Recession Indicator: Woundflower - "Privatized Collapse" EP Review

Prologue

    "It was a mild and gray winter afternoon that February day at the Nashville City Cemetery in 2024. The drizzling rain hazed the sky as the surrounding trees fragmented the last of the setting sun's dull light. The caretaker removed the key from the brass padlock on the door of the unassuming mausoleum. Stepping back, the man dropped the key in the breast pocket of his coveralls with one hand, and with the other, retrieved a matchbox from the pocket of his flannel lined jacket. He tilted his head down, struck a match, careful to shield it from the wet mist. He circled the rim of the pipe with the flame, sipping the stem as the tobacco caught. He looked up sharply, his eyes squinting from the thick white bellows of smoke, and looked upon the surname engraved above the entry of the tomb. 'Damn shame, that,' he said in condolence to nobody but himself. He turned his head to spit, his eyes never leaving the tall, long letters cut into the stone. 

    Finally, the man turned to walk away, only making it a few paces before something stopped him. A noise? A loud cracking noise? Did it come from the vault behind him? He slowly turned back around to face the mausoleum, the walls now streaked with channels of a light rain. The man removed his pipe from his mouth in an unconscious effort to hone his senses and focus. The wind rose, shaking the surrounding trees and clattered their branches as if to signal to the caretaker that they had been the culprits of his long inquisitorial gaze upon the mausoleum. Satisfied with his flights of fancy being so immediately put to bed, the man once again turned and continued on his way—if not a hair faster." 

    Following their 2021 swansong release, Bury Them In The Graves They Dug For You, the tragic and untimely demise of Nashville's sludgy, noise-grind outfit Bled To Submission came in early 2024. Those remaining shadows and wraiths not corporeally bound to the band's mortal remains reconstituted themselves under the name Woundflower. This new entity proved itself faster, meaner and absent of clemency. 

    No strangers to this blog, Woundflower return once again with their brand new EP, Privatized Collapse. The band's prior release, 2024's Misery, was Woundflower's debut full-length and established the band's mix of burnt hardcore, noise, and grind-violence. Here now, within Privatized Collapse, Woundflower have seemingly strengthened their resolve and focused anew on their unbridled rage and fierce vitriol for contemporary humanity.

    From the word go, Privatized Collapse is blasting straight malice and spittle into your face. The EP is a mix of balefully brutal harsh noise and grindviolence—rabid and whetted—lean and focused. It's a claustrophobically manic expression of bitter disgust, traumatic grief, and blinding outrage. It's an indictment of the societal anguish during the last death throes of capitalism. It's a record about the suffocating helplessness as we watch the political climate turn from bad to worse to totalitarianism.

    Beyond its lyrical and emotional themes of civil unrest and dystopian dread, Privatized Collapse is a pummeling and aggressive musical tableau of driving force. The EP is as dynamic as it is savage. Its compositions are full of right angles and trap doors designed to mislead listeners and keep them on their toes without betraying the band's bare-knuckle take on the grind-violence subgenre. The listening experience is a surge of constricting turns like a Tron Light Cycle racing through blind channels at breakneck speed.

    Drummer and the perpetual motion machine, Ross Winchel, is responsible for hurling every track through Privatized Collapse's sinuous and canted landscape. Whether it's the battering blast beats or the sledgehammering hardcore slugs, Winchel somehow keeps each song consistent and kinetic. His woodblock-toned snare drum and solid impactful kick drum are toned perfectly to ride above the distortion and noise.

    Isaiah Rodriguez's guitarwork is a hardcore chugging maze of discordant bleating, thrashing knots, and and cheesy metal divebombs. His scratchy scrambles and skittering riffs are schizophrenically fast. The chords climb over one another in a frenzy, barely manifesting themselves before breaking and turning. The guitar's only semblance of steady repetition is its hardcore plodding mosh riffs that only last long enough to corrall you through the song's more obvious twists and turns before leading you into a wall of feedback and pinch harmonics. Rodriguez weaves a noisy web of crushing violence and distorted momentum that seemingly gets better the more releases he stacks under his belt. 

    Jesse Weilburg's bass is not as distinct and domineering as it was on Misery, instead, it's regulated more towards the background. The bass's gnarled, distorted tone creates a thick backbone to the songs without overtly overshadowing the other instruments, yet it is upfront during solos and the intro to the titular track, "Privatized Collapse." 

    Like flies swarming a corpse, the strident needling noise, similar to that of a dentist drill, is often buzzing around the basslines and noise tracks. The "dentist drill" effect is a holdover from Bled To Submission and is a familiar throughline that is as much of the band's lineup as any of the physical members. 

    Speaking of the song, "Privatized Collapse," I don't think I remember a song in recent memory, or ever, that is so blatantly antagonistic. The song's introduction is a sludgy patterned noisy bassline and a drumming stomp that loops at an escalating and quickening pace. In my opinion, it plays as a sinisterly sardonic jest of what is expected of the powerviolence genre. It subverts the formula by turning it into a mocking caricature of the genre. More than that, it seems just plain malevolent and I don't fully trust it. 

     

    Privatized Collapse's harsh noise elements are primarily confined to two tracks—one midway through the EP and another at the end. "Serrated Corridor" is a thirty-second static television screen of shrill, digital regurgitative hacking. While EP closer, "Too Empty To Be Endured," is a sonic atmospheric horrorscape. Starting out, it sounds like the struggle of a moldered hand-crank phonograph playing the tune of an aboriginal bullroarer. The track slowly introduces a warbling drone that grows in intensity alongside an increasingly howling wind. As it picks up, we can hear the rhythmically snapping of twigs and the sweeping of metal chains. Like something from The Blair Witch Project, the ambient dread gradually climaxes in a mix of earthen noises and cyber static. You can picture the dark scene lit with the halo of a flashlight as you're dragged through the dark, through the leaves, over the roots and eventually into the dirt. The garbled cacophony eats you alive before the whole thing pixels away.

    I happened to be listening to the track once when I picked the kid up from school. She initially asked if I was listening to a haunted house soundtrack (which isn't completely out of pocket in this family.) She listened to it in silence all the way home until the track was over, at which point she wanted to listen to it again. You can take that for what it's worth. 

