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CD Feature/ Drumcorps: "Grist"

  Tobias

The silly demands by some bands that metal as a musical genre needs to stay “true” in order to be “real” have lead some to the conclusion that it by default represents a backwardly orientated community. As “Grist” proves, this is a fallacy: Metal is always both, conservative and progressive, continually trying to reach the next level while staying close to its roots. 

Others, of course, have made this point before and press and public have already embraced substyles such as Melodic Death, Industrial and various incarnations of the Avantgarde. This album, however, does not simply include electronics as a gadget, for intros and outros or merely as an additional element in the final mix – they are an integral part of the compositional process with most of the source material deriving from samples of old school records and the music expanding to the extremes of different worlds: The speed-riffing of Grindcore, the polyrhythmic mayhem of Breakcore and the distorted bass drum poundings and blast beats of Gabba. While most of his colleagues have a background in techno and associated disciplines, leaning more toward electronica and only using certain metal-elements to spice up their dance- and party-tracks, Aaron Spectre, the man behind Drumcorps, expressely approaches the challenge from the metal side of things. His youth was spent listening to punk, rock and metal and his stance towards the genre has that tongue-in-cheek seriousness so unique to the scene: You can smile about it and yet consider it the centre of your world. Delirious speed, pure and unchanneled energy, stuttering effects and brawny and massive masses of drums, bass and squeaking guitars make for an intense session of eleven tracks in only 34-minutes, which goes from the almost pure band-offering “Botch up and die” to the funky breaths of “Incarnate” and incorporates one-minute miniatures and short atmospheric pieces as well as complex works with different parts.

Spectre is not trying to be on verge of the genre’s future or redefine its parameters. Drumcorps was partly inspired by the powerful and pumping sound of marching bands and is just as much about anger as it is about releasing it, going mad and enjoying every second of it. After you’ve had your daily does of “Grist”, you’re always free to go back to your ivory tower of trueness.

By Tobias Fischer

Homepage: Drumcorps
Homepage: Aaron Spectre
Homepage: Ad Noiseam Records
Homepage: Cock Rock Disco Records