Wormrot’s 2010 full-length debut Abuse kicked my ass six ways from Sunday. It seems I wasn’t the only one that left the experience with ass bruises either. In fact, Abuse and Infanticide’s From Our Cold Dead Hands (Willowtip) ended up my two favorite grindcore albums of 2010. The Dirge EP picks up right where Abuse left off; kicking those asses, taking those names, and leaving an impression that lasts longer than the average grindcore release, thanks to skillful song construction.

No reason to break it down to nauseatingly levels of detail, since an EP of 25 grindcore tunes spanning 18 minutes should give you a pretty good indication of what’s in store. You got it; epic and bloated it ain’t. Much like its predecessor, Dirge lives in an area shared by albums from bands like Insect Warfare and early Napalm Death on the blast ‘n kill end, yet spends nearly as much time in the the Phobia/Infanticide part of town where tempo changes and crusty grooves abound. On balance, Dirge is a bit more direct. And damn, this sucker flies by so fast that it takes a couple more trips to fully appreciate the relative diversity involved in the arrangements.

Unless you’re a grindcore fanatic, that knack for keeping a song moving without relying exclusively on the blast beat is one of the qualities that makes bands like Wormrot so damn convincing. Dirge is a fine follow-up to a fine full-length and a great way to loosen some fillings. The End.

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