top of page
Search
  • Writer's pictureczdolphy

Czech Grind: A Few Favorites from the First Five Years (1991-1995)

Updated: Oct 23, 2020

The Czech grind scene has a sterling reputation among fans the world over, so of course it will be a significant topic on this blog as things develop here. But as I continue to work my way through a growing collection of Czech grind recordings (presently over 200 releases deep), I thought it might be good to throw up a quick post on the tip of the iceberg, and give a nod to some of the earliest entries which have already captured my ears and my heart.


I have not really been able to find much of anything grind-ish from the Czech lands prior to 1991, so that's where we'll start. And to keep things iceberg-tippish, I've chosen to only mention one favorite release from each year up through 1995 (I do technically cheat there, but you'll hopefully see why). After 1995 the scene REALLY starts to blow up, and we're at least historically past the water's surface and getting into the bulk of the iceberg proper (to keep on belaboring an already-tired metaphor). That stuff will have to wait for another day. In the meantime, any of the below recordings are well worth tracking down, and should serve nicely to lay the groundwork for future explorations.

 

Psychopathia -

Entomological Underground

(1991)


A lumbering slab of primitive grind, with loads of charm, daring musicianship, and a surprisingly clean mix. Think a moldy basement, sagging power amps, rattling speakers, cardboard drums, and a good dose of Black Flag's doom-punk days. Haven't been able to find any artwork associated with this demo, but I'll keep looking; it would be nice to complete the picture on this early treasure of Czech grind history.

 

Pathologist

(1992)


A record spoken of in hushed tones across the global grind-dom, and with good reason. Crunchy death riffs roll along, the drums expertly push and pull the tempo in an effortless ebb and flow, and the gurgling vocals run Demilich-deep on this debut full-length from Pathologist. Unquestionably one of the pioneering bands of grind in the Czech Republic, they fell silent by the mid-90s, but still managed to leave behind a short string of extraordinary recordings that pushed the boundaries of grind, death, noise, and experimental metal - their 1991 demo Medical Jurisprudence, for example, consisted of 974 untitled tracks clocking in at a total of just 30 minutes (take that, Agoraphobic Nosebleed!). It's all worth checking out, but it doesn't get any better than this disc here.

 

Murrain -

(1993)


Before they were Dobytčí mor, these grinders went by the moniker of Murrain, and with this their 1993 swansong under that name, they more than delivered on the substantial promise of their previous, more death-inclined demos. Irresistible grooves are already pulsing away here beneath the monstrous vocals and shredding guitar solos, hinting at directions that would later come to dominate the scene. The clean vocals (!) and keyboards (!) on the title track work surprisingly well, and the track itself serves to center and deepen the emotional range of the album. A remarkably cohesive work.

 

Fleshless -

(1994)


Fleshless may have accurately labelled their debut Stench of Rotting Heads as "Brutal Death Metal" on the cover - a move which probably felt natural given their previous incarnation as death/thrash band Zvrator - but here on their second release they gave listeners an early glimpse of the grind glory that was later to come, as this demo Grinding clearly points ahead to future classics like Grindgod and Nice to Eat You. There's loads of tasty technical playing on display here, but the production, writing, arrangements, and overall tone anchor the album squarely in grind territory for me, and it suits them well. Ostensibly they felt the same way, as they continued in this vein for the next several years up through the 2002 Czech Assault split with countrymen Imperial Foeticide, Negligent Collateral Collapse, Contrastic, and Intervalle Bizzare.

 

Deaf & Dumb -

and also 

(both 1995)


Yes, I'm cheating and counting these two releases as one, but in my defense they both feature the same lineup, recorded in the same studio within less than six months of each other. And they each clock in at less than 20 minutes long, so we're hardly talking full-length releases here.


Evilive is a bloated bulldozer of precision machinery. It barrels along on it's own self-determined path, and only slows down to crush some sludge segments. Each musician is playing with great technicality, but probably can't hear each other that well over all the ruckus. Doesn't matter, they're so tight they keep it all working together start to finish anyway.


Lightnessdark continues very much of one piece with its predecessor, but experiments a bit more with space - not much space, mind you, but compared to the debut, it's a noticeable change. There's also a bit more graceful a flow to the writing and arrangements, and drummer Radim Dvořák somehow manages to impress even more than he did previously. Bassist Standa Frkal likewise shines, but everything on both releases is pretty much faultless.

 

That's it for this little roundup. I'll continue working through my library and reporting as it makes sense to do so. I'm currently working on two further blog posts at the moment - one on Czech extreme metal in the 1980's, the other on the best of 90's Czech thrash - so we'll see how things develop. So much amazing music, so little time.

44 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
bottom of page