Welcome to the inaugural post of the weekly column that introduces you to viciously delicious bands that may have slipped under your vast metal radar… Spleen Latifa's Unchained Destruction… or as I lovingly refer to it: S.L.U.D. of the Week. With this column, I hope to shine a little bit of attention on the genres/bands/labels that keep that healthy dose of manic violence and blunt-force energy pulsing within the music they create… In other words, basically anyone that delivers to the ear-pussies like a bearfight in a fuckstorm. So, without further ado… Let's get SLUD-y:
For the first SLUD of the Week, I had to go with one of my all-time personal faves: Hellnation. This Kentucky three-piece specializes in their own blend of dizzying thrashcore/grindcore/speedpunk/power violence; soldered together into hyper-eruptions of distortion and controlled chaos most likely under a minute long… And fuck me runnin', these cats can crank it out as well! If my iPod isn't lying to me (like it usually does… that dirty prick), they've laid down somewhere in the neighborhood of eight full-lengths, five EP's, and a whole mess of face-time on compilations and splits over their duration as a band from '89-ish to '09-ish. But in all honesty, pick everything up… Fucking solid. Cuz if you ragers are as big a fan of this current thrash/grind surge as I am, consider yourself shaking hands with one of the godfathers of the movement. Oh, and full disclosure: obviously the sound quality of the recordings get better chronologically, so be forewarned when you delve deep into the back-catalog.
Also, for being the greedy little bastards that you are, I'll supply you with two sample tracks in each post from the current SLUD of the Week so you can see if you'd like to take the trip down the rabbit hole… So dig into these two little ditties from Hellnation's final full-length and enjoy…
Hellnation – I Love Punk I Love Thrash
Hellnation – Not Smooth Jazz
