A local grindcore band, so let’s be honest – I wasn’t expecting a long CD. I got, in fact, six minutes and 23 seconds spread over four tracks. Which is pretty long, really.

First track Beauty As Poison is the pick, with a really, really snappy intro and stomping breakdowns breaking up the headsdown thrash sections, although last track Protection…From Ourselves runs it bloody close for it’s great shortsharpshock treatment, unintelligible vocals and a really good descending riff.

The other two tracks – Painted Smiles and Black Eyes and The Coward – show a slightly different side, and give some more variety by slowing down the pace, but they don’t quite have the power of the other two tracks.

The sound is a bit rough’n’ready in parts (especially some of the drums – and an almost total lack of double-bass drumming seems a bit strange), but the guitars are nice and chunky, and the variation in the vocals – from screech, to grunt, to almost spoken word – does a good job to keep the attention.