Decline

I first discovered Vermin Womb around the time of this release. It instantly became my favourite grind record of all time.

Because, let's face it, this is a melting pot of a large group of extreme metal and punk genres, you are free to make the distinctions yourself. The reason I personally consider grindcore the most prominent is the grind centered drumming and the extremely low pitched vocals, almost reminiscent of pitch shifted goregrind vocals, but with the howling fury of more traditional grindcore. The very prominent, heavily distorted bass is also a contributing factor to this notion, sometimes venturing into crust-like bass melodies. The heavy use of tremolo picked guitars in long and winding sections, the bleak soundscape and the 'no fun' attitude seems taken out of the better parts of black metal. Decline is an interesting record even with this, not too surprising, mix of genres. If you are familiar with other works of guitarist and vocalist ELM, most notably of Primitive Man, you'll find that characteristic doomy flare present here too.

The opening track is unleashed with a ramp up that approaches super critical mass, but quickly falls into a new sort of chaos. It's unhinged, pushing and pulling the listener into a sense of no security. Tempo changes are found everywhere on this record, and they always feel slightly off. In the best possible way. It's suffocating, large and crushing both in structure and sonic qualities.

Like many grind releases, this is a blast fest, often interchanged with downright groovy parts, often unexpectedly jumping out at you. Some parts even feel like they deliberately want to confuse the listener, leaving you hanging on the downbeat, for a delayed pay off. Slow headbanging becomes a natural reaction.

Once we reach the final track Cancer, the album has shown you its chaotic potential and established the sound and feel. It almost comes as a surprise when the final and definitive riff of the song hits at 1 minute and 30 seconds in, with a straight forward approach that hasn't quite been heard on this record up until that point. The machine has gained traction again, slowly but confidently moving off the battlefield. Left is a trail of utterly demolished bodies. And in my case, a mind blown.