EP REVIEW: Discharge(d) – Slugcrust

Grindcore isn’t exactly something easy to be introduced to; a combination of horribly overwhelming riffs and guttural screams summoned from the deepest depths of the stomach, you’ll be met with grimy and disgusting sonic textures that give everything a plague-like quality — especially the slower stuff. If you’re still interested, a good place to start might be something like SLUGCRUST’s new EP Discharge(d). 

Is it daunting? Absolutely. A little bit scary at first? Of course it is. Should that put you off? Definitely not. Grindcore can’t hurt you – at least this writer hasn’t seen any cases of that – but once you settle in to Discharge(d) you can really find a place to enjoy all of its cacophonous noise and highlight the nuance between the very fine layers that it’s made up of. Upon first listen, the greeting isn’t a welcoming one: The Antitrust is a mere 50seconds of being pelted by corrosive riffs and terror oozing vocals, and sets tempo for a brisk walk through the nine-minute warzone that the EP is. 

For a quality listening experience, don’t expect that listening to this will work through your phone speakers; SLUGCRUST’s layered barrage is too much for them, especially cymbal-laden tracks like V4. Either a good speaker set up or good earphones are a must to be able to really soak in the wrath of Discharge(d). Feral Nature and the title track could wither plants, syphoning all of the life and energy away with their incredibly heavy bleakness, reducing their surroundings to dust.

By any standards, SLUGCRUST aren’t the best grindcore band around, nor are they on many radars, but Discharge(d) is quintessentially grindcore in its rawest and most malleable form. The boundaries for growth and development are constantly expanding for this band. Could they strike a different note in this EP and showcase something more eyebrow raising than what you could find most small bands in the genre playing? For sure, but what they do deliver is absolutely face-melting in all the right ways, it doesn’t just slowly drop from your skull but it sizzles and warps it into something unrecognisable before slapping on to the floor in one messy piece. If they were to pick that gloopy flesh up and throw it at a crowd, that’s when they’ll break through their ceiling. 

Rating: 6/10

Discharge(d) is out now via Terminus Hate City.

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