The debut EP 'S.Y.F.' from Polish band Gnida was pretty impressive, even characteristic, brutal and fast as heck grindcore; very metal, indeed. With the second installment to their EP trilogy, 'A.I.D.S.', the band opened their soundscape a bit, adding more noise elements in. Still: Brutal and fast as fuck! They are EP's for a reason...

The final EP of the EP trilogy, 'R.A.K.', is even more open-minded. Gnida can be violent, but also rolling. The band tell us that they "do completely improvise when recording" their albums; however, this is not a recorded jam session. Beginning with almost a minute-long speech lifted from some 1960's puffing flick, I can understand the band's method. The title stands for "rage against keef"...

Starting with a death metal song built from about 3 parts, with each part following one another and never repeating, each piece of music follows the same path. Fast tremolo riffing and heavier palm-muted stuff are the death metal portion, while discordant guitar playing and more punk bits, of course, are the grindcore side. Modern-ish death metal with modern-ish grindcore (something like Nasum did). To me, the most striking things is the drumming, which is absolutely heavy, groovy and insanely skilled. Plus it is great to hear that steamrolling bass guitar therein.

The lyrical themes include death, drugs (including fermented human scat ones, which was news to me; oh the human's inventiveness!), war, perversions, diseases; nothing new to grind, but the band cannot be put into single locker this way either. Some funnier moments remind on Macabre-style nursery rhyme antics, while serious topics get accompanied by rough and violent music. The vocals are powerful hoarse growl a bit in vein of Chris Barnes when he was at his best in Cannibal Corpse; yet still the most invariable piece here. The production is marvellous, due to its organic flavour, transparency and heaviness.

The album as a whole is not for easy digesting due to its improvised songcraft. This here is true progressive music. It's sometimes catchy, but due to its nature not in a typical way, and it certainly gives some good beating. The band manage to sound themselves, and not similar to bigger names from their country. This is a bigger beast than a louse (the band's name translates to "louse egg"), and at times way more irritating too. Needs to be experienced, not to be read about.

Rating: 6 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
01/23/2022 18:53