By: Mark Ambrose
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 26/01/2018
Label: Relapse Records
Mammoth Grinder
isn’t some newfangled blackened tech fusion melodic death metal. This is Neanderthal music, meant to crush,
rend, rip and destroy to. In less than
30 minutes, this Paleolithic power trio blast out 11 tunes that don’t reinvent
the wheel – they lay waste to anything so civilized as that nonsense.
“Cosmic
Crypt” CD//DD//LP track listing
1. Grimmenstein
2. Servant of the Most High
3. Blazing Burst
4. Divine Loss
5. Molotov
6. Superior Firepower
7. Human is Obsolete
8. Locust’s Nest
9. Mysticism
10. Rotting Robes
11. Cosmic Crypt
The Review:
Now that the true deep freeze of winter has
crept into the northeastern US, my daily soundtrack has mostly been the coldest
black metal I can find. Shrill, inhuman,
alienating dissonance with tracks lasting ten or twenty minutes transporting me
to a land of northern darkness as vast as a Lovecraftian planetscape. But this year, the muck and humidity has
burst through unexpectedly, like a deep rot thought excised. The stink of swamp gas behind my home bubbles
up at random intervals, reminding me that while the grim sterility of winter
reigns on the surface, there’s a limitless, festering putrescence ready to boil
through the icy cracks. How appropriate
that the long dormant Mammoth Grinder rises
from the tomb to unleash classic death metal in the midst of this strange, damp
season.
Mammoth Grinder isn’t some newfangled blackened tech fusion
melodic death metal. This is Neanderthal
music, meant to crush, rend, rip and destroy to. In less than 30 minutes, this Paleolithic
power trio blast out 11 tunes that don’t reinvent the wheel – they lay waste to
anything so civilized as that nonsense. From
the opening salvos of “Grimmenstein”,
the emphasis on filthy low end tones pairs perfectly with bassist-vocalist
Chris Ulsh’s cave troll vocals.
Throughout “Cosmic Crypt”,
Ulsh sounds like he’s bellowing from the deepest underground chambers, daring
you to come face the horrors within.
Drummer Ryan Parrish, meanwhile, alternates between hardcore influenced,
straightforward metal beats, complemented by precise, slick fills. Mark Bronzino is definitely copping from the
old school, post-thrash vanguard (a la Slayer and Possessed) of shrill, whammy bar throttling leads – but he
does it so damn good, who would complain?
Aspiring rhythm riffers would do well to study his no frills, catchy as
fuck style.
The standout tracks here are the most
frenetic: punky thrash death rager “Blazing
Burst”; “Divine Loss”, that
turns on a dime from 6/8 dirge to straightforward death (with some nice
rhythmic eccentricities smattered here and there); and “Human is Obsolete” – which trudges through a deliciously sludgy
intro and has a simple but hypnotic guitar solo. The final one-two punch of “Rotting Robes” and “Cosmic Crypt” is an excellent crescendo
of fury on an already solid record. “Rotting Robes” is your standard death
metal before throwing in this beautifully rude, swaggering riff, riding on the
excellent rhythm section. The titular,
final track is definitely elevated by Ulsh unleashing his most unhinged
vocals. Not to be outdone, Bronzino lays
down his most restrained, memorable solo.
It’s easy to see why, with an unmatched performance, Mammoth Grinder closes the eponymous record with this
mini-masterpiece. And before you know it, the seething decay has receded.
Mammoth Grinder doesn’t wear you out with any extended
bullshit. They come to unleash slaughter
and crawl back into whatever nightmare dungeons they lurk in when not
decimating unwitting victims. I hope to
hell we get more filthy death from this trio before 2023, but at least I know
they’re lurking at the edges, ready to erupt when the world seems sterile and just
too serene.
“Cosmic Crypt” is
available here