    On the surface, Privatized Collapse is an amazing sounding EP. It's production is more even-keeled than Misery's bass-sentric mix. It's an inspired release and an enjoyable listen. As a record, it perfectly encapsulates the power-heavy and grating onslaught of Woundflower's blistering grind-violence. Imagine if Bled To Submission was run over by an eighteen-wheeler that was driven by Eastwood, their corpse then buried in the Pet Sematary filled with the sour dirt of Stimulant—that's Woundflower's Privatized Collapse. 

    However, underneath, Privatized Collapse is an invective and spiteful critique of the American Dream and the dreamers within it. I believe something about it is evil or, at the least, cruel. Whatever the case, I think Privatized Collapse is probably one of the best releases of the year.  

Epilogue

    "That young couple with the flowers were dead; the caretaker knew that. They had to be. He didn't see it, but he had heard it as he ran away. What he did see was that teenager—the one in all black—the 'looky-loo,' as the caretaker privately referred to him. He saw him at the cemetery often, rubbing chalk and paper on headstones. Today, he saw him as those 'things' from the mausoleum dig into him. He saw the flesh go and the blood pour. He saw those 'things' taking him apart. 

    BANG! The slam against the outside of the workshed door brought the caretaker back. He had the double-barrel shotgun broken open at an angle in the crook of his arm, desperately trying to load the two shells that he had between the knuckles of his violently trembling hand. 

    BANG! The caretaker jumped, let out an embarrassing yelp, and dropped his ammunition at his feet. He quickly knelt down on one knee, the shotgun cradled in his waist. He kept his eye fixed on the door pounding in front of him as his one free hand frantically searched blindly for the shells on the plywood of the floor. 

    BANG! His eyes begin to well up in frustration of his situation. 

    BANG! He knew these 'things'—these people—in life. He had cared for them in death. Now, they were something in between. 

    BANG! He wished he wasn't here. 

    BANG! He wished they would go away. 

    BANG! He found one cartridge and loaded a single barrel before snapping the long gun shut. 

    BANG! BANG! The door was quickly splintering into more of a symbolic barrier than a physical one.

    BANG! BANG! Still kneeling, he raised the shotgun at the entryway, faltered, and lowered the gun. 

    BANG! BANG! He fell back against the workbench with his legs splayed out in front of him. 

    BANG! BANG! BANG! He swung the two barrels around and tucked them under his chin. He threaded his thumb through the trigger guard. The caretaker squeezed. 

    BANG!!!"

    

FFO: Bled To Submission, Stimulant, Eastwood 

Listen to the album: https://woundflower.bandcamp.com/album/privatized-collapse

Scene Report: The Second Annual Texas Grind Fest

    As of this writing, we are a couple of weeks removed from 2026's Texas Grind Fest II, which took place on September 19th. Like the previous year, we find ourselves in the five-hundred block of East Abrams Street in Arlington, Texas. I parked between the Tarrant County Sub-Courthouse and a Fuzzy's Taco Shop. When I was a kid, that Fuzzy's was a NAPA Auto Parts, and next to it was Lone Star Comics. My father, brother, and I frequented Lone Star Comics often in the early to mid-90s, where I used to regularly purchase back issues of MAD Magazine and random action figures. Across the street was a shabby strip mall that had once served as the original location of Lone Star Comics but, by that point, had become Lone Star's annex storage building. I remember one Saturday, in a concrete lot behind the strip mall, they had a massive sidewalk sale, complete with raffles and giveaways. That strip mall has now been renovated and is home to Growl Records and Division Brewing Pizza Kitchen, among other businesses. As for the lot where the sidewalk sale was held, it's now the home of the last two consecutive Texas Grind Fests. 

Irving Lopez

    Over the past few years Growl Records and Division Brewery have made a point of creating a space for local independent performing bands and artists, so it didn't take long before the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex punk and metal scenes made something of a tentative home of the joint establishments.

    Probably one of the most important grindcore show promoters in DFW would have to be Dallas musician and grindcore workhorse, Irving Lopez (Trucido, Real Life Ugly, Cognizant, Anomalous Mind Engineering.) He, alongside local scene players: Jakob Barron, Jay Gutierrez, and Will Colley, established the grindcore booking agency, For The Love Of Grind. Their goal was to create a reliable DFW grindcore scene that would foster both quality shows with touring acts as well as a healthy community based on positivity and inclusivity. With the multiple stages, readily available food, libations, and plenty of space, the Division Brewing triad was the perfect venue option for the Texas Grind Fest.

    Last year's Texas Grind Fest was a marked success. All the sets went smoothly and ran on time, there was a great turnout, and we, the audience, were treated to a truly noteworthy and historical event in North Texas grindcore. 

    "Last year went really smooth, despite the heat. This year we will have a tent on the outside stage and an extension for two drum sets on one stage, rather than doing inside and outside stages," Irving refers to this year's Grind Fest. "We did have some financial bumps on the road, but luckily we are able to front all the flight tickets and what not this year."

Bryan Fajardo & Frank Faerman

   In 2025, Texas Grind Fest took place on two stages—one indoors, inside Growl Records, and a second on the outdoor stage in the courtyard behind Division Brewing. The amount of setup time saved between bands was crucial for keeping the festival's tight schedule on time. This year's utilization of the single outdoor stage was by far the most obvious difference in the show's planning compared to last year. Like Irving said, the stage hosted two drum kits; a black and chrome DW kit and a multicolored hodgepodge, Franken-kit that were set up upstage left and upstage right, respectively. I think the goal here was to set up one kit while a band performed on the other. Throughout the show, kits were continuously broken down and reassembled like GoBots (Google it.) Heading up this task were in-house drum techs, Bryan Fajardo (Trucido, Cognizant, Barren Path, Noisear) and Frank Faerman (Cryptic Void, Mutual Hate, Wound Stench, Insect Warfare.)  

