Tweakers, Bogans & Blast Beats: Meth Leppard - "Gatekeepers" LP Review

    Adelaide's reigning grindcore standard-bearers of all things blast, Meth Leppard, once again unleash straight fucking Hell with their brand new LP, Gatekeepers. The last time we saw Meth Leppard on the blog was back in 2021 with the band's split EP with Infanticide. (That also happens to be the last record I reviewed that was not a submission from a band or label.) 

    2025's Gatekeepers is the band's first full-length since 2020's Woke LP. Woke was released into a literal world on fire. The Australian Black Summer brush fires tragically devastated forty-six million acres of the country, displaced almost a hundred thousand people, and killed a billion animals. The Covid pandemic global lockdowns had over thirty billion people in ninety countries sheltering in place and millions of others dead. The final years of Trump's first presidential term (big eye roll) were inflicting as much damage as they possibly could. And now, some five years later, Gatekeepers is released into a sickly familiar looking world.

    The guitar is very much at the forefront of Gatekeepers. Guitarist and vocalist, Ryan Cheesman's near-patented thrashing guitarwork is a ricocheting style that pinballs over the fretboard with as much ferocity as skilled talent. Riffs switch and turn like the furious gear shifting of a careening rally car. From starchy palm mutes to dark single string drills that warble like a death metal didgeridoo, songs are grab bags of high-octane, vicious refrain. 

    The guitar tone is rich and distinctive. Unlike Woke—which had an underlying howl in the distortion and throughout the record—Gatekeepers' tone is crisp and vivid. It's a sound more reminiscent of Meth Leppard's most recent split with Axis Of Despair, if anything. If you actually dig in and listen, the layers of depth in the guitarwork are impressive on a technical level. 

    While a majority of the record's guitarwork is pure needling brutality, there are some moments of subtlety. Opening titular track, "Gatekeepers," ends with an almost orchestral, melodic outro that adds an additional level to the album's composition. Likewise, the final track, "Idiocracy," ends the album with murky, mid-tempo, trumpeting peels that give a hint at a sophisticated metal element. 

    Cheesman's vocals are those bursts of low monosyllabic propane breathing roars that have been stock and standard for the band for the better part of a decade. The vocals are given plenty of space to seethe, yet seem to be obscured partially behind the guitar in the mix. 

    And as always, the famously bearded Kieran Murray provides the record with another impressive percussive performance. His laser focused, ultra tight style of drumming is not only on par with Cheesman's fretboard freneticism, but his heavy ballistic bombardment of blast beats obviously creates an intense sense of mass and momentum. The breakneck speed of the double kick pedal and tom rolls is absolutely pulverizing. They sound like a jackhammer fucked a typewriter. Even though the palpitating snare is omnipresent throughout, Murray does hit the brakes occasionally allowing stomping, mid-tempo hardcore mosh beats to add that extra layer of depth. The second half of "Mind-Ctrl-Alt-Delete" is a relatively simple beat, yet when paired with Cheesman's chugging riffs, it is absolutely crushing. 

    The album cover art suggests a more mature layout concept for the band. While the usual cheekiness of the album's song titles implies that the band is still taking the piss out of the modern sociopolitical struggles and follies of western culture, the weightiness of Gatekeepers' cover image might convey something else. The absence of art from frequent collaborator and illustrator, Jasper Swerts is surprising. Swerts' dystopian crust punk pointillistic designs have graced many album covers and t-shirts within the grindcore scene over the past few decades; and usually depict the political clusterfuck that bands like Meth Leppard typically write about. However, Gatekeepers' cover art is a hauntingly stark surrealistic visage of a child with his head being both anatomically destroyed as well as depicting the ruin and rubble of a decimated urbanscape. The obvious allusions to the current genocide in Gaza are palpable. Other interpretations such as the psychological effects of modern technology on developing minds, or the moral corruption of the youth via the rise of fascism and totalitarianism, or the doomed future that awaits the coming generation due to current environmental neglect are all up for grabs. 

   Gatekeepers is exactly what you would expect from one of the world's most premiere grindcore bands. The fifteen minute full-length is already mandatory listening. Meth Leppard's thrash laced, riff worship cannonry mounted on the treads of blitzkrieg-styled blast beats and micro-milling drumwork put the band in the higher echelon of grindcore acts. They never stay in one place too long and really keep the listener on their toes in a genre that might not generally lend itself to too much unpredictability. 

    The Australian two piece seemingly can do no wrong as far as writing and performing. The fact that you read this entire review should have been a waste of your time. You should have been streaming Gatekeepers online as soon as it dropped. You should have already pre-ordered the vinyl. You should already know all the songs and already have scratched the band's logo onto the cover of your Trapper Keeper.

    Meth Leppard are currently balls deep into their European tour with Travølta and are performing at the world famous annual Obscene Extreme music festival in the Czech Republic this week! The single sided vinyl LP of Gatekeepers is currently available for pre-order on Here And Now! Records and Psychocontrol Records.

FFO: PLF, The Kill, Shit Life

Listen to the album: https://methleppard666.bandcamp.com/album/gatekeepers

Split Level Housing: Merked/Kageneko Split Cassette Tape Review

    

    Have you ever seen that movie, The Proposition? The 2005 film starring Guy Pearce and written by Nick Cave is basically an Australian Western set in the 1880's and is based around a gang of outlaw brothers wanted by local law enforcement. Anyways, eldest brother and gang leader, Arthur—played by actor Danny Huston—has a tense and violent confrontation with Police Sergeant Lawrence. The sergeant offers to help Huston's character by providing him with what he thinks is unknown intel that he hopes will better his increasingly dire circumstance. "I can help you," begs Sergeant Lawrence. Huston's Arthur replies in kind by repeatedly saying, "Help your fucking self," while stomping the man's head in. "Help your fucking self." That's what I think of every time I listen to Oakland, California's Merked. "Help. Your. Fucking. Self." 

