Escuela Grind are back after a two-year absence, but the time away certainly hasn’t dulled their edge. While they still lob in the kind of frantic blasts that their name would imply it actually feels like they’ve eased up on the speed a bit, giving each cruel, bulky riff the room it needs to wreak mindless, bloody carnage. Things clunk and glurp with maximum power, oftentimes coming off like a weird, mutant mix of grind, sludge and late 90s metalcore rather than something that hews to one specific, regimented genre. Howling atop it all is Katerina Economou: a violent force whose ravening voice makes you feel like you’re being torn to shreds within a tornado of scrap metal. It’s a savage release but also a thoughtful and engaging one – a potent mix, and one should propel them further than adrenalised aggression alone.
