Originally published in ‘zine issue #34, 2005
Grind Your Fucking Face In
Talking Head, Baltimore, MD
by Editor
“Grind Your Fucking Face In” was the name of the festival that took place at The Talking Head in Baltimore, Maryland. It was only one night and only six bands, but it had something of the air of an event that was more than just another show.
By the time I got there, Medic had already played and the bass player was loading his gear in his vehicle outside the club. They presumably played songs from their CD, Greetings and Amputations, and their split 7” with Triac.
Touring in support of Buried in the Front Yard, Rumpelstiltskin Grinder from Pennsylvania played thrash metal through and through. The riffs were technical and the band struck poses the way a proper thrash band should, and the singer never got out of character, asking the crowd, “Having a good time tonight?!” and so on in the way that most bands that play this style of music stopped doing many years ago. Rumpelstiltskin Grinder was a lot of fun, concerned itself with putting on a performance, and didn’t let up for one minute.
Total Fucking Destruction is also from Pennsylvania and they sounded like their band name on stage. Their set was actually one of the best I’ve seen of them, even with fatigue (or the effects of weed) evident on their faces and the handicap of a fill in at one of the guitar spots accomplished by one of the axe slingers for Rumpelstiltskin Grinder, who also handled backups. It didn’t seem to be a problem at all, however. Bandleader and drummer/vocalist Rich Hoak said that night during loadout that the point of the band, or one of them, anyway, was to write simple riffs that anybody could play. This was one of the U.S. dates the band was playing before they went to Europe to promote Total Fucking Destruction: Compact Disc Version 1.0.
Next, Triac played a hurried set after believing they would have to cancel because of their van not starting. The equipment-laden vehicle started after all, the result of a battery jump and a few swift kicks, and with its arrival at the club the band threw their equipment on stage and rocked. They’ve been playing one-offs and weekend tours in support of their split 7” EP with Medic and their CD, Dead House Dreaming. Basically Triac played their grindcore with lots of absurdly catchy riffs frantically, with the singer at one point belting out a verse or two from the floor in the company of the crowd surfers and slam dancers, and from the stage kept up front and handed out wisecracks in between songs.
Misery Index took the stage amid excitement and proceeded to rip through numbers from Retaliate and their latest, Dissent. Misery Index performed grindcore but, as with each band that night, not in the same way as any of the other bands. Their take was a mix with death metal of the highest caliber. The band had energy to spare and performed well, putting on a rousing, crowd pumping set. Well seasoned and solid as a rock.
Finally the behemoth that is Swarm Of The Lotus came on. Playing several songs from their second album, The Sirens of Silence, as well as some from their first, When White Becomes Black, Swarm played one of the most pissed-off sets from them I’ve seen. They were coming off like they had something to prove, but that seems to come easily for the band as Swarm has its own sound and at the same time is terribly heavy and extreme. With triple vocals, 7-string axes, 5-string bass, and double-kick drums, Swarm made sure the audience left happy.
Things were getting out of hand at a few points in the pit during the set, with one of the guys from Medic trying to calm down what he called “pool hall” behavior. Swarm’s singer paused in between songs to remind the audience that everyone was there to have a good time.
Contact info for each “Grind Your Fucking Face In” band respectively:
www.medicmusic.com
www.relapse.com
http://tfd.september12doom.com/total_fucking_destruction.htm
www.triactriac.com
www.miseryindex.com
www.swarmofthelotus.com ■
Photos: Total Fucking Destruction (top), Triac (center above), Misery Index (center below), and Swarm Of The Lotus (bottom)