     Merked are back on the blog with one of their many splits that they have released in the last couple of years. Most of which, if not all, are in line for future reviews courtesy of Enemy Of The Goat Records and their generous submissions. The three-piece have not deviated much since we last heard from them and their 2022 Murk-Mob full-length. Their sludgy, hardcore glazed grindcore/powerviolence remains just as heavy and antagonistically cold-hearted.

    The bayside Merked boys, much like the previous blog episode featuring Malicious Algorithm, are at the forefront of California's modern era of rough and ready, no bullshit grindcore. While not being as lo-fi as their peers in Malicious Algorithm, Merked still have that heavy, low end mix. The band's usual wall of noise accented by feedbacking highs and quick bass gulps is in full force. That deep creak of the bass guitar that was so lovingly commented on back on Murk-Mob has seemingly bled over into the guitar on this release. The tone of the guitars has been generally consistent throughout the Merked discography, but I am going to lean on the opinion that they are slightly more woolly here. 

    Just as burly, the standard Merked vocal fare of low, slurred gutturals and squawking highs are suggestive of being a shave more viscous, as well. Or perhaps just more smooth, maybe? Like the uneven tooth on a turning gear that is inevitably worn smooth; free from any previous grating—flush. 

    Merked's songwriting style is still that tumbling, asymmetrical powerviolence. Songs are heavy and fast, yet manage to roll with a kind of Fibonacci bounding. I'm assuming this is in large thanks to the drumming, although I'm not entirely sure how to specifically pinpoint it. Songs are explosive bursts of blast beats that fire off and on in-between hardcore potholes. This time around, Merked skip out on the overt sludge influences that were so prevalent in Murk-Mob in favor of more traditional hardcore. Songs like, "Abuse," "Got what's Coming," and "Gray Death" are among the "slower" songs, but they manage to fall easily within the heavy mosh inducing hardcore than any sort of sludge or sludge-violence. And as always Merked's side is chock-full of movie sound clips, plenty of violent squelching cinematic foley work, and lyrics that are lacking in any sort of pity or empathy for the lazy-minded and morally weak. 

    Overall, Merked's side of this split is still in the vein of the band's well established style of grindcore and that of California's rising pocket of grime-violence. All tracks are under a minute long, leaving songs fairly streamlined and lean. The heavy, oblong mix keeps things brutal and loose. The band's cadence is unique and revolves like a tumbleweed of barbed wire sparking across the concrete. Honestly, the structure of the songs reminded me a lot of my last band. A few of the vocal patterns and drum fills triggered my practice space spidey-sense and I instinctually prepared myself for the upcoming chord changes that never came.  

    On the flipside of the cassette, Kageneko is a one-man death-grind band from either Seattle, Washington or Kitsault, British Columbia (depending on who you ask.) This is the first time that I have heard of Kageneko and I did my best to scrounge up some of the scarce information that is out there on the band—as contentious as it may be. The man behind the moniker is a member of the noise-grind band, Asmodexia. He plays all the instruments himself, including vocal duties and the programming of the drums. Kageneko released a demo entitled Ichiban on Soundcloud in 2020. In late 2023 Kageneko released Siamese Twin Cobra—a split with Mississippi noise-grind outfit, Boiled Tongue. Finally, Kageneko appeared on this split with Merked in the summer of 2023. 

    

    The band's split with Merked offers seven tracks of ruinously heavy blasting. Kageneko's straightforward approach to grindcore represents a singular, pummeling focus. The dark growl of the guitar distortion ties in well with the low-pitched vibes of the tape as a whole. If nothing else, the downtune guitar is a menacing storm of noise and a big presence in the songs. The death metal styled vocals are just as low as the guitar; almost bordering on goregrind without getting too regurgitative sounding. The programmed drums mainly alternate between blast beats and rapid fire double bass hammering.

    There is an obvious Japanese themed aesthetic as well as major musical influences from bands like Assück and Insect Warfare. In my opinion, Kageneko has a lot of similarities to the Texas Gulf Coast grind scene. Bands like PLF, Noisy Neighbors, Apocalyptic Noise Syndicate and Ganglion pair well with the Pacific Northwest's, Kageneko, despite an almost two thousand mile transcontinental gap. 

    Come for the Merked, stay for Kageneko is essentially the deal with this tape. Like me, I'm sure a lot of people will learn about Kageneko here for the first time. The band's mix of brutal death metal and ferocious grindcore should be enough to satiate any self-respecting grindcore enthusiast. Honestly, the band reminds me of a stripped down, synthetic, Oops! All Gutturals version of Insect Warfare. 

    The only real criticism I could see anyone complaining about might be the use of programmed drums. I know a lot of purists, or whoever, lose their minds over drum machines and drum triggers, but I have never been that judgmental over such things. Although the programmed drums are noticeable, I don't think they are detracting or distracting. Either way, Kageneko are more than capable of standing on their own and are well deserving of being taken seriously.

FFO: Choke, Malicious Algorithm, Insect Warfare, Fuck... I'm Dead

Listen to the album: https://getmerked.bandcamp.com/album/merked-kageneko-split

Tech-Noir: Malicious Algorithm - "Progress" Tape Review

 

"Those who don’t remember the past are condemned to repeat it." 

-George Santayana

    The above quotation was written in 1905 by the Spanish-American writer and philosopher, George Santayana and was originally published in his book, The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress. The now popular aphorism was later immortalized when it was inscribed on a plaque at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim, Poland. As the name suggests, the museum is on the site of one of the most infamous death camps used by the Nazis in the systematic extermination of over a million Jews. 