    Entering the festival just before two o'clock on September nineteenth, via a small cross street, I walked between the two rows of vendor canopies lined up and down either side of the lot. The vendor booths showcased handmade jewelry, custom skateboard decks, entomology art, live screen printing, and more. One of these vendors was my good friend and prior bandmate, Hunter Daggett (Mouth Breather, Downpour), who was selling patches and T-shirts through his silk screening business, Hellmouth Distro, with all proceeds going towards the out-of-state bands. 

    Past the modest single-table ticket booth, entering into the courtyard proper, a large, segmented canopy lined with garden lights hung over industrial-sized wooden spools upended into tables. Past that was an elevated stage covered by a twenty foot, high-peak tent anchored by massive concrete blocks. To the right of the stage was an alley that led out to Main Street and the face of Division Brewing. It is here that the bands loaded-in equipment and fanned out their merch on picnic tables and additional wooden spools. The sun was oppressive, but the heat only heightened the sweet aroma of Division Brewing Pizza Kitchen's brick oven pizza that hung in the air throughout the evening. 

    As I was helping set up the Hellmouth Distro booth, Irving took to the mic to thank those in attendance and the bands who came all that way before introducing the festival with a sneeze-and-you'd-miss-it noise set from Noise Militant. And after what we all assumed was a sound check, the fest kicked off in full. This year there were no big speeches or flowers given to any local pioneering punk scene philanthropists or guest speeches from the grindcore vanguards of yore. Being that the proverbial bottle was already broken against the ship the year prior, it seems like it was all business this year.

Pain God

    The official 2026 lineup of Texas Grind Fest II included: Noise Militant (TX), Imminent End (TX),  Wound Stench (TX), Pain God (TX), Real Life Ugly (TX), Mutual Hate (TX), Mormon Mincers (CA), Tripas Sangrientas (CA), Thieves (CA), Human Obliteration (CA), Bladda (TX), Bandit (PA), Metrorrhagia (TX), Blastochist (TX), Happy Pill Trauma (CA), Trucido (TX), Fermented Mess (NY), Fake Dust (OR), Shitstorm (FL), Archagathus (CAN). 

Real Life Ugly

    The lineup was absolutely stacked. I heard the term "blast clinic" thrown around multiple times. I tried to get my own rendition of "drumming blaster-class" to catch on, but I was frequently asked to stop saying it. The exceptionality of the drumming performances this year was frankly undeniable. As excited as I was for the bands that I was looking forward to seeing, there were almost just as many bands that I was unfamiliar with. (You can take away my grind card, but I swear, the more bands I hear about, the fewer I know.) Like last year, the bill was front loaded with Texas bands, predominantly from the Houston and Austin areas—two cities that produce a lot of bands in the genre. 

    The first band to really grab my attention was Houston's Wound Stench. Their technical death-grind seemed way too polished and proficient for a band that I wasn't familiar with, especially considering Frank Faerman was behind the kit. It wasn't until much later that I realized that Wound Stench was Apocalyptic Noise Syndicate. I hadn't seen the band live for the better part of a decade and I was obviously unaware of the name change. Despite the egg on my face, Wound Stench played a great set and I got to experience that rare, yet exhilarating feeling of finding an amazing new band at a show, only in this case, I ultimately already knew them.     

Mutual Hate

    Also hailing from the Texas Gulf Coast, Houston's Mutual Hate was another notable set of the day. A fairly recently formed band, Mutual Hate features members of Cryptic Void, who had an amazing performance at last year's Grind Fest. The band is yet another of Houston's supergroups featuring Frank Faerman and Stephen Bower, alongside Kenny Perkins. I think I originally saw these guys during their tenure in Dissent a lifetime ago, possibly at The Alamo in Fort Worth. Either way, I always pay attention when I see Stephen Bower's tall frame take the stage because it's usually a healthy indicator that something heavy is coming.   

Mormon Mincers

    One of the most fun sets of the day was that of California's Mormon Mincers. I had sadly missed the band when they came through Dallas previously, so I was pretty pleased to see them listed on the lineup. The two-piece were clad in Mormon missionary cosplay, complete with black "Elder" name tags, white balaclavas (I remind you, it was an outdoor show and ninety-six-degree heat.) and matching white instruments with gold hardware. Mormon Mincers' blatantly mocking, sacrilegious set was played for laughs, yet was a cerebrally subversive satire aimed at the morally dubious, cult-like atmosphere surrounding religion as a whole. Extremely tight and religiously rehearsed, it was one goddamn hell of a show. Hallelujah.

Bandit: 
Hydrogen Psychosis -
"Crazy Eye"

    Anyone who has seen Philadelphia's Bandit knows that they put on a high-energy, sometimes vomitous, live performance, and their set at Texas Grind Fest was no different. Jack McBride's dizzyingly technical guitar work and Gene Meyer's charismatically unhinged vocal performance gave big Pig Destroyer vibes. It's always an entertaining experience seeing them perform. However, new drummer Surya Pun (Chepang) drew my attention to the side of the stage to watch his show-stealing performance. His speed and blasting power were—in the truest sense of the words—awesome to behold. The band's adept and discordant take on the genre seemed elevated with Surya on the drums

    I regret not chatting up Gene Meyer out of a misplaced sense of camaraderie; since we are both grindcore music critics, only he is more successful, more handsome, and chemically balanced, and I really wish my girlfriend would please stop referring to him as such.

Fermented Mess

    I'm desperately struggling not to drag this out by reviewing every band that played, yet I cannot stress how truly remarkable every band on the bill was. Human Obliteration was a bucket-list band and was one of the more impressive gets for the fest, in my opinion. I witnessed Portland's Fake Dust live for the first time and I was instantly smitten. They were easily one of the best bands of the day. Meanwhile, locals Real Life Ugly and Trucido were solid as fuck as always. 

    However, I would be extremely remiss if I didn't talk about Fermented Mess out of Long Island. Many of you recommended their self-titled album for last year's top-ten list of best albums. I usually take goregrind with a grain of salt, but I feel like I need to apologize to those who were in the know. Fermented Mess were brutal in the flesh. They easily had the most blast-dense set of the night, and drummer Cameron Ty was just a human shaped-blur. Genuinely insane. I wish the band had better T-shirts, or I would have for sure bought one.

