Insect Warfare, the great, no-bullshit, fuck-you-poseurs grindcore band that split up in ’07, has announced a string of reunion shows in the UK and Ireland later this year. The press release I received announcing said tour featured no quotes from anyone in the band, so here are my thoughts:

1. I’m jealous of everyone who lives in the UK and Ireland and can only hope these shows are followed by some US dates.
2. The fact that the band is playing thirteen shows in as many days with no breaks whatsoever is metal as fuck. ‘Cause we all know days off are for sissies.

Here’s some footage of Insect Warfare killing it, in case you’re not familiar with ‘em. You can get tour dates after the jump.

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I think that I (and about a hundred other people who write about metal) have extolled the virtues of Decibel editor Albert Mudrian’s Choosing Death many times in the past, but just to be sure: it’s an awesome history of death and grind, and if you’ve never read it, you really, really should. He got pretty much everybody to go on record about the early days of metal’s most extreme subgenres. If you’re new to these styles of music and need a primer, it’s a perfect place to start; if you already love these styles of music, I guarantee you you’ll still learn some shit ya didn’t know.

One of the things that Mudrian spends a good deal of time discussing is John Peel’s old national BBC radio show, which was the place to hear all the best new grind. And now Earache will commemorate Peel’s show with Grind Madness At The BBC (The Earache Peel Sessions), a three disc (!), three and a half hour set that will feature 118 recordings of sessions done on Peel’s show, including performances by Carcass, Extreme Noise Terror, Godflesh, Napalm Death, and a shitload more.

This is obviously a must-own for grind fans. Earache puts the set out on October 12. Mark it in your calendars.

-AR

As I’ve been saying over and over and over again, this has already been a great year for grind. And one of the best grind albums of the year is Agorphobic Nosebleed’s Agorapocalypse (read Satan Rosenbloom’s review here).

Well, according to our friends at the under-appreciated Crustcake, AnB fans have even more to look forward to this year, in the form of a split with The Endless Blockade. I’m not really familiar with The Endless Blockade, but new AnB is enough to get me to pay the whopping six bucks this 7″ will cost me.

You can order the split here. Only losers won’t buy this thing.

-AR

And finally, we have New York’s own Brutal Truth. Their new album, Evolution Through Revolution, is one of the best of the year so far (read Satan Rosenbloom’s review here), which isn’t really surprising, because they’re one of those bands where everything they touch seems to turn to gold – or, rather, awesome, awesome grindcore.

Here they are doing “Birth of Ignorance” in Copenhagen in 1993.

Is it time for the show yet? Is it? Is it???

-AR

I was watching the new show Michael and Michael Have Issues last night. It’s pretty funny. Anyways, the episode was about this dude who breaks up with this chick because she wants him to pee on her and he’s just not that into that kinda thing. I’m not into it, either, but it did get me thinking: how in love with a girl would I have to be to actually pee on her if she asked me? Or would she just have to be really hot? Like, could I find it in me to give Cristina Scabbia a golden shower? I somehow don’t think I could. But it is a good time-waster when you’re high and have nothing better to ponder.

ANYWAY, I think my boderline-stalker love of Pig Destroyer is pretty well documented at this point, so without further adieu, here they are performing “Piss Angel” at the 2004 Maryland (not Baxter County) Deathfest.

-AR

In case you couldn’t tell, I’m very, very, very excited about tonight’s Blackened Music Series show with Brutal Truth, Pig Destroyer and Repulsion (And it’s a book release party for Decibel’s Precious Metal, which I have read, and which is totally worth the dough). And thus, as I count down the final hours to what I’m 99.9% sure is going to be one of the best, if not the best, shows of the year, I’m gonna post some live clips of the bands playing.

First up we have the legendary Repulsion. If ya don’t know Repulsion, well, shame on you. Learning about them is the easiest thing in the world: they only have one full-length, 1986′s Horrified, which is pretty short (it is a grind album, after all), and which pretty much influenced all grind that came afterwards. Decibel even named Horrified the best grind album of all time earlier this year; I don’t know if I’d go that far, but it does rule, hard, and the band – in their first New York concert ever – will be playing it in its entirety tonight.

Here they are doing the track “Bodily Dismemberment” in 2003.

-AR

Holy frozen poop stick, I feel like we’ve been waiting for Magrudergrind’s Willowtip debut, like, for-ever. It’s been two years since the D.C. outfit’s last full-length, and the tracks they contributed to Scott Hull’s grind/powerviolence collection, 2008′s This Comp Kills Fascists, were fuckin’ face-melters.

