It’s Monday and Mondays suck, so let’s grind it out with God’s America Merge With the Infinite.
As 2017 comes to an end I wonder the same thing I wonder every year: how much good shit did I miss? It happens every year and I don’t have all the time in the world to hunt things down. God’s America was one of those things last year that I stumbled upon one way or another. And had I stumbled upon it sooner, it would have landed on my albums of the year list. Better late than never.
Merge With the Infinite is the first full-length from Las Vegas, NV grind/powerviolence. The trio has been slaying since 2011 on splits with bands like Grin and Bear It, Sete Star Septe, Human Junk and more recently, Sidetracked. They’ve had some solo stuff too. However, Merge With the Infinite is the band at their most vicious.
For an immediate point of context, God’s America is like Spazz powerviolence fused with Internal Rot or The Kill. This album is relentless. Feedback followed by a dual vocal attack sets the destructive tone. “Apathetic Leash” opens it up like a Molotov cocktail, gives a brief blast, lets things burn and then gets heavy with “Nothing At All.” But it doesn’t stay in one place too long. This second track is like a smorgasbord sampling of the rest of the record. You get a little of everything.
Merge With the Infinite is a record that has balance. It’s always just heavy enough, just loud enough and just fast enough that nothing gets same-y. Early on, “Sinkhole” breaks things up with a heavy, slow, powerviolence section. And following it is the burner “Keep Waiting” that sounds like its got limitless blast in in until the band slow it down. But then still give it one more heavy blast.
It’s around nine-minutes in (that’s right, I’m featuring an album that’s over five-minutes) that God’s America slow things down. “Recent Studies” is a track that’s got a powerviolence sludge that crosses the five-minute mark that’s always on the downbeat. It stands out over the speed/fury laden surroundings. However, as much as it plays with the slow, it still reins in the rage.
Merge With the Infinite is like a multi-speed blender. Sometimes it’s grinding everything down to a pulp, sometimes it’s just hacking it to chunks. Regardless, God’s America crafted a behemoth of a grind/powerviolence record with this. Yeah, I only gave you the tip of the iceberg, but you should really just dive into this one. Sound-wise, it’s got some of the strongest production of any recent grind record. Just hit the play button and get grinding.
