Bind Torture Kill – “Viscères” [Album Review]

Every journalist professor worth their weight in yellowing paper will frown upon the voice of this review, but to quote every mob movie ever made, “whaddya gonna do?” So, let’s get a move on with the first person cavalcade!

One of the things I love about this gig is that it forces me to experience, check out and listen to bands I might normally pass on for one reason or another. I can think of dumber reasons as to why I’ve skipped checking out a band, but when your first introduction – or in this case, misguided introduction – to a band is a moniker leaning towards the cum-dripping realm of pornogrind but on paper is described as “post-hardcore,” I’d rather ignore the potential confusion and drama and plow through the backlog of purchases and vinyl that have been staring back at me from atop the “to listen to” pile for months now. Luckily, the PureGrainAudio higher-ups are an insistent bunch and, in a twist of potentially violent irony, like to refer to mob movies to get their point across about accepting assignments and meeting deadlines. Eh, tough guy?!

To wit, I present France’s Bind Torture Kill, a three-piece that sounds infinitely larger than their bass-less line-up presents – supposedly, guitarist Yann Alexandre employs a three amp set-up and a vast collection of pedals to replace the need for other living breathing humans. The interesting thing about these residents of Lyon is that their sound creeps, crawls and displays more expansive tendrils of extreme subgenres than are normally associated with the grindcore and doom played by other bands with non-traditional line-ups.

Not to say that doom and grind don’t play a role in what BTK do, but when the engine is revving and redlining, this band’s natural colour shares shades with the death ‘n’ roll infused hardcore of Trap Them and Baptists and the swirling chaos of Converge. Fellow Frenchmen Comity are referenced in the way a track like “Pestilence” swings between uppity, D-beat rhythms and inconsolably mournful power doom with the slow tempo build and static-y noise closing out the song being a simple but still effective walk down misery’s lane.

Given the missing bass player and second guitar, it’s no surprise that the excursions into noise are more elastic and take on a flourishing flair in which the effectiveness of simple riffs like those in “Maelstrom” and the quirky alt-rock feel of “Chacal” don’t suffer from the lack of density usually provided by a distorted low end in effect offering a ‘take that’ to tropes from the grind, doom and post-metal scenes that are their inherent inspirations.

Viscères Track Listing:

01. Fléau
02. Au fond du trou
03. Nourrir le singe
04. Perte et Fracas
05. Sanguinaire
06. Pestilence
07. Maelstrom
08. Chacal
09. Abject

Run Time: 42:18
Release Date: January 20, 2018

Get to know the new album via the “Nourrir le singe” single.