Earache Records have a brand new fetish and it comes in the form of The Boy Will Drown. Get beyond the clunky name and you’ll soon find yourself elbow deep in dirty, filthy, jazzy grindcore that’ll leave you shaking. The Internet was created so things like this could be hidden on it in dark corners. An immediate wave of Ephel Duath playing games with Sikth is what you get at first with “Deep Throat.” The grinding ability is well in there though, check out the last few seconds of “Irminsul” if you doubt or the opening of “Josef Fritzl.” As things progress this becomes more apparent.
Like Ephel Duath and their fellow countrymen Sikth before them, these English boys play along the fringes of the tech-metal sound, bringing in as much as they can – like the old, crackling guitar at the end of “Josef Fritzl.” They delve off into weird, time signatures seemingly at random with the drums and bass snaps pushing it steadily onwards, on the wings winding, spiralling guitar riffs. It’s an abrasive sound, but one they do well and if you like the two aforementioned bands, you’ll certainly get a kick out of this, especially with Sikth now gone to the big record shop in the sky. That said, Fetish doesn’t come close to Ephel Duath’s latest, but with time who knows?
You can also hear them reaching mournfully for Decapitated’s throne, but again they’re not there yet. The poppy ending to “Dead Girls” sounding hugely out of place, a major misstep. It’s fair enough to have melodic or “nice” moments, but by covering it with growled vocals and a double-tap drum beat, it loses all impact. You see this type of shit on MTV during breakfast and if this is the only experience of The Boy Will Drown so far don’t let it put you off. You’d be much better off checking out the brilliantly titled “Dance Like An Epileptic” – all 31 horrific, Benighted seconds of it. As the album progresses it gets more furious than the more tech-metal orientated opening tracks. Both “Barrymore’s Pool Party” and “Apollo’s Lyre” are brilliant, as is the nosebleed inducing “Akura-class.”
So will the band with the impossibly messy logo get swept up when the current death-grind fascination gets the bin? On the strength of Fetish you’d certainly hope not. Earache Records have been doing well as of late snapping up these guys and Ignominious Incarceration in quick succession. Let’s hope they keep the talent coming.
(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)