Piss Vortex – Piss Vortex

Rock journo problems: sometimes the adjectives you planned to use to review a metal band are already laid out perfectly neatly in the press release. Brutal? Abrasive? Uncompromising? C’mon, this stuff is all par for the course, especially when writing about a subgenre as emblematic of all those terms as grindcore. What’s a poor hack to do?

Luckily, Piss Vortex's eardrum-shattering debut amounts to much more than stylistic typicalities, with strips torn violently from different yet similarly wild beasts – the stuttering sludge of Beaten Womb, for instance, owes much to The Jesus Lizard’s teeth-clenched mania. Blizzard-like blastbeats cut right through the core of Simon Stenbæk Christensen’s guttural roar, with nods to black metal and even the spasming rush of Lightning Bolt audible amid these juddering thrills. But most impressive is the way album closer Our Maker’s Invisible Hand regurgitates the album’s opening riff, making Piss Vortex seem so cyclical as to imply the inevitability of repeat plays. [Will Fitzparick]