Malignancy

After lingering in United Gutteral Records obscurity since 1999, Malignancy’s Willowtip debut will likely do the trick, pulling them out of the proverbial grind gutter, albeit only in terms of notoriety. Moderately pretentious song titles that would cause most metalheads to reach for the dictionary aptly hint at the type of goregrind these New Yorkers have set out to manufacture. Light speed technical riffage and grating bestial barking are dominated by an overly obvious admiration for pitch harmonic squeals. These can become irksome as the record plays on but also serve to separate them from many of their colleagues. As with most music of this ilk, the focus on songwriting is a little different than it would be for other bands and until you’ve given the record at least half-a-dozen listens, you likely won’t be able to pick out the key elements defining each track. Regardless, it’s worth a try.