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Despite putting out a lot of completely worthless releases in recent years, Relapse Records is still an extreme metal label and continue to dig up some true gems in the underground.  Switzerland’s Mumakil is one such act that keeps me from hating Relapse Records to the point of wanting to send them a flaming bag of my poop.

The best way to describe the ferocity of Mumakil’s Behold The Failure would be to dive head first into an empty aluminum garbage can then get four friends to beat on it relentlessly with sticks and bats until you’re left a twitching incapacitated mess.  This is fucking grind!

Mumakil don’t waste time or energy writing riffs or songs, they just get together, beat the shit out of their instruments and growl and shriek and record the chaos.  Behold The Failure is 27 tracks of simplistic, yet utterly relentless brutal grindcore that will appeal to all fans of Relapse-flavored grind (ie. Pig Destroyer, Nasum, Brutal Truth, Agenda Of Swine).

The drumming is so relentless and vicious I can only imagine Seb’s drum kit spontaneously combusts every time he beats on it.  His drum kit mashing is the drumming equivalent of Manny Pacquiao pounding on a heavy bag, it’s just ridiculous!

The riffing is relatively simple, with the emphasis being on just playing as fast and aggressively as possible.  Comparisons don’t immediately leap to mind, but it’s like a really heavy Nasum-meets-Kill The Client level of grinding.

The vocals are surprisingly powerful with Thomas going all over the place, from grizzly bear like grunts, high pitched shrieks and a more traditional grindcore bark.

Stylistically, Behold The Failure is just straight ahead bulldozing grindcore.  There isn’t much in the way of variety and getting through all 27 tracks is no easy feat, it just starts to get a little repetitive after 20 minutes, but still remains a thoroughly entertaining release throughout.

While 2008 was the best year in grindcore since the early 90s, Mumakil are setting the bar pretty high for the 2009 crop.  Behold The Failure is not the best grindcore release I’ve ever heard, but it’s definitely one of the most infectious and ferocious!  Not a must-own, but pretty damn close!  If they’d cut it down to 20-25 minutes it would be perfect, but 35 minutes of getting your head caved in just gets to be a bit much.  Regardless, a very impressive Relapse debut!  I’ll definitely be keeping this one on my playlist for a while!

Review byTeufel