    Thirty-plus years later a derivation of that poignant quote was also carefully and measuredly stenciled onto a hand-painted sign, nailed to the interior of a wooden pavilion in the stifling jungles of Guyana. It hung above a whitewashed wooden chair where a pill-fucked, slurred-mouthed, intoxicated Jim Jones convinced over nine-hundred people to commit a mass act of "revolutionary suicide." Just like the Holocaust memorial plaques in Europe, the South American sign inadvertently became the epitaph to a historic tragedy. 
    Both iterations of the Santayana citation are found in the wake of some of the world's darkest offenses, yet hold separate connotations based on the intent of the persons who mounted them. 

    I'm not really sure where I was going with this. Sometimes these are just streams of consciousness, you know? However, I do remember thinking about the progression of society and mankind as a whole. It seems like things can only advance so far before they inevitably take a massive step backwards. 

    I was recently having a cursory discussion about studio engineering with a work buddy and he brought up the growing prevalence of AI in music recording: AI-powered mixing and mastering, intelligent effects processing, instrument-less songs, musician-less bands, blah-blah-blah. The results being a modern form of extreme music that is so sterile and polished that it sounds overtly synthetic. Enter Malicious Algorithm. 

    Malicious Algorithm are that massive step backwards—at least in the terms of modern production worship and traditional musical sensibilities. The powerviolence/grindcore band from Humboldt County, California initially formed at the tail end of 2019 as a two-piece before releasing their 2020 four-track demo, TransubstantiationOfHumanFleshIntoCyberneticCircuitboardInterface. TransubstantiationOfHumanFleshIntoCyberneticCircuitboardInterface was a mince-drenched, chaotic clamour of blast beats, blaring cymbal peaks and overlaid arguing. You know, typical demo tape stuff. 

    By the band's 2021 first full-length, Gorgon Stare, Malicious Algorithm had filled out as a proper quartet and released an album of more traditional sounding powerviolence. Vocals were cleaner and snotty hardcore punk breaks ran throughout the record. 

    In 2023 the band released a split with Agathocles that saw the band returning to the hairier and noisier sound from their original demo and forging the band's present brand of noisy grindcore. 

    Last year's Progress full-length comes some four years and five releases after TransubstantiationOfHumanFleshIntoCyberneticCircuitboardInterface and is easily the most blown out and fuzzed-out album I've heard in a long time. 

    Malicious Algorithm's Progress is obviously a commentary on current technological politics, cybersecurity and the implication of the ethics of AI use. From the looks of the cover art, the song titles and the band's name, I think I'm safe in assuming that it's all of a dubious, tech-averse vantage. 

    Progress is tonally and sonically the band's best effort to date. The album boasts a huge low end that distorts the riffs in a sizzle of gain and overdrive. Progress plays like it's filtered through a torn speaker cone played at max volume. Intentionally muddied and grimed, Malicious Algorithm aren't concerned with any sort of pomp or polish. Songs are calamitous and ugly, marred with vocal fry and blast beats, but in the best ways. The band's three pronged vocals and tumbling instrumentation is still as tight as one would expect from cymbal choking powerviolence. 

    The band includes a heavy Dystopia styled sludge-crust influence on Progress, especially on the A side. Tracks like, "When You Die In the Metaverse, You Die In Real Life," "Executed For Time Theft," and "Loose Screw" really emphasize the band's slow paced sludge stylings. And to be honest, I found these segments to be a tad bit tedious. The juxtaposition of blasting-fast and glacially-slow is nothing new in grindcore and is par for the course with powerviolence, yet these down tempo tracks on Progress aren't my favorite. Fortunately, most of the previously mentioned tracks tend to speed up towards their conclusions, and the album seems to pick up towards its second half. 

    Malicious Algorithm's current sludge-scuzzed, crust punk caked mix of powerviolence and grindcore is what I wish Man Is The Bastard sounded like rather than what Man Is The Bastard actually sounds like. 

    Malicious Algorithm are part of the current down and dirty grindcore scene that's blistering out of California right now. The band and their latest cassette tape are an aggressively caustic and manic assault of techno-dystopianism grindcore channeled through the white noise of television snow. The heavy bass and brash equalization clipping when mixed with the rabid vocal delivery and tumultuously bloodied instrumentalization makes for a whiplashed tempoed release. The music might be low-fi, but it's still a tight, heavy and concussive brand of grinding powerviolence. 

FFO: Dystopia, Gowl, Violent Gorge

Listen to the album: https://maliciousalgorithm.bandcamp.com/album/progress

Martø Madness: Martø - Self-titled EP Review

    Time in my household has a way of evaporating, much like the heating and air conditioning through the poorly sealed doors and windows. Squeezing whatever small amount of time out at the end of the evening to write is getting trickier and trickier. This is an active household that is in a state of flux more than it's not. The latest levy to be weighed against my attention is my kid's budding interest in music and learning to play the guitar. She recently discovered "grunged" and "indie-garage" rock music via her friends from school. They started a cover band, despite not owning or knowing how to play any instruments. (Sounds like a punk band, if you ask me.) So I've been teaching her power chords, the notes on the fretboard and a Surf Curse song that has recently gained popularity on TikTok. That said, I have spent the last few weeks researching and pricing budget acoustic guitars online in the hopes that we can get her her own instrument soon. 

    In an even further look behind the curtain—as many of you can see from my timely release schedule, I average a new blog posting about once a month. With review submission averaging five times that with each posting, you can see the bottlenecked situation the blog is in. This month's review emphasizes that sentiment to the utmost degree. The Gloucester based label, Let The Bastards Grind, contacted me last year in the hopes that I would be able to review some of their releases. Well, now that I have finally gotten around to the label's review, I find the record label is on indefinite hiatus. Apparently, Let The Bastards Grind called it quits in February and their distro has been absorbed by 783 Label. The embarrassment and shame in the fact that it took me so long to get to them that the label actually died is palpable. Regardless, this butter-mouth blogger respects the vague ordinances surrounding the principles of first come, first served and I will review a release by Let The Bastards Grind because it is in fact their turn.

