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
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