It’s pretty much a given that I’m going to be all about anything that either Erik Burke or Dan Lilker put their hands to; they being two of my all-time favorite grindcore musicians. This is even moreso in light of the disbanding of Brutal Truth at the end of last year, which left a huge void in my heart. So, without further ado, let’s crack this fucker open.

First thing, this isn’t purely a grindcore album; unless you are going by the law of mathematics known herein as “The Brutal Truth Maxim“. This rule dictates that “Brutal Truth = Grindcore“, and “Brutal Truth is What Brutal Truth Does“, so any music made by Brutal Truth is grindcore. Even if that is just a recording of Hoak farting on a snare drum; it’s grindcore. Sorry dude. It’s the law.

So, going by that, Blurring’s self-titled is grindcore; but that’s pretty a superficial reading. While the album sounds completely relentlessly chaotic, there is a very structured approach going on underneath the surface. In a lot of ways that were surprising to me, Blurring’s approach to deathgrind is more akin to second wave black metal; the guitarwork is primarily made up of hyperstrummed tremolo melodies overflowing and spilling down illogical pathways; pushed forward with the anti-syncopated drumming so characteristic of Scandinavia’s most infamous cultural export. Add to that some unobtrusive keyboard washes throughout the proceedings, and you can see why I’m going on and on about the black metal elements.

Blurring’s guitarists Matt Colbert and Scott D’Agostino where both involved with Burke in various incarnations of another lethal Rochester killing crew, Kalibas. Those guys had a slew of state-of-the-art deathgrind releases that are definitely worth your time hunting up. For some reason that little burg has always had a disproportionate share of worldclass extreme metal guitarists, and these two guys are in top form. They hardly let up with their relentless salvos of hi-velocity, spinning sharp-things that splinter off into shards of even more smaller spinning sharp-things, which would hurt really bad if they were to hit you.

Blurring’s vocalist Mark Welden is an unknown to me; but he makes an inspired showing on Blurring’s debut. He has this wet, phlemy, authoritative black metal style rasp, reminiscent of Maniac from Mayhem, and Henri Sattler of God Dethroned. It works well with what Blurring is doing.

A Burke/Lilker rhythm section held no surprises for me; expectations were met as usual. On Burke’s side of things; for such a killer guitar player, he’s an extremely skilled drummer. He keeps the timekeeping fluid and in pocket, in service to the songs being his only concern. Lilker is Lilker; as always bringing weight to anything he is involved in with his clattering and muscular bass playing. The dude truly is the Chris Squire of extreme music.

Blurring’s eponymous album is a well-executed distillation of it’s parts; it is a good example as any if you wanted to give a novice a sense of what the regional flavor of Rochester deathgrind is all about.

[Visit the band's website]

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