Metal Underground.com

Portuguese grindcore maniacs Utopium bust into the scene with their debut album, “Vicious Consolation / Virtuous Totality.” Six years have gone by since the band began, and through it all, Utopium self-financed and released various demos and EPs leading up to this album. The DIY approach worked well for the group, letting Utopium make the necessary sound tweaks before signing with a label. With a sludgy top layer plastered onto a grind shell inspired by Nasum, Terrorizer, and Napalm Death, “Vicious Consolation / Virtuous Totality” is a gleeful grind slaughtering.

The members of Utopium are not innovators, looking to contort the guidelines that grindcore was founded on. They play their stuff like the power is about to go out in the studio, as if they had little time for retakes or overdubs. They pour their abrasive emotions out into 18 songs that together cut out before the album can get close to 25 minutes in length. The concept of the album, exploring the vices and virtues that Man encounters, is underplayed by the audacious style Utopium goes about dishing out.

“Vicious Consolation / Virtuous Totality” is laid out such that the band breaks up the expansive tracks with thirty-second blasts of noise. Having a structure like this allows neither side of the band to get downgraded by the other. The meaty, suffocating riffs on “Null Rousting” and “Thrive a Starch” supplement the unkempt grinding that the tracks eventually transition into. No one song is satisfied with keeping the grind away, no matter what the length may be. “Owner of a Kept Abidance” is the closest to a “melodic” track, with an almost-groovy riff format used in the first half.

However, this is a grindcore album, so expectations are for blistering tempos and musicians destroying their instruments. Utopium desn’t let any listeners down, as “Lodging in a Rut,” “Tort Deletion,” and “Unperformed Reaction” prove. Those three songs total less than a minute, which will get an eager response from those who like their music like that. Just because a song doesn’t encompass more than a minute is not to say that the band can’t make an impression. “Revamp the Disinfection” has a tuneful break among its 33 seconds, and the drums overwhelm closer “A Fallible Minimum” thanks to the rest of the band holding back at select points.

This debut album from Utopium is a grindcore fan’s wet dream; exactly the kind of reckless, non-technical marvel that should be required. It won’t define the genre for years to come, but it’ll sure knock a few heads loose. Without lyrics, the overall concept the band was going for is lost, though samples from the films “The Jacket” and “24 Hour Party People” add some ambience to the album. Music like this doesn’t need a message, just enough of a thrill ride to give grindcore another reputable band to add to its ranks.