The Drip - A Presentation Of Gruesome Poetics



There is the mythology in baseball of the “slump buster”.  I don't know if it really works or even really happens.  It might be something that was concocted for the movies, but I'm kinda thinking it's a real thing.  As the myth goes, a baseball player who just can't get a hit is in a slump, and if the slump goes on too long the player has to search out a slump buster.  Which basically means he has to go out and find the ugliest woman he can, and have sex with her.  Supposedly, once he does this, the slump is over and he's knocking the ball all over the park again.

I've been in a slump of my own lately, trying to find some albums that really get me going enough to write about them.  You'd think that when 400-500 albums cross your desk in a year's time this wouldn't be an issue.  Well, it can be from time to time, and as I said I've been in a slump.  Then I pushed play on this album.  Slump busted.

The Drip is brutal and ugly in all the best ways.  This is a lethal mix of grindcore, real old school death metal, and a little hardcore.  There's also just a dash of groove that pops in just for a moment, here and there, right before the next riff hits like a cast iron skillet to the face.  This is music that is gloriously ugly.  It makes you want to turn it up as loud as you can and just mosh around your living room, knocking things over, throwing things against the walls, etc.  You know, that really good feeling when you can just RAGE!!

The only issue I have at all with this album is that it is too short.  Only 6 songs, barely clocking in at 12 minutes. I've listened to it twice just while I've been writing this.  It's like really good sex; sometimes its over too soon.  And also like really good sex, it's leaves you wanting more.  Thankfully, with a CD, you can just press play and do it all over again.  That doesn't always work for sex.

All of these songs are awesome.  My favorites are “Siren”, about how women can lure you in and you wind up doing all kinds of things with them, and “Lash In, Lash Out”.  And if you read the lyric sheet, there really are some gruesome poetics going on, so the album title fits quite nicely.

This is out on Relapse so it shouldn't be hard to find.  Added bonus for me, the band is from the great state of Washington, and I'm hoping that they are going to make a trek over the mountains soon so I can check them out.  But you can, and should, go buy this CD, or download it (legally).   We need more ugliness like this in our lives. 

- ODIN




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