Grime: Deteriorate (2013)

I’m Nerding Out

Until about ten years ago, I was an avid player of Magic: The Gathering. (Every time you learn something new about me, I seem even cooler, right?) Swamps play a prominent role in the game, fueling spells centered around decay and the undead. In the last expansion I committed to, the setting was a world of metal, where the swamps brimmed with acid and belched caustic gas.

Grime belongs there, in the Mephidross of Mirrodin. As when I reviewed their debut EP, I still can’t believe these guys are from a port city in the foothills of northern Italy, so I’m going with the only account which makes any sense, even if it does involve a fictional place.


To describe their music to you is to describe the term sludge metal. I’m not exactly sure who is putting frills on their sludge, but it isn’t Grime. This is a frill-free zone, and if you’re looking for frills you won’t find them. I think I’ve made the point. You will find only sludge. When they’re not executing mid-paced heavy riffs, they’re executing slow-paced heavy riffs. Those are the two things they do, and they do them well, with ample distortion but with a clarity that ensures the riffs aren’t buried under it. They don’t need layers of reverb to hide behind, because their riffs are groovy and the rhythm section is top-notch.

According to my research, their vocalist has a side job using his voice as an industrial sander.

It’s sludge metal, and it’s good sludge metal. That should be enough.

The Verdict: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Forcefield Records




(Sorry, can't find an embed for the new release, so you'll have to settle for the excellent debut EP.)