Ahh, the lovely Discordance Axis. Easily one of grindcore’s most legendary outfits, their extreme music bludgeoned the listener with extreme bass-less thrash riffs, blasting yet complex percussion, and insane screams and vocal emissions that would make Tomas Lindberg cringe in fear. But like all great things, the band died, leaving in its wake a trail of emotional carnage and destruction that few grindcore acts today can match.

The loss of Discordance Axis has not hindered its trademark screamer Jon Chang. As we saw on the abysmal Our Last Day tribute compilation, Chang has come back in full form, with a new project: Gridlink. And even though the majority of that record was shit, Gridlink showed massive promise.

Massive promise which I’m happy to report Gridlink delivered on… in spades. Gridlink is for all intents and purposes Discordance Axis Mark 2. Chang returns to his vocal throne, and rounding out the lineup is Mortalized guitarist Matsubara and drum lunatic Brian Fajardo from Kill the Client and Noisear. The riffs found on Amber Gray are complex and blistering fast, shredding through all that stands in its way like one of those immensely pressurized water drills that shoot liquid with such tremendous force and speed that it can cut through steel. And while it may be impossible to fill the shoes that Dave Witte left behind in Discordance Axis, Fajardo utterly and without any remorse destroys his kit with some brilliantly unrelenting grinding drumming. If you’re familiar with his complex drum patterns in Noisear, you know what to expect here, and Fajardo in no way disappoints; Amber Gray is filled to the brim with pure, untriggered percussive madness. And naturally there’s Chang’s screeching, mad man howls. Chang comes across as a tormented mental patient, charging into the padded cells of his asylum cell, doing acrobatics off the walls, and clawing away at the cell door, his finger nails being torn and eroded straight to the bone.

But Amber Gray is not without its flaws. The problem is length. Gridlink has probably crafted the world’s shortest full length, even by grindcore standards: less than 12 minutes total! Yup, this “full length” is shorter than probably most EP’s and MCD’s. Fuck, it’s actually shorter than Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s abortion Altered States of America.

Regardless of the length of Amber Gray, this album is massive in terms of sheer quality and extremity. If you even remotely like grindcore, if you even remotely think the term “blast beat” is swell, and- fuck- if you simply like speed and extremity, Amber Gray is a must buy. Discordance Axis is dead, long live Gridlink.

Review byNecro-tron