Noisear

The latest in Relapse's continual push towards becoming synonymous with the current "grindcore revival," Noisear's Subvert the Dominant Paradigm shares many of the better sensibilities of labelmates Kill the Client and Magrudergrind: the former's unrelenting cacophony of blasting intensity mixes with the tempo variety and experimentation of the latter, all while never crossing the sacrosanct two-minute mark. Unlike the aforementioned genre standouts, this group feature an unusually large bag of tricks when it comes to riffs. A closer listen to the 30-song onslaught reveals clever volume swells ("Global Warning"), jarring harmonic squeals ("Inoperative") and numerous other non-obvious innovations that stand apart from the typical grind low-end rehash. The band keep the best vintage aspects intact though, with some Nasum-style groove and vocals often reminiscent of Kevin Sharp. If it weren't for unnecessary 20-minute pseudo-political noise closer "Noisearuption," this would stand even closer to the top of the heap in the current grind crop.