EXPIRE ‘Grim Rhythm’

Review by Nick Shore | Smutlife

Quick, put down the stack of Trapped Under Ice and Reign Supreme vinyl. It’s tough, I know, but don’t worry, because there just might be something better lurking out there in the depths of Midwestern hardcore. Rising with blinding speed from Milwaukee, Wisconsin comes Expire, armed with roaring vocals and just enough heavy riffage to blow out the speakers in your 1996 Chevy Cavalier.

After a successful demo lush with thumping percussion and crushing breaks, Expire delivers Grim Rhythm on California’s Hellfish Records (Creatures, Rot in Hell, The Mistake, etc.) With high energy performances at this summer’s wildly popular Sound and Fury and This is Hardcore festivals, people from coast to coast are learning about this Midwestern juggernaut. While they still make use of the usual hardcore rhythms and beats, there’s a particularly infectious quality hidden throughout this record which isn’t experienced nearly as often as it should be.

With six songs in about eight and a half minutes, Expire surgically remove any and all filler garbage, leaving only the exposed, raw aggressive hardcore center. No frills, no nonsense, just 70 to 100 second blasts of roaring music emblazoned onto a gloriously colored slab of wax. “Darker” is already becoming an instant crowd favorite, with an ultra-catchy beat and thunderous breakdown.

Perhaps the only letdown on this record comes to fans already familiar with their 2009 demo, as four of the six tracks on Grim Rhythm are re-recorded versions of their original material. However, if this record is falling on virgin ears, rest assured the quality of these fresh tracks is polished and buffed up to sound as crystal clear as you’d want a hardcore record to be.

As far as straightforward hardcore goes, this is one of the most exciting EPs I’ve heard since Bitter End released Mind in Chains years ago. Hellfish Family has copies on two variations of colored vinyl still available, so don’t get left in the dust by this Milwaukee freight train.

Sample: Expire – ‘Expired’ trt: 1:19

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