Stimulant - Sub-Normal (2025)

Five years after their previous release, the guitar / drums duo Stimulant (formed by ex-Water Torture) is back with a new album called Sub-Normal. And it was worth the wait, once again they deliver some high quality and high impact powerviolence / noise. Good stuff! 

 

The BC page. 

 

Trauma Bond - Summer Ends. Some Are Long Gone (2025)

This new Trauma Bond release is less powerviolence/noisegrind and more hardcore/noise. Pace is overall slower, but quality isn't lower. Summer Ends. Some Are Long Gone have a different mood, but it's still excellent stuff, and still with the diversity and unpredictability that makes them more interesting than most extreme bands. 

 

The BC page. 

 

Shock Narcotic - My Flesh Is Afraid But I Am Not (2025)

When I reviewed Shock Narcotic first album (I Have Seen The Future And It Doesn't Work in 2019) I said the album was excellent but wouldn't gain originality points because it really evoked Napalm Death. Well, that wasn't very inspired and relevant. They did indeed evoke ND, but the Napalm Death that their mid-tempo noisegrind / noisecore is evoking is the experimenting and hard to label one (especially, but not limited to, the albums from second half of the nineties). The same could be said about My Flesh Is Afraid But I Am Not, and it's also an excellent album. And they actually developed more a personal hybrid/mutant style than most bands...

 The BC page. 

 

Barren Path - Grieving (2025)

Barren Path is the new band with Takafumi Matsubara (ex Gridling guitarist), surrounded by a crew of experienced musicians (Bryan Fajardo, Mitchell Luna, Mauro Cordoba and Rory Kobzina), as expected their first album Grieving is full of sharp and tight supersonic grindcore. Too straightforward to compare to Gridlink except for the speed, but I guess there is no ambition of playing forward-thinking music here, just speed for its own sake, for the sheer joy of shredding fast, and I definitely can relate to that. And I think anyone into super fast and modern sounding grind will enjoy the intensity they deliver. Quite basic but excellent nonetheless.

 

The BC page.

 

Unsu - Darkest in The Sun (2025)

Unsu are from North of France and Darkest in The Sun is their second album (and seventh release) and is a very solid and convincing piece of modern grindcore, evoking both Nasum and Rotten Sound. Recommended.

 

The BC page.

 

 

Meth Leppard - Gatekeepers (2025)

Saw Australian grind duo Meth Leppard live a few days ago (at Les Passagers du Zinc in Besançon, with promising local grinders Proudhon and Travolta from Belgium who also put up a good show) and it felt a bit like being hit by a demolition truck. Believe it or not, I enjoyed it! Vocals are a bit too uniform, but cool riffing and the drummer is a relentless beast. What about their second album, Gatekeepers? Might be the best release yet, with the inclusion of slightly more nuanced moments, while staying pure old school grind rampage.

 

The BC page. 

 

Dephosphorus - Planetoktonos (2025)

It's great to be able to listen to a new Dephosphorus album, five years after the previous one. As you can guess, Planetoktonos continues the cosmic theme of the band, but also explore it further with some sc-fi atmospheric moments (is it guitar effects, analog synths, samples? all of that?). But don't expect some super long progressive tracks, as they always do, Dephosphorus manage to integrate this atmospheric element into short and raging songs blending black, death metal and grind. Good stuff, as expected.

 

The BC page. 

 

 

Escuela Grind - Dreams on Algorithms (2024)

Escuela (now Escuela Grind) have always been a good band, but I felt their hardcore/PV/grind was sometimes a bit too generic. But I think their latest album, released last year, Dreams on Algorithms, is where they really found their own thing, with more diversity from song to song, more diversity in the vocals (including a totally successful first try at clean vocals in the last song), and overall a more catchy songwriting with more groove. I hope they will keep on exploring their own sound. Already excellent stuff for now, in any case.

 

The BC page. 

 

LWSTNDRDS - Songs of Atrocity (2024)

I had noticed and enjoyed their previous releases, so when this excellent album from Polish band LWSTNDRDS has been released by Nerve Altar (if you read me regularly you know this is the best dealer of grind related music we have since a few years) it wasn't a surprise but a confirmation. Songs of Atrocity is a fine piece of powerviolence/grind/blackened hardcore/sludge (yes, following the recent trend of mixing the different styles of hardcore /metal, and why not? Here it is definitely producing a great result) blending nicely bursts of violence and twisted grooves. Good stuff!

