Utopium - Conceptive Prescience EP and Free Demo

It’s been awhile since my last string of Grindcore posts so I think it’s about time for another. Utopium is a Crusty Death/Grind band that also manages to sneak in some elements of Sludge here and there. They come to us from Portugal and savvy Grind fans may remember their contribution to the Nasum Tribute released last year (RIP Mieszko.) Their cover of Nasum’s “My Philosophy” is included here on their debut EP. Utopium is offering their Conceptive Prescience EP and their Demo for free download on their bandcamp page with an option to pay whatever you’d like for the EP.

Combined, these two releases last about 26 minutes. The EP is obviously the better sounding recording, but the Demo doesn't sound half bad either, so whoever produced them did a pretty good job. The drums still got that hollow, tinny sound however and personally I’d like to hear a little more “punch” in the percussion (but that’s a gripe I have with a lot of Grind albums.) I think these guys would really benefit from some grade-A production from someone who's used to mixing Grindcore albums (calling Scott Hull.) The songs themselves are pretty standard fare Death/Grind with a few good grooves and sludge riffs thrown in. They're broken up by the obligatory word samples that most Grindcore albums have, but their samples fit well and are slightly more serious than the ones you’d find on say, a Graf Orlock album. They have dual vocals going on most of the time, with the lead singer’s puke-inducing rasp being pared up with some nice low growls as the backup. The vocals are pretty good but I’d really like to hear them push the screams harder, let’s really fuck up those vocal chords! All in all these are both solid releases for any fan of Grind/Powerviolence/Crust/Death Metal etc and well worth your time and extremely worth the free price tag. As always I suggest you donate something for downloading the EP, although since our dollar isn't worth as much as the euro you might want to keep that in mind when giving your loot.

On a side note I’ve been itching for some truly amazing Grindcore lately, the new Agoraphobic Nosebleed was good but I’m fucking ready for a new Pig Destroyer album already. Maybe now that Wormrot is signed to Earache it means they’ll be releasing another album soon...Waiting years for songs as short as a few seconds. I love it.

Download both albums here: Utopium Bandcamp

Utopium Official Website: http://www.utopiumgrind.com/

Utopium Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/utopiumgrind