BLAST PICKS: January 2021

Here at Distorted Sound we pride ourselves on highlighting some of the best upcoming bands. We believe that there are a million hidden gems out there that are dying to be discovered and we’ve made it our mission over the years to help uncover some. Now, we welcome January’s edition of Blast Picks, featuring some of the best upcoming bands in grindcore, powerviolence and fastcore. Our writer, Matthew Tilt, will be launching some of the gnarliest music your way to melt your face.

2020 was infinitely improved by the inaugural Blast Picks, featuring the best grinding cuts and nastiest beatdowns. Stepping into 2021 in 30-second bursts there is a deluge of punishing bands deserving the spotlight. Grind is our business, and business is good.

HONG KONG FUCK YOU – Third World Fighting Music, self-released

Hailing from Tijuana, Mexico, HONG KONG FUCK YOU mix a tongue-in-cheek attitude with serious grinding credentials. Squeezing 14 songs into just over six minutes, including four single-blast, one-second ditties, this slips between blistering speed and mid-paced, crowd-killing riffs with ease.

Barring a cover of The Girl from Ipanema (the album’s interlude) there’s a wall of fuzzy distortion covering everything, exactly what you’d expect when there are three bass guitars treated like political prisoners, backed by the Duracell bunny on drums.

HONG KONG FUCK YOU – Happy Shitting Rainbows, No Time Records

Dropping a second release in quick succession, this time through grind connoisseurs No Time Records, HONG KONG FUCK YOU stretch their winning formula. This three-track EP almost breaks the three-minute mark, with a little more groove in the basslines and a less frantic pace.

It’s no less aggressive though, with more hardcore stylings leading to some excellent mosh sections. Each track also highlights something a little different about the band. The title track features some seriously fast drumming while Peace And Silence leans into pedal effects at the end for a noisier experience. Closer This Is A Friendly Public Service Announcement brings them full circle, with the fast-slow devastation of power violence.

XTOM HANX – The Experience, Decolonised Records

This discography release from Sacramento noise grinders XTOM HANX comprises their 2014 album Posers From Space, a live set and a 23-minute track of swirling, death metal infused electronics.

An Aural Observance To Violence (AKA The Experience) is an incredible B-side to the half-hour of effective blunt-force trauma. Looping harsh feedback with distortion, guttural vocals and samples, it sounds off-the-cuff and continues a long, successful of power violence bands experimenting with electronics to further their assault on the listener.

That’s not to say that the rest of the release isn’t an excellent listen. Rough and ready production, sudden blasts of grind and duelling vocal styles offer plenty to enjoy. It’s also indicative of the band’s progression, with hints of power electronics and noise peppered throughout.

TRACE AMOUNT x BLAKE HARRISON – Under The Skin, Deathbed Tapes

Harsh industrial artist Brandon Gallagher (TRACE AMOUNT) joins forces with grindcore royalty Blake Harrison (PIG DESTROYER) to offer up four-tracks of aural abuse. Harrison has remastered and remixed the TRACE AMOUNT EP Fake Figures In Sacred Scriptures, stripping it back and doubling down on the harsh noise aspects.

Building a wall of sound from drum-machine blasts, ear-splitting feedback and unsettling vocal tracks to create a disorientating and punishing experience. Suitably the title track, subtitled Scarlett Johansson, sees the formula torn down to its barebones. Like the Jonathan Glazer film it references, it’s a sensory assault done with the bare minimum but filled with enough subtleties and variations that it deserves several revisits.

TERROR SUSPECT – Demo II, Practiced Hatred Fanzine

LA fastcore tribe TERROR SUSPECT sound like the 80’s hardcore scene jumped into the DeLorean to kick your head in. Taking influence from everyone including CHARLES BRONSON, DROP DEAD and INFEST, these four tracks are fast and furious with a fierce political bent.

Guitar lines run through the greatest hits of thrashcore, power violence and grind, with blasting drums backing it up and gruff vocals. Despite the influences, TERROR SUSPECT never sound derivative and with a discography currently running at less than ten minutes, there’s never been a better time to get your ears attuned to these guys.

WRØNG – Snapping The Bones To Make The Limbs Bend, Blind Idiot Recordings

Two-piece Melbourne grinders WRØNG make an almighty racket using bass and drums. Mixing one-minute fast-slow blasts, with longer, sludge-ridden tracks, Snapping The Bones… shows a band at the very top of their game.

Exhumed Living Death starts fast and frantic, but falls away to something closer to classic death metal, with its mid-paced riffing and gory imagery. Rising Bile follows suit recalling early CANNIBAL CORPSE and OBITUARY, with some sickening vocals that Jeff Walker would be proud of.

But when these guys go fast, like on Creature Of The Depths, it’s an absolute thrill ride of superhuman drumming and screeching feedback. WRØNG can do no wrong, the irony.

And that rounds off our next entry of Blast Picks! Be sure to keep posted to Distorted Sound as we bring your our next entry of all things grind and powerviolence very soon!