The Drip — A Presentation of Gruesome Poetics
The sound of the band is most comparable perhaps to that of Pig Destroyer on their "Phantom Limb" album, alternating chugging technical modern thrash power chords and crushing mosh breakdowns with impossibly precise and pointed groove and force as Pig Destroyer did in their most signature moments such as "Towering Flesh".
The Drip is farther into the hardcore/punk end of the grind spectrum, preferring straightforward metric chunkiness to the occasional atonal avant-melodicism of Pig Destroyer. Fans of power violence like Iron Lung or straight up hardcore like Sworn Enemy should find familiar sounds in the rhythms and the bitter, real life tone of the vocals.
The lyrics aren't much discernable, which is fine by me, as poor lyrics have ruined many a well-written metal/grind album for me. The vocals are perfectly ferocious and powerful, viscious and dead on with percussive rapid fire rhythms, spat with absolute disdain. Their perfect timing and powerful throaty tone contributes to the feeling of consumnate professionalism that pervades this EP; the sense that the band is in perfect control, and putting all of themselves into a precise and powerful performance.
For better or worse, there is nothing that could be called a melody anywhere on the album. The goal of the band seems to be sheer propulsive heaviness, and this they certainly achieve. There are a number of great cathartic mosh moments on this album - transitions which would undoubtedly cause the pit to erupt in a violent thrashing. The best of these was wisely placed at the very end of the release in the track "Lash in - Lash out", culminating in the memorable yell of "...TO FUCKING LASH OUT!". This would just be amazing live.
I'm not sure how much of an original sound The Drip has aside from their charismatic and memorable songwriting, however this could be my only complaint about such a powerful and concise debut statement. A distinction like that really depends on how much one's ears are tuned to the intricasies of metal: serious fans of grind would surely love this to death without hesitation, and I'm sure many already do. It's a little exhausting for me even at 15 minutes, but if the band keeps up this level of songwriting and musicianship they will be one of the most powerful forces in grindcore. Their energy and rage is infectious.