CHEPANG

Thrilling proof that grindcore is a global language, CHEPANG are legends in their native Nepal. Now based in New York City, they must surely be destined for a WORMROT-style international breakthrough, particularly now that those sensible people at Relapse Records have snapped them up.

The grittiness and grime that we expect from Big Apple brutalists is in abundance on "Jhyappa", but the band's self-styled "immigrindcore" is firmly rooted in the crazed intensity of the blastbeat-obsessed East, too. More of a rapid assault than a sustained tirade, CHEPANG's Relapse debut only lasts for 18 minutes, but the impact is instant. When they hit the gas, CHEPANG are a blistering, ingenious force. "Shakti (Force)" is a solid, steaming lump of brutality, with dirty old-school sludge riffs and berserk, blasting shortcuts; "Gatichad" switches from festering death metal to crazy-eyed tornado; "Khel" is half DM dirge, half lightspeed clobbering; and "Drivya Shakti" is as crusty and slack-jawed as an Autopsy demo.

Bookended by esoteric, unsettling sound-glimpses into Nepal's cultural underbelly, "Jhyappa" is quietly experimental, too. There is a darkly simmering sense of chaos in every riff, and very little that could be described as traditional in any meaningful sense. Songs like "Ek Hajar Jhut" and "Spastata Ko Khoji Ma" deliver the ferocious hit that grind aficionados crave, but CHEPANG are lost in their own bizarre world of freaked out noise, and "Jhyappa" is anything but generic. Even the heads-down, tank swarm of "Nirnaya" evades the usual cliches, and makes the seemingly mundane combination of blastbeats, D-beats and death metal sound fresh and exhilarating.

As an added bonus, "Jhyappa" is an album that will not take up too much of anyone's time. Discerning fans of blistering, mutant grindcore will want it on a permanent loop.