CrusHuman
Besides EP

Bands have been releasing B-side album collections for years, and they’re always cleverly titled so you know what you’re getting. We’ll, CrusHuman have done that with Besides… my stupid ass didn’t realize it was a B-side album until I read the presser. Holy hell, it’s songs that didn’t make it onto their amazing self-titled debut. Slap me silly and call me Susan hahaha!

Well anyway, that’s what Besides is. Eight tracks that lived on past the cutting room floor. For whatever reason, I mean there were like, seventeen songs already so maybe running time was an issue. It doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things because the songs on Besides rip out guts easily and leave your body bruised and beaten.

“Select Sacrifice” kicks it off in true form with some Napalm Death pizzazz. It’s one of those beefy songs that sticks a fork in you when it’s done. Cracking in at 23:59 this is a shorty of an album, and that’s perfectly fine.

This album is chocked full of samples and they punctuate the music to that other level. Take “Waiting for a Savior” with its vicious Fear Factory meets Nasum “DO YOURSELF A FAVOR, DON’T EVEN WASTE YOUR TIME!” “Day End Suffering” has that Fear Factory-ish intro that could’ve been on Demanufacture easily. The guitars and drums battle it out and there’s even a cool Hardcore neck-breaking riff in there.

The production is louder somehow than on the original album and that’s evident after listening to both in a row. “Appeasement to the Frauds” is a slow-burning pounder, while “Blue Static” continues in that vein, the two acting like one-two punches to the body.

“Choke Point” is another mid-paced steamroller and it shreds with some killer riffs. The tracks that make up Besides seem to be the slower songs that were made. There’s the Death Thrash of “Choose Violence” with some awesome samples.

“God Helmet” is another mid-paced crusher sporting this extraordinary riff it slices into “The Human Reptile Experiment.” It’s got this earth-shaking bit at the mid-track point and it rides that horse for the remainder of the song.

Listening to Besides I can understand why these weren’t included on the initial release. That album is a speed-ball wall of Grindcore that still is beating me senseless. However, these songs are slower for the most part. They really wouldn’t have added to the flow of the record.

For you grind heads that worship Napalm Death, Nasum, Pig Destroyer and Cattle Decapitation. Get this motherfucker now!

[Visit the band's website]
Written by Jeremy Beck
March 28th, 2025

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