Assuck
Anticapital


4.0
excellent

Review

by Legionnaire USER (3 Reviews)
February 8th, 2012 | 34 replies


Release Date: 1991 | Tracklist

Review Summary: A powerful grindcore release.

Assück really hit the nail on the head with this album. 1991's Anticapital's seventeen tracks come in at just over fifteen minutes, but in those fifteen minutes, the listener is treated to one of the most enjoyable grindcore experiences I've ever had the pleasure to discover.

One thing I quite immediately noticed about Assück and this album is that you can pay attention to each instrument, guitars, drums, or vocals (sadly, not so much bass, which is a bit lost in the mix), and it'll hold your interest. It seems too often in grindcore there's really no point in paying attention specifically to one instrument in particular: sometimes the musicianship just doesn't hold the listener's attention--whether it's the drums just being a frazzle of frantic blast beating, or the guitars seem to be little more than a wall of four different chords being ground out as hard and as fast as possible. And there isn't necessarily anything wrong with that as long as you can still enjoy the music when you listen to the overall product, but that isn't so with Assück.

Each of the band members is clearly very skilled with their instruments, and it never devolves into the territory of frazzled noise that some bands seem to think is all there is to playing grindcore. The drumming is laser-precise and very sharp, with every snare drum strike, every bass drum beat, and every crashing cymbal clear and easy to distinguish; the guitar is similarly quite impressive, combining power chord brutality, excellent usage of pinch harmonics, and slowly, doom-inflected riffs to maximum effect. The singing was also impressive; Paul Pavlovich delivers low, guttural, rapid-fire rasps, though his voice tends to sound pretty much the same throughout, and has little variation to it. That's a small qualm, however.

As far as the song-writing itself, one can find no complaints. Here one can find punk-inflected brutality, nihilistic fury, typical grindcore it would seem--but it's always a controlled assault and never becomes chaos. Each song in its own right is a joy to listen to--but the majority are under a minute, and none make it to a minute and a half. This is typical for grindcore, but Assück manages to make the listener enjoy that one riff, or this particular lick, so much so that you find yourself wishing the songs were just a little longer so you could enjoy them longer. This is the only qualm I have with Anticapital and Assück in general, as I feel if they made their songs just a little longer it would be so much more enjoyable (I wouldn't end up listening to one song on replay because I'm addicted to its absolutely awesome riffing, which is abundant on Anticapital). Conversely, the songs never become derivative of one another, and you can clearly distinguish between them--a quality quite a lot of grindcore bands lose sight of.

Lyrically, Anticapital is shocking in its depth. The lyrics, delivered rapidly over the course of the album's quick-fire songs, are remarkably piercing in their truthfulness and quite beautiful despite the morbid, bleak situations they describe. Piercing statements such as "A nation born blind should have been terminated in its infancy" and "Kneel before the altar of inequality/bow your head, close your eyes" are clear demonstrations of Assück's lyrical prowess and ability to weave within their bursts of grindcore fierce, brutally honest statements about politics, religion, and society.

So that's Anticapital--a hallmark of grindcore, one that no fan of the genre should be without. I won't say it's flawless (nothing can ever be), but it's damn close to it and it's a powerful release from an excellent band.


user ratings (148)
3.9
excellent


Comments:Add a Comment 
eternium
February 8th 2012


16358 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Decent review. I've never been able to like Assuck as much as pretty much everyone else.

Hyperion1001
Emeritus
February 8th 2012


27019 Comments


assuck rules

Ire
February 8th 2012


41944 Comments


gonna be assuckin' tonight

Hyperion1001
Emeritus
February 8th 2012


27019 Comments


imo misery index is a bit better

iFghtffyrdmns
February 8th 2012


7044 Comments


"seventeen tracks come in at just over fifteen minutes"

gotta love grindcore

good review, though this sentence:
Each of the band members is clearly very skilled with their instruments, and it never devolves into the territory of frazzled noise that some bands seem to think is all there is to playing grindcore.

is pretty awkward and could use some reworking.

ShadowRemains
February 8th 2012


28045 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

assuck rules fucking hard





Wizard
February 8th 2012


20562 Comments


Underrated release, love this album. Great review to boot.

Goatlord
November 11th 2012


405 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

the best.

Hyperion1001
Emeritus
November 11th 2012


27019 Comments


i like misery index better but this still rules yeah

Goatlord
November 12th 2012


405 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I meant the best grind band period. Guess I should've specified.

Fozzie
February 23rd 2013


506 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

A masterpiece of grindcore and easily a contender for the top spot.



Plenty of variation in the songwriting, which is where many grind bands fall flat. The riffs on Anticapital are both punishing and memorable. Dissonant chord changes, killer mid-paced breaks, and great use of pinch harmonics.



The drumming on this album is legendary. Proctor can easily go toe-toe with many extreme metal drummers. The blasts are crazy well-timed and his fills are wicked. Just listen to Population Index, State To State, and Body Politic Equation.



As for the production on this album... it's crushing. Who else was to produce it but the legendary Scott Burns? Necrosalvation sounded excellent but this is fucking heavy. They couldn't have asked for a better producer.



To end, we have one of the greatest vocalists in the grind + metal scene. Brutal growls, but with great pronounciation and variation in his vocals. It's a shame he never got the respect deserved. His lyrics are both well-written and thought-provoking. You don't have to be an anarchist to appreciate them.



Anticapital is 'the' album to begin your grind journey.

KILL
May 7th 2013


81580 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

die



a numbeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrr

GiaNXGX
July 23rd 2013


5468 Comments


truest lyrics ever written

GiaNXGX
July 23rd 2013


5468 Comments


BMUP

GiaNXGX
July 23rd 2013


5468 Comments


Quarantined by the plague of government. Ideological barriers of ignorance. Lives changed by concrete. Suppressed by autocracies throughout the centuries.



KILL
July 23rd 2013


81580 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Indeed, and as such.

GiaNXGX
August 17th 2013


5468 Comments


☭ ( :


ShadowRemains
September 14th 2014


28045 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

god this band's 90s stuff is just way too fucking good

Gwyn.
October 15th 2014


17270 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Probably some of the best lyrics I've ever read

Gwyn.
November 12th 2014


17270 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

dis band so fuckin gud



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