It’s Monday and Mondays suck, so let’s grind it out with Suffering Mind’s 2015 full-length Waste Farm.
I’ve been scrolling through album after album while blasting through some old Quake, trying to find something that makes my veins feel like they’re going to explode. And the more Waste Farm and Quake play together, the more I feel like I’m reaching that point. Or maybe it’s the Ogres. But I’m on my fifth run of this album in a row and I’m still reeling.
If you only casually listen to grindcore then Suffering Mind might have passed you by; though that would be pretty surprising. The prolific Lublin, Poland blasters fired on full cylinders for years. This year has seen them slow down a bit though. In that they haven’t put out any material yet. However, according to a May 1st Facebook post, they are slated to release three separate splits this year with Fiend, Excruciating Terror, and The Day Man Lost. But hey, turning over twenty-four split EPs, not including demos, live albums and full-lengths, over six years might be one way to wear a group down. However, listening to their work, you’d never guess it.
Waste Farm is the band’s most recent full-length and, in my opinion, their best. There’s not a second, well, wasted here. And if some strong black coffee hasn’t woken you up yet, let “Niezmienne Oblicze” do the work. Just go head on down to that Bandcamp link and hit the play button. A quick scream over some blasting drums and this album has taken off for thirteen relentless tracks.
This is the kind of album that pushes the “noise, not music” attitude. Suffering Mind have been long known for their full-on blasting, and on Waste Farm they bring it from one track to the next, and sometimes more than once per track. And when most songs clock in around the minute mark or under, well, it’s a lot to take in. And amazingly it never becomes unwelcome.
What’s more, Suffering Mind have a groove that flows within tracks. It’s easy, and I’m speaking from experience here, to write something that’s simply fast without any memorable hook or rhythm to go with it. Though they pass quickly, Suffering Mind punch out some incredibly catchy stuff. “Bez żalu”, for example, is goes from blasting to a rough hardcore/punk tempo but might just get stuck in your head for the rest of the day.
What the band pull off surprisingly well for such a raw sound is heaviness. Pieces like “Martwy Gwałciciel // Weź swoje leki” feel like they're going to cave in the roof. But they don't tend to stick with it for too long, save for the aforementioned closer song. The heaviness does break up the songs when it comes in and keeps things feeling fresh.
Waste Farm is something that will wake you up and throw your body against the wall. It’s a sonically vicious record that will make your knuckles go white while your gnash your teeth. If you missed out on this one, like I did last year, now’s the time to get on it. And now’s the time to catch up on the Suffering Mind discography before the band decides to start putting out ooldles of new material. IF they ever decide to churn out records like they once did.
I'm here.
