4 out of 5

Label: Closed Casket Activities

Produced by: Taylor Young, Full Of Hell (?)

Grind is one of those metal genres I’d admittedly don’t have much of an ear for, so I appreciate when bands can bring something that stands out in the genre, making it easier for me to have an “in” and buy into the appeal. Full Of Hell still lean more into the general noisy wash of the scene than I’d say I prefer, but the dueling growling / yelly vocalists give it some dynamic, and they transition out of traditional thrashy chaos here and there for some metal chugga-chuggas that I’m down with. From this split, ‘Thy Radiant Garrote Exposed’ is pure grind, down to the highfalutin’ title and the violent lyrics, and certainly hits with animosity and passion but otherwise probably wouldn’t grab me beyond acknowledging that the group can undoubtedly murder their instruments and bring it in terms of performance – this is not a “sloppy” sounding grind band. Bez Bolu, their other offering, does totally rock, though, highlighting the different singing styles and varying up the clatter with some legit breakdowns. I’ve listened to other FoH and had sort of the same response as with ‘Exposed,’ but this song is one of those aforementioned ‘ins,’ and encourages me to go back and give some of their other material a closer listen.

But, y’know, Nails. Frikkin’ Nails. A band who, by all accounts, is just another thrash / grind / hardcore punk band, but somehow manages to sound goddamned louder and more threatening and more everything than every other band ever. I would’ve credited Kurt Ballou with upping their heft, which he certainly did, but drummer Taylor Young does the engineering here (hm – the low-end is dialed back a bit and you can here some crispness in the production; interesting…) and the group sounds as menacing as ever on No Longer Under Your Control. Are the lyrics – as indicated by that title, probably – inventive? Is the group necessarily breaking the bank compositionally? No, but again, there’s no way to not hear this and, assuming you’re a fan of hardcore punk in the first place, be stopped in place and either wonder Who the heck is this? or, if you’re already one of the converted, recognize the band immediately and smile, and then do the requisite bleeding from your ears. Dig that wild thrash solo pulled off in the last 15 seconds of an expensive 1.5 minute track.