After 30 years in the game, NAPALM DEATH still can’t be fucked with, and they are as brutal as ever. This fact can be seen in their new video “Everyday Pox,” a song that was featured on their most recent album Utilitarian. NAPALM DEATH are on a full US tour right now – peep the dates and the “Everyday Pox” visual after the jump!

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Now signed with Nuclear War Now, Oregon underground enigma Knelt Rote has all but moved away from their grindcore origins and into pastures more akin to the death metal and black metal that is often associated with the label. Last album Insignificance went a long in bridging the gap to where Knelt Rote are now. The band’s third LP Trespass espouses all the hallmarks of the underground’s brutal heart as this is one of the year’s most devastating and unrelenting metal records.

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CVLT Nation is streaming Pig Destroyer’s new album Book Burner in full below…

You really have to live under a whole truckload of rocks if you haven’t noticed that Richmond’s PIG DESTROYER have unleashed a new full-length record. Book Burner was without a doubt one of the most anticipated extreme metal records this year – and the four years prior to that, because it was as far back as 2007 when the contentious Phantom Limb saw the light of day. It seems to be really astonishing that a band that tours only very rarely (if at all), releases records totally outside of any fancy business-plans and plays music the biggest parts of humanity would describe as noise can be as successful as PIG DESTROYER is. But considering the staggering technical quality of the music and the most interesting lyrical content, it’s not that surprising anymore – quality prevails, also in the uncomfortable depths of metal.

Full Review after the jump!
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Norway’s BEATEN TO DEATH are a Grindcore band that refuses to meet everybody’s expectations about Grindcore – musically and aesthetically. Their amazing debut record Xes and Strokes, also covered here on Cvlt Nation, hasn’t left my iPod since I got it and when I was asked if I’d be into reviewing a live DVD of BTD, I really couldn’t say no. Bringing new ideas and sounds to a genre whose boundaries seemed to be set into stone over 20 years ago, BTD are a more than outstanding act. One could argue if a live DVD is something necessary, especially for a quite new band, but on the other hand BTD don’t seem to give too much of a fuck about other opinions and expectations anyway, so why the hell not?!

The set was filmed in Oslo, June 17th, when BTD supported Killswitch Engage – funny to see the basically non-existent crowd reaction of the KSE-worshipping whimps when confronted with the relentless grind-fury of BTD. Although the live-sound is just roughly mixed and not edited, mastered, triggered or otherwise polished for the DVD-release, it really ripps your head open. Be sure – these guys definitely know how to play their instruments. Speaking of which, of course their choice of guitars plays a huge part in the specific sound of BTD: Thanks to the Fenders (or something similar) the sound has very rich mids, and for that isn’t wading through indefinable low ends. Just like on the record, this works astonishingly good live. The drum sound is pure aggression and makes you table-blast-beating instantly. After 25 minutes of headbangin’, blast-beatin’, tremolo-pickin’, moshin’ “Melodic Grind” (I read that somewhere, what a stupid word haha), the show’s over as suddenly as it began, leaving a mostly distraught crowd – well done!
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Source: Operation Grindcore

This is a split that I kinda-sorta had foreseen coming/kinda tried to put out myself, but Diseased Audio had the gall to get to it first. I ain’t bitter though, cause this split is a dream come true for fans of filthy fast music. Two titans of underground powerviolence together at last. Makes me sick, in the best possible way. Sea of Shit are up first with three tracks of grime-violence. The tracks are a bit cleaner than their last EP (but come on, most records are in comparison), and the slow parts have increased a bit overall, but it gives the songs and riffs a bit more room to breathe. The opening track, “Black and Blue”, is an awesome down-tempo trudger that develops and builds very naturally, while at the same time sounding like it’s decaying and falling apart, and the following two tracks both have interesting drum passages and breakdowns. The last track even has a kinda black metal chord progression. Overall, the tracks don’t have as much of a visceral impact as their previous releases, but it is a solid effort.

Now the Water Torture side is just straight up violence. Five tracks from my Buffalo favorites, and this time we get not one, but two bass players slamming out the sickness. The result may be Water Torture’s heaviest recording to date. Pretty remarkable how the new addition really didn’t muddy up the sound at all. The riffs on here are just slamming, face-meets-broken-glass-and-rusty-nails brutal, case in point, the track “Living Hell”. When that song breaks down, holy shit, it’s heavy sludge perfection. The drum tones are more like they were on the s/t EP, which I very much prefer. The combination bass drum/cymbal hits are much more punchy this time around. Elephant stomping heaviness. I’ll say it again, this band can do no wrong. Stoked for everything. Killer split.

