Makkmat – Syke Fantasier

Makkmat. What a weird word. For days after receiving the email from the band, I just sort of walked around in my flat, tasting the name. Makkmat. It’s clearly some sort of exotic deity with many limbs and psychic superpowers, right? Or, maybe it’s a Persian warlord from thousands of years ago? Makkmat. I didn’t get the relation to foreign mysticism, especially given that the song-titles were all Norwegian, and all rather crass and very much in the vein of Napalm Death. So, why Makkmat? Then it dawned on me: it is two words. Makk-mat. I’m pretty sure my neighbours heard me groan.

Directly translated, Makkmat means worm-food. Not particularly exotic or atmospheric in the sense I thought it would be, but at least it makes sense. Øyvind, Kikken and Rune are Norwegian metal musicians involved in various other bands, but now, they’re delving deep into Grindcore. Hence, Makkmat. It’s not that complicated, but thank you for making me feel like an idiot.

The band-name purposefully evokes thoughts of a rotting corpse, making song-titles like “Belgisk Kongo”, “Ghetto Stress” and “Etsende skinnlag” (Corrosive skin layer) seem downright sensible. For this is pure, hard-hitting Grindcore, and you won’t get that without some real, purposeful political incorrectness. So far, so good. The trio looks fucking badass sitting outside a house with faded paint, all holding beers and showing off their tattoos. Very Grindcore, very hardcore.

So, of course, the album opens with about a minute of electronic weirdness, very much not as advertised. This was supposed to be relentless grindcore, 22 songs in 22 minutes. Pure, modern-day punk-violence. Instead, it opens with bouncy electronica? One track in and I’m confused, but I quickly realise that said confusion was probably the point, because the electronica never returns. What we get, is 21 songs of pure, unadulterated musical violence.

22 song in 22 minutes feels like the tagline for this album, and it’s impossible to do a breakdown of all 22 songs. Therefore, this review focuses on the totality of the album. Personally, I find no high- or low-point, because this album (and others like it) isn’t about potential singles and individual songs, it’s very much about the totality. A good grindcore-release has groove, furious drumming, hopefully some catchy riffs, and mixes hardcore punk with whatever other extreme-metal subgenre the band in question fancies. For Makkmat, that particular flavour is Death Metal. Thank the gods.

I believe that Death Metal blends perfectly with Grindcore and Hardcore Punk, and I find Makkmat to prove me right. This album is full of D-beats, blasts, hyper-aggressive drumming and solid riffs. It’s also got some very powerful, Grindcore-style vocals. The growling is purposefully disgusting and makes you feel like you’re listening to the revolting offspring of Cannibal Corpse and Napalm Death. Wonderful.

My slight problem with this record, is the fact that a lot of the tracks seem to follow the same setup. Violent, Death Metal intros that quickly settle into some sort of groove. There’s no atmospheric thread running throughout. That’s not a problem, but it does mean that 22 songs end up feeling like 22 songs, even when they last 1 minute on average.

This is not an album I will keep coming back to, because it’s too abrasive and feels like an assault. Take that as the compliment it’s intended to be. Grindcore is disgusting. It is hard. It is not nice. Makkmat ticks off all the right boxes with their second ever release, and if you have even the slightest love for hardcore, you have to check this album out, because it’s Grindcore/Hardcore done the right way and you will not be disappointed.

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