positive punk: AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED

"honky reduction"

Year: 1998

Label: Relapse

Format: CD, LP

Tracks: 26

Time: 18 min.

Genre. electronic

Style: Grindcore

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"the poacher diaries"

Year: 1999

Label: Relapse

Format: CD, LP

Tracks: 15

Time: 20 min.

Genre: electronic

Style: Grindcore

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"frozen corpse stuffed with dope"

Year: 2002

Label: Relapse

Format: CD, LP

Tracks: 37

Time: 20 min.

Genre: electronic

Style: Grindcore

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"altered states of america"

Year: 2003

Label: Relapse

Format: CD, LP

Tracks: 100

Time: 21 min.

Genre: electronic

Style: Grindcore

I notice that this album has yet to be reviewed here by someone who truly loves it--so allow me. Let me be clear: I understand that there are more reasons to dislike this album than there are to like it. It's abrasive, it's deliberately unmusical, it's completely absurd. Often the instruments are impossible to discern from one another, let alone to understand as far as melodies go. It's the kind of music that has to be heard loud in order to be understood, meaning that in order to really appreciate it you run the risk of making your ears bleed. It's not the kind of thing that can be comfortably added to a playlist and shuffled, nor is it the kind of thing that really had song-length album standouts (although I can actually think of a few I'd mention.) Basically, it's a hard sell. The ultimate hard sell.

I'm not even going to pretend that this is "the point of grindcore." There's plenty of grindcore out there that's, by and large, highly musical and rhythmically satisfying--Brutal Truth comes to mind, or even Scott Hull's other band, Pig Destroyer. What I will say, however, is that this is the point of this album, and that to have an album that is so wholly and completely designed in such a unique fashion is something that will just work for the right kind of listener. The kind of listener who likes to hear whatever the fuck you've got, but the crazier the better.

This album is just like candy to me. The album actually has an overall structure that's fairly fascinating when taken on the whole, with different sections of the album being discrete musical suites, often grouped together by style or, in some of the more challenging parts of the album, grouped together by topic of screamed vocal outburst, often with either no discernible musical backing or at least no normal musical backing. We're also treated to a chaotic suite of harsh industrial beats, a more groove-oriented section that takes cues from hardcore and features much more ordinary riffs, and many sections that can best be described as sound collages. Much of the album is noise--but it's organized noise, and there's nothing wrong with that.

It's really, really not for everybody. It's the kind of album that you just have to allow to wash over you--you're not going to pick up many clear individual riffs (although when they do come through, they're a startling relief from the chaos of the overall experience,) and you're going to have a hard time humming along with the tunes. This is grindcore at the very fringes, but there's a rewarding musical experience to be had here, it's just the kind of musical experience that comes with a lot of challenges to surmount and oddities to witness. Especially if you understand the references? It's a whole different kind of experience (*Review by WorldEater1126 ).

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"agorapocalypse"

Year: 2009

Label: Relapse

Format: CD, LP

Tracks: 14

Time: 28 min.

Genre: electronic

Style: Grindcore

Well, it does not contain 100 songs, every tune isn't a blindingly fast electro-grinder, and there are no frozen corpses stuffed with dope to found anywhere (a long distance drug runner is involved though). "Agorapocalypse", AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED's second full-length album is however a grand proclamation of the offensive and a certified face-grinder. It just happens to contain arrangements that restrict the whiz-by effect and sections that are slow enough to allow one to recognize the driver as he cruises by with middle finger thrust high into the air.

Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing depends on your degree of satisfaction with light-speed machine grind, the kind that Scott Hull and company perfected on releases like "Frozen Corpse Stuffed with Dope" and especially "Altered States of America". There has always been a fright factor to go along with the prurient obsessions inherent in those releases. There is no lack of morals-fucking here (have you seen the artwork and read the lyrics in the super cool booklet?),but the frightfulness has been tempered a bit in favor of a relatively more traditional, though no less nerve fraying, grindcore experience.

If anything, the powerviolence leanings are more pronounced, the fresh blend maintaining, if not elevating, the violence to inhuman levels. And it is not like the drum machine has been replaced either. In relative terms, the drums sound rather organic, as well as overtly grind-worthy. The drum solo included during "Timelord Two (Paradoxical Reaction)" is an intriguing touch.

So "Agorapocalypse" continues to be more of an envelope-pusher than the average grind release, not to mention taking any iota of mellow and crushing into dust, followed by a public urination on the remains. It is 13 tracks in 28 minutes; right, it's not a doom metal epic. The multi-vocalist approach makes for an even nastier affair, not the least of which is attributable to new member Kat (just listen to her peel paint over a rumbling pace on "Question of Integrity" or the pure insanity of "Druggernaut Jug Fuck"). She adds a layer of viciousness that complements vocals from Scott Hull and Richard Johnson that include moments that bring to mind Tom Araya (think about an Araya-led ANB for a moment),powerviolence belligerence, and grindcore bludgeon.

"New" or "new and improved?" Well, it is a progression, yet one that continues to leave a bloody wake. Whether it is improved depends on whether your love affair with the "old" ANB was a torrid one. Stripping away all the comparisons though, "Agorapocalypse" is obscene and extreme, which is what ANB has been about since the beginning. No amount of speed control can change that (*Review by Blabbermouth ).

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