Weekend Nachos : "Apology"

I have always thought this band's name was silly so never listened to them. I know they have a fan base that  has been looking forward to this release so I'll give it a shot for you guys. Most grind-core and power-violence clocks in at under three minutes so this five and a half minute opener is a bit of an oddity.It doesn't take long for the dense rumbling which is very heavy to turn into into a blur of riffs. With music that is so heavy, the first song runs you over with sheer intensity then i generally ask myself ...o.k, now what else can they do? I realize not every one asks this much of the music they consume. When I was younger I didn't either. When I got into metal thrash was the heaviest thing going. It was not until "Scream Bloody Gore" came out and the rise of death metal that this changed. i have described in this blog my interest in this and band's like Morbid Angel, Deicide, Nocturnus, Obituary and Cancer. I liked the darker more Satanic flavors more than punk, though I was into Black Flag, Bad Brains and Suicidal Tendencies, but my interest in punk stopped with D.R.I and the Cro-mags. Though Storm Troopers of Death, who helped spawn this sort of thing, got tons of play time on my walk-man. When you get into "Judged" it's evident these guys ow more to Storm Troopers of Death, but there is no where near the song writing to get me invested into this like I was when "Speak English or Die" came out.

"Writhe" digs into gritty heaviness, but the momentum is punk like in the chaotic outburst sometimes coiling into more groove laden riffs that impress for a minute. The golden rule around here is "cool riffs alone do not make good songs" this comes down hard on band's like this who have no interest in melody or dynamics that do not involve shades of fast. They are plenty angry 'NARC" should convince you of this, this is a monochrome range of emotion. It mutes the aggression, like a crying baby you've tried to comfort eventually you tune it out. They grab my attention for "World Genocide", but the vocals on every song are the same angry bark. The guitar tone never changes. Every thing feels very flat to me. Some of their best attempts at song writing take place on the more mid-paced 'Night Plains". The first appearance of melody is found in the layered guitar of the title track that closes the album.  But this drones on the same sluggish bashing for ten minutes.

 This is their final album, if you have stuck around with them up to this point, then this is your thing and you can go back to breathing in the sweet fumes of your Elmers. I'll give this one a 4. These guys might continue to push grind-core into the metal mainstream, but it doesn't do much for me.