Full Of Hell - Weeping Choir

Full Of Hell from Maryland and Pennsylvania in the United States are considered to be a grindcore band. Grindcore? What is Grindcore really? Good old Wikipedia says, "Grindcore is an extreme fusion genre of heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as: thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, extreme metal, and industrial." Yet lately it feels like it can be so much more. Sure, as in any genre, their are elitists who say it has to be played and sound certain way to actually be considered grindcore but as we all know, those people are always wrong. Seeing as that, in the year 2019, we have many variations and sub-genres of grindcore as a whole, such as elecrtogrind, mathcore and noisegrind to name just a few.

Early on in Full Of Hell's career they were considered to be more powerviolence or noise with a smattering of grindcore but now I would say they are more grindcore with a smattering of death and noise. So, basically, mostly micro-songs, for the most part uber fast paced tempos, death growls, shrieks and tons of releases. Yes, much like most prolific grind band, or just grind bands in general, they have tons and tons of releases. Full Of Hell has twenty-eight in total and they have only been around since 2009, that's an average of 2.8 a year. Their releases include four demos, seven splits (one of which is with Nails and it is amazing for how short it is), three eps, three live albums, four full lengths and five collaboration albums (a double and a single album with Merzbow, two with The Body and one with Whitehorse).

Their newest and maybe most filthiest full length album, "Weeping Choir", is an all around great album. I absolutely love it. It starts with the first three tracks ('Burning Myrrh', 'Haunted Arches' and 'Thundering Hammers') grinding and tearing your face off for five minutes. Followed by three minutes of the power electronic grating assault of 'Rainbow Coil' before the next two tracks ('Aria Of Jeweled Tears' and 'Downward') tear into your face again for another three minutes. Then we are treated to a nice and possibly needed breather of a seven minute doomy and gloomy track in the fabulous 'Armory Of Obsidian Glass'. On a side note; it is odd how damn well grind bands can whip out the doom of high quality. Once we have all caught our breath we are treated to another minute of face grinding in 'Silmaril' before the almost three minutes of 'Angels Gather Here' takes us down with power electric industrial heft. To finally finish us off with the two and a half minutes of 'Ygramul The Many' and 'Cellar Of Doors' grinding our face down into the ground. Done, twenty-five minutes, quick, brutal, crazy, great.

Speaking of great things, "Weeping Choir" has a great sound, as in the production value. Every level, every instrument, every uttered (growled or shrieked) word are all gloriously present to our ears, yet it all has that grit and grime we all love with our grind. The insane mastermind Kurt Ballou from the legendary Converge sat behind the board while he recorded and produced this beast of an album. It was tracked at Kurt's GodCity Studios, in which every thing that I have ever heard from there always sounds absolutely amazing; even if the band sucks it still sounds good. Kurt just seems to have the touch and that certain ear for it, especially when working with bands that are of the grind or noise persuasion. His other great works in this field includes working with such outstanding acts as Nails, Cult Leader, Trap Them, High On Fire, Isis, Converge, etc.

So I guess what I am getting at here is that Full Of Hell's "Weeping Choir" is some seriously killer, great stuff. Quick and easy, brutal, fast, doomy, deathy. What is Grindcore? This is grindcore.

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1. Burning Myrrh
2. Haunted Arches
3. Thundering Hammers
4. Rainbow Coil
5. Aria of Jeweled Tears
6. Downward
7. Armory of Obsidian Glass
8. Silmaril
9. Angels Gather Here
10. Ygramul the Many
11. Cellar of Doors