Seattle post-hardcore outfit Grenades have delivered a new, stellar 3-song EP called Lou Diamond Phillips, and it needs only 9 minutes to completely blow up your world! Proving once more that the Northwest is still tops in delivering a potent mix of punk and metal, Grenades bring a raw aggression to the table; and, tempered by the band’s standout musicianship and well-tuned rapport, they wield it like a sonic weapon. The three songs here seem to mark a new phase in their development, and what’s notable is that even as the group grows more sophisticated and accomplished in approach, their music has become more brutal and unforgiving.
The EP’s first track, “Prometheus Complex“, finds guitarists Jerome Sauer and Eric Christianson dealing out stomach churning tension, as squalls of guitar drop acid rain into a tar pit of brooding low end. Later in the cut, bassist Aaron Yost and drummer Trent McIntyre interlock with the crew, driving them onto break neck speeds of athletic shredding–while Yost and Sauer’s vocal back-and-forth incites the gang to further mayhem. This “take no prisoners” strategy is utilized throughout the EP, and it levels a path of carnage on the tracks “Every Hour Wounds” and “Red Cloud“, too. Displaying an impressive ability to own every inch of sonic space on these cuts, Grenades have elevated their music into an immersive and totalizing, car crash of an experience–leaving punk and and metal in a twisted heap of smoldering scrap.
