Customer Reviews

Disgorge Mexico

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

forged out of the desolation and hostile wasteland that is canada...canada? seriously? the least offensive nation on earth?

the only real question is why is this review the first for any of FtF's albums - my xcuse is being a relative novice to this mainly ego-stroking xpressionism

for those of y'all who have been living comfortably numb with the fashionable notion that nothing important xists north of the 49th parallel - see 'the day after tomorrow' - FtF are a unique amalgam of xtremes, honed over the course of an impressive # of splits, and seamlessly fused into some of the most inspired grind found on any continent. add to that volatile mix an arctic banshee who can make even angela gossow seem a tad frilly and there's simply null reason to continue overlooking one of the more valuable xports from the america's northernmost nation...

Album proper number eight from Ontario, Canada's F The Facts, 2008's "Disgorge Mexico," is filled with unorthodox, noise-derived riffs, technical bass work, larynx-shredding screams, smart lyrics, whiplash tempos, math-y tempo changes, brutal breakdowns, and, most importantly, frenetic, skull-cracking grindcore blasts. Indeed, Mathieu Vilandre pummels away at and essentially destroys every last bit of his trapkit time and time again. He sure can blast with the best of `em - including (but not limited to) Brian Harvey, Anders Joakobssen, B, Mike Justian, George Kollias, Ben Koller, and Shannon Lucas. And you know what? It may sound a bit fanboy-ish to say, but the heck with it - he even gives the likes of Mick Harris, Dave Witte, Flo Mounier, and Derek Roddy a run for their money. But F The Facts about more than just blast, blast, blast. Much more. For example, the level of dexterity, precision, seemingly octo-limbed expansion, and surgical technicality - including frequent use of amazing, Meshuggah/Cryptopsy-esque polyrhythms - that they use are friggin' inhuman! Plus, the record tosses in tons of impressive and screwy time signatures and breakneck tempo changes that are reminiscent of The Dillinger Escape Plan and Converge. And finally, it is no stranger to jazzy drum fills, either (a la John Zorn and Mike Patton). All of this considered, F.T.F.. have one of the best all-around drummers on the extreme music market today. (And the heck of it all is, Vilandre dispenses with any and all triggers, and uses only one foot!)

"Disgorge Mexico" is first-and-foremost a very punishing and harsh grindcore product that primarily falls somewhere between Converge, Misery Index, Between The Buried And Me, Meshuggah, Napalm Death, Discordance Axis, Cephalic Carnage, Fantomas, Cryptopsy, Strapping Young Lad, and Nasum. In addition, it is often the case for the music to bare a similar-sounding resemblance to that of The Red Chord, Origin, Brutal Truth, Death, The Black Dahlia Murder, Pig Destroyer, Spastic Ink, Dysrythmia, and Gorguts. Finally, it is also not uncommon to hear a few Fear Factory, Anaal Nathrakh, Unsane, Suffocation, Mastodon, Atheist/Cynic, and The Melvins influences somewhere in the mix, too. But there's more to this album than just destruction of the senses. In fact, nobody is more deserving of being crowned as "a thinking man's grindcore band" than F The Facts. (Although, granted, they do share that very unique and prestigious title with a few other groups, such as the above-mentioned BTBAM, as well as New Jersey's Burnt By The Sun, Connecticut's The Red Chord, Massachusetts' Converge, Sweden's Meshuggah, California's Cattle Decapitation, France's Gojira, New York's Psyopus, and Long Island's Genghis Tron.)

For one, the sound possessed by F.T.F. is extraordinarily creative, smart, unique, and innovative. It ignores all trends - there's nothing Swedish, emo, or "nu" about it. Next, brutal, mind-boggling drumming (that usually favors the classic grindcore blastmania style), and Melanie Mongeron's amelodic, crust-inflected screams are the only ingredients that remain pretty much constant throughout "D,M." However, aside from those two things, the album is so painstaking and unpredictable that it soon becomes anybody's guess as to what will come next! And It isn't thrash, goregrind, noisecore, and it certainly ain't deathcore -- it just stands on its own. for all the uber- technicality involved in their music, the band never sound unbelievable or mechanical. Resisting the pull of studio polish Pro-Tools perfection, they always ascertain an undeniable live energy and sense of urgency (so much so, in fact, that some listeners might even mistake this to be a live album.) This is partially achieved from leaving-in mistakes, although a really raw and primal production job/sound quality also helps to drive this point home. But the band also utilizes an impressive and broad musical range. This comes from seamlessly fusing unorthodox song structures, bizarre time signatures, and accomplished and well-written melodies into their music. Couple this fact with the band's impeccable instrumental abilities and as a result, some of these songs actually play like full-on progressive metal! Finally, the songs' lyrics cannot be denied as less than thoughtful and exceptional. They are deeper than those on the average tech metal/hardcore/grind effort, covering topics such space, apathy, suicide, "our flaws," karma, the passing of time, politics, and living a futile life.