Shitstorm

    The band I was most keen on seeing since their announcement was Miami-Dade's Shitstorm, and they did not disappoint. Like the hurricanes of their homeland, their songs of noisy hardcore, powerviolence, and grindcore were violent cyclones that flooded the stage with blasting intensity. Their enthralled and fierce stage presence, as well as their complete disregard for their instruments, suggested a veteran level of punk rock showmanship. They ended their set with blinding, distorted peals of feedback as they put the microphone against the guitar pickups and then leaned the guitar into the crowd with complete abandon.

Archagathus

    True to Irving's word, Texas Grind Fest is bringing in international acts. Headlining this year's fest were Canadian mincecore legends Archagathus. They were probably one of the last bands I would expect to see in my old hometown. With over eighty releases across their twenty year influential career, Archagathus will always be a feather in the cap of Texas Grind Fest. As humble as they were zealous, the band seemed genuinely excited to be there, and they blasted the night to a close.

Shitstorm

    Irving was right when he said last year did go smoothly, and, at least from an outside perspective, it went near perfect. Other than some troublemakers in the pit, 2025's Texas Grind Fest was practically immaculate. In comparison, this year's fest was not as fortunate. Audience attendance was noticeably fewer than last year. Whether it was because many locals were on tour or out of town, the severe heat, or just that the novelty of the event had worn off for casual attendees, the crowd was unfortunately lacking. In addition, this year suffered some minor technical difficulties with the audio and lighting, the latter having more to do with drunken, Doobie Brothers-looking, antagonistic, mustachioed moshers in short-shorts constantly slamming people against the stage lighting truss. These are all standard fare for any show, no matter how large or small, and are unavoidable and ultimately inconsequential. 

    However, a venue bathroom was vandalized with a paint pen and staff at Division Brewery were none too pleased. "Y'all must really not want sick punk bands next year in Dallas. Seriously [it] doesn't make sense to do this shit at a spot that is literally helping us bring in sick bands from outside of the country," Irving railed on social media afterwards. It's no secret that Irving has been eyeing Japanese bands for future Texas Grind Fests and DFW shows. Jeopardizing such a welcoming and providing venue is surely not helping. 

    All the bands paid tribute to Irving and company for providing the opportunity and all their hard work, while also championing both the festival and the Texas grindcore scene. All of the out-of-state bands also had trouble understanding how Texas natives could exist within the Texas summer heat. I, myself, enjoyed it immensely. I love the bands, I love the blast beats, I love-ninety-plus-degree weather, and I love seeing and talking with old friends. While I have no idea how financially successful the event was, I can only assume bands were paid and promoters recouped. Hopefully, venue relations aren't tarnished and new bands will still be excited to come in the future. If there's a Texas Grind Fest III, I'll be there. 

Helpful links:

For The Love Of Grind/Texas Grind Fest: https://www.instagram.com/fortheloveofgrind/

Growl Records: https://www.instagram.com/growl_records_tx/

Division Brewing: https://divisionbrewing.com/

Imminent End: https://imminentend.bandcamp.com/

Wound Stench: https://woundstench.bandcamp.com/ 

Pain God: https://paingod.bandcamp.com/

Real Life Ugly: https://reallifeugly.bandcamp.com/
Mutual Hate: https://mutualhategrind.bandcamp.com/album/atrocity-apparatus
Mormon Mincers: https://dmtrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/upcoming-split-with-agathocles

Tripas Sangrientas: https://cdnrecords.bandcamp.com/album/crude-autopsy-examinations

Thieves: https://thieves420.bandcamp.com/

Human Obliteration: https://humanobliterationgrind.bandcamp.com/music

Bladda: https://bladda.bandcamp.com/album/heinous-methods-of-cranial-disposal

Bandit: https://banditgutterpunk.bandcamp.com/music

Metrorrhagia: https://metrorrhagia.bandcamp.com/

Happy Pill Trauma: https://happypilltrauma.bandcamp.com/music

Trucido: https://trucidogrind.bandcamp.com/

Fermented Mess: https://fermentedmess.bandcamp.com/

Fake Dust: https://fakedust1.bandcamp.com/ 

https://ironlungrecords.bandcamp.com/album/decrepitizing-din-of-the-cerebral-psyopticon-lungs-320

Shitstorm: https://miamigrindcore.bandcamp.com/music

Archagathus: https://archagathus.bandcamp.com/music

Hellmouth Distro: https://www.etsy.com/shop/HellmouthDistro

Split Level Housing: Estinzione/Klava Split CD Review

     I was trying to think of a turn of phrase to connect William Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona to "The Two Bands From Bologna"—a pun that I'm sure I could have figured into something. However, I then remembered how truly problematic that play is. Anyways, Bologna, Italy's Estinzione and Klava teamed up for a split back in 2025. A modest five tracks between them, both Estinzione and Klava both dole out a heavy, low-end mix of crust-caked grindcore. 

    Estinzione recently formed in 2023 and has quickly begun elbowing their way through the Italian crust and grindcore scene. The band released a lengthy 2024 demo tape—a raw piece of political D-beat with dizzying guitar and a Ramones cover—followed by a 2025 split with Klava. Most recently the band released a live recording, Live in Piumazzo, in February 2026.

    Estinzione's side of the split offers three movements of the "Endless Dark Age" entitled "Kali Yuga Infinito I," "II," and "III." Each movement has a prolonged subtitle with wording pertaining to some conceptual, apocalyptic, Lovecraftian cosmic ritualism that I won't pretend to understand or interpret, yet I'm sure are full of socio-political allusions. The songs are booming with touting bass, retro-punk swirling guitar, gruff vocals, and single-foot-stomping D-beat.

