What do you get when you take 3/4 of Mortiferum, the voice of Fetid (and riffs of Cerebral Rot), and the blast behind Magrudergrind? You get some of the nastiest deathgrind you’ll hear all month. Meet Caustic Wound. This PNW supergroup unleashes pure grinding terror on their debut album, Death Posture. At a little over 26 minutes, it’s a bit longer than your usual grindcore release. Caustic Wound manages to pull this off with no filler.
When this album grinds, it grinds hard. We’re talking mind melting blasts of brutality that are short and anything but sweet. But Death Posture isn’t all about the need for speed. The duo of Max Bowman and Chase Slaker deliver pulverizing riffs straight out of deathgrind yesteryear. These riffs are nasty, disgusting, and extra chunky. They remind me of Repulsion or Carcass off their Flesh Ripping Sonic Torment (1987) demo, minus the goriness, if that makes any sense. Some of these riffs even carry a gnarly groove! My favorite song, “Vision of Torture”, had me bobbing my head in a way that 99% of grind sogns wouldn’t. Other memorable riffs include the sludgy, Godflesh-esque opening to “Ritual Trappings” and the no nonsense mosh intro to “Acid Attack”. Who said grind couldn’t be catchy?
The longer the album goes, the more ruthless it gets. “Cataclysmic Gigaton” is the final assault on the already decimated eardrums of the listener. And yet here I am begging for more! Death Posture is a flawless convergence of the filthiest grind and deadliest death metal by some dudes who know a thing or two about extremity. As a fan of their main groups, I’m not too surprised I enjoy this album. However, not every supergroup is super. The Firm anyone?
I know making a comparison between an 80s dad rock band and a current deathgrind collective is a stretch, but hear me out. I love all the bands The Firm’s members came from (Led Zeppelin, Free, Bad Company, etc). The problem is they phoned it in and put out some of the most forgettable arena rock tripe of all time. They expected their name/reputation to do the talking. That’s not how it works. You’ve gotta prove your stripes, regardless of who you are. Caustic Wound does just that, one blastbeat at a time.
7 out of 10
Label: Profound Lore Records
Genre: Grindcore
For fans of: Repulsion, early Carcass, early Bolt Thrower