Escalation of Hostility

Yay for grind. This is definetly a genre that polarises people, but to be honest I can't really see why. The churning mix of riffs, blastbeats and unintelligible screams is extreme, for sure, but (in my opinion) there's an appealing cartoony violence, like a brutal kind of slapstick that makes it so appealing and awesome. Kill the Client aren't setting out to reinvent the grindcore rulebook, but luckily, they do have a few cool left field bits thrown in here and there.

While I've never heard any of the earlier grind stuff (yeah, I should really get myself some Carcass and Napalm Death some day..) I can imagine this being ..somewhat similar. The riffs are lifted straight from death metal, and there's no pitchshifting to be found in the vocals. The guitars aren't all that complex or anything, but like the drums, they are capable of some unbelievable bursts of speed here and there.

While for the most part the guitars are happy to play fast to midpaced grind riffs, there are a few slower songs here, which work to good effect, because 29 minutes of pure grind gets old fast. That's one of the best things about this album, the slower tunes. Killing Fields is a solid tune, but Negative One is better. It's 6 minutes- extremely long for a grindcore band, and while it would be a mistake to call it 'melodic', it's full of interesting textured feedback, and goes on for a while before it all falls away. It is pretty anti-climatic for the album however, and maybe it would be better to put it in the middle of the album or something.

So it's a solid album, with some good songs, no doubt. Why 70% then? Well, it's basically because the songs are just too freaking similar. The slow songs are a good bit of respite, but the mid paced riffs in the fast paced songs are just way too similar. Of course, in grindcore you expect the songs to blur into one another for a little while, but I've yet to hear one where every song could be any song. Also, 29 minutes is too long for a grindcore album.

Basically, this is a decent grindcore album. THe tunes are heavy, fast and spastic with some cool slower songs, but most of the songs are completely interchangeable, and most people will find 29 minutes of blistering grind hard to take in one hit.

After hearing Kill the Clients debut EP “Wage Slave” on Counterintelligence Recordings I was thoroughly impressed and intrigued. I wanted to hear more, so when I found out they had signed with Willowtip Records, my excitement led me to immediately grab up their debut full length “Escalation of Hostility”. I however missed them at Maryland Deathfest, and after hearing about their performance, I was sorry I did. With “Wage Slave”, the Texans take on grind was straight forward political grind, with a take no prisoners attitude. “Escalation of Hostility” continues on this same path.

Clocking in at around 29 minutes “Escalation of Hostility”, will, with one listen, get you up and moving around violently. The album is pure energy and intensity. It will remind you of early Napalm Death and Brutal Truth, but this band is not simply a rehash of those two bands. Songs like “Killing Fields” and “Negative One” have a slower sludgy feel to them, only adding diversity to this album. Founding members Chris Andrews and James Delgado were in a sludge band together and this aspect helps add an extra flavor to this album when needed.

For the rest of the album though, it’s all out balls to the wall blasting intensity. They pull no punches and don’t try anything fancy. This is not for those of you who want their grind delivered with some technicality, chaos or jazz influences. Speed is the key to this album, and it doesn’t bore for one second. That in itself tells me these guys know what their doing musically. Along with drawing influence from the aforementioned bands, they manage to weave influence from fellow grinders Vulgar Pigeons and Benumb through out also.

Production is gold on this album. I feel the vocals are at the perfect volume. It actually makes this release stand out from others in this genre. The production doesn’t follow the same mold as those classic grind albums with loud high pitched screams, opting for a lower volume. I personally like that and it shows me they don’t just want to follow the carved path, but carve their own!

Those of you looking for a new band playing grindcore in vein of early Napalm Death and Brutal Truth, will absolutely dig this! Along with fellow Willowtip grinders Vulgar Pigeons, Kill The Client prove that angry, socially aware, political grindcore does indeed have a bright future. Excuse me while I make up for my earlier mistake and go catch these guys live!