Persistence

This is death metal that isn't brutal in the sense that one would crap their pants from monotonous, gut-wrenching notes. Corpse Grinder are more persuasive than forceful in their catchy and melodic rhythms. Though they included a deep and guttural growl that meets your bowels at least half way.

"Persistence" sounds like it was recorded with studio facilities, while still missing the urinal and taking a piss on clear and snooty production jobs. This release has a simultaneously loud and rough presence by partially dipping their instruments in a particularly textured Alphabet soup that would spell out: "Grotesquely Delicious" in slightly obscured and ominous letters, with a dead fly and a waitresses' hair floating all together in a single unwashed bowl. The guitars still possess a heavy amount of distortion, but aren't hissy or raw to the point of swamping the other instruments. The vocals are the loudest in the mix, the drums are unsharp and untriggered, and the bass slightly protrudes when it can lend a helpful hand.

The music follows along a certain northern European thought with plenty of melodic tremolo riffing structure. This also has a side that uses a thick but still catchy outlet, such as displaying simple chug and deeper chord variants. Some leads can be basic and short lived by plucking a few higher placed strings to peak a certain area, or group successive notes together and take a listener for a more involving ride. The vocals keep a set pattern throughout and have a particular kind of manipulated effect to make the growls even lower and less human-like than the next dm group. The bass guitar is frequently heard with a clean and slightly slapped around style. The composition is worked through, in that Corpse Grinder steadily unfold their songs. There are some faster sections that have less drastic blasts, but mostly the band is playing in an energetic mid, and even have a few slower beats. The drummer's double bass pedals left idleness at the door step to the studio as they can frequently pound away with a galloped or continual motion.

The strength of "Persistence" is in the guitars, which have no shortage of memorable lines to return to. For the most part the other instruments keep the music together, such as the bass guitar and drums being consistent but not overstepping boundaries. The vocals seem more for shock value, but do add a monstrous contrast to the guitars frequently handing out more inviting structure. The music isn't exactly well-rounded in every department, as the band lacks the shifting movements that would hit you as a barrage and work as an unstoppable unit because a listener is getting attacked from different angles with different arsenal. Corpse Grinder at this point would have faired better if they developed the other instruments further as they seem more the co-stars to the guitars being the main performers.