King Parrot – Bite Your Head Off (Candlelight)

Wednesday, 26th March 2014
Rating: 8/10

By the name alone, DR thought this would be one of those ultra-silly, not-so-serious grind romps that hover between respectability and novelty. It’s inevitable when your name is “King Parrot” and you’re Australian…not that there’s anything inherently wrong with that. Yet, King Parrot bear their teeth with some major ‘tude (Question: Do parrots have teeth?), coming up 17 jams across Bite Your Head Off that stay coarse, crude, extreme, and quick; not so much a tie-in to other grind bands hopping about (i.e. Antigama, Cripple Bastards, Total Fucking Destruction), but a tongue-and-cheek side offering onto itself.

Originally released in 2012 and repackaged with the band’s 2011 The Stench of Hardcore Pub Trash EP, none of KP’s comedic song titles (see: “Shit on the Liver,” “Epileptic Butcher,” and “Lawnmower Dog”) would have any pull if there weren’t any grind-a-abouts to get down with, of particular note being the strident riff choices on display. Most are in short supply (this is grind, after all), so the razor-sharp, somewhat angular riffs that pop up on “Bite Your Head Off” (dig the chorus) and “Cold Steel Probe” find King Parrot jousting between blunt, brutal death metal speed-picking, and the core elements of metallic grind, which of course, means plenty of blasting.

A nice little cross-up of musical ability and amusing visuals (the videos for “Dead End” and “Shit on the Liver” are quality viewing), King Parrot should be able to find their place in the relatively stale and average grind scene. And frankly, that’s what grind needs: A shot in the arm, a mix-up, some well-intended goofiness. Anything, really. This should do it.

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