    Nevertheless, while perusing Let The Bastards Grind's more recent back catalog, I chose to write about Martø and their 2023 self-titled twelve-inch EP. Now, Martø is a band that I had not previously run across before. It seems like the French powerviolence four-piece formed in 2021 and I don't see any other major releases from the band. Whether the band is still active or not is beyond my scope. 

    The band's self-titled record was collaboratively released by some dozen labels, alongside Let The Bastards Grind, and pressed on five-hundred one sided twelve-inch vinyl records and a mere thirty ten-inch vinyl records with the moniker of the "Québec edition" (because of course.) The record is a twelve track, ten minute blend of hardcore and traditional powerviolence. Think bands like Los Crudos and Cut The Shit mixed with Spazz, The Afternoon Gentlemen or Lugubrious Children. 

    Martø's songs collectively have a signature style throughout the majority of the record. Songs are generally composed of hardcore punk riffs over mid-tempo cruising speed snare pops that—like a turntable being flicked from thirty-three and a third RPM's to seventy-eight RPM's—slingshots into powerviolence speed riffs and blast beats. The snare drum is a distinct microwave popcorn kind of snap that really cuts through the mix. 

    Vocally, things are your basic powerviolence archetype of dual vocals that trade-off between some throat shredding hardcore yells and the powerviolence cricked caveman vocals that are a staple of the genre. Martø, once again, lean into their hardcore influences with their use of punctuated gang vocals. Just like the tempo, the vocals toggle back-and-forth with the thick and thin, creating a familiar Spazz-esque texture. Occasionally we're given a third vocal addition with another strangled hardcore scream, most notably in the song, "La Gummolle." The tight vacillating of the vocals on "La Gummolle" inspires a whack-a-mole visual while the punk-as-fuck guitar riffs and blast beats make for a blistering track.

    It's in the record's final quarter that Martø's modus operandi only slightly shifts. What little variations in the band's songwriting is found here with tracks like the aforementioned, "La Gummolle," as well as "L'oubli." "L'oubli" begins with a slower and swampier hardcore haunt that picks up with the inevitable blast beats and high speed riffs. However, the track is probably the most melodic of the EP. It also has the insertion of flagrant hair metal guitar flourishes and solos. Yet, "variations" is used loosely as, again, Martø are fairly uniformed and distinct.

    Martø is very much your standard fare powerviolence. They sound very similar to many of their powerviolence peers, not to mention so many of the hardcore bands that came to my mind. Yet, I did choose Martø over Let The Bastards Grind's final and most recent release—an Archagathus split from 2024. I found Martø's record much more gratifying and entertaining, if that tells you anything. There's no shame in peddling quality powerviolence. Martø's Francophonic hardcore blast-violence is as tight as the band's firecracker-strung snare drum. Their stop-and-go composition laced with hardcore crowd vocals and pragmatic punk power chords nods to the old school, but plays to the contemporary. Powerviolence purity never really goes out of style. 

    I'm unsure of what happened to Martø or if we will ever hear more from them in the future, but whatever the case, be sure to look into the band's lone self-titled record because it's already better than what you were going to listen to. 

FFO: Lugubrious Children, Ona Snop, The Afternoon Gentlemen 

Listen to the album: https://marto59.bandcamp.com/album/mart

 

Open House: An Interview with Travølta

    Belgium's grindcore, powerviolence, fastcore, hardcore, political punk powerhouse, Travølta, have been taking the piss out of the plutocratic and patriarchal powers that be since 2015. The outspoken leftist band combines all the aforementioned subgenres into some snarky and searing blitz styled attacks that they have funneled into some four split releases and three full-length albums. They have been a staple in both the grind/powerviolence scenes as well as the social activism scenes in Belgium and Europe. 

    In the rising tide of right wing political tyranny, legalized xenophobia, open racial and sexual prejudices and budding fascism coming out of the U.S. right now, the politically critical music from bands like Travølta seems more necessary now than ever. They, and bands like them, put their politics where their mouths are and promote dissent and direct action. Travølta is one of those bands that has that egalitarian moral compass as well as their own satirical voice. I recently had the pleasure of bombarding the band's DM's and getting them to talk with me about what they have been up to lately, their thoughts on grindcore and their plans for the summer. 

How's it going? I hope the new year is going well for you guys. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer a few questions for the Return to the House of Grindcore blog. I'll begin with the obligatory introductory question of who are the current members of Travølta and what do they do in the band? 

    Nico is the singer, he also writes all of our lyrics. Jonas plays guitar. Kevin handles the bass, artwork and recorded/mixed our upcoming stuff. Rik is the one throwing sticks. He also does most of the samples on our records. Nico and Rik are also the guys behind Loner Cult Records so they distribute the Travølta stuff.

How did each of you get into grindcore/powerviolence/punk and how did that lead to the formation of Travølta?

Nico: I got into hardcore/punk when I was 13 or 14 years old. From a time without internet so… It all started with tape trading in school, reading zines and writing letters to bands. After a while I got in contact with a bunch of local bands. When getting in contact with the people from Zero Positives and a bit later with Agathocles, I crawled way deeper into the underground. In 1992 I started my first little distro and a couple of years later I start playing bass in Outrage (political straight-edge hardcore), later on that band evolved into Reller (a grindcore band, the first band I was singing in.) After both bands broke up I ended up playing bass again in Vuur (raging hardcore violence) and KingTerror (fast-core.) Still wanna be singing, but It never happened until the Travølta kids crossed my path. 10 years later I’m still enjoying it so… Later on I’m also involved in a D-beat band called Arrogänt.

Rik: We all started listening to hardcore/punk when being teenagers. After discovering local hardcore bands, I delved into darker bands like Integrity, Damnation AD and Ringworm. All these hardcore/punk bands were gateway bands for even more extreme kinds of music. I guess no one starts with grindcore when being introduced to underground music or guitar oriented music in general?

