Total Fucking Destruction "Zen and the Art of Total Fucking Destruction"

Since we're already on the subject of frenzied grind-metal (to be fair, 7000 Dying Rats is about 10 times weirder), Total Fucking Destruction's Zen and the Art of Total Fucking Destruction at least deserves a mention. This 14-songer is a little bit curious and never completely serious, unleashing 10 songs of blast beat-ridden metal with unintelligible screams, howls and growls, and lots of fast, menacing guitar riffs. Total Fucking Destruction crams the tempo shifts and riffs into a relatively short time -- only one song passes the three-minute marker -- so the songs are decidedly concise, all the while showing some technical skill.

Thanks to the recording quality, garbled vocals and busy, all-over-the-place songwriting on Zen and the Art, I'm often reminded of Between the Buried and Me -- if Between the Buried and Me stripped down to the barest, grinding metal of their self-titled album and altogether quit writing melodies. It's just an intense listen with some unique production qualities. (Unique, however, isn't necessarily preferable; this record would probably benefit from less "click-y" drums and meatier guitars.)

In a really, really strange move, Total Fucking Destruction tacked four acoustic "jams" onto the end of the record. They're slow, lo-fi and layered with sloppy singing -- the kind of thing that makes me think the band got drunk and randomly decided to record four awkward songs about such things as a boxcutter and bio-satanic terrorist attacks.

When Zen and the Art is done I usually wind up with a half-smile and a gaze of confusion. I mean, there's something odd about it. Maybe I should let the music speak for itself:

Total Fucking Destruction - Warfinger
Total Fucking Destruction - Kill the Jocks and Eat Their Brains

You can pick this album (which also features some enhanced video content) up from the Relapse store or Translation Loss Records.