Crap on Demand

The guys from Boal, Grim Fate and Burial Remains (amongst others) strike again! Under the banner of Headless Dawn, they deliver an old school blast of death/grind that brings back some good memories from times gone by, for sure. If you still swear by the early Earache and Peaceville releases, as well as the 90's output of a label like Wild Rags, keep reading!

In style, these guys bring back the sounds of grindcore/death metal bands from the late 80's and early 90's. The names of Defecation, Terrorizer, Drogheda, Nausea (LA), Doom and early Brutal Truth come to mind, with even a faint Hellhammer influence here and there. The short tracks incorporate grinding blasts, thrash-infused rapid fire riffing and a hardcore-ish sense of fluidity throughout, while the gruff barking vocals have me thinking of Oscar Garcia's work on "World Downfall" and "Crimes against Humanity", but they also remind me of former Altar vocalist Edwin Kelder quite often as well. The supple execution of the music gives the whole a very natural and old school feeling, something I can certainly appreciate enormously. The tracks themselves go for the throath and don't waste time with unnecessary frills, as it should be with this style of old school death metal infested grindcore.

The production is adequate, although it leaves some to be desired. The guitars could have used a bit more body, and it would've been nice would the bass guitar been given a more prominent place within the whole. The drum machine is adequately programmed, but sounds just that bit too flat, making it so that the guitars sound as if they are floating above the rhythm section a bit. With more bottom to both those things, this would have been a massive crusher of an album.

This is a cool blast of old school grindcore nostalgia, the way it is not produced enough these days. If your heart still lies in the late 80's/early 90's extreme metal and punk scenes, I wholeheartedly recommend this album to you, because this kicks ass! With just that bit more of balls to the production, this grindcore commando unit could be unstoppable. On to the next offering, I say. I'm waiting for it!