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Birdflesh - Extreme Graveyard Tornado review




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Reviewer:
8.0

14 users:
7.36
Band: Birdflesh
Album: Extreme Graveyard Tornado
Release date: June 2019


01. Towards Insanity
02. Are We Great Again?
03. Crazy Train Decapitation
04. Grind Band
05. Home Of The Grave
06. Milkshake Is Nice
07. Another Pig
08. Guacamolestation Of The Tacorpse
09. Crazyful Face
10. Thank You For The Hostility
11. Crazy Nights
12. Botox Buttocks
13. House Guest
14. Accused Of Suicide
15. Black Hole Jaw
16. Amish Girl
17. The Rise Of Stupidity
18. Pub Night
19. Pyromaniacs
20. Bite The Mullet
21. Almost Aggression
22. Garlic Man
23. Mouth For Gore
24. Land Of The Forgotten Riffs

Birdflesh may be old in body, but not so in mind. They may seem a little death metal, but they're mostly pure grind.

Having ground out a grand group of splits and demos since greeting the world in the early 90s before coming to this, their fifth full-length goofy gore-fest, it only makes sense that one of the genre's longest running gags -- a grindcore grand-daddy if you will -- has returned with what can only be described as grindcore's greatest gift of 2019. It's geared to adhere to literally every gimmicky rule as if glued to the goddamn book of grind, only going off-page to grave-rob some guacamole recipes and gather intel on some grabby death metal hooks when the time is granted.

These gregarious Swedes get the game started with some gnashing guitar work, ever the ones to grace their grateful audience with groove galore. Gasping for air will do you little good with such a gritty production clogging your guts and grating against the granite wall of your skull like shards of glass growing like grass out your ears. There's no glitz or glamor here. Extreme Graveyard Tornado is a guns-a-blazing gig, giving way for glimmers of melody and gobs of experimental nods, careful not to go outside the gated grind community.

(Don't feel bad if you mispronounced any soft or silent Gs during that gratuitous attempt at alliteration.)

Look, if you don't take your music listening experience too seriously and enjoy when musicians take the piss out of what they do while simultaneously performing said music better than any of their contemporaries, Birdflesh is the band for you. The sampled references are relevant and the lyrics are quippy, which isn't unique to the scene obviously, but there's just something about their absurd sense of humor that works so well with their sound. It's a lot closer to the mark and less on the nose than Anal Cunt, for instance, and there's a clear and present higher quality musicianship present here.

Admittedly, it's an inherently mood-dependent listen due to its nature, and the rapid-paced tempo changes typical of grind can be a lot to handle for anyone, but this album deserves every bit of recognition it gets for its grade-A catchy songwriting. The replay value is incredible and it's ultimately fun to listen to, coming in at a digestible 27 minutes. The biggest selling point is probably how it's made more palatable than a lot of other grind despite its old school production style due to the mid-paced breaks and infused melody, but for those of you looking for tried-and-true grindcore, Extreme Graveyard Tornado is it. The album art prepares you perfectly for what's in store.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 8
Songwriting: 9
Originality: 6
Production: 9





Written on 27.09.2019 by I'm total pro; that's what I'm here for.


Comments

Comments: 7   Visited by: 64 users
27.09.2019 - 09:39
RaduP
CertifiedHipster
Man their logo is hilarious
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Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking
One day there will be no heart at all?
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27.09.2019 - 09:52
Rating: 8
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
Written by RaduP on 27.09.2019 at 09:39
Man their logo is hilarious

It's on par with some of these songs too, "Grind Band," "Milkshake Is Nice," "Black Hole Jaw," and "Garlic Man" especially.
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"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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28.09.2019 - 09:47
nikarg

Good going getting to write about this grindcore giant Great album.
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29.09.2019 - 17:55
tea[m]ster
Au Pays Natal
Wait what? Troy is back?
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rekt
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29.09.2019 - 19:42
Rating: 7
ScreamingSteelUS
Editor-in-Chief
Reading this made my eyes bleed. But now I have to listen to the album. You win this round.
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"Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader

I'm the Agent of Steel.
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29.09.2019 - 19:45
Rating: 8
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
Written by ScreamingSteelUS on 29.09.2019 at 19:42
Reading this made my eyes bleed. But now I have to listen to the album. You win this round.

My work here is done.
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"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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29.09.2019 - 19:47
Rating: 8
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
Written by tea[m]ster on 29.09.2019 at 17:55
Wait what? Troy is back?

It's been over a month at this point, you didn't notice my name all over the front page??
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"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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