 

    The band's strongest and most dynamic song would have to be the second movement, "Kali Yuga Infinito II." Clocking in at two and a half minutes, this track is by far the band's longest song on the split and is a smorgasbord of their influences. Apart from the skittering blast beats and crusty grime, the song has an overt death metal swagger with hardcore undertones. In a departure from their 2024 demo, Estinzione's vocals are much lower and more guttural this time around. "Kali Yuga Infinito II's" thrashing two-step drum beats, the metallic mid-tempo pacing and the vocals remind me very much of Los Angeles' Brujeria. The vocals are so similar to Brujeria's Juan Brujo that I kept expecting a "Pinches polleros que viven pa' feria" after the intro. Yet, Estinzione tapped into that aforementioned dynamism by not only employing high and low vocals, but some well-implemented pig squeals as well. 

    If there was ever a perfect match for Estinzione it would be Klava. Beyond the obvious relation by proximity, both bands have an extremely similar penchant for brutal, bass-toting crustcore. Much like their neighbors in Estinzione, Klava released a demo tape in 2024. Also like Estinzione it was much more of a low-fi and raw recording, sounding like an almost blown-out MIDI thrashcore. 

    Klava's two songs on this split are on theme with the metallic crust and groove-laden hardcore. Their songs have a hard-hitting bounce and an extremely solid rhythm section, and not just figuratively. The galloping clap of the drums are at the forefront of the mix, which is sonically an improvement above their demo. The alternating mid paced snare and kick have a cracking, tactile impact. The guitar is a hairy distortion that is largely overshadowed by the tension-tight punch of the bass guitar. The mix of the bass and drums is like that of a volley of Black Cat firecrackers. 

    The vocals are low gravelly barks that are, in my opinion, reminiscent of Gwar's Sexecutioner. Klava's second track, "Eterna Illusione" could easily start with "To die, perchance, to sin, hahahaha, there's the rub." (There's your Shakespeare tie-in resolution.)

    This split CD between Estinzione and Klava is short but pretty solid. Both bands play a fairly similar brand of meat-and-potatoes crust and trudging hardcore that muscles its way into grindcore. You won't hear too many blast beats; instead, both bands rely on consistent and perpetually moving D-beat drumming, head-bobbing grooves, and reciprocating two-steps. Likewise, both bands' recordings are mixed in a heavy, bass-emphatic tone that gives the tracks a weighty bulk that sounds pretty pleasing.

    For Estinzione and Klava's first release after their prior demos, this split CD shows the growth of the bands and the solidifying of their sounds. Hopefully these two are working on full-lengths so we can see what they can do with some more time and elbow room. 

FFO: Brujeria, Força Macabra, Nashgul, Ratos de Porão

Listen to the album:

https://estinzione.bandcamp.com/album/estinzione-klava-split-2025

https://klavahc.bandcamp.com/track/eterna-illusione

Split Level Housing: HWA/Naiite Split CD Review

    The House Of Grindcore doesn't get a lot of submissions from the Korean Peninsula. In fact, up until last week, I don't think I have ever received a submission from Korea. Like many of you, I'm sure, I was not at all familiar with South Korea's extreme music scene. However, looking to change all that is Jane, lead singer of Korean grindcore band HWA, as well as an up-and-coming online influencer and social media creator based in Seoul, South Korea. Jane is working hard to raise global awareness about Seoul's punk, hardcore, metal, and grindcore underground communities via social media videos, interviews with bands, and international networking. And it was through Seoul's would-be grind ambassador that we were given the 2026 split CD between HWA and their fellow townsmen, Naiite.   

    HWA are a three piece, dissonant, guitar-driven grindcore band from Seoul that formed in 2024 and are heavily influenced by bands like Gridlink and Discordance Axis. Founding member and guitarist OCheolWang's shrill, angular riffing is obviously reminiscent of Takafumi Matsubara's work in various bands and solo endeavors. OCheolWang's guitarwork is a torrent of dizzyingly discordant and progressively proficient technical riffing. Like Matsubara, OCheolWang incorporates healthy doses of squawky jazz and melancholic melody.

    Capitalizing on OCheolWang's fretboard bonfire, Jane's fiercely hyper-pitched vocals emote over the songs with piercing barks. She occasionally reminds me of Closet Witch's Mollie Piatetsky, especially on HWA's track, "Hollow Face." Both Jane and Piatetsky wrangle the line of beauty and chaos and explore personal lyrics of vulnerability and despondency.

    HWA's other founding member, drummer GopChang, reinforces OCheolWang's zigzagging guitarwork. GopChang plays a hyphenate of mechanical stamping blast beats and rolling jazz fills. His chopping snare is a signature hole punch that will come into play more later in this review. 

    Also from Seoul, Naiite features vocalist Pepperman, bassist Askii, and HWA's OCheolWang on guitar and GopChang on drums. You would think that sharing such integral members would make the two bands nearly carbon copies of one another. However, Naiite does an excellent job maintaining a distinct and individual voice. Of the two bands, Naiite is more of a straightforward form of fret-heavy death-grind, much in the vein of bands like Pig Destroyer or Cognizant. OCheolWang's guitar is still spiralingly sharp and discordant, yet he tends to incorporate some warped power chords that ooze through the band's sludgier parts, like in the song, "Caress Triangle." Unlike HWA, Naiite intentionally incorporates the bass into the songwriting, giving the songs a more rounded and heavy fullness to them.

     GopChang's signature trampling blasts turn the tracklist into Swiss cheese, much akin to his prior work in HWA, yet his death metal, mid-tempo drumming emphasizes a weighty groove within Naiite's songs.

    Pepperman's vocals remind me of a slightly more unhinged version of Limp Wrist-era Martin Sorrondeguy, with the delirious cadence of Pig Destroyer's J.R. Hayes. His screams are generally paint-scrapingly consistent, yet you can hear him drag the depths of his vocal cords to accentuate what I'm sure is either anger or disgust. It sounds as if a skinned knee had a voice. 

   HWA's first half of the split offers eight tracks in just over ten minutes. Half the songs are remixed and remastered tracks from the band's previous 2025 demo with the addition of bass guitar tracking. The other half are newer songs recorded in May of 2026. HWA's portion is a technical and chaotic tangle of raw emotion and speed that goes down easy. HWA goes well alongside of any of Takafumi Matsubara or Jon Chang's projects. 

