REMAINS, from Melbourne, have just finished their debut album, "Grind 'Til Death." Italian label Spikerot has just done their part in helping produce their latest contribution to the Grindcore/Death Metal scene. A solid effort, 18 tracks of heavy, old school, unrelenting grinding.

Starting out with an almost sci-fi feel, we quickly get down to the business at hand with, "Bloodthirst."  It is everything that you might expect, followed up with a mix of howls and then even deeper growls on, "The Butcher."  All of the songs are short and sweet, similar to NAPALM DEATH, both in length and musically in sound, but that is as far as it goes in the similarities. Vocally it is a little deeper, more of an evil feel, no politics coming out of the lyrics on this one. No real-world BS here, just pure hate screaming at the world from the depths of down under.

"Shot Dead," has a nice rhythm to it, briefly slowing it down for just a second, but only a second. It never strays far from the goal. It is all very similar and straight to the point as far as speed, wide open with a few slower transitions working in all he right places. "Human Brodo," starts out with some nice guitar work but sadly leaves me wanting more of it. It isn't to be. Nothing bad follows, but I was enjoying the mix in the beginning. This is definitely a band to be appreciated live, with crowd participation, pit participation. I visualize blackness and spikes, slamming all around.

I'm not really sure what a "Groganator" is besides song number fifteen, it is something that I need to research further, but the song has a nice ring to it and is one of the highlights for me so far. The next two sound a lot alike, but the last track, "Remains," quickly comes in teasing me with the guitar again, but they don't let me down this time with another brief reappearance in the end. Jay Jones on drums, driving the double bass of death, are driving this album all of the way through, rarely letting up, accompanied with the hauntingly evil vocals of Tone Bone laid on top, all nicely setting the standard for Australian Grind Metal.