2006-09-28
Peaceville continue releasing their early catalogue with this, a re-issue of an 88' album by British Sludge/hardcore merchants Axegrinder, as an added bonus there are a few demo tracks by Wartech, a band formed by former Axegrinder members following the band's demise.
This is quite a dark and ominous album, with dark, almost epic riffing, mid-tempo rhythms and a very 80's production that actually contributes to the album's feel. As strange as it seems, band members could actually play, it's not always evident, but the bass and guitars have their moments, opener Hellstorm feels like it's made to sound sloppy and dirty, its not accidentally like that. Even the dirty production isn’t as dirty as so you cant listen to this, it feels like an 80's album, but a good one.
Life Chain has this sludgy/doom riff, with a punk attitude, reminiscent of such bands as Doom, late 80's Sludge wasn’t what it is today. War Machine starts off with the most unexpected keyboard line you can think off, is this an Alphaville album?? It bores the shit out of you before exploding into a dirty sludge number, man, this is so 80's…
The Wartech demos sound like demos, cleaner vocals, and its more avant-garde and much cleaner than Axegrinder, closer to punk, the bass line are great. Again, it couldn’t have been made anywhere else than in late 80's UK, but its still a nice wave of nostalgia.
This may not be an eternal classic, but its certainly a great example of what extreme music sounded like in the 80's, they don’t make them like that anymore, and when listening to Axegrinder, it actually feels sad.
Alon Miasnikov