    Similarly, Naiite's side of the split is a combination of five previously released tracks from the band's 2025 demo alongside four new tracks recorded live at BBC Studios in February of this year. More chaotic but less jazzy than HWA, Naiite still manages to maintain an understated control over their tunneling musical mayhem. With no time for harmonious melodies, the band focuses instead on pure speed and fury. Naiite should please most fans of bands like Cognizant, Chadhel, Maruta, Pig Destroyer, and similar acts. 

FFO: Gridlink, Discordance Axis, Cognizant

Listen to the album: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQpVGGiuur0&list=RDuQpVGGiuur0&start_radio=1

HWA: https://hwagrind.bandcamp.com/album/hwa-naiite

Naiite: https://naiite.bandcamp.com/album/hwa-naiite

Vanilla Thunder Records: https://vanillathunderrecords.bandcamp.com/album/naiite-hwa

Split Level Housing: Chadhel/Massive Charge Split 7 Inch Review

    On an almost daily basis, I think about that scene from the 1993 summer blockbuster, Jurassic Park, in which Dr. Ian Malcolm—played by Jeff Goldblum—mutters the phrase, "Life finds a way." Obviously the character in the film is talking about the unstoppable engine of nature and evolution, but the way I internalize it is more of a predatory sense of fate. As if life will never fail to assert itself upon you in ways that are rarely welcomed. This summer was full of several setbacks and minor misfortunes. However, there was a particular evening that I found myself under the full thumb of the "life" experience. The kind of events that thicken the air of a room in which you don't walk into it, you force a path like a dull knife through a cheese block. Where the air has a sick heat to it and it makes your ears ring. It is the kind of life experience that quite literally has you sitting in the company of death—both of you watching and waiting.

    Fortunately, I currently find myself in the company of dear friends of the blog: the best in Québec, the Esoteric Order Of Dagon practitioners, the grinders Chadhel, and their brand-new split seven-inch with fellow francophones from across the Atlantic, Massive Charge. Undoubtedly, this is a record born from the friendships forged while Chadhel supported Massive Charge on their 2024 tour through Canada and Québec. We last saw Chadhel on the blog with a review of their 2023 split release with rabid dogs, Faché. This split marks Chadhel's first release since their much-acclaimed 2024 split with Hungarian crust-grinders, Jack. (I'm fairly certain there was supposed to be a review of that split, which may or may not be coming.) 

    Very much the opposite of my familiarity with the northern fish-god zealots, I have not heard of Massive Charge prior to this release. Formed in 2003, the French grinders released two full-lengths in 2007 and 2011 before a seemingly eight year hiatus. In 2019 and 2021 the band released a series of singles followed by their third full-length, For Those We Hate, in late 2021. After nearly two decades of releases that flew under my radar, Massive Charge's first release in almost five years has opportunely been brought to my attention.

    Chadhel, ever the formidable and proficiently tight grindcore unit, returns with four new songs on this, their latest, split EP. While delivering a performance just as intense and just as tight, the band is markedly different. According to the liner notes, the band consists of only two members: founding member GT provides guitar and vocals, while former lead vocalist Yan handles vocals and drums. Yan originally joined the band following the departure of founding vocalist JP, who took time away from Chadhel back in 2023. 

    GT's guitarwork is still as focused and sharp as ever. His shrill and discordant fretwork convulses up the fretboard like a power drill. The siren-like repetition is almost pushed to the limit before being pulled back into heavy crushing power chords. GT's rapid off-and-on palmuted riffing, particularly in the opening track, "Internal State Of Manic Rage" lashes out with a venomous ferocity. 

    Normally, I would make an obligatory comparison of Chadhel to that of Pig Destroyer, based primarily on both the adept guitarwork and rigid vocals of prior releases. However, I don't hear that here. Instead, the consistency of the monotonal, guttural vocals in tandem with the pinballing guitar reminds me more of bands like Meth Leppard.

    Obviously, this change in lineup resulted in an aberration in the band's songwriting and sound. I am not sure if it's psychological because of the two-piece lineup or not, but the songwriting on this EP sounds a little leaner. The band doesn't seem to venture far into arthouse dabblings or over-melodic experimentation. There's a sense of a stripped-down, nuts-and-bolts style of grindcore. Chadhel might be a few members down, but they are still just as fierce. 

    Unlike some of Chadhel's more polished and uber-produced past releases such as 2022's full-length, Failure//Downfall, this current split is comparably more raw and notably underproduced. The drumming seems more natural sounding without any of the usual triggers. The guitar distortion is extremely blown out and sizzling with static. 

    Chadhel only really suffered in the mastering of their tracks. Their side of the EP is lower in overall volume and is very bass-heavy. Turning up the volume to a more appropriate level might result in a headache-inducing strobing of the kick drum or some subwoofer trauma. I found that if you are capable of adjusting the equalization, turning the bass down about two-thirds, boosting the mids all the way up, and cranking the volume allows you to really appreciate the musicianship that much more. 

    France's Grand Est grindcore quintet rounds out the record's B-side with just a mere two tracks; nevertheless, within those two tracks, Massive Charge manages to cover a lot of ground. The band alternates through their blend of metal, grindcore, punk, and hardcore in just over four minutes like a dissociative identity disorder grindcore chameleon. 

    Immediately, track one—"Youth Crusher"—blasts open with fast, drilling death-grind before dropping down into a sort of melodic punk with a hardcore bridge. The hook-laden punk riffs and vocals remind me a lot of the street punk band, The Unseen; if they were pulverized by a double bass pedal and backed by guttural vocals.

    Track two, "Candy Delivery," threw me for a loop upon first listen. The song plays more like a Sick Of It All-style of hardcore rather than a traditional grindcore song. Like a French grindcore Lon Chaney, Massive Charge changes styles completely. Even the vocals are different. If it wasn't for the guitar's similar distortion tone as well as the physical presence of the song on the tracklisting, I would think this was a completely different band. The distinct mix of hardcore and grindcore is very similar to Maryland's Strong Intention and their 2013 split with Department Of Correction.

