Thursday 2 May 2013

Grot - I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream (Mini Album Review)

Album Type : Mini Album
Date Released : 15/4/2013
Label : Hammerheart Records
 
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, album track listing:
01. Commodities
02. Impervious To The Cause
03. Kleptomania
04. Revoked
05. Withering World
06. Unchallenged Hate (Napalm Death cover)
 
Bio:
Grot are, at their core, an Irish death/grind outfit with a good bit of old fashioned Dying Fetus groove thrown in, but the membership actually reveals a more international collective: Grot is composed of the mighty Kevin Talley (ex) Dying Fetus, Six Feet Under, Hate Eternal etc. on drums, John Roche of Gama Bomb on guitars and bass, and Eoin Broughal from Cold War and Warpath on vocals.

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is a no-bullshit collection of very mid-90’s deathy grind. The mini-CD and 7” EP consist of five original songs and a cover (Napalm Death’s “Unchallenged Hate”. They provide an immensely satisfying mix of brutality and energy. Their riffs, grooves and sections of fast double-bass all have a massiveness to them that feels like a ton of bricks dropped on your head! Different and yet more into death/grind than any other release of this time! The band’s utter weapon is definitely experience. This is a band that have a clear vision of were they want to start and were to stop. The result is a well played death/grind, straight in your face. From the first minute to the last. The first five songs spew sheer brutality and barbarity, that only a top class grind band could achieve
 
Review:
Grot are somewhat of a grind supergroup: its members boast being in metal behemoths such as Six Feet Under, Dying Fetus, Warpath and Gama Bomb, so that should give you a hint as to what to expect from this band’s first EP, ‘I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream’.  These six tracks – venomous, pounding monsters, each one – are a short but very fierce introduction to a band that could very well be making tidal waves in the Grindcore Sea in the coming months. 
 
The EP blasts its way into your brain with opener ‘Commodities’, a song barely over a minute long but filled to the brim with glorious grind riffage and murderous drumming.  From here on in it’s a whirling chainsaw of music, ripping with manic abandon at your eardrums.  The standout track for me has to ‘Impervious to the Cause’, an instant death metal classic reminiscent of Insect Warfare’s ‘Hydraphobia’ with a hefty dose of Morbid Angel’s swagger added to the mix. 
 
Grot also decided to include a cover on this album: a fittingly rage-fuelled rendition of Napalm Death’s ‘Unchallenged Hate’ that only serves to enforce the band’s reputation as grind giants in the making.  The EP ends with a bang, the closer ‘Revoked’ a pulverising tune that will set your lips into a sneer of grim satisfaction.  It’s amazing to think this EP is only ten minutes long, yet still manages to be a concentrated, potent monster that demands your attention. 
 
‘I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream’ is the exact opposite of what the title would have you believe: it’s a shrieking, pulsating EP where every song is a bullet and your mind is the target.  If you’re a fan of grindcore, death metal, or even just metal with bite, I implore you to check out Grot.  They’re definitely a band with a plan, and that plan is to be counted among the grind elite.  If they carry on in the same vein as their debut, I have no doubt this will happen. 
 
Words by : Chris Markwell

As ever, show your support to the band by checking them out at the various links and buying their merch. This record is available now  here. Thanks Hammerheart records