Birdflesh

Oh, man, do I ever have some questions for the guys in Swedish grind band Birdflesh. Like, for example, "How much of an influence were forgotten thrash metal jokesters Cranium on your song titles?” At least one is a direct rip-off ("Drums of Death,” although I guess the 40-second drum solo could be a cover, I’ll get back to you) and one has some serious Cranium influence shining through ("Dancefloor Dismemberment”). Regardless, Birdflesh are pretty damn cool, finding a surprising new home on Candlelight, making a lot of their goth-tinged melodic death metal label-mates more than a little uncomfortable with the release of Mondo Musicale, their third full-length (I’ll also have to ask about the influence of Impaled’s album titles on theirs). The band definitely have a sense of humour, as the song titles and samples prove, but the music rages with the best of them, composed of short grind tunes falling apart at the seams, all bass-heavy and punked-up, not unlike Benumb. Somehow the band end up near the top of the second tier, probably the goofy aspect of it all holding them back from getting to the top. But 25 songs in 33 minutes? You almost can’t go wrong. Also, including drum, bass and guitar solos is just hilarious.