"intellect made us blind"
Year: 2002
Label: The Flood
Format: CD
Tracks: 10
Time: 30 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Grindcore
"discomfort"
Year: 2004
Label: Selfmadegod
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 11
Time: 30 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Grindcore
(pass: destileriasonora)
"zeroland"
Year: 2005
Label: Selfmadegod
Format: CD
Tracks: 8
Time: 30 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Grindcore
Year: 2007
Label: Relapse
Format: CD
Tracks: 17
Time: 36 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Grindcore
"warning"
Year: 2009
Counttry: Poland
City: Warsaw
Label: Relapse
Format: CD
Tracks: 16
Time: 30 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Grindcore
Antigama is mostly a band that releases split albums, as they have more of those than full-lengths. I have no idea why that is, but it seems to be a by-product of the grind scene, with every band seemingly doing splits with every other grind band in existence. Still, between all that splitting, Antigama have release their fifth album, titled Warning. It was always going to be a big ask to overcome the brilliance that was Resonance, so how exactly did they do?
Well, let’s see here. From the get-go, the first thing you’ll hear is the production. The second thing you’ll hear is the sound of the drums, particularly the snare drum. Sounds different, doesn’t it? Well, different is right, but a positive or negative difference is a judgement call. Personally, I don’t think it sounds as good as it did on Resonance, but at the same time, it sounds more real, so I guess the two eventually cancel each other out. Almost. Anyway, as “Disconnected” blasts from your speakers/headphones, you’ll notice that it’s already sounding a lot more chaotic than most of the material on their previous album, and that trend persists throughout. It’s almost like they took most of their inspiration from Resonance, yet took slices from Discomfort, as well. For those that have not heard Discomfort, it was a chaotic blend of grind that was always teetering on the verge of a complete mess, but never actually fell. Here, they seem to have honed in on the skill of not turning the music into a frenzied pandemonium, so they’ve found a good balance between the two. I actually enjoy this. If Warning was created eight years ago, it would not have sounded the way it does.
The stop/start riffing is still present, but it’s not as obvious as it was before. It appears at 0:27 on “Jealousy,” and it sounds really good. The main riff in “War” is a little like that, as well, and it is one of my favourite tracks from this album. In fact, most of the riffs in that song are catchy as hell. The shuffle rhythm in “Lost Skull” has more of a poppy feel, but it works well.
The drumming is top-notch, much like it was before, but one thing I noticed was that the smaller toms are not used as clearly as they were on Resonance. I can still hear them pop up from time to time, but there’s no rolling fills any more. This is a bit of a shame, really, because I enjoyed him exploiting the shit out of them. Bring back the smaller toms! I guess the reason for their omission is that Warning isn’t as central on the drumming as Resonance was, but dammit, bring them back, I say!
What was slightly disappointing for me was the final track “Black Planet,” because, much like on the album Zeroland, it’s an ambient track that goes on for a long time. I was hoping for a long grind song, but was sorely disappointed when I realised that was not going to occur. I will admit that “Black Planet” is quite bleak, and does make you feel alone, if that was its intentions, of course, and is a better close than “Zeroland” could ever hope for. The same can’t be said for the filler track “Paganini Meets Barbapapex.” That is really choppy, and I wouldn’t blame you if you pressed the skip button there.
The vocalist is a new guy, yet he sounds just like the old guy! He has slightly more range, and employs more of a harsher yell, but other than that, he’s basically the same vocalist in a different skin. No complaints there.
So, there’s some really cool songs on here, such as “War,” and “You Have The Right To Remain Violent,” but overall, I think it’s ever-so-slightly weaker than Resonance is. I would call it a sideways step for Antigama – not exactly better than before, but I can’t fault their performance. If their next album is like Warning, well, I definitely won’t be protesting. Chalk another winner up for this great, and still improving, band.
"the insolent"
Year: 2015
Label: Selfmadegod
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 10
Time: 40 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Grindcore
(passw: destileriasonora)
