There are plenty of Polish grind acts to sink your teeth into as each has that punishing authentic grind sound such as Squash Bowels, Straight Hate, Suffering Mind and Antigama to name a handful you should check out if grind is your thing. This second album by Warsaw based Hostia epitomises the grindcore template with 17 tracks in less than 24 minutes.

This album is an onslaught, an unfettered and unremitting assault on your senses from start to finish, there are no experimental tunes, no weird diversions into other genres just outright pummelling ferocity which gets under way with opener and sampled intro ‘He Loves You’ which leads into the battering ‘Slaves’. I cannot overstate just how detonating this song and the album is overall. Every tune is the right length, none overstay their welcome as each unleashes incendiary power and obliterating velocity. Added to that the vocals are utterly terrifying as ‘Krasnodar Kitchen’ proves with its intrinsic vitriol but within its mayhem the song unveils a fine catchiness in the last 15 seconds.

‘Grind The Filth’ is what you’d expect with blasting wrath initially melded to the abrading caustic riffing as a slight hardcore stance is felt that is very subtly done. ‘Fire Walks With Me’ is so damn catchy it will have you bouncing the room in maniacal glee as the destructive blast is installed where again hardcore credentials rear up courtesy of gang chant vocals.

‘God’s Coffin’ has a slam like riff to open it, that sense of melodicism before the inevitable riff break and ensuing demolition that had me thinking about Italian grinders Guineapig who should check out if you’re not familiar with them. That hardcore stance reasserts on ‘Jason’s Cardio’ where the catchy groove infestation ingrains in your head. The skull caving speed of ‘Have A Faith’ is a remorseless attack with blast beat flurries cemented to the riffing that Napalm Death aficionados will definitely relate to.

The cool riff to ‘No Longer’ is definitely Napalm Death styled from the bands ‘Diatribes’ or ‘Fear Emptiness Despair’ or even ‘Inside The Torn Apart’ only this is magnitudes faster. At 46 seconds the title track announces itself with a tremendous impacting snare roll before lashing out with the blast beat. Slam riffing reappears on ‘Death By Sawing’ as fans of wielding hammers will totally get a kick out of this though like all the songs it has grinding tempos. ‘Dance 4 Jesus’ is nothing short of sonic Armageddon with a sub one minute annihilation that leads into the concluding ‘Panzer Church’. Its opening riff has a slight twist being slightly higher in tone initially before the blast erupts. The speed is insane here bordering on chaos as those virulent vocals add that layer of dementedness and ensures that Hostia should be on your list to investigate if proper grindcore is what you love.

(9.5/10 Martin Harris)

https://www.facebook.com/hostiaband

https://hostiametal.bandcamp.com