WORMROT

Apeshit freaking nuts these boys in WORMROT are! "Abuse", you say? More like use, abuse, and leave for dead in a Singaporean gutter. Never underestimate the potential for the cleverer grindcore bands to stick to the basics that made the style a beloved one in the first place and still avoid boxing themselves in and losing listener attentiveness as a result.

"Abuse" is that kind of album. It is all guns blazing, savagely crazy grindcore with only the most malicious of intentions; feral as fuck, if you will. Had PHOBIA recorded "Abuse" it might be titled "23 Random Acts of Violence", if you get my drift. With all due support for the furtherance of belligerence in grindcore, "Abuse" sticks and stays like so many nails lodged in the face of the dumb ass who pointed the gun the wrong way. Traditional, shrapnel-blast grindcore is indeed present, but far more prevalent is WORMROT's willingness to include a wider array of spices in the already flaming hot dish, as is done by some of the better Swedish bands (ala INFANTICIDE). As such, the beauty of "Abuse" is that it succeeds not only for its vulgar displays of power, but also for the care taken by the trio to vary the arrangements and, for the most part, keep each track from bleeding into the next without any measure of distinction achieved. It is fast, furious, and grindcore till death, yet the joint jumps with thrash splashes, crust punk, and pure metal groove. Just take "Dis-Appointing", "Good Times", "Freedom to Act", "Fuck…I'm Drunk", "Fix Your Broken Mind", "Murder", and a track that gets my "Song Title of the Month" designation called "Blasphemy My Ass". That attention to detail comes through via witty (i.e. schizoid) vocal changeups to go along with one of the most blood-curdling grindcore shrieks this side of NAPALM DEATH. And a YEAH YEAH YEAHS cover in "Rich"? Well yeah!

And militant? Hell yes, it's militant; at times (and subject to interpretation) even controversially so, as these lyrics from "Overgrown Asshole" illustrate: "Fuck all veterans of war / starters of inhumanity / nothing else but born to kill / risking life abandoned family to death / what an asshole these veterans are". Careful now; you may not be aware of the context. Anyway, move "Abuse" to the top of your "grindcore album want" list. Trust me; you need it.