v/a "Polar Grinder" compilation LP
[Putrid Filth Conspiracy]
This is, you guessed it, a compilation of Swedish grindcore. 23 tracks from nine bands, in a pretty short amount of time. Let's get to it. Nasum starts things off with three ripping tracks of modern grindcore at its finest - the type of thing you've likely come to expect from 'em: Plenty of speed without shedding any heaviness, nice tempo changeups, fast vocal patterns that range from blistering screams to low growls, etc. The breakdown in "Dead Mirror" is pure mastery... precisely what makes Nasum so fucking great. Assel also kicks out three brief tracks of their raw as fuck (and even faster) hardcore/punk with throat shredding vocal screams. The recording could be better because the vocals are way too loud and the rawness of the sound sort of overloads things a bit, but they're still good songs. Sewn Shut offers three tracks of somewhat muddy grindcore with vocals that jump from guttural growls to midrange screams/shouts. There's also some death metal riffing as well, in the form of twisted slower passages and groove laden breaks. They definitely tend towards the faster material, though. But it's an interesting mix (most effectively in "Bring Forth the Killers"). Birdflesh plays rugged death/grind on their three tracks with some ripping vocal screams, and some surprising lead breaks and thrash riffs thrown in almost out of nowhere. This is a lot different than some of their other material that I've heard, I only wish the recording was heavier and not so thin/noisy. As for Arsedestroyer? "Eardestroyer" might be a more fitting name, because their two untitled tracks are an all out assault of hyper distorted chaos with obscenely twisted vocal screams and one of the rawest, most uncontrolled sounds I've ever heard. This is not my thing at all, and in my opinion it lacks any purpose or force whatsoever. Next. Sayyadina's two tracks of interesting and diverse grind surely stand out from the pack with a multi vocal attack, tight drumming, great tempo changes, some sick dissonant riffs (see the slow and plodding start to the amazing "All This Fear"), etc. Great stuff. Asterisk has a really weird recording that's heavy on the low-end with an unusual guitar tone fighting to the foreground amidst brutal low vocals and some high screams with some quirky time changes and stuff going on all over the place (and I think there are some keyboards in there sometimes). Regurgitate churns out two tracks of their raging gore grind, and they definitely deliver. I've come to like this band a lot more than I ever expected. Their riffs are great, the vocal interaction works, and hell, it's just good stuff. I definitely prefer the slightly slower and more intense material like "Heroes of Assassination", but fuck it... it's all good. Gadget closes out with two tracks of diverse grind at blinding speeds, but they throw in a few slow breaks that add some definite power, and I love the midrange vocal shouts (as opposed to the higher screaming, which is okay, but not as powerful). "New Era" even has a great melodic lead at the end, which is pretty surprising. They cram a lot into short timeframes, and that tends to work. The layout is cool, and looks pretty complex. The color sleeve has chaotic scribbles all over the place mixed in with busy text arrangements, bar codes, and random (but crisp) lines surrounding what seem to be scattered lyrics from the LP and random computer jargon. Very nice. The back cover (tracklist) is a bit more legible, though equally "digital" looking in style. Inside is a large one-sided black and white insert that folds over. The design is similar in its use of bar codes and busy text arrangements that are somewhat hard to read, but mixed in there are the lyrics to many of the bands' tracks, contact information, and other tidbits of information. All in all? This is a solid compilation, but I think it could have been a lot better if some of the bands had better recordings to offer. It's a cool representation of all sorts of modern Swedish grindcore, but some killer bands (Assel, Sewn Shut, etc.) suffer greatly from lackluster production jobs... and in the end that affects the flow of the compilation for the worse. (6/10)
Running time - 25:00 (approximately), Tracks: 23
[Notable tracks: Nasum, Sayyadina, Regurgitate, Gadget]
Putrid Filth Conspiracy - http://fly.to/putridfilth/

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