Horrible Earth – “Typical Human Behavior”
Horrible Earth is a grindcore band out of Boston.
Mmm, I likey my grindcore. I keep forgetting what it means- what with old age, dementia and alcoholism settling in. But I do not forget that some of my favorite local metal inclined bands toss that term around like the half-baked hippies toss “jam band” and Frisbees around, like the NBA tosses basketballs and sexually contacted diseases around, or like the NRA tosses around assault rifles like they were lucky charms. Grindcore, I’ve found, is a good thing that we all must embrace and cherish.
According to their bio they like “long walks in the moonlight, playing shows and being as fucking loud as we possibly can.”
Which just goes to show they have their priorities right. And their name sounds a bit like the old hippie band, Rare Earth, which makes me think of the old hippie band War for some reason, which causes me to put a song by them right here:
Goddamn! Is that bass not the tits? Or the balls? Or some other random genitalia?
OOOOWWWWW! Andy Bang has just entered my office and stapled my scrotum to the side of my desk. And he’s threatening further disciplinary action unless I focus on the band and their material.
While I remove the staples with my trusty, rusty, office staple remover and apply iodine carefully to my wounds, let me reflect on this band called Horrible Earth.
Aw, fuck it. Let’s just give a listen.
This album starts with a spoken sample, “The earth was not created with the gentle caress of love. But with the brutal violence of rage.” From there some low-keyed, grinding, minor guitar chords parade out before a deftly, solid, headbanging groove. Some buzzin’ bee guitar notes lite upon the proceedings, dropping droplets of insanity on the unsuspecting, before the doors of hell bursts open-
“Kill To Preserve” is like an out of control bulldozer caught in a tangle of knocked down electrical lines that ignite and incinerate all, only to take a breather while the bass guitar pulverizes everything beyond recognition. There’s some hysterical black metal vocals leapfrogging on top of the dark, low, death metal ones. But have no fear as this song moves onto total obliteration and annihilation of your senses. And, believe me, that’s a good thing.
“Cthonian Haunt” leaps out with regurgitating, gruesome vocals, and guitars that run neck to neck with the rhythm section all while the vocals are swallowing them whole. Soon the song accelerates into a hardcore beat with black metal vocals sneaking looks around the corner. A great tune.
“Endless War” starts with some vocals bellowing its title while trilling guitar glides it recklessly along. There’s headbanging and hardcore in heaps in this song. This is passion, sound and force pushed beyond the reasonable boundaries and is probably my favorite song on the album.
“Typical Human Behavior” starts with the spoken sample, “This is like acting like an animal, like a dirty animal that eats its own feces when it’s hungry.” Hey, whattya think McDonald’s is? Energetic drum beats, a rumbling bass and a guitar that indicates something ominous it about to be hatched follows. Sure enough, we’re thrust into a headlong death race that ends with a more moderate beat, but no less intense ending, to this awesome song.
“Relative To My Interests” lasts fifteen seconds. But with a guitar and drum intro and a vocal that says, “Here we go.” This is a jackhammer jewel of love, lust and violence with a demolishing beat. This sounds like an intro to a classic punk song with out it being finished.
“A living breathing catastrophe” are some of the lyrics to “The Standard Is Misery.” But this song is a living, breathing example of power, guts, intensity and greatness.
I’ve always believed in less is more- minimalist art, poetry, punk rock music.
I love Brian Eno’s “Another Green World” which has songs just as small fragments and David Bowie’s “Low” where some songs seem uncompleted. And an early English punk band with an arty edge, Wire, producing a single album called “Pink Flag” in 1977 with 21 songs, unheard of at the time.
This band says they are short and to the point and I agree. And I also think that’s the way to be though, sometimes it takes me a thousand words to get that across. They also describe themselves as metal/grind/punk and that’s pretty accurate. I’d like to describe them as honest, gutsy and passionate, as well.
I’ve seen the band before, reviewed their first album, but this is tons over what I expected. Tons better what you might expect, too. Tons better than most bands that stroll down the bandcamp highway.
With this album I believe, Horrible Earth steps into the ring with the big boys, like Neighborhood Shit, I Am Become Death and Lunglust. In local metal influenced bands whose music is too ferocious to be contained in one genre. That bites and yelps like hardcore, that is as blunt and as real as punk, but with the force and intensity of metal added in. This is in your face, striking you hard in your gut and tearing through barriers to get towards your heart and your mind and with me- they totally succeed.
This may be a horrible earth we exist on but this is a fucking wonderful album.
(Slimedog)
