H 30°, L 16° | Tomorrow: Brain Drill. Apocalyptic Feasting. Those four words tell you all you need to know about this album.
Truly, with a name like Brain Drill and an album called Apocalyptic Feasting, you can bet that this disc will not contain pop standards that are sung on �American Idol� 10 years from now. Instead, just as the band�s name implies, Feasting is a brutal assault of the senses.
In fact, brutal really does not go far enough to describe what these guys do. If Cannibal Corpse is brutal, then Brain Drill is the soundtrack to the apocalypse. Brain Drill�s often-frantic take on the death-grind genre (I am aware of the redundancy) may very well give listeners indigestion.
The main source of possible discomfort comes from vocalist Steve Rathjen. His main weapon of choice is the typical �death grunt,� seen in the vast majority of death-metal bands. That said, it is his other, um, �voice� that is noteworthy. Rathjen also employs a high-pitch screech, often used to emphasize a particular lyric.
Case in point: Take what is perhaps the best track of the 10 here, �Forcefed Human Shit.� When Rathjen screams (or whatever you might call what he does) the title lyrics about the media, I am fairly sure that if played loud enough, his voice alone will peel paint off a wall and perhaps take down the very wall itself. The sound could reasonably be called inhuman. Hell, he may very well have been possessed during the recording sessions.
My goal, however, is not to take away from the other three spectacular musicians here. Marco Pitruzzella (drums), Dylan Ruskin (guitars and chief songwriter) and Jeff Hughell (bass) all are in top form on Feasting. Working as a single unit, the trio is able to shift the direction of a 3-minute song multiple times without losing beat.
Individually, these guys really shine. Pitruzzella essentially plays blast beats for entire songs, during which his other hand moves at superhuman speed all over his kit. Ruskin, however, seems most content letting his fingers dance all around the frets, occasionally settling in for 20 or 30 seconds to play a riff before jumping right back into making his guitar sound like a wounded animal. Hughell, though, seems to be the only one actually anchoring the collective. That is to say, his playing is still frenzied, but it seems that he may be the only one keeping the band from sonically tearing itself apart.
If there is a downside to this record, it is the usual complaint of the death-grind scene: Said bands only have two speeds � �fastest� and �holy shit.� Brain Drill is no different on Feasting. To a casual listener, five songs of death-grind can get excessive, much less 10. That said, playing as fast as humanly possible (though parts of this record suggest �human� may not be the appropriate word) is really the point of the band. This type of music was meant to be played in a dirty, overcrowded club, not in a gymnasium during prom.
If technical death-grind is your thing, you should have stopped reading 100 words ago and just picked up Apocalyptic Feasting.
Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to irritate the hell out of my neighbors for the next half-hour.
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4 out of 5 stars
IP hash: 1e67c0a1
You are right I would never listen to this.
IP hash: d414edbc
GO BRAINDRILL! DEATHCORE FOR LIFE!
IP hash: 05370575
you left out the fact that the drummer is one of the best drummers in deathmetal to date
IP hash: 21b115c1
Braindrill is THE FUCKING SHIT MAN!!!!!
IP hash: 9fd86ea6
deathcore???? brain drill is straight up death metal. and their fucking brutal!!!!!!!!
IP hash: da2a1079
wow where the hell did these guys come from?
IP hash: 71703edb
These guys are unbelievable. i bought the cd and its a bit repetitive. but its amazing. if your a musician you will respect the tallent of this band. its amazing.
IP hash: 3d249469
This band was brutal 2 years ago also but no one gave a f**k then.
IP hash: 07d4a02d
I know marco, he’s a genious, Brain Drill are NOT deathcore, whoever said that is an utter moron, whoever said they wouldn’t listen to it, your about as hard as a castrated antelope in mating season