The Communion is a NYC grindcore band with a taste for electronic noise that started a brief U.S tour today. Dates are below.
A quick perusal of the band’s Bandcamp page reveals The Communion has many releases, and several of them splits, as any proper grind band would have. One of the releases is a one-sided 12”, A Desired Level of Unease, released on Prison Tatt Records. Interestingly, The Communion isn’t going for a full-on blast here, but is more going for a mix of grinding and mood, with doomy sections and death metal-influenced riffs—Autopsy is the main influence. It’s not angry music (well, it is angry) so much as depressive. Lyrically, it’s hard to decipher what it is they’re talking about, but it invokes a visual, and a very unpleasant one at that. The lyric insert is a cut-and-paste job put together on what seems like an beat-up old copier that needs some more toner or a swift kick. The Communion is nothing if not old school. And this puppy is hand-numbered and limited to 100.
The singer/electronic noisemaker (which doesn’t venture much past static-y interludes) screams his throat out, even on the parts of the songs where the band cuts off the distortion boxes and plays clean guitar riffs.
One of the more recent releases is 2012 CD-R sampler called Pornography. Satan. Abuse. that the band sold on the road. That one has a few cuts from the one-sided 12” and from several other releases, it seems like, as the production values change a lot from track to track. The sampler has more of an overall grinding sound, and shows more old-school influences, maybe from bands like Celtic Frost or Hellhammer for starters. There’s a dash of powerviolence as well—nothing too unusual there.
So then, check these boys out on tour if you’re able, as D.U. is sure they’d be happy if you came … in their way. You can also check out their merch at their Bigcartel page.
11/06 @ JR’s, Philadelphia PA
11/07 @ Barrio, Cincinnati OH
11/08 @ Albion House, Chicago IL
11/09 @ Leathershop, Lima OH
11/10 @ Crown, Baltimore MD
11/14 @ St. Vitus, Brooklyn NY
