Tag: meth drinker

Meth Drinker – Oil [2014; Always Never Fun Records, Raw Birth Records]

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On their second album, the New Zealand group of Meth Drinker continue brewing noxiously harsh sludge, with grinding guitar feedback, thrumming bass reverb, and guttural vocals gnashing at the words.  The track titles do most of the imagery direction due to the unintelligible singing, with names like “Convulsion”, “Catalepsy”, and “Narco Terror” lending things an impression of asylums and drug abuse.  A couple of spoken-word sections break out of the wailing strings with surprising sharpness, and the album as a whole achieves an unnerving flow of oppressive texturing.

Meth Drinker / Dead Instrument – Meth Drinker / Dead Instrument [2016; Drop Out Records]

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Devoting their side of this split to a single song, “White Cell”, Meth Drinker open on loose strumming of low-strung bass chords, following that lead for half a minute or so before slamming in the harsh electric guitar, and then the even harsher vocals.  Sludgy and caustic, the band throws itself into the rhythms until caving into to a quick break to regather themselves, launching from there into a more guitar-driven grind back down to the low end, until trailing off in a wail of feedback interference.

Dead Instrument split their time between three tracks, leading with “Kill.Control.Kill”, its grindcore blitz coming as a sharp change-over.  Jackhammer drums, barking grunts, and buzz-saw guitar lead from that to “Pathetic Intent”, with breaks lasting just a couple seconds to show that there’s a bass lurking beneath the furious treble.  “Parrot” erupts with highly similar tempo and rhythms, its craggy Sex Pistols-melting guitar solo being the main thing to set it apart.  Despite the divergence of the musical styles, both bands get across a commonality in their fuck-you attitudes and presentation, with violence bleeding from both, just expressed in different ways.