Houkago Grind Time eschews goregrind’s lyrical gore, slaughtering only in sound. The one-man band from Ripped to Shreds‘ Andrew Lee may SOUND like Carcass, Regurgitate and Mortician, but the only thing he’s dissecting is anime. We’re not talking the violent type, either. The titular character of “Hey Toshino Kyouko” comes from Yuri Yuri, while Lee claims K-On as another inspiration.
Both series focus on friendship over fury, which actually kind of translates to the album as a whole. Bakyunsified (Moe to the Gore) features guest solos from Leon del Muerte (Impaled, Murder Construct, ex-Nails, ex-Exhumed) and Dave Callier (P.L.F.), plus guest vocals from other pals. This song, however, is all Lee. At one point the vocals approach THAT Jim Carrey Napalm Death interview, which is actually high praise.
It’s one minute of pure adrenaline, like the best grindcore often is. In fact, it might take you about the runtime of the song to read Lee’s explanation of the project. And seriously, someone call up Carcass.
“I like blast beats and slice-of-life moe anime a lot, so I wanted to combine two of my favorite things into one song. I also love shred solos and very few gore/grind musicians put shred solos in their music, so I play a ton of shred solos all over the album and got a couple of my favorite grind musicians to contribute solos as well. If anyone could kindly pass my number onto Bill Steer and have him drop me a call I’d love to get him for another HGT release some time!”
Bakyunsified (Moe to the Gore) is out Nov. 13 on Outrageous Weeb Power Productions (US), Grindfather Productions (UK) and Psychocontrol Recs (CZ). Pre-order it on vinyl or digital download.
