CASSETTE REVIEW: GREASEBEAST “s/t”

http://greasebeast.bandcamp.com/releases

            You never really know what you’re in for with a name like GREASEBEAST.   You can assume it’s going to hit hard, but it could also be harsh noise and I’m not ever really good at paying attention to Bandcamp tags these days because who has the time.     The first vibe I get from this cassette though is that of METAL.   It’s got singing and growling and it is just everything that I love about the genre and none of the pieces that make it unappealing to me.

            From classic staples like Pantera and Scars of Tomorrow, this also gets into that hardcore and punk type of vibe, bringing out the likes of Suicidal Tendencies and Sick Of It All.   But just when you think you’ve got it all figured out and this is a certain way and going to stay that way, they even manage to channel some of that power sludge from a band like Mudhoney.

            Vocals come through in screamy speaking ways and I’m thinking of Fall Silent.  It gets dark and oh so good as I’m also thinking of A Perfect Murder.   And it’s funny because when Pantera really started releasing music I wanted- same with Sick Of It All and Suicidal Tendencies- I was into buying CDs already, yet I’d buy any of those bands now on cassette should I happen to stumble across one of their cassettes at a thrift store or what not.

            And with that I find it interesting because I feel as if metal has a place in my cassette collection, but only in the sense of it being released back in the day before the invention of the compact disc or simply if it is something that came out alongside the CD in that sense, when they were phasing out cassettes if you will.   But for all of the cassettes out there in the modern sense, there just doesn’t seem to be a good metal scene, does there?   I know of a few metal labels that are cassette based, sure, but for the most part, metal cassettes are related in my mind to cassettes of the past and not future.

            So here we have a cassette that was self-released by GREASEBEAST.  My challenge to anyone out there who has ever thought of starting a cassette based label and wanted to do so perhaps in the genre of metal, go out and find bands this good and become the definitive metal cassette label.   I doubt you’re going to find anything as good as GREASEBEAST because this just cranks for days on end, but if you can get even slightly close to this you shall be on your way.