Any band that consists of Matt Olivo (Repulsion), Matt Harvey (Gruesome, Exhumed), Danny Walker (Exhumed, Intronaut, Phobia) and Menno Verbaten (), should be a beast and that is exactly what this debut release is, but I wish it was longer than just short of 14 minutes. The opening bass riff to “Total Human Genocide” sounds like your house is being demolished by a bulldozer as the song detonates with a pulverising blast beat. The song is blisteringly fast similar to Repulsion with a grisly fuzzed out sound hinting at a crust style on the edges but also adhered to the song like some infested mucus are the gnarly vocal emanations replete with deathly grunts that nicely announce the start of “Altar Of Slaughter” with sporadic blast beats. The screeching vocal line is demented as the song retains a gnarly crust riff which abruptly changes to a far more melodic hook.

Being mauled by bass is what “Mask Of Fear” is about initially as the song sets about pawing the listener with talons of sharp riffing and ridiculously fast drumming. Slightly different, the title track has a hardcore like stance on the riff, being higher in tone, but no less venomous as the vocals assault the listener. The songs speed is kept controlled initially as the drums adopt a predominantly fill led approach with the blast minimised to short bursts of intense power which works to intensify the songs energy. “Funeral Bells” sounds like an old Napalm Death tune, the song has that lead up approach with accompanying cymbal smashing that you know catalyses the blast wave and sure enough the speed is like being dropped off a cliff and hitting terminal velocity in half a second.

This release touches base in various genres of extreme music whether it’s grind, crust, punk or hardcore but it also has its grubby hands in crossover too in the closing tune “Comatose” which whilst my genre tagging is loose for the connection as the song is much denser the riffing style and structure is there even if it does veer into blast territory as all the songs do. Like death metal, grindcore is having a good year with some excellent releases out so far this year and this can be added to the pile.

(8/10 Martin Harris)

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https://expulsiongrind.bandcamp.com/album/nightmare-future