Various artists - Grind Your Mind- A History of Grindcore [Mayan Records - 2007] |
Though this double disk set is highly enjoyable and memory jolting ride with some pleasant surprises along the way, sadly it’s far from a definitive history of Grindcore as promised in t’s sub-title.
The main glaring omission here is Carcass- there’s not one track here by them, which really is extreme odd as in a lot of ways they were the definitive grindcore band- that legions of bands(including some of those featured on the second disk here) were influence by and copied wholesale. The other big gap here is Napalm Death, sure there’s one track here an unreleased Discharge cover from their early days- but nothing appears here from Scum(arguable the most important grindcore record) or it’s follow up from Enslavement to obliteration. Both of these omission feel akin to doing a feature or book on Italian horror movies and completing missing out Dario Argento, or discussing slasher films and not mentioning the original Halloween movie. It just seems frankly odd and wrong, one can only imagine it’s down to the artist not wanting to take part in this, if it’s any other reason the person who complied this should be taken out side & shot!. Anyway other than this big problem this does attempt to tell the history of grindcore from the early godfathers of grindcore such as Discharge, Chaos Uk & Siege. Through to Repulsion, Terrorizer then on to very English sounding grindcore of the likes of Extreme Noise terror, The Stupids, Sore Throat, etc. On the second disk we move over more state side with the likes of Mortician, Brutal Truth, Agoraphobic nosebleed and more modern grinding classics from the likes of Nasum, Pig destroyer, Skinless ,ect. All in all it flows well enough as a compilation and it’s peppered with great moments Like Uk’s surrealist/ bizarre comic grindcore act Doctor & the Crippens – Mr Parkinson track from 1987, or another classic from that time by skate & Usa obsessed uk nerds the Stupids with their track Slumber party. There’s also a few rare and unreleased tracks spanning mainly the early Uk period of grindcore. An enjoyable if floored compilation, of interest to those already familiar with genre & fancy a trip down memory lane. For newbie’s pick-up Napalm Death’s Scum and the first few Carcass albums…    Roger Batty
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