This US grind act came across my path via a friend who recommended them to me in 2014 with their “A Presentation of Gruesome Poetics” EP that I promptly bought after listening to a few tracks online. Grindcore is not an easy genre to make original but The Drip has managed to carve into their song writing various sub-genres without sacrificing intensity and musicianship as their debut full length catapults the listener into a seething cauldron of blasting bedlam when the opener “Blackest Evocation” detonates out of the speakers. The massive variations in pace are essential in grind and this band do it sublimely, with a fluidity that a lot of grind just cannot master.
“Anathema” follows as a shrill, borderline black metal guitar sound, violently spews forth with copious blasting ferocity but tempered with pace fluctuations to devastating effect. The vocals are some of the most twisted and pernicious I’ve heard in a while, the varying tones possessing a virulent streak throughout. “Dead Inside” is incendiary, supremely intense the track has a touch of death metal about it as the track assaults the listener with unparalleled vitriol. The rabid “Terror War Industry” is pure savagery but peppered with various changes in velocity and leads neatly into “Painted Ram” with its purist grind blasting. The drum sound on this album is colossal, perfectly mixed with the other instrumentation with the result being a stupendously heavy but crystalline sound without losing one iota of power.
As mentioned the band shifts into other styles as “Wretches” proves with its slow but pulverising build up with a scathing vocal attack, as the kick drum equates to having your torso pounded by a sledgehammer. Lulling into a short break the track shifts into an even slower section with a lead break that is equally furious and disturbing at the same time. “Exile” is a mean bastard of a song as the album seems to ratchet up the wrath with a phenomenal bludgeoning but splashed with extremely catchy riffs and beats. “Consigned To Fate” has a cracking starting riff and beat as the track adopts a death metal double kick style momentarily ready for the song to become feral, maniacal and is a standout for me on this release. Closing the album is “Bone Chapel” which has a scorching bass riff followed by insanely fast blasting and ends this exceptionally good album.
The Drip epitomise grindcore, beware of false imitators pretending to be grind but are death metal, this is an exceptional grind album.
(9/10 Martin Harris)
https://www.facebook.com/thedripgrind
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