Metal Underground.com

The world of metal seems too safe. Everyone just jumps on whatever is cool. Someone needs to come and fix it, and this someone is Brain Drill. Their debut EP, "The Parasites," will blow your socks off.

Being lumped in the same pile as bands like Suicide Silence does Brain Drill no justice. They should be put next to your Napalm Death or maybe even Converge records, because what you will hear is speed, anger and rage; not pig squeals and breakdowns and “sweet mosh bits.”

“Consumed by the Dead” gets the ball rolling with a great sample to begin, from none other than Dawn of the Dead. This song is fast right from the beginning and does not let up. Brain Drill makes it quite obvious that they have no time to stuff around with being experimental; this band is all about speed. “Consumed by the Dead” is without a doubt one of the fastest songs I have heard in a long time. During the last ten seconds or so of the song, the band picks up the pace, making it even faster than ever. It seems like they are trying to fit it all in at once.

The next song, “The Parasites,” picks up straight from where the last one left us. There's no time for slowing down here either. Too many times you feel like you’ve heard something already before and it sucks. This is very common with deathcore, the genre that this band is sadly often lumped with. “The Parasites” proves why Brain Drill is far better than any of the countless deathcore bands, however. Towards the end of the song, in one of the few cases of understandable lyrics, the vocalist shouts “Parasites” over and over, he sounds eerily similar to Barney from Napalm Death, which is not a bad thing at all.

Don’t expect the next song, “Swine Slaughter,” to be any different than the last few songs either. It’s hard to believe that at the time of this disc's recording the band was only three members strong. Brain Drill sounds like a five member band that has been doing this for 10 years on this album. “Swine Slaughter” is almost a surprise as at 2:30 it all of a sudden slows down, and you start to worry that it might have some clean vocals. These worries are put to rest as the song takes off again, perhaps the guitarist just needed to rest his hands and fingers a bit.

“Force-fed Human Shit” is the shortest song on the disc, but this doesn’t make the song any slower, in fact it seems even faster. This is how grindcore should sound; fast as all hell, short and angry.

“The Depths of Darkness” for some reason reminded me of the John Carpenter movie “In the Mouth of Madness.”
The guitarist Dylan is truly a shred machine and this guy needs more recognition in the world of metal. “The Depths of Darkness” will definitely get your head moving along to it. Much like “The Parasites,” this song will bring back fond memories of Napalm Death. This is my favourite song on this disc. It is everything metal should be, containing none of all the gimmicks stolen from other genres like breakdowns and gang shouts just speed and aggression.

“Revelation” is a worthy closer for such a good disc, as the speed and anger that held this record up is still present. But for some reason I found this song sounded better. Brain Drill is definintely one of the few hopes for the future of extreme metal. Too many bands just depend on following whatever is trendy. Sure this may make you famous and rich, but since when is our world of music (metal, hardcore) been about being rich and popular?

Brain Drill is one band to keep your eyes and ears on. This EP is a solid wall of noise, but a great noise nonetheless. If you get the chance be sure to pick this up. You will not be disappointed.