P.O.O.R.’S “EXTINCTION OF TRUST”: AN OVERDUE REVIEW AND A FREEBIE ALERT

I’ve written about California’s P.O.O.R. (Point of Our Resistance) before, but not as much as they deserve. Their debut album Extinction of Trust, released earlier this year, is a goddamn pulverizing grind assault. The riffs are massive and crushing, the off-the-hook drumming packs a visceral punch, and the songs deliver a ton of groove to go along with a vicious beating.

Extinction of Trust is a genuine sonic rampage, but it never falls prey to same-iness. P.O.O.R. pick just the right moments to shift into lower gears before opening up the flamethrower again and shooting a blast of ignited gasoline straight to the listener’s head. And despite the generally balls-to-the-wall attitude of the whole thing, there are some memorable melodies and a lot of rhythmic and riffing variety woven into the mayhem. It’s definitely a grind album, but you’ll get the feel of death metal, thrash, punk, and even a bit of Motörhead and Bolt Thrower along the way.

All of which is to say that P.O.O.R. do what a lot of grind bands do not do: They give each of their songs its own personality — which is saying something, because Extinction of Trust includes 24 songs.

In a nutshell, it’s simply a blast to hear. All the instrumental performers can flat-out fly — the fretwork is often blazing (though the guitarist can chug like an out-of-control freight train too), the drumming is jaw-dropping (not only because of its speed but also because the drummer delivers one perfectly time variation after another), and the tandem of vocalists let everything hang out, often in a kind of call-and-response, alternating between hoarse, pissed-off howls and the kind of unhinged shrieks that sound like a man being boiled alive.

Extinction of Trust has become one of my go-to albums when I want a swift mule-kick of adrenaline — along with a solid headbang and a smile on my face. It’s hands-down one of the best megaton grind albums I’ve heard this year.

And now let’s turn to the other reason for this post. Today, and today only (June 19), P.O.O.R. are making Extinction of Trust available for free download on their Bandcamp page (here). So now’s the time to give this a listen, because if you like what you hear, it can be yours for the asking (it’s a pay-what-you-want download, and I’m sure the dudes wouldn’t mind if you decided to throw a few bucks their way).

And in other P.O.O.R. news, word is that they’re ready to begin tracking their second album in August. Their debut has already proven that they have unusually good songwriting and performance skills, and I have to believe their next album is going to be dynamite.  They’ll also be playing the Punk Is Dead Fest on Aug 30-31 in Lancaster, California. In addition to P.O.O.R., there’s a ridiculously strong line-up of other bands for that thing, as you’ll see below.

So, first I’m loading up the Bandcamp player, and after that you’ll see the poster for the Punk Is Dead Fest.

https://www.facebook.com/POORGRIND/
http://poorgrind.bandcamp.com/