The hills are alive with the sound of blastbeats! All quiet in the picturesque Linz, Upper Austria has been shattered by this lot who have been actively making a racket since around the beginning of the century. This is their 4th album but they were last heard from with an EP of covers playing songs from the likes of Dismember, Sepultura, Marduk and Pungent Stench. This just goes to show versatility as they are not particularly grounded in sound reminiscent of any of these acts but clues can be taken from the “dis” in their name. ‘The heir and the flesh’ as the album title translates is a head-spinning contortion of rotten sound that takes primary influence from grindcore along with brutal death metal but has a few surprises along the way.

Knocking out 14 songs in just a fraction under the half hour mark it’s a case of hanging on and trying not to be knocked clean out your boots. Indeed, first couple of plays of this passed in a blur but with efforts to concentrate made, definition does become clearer. The first couple of furious numbers for instance just bomb out the tracks, the drummer is nothing short of a human octopus and the guitarist makes some hilarious high pitched squeals that sound like someone being electrocuted as they mash buttons on an old school arcade game. Vocals snap and snarl over the top adding to the rabid ferocity and it’s almost impossible to keep up with the unrelenting ferocity of these under two minute exercises in violence although a guitar solo allows you to grab hold of something momentarily.

Things are not all one dimensional though and the other side of things is illustrated by a doomy and apocalyptic sounding melody at the start of ‘Geiferloch.’ It only lasts momentarily before the next bombing raid although the guitars do embrace the melody and get it neatly ensnared in your head. If you want more of the doomy death style, it’s a case of fast forwarding to ‘Das Leid und sein Gift’ (Suffering and its poison) which infects the senses with crawling stealth lasting at an epic 5m:40s. Listening to it, if they did a second covers release Autopsy would be a prime candidate.

There’s plenty to like here and the comparisons to Nasum and Afgrund are clear from the absolutely pulverising shreds of abuse the band knock out with enthusiastic controlled chaos. I’m sure there are some political statements on songs like ‘Faschcrist’ even if I can’t decipher them from the German delivery and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this lot graced the stage as support at some point when Napalm Death rampaged through town. This is an invigorating listen that wakes you up whilst tearing your insides out. Finishing off as it started with the last few numbers creating shredding carnage as they romp to the finish line but still maintaining a few groovy swaggers and dystopian vibes along the way, Distaste prove very effective at leaving the listener all shook up and a nervous twitching mess.

(8/10 Pete Woods)

https://www.facebook.com/distastegrind

https://fda-records.bandcamp.com/album/der-ertraeger-und-das-fleisch