Last time Lock Up released an album (2017) it was one of my highly rated and recommended releases of that year. A devastatingly intense delivery of high quality grindcore which had everything required to guarantee chaos and carnage in any live setting and probably home setting too once the demonic grind spirit took control and had you charging around your house like a bumper car on amphetamines. Fast forward to 2021, pandemic still gripping the world and everything is still going to hell and boom! Lock Up return with a new album. The core musical component of the band remains with the legendary string duo of Embury and Reisenegger propped up by new member Adam Jarvis of Pig Destroyer fame on the drums which is a welcome addition! Vocally, last time out it was handled solely by Kevin Sharp, but this time round, Tomas Lindberg is back, giving what was already a formidable grindcore supergroup a whole new level of intensity. So get ready, it’s time to see what’s left in the deepest reaches of Hades itself.

You know what you are getting with Lock Up. Supercharged grindcore mixed with gratuitous amounts of groove and slight sprinklings of black metal and thrash elements led by a relentless vocal assault which has all the subtlety of an artillery barrage. The overwhelming sonic assault is one of the many things Lock Up are known for and once again, it is executed in a way which only Lock-Up can do. Plenty of other grindcore groups are heavy and intense, but Lock Up are on a whole other level to them. Supergroup is simply not enough to describe this five piece!

The orchestral opening track “Death Itself, Brother Of Sleep” fulfils the obligatory instrumental opening which will no doubt hail the arrival of the band on stage and as expected, “Hell Will Plague The Ruins” crashes down with an explosive impact. Buzzing guitar, thundering bass, precise blasts and the ferocious twin vocal assault of screams and commanding growls has one simple message for the listener; ‘We are here, prepare yourself’. The frantic pace of the vocal delivery with both Sharp and Lindberg playing off of each other over the surging music beneath them works fantastically. The high tempo, high intensity instrumentation and frantic vocal delivery is such a devastating combination and even when the track slows slightly before it slams back with a furious edge it retains the momentum it carried in the opening seconds.

From here, it is exactly what you expect.

The furious onslaught of the title track “Dregs Of Hades” showcases what Jarvis brings to the band and cements his status as a worthy successor to the legendary Nick Barker. The precise blasts of double kick and rapid-fire blasts of snare and toms is hypnotic and loaded with plenty of rhythmic hooks which will fuel the surging bodies in any pit. “Black Illumination” has a ton of fast and furious buzzing lines, but it is the evil slower breakdown section halfway through the track which catches the attention. The pounding grooves command furious head banging and severe cases of whiplash and the gratuitous drum fills over the constant kick drum is delightful to hear.

“Dark Force Of Conviction” is just an all-out grind attack. A horde of buzzing riffs and vocal roars gives way to a slightly restrained and sinister sounding groove section which builds the anticipation, teasing with drum fills and tricky guitar lines before exploding to life once again to close the track out and hot on its heels, “Misdirection Thief” follows a similar structure. Once again, the frantic opening attack is driven on by the flawless teamwork of Embury and Jarvis. The iconic thumping bass really stands out on this track and the hammering groove in the later stages of the track once again will have necks aching and bodies battered and broken in the thick of the crowd.

There is no letting up as the album continues, with the latter parts sustaining the intensity of the opening assault. “Dead Legions”, “Triumph Of The Grotesque” and “Nameless Death” are all high speed musical assaults which pull no punches, hitting you with their full force and top speed. The wall of unrelenting riffs continues with “A Sinful Life Of Power”, a track spearheaded by the ferocious vocal growling and screaming which has worked so well in this release and the sinister guitar progressions of Reisenegger really add a piercing edge as the tempo eases off before kicking back in once again with that ever familiar buzzing attack.

“Ashes” has a slight thrash undercurrent in brief moments but the grind is certainly the most noticeable element in the groove of the track. It is only towards the end of the track when the sledgehammer groove comes in do you notice the thrash elements but that works well to cap such a devastating track. “The Blind Beast” roars to life with a chaotic whirl of intimidating buzzing sequences and rapid flurries of percussive force and “Reign On In Hell” storms in to set the scene for the final 1-2 of the record. Again, an unrelenting force of grindcore smashes in with powerful and high impact riffing before it shifts to a more punky-thrash middle section which quickly briefly holds before the flat out chaos returns again to wrap things up.

“Crucifixion Of Distorted Existence” closes the album and at over six minutes in length it is the longest track. Notably slower than the rest of the album, it steadily builds up as it progresses. The pounding bass and pulsing guitars are significantly more restrained and the vocals are less wild but still pack plenty of bite. Only the drums seem to be unleashed but despite the wild and grand fills, they keep everything steady, helping tease that explosive breakout we are all craving as the track goes on. Towards the final third, the track slows right down to a surprisingly atmospheric section reminiscent of some classic SweDeath songs and just when you think we will finally get that explosive grind, we go back to the restrained intensity of the opening moments, keeping you in suspense but never letting up til the track and the release subsequently end.

If Hell is empty and Lock Up have dived deep to find what is clinging to the bottom, then what they found whilst dredging Hades is grindcore excellence at its finest. There is nothing else to say, this is simply incredible.

(10/10 Fraggle)

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https://listenable-records.bandcamp.com/album/the-dregs-of-hades-2