After several years of relative mediocrity the grindcore scene had become pretty dull with great releases being few and far between. In 2008 everything changed. I’m not sure why this year turned out to be such a great year for grind, but with stellar releases by Captain Cleanoff, Exit Wounds, Kill The Client and Agenda Of Swine 2008 has shaped up to be the best year in grindcore in well over a decade.

Another album can be added to that ever growing list of killer grindcore releases for 2008; In Narcosis, the debut full length offering by Florida-based grinders Maruta. With 15 tracks clocking in at just over 32 minutes, In Narcosis delivers a high paced relentless blast, shriek and shred aural assault. The material has a surprisingly heavy and brutal edge to it, much heavier than most grindcore releases by Willowtip with a thick meaty guitar tone and powerful hi and low vocal approach.

The experience of listening to In Narcosis can best be described as pressing your ear against a washing machine with an uneven load as the machine thrashes about while someone beats the side of it with sticks and screams into your other ear. It’ll leave you crazed, screaming and disoriented.

The riffs are fast and aggressive, the blasting is powerful and the grunts, growls and shrieks are unreal. The material reminds me a bit of Putrescence with the deep growls, screams, dark muddy sound and hint of goregrind mixed with the relentless grinding of Kill The Client and high paced assault of Exit Wounds. To be honest, I’d expect a release with this much intensity to heaviness to be released on No Escape Records, but kudos to Jason Tipton for getting these guys signed first.

In Narcosis is a killer debut offering. The only complaint that can be made is that the production is pretty rough giving the material a sound more closely associated with goregrind than grindcore, but the material is fucking solid so any complaints about production will be coming from douche bags whose opinions are irrelevant anyway. Maruta’s In Narcosis is yet another killer “must own” grindcore release for 2008!

Review byTeufel