Jonas was more into metal but couldn’t handle the meaningless lyrics and rock star attitudes of some bands so he got into old school 80’s hardcore (Black Flag and stuff.) He just likes angry fast music and powerviolence seems to fit his needs perfectly. Kevin has a Kill Your Idols tattoo, so I guess that band influenced him way back.

    The formation of the band was with another guitar player. He and the drummer (that’s me) wanted to do a powerviolence/crust band. They contacted Kevin which they already knew for many years and shortly after Nico joined. During the first COVID period, the previous guitar player took a step aside and a few months later Jonas joined the band. We already knew this guy for many years and the fact that he also lived in our area made it even better.

    The COVID period was a time of reflection and adaptation. Because a tree fell on our original rehearsal space, we were forced to rehearse somewhere else. That place got shut down for more than a year so our way of making music totally changed. We constructed blueprints for songs at home and exchanged files through the internet. Afterwards, when it was possible to meet, we started rehearsing those songs and a few jam sessions followed. This is how our previous full length Disco Violence Up Yours! was created.

What genres and what bands played the biggest influence in Travølta's sound and style?

 

Nico: For me I got inspired by bands as: Ripcord, Agathocles, Lärm, Crossed Out, Seein’ Red, Dropdead, Chokehold... I got inspired by a lot of outspoken and political bands. Genres? I always fell in love with the more gritty and extreme kind of our scene. When music becomes happy I’m off, I always look for real anger and passion in music.

Rik: At first we tried to mix crust and powerviolence. We always said Extortion and Disgust were our influences. I’m not really sure you can hear this in our first record but there are some parts more akin to crust or D-beat and some to powerviolence.

    Nowadays we have less crust influences and more fast hardcore parts thrown into our eclectic mix. In Tinnitus We Crust had some old school death metal influences because our previous guitar player was getting more and more into death metal. When he stepped out of the band we wanted to make a return to old school powerviolence. Jonas’ songwriting has a more punky feel to it and you can hear it in our music.

I got into grindcore via leftist punk music. Travølta is a hugely outspoken political band and your lyrics obviously reflect that. How are politics important to the band and how are you using the band as a platform to promote them?

 

Nico: The same here… I grew up in the 90’s, a time when bands where all pretty outspoken. So the thing was that I wanted to join the band, but wanted to do more than just music. Especially ‘cuz no one talked anymore on stage… it all became just a music thing and that frustrated me so… I wanna do it differently. The lyrics are sometimes a bit sarcastic, but still clear enough to point out at things.

Rik: We’re very glad that you are describing us as hugely outspoken. We all have kind of the same views on politics which are pretty leftist. Some people love it but also many people don’t like it when we preach while performing. You know the drill, less talking more music. We want to party and don’t want to listen to your messages.

    We think hardcore/punk and in extent grindcore or powerviolence are intertwined with social messages and social critique, it’s part of the strength of the music. Lyrics from many bands that recorded records twenty years ago are still very relevant today. Personally, I also think that these messages add to the overall “value” of the music. For example, I do love the music created by Cannibal Corpse, but I honestly can’t really stand by the lyrics. I can headbang to it, I can enjoy the songs, but they don’t touch the heart. That’s where hardcore/punk, powerviolence and grindcore (let’s exclude goregrind… haha) come into play. The Smiths wrote a nice lyric about it which is a good comparison to what I’m trying to say: "Hang the blessed DJ, because the music that they constantly play, it says nothing to me about my life."

    For us, the lyrical content is a very important part of the band. On our lyric sheet the lyrics are accompanied by commentary. We always get bummed out when we see a good band, but they don’t say nothing in between songs and just act cool and hip. We really don’t care if you wear sunglasses on stage or if you keep your leather jacket on when the temperature is rising. We care about your integrity and your message, fuck that rock star attitude! Be real, don’t act! Bands like Seein’ Red and Dropdead are good examples of how we like it!

What are some of the band's favorite activist groups in Belgium? Are there any political/human rights organizations that you support and that you think people should know more about?

 

Nico: We already played a bunch of benefits for human and animal rights groups. Going from medical aid for Ukraine war victims, aid for Palestinian refugees, law costs for anarchist prisoners, a dog shelter in Greece, [etc.] In our area you got some interested citizens movements like Hart Boven Hard (an organization that fights against injustice and asocial government laws.) You also have Straatsyndicaat in Antwerp, an organization that fights for a more humane policy for homeless people. You also got some activist and anarchist groups in the bigger cities. I always thought that the personal is also the political, so... I try to join manifestations once in a while... We also adopted our animals from an animal shelter called: Forest & Friends. We put up local shows in our area lately to get something moving in our area, also to get the anarchist/political statement out to a wider audience: I live a vegan lifestyle, etc, etc.

How is the grindcore scene in Belgium? Who and what are some of your favorite Belgium bands or labels?

Nico: Grindcore is always kind of strange in Belgium. People from outside of Belgium always think the scene is big and filled with bands with international fame: Agathocles, Intestinal Disease, [etc.] But the scene is kinda small lately. When we release brutal grind records with our label, we mostly sell ‘em outside our country. But you definitely have to check out the following bands: Parasite Circus, Head Of The Baptist, Verpest, Loathsome, Assur, Days Of Desolation, Monnier…

Rik: Well, when Napalm Death plays in Belgium (last time was with Pig Destroyer, Primitive Man and Wormrot) they can fill a venue with a thousand people. When a smaller international band plays on a Monday, you may have 10 people sticking around (or less.) You also have some labels backing up the scene here in Belgium. Loner Cult really does it’s part by releasing many Belgium bands, including grindcore. Other noteworthy labels are: Bringer Of Gore (true underground noisy grind), Halenoise (members of Days Of Desolation), Sick Phoque Records, BCR-30, [etc.]

Some interesting bands (yes, I forgot many bands but I can’t make this an endless answer.):

Verpest: They sound like Mayhem (Deathcrush period) playing grindcore.

Days Of Desolation: Ultra tight, crusty and technical grindcore.

