Blast Worship: Heinous

Where they from?
Phoenix, Arizona. I for one am just so glad that this band is not from New Jersey. I feel like the last twelve million bands I’ve written about for this column have been from New Jersey and I am honestly struggling to come up with anything new to say about that wretched state. Arizona is cool, I guess, I did once drive through Flagstaff and it literally looked and felt like Mars. Then I ate at a Cracker Barrel. I think that’s pretty much the best you’re going to get out America’s 48th state.

What do they sound like?
Grueling, groovy, grimy, goregrind.

Why the hype?
I’m not normally the kind of person that needs to see a band live in order to be sold on them but this very much was the case with Heinous. I had some familiarity with their work prior to seeing them at last month’s Necrofest in Brooklyn but had not paid them too much attention due to the seemingly never ending onslaught of grind and powerviolence that is thrown my way by various friends and strangers from the internet.

I’ve seen a lot of top notch bands these past two months but man, did these guys stand out. Equal parts fun and crushing, it was the rare infectious live set that actually made me want to pay more attention to a band. I might even dare say that it allowed me to finally understand what this whole wave of goofy groove grind is all about: less emphasis on strict adherence to traditional grind principles and more emphasis on wearing sunglasses on indoors. Their set captivated an otherwise tepid Brooklyn crowd, which is no small feat.

Latest album?
The Basement – Slowed from this past March, but all week I’ve been listening to the album they released the month prior, Apprehended Dead. The band’s style is basically a mix of old death/grind clichés in the vein of Bolt Thrower, Mortician and Carcass, but the breakdowns (or “grooves” or “slams” or whatever) are just so fucking thick and lumbering you can’t help but do the caveman nod even if you’re listening on the subway. I mean just listen to the beginning of “Juggernaut” and try not punching the ground full Neanderthal style. This is not music that reinvents the wheel in any sense, but god damn, is it one good fucking wheel.

Bandcamp