ALBUM REVIEW: The Bite That Grows Up – Great Falls

GREAT FALLS return with The Bite That Grows Up, a record that follows their previous record, which was their first on Neurot Recordings, Objects Without Pain, and demonstrates exactly why that label is the perfect vessel to be putting out the band’s music. While the rest of the bands vast recorded output is more than worth checking out (and contains everything from collaborations with Japanese avant-garde noise legend KENJI SIRATORI to splits with the likes of THOU ), the band seem to be ascending even more on their time with Neurot and The Bite That Grows Up is a brilliant encapsulation of that and has to be their most harrowing work to date.

With members of GREAT FALLS having served in the likes of PLAYING EMENY, GAYTHEIST, UNDERTOW, BASTARD THIEF and most notably KISS IT GOODBYE, their pedigree in underground music is outstanding. They channel all that experience along with a whole plethora of anger and resulting feelings to create an explosive collections of songs that will have you in awe at the unravelling of pain that emits explicitly from the speakers as you listen to it.

This is music presented as an uneasy listening experience and one that is executed in a traumatic manner with vocalist/guitarist Demian Johnston screaming with so much convictiomn “I need help” and “I am sorry” in such a tormented fashion as early as the first track. As the album unravels there is a whole heap of pain unloaded as every minute goes by. That harrowing opener A Small Weakness starts things off as it means to go on, and it just gets even more heartbreaking and traumatic from then on with the chaotic Pinned Against Time and the slow burning holler of Hailstone Numbers adding to the tension while Nicotine In the Spine is a full on blast of noise laden heaviness that could break down even the strongest walls.

Tracks like Debt Ethics (which features a jaw dropping rhythmic assault from drummer Nick Parks and bassist Shane Mehling that will turn your head inside out), and Buildings Full of Rope are packed full of cathartic rage. They are a perfect prelude to the absolutely monolithic closing track What No One Can Give, a track that turns a seething sense of cleansing into a meditative state on the most full filling way, and it is a sublime way to sound this album off.

The Bite That Grows Up is a truly brilliant but always harrowing record that fans of DEADGUY, NEUROSIS, UNSANE, and of course KISS IT GOODBYE, will find so much to love. It cements GREAT FALLS as a crushing band, and both the album and the band truly deserve all the plaudits they will undoubtedly receive.

Rating: 8/10

The Bite That Grows Up is set for release on October 16th via Neurot Recordings. 

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