Having recently added the ever respected Rotten Sound to their lineup, Relapse has decided to do a double take and grab another grind band, France’s Blockheads.  Unless you’re a big follower of the grind scene, you might not have heard of these guys before.  This is actually their fifth full length, and the first on Relapse.  In between their last full-length, 2006’s Shapes of Misery, they had a few splits with Mumakil, a grind band you need to check out if you’ve never heard any of their stuff.

If this is your first exposure to Blockheads, you’ll see this album checks most all the boxes in the grind recipe: manic blasts, down-tuned guitars, and a death roar/scream dual vocal at the mic.  It’s all pulled off very well, with a good bit of Nasum like intensity and some Catheter sneaking in there as well.  Don’t forget the ever important large number of tracks (this one has 25), which bring the run time of this one to an un-grind-like 40 minutes.  That one factor can make this album feel like it’s overstaying its welcome a bit, but the energy and intensity are nonetheless impressive.

The bulk of that run time is taken up by the closing track, “Trail of the Dead”, which is a sludgy, doomy closer that’s over 7 minutes long.  It might seem out of place after the pounding of the first half hour, but it’s a great choice as a closer, and shows a band that’s willing to stretch the boundary a bit instead of playing similar one minute songs in succession.  Definitely an album worth a listen for the grindheads out there, and being on a bigger label should bring garner them some more attention.

[Visit the band's website]

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