United Nations

The unfortunate thing about this release is all the controversy that surrounds it, which may have masked the great music being offered. To begin, there is the impression that United Nations are a super-group even though none of the people involved, aside from Geoff Rickly, have had their true identity revealed. Then there’s the initial cover art that mimicked the Beatles’ Abbey Road, except they were on fire. And then the most amusing aspect was United Nations being labelled grindcore. Although genre tags help people to understand a style of music it has been used inappropriately here. United Nations is a blend of fast-paced guitar screeches and at times, total drum kit assaults covered in coarse screaming but it simply doesn’t fit in the aforementioned genre. The hard music of "Resolution 9” is crusty in overall sound and features Rickly’s vocals at their most visceral to date but still mixes in harmonic overtones, much like "No Sympathy For A Sinking Ship,” except when it lumbers in tempo. United Nations’ self-titled release is a pounding, tearing slab of hardcore rhythms sprinkled with harmony, but grindcore? No. Especially since no bands of that genre ever featured a saxophone.