Hater

The unorthodox grindcore band known as Total F*****g Destruction were not designed to make friends…their very name makes this plain: it's the equivalent of commercial suicide. But the Philadelphia group may just influence plenty of people, whether the bandmembers want to or not, thanks to a creative philosophy that transforms the band's innately nihilistic, oftentimes intentionally exclusionary genre into something downright thrilling and, against all odds, borderline appealing — at least to listeners somewhat in the know when it comes to extreme music (neophytes will still be terrified) and capable of recognizing just how cleanly produced, instrumentally sound, and open to outside influences the group's third long-player, 2010's Hater, really is. To be sure, surprises are everywhere and include the straight-up rock & roll passages to be found in "Everything You Need But Nothing You Want" and "Lovegrinder," some hardcore songs played in quadruple time like "Its Only Attitude" and "Tony Hung Himself," many improbably infectious choruses and guitar figures on the likes of "Hate Mongering Pig Pandemonium," "Thrashadelphia," and others, plus there's the avant-garde sound collage in "I Not Pose." Yes, there are also enough excellent and traditionally inexorable grindcore ejaculations to go round — e.g. "Weaponization of the Mega-Self," "7 Billion Imaginary Deaths," the "Attack of the Supervirus" trilogy (!), and a few four-second-long songs in "If 9 Became 6" and "Greenbleeder" — but these inevitably play second fiddle to the more inventive material surrounding them. Put both categories together, though, and it's easy to see why Total F*****g Destruction continue to convert waves of new followers with every album released — probably more than they ever expected, come to think of it.