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BARREN PATH – “Grieving”
BARREN PATH – “Grieving”
by Thor
I’d argue that Bryan Fajardo is this era’s preeminent grindcore drummer, a niche distinguishment if ever there was one, but a distinguishment, nonetheless. At one point, he was literally in half the grindcore bands I was listening to.
One of those bands, GRIDLINK, recently broke up for good and reformed with vocalist Mitchell Luna (NOISEAR) at the helm, while simultaneously Fajardo began downsizing the long list of bands he’d been working with. The result of these dual happenstances—now known as BARREN PATH is an absolute grindcore weapon featuring a renewed Fajardo and a band of seasoned players destroying everything in its path.
Their debut album, “Grieving” is excellent. What it lacks in frills—there are none—it makes up for with blazing speed, face-ripping screams and toilet-plugging gutturals. It takes me back to the days when “extreme” music actually kind of felt…extreme.
“Grieving” is a short, shocking assault in all the best ways, in and out like a Great White shark. In just 13 ½ minutes, you’ll be torn through by 12 songs of bleak and unforgiving musical violence, a relentless trip that’s both utterly chaotic and surgically precise. There are zero wasted seconds to be found.
If you enjoy any of Takafumi Matsubara’s or Bryan Fajardo’s past work, or extreme grindcore in general, then BARREN PATH’s “Grieving” is a must have. It’s out now from Willowtip Records.
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