    Massive Charge pulls it off flawlessly. The guitar on "Youth Crusher" shifts from winding black metal gales to punky palmutes, while "Candy Delivery" is completely different with energetic, uptempo punk verses and plodding hardcore choruses. The drum work is just as tight, just as versatile, just as intuitive.  

    

      This split seven inch between Chadhel and Massive Charge is certainly a fun one, as the bands complement each other well. The two sides of the record definitely overlap like a Venn diagram with each band playing on-theme, while also showcasing their unique takes on the genre. 

    It sounds like Chadhel might not only be outgrowing their eldritch aesthetics but also embracing a more organic, less sterilized sound. While it may sound like I am disparaging Chadhel, I can assure you I am not. Remember, they are still fucking Chadhel and are certainly no slouches. Yet, whether it was intentional or unintentional, the studio mix and mastering did the band a disservice, in my opinion. Perhaps the engineer was trying to match the rawness of the songwriting. 

    I am really anxious to see where Chadhel goes from here. If they can somehow marry the natural sounding recording with their previous, more polished production levels, it will be interesting to see how their current streamlined writing process evolves; especially considering how prolific they are in the studio. 

    I am also interested to hear what's next from Massive Charge, because I honestly have no clue what it will sound like. The band's split with Chadhel stands out in their discography as something new and different. Past records leaned more into that heavy death-grind sound—really tight, blazing fast, razor-sharp. Those prior records sound more like Napalm Death than the Massive Charge on this split. The tracks here introduce that punk and hardcore element that made their side so entertaining. 

    The split is available in the States right now via Throne Of Lies Records and in Europe via Nihilocus Records and Necro Records. 

FFO: Meth Leppard, Wormrot, Strong Intention

Listen to the album: 

https://chadhel.bandcamp.com/album/split-chadhel-massive-charge

https://massivecharge.bandcamp.com/album/split-chadhel-massive-charge

The Gibbering Mouther: Badfeeling - "No Sleep. Bad Dreams. Endorphines." LP Review

    2024's No Sleep. Bad Dreams. Endorphines. is an ambitious and collaborative album that was the brainchild of grindcore/powerviolence Italian stalwart, Pompeo "Badfilingo" Pontone, and released on Jungle Noise Records. Like past reviewed titles such as the 2024 split, Asymmetrics, between See You Next Tuesday and meth., No Sleep. Bad Dreams. Endorphines. is a cooperative, yet removed, musical experimentation that was conceived from the Covid pandemic global lockdown in 2020. Pompeo, alongside drummer Valerio Primo, wrote and recorded eighteen songs and enlisted the talents of a consortium of some seventeen international vocal talents. Badfeeling's cast of rotating vocalists are no strangers to the genre. The project's vocalists are borrowed from heavy-hitting grindcore, powerviolence, hardcore, and metal bands—including Whoresnation, Trigger, Reproach, Endless Swarm, ANF, Double Me, Disrotted, and L.UL.U. These artists hail from Scotland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, France, Italy, Belgium, Slovenia, and the United States. The album's initial concept was an exercise in unity and solidarity among the global grindcore community during the tense and uncertain lockdowns when live shows and touring were impossible.

    Pompeo might perhaps be more well known for his other many bands including Plague Bomb, Taste The Floor, and xKatexMoshx. His catchy hardcore riffs have been an Italian institution for over a dozen years in almost as many projects. His guitarwork in No Sleep. Bad Dreams. Endorphines. is a revved up hardcore/metalcore dozering that barrels through the album and its various genre dabblings. The riffs are pretty straight forward, yet occasionally have a metallic flare that has a sense of mainstream professionalism. The starch and crunchy guitar tone and stout bass give a rich and textured foundation to the throughline of the release. Most songs play as an arrangement of crusty sludge riffs sped up into a slurry of distortion and blast beats, broken up by hardcore jaunts—shuffle, scramble, repeat. Pompeo's palm muted chugs and fast cycling riffs paired with Primo's beatdown and blast beats steer songs in and out of genres and tempos. There are more than a couple of 808 bass drops throughout the mix that further leans into the release's modern metal styling. 

 

    While the majority of the songwriting is mostly that of fastcore and grindcore blend, Pompeo is not wasting the opportunity to include as many influences as he can. Songs and vocals run the genre gamut. The tracks "I Have To Feel Something" (featuring Crippled Fox's Attila Gagyi) and "Love Essential" (featuring Kiras of Will Cope) both exemplify the heavy melodic songwriting presence on the album. "I Have To Feel Something" is more of a melodic punk feel, whereas "Love Essential" has a haunting, black metal swagger. Alternatively, songs like "Campari, Borghetti" (featuring MooM's Sima, Gad and Ezra) and "Modern Life Warfare" (featuring Mirco Desolei of Double Me) favor a trudging sludge tempo. "Black  Iceberg" (featuring Terror Firmer's Gabri Rossi) and "Contrazione" (featuring Dadde of CxIxB) are just good old fashion blasting grindcore.  

    Overall, Pompeo's Badfeeling and No Sleep. Bad Dreams. Endorphines. is a strong, great sounding release. The talent it takes to play through the subtleties of all these closely related subgenres and to still have them all sound so distinct and identifiable cannot be denied. 

    The release isn't without its criticisms. The final track, "The Arm's Dance" is an instrumental doom track featuring a saxophone and borders on gratuitous. Additionally, vocals work better on some songs more than others; their lamination slightly begins to peel around the edges. 

    No Sleep. Bad Dreams. Endorphines. is essentially a love letter to grindcore and thrashcore by a guitarist and songwriter who has dedicated his life to his local scene, harnessing it as a tool to build worldwide bridges. The collaboration among his international peers was accomplished in an innovative and productive way, against a bleak backdrop of recent history.

