BURNING FLAG

 

The title tells you what you need to know - Grind IS Protest and BURNING FLAG are standing tall in the face of authority and sonic competence on this 2014 release. No bass (at least not in the mix), raw dual high/low vocals punctuating political DIY grind - you don't need to know BURNING FLAG to know their sound. Tracks like "Revolusi" and "Fuck The System Government" would have been right at home in 1990s Connecticut (if you know, then you know) while "Dinoe Kasetno Indro" is a more primal, metallic lo-fi crust grind assault. Melodic hooks keep creeping out of the manic DBeat guitar riffs; never enough to actually develop...just enough to raise an eyebrow before tracks like "Ludahi Para Pendusta" rip your face off. Let Grind Is Protest serve as a reminder....I'm not sure of what exactly, just consider yourself reminded. 

GRIND IS PROTEST

SPEEDKILL // BERBAHAYA

 

Ten minutes of churning, in your face thrash that....man, the shit just fukkn grooves. The first SPEEDKILL cut has serious NUNCHAKU vibes and settles into something akin to the first HAUNTED record, while the BERBAHAYA tracks are full throttle cruising grind/thrash. There's nothing fancy here - they get in, they destroy, they get out. Not sure what else you could possibly want. 

OPIUM PEMBUS MORAL CANDU NADA NERAKA

MASS GRAVE

 

Not at all unusual to find multiple artists who have chosen the same moniker, but it's not typical to see several in similar eras and genres. So to be clear - this is not MASSGRAVE the face melting crust/grind band from Vancouver, this is not MASSGRAV the crust 'n roll band from Stockholm, this is also neither the German death metal MASS GRAVE nor the French death metal MASS GRAVE. This is the Bulgarian grinding death juggernaut MASS fucking GRAVE and thank the god/s that Canada's Funeral Hymns reissued this 2013 masterpiece a few years back or it may have been forever lost in the CDr demo abyss. This is the kind of grind that makes you realize after each track that you haven't really been breathing, but you barely have time to reload oxygen before the next round of grievious bodily harm commences. All consuming grindcore rooted in OSDM, this is the shit that will make you not care about anything else while you're listening, and that is exactly the kind of listening I'm looking for these days. Hail.

FADE OF LIFE

MERKED

 

Fifteen minutes of anti-capitalist mince/grind from Oakland. You can say that there's nothing special here, and I'll respond by saying that you're wrong. It's fierce and ugly....there are now sounds for now times. And if you don't thing "Soothing Sounds Of Slaughtered Rapists" is special, then I suggest you visit a different and/or worse/r blog. Choice cut: "Remove The Burden." Mandatory listening: Start to finish.  

MURK MOB

BANGUN DARI MIMPI BURUK YANG INDAH

 

More like this please? Thank you. A breathtaking collection of raw fastcore, mince/grind, noise, shit-fi and punk, all delivered with a brilliantly honest lack of fidelity. DESTRUCT, PROJECT BABI NO.9, DEVIATED SYMPHONY, DIRTY MOUTH, NOISE FOR VIOLENCE and more, all hailing from Yogyjakarta. Shit just feels real, and the next 42 minutes of your life are about to get a lot more brutal. 

BANGUN DARI MIMPI BURUK YANG INDAH: A SOUNDTRACK FROM A PRINTMAKING

BACKYARD

 

A savage dose of old school primitive grind/crust worshipping at dual altars. West Bay Doomryderz and CROSSED OUT. Dank violence and sonic misanthropy. This is beyond an homage, BACKYARD are lighting the way with a fire from the old/er guard....six minutes of pure disgust. 

LOWER INCOME DRESS CODE

CULVERT CORPSE

 

Got a nice little package from the Sewercide folks last week. I say "when" when what I really mean is "filthy," of course. Three offerings from Halifax's newest export and tariffs be damned because this fukkr is worth every penny and more. You want my lazy comparison? '90s DIY crusters recording primitive black metal on a boom box and using a kindergarten synth for the leads. Yup, it's as good as you think it is. "Blood Streams" is relentless knuckle dragging raw NABM and worth the price of admission on its own....but what about "Warpath," you ask? well it sounds like a fucking war path, obviously. This was the only tape in the package, so you're going to have to seek the MISANTHROPIC MINDS // HÄPEÄ split on your own - it shouldn't be too hard to find. 

