Review by: Rob Woodcock
Rights!!! Straight up no bullshit hardcore, though were I to say no frills, I’d be lying straight through my baccy stained teeth.
Endless Grinning Skulls hail from Nottingham and feature members of Army of Flying Robots and Geriatric Unit in their ranks, that’s a canny resume if you ask me and they don’t fail to deliver. Other reviews have referenced the Scandinavian and Japanese crust scenes as an influence on the bands sound and being no expert I’m not going to argue. Their sound is indeed a nod to the days of old but to write them off as just another d-beat combo would be a crime of great magnitude. There’s so much going on structure wise that’s it taken me over a fortnight to finish this review as I was scared I might have missed something out. Drums are pounded, constantly rolling keeping pace for some of the most ridiculous bass runs committed to tape since the last Beefeater record (GGGH, whoever you may be, there’s some serious chops in your playing!). Guitars grind and shred breaking off into cheeky Motorhead style solo’s every minute or so and the duel vocal delivery is the best I’ve heard since the days when Sawn Off and Hard To Swallow were still doing the rounds. The one theme running through this record is despite all the pounding and the shredding and the “doi doi doi” and the feedback and the noise and the dogs on rope’s is how much melody it has, as a result I keep thinking of Killing Joke and Public Image as a way of comparison. (The albums title track is a prime example of this and also has the honor of being the best song I’ve heard this year, no word of a lie it’s been on constant repeat for a good few days now) I keep thinking of Minute Manifesto too. Good honest hardcore played a less sloppy Minute Manifesto with a speedfreak Jah Wobble on bass if Jah Wobble listened to decent music now and again and hadn’t become the self important bore that he is today.
There’s no way that I could finish this review without mentioning how good a job Viral Age have done with the packaging. If you didn’t know any better you could easily pass it by for an early 1980’s punk release and to top it off the inlay folds out into huge Crass style poster with a shitload of skulls on it. Genius!
All in all I’m more than looking forward to whatever both Endless Grinning Skulls and Viral Age get up to in the future. Grade A work from all parties involved.