Magrudergrind expresses the single-minded simplicity of their music by keeping their second full-length album (following a slew of split EPs, compiled on 2005's Sixty Two Trax of Thrash, and 2007's Rehashed). Grindcore is a fairly basic and straightforward form -- full speed ahead, top volume, incomprehensible vocals, roaring guitars, and the omnipresent blastbeats, and
Magrudergrind are practitioners of the form at its highest level. Their songs are all extremely short, sometimes less than a minute long, with titles like "Assimilated Pollutants" and "Lyrical Ammunition for Scene Warfare." They do have the occasional semi-coherent political thought, it seems, as the last track here is called "Martyrs of the Shoah." But for the most part,
Magrudergrind are happy to have speed and volume be their own rewards. Musically, they don't limit themselves to cloning
Napalm Death or Siege; they throw some
Discharge and even a little
Hellhammer into the mix. Basically, anything fast, ugly, and furious works for them. It's hard to say how much longer they can keep charging down this aesthetic blind alley, but grindcore as a genre has shown a remarkable ability to limit diminishing returns despite -- or maybe because of -- its minimalism and ferociousness. As long as
Magrudergrind don't get all experimental, they should do fine. ~ Phil Freeman