Most people may be familiar with 324 from the split CD they shared with Discordance Axis and Corrupted, where they pretty much came as the worst of the bunch. Not to say that they are a bad band – it’s just that their tracks were the muddiest sounding, plus following that stellar line-up is no mean feat.
However, 324’s debut album (English title – Sun Of Desecration) is absolutely crushing. Opening with a fierce wall of feedback, immense tribal drums and guitars suddenly kick in, and it sounds HUGE. The breakdown in the first song will make you fall over. The production here is far better compared to the split’s tracks, and every aspect can be clearly heard. Pounding drums, downtuned riffs and extremely guttural vocals make this a very oppressive 24 minutes.
324’s strongest point is perhaps the relatively simple nature of their songs, relative to other grind bands. They just blast out at you, go through a couple of verses, and end, giving you about a second’s breather before the next one beats your face in. But it isn’t just a constant barrage – the band certainly manage to vary things up a lot during each song’s duration, perhaps to the extent that the band don’t necessarily fit into the conventional grind mould. Many sections have a real groove to them, and this just makes the transition to full-on blast beats all the more intense.
A grindcore Motorhead meets Sepultura in a poorly-lit, perhaps even dark, alleyway? How could that not be good? This is so heavy you will have a hernia just lifting the CD into the tray.