Considered a “grind revolution” on their official Bandcamp page, this mostly Russian lineup contains several guests in order to make a sort of grind that is pretty much unparalleled to anything that I've ever heard in my life. Considering that I'm really picky with grind, that's a great thing. Featuring members of Escapethecult, Kamlath, Nebesbiesnami, Necrophagist and others, this three-piece is bound for some sort of unknown and bizarre glory that you'll never understand until you've gotten this record in your hands. It's quite short at just a litte under twenty minutes, but considering “The Vitality Slip” manages to play for an entire five minutes, that's a Nobel Prize moment for the genre. The best way to describe an album like this is to take it song by song, and we'll start out with “Living Fumes” which features Danny Lilker of Brutal Truth. The track starts out like black metal, before it teases us with hints of lounge music. Lilker's vocals sound absolutely scathing here and the track pummels before it goes right into elevator music. Guitars are played furiously, almost in a thrashy atmosphere which leads into machine-gun drum explosions, right before bringing us back to an elevator. It makes me think that there's a war inside of a shopping mall, and though people in the mall are fighting off and being devoured by ravenous monsters, there's still one group of people who are just patiently waiting to get to the floor where all the hell is taking place. Hints of solos appear, as well as one massive breakdown. Next we have “Furnaces Burn” which features “Revolting” Rogga Johansson of Paganizer (and several other bands, like the one in quotations.) This one is a little short, but it delivers a fast and heavy approach regardless of a hint of elevator music. They could have done a little better on this one I feel, Rogga deserved a much stronger track. I'm not really familiar with Karin Utomo of High Tension, but she appears on “Pressure” by which there's a video for. Being female, we actually get a little bit of a clean feminine vocal approach in sections, but when she's not doing that, she's tearing your fucking head off. This woman is simply ravenous, but at least she has the good nature to apologize for it. Next we have “4.27.15” which features Matt Phelps of Cynic who is proving his age here, unfortunately. It sounds like Phelps is trying his best Schuldiner impression, with the days of monumental debut Focus long behind him. It almost feels like a punk performance and more or less a common grind track. You wouldn't even know it was a member of Cynic if you hadn't looked on the Bandcamp page.
“The Genocide Machine” features Dave Ingram of Hail Of Bullets, and it more or less seems to back the death metal frontman rather well. His heavy growls give the drudging track just what it needs. There's some definite experimentation within the riffs, but then it flows right into blistering death metal where the performance just feels right. The album ends with what I think is it's best track, featuring an unexpected merit in Child Bite frontman Shawn Knight. I saw Child Bite back in '14 and they didn't really catch me, but I absolutely love this performance. I'm reminded of a cross between Mike Patton and Dave Brockie, which sounds as mind-blowing as you'd expect. The elevator music (ahem) bossa-nova that is featured here, actually works very well too. I'd love for project mastermind Peter Shallmin to make a bossa-nove album as well, as I quite like that kind of music and it's relaxing. I love the fact that he can create complete and total chaos, a veritable shitstorm of unruly fucking hell – but I can really get into these cheery tunes as well. Also, the ending of this one is pretty masterful. I almost feel like Brockie's there and it means a lot. Knight almost channels him right towards the end of this one, and I love it. I'm pretty sure that the former GWAR frontman would have given his blessed flatulence on this project and that makes it well worth checking out. Unless you've got a time machine, you'll have to wait until the end of November for this one. But don't fret folks, as it's definitely worth it for the most part. “The Vitality Slip” is worth the price of admission alone.
(6 Tracks, 18:00)
8/10
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