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Greetings and salutations, friends. I return from another long spate of procrastination to bring you a look at one of grindcore's underrated gems. Now, one does not need to be a grind aficionado to be familiar with the legendary Insect Warfare; even a tertiary knowledge of the genre should be enough for one to at least be aware of the brilliant World Extermination, a modern death-grind classic. However, it's less likely that you might be aware of Finland's own Death Toll 80k, even though they've been active since Insect Warfare's heyday. The bands share similarities in style and sound, and given that the latter band didn't really start releasing albums until after the demise of the former, it's not hard to imagine Death Toll 80k as a sort of spiritual successor to Insect Warfare.
Death Toll 80k's 2011 full-length debut, Harsh Realities, was a perfect example of this. Like Insect Warfare, they displayed a penchant for dropping punk riffs into their songs to give the listener a brief respite from the otherwise relentless blasting, and they also alternated between nigh-unintelligible guttural roars and higher-pitched screams. Harsh Realities was short, 23 songs in 25 minutes, but it packed enough sonic violence and variation into that span to feel satisfying.
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| Death Toll 80k at Maryland Deathfest 2013. Photos by Metal Chris |
Still, it took 6 long years for Death Toll 80k to release a follow-up, but happily there was no rust to be shaken, as Step Down finds the band picking up where they left off. Here they shoehorn 17 songs into 15 vicious minutes, once again opting for that famed grindcore brevity. The pace is relentless, making the 15 minutes feel even shorter, but it seems that there is less variety present as compared to Harsh Realities, instead relying more on straight-ahead blasting. It's possible this is a side effect of the reduced run-time, but it's a mild disappointment that is more noticeable when you listen to both Death Toll 80k albums in succession.
Step Down sounds good though, with a slightly fuller production than its predecessor. It's claustrophobic and loud (with a dynamic range score of 5), but with grindcore you have to expect an aural assault, so this really isn't overly detrimental to the experience. The whole point of a grindcore album like this is to bludgeon the listener straight in the eardrums, and Step Down accomplishes this with ease. This is the kind of music that will frighten small pets, singe eyebrows, and kill your neighbor's trees. If you're looking for the musical equivalent of a blowtorch to the face, then you can rest easy, because you have come to the right place. Hope you brought safety goggles.
