Agoraphobic Nosebleed

Obscenely enough, Massachusetts grindcore lunatics Agoraphobic Nosebleed released enough material before their Relapse debut, Honky Reduction, to put together this double-disc set of completely over the top grind. Comprised of a split twelve-inches, numerous split seven-inches, and dozens of compilation tracks and unreleased songs, there is so much to chew on here even the most serious fan of strained grind/noise/punk might get a bit worn out. So take it in chunks: separate the listening sessions into the lengths the songs were originally intended for and it’s a blast. This is easier with disc one, which features all the songs from the band’s split releases; disc two is more of a chaotic hodgepodge, being that it’s all compilation and unreleased songs. Amazingly enough, the production quality varies even within each release represented here. It’s a mind-melting mess, hammered home by the ubiquitous drum machine, which is just as punishing blasting at inhuman speeds as it is during the band’s slower moments. This is total musical destruction with the speed of grind, attitude of punk and pure nihilism of all the great extreme underground acts out there. End result: 136 fucking songs. And this is just volume one!