Schkeuditzer Kreuz - Swan Grinder
Industrial-punk-rock act from Lawson, Australia, with its fourth album out on Bad Habit Records. Available by digital means, and on vinyl, which can only be purchased directly from the Bandcamp site (not on Discogs, yet!). 8 tracks, about 35 minutes in total.
Love the artwork for the vinyl version, with its campy horror-comic look. Inside you´ll find a lyric sheet, poster, and some additional stickers. Worth noting, the album has been mastered by Martin Bowes... yup, the guy from Attrition who also done tons of other great mastering work for labels like Cold Spring.
We start with the first track, Swan Grinder (like the album title). Some old recording of old sad violins, which is suddenly interrupted by a radio-broadcast bulletin. Industrial doom-metal mood kicks in, a bit like In Slaughter Natives meets Sonic Violence. The track gets into a thumping horseback riding sort of rhythm, with the guitar and melody parts having a nice black-metal sound to it. The vocals are delivered by a deep phlegm-infested throat, which sounds great with the other elements.
The second track, Trips and Trepidition. An eerie rhythmic tone jumps up and down, which gets nicely mixed into a exellent industrial rhythm. Acid-techno/house elements in there aswell, giving it a trashy dancy-goth-club-in-the-90s element to it.
The third track is called Sirens of Death. A thumping and convulsive rave-rhythm track with heavy-metal sounds on top. A really good industrial/metal banger in the late hours for sure. Nice touch with the retro samples and the sirens.
The fourth track, Present Eternal. Gets further into that rave-techno house sound (especially with the keyboard elements in the beginning, and later on in the track). And then the harsh aggression kicks in. Great stuff to hear in the background while playing something as classic sci-fi-infused horror computergames like Doom or Quake. Lots of charms in this, lots of it.
The fifth track is called... well... Keep Dancing. The fast dance rhythms keep on going, a bit like Cat Rapes Dog meets Oomph here... electo-punk stuff. Another banger for the dancefloor with hints of Gabba Techno.
The sixth track, Systematic Death, is actually a cover of a Crass song. Low-fi computer drums on speed, grinding guitars, and vocals that get you back to classic anarcho-punk sound. A bit annoying track, but also entertaining (and charming) in that campy way.
We get to the seventh track called Inhale. A track which (kind of) gets back to that In Slaughter Natives-feel which the first track also had...might be the rhythm or the melody? There is a nice kind of vibe going on with this track, kind of the highlight of the album. Powerful and heavy, without the fast rhythms. Think this one is the best track on the album.
The last track is Poor Impulse Control. Doom and the smell of sulphur, very kind of hellish feel to this track. Might be the sound of the chains, or that punishable mood?
Swan Grider is a great industrial meets death/black-metal album, with a decent entertainment value attached to it. Not as dark as In Slaughter Natives, or as extreme as Dissecting Table, but... It´s nonetheless something which u could listen to (maybe) every day. Preferably, if you have a Halloween night, some horror VHS flicks, and some cold beers in the fridge. It´s bad-ass allright, but not dangerous.
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