Details: The grindcore that Wormrot performs is the product of three young musicians from Singapore. Their sound on debut album "Abuse" is ruthless and impossible to control. As par the course for the genre, 23 songs are crammed into 21 ear-bleeding minutes. With the exception of closer “Scum Infestation and Last Song,” not one track gets close to the two-minute mark. “Abuse” is pure grade-A grind: fresh and ready for endless consumption. Wormrot is far from reinventing the wheel with their first album, but the band does a lot with just a minimal amount of equipment. There are drums and a guitar; nothing more and nothing less, with no thick bass lines to be found. They aren’t missed too much, as the guitar is so loud that any bass work would have been drowned out in the mix. What is here on an instrumental level is solid. The riffs come without warning and don’t stay around long enough to get repetitive. Some of the songs do blend together, most notably with the shorter numbers placed back-to-back. Even in these moments, there is always a “longer” track to bring the album away from the dread.
Variety isn’t usually prevalent on grindcore albums and “Abuse” is no different. However, a few twists on the tempo garner some attention and help the album to stand out from countless others. “Murder” and “Lost Swines” dial things down a bit for a mid-paced vibe that does a great job of building up to the fury. An odd cover of Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Rich” is included to add a light-hearted spirit to the proceedings. These type of instances are outweighed by the brutal smack down of songs like “So Fierce For Fuck!?” and “Operation Grindcore.”
Grind lyrics have always been associated with social commentary, violence, and loathing towards humanity. Wormrot is three for three with the lyrics to “Abuse.” While the vocals are indecipherable – though the switch between harsh growls and hair-raising shrieks is pulled off magnificently – the words themselves have a lot of meaning to them. Sure, there are some hilarious songs (“Sledgehammer,” “Fuck…I’m Drunk!”), but “Exterminate” shows deeper thoughts about the harsh tendencies of society than the title may suggest.
“Abuse” is a great grindcore album that can stand alongside recent albums by Insect Warfare and Agoraphobic Nosebleed with pride. If you are a fan of the genre, “Abuse” is a necessary addition to the collection. They don’t do anything noteworthy compared to everybody else, but they are a young band that is brimming with energy and complete disregard for the laws of melody and structure.
Price: 7 euro
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