Hetze: Hardcore/punk meets powerviolence.

Assur: If Mortician was created in Belgium, they’d call that band Assur.

Parasite Circus: Heavy hardcore/grind with a very good sound. Sometimes I think it’s Coalesce playing grindcore.

Head Of The Baptist: Crusty metal.

Plague Thirteen: Crust for fans of Tragedy and His Hero Is Gone.

Raw Peace: Crust spicing it up with that Japanese vibe.

Reproach: Trashcore, going wild on the live shows. Imagine Bones Brigade but based in Belgium.

Röt Stëwart: Oldschool hardcore for awesome people made by even more awesome people.

The list is endless: Dögmën, Serial Pissers, On Fire, Burning Kross, xINVICTUSx, xINCLUSIONx, Drudge, Sore, Visions Of War, BezetteStad, Toxic Shock, [etc.]

Songs for the split with We Sleep are starting to come out. How did this pairing come about? When can we expect the upcoming split to be released?

 

    We played Dräschfeschd in Germany (Hamburg), it’s a grindcore/powerviolence festival in a school with only 15 minute sets. The fest is organised by Ralf, the drummer in We Sleep (Nico knows him from his days in Stack.) We got some sleep at his place (pun intended) and the next morning there was this idea of making a split record.

    The record will be released in April on Loner Cult Records, Flower Violence Records, Give Praise Records, Rotten To The Core Records. Global Help Foundation is doing a CD version of it.

This Summer has Travølta embarking on a European tour with Meth Leppard in July. Will you be returning to the Obscene Extreme Music Festival? What are your favorite experiences at Obscene Extreme?

Rik: We’re not playing Obscene Extreme this year, but Meth Leppard are. We’ll be joining them after the weekend for a two week tour across Europe. 

    We played on Obscene Extreme in 2023 and it was a great experience. People seemed to like our music and lyrical content, so we’re very happy about that. Saw many old friends, made some new ones and saw many great bands!

    Nico is going to Obscene Extreme, but the rest can’t make it. Here are his top bands to check out: Lack Of Interest, My Minds Mine, Bas Rotten, I Scream Protest, Eraser, War//Plague, Odio Social and Meth Leppard, of course.

How did a Summer 2025 tour with Australia's Meth Leppard come to fruition?

    We co-released the first 7" of Meth Leppard. On an earlier tour we also played one show together. So I guess it’s helping each other out, pure DIY style!

Strictly speaking grindcore/powerviolence, what bands are you guys currently listening to? What bands or albums would you consider essential listening for fans of the genre? 

Nico: There are some really interesting bands around in the underground lately. I think about bands as Dögmën, Hetze, Raw Peace, Teigne, Crippled Fox, Lady Gaza, LilyxElbe, Possible Damage, Failure, Plague Thirteen, Jodie Faster, So Close, Gummo, Tael, False, LMDA, The Prim, Martø, [etc.]

Check out Skiplife, they always deliver with their old school powerviolence sound, but also check out the [music of] Loner Cult. All these bands deserve a lot more attention and they’re all worthwhile to check out. 

    If you want me to drop some oldies, definitely check out: Neanderthal, Siege, Crossed Out, Avskum, Fuck On The Beach, Deathtoll 80K.

Rik: Some of my favourite powerviolence/grind releases of last year:

Failure: Obstinate

So Close: Painkiller Mentality

Trigger/LilixElbe split 10"

Brodequin: Harbinger Of Woe

Horsebastard: Horsebastard

Archagathus/Assur split

ACXDC: G.O.A.T.

Completed Exposition/Maxxpower split

Tael: Self-titled

Convulsions/Civilian Thrower split

Turtle Rage: Curse Of The Mutants

Final Exit: Born In Hell

Eraser: Harmony Dies

Favourite all-time grindcore/powerviolence records:

Infest: No Man’s Slave

Extortion: Degenerate

Siege: Drop Dead

ACXDC: Self-titled

Fuck On The Beach: Power Violence Forever

Discordance Axis: The Inalienable Dreamless

Napalm Death: From Enslavement To Obliteration

Misery Index: Dissent EP

Antigama: The Insolent

Hellnation: Your Chaos Days Are Numbered

The Locust: New Erections

Unholy Grave: Grind Killers

Agathocles: Theatric Symbolisation Of Life

Wormrot: Dirge

Iron Lung: Sexless // No Sex

Spazz: La Revancha

Nasum: Human 2.0

Psudoku: Deep Space Psudokument

Gadget: The Funeral March

Other than the upcoming We Sleep split and Meth Leppard tour, what's next for Travølta? 

Rik: We’re doing a new live split record with Slutbomb from Cincinnati. We got some recordings from a show and thought they captured our essence quite well. It’s rawer and even sometimes faster than the stuff on our studio records but we liked it.

    We’re also recording music for a new split 7" and have blueprints for another split 12”. Gotta stay busy, haha.

Any last words?

    Thanks for letting us speak up on your blog, keep up the good work. People mostly forget about all the hard work people like you put into this underground scene. We aren’t anything without people who set up gigs, do artwork, do labels, do zines, blogs, etc. It’s because of people like you that the D.I.Y. scene is this fantastic place to be in! Keep up the good work and hopefully we’ll all meet somewhere on the road. Cheers.

    It has been a pleasure. I cannot thank you guys enough! I really appreciate you taking the time to answer all my not-so-inspired and redundant questions. And thank you for all the kind words about the blog. I can't wait to check out the upcoming splits. I'm especially eager to give those new live tracks a listen. 

    As I am stationed stateside, I can't say that I'll catch the band on tour this summer, but European readers be sure to catch Travølta on tour with Meth Leppard. I'd hate to miss those dates if I were you. Once again, thank you so much to Travølta for their words and time.

