Poppy Seed Grinder - Humanophobia - 2008 - Sevared/Nice To Eat You Records

Yikes! We've all been waiting for this one; ever since their AWESOME split with Defeated Sanity way back in the day, these guys have been under-heralded masters of Czech slam/brutal death. Their last album of Dying Fetus-meets-Inveracity brutality was released on little known Kharaanus Productions, but those truly dedicated to this scene worshiped it as it was meant to be worshiped...

Now, years later (4 or so to be exact!), PSG has risen again with another grooving, moshing and heavy album of excellence. The production immediately sounds a LITTLE rawer, and the vocals are mixed a bit lower, but the trademark PSG groove riffs and pinches/melodies are still present. The vocalist, Cifron, still employs VERY varied techniques ranging from typical deathgrowls to rabid screams, inhales, gurgles and pig squeals, plus some of his own special deviations; solid stuff as always. The first song features an unprecedentedly complex song structure; no longer does PSG stay on a blasty path as they did a lot of the time on Oppressed Reality, there is more technicality (subtly done rather than ostentatiously like some bands nowadays) and maturity in some songs here. The second track, which was available for a while as a song on their Myspace ("Fetus Of Hatred") is furious and raging with a really catchy verse/chorus section featuring a second or two of turntable scratching(?!), and the early breakdown has some great bass interplay.

This album even features a re-tooling of the title track from their half of the split I mentioned earlier, "Talk Evolution", which is well done and does justice to the original; would've liked to see a re-release of ALL the songs (due to "The Unmenigable Of Consequences" being one fucking sick and awesome song, despite having a nonsensical title) but I can deal with one for now.

Anyway, this is very good stuff, not TOO much of a departure (slightly punkier, a little more underproduced, etc.), and thus not too much of a significant progression, from Oppressed Reality, but it holds up quite well on its own. It's fun, it's brutal and it's not just typical gore slam with no concept; I'll take two!