Take A Worm For A Walk Week - S/T (Midmarch)
3/5
By: Charlie Potter
GRINDCORE IS NOT MORBID OR DEPRESSING. Learn this.
Grindcore is fun, pure unadulterated fun. It is one of the few genres that still shows the true punk values started in the mid 70's, in that it's not about being fancy or subtle, it's about getting to the point. It's also one of the only types of music where technical skill is not misplaced, therefore somehow brilliantly reconciling the creeds of prog and punk.
Although grindcore is often made out of anger, this is not an unhealthy anger. Bands like Pig Destroyer are comfortable with anger and enjoy it. When I sit at home alone and listen to grind, I don't sit there in a bad mood thinking about how awful things are. Instead, I grin from ear to ear, feeling like I've found my own little happy place where I can indulge in music, one that isn't a compromise because no other people are in the room who would remark things like 'oooh no, can you turn it down please, I don't like it...' Whereas me, I have to endure things like Jack Johnson or whatever's on the radio day in day out. Where's the justice? I can assure all you people that say things like 'can you turn it off Charlie' when there are only 5 minutes of an hour long grind album left that I have a far more deep-seated gut repulsion to the drivel you mindlessly infect your ears with, than your instinctive 'oh its distorted therefore it's mindless' reaction.
The jazzy chords and that dak-dak-dak-da-dak-dak-da-dakdak style of rhythm are very reminiscent of Dillinger Escape Plan before they got boring, and the mean, shattering dischords along with the guttural screams show that Take A Worm For A Walk Week have also spent some time studying Pig Destroyer, but it's all done in a discrete and suitable enough way for it not to be totally pointless.
If the band really want to move forward and establish themselves as a unique band in their own right however, they could do worse than explore the bizarre twanging quirkiness to some of their melodies that make them sound even almost country at times. I certainly would like to see this band develop their sense of humour further as I'm sure they have it in them. I don't mean for them to cover Britney Spears songs or anything as tired as that, I just think that having a sense of humour never did The Locust, Pig Destroyer, or Trencher for that matter any harm.
It's hardly surprising, given the breakneck tempo that the band maintain, that certain themes do recur one too many times. But this is often the case with debut grind albums, and this self titled effort very rarely gets boring or tedious. To put it bluntly, there's nothing wrong with this recording and indeed, there are some things that are very much right about it, but the one thing that really pulls this album (or ep, or mini-album - it's 13 tracks in 15 minutes, call it what you like) away from the main run of the mill is the bonus track - a much less structured, all out sonic attack. It's a testament to this band's ability to really put a lot of energy in to their music, and I'd heartily encourage them to explore this more fluid and expressive side, seeing if it can be worked in to the more traditional style, because they're really very good at it, and could make some genuinely interesting music.
Those intense, closing 30 seconds almost merit being released on their own - I'd certainly be tempted to purchase that. But even as it is, this LP's hardly bad value - once again, Midmarch prove themselves to be reasonable fellows by selling this for under a fiver, not at all bad for a band who could just end up being really rather good.
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