The third in Willowtip’s excellent recent grindcore revival trilogy (Phobia, Kill the Client), Maruta (a Japanese name for the collective victims in the infamous Unit 731 war crimes) ironically lies somewhere between the two as they mix furious, relentless modern grindcore with a more classic power chord driven sound.
Seething blast beats feral screams, deep growls and controlled chaos is the order of the day for these 15 tracks that are condensed into 32 minutes of vitriol, blaze by with a slight death metal influence, (the most of the three releases) and a few lurches (i.e. “In Perpetual narcolepsy”, “A Sea of Dead Serpents”, “Rise of the Iron Moth”) that give a very brief respite to the squealing, pinch harmonic littered savagery that will appeal to (real) grindcore and death metal fans alike.
Admittedly, it’s not quite as purely assaulting and vehement as the Kill the Client, the production is a bit ‘blah’ (at least compared to the Kill the Client) and it’s about the third album I’ve heard this year with the Howard Beale “mad as hell!” speech, but tracks like “The Collapse”, “The Great Delusion”, “Idolize Then Destroy”, “Seratonin” make me want to strangle puppies and yell obscenities and small children (or modern kiddie grindcore bands for that matter), and thusly Maruta’s mission is accomplished.
Willowtip may have had a quiet year early in 2008, but with the aforementioned trio as well as the new Severed Savior, Crowpath and As Eden Burns (I’m not really feeling the Terminal Function for some reason), they look to end 2008 in face ripping style-as expected.
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killer album indeed. has a real sick guitar tone.
on Dec 11th, 2008 at 15:01good band great tunes
on Dec 11th, 2008 at 17:53the Terminal Function is a pretty potent slab of technical death metal but conversely the As Eden Burns album left me cold. Didn’t hear anything on it to distinguish it from the masses of mediocre Gothenburg styled metal.
However I fully agree with this, Kill the Client, Severed Savior and especially the amazing new Kill the Client and Crowpath albums as being top-shelf and helping to revitalize the ever so slightly stagnant Willowtip name.
on Dec 11th, 2008 at 20:03