Grindcore! This once formidable genre has been gutted by over commercialization, saturation- stockpiling & a failure to intensify or expand beyond watered-down versions of the same old shit (possibly with added toss n’ gloss so it’s more marketable to the metal fan-base). This crew of White Lightening mendicants have a little something else to offer, with a deeply personalized concoction of erratic Grindcore infused with Power Violence, Hardcore & even a little Extreme Metal & Punk influenza. One of the main distinctions with TAG is the penchant for plenteous abrupt changes & packing tracks out with many sudden digressions & disjunctive dashes. So – small Grind tracks may consist of fourteen (or more even) separate maneuvers with bridges & tangents (often only sped-through for one cycle/lick) crammed in for good measure. Musically, it’s akin to a dose of the ol’ attention deficit disorder & probably took it’s cue from the choppy “start-stop” Hardcore habit, now amped-up further & lobbed about with a cavalier ubiquity. There’s clearly a lot of work & prep condensed into these brusque chopsocky brick bashings which flaunt oodles a’ detail under extensive bruising. This huge quirk & personal stamp is then aggregated by pitching-in hunks of differing styles, genres & techniques making a very diverse high-strength cocktail that never strays too long from the Grind distillery (on the rare case that they do, they return with excessive force, just to quell any accusations of ponce-hood dead on the spot). It’s bloody versatile, veering delightfully & totally assertive of it’s own construct n’ content. Naturally, to pull the likes off (there’s a lot of tight syncopations & precise timings), some pretty substantial musicianship is required. This lot are all really decent musicians, indeed, at least two of the rabble are multi-instrumentalists (in other projects) & the material is spandex tight. The drummer is a madman, dragging in & cross-coupling tons of techniques & themes from numerous sources & styles with a lot of ostentatious fills sprung at just the right intervals. He employs a double-kick pedal to great effect, but also adopts single-foot action on many of the D-Beat sections to get that vital lilt (the only way to do it kids!). the lyrics are also prone to heaps of effort… either localized piss-ripping or really cutting sociopolitical observations dotted with the odd ultra-esoteric hyperbolism & loadsa’ Northern slang. TAG have gone on to establish themselves significantly on the international Grindcore platform, all with either none or microscopic & fleeting aid or representation from the UK press (Petal Glamour, Zero Hollow Dunce & biggest bunch of crony misinforming tabloid shit-shiners of them all – Errorizer). The UK is one of the weirdest & worst regarding attention/exposure/acknowledgment & opportunity for musicians/groups, especially those that don’t kowtow to the super-schmooze, bribery & analingus that seems to be required for any decent shot at anything anywhere in this morass of back-handers & falsehood. It’s pretty fucking heartening that this bunch have quite rightfully sailed straight past this shitty, ignorant & artistically-repressive culture of nepo-corruption & planted their beer bottles in way greener pastures.

Rekd-2014

Label- Bones Brigade/Dead Heroes

To tag TAG bollux, contact the man direct – rethgrind@hotmail.com