It’s Monday and Mondays suck, so let’s grind it out with Meth Leppard’s Woke.
Oh boy it’s been awhile since I did one of these. Way too long. And not only that, we’re coming up to the year being half over real quick. Even though it is seeming like a fucking eternity. And speaking of eternities, the two-piece grinders Meth Leppard out of Adelaide, Australia has actually released a full-length record!
Yeah, this one came out a few months ago, and was even, I believe, immediately available for download if you bought the vinyl back in March-ish. But the fact that we have one at all is badass on its own. If one is unfamiliar with Meth Leppard, what you need to know is that they are straight-up raw, loud grindcore. Having done splits with the likes of Deterioration, BruceXCampbell, Blight Worms and more, they are a grindcore for grindcore kinda band.
Their debut Woke gives us a little introduction for the first track. Just instrumentation, some downtempo momentum and then gets to the good stuff with “Dead Kardashians.” With a Nasum-like sound, Meth Leppard even follows in a similar fashion, granting riffage that sounds like it might venture into some death metal territory, but never actually does. “Nuttelex”, for example, does exactly this. It’s got just the right teeth to start ripping into some fiery death metal but keeps things in the grind.
In true grindcore fashion, barely any tracks are over a minute, but every second is chiseled for maximum pulverization. With very few breakdowns throughout the record, Meth Leppard use the time blast and start blasting harder. There’s thrashier bits on tracks like “Surplus or Die” and more tinkering with death metal sentimentalities on pieces like “Boomer” but no matter what the band is doing, it’s all in the name of harsh grinding destruction. And on top of this, the album ends on a killer cover of The Melvins' classic "Honeybucket."
Grindcore for grindcore, that is all this is about. And Meth Leppard is damn good at what they do. If you need a good pummeling, Woke might be just thing to, well, wake you up. Though it’s been five years since Meth Leppard’s inception, they’ve turned out quality release after quality release, so it’s no wonder that Woke is a blast. Get grinding on this!
