Where they from?
Finland. Damn that’s two Finnish bands in a row here! I actually saw this really hilarious meme this morning that had an outline of the country Finland with the “F” in the middle of it and then the same country outline with the “F” outside of it and it said “Foutland”. It made me laugh, and by that I mean it made me breath slightly heavily through my nose, so I shared it to my Instagram story. This is what your Mondays look like when you’re 32 years old and work from home.
Why the hype?
I have loved Death Toll 80k so much for so long that I think we are technically married at this point. I included the band’s debut LP Harsh Realities fairly high on my list of Top Albums of the 2010s for good reason: it’s not only one of the best straight-up ass-beaters of the last decade, but one of the great ones of all time in terms of pure grindcore. The band is so masterful at combining Thrash and D-beat elements with pure militant grindcore in the vein of Insect Warfare, that you almost begin to question why other bands even try? This band has more drive and relentlessness in a single circle-pit riff than most band’s do in their entire discography.
Latest Release?
The Future Is Yours, which oddly sounds more like a Tony Robbins self-help guide than the whirlwind of suffocating grindcore than it is. This EP really captures what the band does best: effortlessly flowing from razor-sharp crust to absolutely berserk blast beats that culminate with some of the most merciless beatdowns every put to tape. You know a grind record is quality when you can groove some headbangs to it while also developing carpal tunnel in your wrist trying to Suffo-wave along to the blast beats. Album of the year material? Oh boy howdy, yes. (“Oh boy howdy” is the type of thing you say to convey excitement when you’re a 32 year old who works from home).
