Where they from?
Toronto, Canada. Wow, what an interesting week it’s been. It feels kind of strange to even be writing about grindcore right now, but one of the tenants I have always adhered to is that “grind is protest” and I can honestly say that it’s been really inspiring to see the amount of people within this community step up and speak out against racism and participate in this current wave of protests in a variety of ways. That being said, the Toronto Maple Leafs are the New York Mets of the NHL and I never really “got” Drake.
Why the hype?
Noisegrind, let’s talk about it. I have found that most bands add noise elements to their music to cover up certain deficiencies. Let’s say your drummer really can’t play a blast beat but you still want to call yourself a grindcore band, well, just add a bunch of feedback to the vocals and BOOM, you got noisegrind.
Of course this all changed when Full of Hell came onto the scene as they took a more serious and artistic approach to the noise aspects of their music but there still were quite a number of bands that utilized noise in the most LAZY manner possible.
Enter Holy Grinder, a noisegrind band who are a BAND first and noise vessel second. What I mean by that is this is a band who write actual songs with dynamic changes and flow that uses noise and soundscapes within the song structure so that you feel like you’re listening to actual music rather than a bunch of teenagers in their basement recording their washing machine convinced they are reinventing the concept of “heavy music”.
Latest Release?
Divine Extinction. Here’s something I’ve never said in regards to a noisegrind album before: CHECK OUT THOSE FUCKING RIFFS, BABY! From the opening salvo of “Heretic” to the sinister groove of “Knurling Flesh,” this album is chock full of some serious beatdowns and lacerations. Also, the bass tone (there is no guitar) is actually perfect, as it captures all the scraping treble that a six string would normally fulfill while retaining the pummeling bulldozer of a low end. Also, the vocals are great. NOISE GRIND POWER DEATH.
