RockBox - [Request] GridLink - 2011

[Request] GridLink - 2011 - Orphan

Technical grindcore from USA, latest full-length album released in 2011.

Rampaging forth like furious pit bull on PCP, Gridlink’s sophomore effort offers some of the most ferocious and in your face grind in quite some time. Really though, there’s no denying the level of commitment Jon Chang has brought to this scene. With quality releases from Discordance Axis, Hayaino Daisuki and Gridlink Chang has now proven himself to be one grindcore’s top contributors. Practically anything this man involves himself in you can expect to be blown the fuck away. I’ve always considered Gridlink to be the bastard hybrid of those two aforementioned bands. From the furious blasting and angular riffs of Discordance Axis to the high paced thrashing of Hayaino Daisuki, Gridlink offers both in spades. 2008 saw the release of Amber Gray, an album that left die-hard grind fanatics everywhere salivating at the mouth. Three years later, Chang and co. return with another brilliant slab of no-frills grind.

To put it bluntly, Orphan is pretty much just a continuation of Amber Gray. The short runtime, compact songs, and abstract lyrics are still kept all intact. Of course one of the things you can always rely on is Chang’s trademark vocals, which are screeches of the most deranged and tortured kind. Back when Discordance Axis were still active Chang often alternated between low guttural emissions to his agonizing shrieks which can be heard today. On the Gridlink releases it looks like Chang’s vocals have been permanently set to shriek mode. Imagine if you will all of the world’s hatred and disgust condensed into one album. This man’s vocals are so assfuckingly insane it would strip the varnish off a goddamn cello. What also sets Gridlink apart from the rest of the grindcore hordes are the riffs themselves. Takafumi Matsubara has an interesting style in that he melds both dissonance and melody, making the riffs extremely memorable and almost hypnotic. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out if they’ve drawn influences from black metal. Take the title track for example. In all my years of listening to grind I don’t think I’ve ever heard riffs that sounded this clever. The fluidity of his playing also glues the songs together. At no point does any of the riffs sound haphazardly pasted or thrown together. Lastly, no Grindlink album would ever be complete without the mention of Brian Fajardo, which currently holds the distinct position as my favorite grind drummer of all time. The sheer, blistering speed and powerful fills are the audio equivalent of taking a jackhammer to the skull. In short, no superlatives would ever do justice to Brian’s incredible drumming prowess. This man is stunningly talented.

2011 is already shaping up to be a stellar year for grindcore, as evidenced by such awesome releases from Wormrot, Maruta, Rotten Sound and now Gridlink. Hearing the new Rotten Sound had me originally decide Cursed as the grindcore exemplar of the year, but Gridlink really, REALLY leveled the playing field with this one. Orphan is a release, that given enough time, might just become the genre-defining classic that made albums such as Horrified and FETO so revered. So to top it all, there’s absolutely no excuse for a fan of extreme music to not own this album. Buy it, listen to it, have your brains liquefied and be happy Gridlink reduced you to the sniveling piece of shit that you are.

GridLink At MySpace

It will take me longer to write this review than it would take you to listen to Gridlink's Orphan. Yes, this is grindcore, and it's very good.

Gridlink is from New Jersey, and the album is their second full-length. I still hesitate to call a 12 minute album a full-length, but I guess that passes in grindcore circles. Despite the short runtime, it has as much aggression and riffage as a 40 minute thrash album. All the fat is trimmed, and each song is as short as it could possibly be. They do fall into the cliche of recording a less than 10 second "song" (thanks a lot, Napalm Death), and it might as well not even exist, but the rest of the album is thoroughly engaging and bewildering.

Unlike other grind bands, Gridlink goes full throttle the whole way through. There are no heavy breakdowns (none of the songs breaks the 1:30 mark), just screeching furious talons in your face. And it all does screech, in the most maniacal way possible. The riffs are excellent, and they stick around long enough to let you groove to them, but never long enough that you'll get used to them, ensuring that subsequent listens are just as bewildering. And it gets better with each listen.

The only track which breaks out of the formula for a moment is "Flatworlder", which sounds more like black metal at double-time than a typical grindcore track. But "Thorn Farmer" sticks out as a highlight among an album full of excellent songs.

The Verdict: I'm no grind expert, but even I can call this one early: best grind album of 2011.

As requested by a fellow member from New Zealand!

Grindcore

Technical Grindcore

Vbr

27.88 MB

12 files

19/06/2011

Seed(s): 0, Leecher(s): 1 = 1 Peer(s)

26/04/2019 20:50:34