The best grindcore is always the most pissed off. It’s the type of music you listen to for the aggression, the rush of endorphins in the most primal sense. It’s also the type of music you blast to annoy your neighbors, alienate yourself and really give anyone in earshot a reason to think you’re at least partly psychotic. The next time you really want to frighten someone into thinking you could lose it at any given second you should throw on the self-titled, debut album by Portland’s Transient.
Grindcore has always existed as this sort of bastard creation of a midnight tryst between punk rock, specifically the hardcore punk variety, and the most extreme forms of metal in existence at the time. It’s no surprise that the best bands of the genre have always chosen to pay special attention to the influences that came from both sides of the tracks. Transient is no exception to this rule. There is as much Discharge and Broken Bones influence here as there is Napalm Death or Extreme Noise Terror. It’s a galloping, grinding, nasty recording that just simply doesn’t let up from start to finish. There is enough vitriol and angst on this album that it’ll be the proverbial lighter in your hand as you ready those Molotov cocktails. Vocalist Krysta Martinez alone is worth the price of admission as she sounds like a rabid animal caught in a trap and trying to stave off imminent death.
The fact that this album is also a debut should not be lost on anyone. Although this band has members well-traveled with other acts (including currently sharing a vocalist with Landmine Marathon) it’s still a pretty impressive feat to pull off a debut recording with this much maturity behind it. This isn’t a band feeling out their sound. They know their sound and it’s the sound of riots breaking out on city streets while governments topple and anarchy becomes the rule of the day. This is not an album for nominal fans of heavy music. It takes a special type of borderline psychopath to appreciate what this band is spewing. Transient hits the streets on September 10 via Six Weeks Records. You have until then to prepare…
