like. It annoys me how a lot of grindcore bands will say they are political but then have super vague lyrics that are just like “FUCK THE SYSTEM, RIGHT?” Like, grow up. It should at least be “fuck THIS system,” amirite? Vote grind no matter who.