The first thing to get out of the way here is that O are not going to win any prizes for their band name. Try searching for that without knowing the album title. Nit picking aside, these Italians’ full-length album Il Vuoto Perfetto (translated as The Perfect Vacuum) is a triumph in the game of blackened grind. The band has taken a grind and crust template to begin with and crafted a record inflected with searing BM riffing and moments of trudging sludgy doom to boot.

At a scant half an hour, O conjure an holy barrage into the running time but one that effortlessly swans in and out of different paces. Opener Apnea kicks in with juddering guitars but soon descends into an eerily mellow mid passage before erupting again with the grooves of the second track (simply titled .) Il Vuoto Perfetto’s greatest strength is its relentlessness and ability to throw new curveballs within nearly every song. There are riffs that are shamelessly black metal and others that are akin to fellow countrymen The Secret’s assiduous BM/hardcore balance. All the while, songs like Non e Vivo sculpt towers of melodic, often groove laden riffs and Di Vita e Altri Veleni, with its slight post rock influence, interrupts the punishing onslaught. There are plenty of derivative elements here on this album but O have still unleashed a merciless, but equally interesting and evocative, hail of blackened hardcore that is their own.
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Blackened Death Grind. Deathened Grind Blackness. Grinding Black Death. No matter the lens from which you view Cyanic from, they are masters of a devastating and delicious concoction. Although the San Jose troupe has been active since 2004, they only just released their first full-length this past August. But their dedication to the craft paid off, and Litanies of Lust Unholy is one of the most crushing debuts of the year.

The 26-minute procession is relentless and unforgiving, never is a breath of air or palate cleanser given a thought as the band barrels you into darkness. The song structures are steeped in grindcore tradition; a spider web of riffs intertwined, cycling ever forward, never looking back. They create a perfect, yet fragile, sonic foundation. One misstep, one slip, and the whole thing comes crashing down. And you expect it to. But it never does. Teetering on the edge of such devilish chaos is a masterful risk, but Cyanic are able to keep their balance above their insane sinkhole and thrive.


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Cara Neir’s new EP is a doozy of a record. Clocking in at an all-too-brief 22 minutes, “Sublimination Therapy” is fury in sonic form. “Therapy” at its core is blisteringly fast grindcore honed with a punk attitude. This not uncommon occurrence is augmented by song writing that rarely gets boring as Cara Neir experiments with using less black metal, while filling the void with a solid helping of the aforementioned grindcore, dashing it with intimidating death metal and relentless powerviolence. Cara Neir’s latest work is a structured medley of ideas that fall flat at times. The record’s fluctuating attitude and sound is, at times, clumsily jarring. “Therapy” is well executed, however its uneven structure threatens to undermine the skill put forth. This shift can be attributed to the change of the guard that occurs between “It Started in the Silo” and “Drink the Rot.” From this point half of the lineup changes, save for frontman Chris Francis and stringman/drum programmer Dorian Rainwater. Grind and powerviolence reign supreme in structure through much of “Therapy’s” first half, with “Prudent Oath” striking out with grand black melodies that become ever prominent. Melody and speed marry from this point on, eschewing much of “Therapy’s” earlier heaviness in favor of screeched vocals, activist-like aesthetic and a sheer cold sound.

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So earlier this year Floridian grinders Cellgraft, unfortunately, called it a day, bowing out with their impressive self-titled LP. Since then, Faith Addiction, featuring ex-members of Cellgraft, have released this new 7” EP Order From Chaos via No Reprieve Records and it’s one of the most of belligerently brilliant grind records of the year. Its short, no nonsense running time means that the band squeeze in as much devastating aggression as possible. It’s a modus operandi that served Cellgraft exceptionally well and has done so again here.

As each song passes by, Faith Addiction become more and more relentless, a sense of ferocity and urgency is always prevalent and augments with each song, as if the band is desperately trying to accomplish something before time runs out on them, and accomplish something they do. This is all made clear by the 26 second close of Disciples Punishment, the shortest track, where the band suitably bookend this striking 7”.

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