U-G-L-Y You Ain't Got No Alibi: Real Life Ugly - "Manifestaci​ó​n" Demo CD EP Review

    What's more exciting and appealing than professional wrestling? From Mexico's lucha libre to Canada's Hart Foundation, the cowbell kickoff of clean kayfabe competitive combat is for some the height of entertainment. It's a modern amalgam of clashing gladiators in a crowded coliseum and a Greek tragedy holding spectacle in an encircled amphitheater, brought to life in your home's living room like an in-ring telenovela. The conflict between larger than life baby-faces and sinister heels embodies the timeless morality tales of good versus evil via the most electrifying television programming in sports entertainment. Yet professional wrestling is not real. 

    During a three-day period between the days of June 22 and June 24 of 2007 the former Heavyweight title holder of both the World Wrestling Federation as well as World Championship Wrestling, Chris "The Canadian Crippler" Benoit, murdered his wife and seven-year-old son before taking his own life by means of a lat pull-down machine. After a twenty-two year career, it's theorized that chronic head trauma induced brain damage led to the murder-suicide. That was real. 

    

    Real life isn't the shiny family-friendly choreographed superstar mill that companies like the WWE and CMLL would have you believe. It's an ugly billion dollar marketing machine that chews up muscle and spits it out. 

    Wrestler Owen Hart fell to his death during a botched stunt on a live televised pay-per-view event in 1999. Darren "Droz" Drozdov suffered a neck injury in a 1999 match which left him as a quadriplegic. In 2019 skeleton clad luchador, Jesús Alfonso Huerta Escoboza, better known to the world as La Parka, was paralyzed and later died after an aerial maneuver went bad. In 2015 Mexican wrestler, Perro Aguayo Jr. died in the ring after what would become a fatal trick move from current WWE Superstar, Rey Mysterio Jr. 

    Real life is ugly. Real life is criminal negligence and greed. Real life is murder, drug addiction, disease and indifference. Real life is two tears in a bucket.

    TV isn't real. Shit, reality TV isn't even real. The twenty-four-hour news cycle is questionable at best. Social media is fake. TikTok, well fuck TikTok. The filtered, Photoshopped race to be famous for nothing and the selling of sex via dating apps are based on deception and manipulation. The whole culture behind swiping right, whether for love or lust, is a selective delusion that the populace buys into. The false sense of anonymity and control is not real life. Essentially, a life based on superficialities will ultimately lead to something or someone—ugly.

    Straddling this dark dualism of a Tinder date gone wrong and the existential terror of life is Dallas' newest grindcore band, Real Life Ugly. A band whose founding members consist of some of the DFW grind scene's heaviest hitters and all around good people, Irving Lopez and Alejandro Ramirez. Both of whom are current members of the rising Dallas grind-gore super group Trucido. Before that Lopez's tenure in the dissonant/technical death-grind group, Cognizant might ring a bell, as well as Ramirez's past in the cult hardcore/procedural-violence band, Dick Wolf and crusty grindcore THC-oholics, BOZO. With the addition of newcomers Randall Day and Brad Langton, Real Life Ugly are establishing themselves as more than just a side project with their debut demo release Manifestaci​ó​n. 

    Real Life Ugly's Manifestaci​ó​n is a love letter to Texas grindcore, most notably the gulf coast sounds of grind royalty like Insect Warfare. There's an emphasis on heavy repetitive riffing and fast blasting. Manifestaci​ó​n is a four song demo that doesn't need to meddle in blending genres and doesn't waste time with mood or atmosphere. Even the vocals are moderately sparse. No, this new EP is just straight snarling, driving, no frills Texas grindcore.

    Irving Lopez's guitarwork is front and center on this demo. It sounds like he's performing his version of knuckle-dragger heavy metal riffs; purposely replacing his usual technical and dissonant guitar whirlings with crushing palm mutes and sharp heavy marching chugs. Nevertheless, his personal style of hiccup riffs and circular fret smears still make their brief appearances. I think I even heard some pinch harmonics in there as well. Regardless, the guitarwork that he's doing with Real Life Ugly is a direct contrast to his work in Cognizant. There is more of a linear process here compared to his usual more angular playing. Lopez is a casual guitar savant that seemingly can play anything in any style. 

