There’s something ineffably satisfying about Grindcore, the frantic speed and punkish drive hitting a spot that Death Metal can’t always reach, and it’s that je ne sais quoi that keeps us Grindheads listening even when the genre threatens to turn permanently into a kind of Grindhog Day-esque repetition of past glories, over and over again. I don’t document every Grind effort that gets released kicking and screaming into an oft-hostile Metal world, but those that come to my attention generally have something good going for them, in American Grind/Powerviolence trio Magrudergrind’s case being signed to Candlelight, a label notorious for keeping quality levels high. This is their second full-length release, a short yet intense blast that sounds like early Nasum with lots of samples, and it’s the samples that keep the album interesting and keep you listening more than a couple of times.

Far from the overused film clips of the likes of Mortician, Magrudergrind have a wider range but choose to sample Hip-Hop at one point, something which no doubt will put off a few potential Magrudergrinders but which I quite enjoyed, being one of those snobby Rap fans who likes Public Enemy and Cypress Hill but who would give 50 Cent neither time nor money. There’s something about the sampled beats which fit in well with the band’s sound, and whilst I’m nowhere near knowledgeable enough to name the original artists, all are well-chosen and fit in well with the base Grind sound.

Picking highlights is tough. Take kickoff track The Protocols Of Anti-Sound, opening with feedback and soon kicking off with a German-spoken sample, before developing into a varied blast of hyperspeed. Vocals are shrieked, guitars are a wall of noise, drums are punkish, and the usual odd catchiness, everything present and correct in the formula, which is repeated over the course of the album with little variety aside from the aforementioned samples. Songs vary between under a minute and over three, Bridge Burner taking a sludgier path and Rotten Sounding quite well, but failing to do anything out of the ordinary. Magrudergrind are certainly not one of those bands that want to experiment to a large degree, and Magrudergrind ultimately is something for those looking for some hot Grind action, plain and simple.