BEATEN TO DEATH

I'm surprised that it wasn't until recently that I came across an extreme metal band called BEATEN TO DEATH. You'd think the name would have been taken years ago and used by at least one relatively "known" act, though I've not done even a cursory level of research to ascertain whether other acts within the metal realm may be using it. Be that as it may, the discovery of Norway's BEATEN TO DEATH was a fortunate one and the 19-minute "Xes and Strokes" very much a pleasant surprise that I almost missed. Glad I didn't, as this semi-experimental grindcore album is as atypical is at it expertly performed and sharply written.

BEATEN TO DEATH is at once concise and complex on "Xes and Strokes", which is not as contradictory as it may seem once you've withstood your first, uh, beating and then realize that you're ready for another due to the uncertainty about what you just experienced. That's because as you were holding on by your fingertips through nine disorienting episodes of sonic excoriation you would with some frequency swear you just heard a downright penetrating melody. That's because you did on several tracks, including a brilliantly contrasting one on "A Word to the Wise" and several other nuanced and varied moments of attention-grabbing tunefulness on "3-1-1, It's On", "Pointless Testament", "On Running", and "A Soulless Alarm". It is not like the contrast is jolting as much as it is unexpected, and it is anything but ill-fitting within the context of the overall arrangement. And it works with smashing success. Peppered with powerviolence bursts, melodic death metal shots, and hardcore flashes, the central style is grindcore, yet even during the purest sections of blasting bellicosity the intelligence quotient approaches that of acts like NAPALM DEATH and NASUM. As a matter of fact, "On Running" makes one think of what NAPALM DEATH might sound like playing melodic death metal. That's also why one or two trips through "Xes and Strokes" won't cut it if you seek more than just a passing appreciation of what's going on here.

For one thing "Xes and Strokes" goes deeper than just the incorporation of well-placed melodic segments into the menacing miasma. What makes "Xes and Strokes" impressive on a broad scale is the effectiveness with which BEATEN TO DEATH has added diverse elements into the grinding harshness without losing cohesiveness or detracting from the primal aggression at its core. It's smart and it's pulverizing, but most of all "Xes and Strokes" is a seriously cool grind album. By the time this band releases the next one the name BEATEN TO DEATH may be immediately associated in the minds of most extreme metal connoisseurs as "that creative Norwegian grindcore band." It's gonna happen.