    I don't know about you, but during live shows I'm staring a hole through the drummer of every band on the bill and watching technique and style. And when I tell you that other than Bryan Fajardo, Alejandro Ramirez might be the most effortlessly smooth and fluent drummer in the North Texas grind scene. Casual fans who might only know Ramirez as the vocalist for Trucido may not know him as a drummer, but he's one of those guys who is just good at everything. It's stupid. On Manifestaci​ó​n he is oscillating from mid-tempo trots that accentuate the chugging riffs to faster .50 caliber machinegun blast beats woven together with satisfyingly tight snare rolls. I genuinely believe his efficiency and solidity behind the kit is clear and present on this release. 

    Now, from what I can hear, Real Life Ugly could easily be recorded as a two-piece on this release—which was an early incarnation of the band, if I'm not mistaken. But I'm not hearing a defined bass in the mix and I'm not a hundred percent sure of who or how many are on vocals. Assuming the CD's liner notes listing Randall Day and Brad Langton as vocalists are correct, their vocals on Manifestaci​ó​n are a clamoring of some wild, caveman mid-ranged shrieking highs and some raspy low gutturals that are not too far off from Phobia's Shane Mclachlan. You can definitely hear the overlap in the mainly monosyllabic grunts that, again, are very reminiscent of Houston's Insect Warfare. The CD version of the demo EP comes with a fifth bonus track that is a different version of the previous track, "Just Die Already" only with a different vocal performance and the addition of one Arnold Santos. 

    Real Life Ugly's aesthetic is a huge part of the band's charm. They have a certain style of sarcasm and irony towards life, weeb culture, social media, the white trash metal community and Hulk Hogan Newspeak. It's a fun lampooning of the problematic and vapid qualities of the human condition and society as a whole, but also a celebration of the more laudable aspects of today's world. The sense of humor in this niche local scene is very specific. Real Life Ugly could very well be forging their own subgenre of grindcore—like a "cringe-core" or maybe "ironi-core." And despite all of this, the band's lyrical message promotes a progressiveness and shines a light on societal problems such as drug abuse and poverty. 

    A lot of the band's merch and imagery is based on underground wrestling and lucha libre. The EP itself pays homage the Latino cultural influence both within the band as well as in the Dallas/Fort Worth areas of Texas. I'd go as far to say it's an intrinsic part of the scene here. 

    Hopefully, Manifestaci​ó​n is the first of many releases from Real Life Ugly to come. I personally would like to see this band do more and not die on the back pages of Bandcamp, as many grindcore demos are wont to do. Yet as this demo is only a few months old, I guess we shouldn't necessarily be in a rush. But Real Life Ugly is a band well worth swiping right on, especially if you have a fetish for traditional flavored Texas grindcore. HYB!

FFO: Trucido, Insect Warfare, Phobia, PLF

Listen to the album:

https://reallifeugly.bandcamp.com/album/manifestaci-n-demo-2023

Grindfernö - "Human Stupidity" CD Review & Exclusive New Album Stream From EveryDayHate Records

    Full disclosure time: I don't know a single thing about Grindfernö. I have never heard of them before. I don't know who is in the band, where they are from or when they were formed. Occasionally, when reviewing releases it happens that I'm not privy to any of that pertinent information. Even my cursory Google searches of Grindfernö all came up fruitless. Usually when doing these reviews I listen to the release for weeks in addition to the band's entire available back catalog. I don't even know if Grindfernö has a catalog, frankly. Although, back when I would listen to music casually and not for reviews, I almost preferred that anonymity. There is a magic in the facelessness of a band in which you only having a craggy logo and enumerated tracklisting to usher you through their phonic maelstrom. 

    All I have currently are a name and a link to a private Bandcamp page of the band's upcoming release, Human Stupidity, where I was only allowed to listen to the album a couple of times through before it expired and I had to start writing a review of it. Like I said before, I don't know much about this record other than it exceeded my expectations upon first listening and hit me like a grindcore gut punch. 

