It’s Monday and Mondays suck, so let’s grind it out with P.L.F.’s Ultimate Whirlwind of Incineration.
Now here’s a name that keeps coming up day after day: P.L.F., or Pretty Little Flower. Somewhere on the net that I travel to always brings up this band, yet it also seems like not a lot of people have heard of them. And to that, I say to myself, “Well, it is grindcore. You either love it or you maybe passively like it when it’s not trying to beat your eardrums with a morning star.” So, for those of you that haven’t had the pleasure, it’s time.
P.L.F. is a band that has ground through about as many members as it has releases. The now Huston, TX duo Dave Callier (founder, guitarist, bassist, vocals) and drummer since 2011 Bryan Fajardo (Cognizant, Kill the Client, Noisear, Gridlink). P.L.F. is a fusion of old school grind and thrash that is relentless and exhausting. Enter the band’s fourth full-length: Ultimate Whirlwind of Incineration. *
“Wicked Strains of Primeval Virus” opens the album in pure grindcore fashion: straight to business, no messing around, no frilly dilly crap. It’s just you and fifteen tracks of face-grinding aggression. Is there a lot of variation song to song? Nope. Not this time. This is grindcore: loud, fast and blasty. Now, are there stand out tracks? Oh yeah.
The song titles are pretty stand out all on their own: “Lurid Doom Hallucination”, for example, is memorable by name and the fact that it’s the longest track on the album. Also, possibly the best. The intro riff is pure Slayer gone grindcore. However, it delves into grind real fast after that first lick and just keeps melting face the longer the track goes before things really kick up with a trashy blast coming in halfway. It’s a song that settles into that thrash feel but keeps the grind coming.
Other tracks like “Neanderthalic Holocaust” or the closer “Poisoned Blood by Hemotoxin” are pure blast beating greatness. And they’re blasters that get nice and juicy as they carry on. Callier and Fajardo play off each other’s instruments and keep the blasting segments more than just furious noise. There’s little licks and fills all over the place that constantly keeps the album sounding savage but fresh.
When all’s said and done, P.L.F. is an incredible unit and one that a lot more fans of grind and metal should know about. I discovered this band back just after they had released The Crushing Fury of Bastardization. So, if you’re jonesing for more, go hunt that slaughterhouse down. All grindheads should be on top of this band. Get grinding!
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*Yes, I’m aware the band was a three-piece on this record.
