I was excited about getting my hands on this because my favorite band Ganglia was on it and it featured all their grind songs that were only released on cassette format. I was also interested in hearing CHC, a death metal band from Indonesia. CHC (Critical Human Condition) start off with six songs of heavy death/grind akin to early Mortician. It says in the insert that four basses were used in the recording and layered. Honestly it didn't make that much difference to me, it's heavy so I guess they got what they were going for. I'm guessing this was recorded on a 4-track because it has that filthy raw sound to it. Between songs there are stupid jokes he must have gotten off a kid's tape. They are really annoying and not funny at all and in my opinion it would have been better if he used samples from horror movies or something but I guess that's a little overdone nowadays? Anyway the man behind it (Aspin Blastgrind) does only six tracks on the cd and they are all called, "Imaginations Gone Wild Part 1 and upward to 6". I don't want to give the impression that CHC is a subpar band but this style has been done to death. Ganglia on the other hand is nothing short of amazing in my mind. This is the most exciting band I've found in the grind scene because David defies the "rules" that go along with how music is supposed to be made. He doesn't use conventional instruments like guitar or bass but he uses harsh electronic noise blasts and samples and a drum machine. This sounds like the music would sound really dumb which was my first thought when I heard about Ganglia but the music really comes off as interesting and unique because no track sounds alike. A lot of guitar-grind bands tend to sound alike and the songs all blur together but most of Ganglia's songs have character and memorability, a quality rare in grindcore. Also David's vocals are totally over-the-top sick!! He sounds like an animal being tortured to death. His deep vocals are similar to Kevin Sharp (Brutal Truth) while his high vocals are phlegmmy and putrid and I can't think of anyone he sounds like as far as high vocals. There are 53 Ganglia songs in all on the disc and they all rock my world, especially "The Vegetable Lie", "Stop Emo!" and "I eat demons for breakfast"; funny stuff. As for the disc and sleeve, it is all diy but it is professional too and cheap ($5). If any of you are into grindnoise or death/grind, I encourage you to check this out!
To get your hands on this CD check out the Ganglia Website.
8.5/10
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