Review Summary: The sludge induced crusty grinders go Death n' roll and it turns out pretty well.
In a slightly unexpected move, Mammoth Grinder have turned away from their previous sludge induced hardcore sound and taken up the flag of death n’ roll. They still remain close to their hardcore roots but instead of the Sabbathian riffage we heard from their earlier material, there is a distinct Entombed, Dismember and Terrorizer influence. The buzzsaw guitar tone of the early grind/death metal bands is right on with this album. The production is pretty raw and intense but one thing that seems lost in the barrage of distortion is the bass. It can be pretty tough to pick out over the guitar but it’s still noticeable.
The riffs never relent and are definitely more on the crushing side of things rather than technical, as expected. The same goes for the drums, there aren’t any blast beats going on here but there are some interesting fills and supercharged punk beats. There is one thrashy guitar solo on “Frozen” but those are absent the rest of the album. It would’ve been nice to have a few more but it’s not a big deal overall. Vocalist/Guitarist Chris Ulsh changed up his style to match the music but don’t expect a death metal growl. He still uses a variation of his hardcore bellow but it’s definitely lower than on previous work. I could see some people saying the vocals get old because there isn’t a ton of change in pitch but I really enjoy this style, it’s like a cross between Weekend Nachos and Entombed.
From the opening feedback of “Total Extinction” to the the fading drive of “Life Returns” don’t expect a break because “loud and fast” is all you get. It’s too bad the album is only about 21 minutes long. That is probably the only complaint here. Anybody interested in death n’ roll should definitely check these guys out. Some of the highlight tracks for me are “Frozen”, “Sentenced to Hell” and “Devoured by Fear”.
