The Pitch: "Progressive grindcore" from France's Grind-O-Matic. "This album tries to draw the line against technological innovations, on subjects amongst transhumanism, robotics, artificial intelligence, connected devices, and others. Ethical, ecological limits which we should all be aware of, to avoid an accelerated degeneration of mankind." FFO: Scalpel, The Apex, Pysopus
What I Like: I wasn't sure what to make of a band calling themselves "progressive grindcore;" an oxymoron if I ever heard one. But if anyone pulls it off in the end it's Grind-O-Matic. After a very Behold... The Arctopus sounding intro, the band gets down to business. Yes, the blastbeats, noisy riffs, and short track lengths scream grind, but between the lines is a jazzy, prog-ridden foundation that folds it all into one cohesive concept. It's half vicious assault, half psychedelic acid trip. Vocals are an ugly smattering of barks, howls, and death growls that show little remorse for the pain that they are inflicting. The bass guitar brings down the house on clanky trudgers like "The Methuselah Mouse Prize" as the guitars crank out riff after riff of Calculating Infinity-era Dillinger hopped up on PCP. This all captures the atmosphere of dystopian, technological bleakness perfectly, right down to the recitation of Isaac Assimov's Three Laws of Robotics.
Critiques: Understand that this album is a challenge. It takes a few listens to allow the ears to adjust. Even so, it's likely to wear you down at certain points. I suppose that's less a complaint than a disclaimer.
The Verdict: Regular Singularity is a technical, violent agent of destruction. It will beat you down for sport and leave your wallet behind. I never thought that the worlds of grindcore and progressive could so perfectly collide, but Grind-O-Matic grabs the spectrum by its poles and makes a f#$king pretzel out of it.
Flight's Fav's: Nutcracker, Ignorance Day, Rambot
- Review by FlightOfIcarus
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