    Right out of the gate, Grindfernö establishes a feral and berserker style of grindcore/crust punk fusion that grabs you and doesn't let go. It's a raw, punk as fuck, old school sounding melee of cymbal catches, blast beats, heavy bass, churning guitar and rabid vocals. Each song is a wound up one-two, one-two-three-go slingshot of foam-mouthed raving, tooth gnashing, throat ripping, punk sneering, blast beat laden hostility. 

    Grindfernö host a battery of vocals that spit and tear over each other, spouting anti-fascist rhetoric and general western world distain. The vocals, for the most part, are a tandem affray of gargled guttural lows and banshee like highs that ascend into the veil of white noise. The lows toggle between different shades of themselves, whereas the piercing highs soar as manic wraiths of anguish that peal over them. 

    The guitarwork on Human Stupidity is distinct and consistent. The chainsaw spun punk riffs are fast and repetitive, but never in a tedious and monotonous way. The riffs are tight loops of The Varukers-esque chords spiraled out into fractals of grindcore frenzy. There is definitely a formula to the band's composition style, but Human Stupidity is never stymied by redundancy. And with songs existing within mere seconds, how could they be? 

    Just as prevalent, just as distorted and just as audible is the band's engine block of a bass. Often interchangeable with the guitar in those revved up song intros, the bass guitar is a persistent attribute that is carried well in the mix and is a homogeneous addition to the buzz saw guitar. It is an ever-present motor of rumbling distortion and combustion.

    The terms "persistent" and "incessant" can apply to practically any aspect or cog in the Grindfernö grind machine, but the drums are the embodiment of that concept. They blur the lines between D-beats and blast beats as they stay lively and inexhaustible. They remind me a lot of the thoughts I had on Vermin Womb's perpetual motion machine—Retaliation—back in my best of 2022 compilation. Although, maybe Grindfernö are not as fast and animalistic as Vermin Womb, they are just as chaotic in their own right. The drums never really slow down. In my limited listening of the album I never recalled hearing a breakdown or a sludgy throwaway track. Just signature cymbal catches, fast D-beat hoofings and noisy blast beats. 

    Grindfernö, in certain constructs, are a mystery to me and I cannot offer any informative rigmarole on their native geographical imports and exports or longwinded critiques of their past discography. In fact, I have good reason to suspect that Human Stupidity might very well be a discography CD. There are some forty tracks on this release. Yes, forty tracks—count them! Either this is a compendium of the band's total releases or they are prolific song writers and really go all out for an album. Other things that tipped me off were the subtle variances in production and songwriting—which doesn't vary much, mind you. But the first set of tracks do play as a little more polished production wise and are tighter overall. Additionally, the vocals seem more diverse in the front and more polarized towards the end. There is also a fun assortment of cover songs embedded within the tracklisting. Songs by bands such as: Agathocles, Napalm Death, Sore Throat and Carcass Grinder to name a few. I guess we shall find out if I'm correct or not together when this release goes public.

    Imagine all your favorite Japanese D-beat crust bands crammed into a blender or meat grinder or whatever grindcore food prep appliance cliché you can think of, speed it all up into a noisy and tumultuous grindcore/punk assault; add to it some brash, if not hauntingly fervent vocals and you will get Grindfernö. They are a band that I think has a lot of cross-over appeal and could fall under the umbrella of several grindcore subgenres. They bridge the gap of crust punk and grind as well as old school and modernity. There is as much of a Discharge influence as there is a Repulsion one. 

    With that, I am very happy to once again partner with my good friends over at EveryDayHate Records and help premiere Human Stupidity, as well as to hopefully give Grindfernö a worthy acknowledgment and perhaps a little more online presence, because God knows I couldn't find shit. Which is truly tragic. I, like all of you, look forward to learning more about Grindfernö through this, their latest(?) only(?) complete(?) release. 

    Available for download and on physical media through Polish grindcore super-spreaders, EveryDayHate Records, as well as streaming exclusively in full here on Return to the House of Grindcore! Thank you as always to EveryDayHate for continuing to throw me bones and allowing me to collaborate with forces much bigger than myself. To everyone else, on behalf of the label and this old house, please enjoy Grindfernö's Human Stupidity. 

FFO: Roskopp, Internal Rot, Asterisk*, Holy Grinder, Herida Profunda