ALBUM REVIEW: Mammoth Grinder – "Cosmic Crypt"

By: Mark Ambrose

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 26/01/2018

Label: Relapse Records

Mammoth Grinderisn’t some newfangled blackened tech fusion melodic death metal.  This is Neanderthal music, meant to crush, rend, rip and destroy to.  In less than 30 minutes, this Paleolithic power trio blast out 11 tunes that don’t reinvent the wheel – they lay waste to anything so civilized as that nonsense.  

“Cosmic Crypt” CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Grimmenstein

2. Servant of the Most High

3. Blazing Burst

4. Divine Loss

5. Molotov

6. Superior Firepower

7. Human is Obsolete

8. Locust’s Nest

9. Mysticism

10. Rotting Robes

11. Cosmic Crypt

The Review:

Now that the true deep freeze of winter has crept into the northeastern US, my daily soundtrack has mostly been the coldest black metal I can find.  Shrill, inhuman, alienating dissonance with tracks lasting ten or twenty minutes transporting me to a land of northern darkness as vast as a Lovecraftian planetscape.  But this year, the muck and humidity has burst through unexpectedly, like a deep rot thought excised.  The stink of swamp gas behind my home bubbles up at random intervals, reminding me that while the grim sterility of winter reigns on the surface, there’s a limitless, festering putrescence ready to boil through the icy cracks.  How appropriate that the long dormant Mammoth Grinder rises from the tomb to unleash classic death metal in the midst of this strange, damp season. 

               

Mammoth Grinder isn’t some newfangled blackened tech fusion melodic death metal.  This is Neanderthal music, meant to crush, rend, rip and destroy to.  In less than 30 minutes, this Paleolithic power trio blast out 11 tunes that don’t reinvent the wheel – they lay waste to anything so civilized as that nonsense.  From the opening salvos of “Grimmenstein”, the emphasis on filthy low end tones pairs perfectly with bassist-vocalist Chris Ulsh’s cave troll vocals.  Throughout “Cosmic Crypt”, Ulsh sounds like he’s bellowing from the deepest underground chambers, daring you to come face the horrors within.  Drummer Ryan Parrish, meanwhile, alternates between hardcore influenced, straightforward metal beats, complemented by precise, slick fills.  Mark Bronzino is definitely copping from the old school, post-thrash vanguard (a la Slayer and Possessed) of shrill, whammy bar throttling leads – but he does it so damn good, who would complain?  Aspiring rhythm riffers would do well to study his no frills, catchy as fuck style.

               

The standout tracks here are the most frenetic: punky thrash death rager “Blazing Burst”; “Divine Loss”, that turns on a dime from 6/8 dirge to straightforward death (with some nice rhythmic eccentricities smattered here and there); and “Human is Obsolete” – which trudges through a deliciously sludgy intro and has a simple but hypnotic guitar solo.  The final one-two punch of “Rotting Robes” and “Cosmic Crypt” is an excellent crescendo of fury on an already solid record.  “Rotting Robes” is your standard death metal before throwing in this beautifully rude, swaggering riff, riding on the excellent rhythm section.  The titular, final track is definitely elevated by Ulsh unleashing his most unhinged vocals.  Not to be outdone, Bronzino lays down his most restrained, memorable solo.  It’s easy to see why, with an unmatched performance, Mammoth Grinder closes the eponymous record with this mini-masterpiece. And before you know it, the seething decay has receded. 

Mammoth Grinder doesn’t wear you out with any extended bullshit.  They come to unleash slaughter and crawl back into whatever nightmare dungeons they lurk in when not decimating unwitting victims.  I hope to hell we get more filthy death from this trio before 2023, but at least I know they’re lurking at the edges, ready to erupt when the world seems sterile and just too serene.

“Cosmic Crypt” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook