Socioclast – Socioclast (Recommendation)

A few days ago, a couple of my friends shared an album in combination with compliments that I hadn’t caught yet, but listened to because of it. It was about a grind band called Socioclast from San Jose and their self-titled debut full-length. The record consists of 16 tracks and 17 minutes playing time in total, so actually already a first indication that there is no beating around the bush, yet in good old genre-manner everything is smashed into pieces and no prisoners are taken. But that should not be a big surprise if you know the fact that this combo has emerged from Deadpressure, In Disgust, and Mortuous people.

The album starts with barely calm sounds, but they should be the only moments of peace until the end. Shortly thereafter, it is bludgeoned without further ado, especially due to the incredibly intense drumming with its great hard blast beats. The drums increase from song to song and seem to fall into a kind of frenzy. Particularly strong is the fact that despite fulminant tone, it sounds so tightly played that you just can’t get enough of it. Apart from that, though, the guitar also launches technically high-quality riffing and again and again strews a pinch of chaos beside deep sawing, which protects the guitar play from monotony and sounds really brutal in all respects. The bass, on the other hand, only comes to striking passages in a few places, but when it does, it really hums. Otherwise, the 4-string grounds the overall sound and makes it sound like the old days despite the modern touch. Regarding the songwriting, besides the super fast parts various breaks, instrumental solos and very discreet mathy passages are delivered. The vocals change permanently between bestial growls and crusty nagging and fit like a glove, considering the instrumental inferno. In addition, the production is very good and has the sound roar from the speakers like a hurricane without sounding too smooth and thus taking away the charm of the grind-blast.

On February 19th this year the album was released on vinyl via Carbonized Records. You can choose between two different versions. At this time it is still open whether a release in CD or tape format will follow. In my opinion, this record would fit perfectly on cassette.

Socioclast really deliver everything a Grindcore fan could wish for these days on their debut album. Absolute high-end blast beats meet vicious guitar playing and nasty dual vocals, which are packed in clever songwriting and show almost no weak moments. The Californians unleash a veritable firework of ill-tempered noise, which slams the listener round the head and with its genius mix of old school Repulsion styled Grind and modern Deathgrind á la Caustic Wound will quickly turn your head. A killer debut that you can not put aside so quickly and rapidly etched into the memory.

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