I love this release. It has melted my face, completely off.

These are some pretty talented guys - the song, "Pig Slaughter" actually reminded me of the band Macabre.

The music is somewhere between the chaos of Cephalic Carnage, Origin, Necrophagist, and Obscura.

With a little bit of Between the Buried and Me.

Fulcrum: Industrial Prog Grind For the Ultimate Win!

Ok, When I first saw this album cover, I thought, hmmm, here is some interesting stuff, lets
take a closer look Smudge. I'm so glad I did! This may be the best TFR record release to date. It is entirely complex, and at the same time, keeps a steady headbanging thump for serious
fans of intense, heavy, hard music. It starts out with a repetitive drone sound introduction (mind collapse), and after that fools you into thinking that you might be about to hear
some lame ministry knock off... Boom, you're rocketed into the intense insanity that is
"Compulsive Needs". Superb recording and production make themselves evident right away as
the track is not only mixed well, but sounds like Albert Ayler picked up a guitar and invented grind. This continues in crystal clarity and prevalence throughout the entire disc. The lyrics here are harsh and grating, but easily understood if you can wade through the swamps of complexity and growls. As the second track (pig slaughter) croons like a dead Robert Goulet, "But you must remember, this is just in your head", I wondered the same thing, and it progressed
through a mind bending screetch into "Paranoidal Hallucinations". The listener is treated to countless change ups, break downs, and possibly the most intricate and listenable drumwork on any grind album I've ever heard. You began to wonder just what drugs these people avoided to be such a tight band. These guys are the Primus and the Slayer of death grind, mashed with a hellish assault of original vocals and jazz influence. Is this band really doing this with their instruments? Yes they are. This is further examined in the off the wall metal of "Poison Tree", an examination of how guitar can be reinvented to work for a grind band instead of against it. The breakdown at about 1:31 is so heavy, I couldn't lift it with my ears, and needless to say, my car speakers will be attempting to later. It ends abruptly and segues into the squeals of "Fuck Thursdays". A simple message. but after Yaerius says "go" the simplicity turns as sour as a Zappa solo distorted and played at double speed. The backing vocals confirm this track has no remorse just like the lyrics, as they screetch and scream at incredible distance and perfect volume levels. "Forget the past" says Fulcrum, and they couln't be more right as "Fuck Thursdays" ends with a funk slam. Its finality is fleeting because they draw this ending out for a few bars just to wink at fans of James Brown and P-Funk. Don't be fooled. These dudes are musical painters, and their palette has many colors! "Analizer Of Sexual Frustrations" is slightly shorter but is almost a thrash track until the riff changes into rapid neck work on both bass and guitar. Piter bangs right along during an amazing short bridge by Andrzej at about 1:07, and finishing at 1:21. The lyrics here are unlike the rest of the album, as they repeat and bring a piggish stoner rock feel towards the songs final bits. There are few nods to speed metal, and then a rapid, car crash ending. "Insects Suiciety" is good, but for a title track, doesn't represent the full capacity of this bands amazing skill, timing and focus. It has progressive elements, but fools us into bobbing out heads at first. This may be the intent however, as the lyrical content seems to reference a life of monotonous life of bad habits and grueling work. Again, Yaerius asks us to forget and rags on this destructive and pointless society, while Majk keeps our heads on a pounding progressive swivle. No band member holds back, and after aother swift kick to the throat, the album reaches "The Day". "The Day" opens our eyes indeed. It helps us, and the band "find our inner god" by rushing back and forth between a slow prog riff and a mind melding guitar shred. This repeats and mixes with a verse that is probably the most audible and understandable throughout the album. "The Day" is also rather long for grind, as it represents speed metal, prog rock, thrash, and even a tinge of death metal, giving us a whole 4 min to work with. It doesn't even come close to wearing out its welcome though, and at about 3:06, we get to hear the harmonized screams of both vocalists filtered through some very interesting stereo mixing, and even more interesting pedal work. This gives the listener a super incentive to rock out to this TFR release via headphones. Seriously readers, don't puss out and use your grandmother's speakers. This band doesn't ask for your full attention, they fucking demand it.
At long last, we come to "Brainwashing", a full on 15 min head trip assault into the seedy underworld of progressive death metal at its absolute best. I wasn't just wowed, but rather blown away at the originality and marksmanship throughout this epic track. "Brainwashed" conjures up Images of viking battles, space wars, and personal anguish. It sucks the wimp right out of you with funk at 2:10 and corrodes your ears into submission. It is obvious how much "Fulcrum" hates the mainstream. The lyrics here rally their future obsessive fans to unite against the carbon copy heavy metal groups and social morays we've become so accustomed to accept and tolerate. By 4 min in, I still wasn't bored, and then got flayed open in an audio autopsy with a devilish slash of feedback, led into spacey funk that let me know the madness wasn't quite ready to end. This funk and feedback aspect compliments nicely Fulcrum's nod to Megadeath, napalm death, and others with the heaviest of simple metal riffs. It repeats into surreal head banging and amazing drum work, crashing flawless and creative percussive solos with a throbbing guitar loop that almost represents an industrial or drone feel. It is exemplified by not being too flashy, just giving Majk a chance to actually play around his kit and work out some of the real prog vibes he's been suppressing throughout the weight of the previous tracks. Then its Andrzej's turn, and he pulls out all of the stops, bending, tapping, and hammering his way into what phish might have sounded like if they grew up listening to nothing but Morbid Angel. By 13 min or so, FX pedals come out to play and space rock the shit out of the last few insane moments of "Brainwashed", reverting to the loop that gave it such power in its infancy on "Mind Collapse", revealing the cyclical and conceptual nature of Fulcrum's focused genius. I highly recommend this abusive tour de force of an album, and await more from this AMAZING band.