Formed in Huntington, New York in 2004 Buckshot Facelift have state they have dedicated themselves to setting the horror of the human condition to the sound of the most extreme and eclectic grindcore imaginable. ‘Ulcer Island’, was the band’s fourth full length release, and was originally released in 2017, but towards the end of 2018 it was reissued by Paragon Records to assist in it reaching a wider audience. It is probably the first grindcore concept album I have come across, but not the first which uses clips from films to create additional sonic elements. I can understand why they say eclectic when it comes to their music, but not sure on the extreme bit, as there are times when they bring in black metal, and others when they are almost, um, commercial. Okay, so my ears have been abused by more albums than any normal human will ever come across, but this just isn’t nearly as brutal as what I was expecting given the tenor of the press release.

Yes, there are some songs where they move along at a fair pace, but isn’t anything when compared to classic Napalm Death, Agoraphobic Nosebleed or Pig Destroyer. But, and it is a fairly large “but” to be honest, putting aside their claims of extreme grindcore, this is actually a really nice album. It may not be as brutal and overbearing as they think it is, but it is still a powerful piece of work. It would be interesting to hear them in a live environment or with a different producer, to see if they really do wreak the carnage they seem to think they create, but if you want to hear grindcore which also contains some black metal, Powerviolence and even some doom, then this may well be of interest.

Rating: 6/10

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/buckshotfacelift/
https://www.facebook.com/paragonrecordsli/