Dying Fetus

Man, you can always count on Dying Fetus for some neck-snapping, whip-cracking technical grind/hardcore. Stop At Nothing offers up eight songs in a refreshing 35 minutes that are bound to get all heads banging. The band has gone through a member overhaul since their last album, but damned if anyone will notice, what with their trademark guitar flourishes still aplenty and the bizarre sounding drums still tick-ticking away through the fast, fast, faster grindcore and the mosh pit approved groovin' hardcore. But damned if something isn't quite as vital as on past releases; taken song by song, this is vicious stuff, but as a whole I can't help but notice there's less eyebrow-raising technical wizardry going on, fewer catchy hooks in the breathing spaces, almost a switch towards a more standardised death metal (I said almost). I mean, I'm still bangin' away on the air drums and preparing the neck brace when I crank the thing up, but when it's over, it's over with a bang instead of a resonating echo like their last opus, Destroy the Opposition. End verdict: way above average for the genre, but a bit streamlined compared to their past output, which might either furrow a brow or just get the pit started faster from the band's legion of fans.