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Ebolie - Elevation Into Disintegration
by DeadSun

Grindcore is a misunderstood beast of sound and content, having emerged from the late 1980's as a stylistic hybrid that drew its well water from such musically diverse elements as death metal, speed/thrash, and the (too often) overlooked influence of the American hardcore punk sounds from 1980-1986. Whereas their death and black metal counterparts in the realm of extreme metal often filter their message of doom through the prism of a demonic, supernatural struggle between good and evil--- the "evil" professed by many grindcore outfits has always rested squarely upon the shoulders of humankind. If pain, misery, and inequity are pandemic among us--- then it is the human experiment that is to blame. Like the hardcore punk scene before it, the nihilistic expressions of grindcore generally take root in socio-political soil. 

To me, the greatest challenge facing grindcore today does not (thankfully) stem from it having become a fashionable scene for hipsters to clamp onto, or that it has completely lost touch with its own past. The challenge lies with those who, even with the best intentions, would keep the grindcore strain unconditionally free from any cross-experimentations in both structure and sound--- a rather curious position to hold to a style that was the product of cross-experimentation to begin with.

Australian grindcore outfit Ebolie, knowingly or otherwise, seem to be aware of this fact. In 2004's Elevation Into Disintegration, Ebolie have offered up a recording with one boot thrust firmly into the neck snapping avalanche that typifies the grindcore sound, while the other boot can be heard, at times, stomping down rhythms, formats, and structures that pump some fresh blood into the sound.

As the gate drops down, frontman Bubsy and company waste no time in lunging for the throat with "Blood Tapped Skull", a well-placed opener, as it deals out the straight-down-the-skull Grindcore Aesthetic: faster than thou, angrier than thou, and harder than thou. After two minutes and nine seconds, you know where things stand. 

The overall title track is accented in no small part by the production. Traditionally, the productive side of grind tends to favor dirtiness and sludginess--- lending itself to choatic atonalty. With "Elevation Into Disintegration", the production is more crisp, and has a live, up-front feel to it. Not a bad approach for a sound/message that, naturally, is confrontational and jarring. The type of production utilized reveals the title track (and the span of the recording) to be checkered with interesting harmonized arrangements, and even (albeit brief) the clean channel phrases found in "Elevation Into Disintegration", "Human Error", and the humorously out of place, swing-time jazz/fusion opening of "Foetal Grindings". With "Foetal Grindings", I find what is arguably the most compositionally ambitious track contained within "Elevation Into Disintegration". It also holds the distinction of of being the "longest" track on the recording, clocking in at a hefty three minutes and forty-four seconds. Remember--- with grindcore, a three minute song stretched into a "normal" tempo would likely yield up a nine minute recording. 

Even still, when speaking of their status as a primarily death/grind act, Ebolie assaults the senses in this style with alarming ease in cuts "Rape of Sanity", "Straight Edgetesy", and in particular "Work Forced"--- a potent, scathing example of Ebolie's ability to skillfully blend the death and grind elements, where quick, clean shouts swap punches with dirge-like growls. "Queens of the Scene Age" not only maintains this intensity, but opens with classic "four-on-the-floor" metal riffing, dives headlong into death/grind, and comes out on the change with a spinning snap into hardcore punk.

... and it is this versatility that gives the creative element of Ebolie its greatest potential.

Elevation Into Disintegration is both a welcome and necessary acquisition for loyal grindheads, in addition to those who have a taste for the more extreme, underground areas of metal itself. I encourage both the former and the latter to branch out and explore. Do yourself a favor, and jump over to the band's official website: www.ebolie.com

I can only hope that their recent line up changes will only serve to further enhance the seeds of potential that I hear on "Elevation Into Disintegration".  

Within the context of the genre, this recording is a solid 9.1
 

Ebolie - Elevation Into Disintegration
Label: E
 
 

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