DEMO 1

THE END 32

 

Tell me you aren't tired of the DIY Indonesian hardcore that's been squatting these pages for the pasts weeks (months?), because there's another box of gold headed my way shortly and I am not even close to finished with the last two deliveries. SE Asian DIY hardcore is a fascinating case study - the countries and scenes that make up the region are completely different in so many ways, the scene in Philippines was popping in the '80s but Indonesian punk didn't really start growing for another decade. Singapore is essentially a "first world" country economically but the scene there is inextricably (and geographically) connected to Malaysia's. And while all of these scenes grew separately, they all influenced one another and they all drew from the resources that were available.....notably the (then) punk scenes from the US, Japan and Europe. Now I'm left to figure out how a band like THE END 32 came to exist in early 2000s Indonesia. The sound is unbridled ferocious DIY grindcrust, and I feel like this was atypical in early '00s Jakarta (though I could easily be wrong). We're talking ASSÜCK level blasting - listen to the way the blasts change speed on "Against Animal Testing" and then ask yourself what the fuck you were doing in 2002. That shit was (is) next level - straight up - and then they do the techno shit on"Stupid 2" and my mind is blown because of the when and the where, you know? There aren't many DIY punk/grind releases that hit this hard regardless of context and/or origin.....this shit is special. 

SUFFER

TOTAL DESTROY

 

Six bursts of guttural grind/crust and an eight minute 'live' session from Bulungan Stage (I have no idea what or where that is). The whole damn thing is over in twelve minutes, so I encourage you to listen to "Sistem Bobrok" twice. At least twice. Then "Berontak." Fuck, just listen to the entire fukkn tape, okay?

BIAR MAMPUS

BACKYARD

 

More Doomryderz worship from...Austria?
Yes it is.
Yes it is amazing.
There's something about BACKYARD that I can't put my finger on (much less describe) and I think it's about a level of brutality. Like...a marker on the brutal-o-meter or something, because the shit is just brutal. BACKYARD are the definition of primal inn the best possible way - take a deep breath and steel yourself before you grind......because you're gonna grind.You like grinding because grinding is so fukkn good and downtuned DIY hardcore is even better. 

RODENT'S BURROW

BOTTLED UP

 

Someone wanna tell me how I missed this? It's entirely possible that I am simply not cool, but this ultra cool and utterly devastating thing apparently happened under my nose in the late 2010s. That think was called BOTTLED UP. Shit sounds like PARLAMENTARISK SODOMI and NO DICE playing a bar in Menlo Park in 1998 and I am so fukkn here for it. Just wondering why I wasn't there for it, you know?

FARALLON

BACKYARD

 

I swear upon the moon and stars that an angel dropped this into my life. I don't deserve these sounds, not in 2025 I don't...and yet here these sounds are, lacerating my eardrums and filling my soul with hope. Viennese West Bay obsessed grinders BACKYARD deliver eight doses of brutally lo-fi rehearsal pain on Questionable Practices, a five minute master class in PV/Grind Mastery that kneels at the altars of gods. Logo ripped from IMMORTAL FATE, font meticulously adapted from Mr. Ripple's countless visual credits, and a sound that would not raise an eyebrow if BACKYARD were played alongside PLUTO, UTTER BASTARD, DBE....you get the fukkn drill. My jaw fell open and my heart swelled when I played Questionable Practices for the first time, and there have been so many more times since that moment. This is beautiful, life is beautiful. 

