Paroxysm Unit
(Our old friend and former NCS writer Austin Weber is returning to our page today with the first part of a multi-part series of reviews that we plan to run day after day until completed.)
Despite the incredible volume of music covered here at NCS, there remains a plethora of noteworthy releases yet to be shared in this space. Chalk it up to how much damn good stuff deserves the limelight and doesn’t get it because we all know this site already covers more than most as is.
As I’ve done in the past, join me for another multi-part feature that touches on music I strongly believe you should listen to—or at the very least, stuff worth checking out at a minimum. You be the judge. Onwards!
Paroxysm Unit – Fragmentation // Stratagem (New Standard Elite)
We’ll begin with a recent obsession of mine, the latest album Fragmentation // Stratagem from international technical brutal death metallers Paroxysm Unit, which was released on June 28 via New Standard Elite.
The group includes several former members of the Russian experimental/technical brutal death metal faction 7 H.Target (Willowtip Records), who are a fantastic act in their own right. Earlier this year they released a great comeback album of sorts (as it has been a while since they’d released anything) called Yatra Creating, which was covered by our esteemed editor Islander here with a premiere from the release if I’m not mistaken!
Rounding out the line-up in Paroxysm Unit is multi-instrumentalist and studio engineer wizard Colin Marston (Krallice, Gorguts, Behold The Arctopus, etc.) on guitar, and he contributes synth on track 8, along with adding to the release with his superb mixing and mastering duties noticeably contributing to the quality of the album from start to finish.
The cover art for Fragmentation // Stratagem, which is a wonderfully deranged futuristic homage to the famous Goya painting of “Saturn Devouring His Son,” depicts a cold and brutal universe where machines devour people. That sounds delicious, messed up, and serves as a compelling visual metaphor for what the music on this album is all about. It’s all about absurdity and over-the-top excess here. But I’ll be damned if this isn’t a sophisticated release at the same damn time.
This is, in the best way possible, a release that sounds like a love letter to Wormed. It’s knotty riff-ladled off-kilter brutality, complex without trying to blow your mind with noodling, it’s a style of technical brutal death metal that constantly shifts on a dime and is absurd on so many levels while actually being comprehensible and not coming across as mere noise. To elaborate further, this is equally advanced, ignorant, and memorable material that demands multiple spins to fully absorb the densely packed labyrinth of ideas contained within.
At a concise 29 minutes spread across 8 tracks, there’s zero filler to be found on Fragmentation // Stratagem. This release crushes in the same way a tank can also kill by rolling over human bodies; it’s that lethal. I strongly suspect many of you will enjoy all that it has to offer if you’ve yet to hear it thus far in 2023. It’s a shame it hasn’t been widely spread across the metal blogosphere, but the underground brutal death metal scene recognizes when something rules, so it has already made its mark among fans of the genre. Now it’s time to keep spreading the word to those unaware of it.
Paroxysm Unit Facebook
Paroxysm Unit Instagram
Paroxysm Unit Bandcamp
Paroxysm Unit Spotify
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Sully – The Tony Demo
Now we delve into the weird and wonderful world of technical grindcore, which can and does mean many different things based on what a given band is going for. Complex grindcore can go either a mathcore route, a tech-death-inspired route, or a disso-death sort of route when it comes to quick categorizations of where most tech grind goes and or often fits.
Or, it can be one born more of cross-genre pollination done in a truly boundary-free almost abstract way guiding the root of its complexity and path beyond “normal grindcore” structurally and sonically. That’s the route Sully take here on their debut record, The Tony Demo, which was released via Horror Pain Death Gore on May 26, 2023, and I’m all for it. I’m behind for the year, as every part of this series will make clear, but it’s all stuff that rules and needs to be known by way more people. So better late than never? 100%
To be clear, I’m in favor of any routes listed above, and those not listed as well, if it leads to the creation of unique and memorable music. Because that’s really what we’re here for most of all: not just new music, but new stuff that stands out from the pack and makes us go wow! At any rate, let’s get down to what we’re here to talk about. Which is Sully from Rochester, New York!
Sully is a brand-new group, technically a supergroup of sorts, as it features ex-Psyopus vocalist Adam Frappoli and multi-instrumentalist wunderkind Erik Burke (playing guitar in Sully), known for his contributions to early-’90s tech-metal legends Lethary, Sulaco, Brutal Truth, Blurring, and countless other bands. Joining them is a handpicked rhythm section, bassist Ed Jusko and drummer Alex Perez, tighter than a drum.
Sonically, The Sully Demo traverses a diverse array of deathgrind, traditional grindcore, and technical grindcore styles within the four chaotic and densely packed songs that make up this release. Variety and musical exploration define the music here more than attempting to cohesively label what the band is up to.
If I had to sum up what the band is laying down in shorthand, I’d say it’s akin to Maruta spliced with Discordance Axis and Pig Destroyer. But even that barely scratches the surface of this material, which deserves individual exploration and discovery.
The Tony Demo is a destructive and impressive opening statement, hinting at a promising future. This is undoubtedly one of the most memorable grindcore releases I’ve heard in 2023 that isn’t named Gridlink, and it’s only four songs. Forget conventional norms; grind doesn’t need to consist solely of 23 songs in 15 minutes. Great grindcore is, and should be, whatever it wants to be, including crafting each song with the equivalent of 5-10 grind songs worth of sick ideas. Dig in.
https://www.facebook.com/p/Sully-100076236873630/
https://hpgd.bandcamp.com/album/the-tony-demo
https://sullygrind.bandcamp.com/album/2023-demo
https://www.youtube.com/@Sullyrocgrind