MARUTA

MARUTA is back and this time they've brought a bassist (Mauro Cordoba) to add a bulging bottom to go with their razor storm of powerfully violent riffs and tornado grind blasts on sophomore effort "Forward into Regression". Wrapping a measure of distinctiveness around a sound that blends musical reference points from NAPALM DEATH to NASUM to KILL THE CLIENT, MARUTA is nothing if not serious in its homicidal tendencies.

Sixteen tracks, including a couple of (ahem) epic-length three-minute songs, "Forward into Regression" is the logical progression from "In Narcosis", this time with deeper arrangements and the occasional death metal nod. In addition to a slew of abrasive, often dissonant blasters that range from 40-second kill shots to two-minute hate explosions that offer an impressive degree of riff dexterity from Eduardo Borja, MARUTA actually slows it down on "Failure King", "Blood of the Luddite", and the mid-tempo "Salient". All offer a welcome change of pace and blanket the listener in sickly swamp crunch, most notably on closer "Blood of the Luddite". In all cases MARUTA gets a lot out of a basic format and keeps "Forward into Regression" well away from anything resembling a one-dimensional grind fest.

Vitriolic in delivery and misanthropic in message, "Forward into Regression" is grind enough for the grindcore fans and deathly enough for the death metal fans, bridging the gap between the two styles with precision and skill. But MARUTA will always be first and foremost a grindcore unit. They just happen to prefer a little variety in their murderous methods.