QUESTIONABLE PRACTICES

ALL NATION DEATH

 

Primal and brutal DIY punk straight from the DISRUPT/DESTROY school, except ALL NATION DEATH (alternately ALLNATIONDEATH) trade fidelity for intensity. Rhythm section feels like they were kidnapped from a local ramshackle street punk band by a wild buzzsaw treble rebel and a throat searing screamer. The combination is just deadly honest punk/grind/crust and I want the guitar break from "Reign Of Terror" on repeat in my head all day. Fifteen tracks in barely as many minutes, released in the late '90s and reissued a couple of years back (thankfully) so a new generation can sink in their teeth and make their ears bleed. 

THIRD WORLD RESURRECTION

SACRIDOSE

 

I don't remember if we played with them or not, but NO STATIK stayed with some SACRIDOSE folks when we were in Florida. Does that impact or influence my listening experience in 2025? Nope. Shit is pure and fierce face melting North American grindcore. No bullshit. Sick.

ANXIETY TREMORS

DISREJECT

 

I remember in the '00s when the word 'extreme' took over. It was applied to everything from sodas to pizza to bicycles...it was so overused and meaningless that SCHOLASTIC DETH wrote a song about it (I feel like it was really the pizza that pushed them over the edge. Well, if I may be bold enough to step into the mistakes of the past.....DISREJECT are extreme grind/crust. An ultra brutal and extremely raw multi-vocal assault on all senses that will take your breath away for a solid quarter hour. And then you can have your life back. 

DISREJECT

MERKED

 

You know those days when you only have, sayyyyyyy seven minutes or so but you feel like getting brutalized by at least eleven churning gut punches? An urge to grind but short on time? Thankfully, in moments like these there is MERKED. Sometimes I only have a scant minute to spare and I blast "Last Breath" so I'll have a nice twenty-two seconds leftover, but on luxurious days (like today) when I am in a bit of a rush but I'm able to set aside a full seven minutes for grind time....I listen to Good Night start to finish.

GOOD NIGHT

HEX NOIR

 

You'll excuse the inclusion of the first track - damaged though the cassette may be I still felt the sonic damage represented was worth...presenting. Ohio's HEX NOIR are a painful amalgamation of deliberate industrial noise, raw black metal and oppressive grind - the punks don't make 'em like this very often (Demo II comes from 2009) so when the punks do? We take them in whatever primitive and excruciating form they are offered. The replication is DIY to a fault so the listener suffers while the tracks themselves flourish....

DEMO II

GABUNGAN ROMUSHA NGAMUK

 

Holy FUKKN SHIT this tape. Ever wondered what getting your ass blown out sounds like? If not then I'd like to introduce you to some punks from Bandung, but I strongly suggest you hold on tight before you blast this motherfukkr. GABUNGAN ROMUSHA NGAMUK attack with the force and intent of the early '00s fastcore/grind outfits, but they do it with the intensity and attention to detail that has bumped late '10s DIY hardcore up a few notches. Dripping with samples and an irreverence that feels necessary after a barrage of sub-60 second blasts, this tape commands attention from start to merciful finish - it's been a really long time since I've heard something that kicked my ass so supremely. So efficiently. So completely. If you liste to just one more new thing before this year closes, I implore you to listen to Spesies Pemarah. And listen loudly. 

SPESIES PEMARAH

DISOBEDIENCE

 

Eleven minutes of completely maniacal crust/grind from DISOBEDIENCE. They spend thirteen songs making music sound like punishment - fidelity be damned, competency optional, tuning a mere afterthought. This one is to totally off the damn rails - good luck.

FIGHT WAR FIGHT CLASS

PROLETAR

 

Even the most casual TE viewer has surely noticed the deluge of Indonesian punk that has filled these posts lately. I will not apologize. I will keep blasting, and as I blast? I share. PROLETAR is perfectly suited for a Monday - absolutely unhinged grind mania of the most maniacal caliber, fidelity and competency be damned. Think about Indonesian punk freaks conjuring abrasive black metal and you'll get close, though in their infancy PROLETAR sounded like nothing else before or since.  Rakyat Jelata was released in 2001 and is sending fukkn chills up my spine two decades later....so no. I will not apologize. 

RAKYAT JELATA