Ask Mammoth Grinder frontman Chris Ulsh yourself and he'll tell you, "I only really listen to punk and death metal."
And while that isn't entirely true, it mostly is. It's that narrow focus that makes Ulsh (who also drums for Power Trip) more deliberate in his approach to extreme music, crafting sneering and volatile compositions with nods to "obscure death-metal demo from 1993" and "this rare underground Japanese hardcore flexi" as opposed to more obvious gods of metal's past. You into Entombed? Cool, this sounds like Sentenced's first demo. What about crossover? Great, here is something gritty from Anti-Cimex.
All that said, the new Mammoth Grinder track "Superior Firepower," which also features Mark Bronzino and Ryan Parrish of Iron Reagan, is a drooling, bloodthirsty beast of it's own. Using a simple and primitive mid-tempo drum beat straight from the Ildjarn playbook (that 1-2, 1-2, repetitive kick/snare pattern not too far removed from a polka drum pattern), the half-speed exercise goes from menacing to down-right worm-ridden by the time the second verse kicks in with a d-beat. This is Cro-Magnon death metal, cut from the Autopsy cloth.
Mammoth Grinder's forthcoming Cosmic Crypt LP is due out January 26th via Relapse. The band will hit the road early next year in support.
Mammoth Grinder tour dates:
February 2 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
February 3 Richmond, VA @ Strange Matter
February 4 Raleigh, NC @ The Maywood
February 5 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
February 6 Memphis, TN @ Rock Room
February 7 Little Rock, AR @ Vino's
February 8 Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
February 9 Houston, TX @ White Swan
February 10 Austin, TX @ Barracuda
February 11 San Antonio, TX @ Korova Basement
February 12 El Paso, TX @ Neon Rose
February 13 Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress
February 14 Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge
February 15 San Diego, CA @ Space Bar
February 16 Los Angeles, CA @ The Resident
February 17 Oakland, CA @ Eli's Mile High
February 18 Santa Cruz, CA @ TBA
February 20 Salt Lake City, UT @ Beehive Social Club
February 21 Denver, CO @ Streets of London
February 22 Des Moines, IA @ Vaudeville Mews
February 23 Minneapolis, MN @ Hexagon Bar
February 24 Chicago, IL @ Reggie's
February 25 Detroit, MI @ Cellarman's
February 26 Cleveland, OH @ Now That's Class
February 27 Pittsburgh, PA @ Rock Room
February 28 Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
March 1 Boston, MA @ Middle East
March 2 Brookyn, NY @ St. Vitus
March 3 Montclair, NJ @ The Meatlocker