Walking Corpse – Our Hands, Your Throat

Written by on 06-01-2024 at 12:14.

A lot has been written and pondered upon about chaos. Whether it’s the theory of the famous butterfly that could cause a hurricane, the unpredictability of chaos itself, or the possibility of ever being able to control chaos, almost everyone agrees that chaos remains a scientifically elusive phenomenon. However, this doesn’t apply to Walking Corpse. These men refuse to accept the general consensus and existing theories and attempt to capture and tame chaos on their second full-length album. Whether they succeed is another matter, but what the band manages to do is live up to the title of this work: Our Hands, Your Throat. Because that’s exactly what Walking Corpse does: grabbing you by the throat from the first notes and they don’t let go for 35 minutes straight.

The Swedish Walking Corpse has been active since 2017, and after releasing an EP and a self-produced full-length album, they landed at the quality label Transcending Obscurity Records. This label, with a keen eye for blisteringly hard metal, releases this second full-length album. As hinted in the introduction, we’re dealing with furious grindcore laced with death metal influences. At first glance, it may seem quite chaotic, but don’t let that mislead you. As mentioned, the band allows chaos to arise in order to capture and steer it in the right direction. A beautifully clear example is how the track The Wheel shifts from slow and heavy, almost doomy, to the incredibly fierce and fantastic Brainworm. It’s one of the better grindcore tracks I’ve heard in 2023. What a riff! Then, these gents take a step back in aggression and speed, picking up the sludgy beginning of Falling Through a World of Wounds, which then builds into a wild middle part with brutal blast beats, ultimately concluding with a pounding and swaying final phase accompanied by dreamy riffs.

However, there’s no room for daydreaming because the all-destructive Malediction is ready to mercilessly shake you up again. And this continues throughout the entire album. You never really know what Walking Corpse has in store for you with the next track, let alone during the tracks themselves. Take, for instance, Nothing Grows Here, a five-minute auditory spectacle where the band weaves together everything they have to offer: grindcore, death metal, and manic vocal passages and guitar parts. Here’s where you notice why some parts may sound chaotic and dissonant.

Finally, it’s a perfect moment to see if Walking Corpse has managed to tame the chaos. As far as I’m concerned, they’ve succeeded with flying colors. What an awesome album it has turned out to be, a delightful journey to thoroughly enjoy with headphones. I’m curious if they’ll shine as brightly in a live performance.

People who appreciate Rotten Sound, Fuck the Facts, Terra Builder, Antigama, Ernia should definitely give this Our Hands, Your Throat a try.

Score:

88/100

Label:

Transcending Obscurity Records, 2023

Tracklisting:

  1. Dreamflesh Navigator
  2. Born in Hell
  3. Our Hands, Your Throat
  4. The Wheel
  5. Brainworm
  6. Falling Through a World of Wounds
  7. Malediction
  8. The Last Laugh
  9. Nothing Grows Here
  10. Forever Sleep
  11. Eye of an Angry God

Line-up:

  • Fredrik Rojas – Bass, guitar
  • Magnus Dahlin – Drums, bass
  • Henrik Blomqvist – Vocals

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