Although the Czech Republic has given the metal world outstanding bands in all of metal's various subgenres, it is probably best known for its grindcore. I'm only a casual fan of grindcore and this blog doesn't cover it, but from what I can tell Czech grind is a powerful force within the scene. Besides all the internationally famous bands there is the amazing Obscene Extreme Fest which features primarily grind.The Czech band Alienation Mental are firmly entrenched in their homeland's tradition of excellent grindcore but cross over enough into brutal death that it should pique the interest of many of the readers here. As the title suggests, Four Years... ...Time Full of Brutality is a compilation of Alienation Mental's material from the four year period of 1999 to 2003. This consists of their sides of three split CDs and some live tracks.
This first and most important thing to know about Alienation Mental is that they are incredibly heavy. Their sound is viscerally satisfying. Deep bass, loud drums, and extreme guttural vocals all combine to give their studio material a huge, thick sound. Unfortunately their live material doesn't reflect this much, but a good live recording is a lot to expect from an underground deathgrind band.
Riffwise Alienation Mental reminds me a lot of a faster Poppy Seed Grinder. This makes sense considering that both bands come from the same scene and share members. Alienation Mental basically play fast, grinding blasts most of the time with catchy grooves added in every once in a while to keep things interesting. These grooves aren't your typical slam grooves and I wouldn't call Alienation Mental a slam band, but it's the same idea and I think that if you are a fan of breakdowns and groove in your death metal you will like this. Highlights include "Abnormal Idea Get Off Myself" and a cover of Carcass' song "Corporeal Jigsore Quandary".
Four Years... ...Time Full of Brutality is occasionally inconsistent and disjointed, which is often a problem of compilations, but overall this is a really heavy and enjoyable album. If you are a fan of deathgrind or grindcore or don't mind a lot of grind influence in your brutal death metal I think Alienation Mental is a worth checking out.
Note: Although I have not listened to it, my sources tell me that Alienation Mental's most recent full length Psychopathicolorspectrum is a style shift towards nu-metal. Probably not the best place to start with them.
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4 comments:
So slam-minded now allows rejected nu-metal bands. great.. off to Intestinal Dismemberment then.
This album is actually brutal death grind. They may have become a nu-metal band but that shouldn't discourage people from enjoying their older material.
I was joking Nick.
I apologize then Anonymous. People have a lot of dumb opinions on the internet though so it's hard to tell sometimes when people are joking. I hope this hasn't compromised our friendship.
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