It’s Monday and Mondays suck, so let’s grind it out with godawfulnoise’s The Epitome of Suffering.
It’s verging on 2am where I live and I gotta get up in three hours for work. So by virtue of name alone, this album has my attention. But hey, it’s not all about title. Phoenix, AZ’s godawfulnoise have been grinding away for about six years, but have only recently released this, their second LP.
The Epitome of Suffering is immediately going to strike chords with people that love old Wormrot and Rehashed-era Magrudergrind, along with the deathgrind of old Misery Index. The Epitome of Suffering is a heavy, thick piece of grindcore that retains the hardcore/punk attitude. The band takes you through fourteen tracks of relentless, spewing anger that might be just what you need to get through this day.
“Completely Fucking Disgusted.” Mondays in a nutshell. A perfect title opener for an album called The Epitome of Suffering. And the music matches it too. A little bit of feedback, some groove/death driven guitar and drums and before you know it godawfulnoise is blasting off. “Keep Them Sick” keep up the pace and keeps up that disgusted feeling the band brings out. Something brazenly frustrated and pissed off. And before you know it, glass is shattering and you’re wondering if it was the music or if you threw the bottle.
The spoken bits aren’t without their humors moments. When “Contempt” or “Wallow in the Stench” come on it’s hard not to chuckle. Same with “We the Parasites.” Meanwhile other songs like “Blue Lives Murder” might make some people clench and gnash their teeth. Welcome to grindcore, there’s politics and opinions here. Don’t like it? Don’t listen. There’s plenty of apolitical music everywhere else.
The Epitome of Suffering is an album that keeps the bullshit at a minimum. The songs are loud and the attitude is without mercy. Where the band hit all the right notes is in how old school they sound. The approach is certainly more modern, but the recording quality fits the genre perfectly.
You know, the more I go over these song titles, the more it feels like this album has a perpetual case of the Mondays. “Dying is a Way of Life”, “King of the Bastards”, “No Escape”—that one hits home pretty hard by title alone. But then again, don’t we all have a case of the Mondays on a Monday? godawfulnoise has turned over a pretty good album here. Pair it with your coffee and get ready to grind out The Epitome of Suffering.
I'm here.