    For everyone else, you can listen to Travølta and grab some merch on the band's Bandcamp page: https://travoltakvlt.bandcamp.com/ 

Also be sure to follow them on Facebook for news and info: https://www.facebook.com/travoltaviolence/ 

Also check out all the great bands and releases on Loner Cult Records on the label's Bandcamp page: https://lonercult.bandcamp.com/ 

More links to good things: 

Hart Boven Hard (Belgium): https://hartbovenhard.be/

Antwerps Straatsyndicaat (Belgium): https://www.facebook.com/people/Antwerps-Straatsyndicaat/61553933445779/#

Forrest & Friends (I think this is the correct organization, Belgium): https://forrestandfriends.be/

Doggybag Crew (Belgium/Greece): https://www.doggybagcrew.org/

Split Level Housing: Fading Trails/Järnbörd/Horornisdisphonevalley/Abanglupa - "No Blessing" Four-way Split CD Review

    2024 went out in a pathetic and woeful whimper that waned into a death rattle right before 2025 inevitably took a complete shit. As bleak as 2025 is and as strained as foreign relations are, around this time last year the half Scandinavian, half Asian, cross-continental four-way split CD entitled, No Blessing, released on Esagoya and EveryDayHate Records in late January of 2024. Bands Fading Trail, Järnbörd, Horornisdisphonevalley and Abanglupa collaborated on a multinational record that coalesced different cultures under the single banner of stocky grindcore. They say music is one of the true international languages. Let's see if noise not music also applies to that adage. 

 Fading Trail (Finland) 

    Finland's Fading Trail and their winning combination of death metal, sludge, groove metal and grindcore once again grace the pages of Return to the House of Grindcore. We last saw Fading Trail with their Everydayhate Records sponsored review of Count The Days in 2021. The band's evolution from blasting dungeonous death-grind to a more sophisticated blended and blackened death metal is still the standard on No Blessing. Fading Trail aren't all about speed anymore and instead focus on craftsmanship and brutal plowing. 

    Their six contributive tracks are quick tempoed songs of venomous vocals and rich timbred guitar distortion. The guitar riffs writh and contort like a beheaded snake; flashing the dorsal and ventral scales of rhythm and lead guitar. Like the serpentine-esque carcass that swirls through the dirt, the throes of their guitarwork change directions wildly and evasively. That lead guitar trumpets in with sirening cries that add a sense of metallic melody throughout the background of the songs. 

    The songs are masterfully crafted and switch from up-tempo trucking to slow brooding trudges by the use of keenly placed noise interludes or hiccuping drum collapses. This is showcased most blatantly in the track, "The Inevitable." The blast beats are used conservatively and more as embellished flourishes and crescendos.

    Fading Trail have taken their grindcore roots and forged them into exceptionally heavy versions of the metal subgenres. I usually find that bands within said subgenres tend to be tedious and bloated. However, Fading Trail are overly skilled and motivated, making for a thoroughly enjoyable and textured listening experience.  

 Järnbörd (Sweden) 

    It's not that often, or ever, that you hear of a fresh or interesting take on grindcore these days. However, multifaceted Swedish crust-grinders, Järnbörd, are sure going out of their way to make you think otherwise. 2024's No Blessings was my first introduction to the band's quirky concoction of grindcore, crust punk, metal, hardcore and sort of an alternative pop rock. An unorthodox mix that is currently getting their latest 2025 full-length, Filmer För Blinda, plenty of accolades. 

    Right from the start of Järnbörd's first entry, "Skarpt Läge," I could tell that this wasn't your average grindcore band. There was a melodic shallow undertone of what I could only classify as 90's era alternative rock trampled over by an avalanche of thick blasts beats. There's as much catchiness as there is brutality. It sounds like Sex Prisoner blaring over Sonic Youth. 

    Like their split mates, Fading Trail before them, Järnbörd are utilizing diversity and melody to deepen and enrich their songs. The band's eclecticism is its super power. The genres run the gamut from track to track. For instance, track "Succélunch Med Tjejerna" plays like a heavy guitared hardcore/grind song that concludes with a Twisted Sister-esque, "Burn In Hell," outro. (I am assuming it's unintentional, but I couldn't help but think of Dee Snider riding the hood of that Cadillac in Pee-wee's Big Adventure.) Additionally, "Vi Har Fakta Och Röstar Nej" reminds me of early 2000's Profane Existence Records melodic crust bands like Ballast or Another Oppressive System. 

    Hopefully I didn't make any of that sound remotely unappetizing, because it is anything but. Järnbörd is all grind and with a healthy dose of punk rock catchiness. Think of bands like Travølta. The guitar and bass are heavy and thick. The vocals are hardcore barks, not too dissimilar to that of Code 13's Felix Havoc. The drumming is fast and tight and the blasts are unremitting once they start. Järnbörd's protean style is a fun and fresh take on the genre. 

 Horornisdisphonevalley (Japan) 

    Horornisdisphonevalley are yet again another returning blog alum, previously seen on the review of Tystnadsallergi—the band's split with SlothPhantomMoth in 2021. As you may recall, Horornisdisphonevalley's noisy and discordant take on melodic grindcore is a manic and multifarious musical tapestry. Parallels between this Japanese, outside-of-the-box, one-man grind project and bands like Gridlink, Mortalized and Psudoku are not uncommon. 

    Horornisdisphonevalley's influences and amalgamated styles aren't so much toggled amongst as they are tangled and trampled. Tracks are scrambles of guitar and drums with seemingly no preconceived framing, just the composer's whim. Songs dip in tempo from blasting grindcore to whirring lulls that leave the listener wondering where things will go next. The drums are breathless tumbles of calamitous snare rolls and blast beats. As you can imagine, the band's guitarwork is a dynamic display of talent and aggression. There is a balance of traditional metal licks, driving grindcore and the melodic undertones. Horornisdisphonevalley are known for their penchant for audio samples and synthesized instrumentations. Track, "無頼男(Bremen)," starts with the former and ends with a zig-zagging electronic noodling that reminds me of some sort of Capcom arcade game or a Castlevania eight-bit digitized tune. The vocals are just as schizophrenic as the rest of the instruments. Long screams and demonic barks ebb and flow over collapsing tempos and virtuoso riffs. 

