Product of My Environment

Dystopia were a very important crust/sludge band that mixed a fair amount of grind into their sound. They were perhaps a bit angsty and even a bit juvenile at times, but they had a killer, wholly unique sound. They're a hard band to totally copy their aesthetic, but you do see their influence frequently in crust, sludge and even grind. Where I didn't expect to see their aesthetic featured most prominently in is a band whose first album consists of largely knuckle dragging brutal death metal. Jarhead Fertilizer's name is gleaned from one of Dystopia's least tactful songs, Jarhead's graffiti logo is a direct tribute to Dystopia and the art direction also takes heavy influence. It starts to make more sense when you learn about Jarhead Fertilizer powerviolence roots - a style that fits much more into Dystopia's milieu.

If people have heard of Jarhead Fertilizer, it's likely due to the band's affiliation with powerviolence titans Full of Hell. Three of the four members of Jarhead Fertilizer have played with the group. While Full of Hell definitely does have a death metal side to them, I'm glad that Jarhead Fertilizer aren't a full on powerviolence with some death metal thrown in. That would be pointless, as Full of Hell already has that covered and I can't imagine it would sound that different. Although Jarhead Fertilizer did use to be a lot more powerviolence, the bulk of the album is caveman death metal. Their sound is very East Coast, and a lot of it has its roots in the likes of Suffocation. The guitars are very downtuned, more subterranean than the deepest recesses of the New York sewer system and are bolstered by a bone crushing tone. The band's roots aren't completely thrown away for the sake of creating brutal mid-paced death metal, though. There are grindier sections that bleed into powerviolence at times. This helps give the album some variety, as a lot of the troglodytic death metal can end up sounding a tad samey. Seeing as most of these guys come from Full of Hell, it should come as no surprise that the playing is tight. This is especially true of the drumming.

I'm going to be honest, coming in as a Full of Hell I kind of assumed they were like a sister powerviolence band and I had no idea I'd be getting caveman death metal. True to their powerviolence roots, they keep the album short. While the brutal death metal can get a bit one-note, the run time and grindcore breaks stop it from getting monotonous. While I do prefer Full of Hell's more death metal-inflected output to this, Jarhead Fertilizer do a good job at what they're going for. It's not a super original sound and there's better bands doing it, but I get why it would be a fun side project. Product of my Environment is a strong debut for the group, but I reckon they can do better.