The Ghost of Cubone's Mother

Tales Told by Dead Children (2008)

jack_13

The UK produces a lot of generic MySpace grindcore bands these days, but it's rare that one of these bands actually establishes itself and manages to create and maintain a fanbase with good, original songs. Although the Ghost of Cubone's Mother haven't exactly created a fanbase quite yet, they have at least succeeded in the latter target.

The band strive to create songs that combine elements of a lot of genres whilst still managing to appeal to a specific group of people. Their short electronic interludes mixed with ambience followed by walls of guitar and layered death vocals seem to be doing the trick because they've already managed to see this first release snatched up by underground metal label Foot and Mouth Records.

The intro is a delicate and atmospheric guitar tune accompanied with some soft violins and even a cello. It then transforms into the second song, which is a blistering assault on the eardrums. "The Boy Who Cried Rape" may be a god-awful title, and to be fair this entire EP has been awfully mixed, but you can't deny that the songwriting is amazing and a lot of thought has gone into programming and playing the instruments.

The final two tracks, "He Got Raped in Prison, Now He Walks with a Limp" and "Jeremy Kyle" may also have horrendous titles, but again the talent remains and when the final blastbeats and pig squeals fade to a halt you can't help but start over and listening to the entire thing again. It's short but sweet and despite the shoddy quality, with some better production and song titles this band could go far.