     Horornisdisphonevalley are less of their harsh noise on No Blessing, but are keeping things lively and unpredictable. The band's speeding aggression and heavy metal technical guitar are generally the orthodoxic norms within the genre, but Horornisdisphonevalley are just weird enough to keep you on your toes. 

 Abanglupa (Philippines) 

    Bookending this four-way quite nicely is Filipino hardcore/grindcore band, Abanglupa. Not unlike their split counterparts, Fading Trail, Abanglupa are a heavy, trodding, sludging juggernaut. The band's back catalog—most recently the Perpetual Grip On Power split with Swineslaughter—is keeping more in-line with that hardcore/grindcore dual genre. On that release the band exercises a liberal amount of blast beats and hardcore swings that border on beatdown. Abanglupa's hardcore mid-tempo cudgeling does devolve into sludgy, almost doom style tracks. In regards to No Blessing, that more sludgy hardcore angle seems to be the band's focal on this split. 

      Abanglupa have a rhythmic, highly repetitive style of songwriting. They have a circular pulsing course to them. A maggoty undulation that pushes through the songs. Initial track, "Habitual Fabricator," mixed a quick hardcore tempo with an almost tribal style of drumming. While the general tempo is usually plodding, blast beats are fleeting tags at the end of riffs and aren't as prevalent as in their other releases. The guitar and bass are crushing and crisp. The lead guitar often assumes this sound of an alarm or siren. Again, it's a repetitious groove that creates a sort of revolving syncopation. Vocally, Abanglupa have a raspy, Scandinavian grindcore styled yell. In fact, a lot about Abanglupa's sound has that Northern European polish: the vocals, the sharpness of the distortion, the creaking guitar leads, the high quality of the mix and master, et cetera. 

    Abanglupa's four tracks are almost tailored for this release. The band dish out their looped hardcore with its inflections of grindcore, while also taking their time to keep tempos more subdued. Despite that, Abanglupa have the shortest songs on the split with a majority of them clocking in under a minute.  

    Generally, in keeping with my experiences with split records with more than two bands, they usually have a multitude of bands that I have never heard of; or feature one band that I do recognize paired with others that don't seem to measure up. Yet, either way, lately it seems that I'm being proven wrong, or maybe it's only of late that I'm looking in the right places. Splits like the one between Sidetracked, Fed Ash, Shrivel Up and Ixias in 2022 really started turning my head. 

    Nevertheless, I haven't come across a collective split as well balanced as No Blessing. The split has a nice cohesive through-line of sludge and grind that is refracted differently and distinctively through the prism of each separate band. It's an international effort of entities speaking different languages, yet saying the same thing, if you will. While No Blessing isn't a blast-a-thon styled album, it will definitely sustain the grindcore enthusiasts. 

FFO: Rotten Sound, Mortalized, Travølta

Listen to the album: https://esagoya.bandcamp.com/album/no-blessing-4way-split

Payback Time: Deterioration - "Paranoia & Violence" LP Review

     This album starts off with a minute-long audio soundbite from the 1987 film, Predator, in which a group of machine gun toting commandos level a Guatemalan rainforest. One particular character exhausts the entire ammo reserve of a handheld M134 Minigun nicknamed, "Old Painless." I can't think of a better way to describe Deterioration—loud, incessant, brutal, devastating. 

    Deterioration is the band that you recommend to your annoying normy coworker when the subject of music comes up and you don't want them to talk to you ever again. They are relentless in speed and precision. The vocals are bloody and violent and the songwriting is tighter than a nun's nasty. The Minneapolis two-piece has an absolutely prolific output of material with multiple releases a year, almost every year, for the last twenty years. It is pretty insane to think about. 2024's Paranoia & Violence is just the latest in the band's laundry list of grindcore releases. 

    

    Deterioration are known for their total pervasion of pulverizing drums and blazing guitar distortion. The chronic speed and tight blasts are exhaustive. Paranoia & Violence is no exception, however, the album's B-side explores the band's sludgier and more moderately paced influences. These songs lean more towards the metal and goregrind with mid tempo jaunts and mince style two-step beats. 

    The production on Paranoia & Violence almost borders on the low-fi, yet isn't of a specifically poor quality, nor is it at all overly polished. It suffices to say that the mix is ample while maybe being a cheeky bit muddy. The band's tongue-in-cheek, ironically cringey, metaphorical aesthetic of duct taped combat boots with camouflage shorts and a throwback WWF t-shirt with the sleeves cut off is conducive with the band's ready-to-rock sound and attitude. The polish isn't really necessary or, in some cases, even warranted in grindcore of this caliber. Deterioration are so good at what they do. You know exactly what you're getting when you buy one of their records and you would be hard-pressed to find much of any disappointment. 

    I don't really know why this release is a full-length twelve-inch record. At only nine tracks, Paranoia & Violence seems like it could have easily been an EP. Even though a lot of the songs here have sound clips that are almost as long as the songs themselves, they are still not overly lengthy. Deterioration's normal full-length track count is typically ten or less tracks anyways, so we are definitely on par here. It just seems like grind like this would have an obscene amount of tracks per record. Perhaps it's like rattlesnake venom, in which just a dab will do you. The band certainly leaves you wanting more, in any case. 

    Deterioration and their latest, Paranoia & Violence, mows down the listener just like "Old Painless" did to that feature film foliage. The record's roaring guitar and grinding blast beats is sure to make hamburger out of your eardrums and any rogue Yautja headhunters. 

FFO: Sulfuric Cautery, Fiend, Death Toll 80K

Listen to the album: https://malokul.bandcamp.com/album/deterioration-paranoia-violence