A sharp and brutal slice of in your face DIY grindcore for your delectation today. Hailing from the West Midlands, Accelerated Mutation are making what they call “rancid grinding thrashcore”, or what you and I might call crusty grind.

The Fast Food Rehearsal Demo are 12 tracks which range from the frenetic ragers of around the twenty seconds mark, through to the positively prog epics that occupy the vast epochs of time of around the…erm.. two minutes mark. Opening track “Aggroism” really sets the agenda with slices of early Napalm Death riffing, schizoid drum work and the mad bellows of vocalist Micky Mutant.  Whilst many of the grind bands on the circuit at the moment can worship speed at the expense of actually having memorable songs, Accelerated Mutant have a great knack of leaving an impression with their numbers. “Sinjection”, whilst only being 49 seconds long, for example, is simply an exercise in extreme efficiency; no note wasted, no moment flabby.

This is, when all is said and done a rehearsal demo, but two things have struck me. Firstly, this is a band that’s pretty damned tight. Yes, the production is raw and a bit like having your ears held onto an operational sanding belt, but the fusion of all the elements is nigh on perfect. Secondly, when the songs venture into the multiple minute moments, as with stand-out track “Reveal”, there are some strong parallels to the experimental thrash and grind of the early days, with dashes of Cerebral Fix and early Benediction. Certainly in terms of the vocals, these are much closer to the confrontational violence of British Crust Punk than they are to the hoarse bellowing of death metal, and the scything guitars and adept skin-bashing on “Blue” could easily have come from the better moments of Napalm’s more modern works. “Rat” opens with atmospheric swagger, before skittering and squirming with spasmodic energy.

Demo closer “You What” is a fittingly unhinged slice of confrontational aggression. The shot refrain of “You What” is the soundtrack to facing up to the absurdity of other people, while crushing riffs churn like anxiety in the stomach in the background. If you’re not bouncing to this, there may be something wrong with you; if you are, there definitely is.

There’s an energy and a tension here that speaks of unrest and change, and despite some of the murkier elements of a rehearsal demo, it’s one of the more exciting releases I’ve heard of in some time. The band are looking to play more venues, and as a bonus, while the demo can be bought on tape from bandcamp, it’s also on name your price download at the moment. Bonus.

(8/10 Chris Davison)

https://necromagnetic.bandcamp.com/album/fast-food-rehearsal-demo