Caustic Wound shows us how violent and depraved deathgrind can be on sophomore release, Grinding Mechanism of Torment.
Release date: April 25, 2025 | Profound Lore Records | Bandcamp
Life is a bit too complicated to always be listening to challenging music. Sometimes you just need the malodour of a mouldering corpse, or at least the aural equivalent, to recenter yourself. Sometimes you just need a change…*Knock knock*. Who’s that at the door? Oh of course, it’s Caustic Wound, covered in the freshly eviscerated bowels of your neighbour and popping round to see if you’d like to head to the local cemetery for a spot of grave desecration. Don’t mind if I do.
Considering how well received Caustic Wound’s first album, Death Posture, was back in 2020 you’d not be surprised to find out that their sophomore release, Grinding Mechanism of Torment is a fucking banger, very much in the same vein of deathgrind. Caustic Wound know exactly what sort of putrid mess they want dripping out of your speakers and ruining your mum’s carpet. They get pretty much straight to work, ripping tearing at your eardrums and challenging you to sever every tendon in your neck from impulsive headbanging. All in under thirty minutes, no less.
To be honest, I shouldn’t need to go into the band’s influences on this album. They haven’t changed much, if at all from their previous release. This is death/grind that aligns itself with early Carcass material, with a sound that very much has a festering fondness for late 80s/early 90s death metal. Everyone involved in this project is a seasoned death metal and grind veteran from the Pacific Northwest scene, featuring members of Mortiferum and the legendary Magrudergrind. Caustic Wound, simply put, does what it says on the packet and does it well.
Each song is a burst of revolting old school death metal, condensed down into minute long snippets of violence that simply prompts more violence on the next track. “Grinding Mechanisms of Torment” barely gives you time to breathe before sending you into the ferociously groove infused depravity of “Blood Battery”. “Human Shield” and “Advanced Killing Terror” relentlessly rampage, drumming and guitar work raising a raucous before descending into blistering solos that Trey Azagthoth would happily stick in his pipe and smoke.
Caustic Wound, similar to a few other bands on Profound Lore Records at the moment, have more than a whiff of old school death metal revival about them but I don’t think anyone is walking around thinking this is just another run of the mill OSDM band. They effortlessly seem to be able to prop up the rotting corpse of death metal, put a sick, crusty jacket on it, balance some Ray-Bans on its noseless skull, and make it the life of the party. There’s nothing ‘new’ on display here, but who needs new when acid is being spat in your face and your eyes are dribbling down your chin?
The group have Frankenstein’d together their love of grind and death metal extremely well, seamlessly switching up tempos from romp of one, to the groove of the latter. “Legacy of Terror” and “Technologist Hell Future” start out with plodding destruction before all hell breaks loose and all band members kick it up a couple of gears, frantically attacking their instruments with aplomb. The standout feature of Caustic Wound‘s sound is the fantastic, razor sharp dual guitar work which adds real OSDM depth to the band’s grinding attack but also reminds me of the awesome but short lived death metal band Horrific who melded death metal with cheese-y 80s guitar leads.
Hell, there probably isn’t a better example of the band putting on a master class of grind-y death metal than album closer, (and what I believe is their longest song to date at roughly six minutes) “…Into Cold Dead Universe”. Dive bombing solos, dual guitar work, ample whammy action, endless blast beats, and unhinged feedback laden vocals. It’s a vibe unto itself, and one that makes you half wish that the band wrote longer songs for you to enjoy. Perhaps that is the real genius behind the band – they know to get in and out with with their crushing brand of metal.
Ultimately, Caustic Wound have managed to out do themselves, a feat that I believe they weren’t even really trying to accomplish. Fundamentally, the band comes across, in a world full of metal that is renowned for try-hard tough guy posturing, as having enough self-awareness to to be more than a macabre gimmick. Sort of helps that they also happen to have enough talent to give the music a genuine touch of horror. With that said, put down your ever growing list of Japanese acid jazz. Stop pondering which of those must-listen-to Mongolian throat singing ambient projects you should check out next. Put on Grinding Mechanism of Torment and defile yourself.