 FFO: xKatexMoshx, Reproach, Extortion

Listen to the album: https://junglenoiserecords.bandcamp.com/album/no-sleep-bad-dreams-endorphines

The Red Market: Korroded - "Body Broker" EP Review

 

    In the United Kingdom, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the need for corpses for medical dissection and anatomical study was so great that anatomists would hire men known as "resurrectionists" to supply surgeons with fresh cadavers. Resurrectionists would procure newly deceased bodies through grave robbery and other illicit means, selling them to teaching hospitals and anatomy schools. The clandestine business operated in a legal gray area, creating a black market for human remains within the medical profession. The trade became so lucrative that some resurrectionists even resorted to murder to meet the demand—as documented in the infamous Burke and Hare murders. 

    On February 15th, 2002, over three hundred decomposing human remains were found on the property of the Tri-State Crematory in Noble, Georgia. After human remains were sighted on the facility's premises, local law enforcement followed up on reports, and it was discovered that director Ray Brent Marsh had abandoned the bodies outdoors, providing families with wood ash or cement mix instead of actual cremated remains. The scandal was eerily reminiscent of the case involving David Sconce and the Lamb Funeral Home in Pasadena, California in the late 1980s. In addition to mutilating bodies in order to facilitate mass cremations, Sconce also harvested body parts for profit, falsified documentation, and embezzled funerary funds. Sconce was convicted of twenty-one counts of mishandling human remains, a case recently popularized in the HBO docuseries, The Mortician. 

    Earlier this year, in January, thirty-four-year-old Jonathan Gerlach was arrested while leaving the Mount Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia with a crowbar in one hand and a sack of assorted human remains in the other. For months Gerlach had broken into mausoleums and underground vaults to steal hundreds of human remains. Human skulls, mummified remains, cremains and various other body parts were later discovered at his residence and a nearby storage building. Gerlach, who was allegedly selling human skulls and remains through social media groups, now faces over five hundred counts of vandalism, grave robbery and abuse of a corpse.   

    Korroded's Body Broker EP, released last week, explores themes of mortuary corruption, murderous religious extremism, cartel violence, and amoral dehumanization. The titular track, "Body Broker" deals with the illegal farming of organs and the indignities of after-death care, while "Cremation Entombment" is an observation on the existentialism around cremation. While both tracks uphold the EP's morbidly blatant subject matter, the theme of dehumanization lies at the core of the record as a whole. 

    The deconstruction of the human body into commodities in "Body Broker" could be taken literally, but I also believe it is metaphorical and relevant in today's political climate. The hate-filled rhetoric and unlawful policies of the current administration have led to the persecution and increasing dehumanization of targeted communities, allowing agencies like ICE to operate with impunity. The events in Minneapolis are proof of that, and they should be at the forefront of the conversation in Memphis—especially as the Memphis Safe Task Force and ICE are stepping up their presence in the city with plans for a detention center in Marshall County. When you don't see a person as a human being you become capable of rationalizing, committing, or turning a blind eye to all sorts of atrocities. 

     Memphis, Tennessee's Korroded are a consummate and consistent grindcore powerhouse that combines not only the new school and old school of grindcore, but also thrash metal, beatdown hardcore, and crust punk. They have quickly risen to become one of the top grindcore bands in the state. 2026 has the band returning with their latest six song EP, Body Broker. The last The blog saw of Korroded was our review of their 2023 full-length, Rudiment Butcher. Since that initial record the band has released two additional EP's in the form of 2024's Nanotech Assassination and 2025's Augment To Kill—an annual release run that has had the band honing their mongrel breed of Bluff City grindcore.

    Body Broker's vocals are still that uniquely recognizable gruff, ashtray-mouthed-leads countered by high, curdled black metal shrieks. The lead vocals are a gravelly barking reminiscent of bands like Phobia and Cretin. They are that intimidating mix of crust and hardcore that have that heavy-breathed cadence. The backing vocals are mainly doing spot stacks with the leads, but obviously at a higher register. They seemed to have shed the reverb effect from Rudiment Butcher somewhere within the last few EPs. I think the band is all the better for it. The vocals on Body Broker are cleaner and tighter as a result. 

    Body Broker's guitar and bass are drenched in an ardent distortion. While not exactly the center of attention, the bass guitar has enough hair to match its bark. Its coarse growl sounds like a ground loop in a subwoofer in Hell. The guitarwork is a seething, needling sashay that sticks and moves across the fretboard like a game of five finger fillet. The tone is that thick saturation of blazing and wooly distortion that Korroded is known for. Overdriven power chords bulldoze throughout the songs with little to no elaborate technicality, just punishing metallic menace and headbanging infectiousness. However, the track "Killing Journey," ends with a kind of dissonant, percolating noodling solo that I don't necessarily remember being included in Rudiment Butcher. It's a chaotic climax that steps up the infusion of metal within the riffs without wasting time with more ostentatious solos and grandstanding.

    The drumwork is just as tight as the guitar and just as eclectic. Throwback double time skank beats, cymbal catching jackhammering, and skipping blasts crowd against tight snare rolls and speedy modern blast beats. This makes for an exceptionally bouncy rhythm. Nonetheless, the fast tempo on Body Broker seems to be largely unabated, with the exception of the occasional breakdown. The tail ends of "Generative Mutation" and "Cremation Entombment" have a steely-sludgy hardcore swagger that, along with the guitarwork, really emphasizes that bounce. They hit like a fist gripping a roll of quarters in an alleyway dumpster fight.

    Body Broker comes off even leaner and more to the point when compared to Korroded's past releases—if that's even possible. There was not much fat to be trimmed in the band's thirty-second to a minute-and-a-half songs, but I think they did it. Like the cannibalized bones dug up in settlement ruins at Jamestown, the songs bear the tool marks of where the flesh was cut and carved away. The EP's mix and master is keenly heavy. As with all of Korroded's releases, the tracklisting is broken up with obscure sound clips that range from the atmospherically ominous to the comically absurd. 

    Overall, the EP is a cultivation of refinement. Korroded have been whetting their Mississippi River shiv against the concrete of the street curb and fashioning it into a sharp and lethal weapon of blast destruction and disillusionment. While comparisons to bands such as Terrorizer, Repulsion, and ultimately Cretin can't be ignored, Korroded are distinctly their own.  

FFO: Phobia, Cretin, Repulsion

Listen to the album: https://korroded.bandcamp.com/album/body-broker