INSECT WARFARE

A long time ago in a place far, far way, Nolan Richardson, head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks' basketball team conducted practices that featured an opening period of intense conditioning called "40 minutes of hell." That would become the same 40 minutes during which the team imposed their collective will on its opponent, one in which the Razorbacks literally ran that other team to death – pure speed and adrenaline with not even a thought of letting up. "So what?" you ask. It's called a segue (one done in this case "for the hell of it") and it relates to INSECT WARFARE's "World Extermination", not because it's 40 minutes of hell, but because it is 22 minutes of hell. Pure grindcore hell played at lightning speeds and with not even a thought of letup.

Originally released in 2007 and now re-issued by Earache (maybe for the hell of it, but more likely because it smacks of Earache's grindcore beginnings),"World Extermination" will not have you singing along; it'll have you pulling you hair out and make you believe you're a full-blown meth addict, regardless of whether you'd ever touched the touch. It is noisy, it is violent, and it is as soothing as a jackhammer in the middle of a busy Manhattan intersection. Unintelligible growls and shrieks, guitars that shred like you're mom's new cheese grater, and drumming that is all clatter, batter, and blood spatter. It is a purity with which you cannot fuck.

Somehow an occasional groove or a certain riff/rhythm shift, no matter how brief, will grab you. Otherwise, it's all sprint relays and teeth spitting, and each second that passes involves radiating waves of pain. Think about…just as soon as you catch your breath.