Hivesmasher

It's absolutely amazing how much sheer anger can be packed into one album. With Gutter Choir, the second full-length (and Black Market Activities debut) from Massachusetts grindcore act Hivesmasher, the band unleash a whole new level of ugly, dirty, breakneck grind mixed with some technical death metal elements for an even darker, more brutal effect. "Strangled Beings and Vice Versa" is a New England-style pummelling from start to finish, with machine-like drum blasts, shredding guitars and angular tones, while shorter tracks like the manic "Shooting at Apparitions" and "Ugly Cat" (featuring disturbing shrieks from Dysenter's Eric Taranto) are a cacophony of utter chaos, à la Brutal Truth and Napalm Death. More guest vocals, courtesy of Guy Kozowyk (the Red Chord) on "Can of Awesometism" and Nate Johnson (Fit for an Autopsy) on "Vomitouch" and "No Structure, Total Violence," add greater depth and variety to the magnetic Gutter Choir.