Weakened by Civilization
Review Score: 7.0
Reviewed by Johnny Ibay
Horrible Earth are back with their latest release, “Weakened by Civilization“, and the Boston-based deathgrind outfit show no signs of slowing down their brutal assault on the senses. Released through the ever-reliable Horror Pain Gore Death Productions, this 17-track album is a reminder of the band’s vision of cut throat savagery and vicious grindcore intensity.
The albums opener “Worth more Dead” starts off with slow, brooding rung out chords reminiscent of Assuck before breaking into a tremolo picked riff accompanied by a blastbeat. The vocals are an interesting intermediary between extreme metal and traditional grind or hardcore, sounding like a more extreme metal tinged Chris Dodge. In true grindcore fashion, this song (along with the rest of the album) is almost over before you can finish your second or third beer since almost every song is 30 seconds to a minute and a half long.
The album rages on with a relentless onslaught of start-stop speedpicked riffs and brain melting blast beats that give off a bit of a Brutal Truth vibe. Although this is a grindcore album I think that this band truly shines in their use of groove riffs such as the beginning of “Extinction Through Violence”, “Brainworms” and the identical riffs in the intro and title track “Weakened by Civilization” which bookend this release and tie everything together very nicely. “Jazz Odyssey” starts with about 30 seconds of funky drums and clean guitar that sounds like Jimi Hendrix before blasting into furious grindcore for maybe another 20 seconds. I found this track to be a little silly for my liking and thought the album would be better off without it.
Lyrically the band touches on familiar themes of the genre such as inequality, environmental destruction and human rights violations. The production is very clear and punchy, sounding more like a modern metal type production than a basement jamspace recording typical of a lot of grind acts.
Overall, this album is a certified Boston grindcore rager. The production sounds heavy and the music is fast and filthy. I wouldn’t expect any less from an outfit hailing from the area of greats such as Siege, Dropdead and Disrupt. Fans of Assuck, Brutal truth or Siege should check it out.