Total Fucking Destruction - 'Hater'

27 tracks of uncompromising grind that proves to be more than just a secondary outlet for Brutal Truth drummer.

Total Fucking Destruction lives up to their name on the grind-tastic Hater. With Brutal Truth drummer Rich Hoak on board providing his recognizable voice, genre fanatics are guaranteed a crash course in all things odd and frantic. 27 tracks clock in at a thin 27 minutes, a true sign of a proper grindcore album. Like previous records, the album doesn’t just blast away from beginning to end; tempo changes and decent variety are in full effect.

That’s not to assume that the short bursts of adrenaline are in short supply. “If 9 Became 6,” “Greenbleeder,” and “Murdernumber” don’t even break the 25 second mark, while over three-fourths of the tracks creep across the one minute line. It is a testament to the band’s experience and skill set that they are able to write material that is hard to forget. “Repeat Repeatedly” and “Meat Without Feet” get the body moving with bouncy riffs, while “Everything You Need And Nothing You Want” has the “say the song title over and over ad nausea” condition that makes it hard to get out of the mind.

Like “Let The Children Name Themselves” and “Last Night I Dreamt We Destroyed The World” off Peace, Love, and Total Fucking Destruction, Hater has a round-up of longer material in an effort to display cohesion. The three-part “Attack Of The Supervirus” is the most ambitious minute of grind ever attempted. Ambient noise is a fascinating side-track on “I Not Pose,” the only instance of the band stepping far outside the genre. “Time Theft” could have been a lost Brutal Truth tune, also a quality of the rattling closer “Human Is The Bastard.”

Hoak is one of the best drummers in the genre. Performing grind requires endurance and leveled hands; leave it to Hoak to not only do a phenomenal job keeping time, but providing lead vocals as well. His range goes from spoken word to shrieks to primal yells, with help from the rest of the band. Like many other grind acts, technicality is pushed aside for uninhibited aggression, though a few shredding guitar leads are around.

While Total Fucking Destruction could be considered a side-project for Hoak during Brutal Truth’s downtime, the band is more than just a weekend hobby. There are consider differences between the two bands; both are in the same genre, yet Total Fucking Destruction has a levity that isn’t present with Brutal Truth. Hater is great songwriting by a group of veterans that know how to differentiate songs in a genre where that quality is hard to find.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.