Space Symphony Around Us

Generally, grind doesn't do much for me outside a few of the founding bands. This isn't as good as some of those, but Space... is still a fine way to kill half an hour. The riffs, unexpected turns, and lack of long intros keep this reasonably enjoyable.

Everything outside of those is pretty much standard fare for grind. I really don't enjoy the bulk of the vocals, but they're usually tolerable and even manage to rise above average at times. They sound pretty enhanced, modified, and unintelligible, again standard. There's some annoying vocal used that reminds me of the dim, “Jimmy,” character from King of the Hill, but he shows up pretty sparingly. The drumming isn't very creative, but it keeps up and ticktick's in the way that it he's expected to.

Certain aspects about the production and choice of flow remind a little bit of Reek... The production isn't nearly that bad, but the way the bass can go in and out without ever totally leaving seems a bit familiar. Speaking of the bass, he does a fair amount here and often has short fills. The drums never totally overwhelm things like it does with Reek, but some of that grime is there. Also, there is a slight habit to take an older riff and toss it in there. The riffs on display here don't repeat quite as often as Reek tended to, but there's still a couple of stock riffs that will sound instantly familiar even if you can't remember where you've heard them before.

The intros on this album are short and not present for every song which is fantastic. It's quite frustrating to sift through a minute or more of uninteresting horror or porno clips in order to reach a minute of possibly decent music. This actually manages to be around thirty minutes without the intros. The content of the intros are a little different as well. Rather than the aforementioned sources, Diafragma seemed to just go with odd bits that don't make much sense but are at least a little different. They can be some bells ringing, some kids singing, some retarded guy crying, etc. I think this form of music would be better off ditching this habit completely, but this is a best of a bad situation if that makes sense.

The riffs are pretty good. They don't repeat too often, and they're actually quite catchy. They are in the same mold as some of their eastern European contemporaries, but it's better and more fun than Squash Bowels. The fact that the Napalm Death and Carcass covers can be inserted smoothly is a credit to the riffing and will say a little more about their nature. As mentioned previously, there are some riffs that aren't too original, but they don't really lessen the experience or anything. This album has next to no slam influence which can add or subtract based on one's taste. There are some parts where the album slows down, but they're seldom slam-like. The main slower part has a sort of melodic yet punky nature to it that lasts for about thirty seconds at a little over twelve minutes in.

Human Monster is the longest song on the album and seems to be treated as the centerpiece. Early in the song a lead melody shows up that sounds a great deal like something from Surgical Steel. It's brief, but it shows up towards the end as well. There's a more stomping stretch right afterwards before going into a punkier part which starts to alternate with a faster part before it ends. It is the most diverse song present and could reasonably be considered the best.

This album is not very original, but I do enjoy it quite well. There's enough variances in the riffing to keep me alert while also limiting the number and length of the clip interludes. As well, the influences drawn to make this album are fairly good in their own right. The things dragging this album down would be the generic vocals and drumming along with the brevity. It does a bit strange for me to hold length against it considering the style, but I can't deny that I would prefer a more compacted, standard approach. Considering how well Human Monster works, I feel like they could make an album with more songs like that and make it work even better. In any case, anyone who likes grind should listen to this and would likely enjoy it.