Grindcore is a genre that has proven to be incredibly fertile ground for musical experimentation over the years, whether it’s the imposing, SWANS-esque industrial touches of latter day NAPALM DEATH or the demented surf/alternative rock flourishes of SHIVERBOARD, with the music often taking on a sharper, acerbic quality on records like this. But it’s very rare for a band to mess with the core formula and make the music darker. Quebec’s APES are one of those few bands that have achieved this, with their muscular blackened death-informed sound not only making everything denser, but also providing lots of bleak, morose flourishes that made their debut album, 2017’s Lightless, so thoroughly impressive. Their latest album, Penitence, seems to, if anything, make their already potent and melancholic style even more sombre, with a harsher edge that simultaneously adds a grating aspect to their powerful music.
Coffin proves to be an incredibly harsh and visceral start to the record, with chunky, frenetic guitars, energetic drums and throaty vocals creating a dark, impenetrable sound quickly, leaning into the intensity of grindcore whilst taking several cues from death metal, in particular its brutal and ferocious low end and hooks that makes this opening track huge and grating. The Great Fire, with its reserved pace and discordant guitars, follows a similar formula, with the sludgy tone and belligerent delivery, especially when it comes to the vocals, making this just as effective as the opener, introducing a subtle black metal element that turns this into a far more melancholic song, with only a few chaotic flourishes hinting at the aggression that marked its predecessor.
Shadow Walker sees this stringent black metal sound rise prominently to the fore, with thunderous, percussive drums and dense, primal vocals injecting a depth that contributes to a cavernous sound that complements the sharper qualities of the leads incredibly well, remaining bleak, but possessing an epic undercurrent. Closure, with its blistering pace and dissonant riffs, serves as an extremely caustic effort, with searing, blackened death touches, punishing drums and bestial vocals crafting a bellicose, vicious style that sounds great, with the spoken word passage that brings this track to a close helping to provide a segue into the album’s second half.
Echoes embraces a lighter, tighter approach to the guitars that hints at elements of punk and alternative rock, with some of the slower moments having an expansive, atmosphere-drenched edge that helps make this stand out for all the right reasons, despite its chugging rhythms and barked vocals keeping things firmly rooted in a harder sound. Bottom Feeder – a huge, rumbling death metal juggernaut – is driven by its authoritative drums, tar-thick bass and abrasive guitars, with the shriller, jarring vocals shifting accordingly to accommodate these noxious new aspects, adding another twist without straying too far from the band’s core tropes.
Penitence adopts a similar style and slow-burning feel to a song like Echoes or The Great Fire, lurching between meaty death metal and grind intensity and a thinner but nonetheless impactful blackened sound, swinging between the two throughout and making for a varied take on this album’s overall sound. Pillars incorporates hypnotic, monolithic guitars and drums, and when the track proper kicks into full gear, it never fully shifts out of a middling pace, allowing the considered elements of the musicality of this song to carry the music, with only a brief mid-section morphing into more speed-driven and rabid flourishes, providing a ponderous, powerful statement with which to close this record.
Penitence is an incredibly strong outing for APES, and although it embraces the same kind of opaque, frenzied formula as 2017’s Lightless, it manages to exceed it both in terms of musicianship and intensity. The broader range of influences, drawing on black and death metal, as well as some more melodious rock components, makes for a much more impressive and eclectic sound that makes each of these eight tracks distinct from each other. And perhaps most importantly, this isn’t one of those grindcore records that relies on extremely short tracks to make an impact, with only one song clocking in at less than two minutes, instead adopting a longer form style that allows these ideas to have room to develop fully. Penitence showcases a darker, harder brand of grindcore that could, if it is expanded upon more on future releases, make APES one of the best grind acts the underground has to offer.
Rating: 8/10
Penitence is out now via Secret Swarm Records.
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