Vulgar Pigeons "Imperialism" CD
[Willowtip]
I've been curious about this band before but the ridiculous band name always sort of kept my interest from actually forcing me to check out the band. Throwing this in I was sort of let down by the anticlimactic intro track, "Network of Disinformation", which is basically a useless and incredibly annoying noise type of track with random guitar and drum parts and other such noises swirling around before the all out grind kicks in with "The Pollution of History" and never lets up from there. The connections that this band has to Benumb are present musically in addition to the physical lineup, but the songs here are longer and more developed, with less of a focus on constant speeds. "Silenced and Imprisoned" is more moderately paced with a few classic grindcore breakdowns and even a hint of melody, "Idolized Amongst Self Deception" has a ton of tradeoffs between straight yelling and ultra low growls (throughout the record the yelling vocals have more of a classic hardcore/crossover sort of range - but more aggressive), "SpiderMonkey" has the perfect tempo and is by far one of the most memorable tracks herein, the aptly titled "Attack of the Bullet Belt Committee" has more than a hint of straight 80's thrash involved, etc. The songs do tend to offer up a number of breakneck changes in a compact timeframe, often unexpectedly (The insane and out of nowhere tapping in "Blot on Humanity"?), and that can be hit or miss - often it works, sometimes it's a bit of a blemish. I like the production as far as grindcore goes, because it's got a warm, raw edge to it, but it's still pretty even, and the bass tone really pulls out from the guitars at times and plays a good role. Nothing distracts me or anything, so it's cool. The layout looks fucking great even though to my immense dismay (and surprise) no lyrics are included, just a fairly good amount of solid looking artwork that sort of conveys the general tone of the music and what imagery is suggested by song titles like "Refuse to Salute" or "Blot on Humanity". Good stuff. There are a few tracks that I'm not into, but at its best this is a ripping grind record that should please the genre's close followers, and even a number of those more discriminating listeners. (7/10)
Running time - 25:59, Tracks: 14
[Notable tracks: Silenced and Imprisoned, SpiderMonkey, GhettoBlaster, Attack of the Bullet Belt Committee, O.R.P.]
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