EP Review: "Absolute Control" by Terminal Nation

Absolute Control

The first seriously extreme metal that came out of the gate was Grindcore.

To this day, that name makes absolutely no sense to me, but the idea was kind of the same as thrash metal. Take Punk Rock and then add metal to it.

Then you have this new thing.

With Grindcore though, instead of punk rock, it was the post-punk genre of music, hardcore that was the other ingredient. Still, getting from one place to the other, is still confusing to me.

Grind...I guess it's like going through a meat grinder? I'm not really sure and it would be nice to be educated without my having to actually research it. The biggest genre markers are short songs full of rage and fury.

Terminal Nation

For the most part, grind just leaves me cold. The things I love most about metal are wholly left out.

The songs are short, so they don't breathe or grow.

There's basically only one riff involved. So the albums feel like one really long song, instead of a collection of songs.

Terminal Nation however, is very different.

Instead of meting out a slab of one riff songs, they've written a grindcore EP full of dynamics and some change ups in the tunes. This is a total game changer when it comes to Grindcore.

Does this album still even exist in the Grindcore realm? It's really hard to say.

No, it's  not hard to say, it still very much is. There punk rock ethos is still very much in the front. Back in the very old days of Punk Rock, there were even bands that could play their instruments well.

Terminal Nation may be the gateway drug that opens up Grindcore for a lot of folks. Maybe not, but this is a great, but very short, EP.

Release: 6/9/17
Genre: Grindcore
Label: Deep Six Records
Formats: CD/Digital
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