The hidden-track of an intro that is "No Return," and all of its fifty-two seconds of ominous atmospherics and equally as foreboding samples/movie clips of industrial music proportions, serve as just a lead-in to the next track. "Absence And Despite" is an explosive and crushing bombardment of a blistering flood off guitars and truly mind-boggling drumming. It eventually eases off of the gas pedal slightly when F The Facts tastefully toss in a restrained breakdown consisting of basic hardcore stop-start rhythms near the end. "Kelowns" begins with a docile guitar melody before brutality eventually ensues (i.e. think pounding skins, blazing guitars, and really dissonant, Mike Patton/Jacob Bannon/Barney Greenway/Seth Putnam-style screams.) Working similarly, "As Empires Expand And Collapse" has a few nice melodic guitar strings in the beginning, but then booms back with a punishing wall of sprinting guitar leads, impeccably tight instrumental interplay, and murderous, grinding blast beats that steamroll over everything insight. In a surprising move, though, "As Empires" does break the monotony when it includes a sudden, near-dead-stop pause and doomy, feedback-laden breakdown at the end. Continuing in this vein, "Dead End" is a no-holds-barred pure grindcore attack of downtuned guitar leads, heavy, chugging hardcore riffs, raw, throat-tearing vocals, and more excellent, skull-crushing drum fills.

Track seven, the set's mid-point, "La Culture Du Faux" is a lean, simplistic, straightforward, to-the-point, and borderline catchy mid-point of the set. Additionally, this number is of note for being sung completely in the French language. The end result is a song that does a good job at offsetting the two songs that surround it. Indeed, "Driving Through Fallen Circles" is an extremely noisy and math-obsessed curveball which could have been lifted off of a Converge/Dillinger Escape Plan/Botch/Unsane/Swarm Of The Lotus demo; and the aptly-named "State Of Panic" is equally as math-y and noisecore-obsessed. Furthermore, the latter is saturated by thunderous rhythms, needle-and-poke guitars, frequent fast tempo changes, and various other technical, Psyopus-style arrangement change ups. But then comes something that is, for all intents and purposes, the polar opposite of these two songs. "No Place For Failure" is hands-down the most experimental tune to be found, here. It is a gorgeously progressive instrumental interlude comprised just of one long and technical melodic bass solo. Such an epic, infectious, and propulsive bass melody is akin to the likes of Burst, Tool, Gojira, Misery Signals, Necrophagist, Dream Theater, Iron Maiden, and Dysrythmia. Right after that, though, it's straight back to the grind...literally:"The Scorn" unleashes one dense, bludgeoning, earth-shaking wall of sound after another. Continuing down the list, "Apathy Is A Karma Killer" (quite a clever title, huh?) is a disorienting and hyper-kinetic sneak attack of more ferocious speeds and positively ridiculous blasting. Furthermore, "Apathy" is so fast, and heavy, that it almost plays like a cut of Agoraphobic Nosebleed-like cyber grind. (Or, at the very least, it is reminiscent of the early works of fellow countrymen Strapping Young Lad.)

"Golden Age" more-or-less picks up where the record left off three tracks ago (see "No Place For Failure" above) left off, as a nice and progressive tune backed by a soaring melodic guitar line and underlying, strong, humming bass lines. But rest assured, the record ends on a suitably manic and bludgeoning note. Next, the gently-dubbed "The Pile Of Flesh You Carry" steamrolls straight ahead with and rapid-fire call-and-response hardcore vocals to go along with its noteworthy, goregrind-derived lyrics. Lots of frantic drum rolls, furious guitar picking, and impressive, technical bass work are featured here, as well. (Although it does sneak in a little bit of breathing room when a totally unexpected curveball - high-pitched backing guitar harmonies - crops up in the outro.) The record's closing blast, "Sleepless," is one final rip-roaring, lightning-fast, and white-hot blitzkrieg of noise. The band once again adopt the vintage Napalm Death-esque "everybody soloing at once" style to create a bewildering blackened wall of noise that whooshes by before the listener even knows what has hit them.

Getting right to the point, F The Facts are one of the new millennium's top grindcore bands. And "Disgorge Mexico" is one of the most successful adventurous, unpredictable, and well-written one of hardcore/metal's most successfully experimental and inventive/groundbreaking albums in quite some time. It ought to be just about essential for all hard/grindcore fans, and devotees of experimental and/or extreme metal.