Well, the wait is almost over: the band’s self-titled album will be out June 30. And if you can’t wait another two weeks – and really, who could blame you? – there’s now an e-card with samples of a few songs.

Now, there’s something kinda funny about having samples of songs that, in all likelihood, are only one to two minutes long to begin with, but, hey, I dig this band too much to poke fun.

Check out the e-card here.

-AR

P.S. All this year’s best album covers belong to grind releases. Shame on you, death metal.

When I read that Repulsion, Pig Destroyer and Brutal Truth are all playing a show together at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple on July 31, my head literally exploded. I don’t mean “literally” the way some people misuse that word; I mean I am actually typing this right now sans melon. Pretty crazy, I know.

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This morning a friend of mine was riding the subway. Being afflicted with terrible allergies (as I am myself), he sneezed (into his hand – not the open air) and rubbed his sore eyes – at which point some fuckwit apparently started screaming at him about spreading swine flu and told him he should be wearing a mask. At which point, God bless him, my friend did the only logical thing: he started coughing in the fucker’s face.

PEOPLE: YOU DO NOT HAVE FUCKING SWINE FLU. THIS IS NOT A PANDEMIC. CALM THE FUCK DOWN. At best, this is the media’s way of distracting us from all the other fucked up shit going on right now. And if by some fucking chance it is mankind’s time to return to the dark ages – WHICH IT FUCKING IS NOT – well, you can’t say we didn’t have it coming.

Speaking of swine and people acting like fucking maniacs: here’s Pig Destroyer’s video for “Piss Angel,” off of 2001′s Prowler in the Yard. Thanks to my comrade Gary Suarez for the suggestion.

-AR

If you’re not following us on Twitter, you’re missing out on Vince’s life blow-by-blow of this weekend’s New England Metal and Hardcore Fest. I think he’s currently watching Trap Them   (a group no less a source a than Napalm Death’s Barney Greenway told me last weekend restored his faith in heavy music) and trying to figure out what the big deal is.

Here’s a band we don’t need to figure out the appeal of: Weekend Nachos. Melty cheesy grindy goodness… yum. If this doesn’t get you ready to fuck shit up this weekend, nothing will.

-AR

Two quick things:

1. The cover art for Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s new album, Agorapocalypse, has GOT to be an early contender for best album cover of 2009.
2. The band has posted a second new song, “Moral Distortion,” on their MySpace page. If you don’t check it out, all the other kids are gonna make fun of you, and you will die sad and alone.

Agorapocalypse will be about April 14 here in the States and week later in everywhere else. On Relapse. That is all.

-AR

I’ve been trying for some time to figure out a way to articulate the feelings the created by listening to Agoraphobic Nosebleed, and here’s the only thing I’ve been able to come up with: AFDUTKASD’NAS#*%^^^DLABDNAPFUQ!!!NSDFW.

Now that we’ve gotten that out the way: AN have a new album coming out April 14, Agorapocalypse, and have now given fans a first taste of the music from that album – new song “Agorapocalypse Now” is currently streaming on the group’s MySpace page.

In case you didn’t think the band could get any crazier than they already are, brace yourself: this song is pure chaos in music form. And little wonder: the band has added Salome front chick Kat to their ranks, which means they now have three, count ‘em three, vocalists. The song they released with Kat last year, “Home Invasion,” was fucking wicked (and is also streaming on AN’s MySpace page); based on this new track, I’d say we’re in for some fucking aural violence come April 14.

-AR

Since the members of Graf Orlock are obsessed with action movies, it was a brilliant idea on the part of The Deciblog (or the band’s publicist perhaps?) to have GO’s Justin Smith review action films. This week Smith ponders Taken, a Liam Neeson/Luc Besson thriller which opened in the States this past weekend and the rest of the world over the course of 2008.

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If you’re not familiar with Magrudergrind, it’s because media outlets (including this one) don’t give them enough coverage. But they have to be one of the best grind bands on the scene right now; 2007′s Rehashed was pretty fuckin’ good, but the three songs they contributed to Scott Hull’s This Comp Kills Fascists were even better.

The band has now signed with Willow Tip and are entering the studio to make a new album which will be engineered by Converge’s Kurt Ballou and mastered by The Inimitable Mr. Hull himself. Which means that along with the new Napalm Death album (and some new Pig Destroyer, pretty pretty please?), grind fans have least two albums in ’09 that they know will be good.

-AR