State Department spokesperson, Christine Shelley:
"We have every reason to believe that acts of genocide have occurred."
Reuters correspondent, Alan Elsner:
"How many acts of genocide does it take to make genocide?”
State Department spokesperson, Christine Shelley:
“Alan, that’s just not a question that I’m in a position to answer."
-During a Clinton Administration press briefing
in regards to the genocide in Rwanda.
June 10, 1994
Danish grinders, Genocide Doctrine, released their debut full-length, Sleepers, out of seemingly relative obscurity in April of last year. The independently released album debuted with a small pressing of a mere fifty compact discs and online digital downloads. The album showcases Genocide Doctrine's approach towards Scandinavian grindcore and the slick blend of crust punk and metal that the region is known for.
Prior to Sleepers, Genocide Doctrine released an award winning self-titled demo EP in 2022. That debut EP marked the genesis of Genocide Doctrine as a downtuned, bass heavy, crusty death-grind force of nature. While in hindsight the EP can clearly be seen as preliminary in regards to Sleepers, it is still a consummate first outing for any band and reminds me of my early encounters with Barren and their 2021 demo.
Sleepers is an evolution of that self-titled demo and the foundations that it laid, while also shedding the more raw aspects in favor of a whetted and lustrous production. A production that transforms that downtuned heft of the initial EP into a less monotone, more impelling grooved based blasting bounce. And with the two releases being only within a year of each other, that evolution is profound. The musicianship is tighter and the composition more engrossing.
Now, with all that being said, Sleepers is very much the standard fare of Northern European/Scandinavian sounding death-grind—albeit somewhat immaculately performed. But what I feel makes Sleepers, and Genocide Doctrine for that matter, exceptional is the nuances within the compositions themselves.
Genocide Doctrine's vocalist, Mads T. Madsen, belts out sabulous growls of gravel pit-like fury that drag low and rise in inflection towards a sound that can only best be described as scraping. The vocals contort with the music and play as more organic when compared to the seemingly measured and devised vocal performance on the 2022 demo. Madsen's lows have a dark timbre with the cadence of that cinder block on concrete analogy that I am so fond of using; yet he stokes it like a flame.
Additionally, one aspect of the band's laryngeal shredding that I wanted to draw attention to was the use of the backing vocals. It's commonplace in grindcore to have a back and forth of vocal contrasts, yet Genocide Doctrine have made use of actual choruses within their songs. Tracks like "Nuclear Salvation," "Pillars to Collapse," and "Gouged," among others, have the vocals sung concurrently; creating a catchiness that isn't really explored by a lot of bands in the genre. Bands like Phobia make use of these punk rock type choruses consistently, giving audiences something to latch on to in a genre of purposely obscured lyrics.
While creating hooks and earworms in grindcore isn't Genocide Doctrine's goal, the band does emphasize chorus archetypes in song compositions, namely in the form of syncopation. The track "Discipline the Lesser," which appears on both Sleepers and the self-titled demo, utilizes this tool specifically. The 2022 version of the song plays as a springy crust tune in which a chorus of barked vocals are plotted along inside of a skipping guitar riff and rhythmic snare hits. In Sleepers you can see this same chorus tightened up into a headbanging groove metal style of drilling grindcore. I don't know if that's just practice, perfection or production, but you can see that year's worth of evolution from a good band into a better band. Moments like this are all over the record.
As one might expect when speaking of rhythmic devices, the drumming is of course intrical. Genocide Doctrine drummer, Richardt Olsen, is a real talent of behind the kit. From the click of the play button, Olsen is blasting through the songs in a relentless effort to let you know that this is in fact a grindcore album. On top of some extremely pleasing sounding blast beats, Olsen also embodies that subtle nuance and minutia, while also being technically proficient. My favorite being a line in "Pillars to Collapse" that begins at the minute twenty-three mark and starts as a collapsing drum fill that rises to some attention-pulling snare triplets that then crescendos with a small china cymbal hit and into blasting fallout. Olsen is keeping the tempo flawless and tight. Even when songs are not in an all out sprint, he is still using fills and time signatures to get you through them feeling just as invigorated as if they were.
The rhythmic pacing of Genocide Doctrine doesn't end with Olsen. Guitarist Lars Johansson and bassist Thomas Fischer are a large part of creating the band's punctuated death-grind flavor. Johansson's galloping death metal power chords and dipping dissonant riffing are fundamental to the band's sound. A sound that borrows as much from later Nasum as it does from Pig Destroyer. I'm starting to think the technically adept, polished, metal style of playing that Johansson and many bands today are writing is likely the growing standard for modern grindcore as we know it.
The bass on Sleepers does not appear to be as high in the mix as it was on the 2022 recording. Normally, this would be something that I would deduct points for, but in the case of Sleepers, I think it's actually a good call. The debut demo clearly has audible bass, but I feel like the mix creates a drag and puts too much space between the bass and the guitar. Alternatively, the mix on Sleepers downplays the bass and emphasizes the guitar. This reinforces the songs and further speeds things along.
Bassist, Thomas Fischer, is on the full-length, yet audibly marginalized. At least that is until the final track, "Barren." "Barren" is a departure for the band as it is a four and a half minute, feedback drenched doom crust-metal trudge. The heavy and melodic closer reminds me very much of symphonic sludge crusters, Fall Of Efrafa. Here, you can hear a classy interplay between the bass and guitar as they create a thick mood. Unlike many grindcore albums that utilize the sludge ending, "Barren" is actually engaging and has a great payoff.
For those of you who have read this far, I could obviously anatomize this album to death, but I won't for the sake of all of us involved. Suffice to say, Genocide Doctrine's Sleepers is a sharp and fierce piece of Nordic apocalyptic death-grind. If I'm correct, they are the first band from Denmark that I have reviewed here at The House of Grindcore and it seems that the Danes have sent over their best. The smears of dissonant guitar and pummeling blast beats weave a rich and textured sound of dystopian hostility. The band's exponential growth from their demo to Sleepers in just a year is extraordinary—and we the listeners are reaping all the benefits.
FFO: Barren, Nasum, Infanticide
Listen to the album: https://genocidedoctrine.bandcamp.com/album/sleepers
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