 

The BC page. 

 

Caustic Wound - Grinding Mechanism of Torment (2025)

Grinding Mechanism of Torment is the second album from Caustic Wound (with guys from Magrudergrind and  Mortiferum), again released by profound Lore records. Like their first album, this is an excellent piece of deathgrind, sounding a bit like Repulsion but faster and tighter, merging the old and new school of grind. And the icing on the cake is these guitar soli, more complex and twisted than you would have expected on a grind album. Good stuff!

 

The BC page. 

 

Test - Disco Normal (2023)

Grindcore, like most musical genres, is often quite standardised. Test, the grind duo from Brazil is definitely not. We could call their music "noise stoner latin grind" or maybe just free grind. Probably John Zorn would totally approve. I enjoyed their four albums (Disco Normal being the latest) and splits, but seeing them play live the other day (supported by Apoptose a new and very promising mince/gore grind duo from Besançon, with drummer and guitarist from Proudhon) exceeded my expectations, a truly unique experience! Both guys are inspired and very talented musicians, the drumming especially is a masterclass from another world. Absolutely recommended! and if you have the occasion to see go to one of their gig, don't miss it! 

The BC page

 

Convulsions / Civilian Thrower (2025)

If you dig old school grind I really recommend you this split. Convulsiosn are from Spain and their grind is between old school and powerviolence, but with vocals more guttural than is usual for PV. Civilian Thrower are from France (with the singer of Whoresnation and members from Hordur, Lovgun and Morbid Scum) and this time their old school grind is going more on the death metal side than it used to be.

Good stuff! 

Convulsions side on BC

Civilian Thrower on BC 

 

Exhorbitant Prices Must Diminish - For A Limited Time (2024)

For A Limited Time is the first album from Swiss grinders Exhorbitant Prices Must Diminish (but they exist since 2015). From the cover art you wouldn't expect old-school grind, but that's not totally misleading since they manage to play old school grind with a twist, taking the core elements, but unlike many bands they avoid sounding standardised. Sounding at the same time old school and "fresh" isn't so easy, but For A Limited Time is definitely succeeding in doing exactly that. Good job!

 

The BC page. 

 

Groin - Paid in Flesh (2024)

Groin music is fast and straightforward, and my review of the latest album from the trio from Ariona will be the same. Paid in Flesh delivers quality powerviolence/grind just how I like it, and obviously I recommended it warmly.

 

The BC page. 

 

Vile Species - Disqualified As a Human (2024)

Disqualified As a Human is the third album from old school grinders from Greece Vile Species, confirming they are trustworty dealers in quality grind. Good stuff!

The BC page.

 

 

Fulminate - High Caliber Decimator (EP 2024)

Fulminate is a new grind band from Chicago and this EP called High Caliber Decimator is their latest release (and their fourth one this year!). They play excellent old school gore grind, raw and noisy but with a nice groove. It's really good stuff, and I recommended the rest of their discography as well.

The BC page.

 

Liberosis - Hedonismo Nihilista (2024)

Hedonismo Nihilista is the third album from Costa Rican band Liberosis, and another excellent piece of old school grindcore. Previous album was a good discovery for me, and I'm happy to said this new one is a good confirmation, I'll definitely keep on following their releases! Recommended!

The BC page.

 

Warfuck - Fail. repeat (EP 2024)

This five track EP called Fail. Repeat is a short but intense reminder of how good Warfuck is now. We could say they repeatedly fail to fail and keep on producing top quality modern / post-Nasum grindcore. Recommended! 

The BC page.

 

Sick/Tired - Whip Hand Paranoia (2024)

Powerviolence/grind band Sick/Tired took their time to come back, but that was definitely worth the wait! Whip Hand Paranoia is a ferocious album filled with short super condensed blast of PV/grind fury. And to make things more interesting and add a bit of diversity they also bring some somewhat noise/indus guitar work, at times reminding a bit of Napalm Death experiments. Appropriately, it's released by Nerve Altar, currently the best grind label. Strong contender for best grind album of the year ! 

The BC page.

 

LWSTNDRS - Songs of Atrocity (2024)

Intended to review LWSTNDRS previous release for a long time (been released in 2019...), but now that have a new one released by Nerve Altar, so here we go. The new album Songs of Atrocity feels a bit more polished, more in a blackened hardcore vein, even if the grind noise elements are still in the background. Good stuff.

The BC page.