Grindcore; It's a bit of an unsolved mystery. What is it to live the life of a Grindcore musician? Fortunately, we have BRUTAL BLUES' self-titled release from Selfmadegod Records to hold the door open for us and invite inside the claustrophobic and angst-ridden Grindcore lifestyle.

BRUTAL BLUES is a Norwegian outfit consisting of Anders and Steinar, two musicians that have a literal resume full of bands they've been grinding in since as far back as 2008! I have never heard of their previous bands like PSUDOKU, BxSxRx, PARLIMENTARISK SODOMI, BLODSPRUT, NOXAGT, ULTRALYD and MOHA(!). If you have heard of any of these bands before, chances are that you are probably way more hip to the Norwegian Grindcore scene than I am. My apologies! I am just so out of touch with the youth of today!

So as we barrel through this review much in the same way that BRUTAL BLUES barreled through all 16 epileptic minutes of their album, what can we take away from this intimate experience? Well, for one, we can tell that the music sounds angry. Secondly, we can safely assume that they're Norwegian. And thirdly... no, wait, that's all we can take away from this.

Whether or not this record has any technical prowess is an anomaly to me. There's clearly gifted musicianship that is present but there's no way to gauge at what level is being put on this record. There is no confusion in my mind about the technicality of a PSYOPUS or CEPHALIC CARNAGE album I would listen to but how are those bands more or less Grindcore than BRUTAL BLUES? And therein lies the hermaphroditic nature of Grindcore music. The line that makes the distinction between Metal and Hardcore become all the more jaded when you bring up Grindcore. Where does Crust Punk end and Death Metal begin?

Perhaps the unsettling songs like "Rett" and "Stafett" artistically illustrate this confusion of what Grindcore is all about. If this is the case, BRUTAL BLUES has either made a classic record or have only packaged up another unconvincing case for the integrity of their genre.

I'm just a tad upset because this ambiguity makes my job much more difficult than it needs to be. I can't say I love this but I would be lying if I said this album wasn't interesting. So, CLOUD RAT fans, NAKED CITY fans, BRUTAL TRUTH fans, have at this thing. It's free online and you really can't beat that kind of bargain. I'm not going to pretend to understand this or think of an applicable use for BRUTAL BLUES and maybe you shouldn't either.