Graf Orlock - Crime Traveler [LP]

Tracklist:

A1 Bad Cell Service On Connecticut Avenue  2:29  
A2 600,000 Tons Of Explosive Ordnance  3:37  
A3 Afternoon Lunch At The Red Bacchus  2:56  
A4 A Decent Proposal In A Shitty Alley  3:47  
A5 Regional Turf War Spills Blood On Vegas Strip  2:23  
B1 Nursing A Hangover  3:27  
B2 Our Infallible Cybernetic Future  2:14  
B3 Summer Getaway, Mount Hermon  2:16  
B4 Difficult Decisions In The Yutani Mess Hall  2:54  
B5 Cheaper, Safer, And Better Than The Real Thing  4:55 

Black metal and ambient music, crust punk and melodic death metal, and, in the case of LA-based outfit Graf Orlock, screenwriting and grindcore. On their newest effort Crime Traveler — the samples of which are taken from the band’s own film — they’ve taken the template of sampling in grindcore and elevated it to levels of ambition few can touch. Graf Orlock don’t just throw samples in the mix; they fully integrate them into the songs to narrate the arc of the corresponding film, all while the music itself is a winding grind/hardcore hybrid.

Crime Traveler conceptually focuses on a French-Canadian time-traveling anti-hero bent on destroying some of America’s foremost figures in order to establish Canada as a global power in the future. The lyrics themselves are from the film’s dialogue; samples from the film itself introduce songs, offering glimpses of the narrative while leaving enough to listeners’ imaginations.

On the musical front, Crime Traveler succeeds in combining hardcore, metal, and grindcore into an assaulting barrage of blast beats, breakdowns, and sludgy stomps.

Regardless of their ambition and aspiration to make grindcore more cinematic — to stay out of film and keep writing the jams, because it’s the only thing they do well.