ALBUM REVIEW: Nightmare Future – Expulsion

Grindcore is all too often barely divorced from noise these days. The initial desire to be the fastest and heaviest has long been taken to its logical extreme arguably at the expense of good song-writing. Enter EXPULSION. A surprisingly obvious name for a band that features members of the legendary REPULSION and EXHUMED whose approach to grindcore can only be described as unashamedly old school.

Kicking off with a heavy bassline they waste no time in announcing their presence with opener Total Human Genocide. Slightly over the two minutes line the track wastes none of its length and blasts through several riffs and a solo that would put most modern bands to shame. Altar of Slaughter is next and spits venom left right and centre. Immediately apparent is the sheer quality of both music and the discernible vocal delivery helps to keep the record feeling like a long lost gem.

Mask of Fear is the shortest track on the album at just past the minute mark and again not a second is wasted as the band deliver an assault upon the senses before leaving the listener craving more. Bass heavy and with blast beats a plenty, this isn’t a reinvention of the wheel but is all the better for it. The title track of the album Nightmare Future offers more of the same, with its over two and half minute runtime seeming almost indulgent in comparison to its companions. The early influence of the genre are on show here with punk-y riff’s rearing their heads across the record.

Continuing the surprising amount of energetic riffs on the record Funeral Bells bounces around genre’s as well as having the albums first and only period of calm as it closes to church bells and wind. Compulsions is then a rude awakening from this with its much more chugging and pounding approach. Comatose closes out the album and does everything that the album’s 7 songs and 14 minutes of grindcore has done so well with its aggression and message not overshadowed by a focus on the sheer amount of noise the band can produce.

All in all EXPULSION have crafted a hell of a record here. Pounding aggressive without becoming boring, its punk influences worn proudly on its no doubt crusty sleeves and with enough happening in each track to put any band who feel they can repeat a riff for longer than a couple of minutes to shame. If this had been released three decades ago, it would be a classic of the genre have no doubt about that.

Rating 9/10

Nightmare Future is out now via Relapse Records.

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