Band:	Birdflesh
Album:	All The Miseries
Style:	Grindcore
Release date:	May 26, 2021
A review by:	nikarg

01. Gore Ensemble
02. High On Carnage
03. Radioactive Madness
04. The Head Of A Skull
05. Spinebreaker
06. People Of The Leprosy
07. Slaughterchild
08. Dying After Midnight
09. Pissboy
10. Kickstart My Ass
11. Sayonara Sensei
12. Inked Deth
13. Hell Satan Bro Stalker
14. Crazy Nights [live]
15. Countless Mayhem [live]
16. Milkshake Is Nice [live]
17. Alive Autopsy [live]
18. Caligoulash [live]
19. Teenage Mutilator [live]
20. Gut To Kill [live]
21. Victim Of The Cat [live]
22. Anal Misery [live]
23. The Flying Penis [live]
24. Coffinfucker [live]

"Since misery has been our partner in crime through all the years, we finally found a suiting title". This is what Birdflesh had to say to promote their latest EP, All The Miseries.

I generally have little time for grindcore, which is only fitting because grindcore releases go by in very little time anyway. Birdflesh is one of the few bands of the style that I have been enjoying for some years now. Fuelled with generous doses of ridicule and a penchant for thrash, these batshit crazy Swedes are so much fun to listen to, and 'fun' is actually the key word here and what this band is all about. And riffs. Birdflesh is about fun and riffs.

With song titles such as "Gore Ensemble", "High On Carnage", "Dying After Midnight", and "Kickstart My Ass", the references are pretty obvious. The lyrics are very recommended reading material, full of sarcasm and perverted humour. "Spinebreaker" talks about a kid whose father bought him a skateboard but when the boy broke his spine they gave him up for adoption. "Pissboy" is about a super talented drummer who drinks too much beer after the gigs and views the whole world as his toilet pissing on everything; even your vinyl collection. My favourite song lyrically though is the 30-seconds long "Inked Death": When me and my sister were kids / Our mom tattooed our names on her arm / So when we became adults / We all changed our names. Poor mom.

Musically, almost everything here is straightforward, blastbeating grindcore with chunks of crossover thrash thrown in. Imagine Napalm Death jamming with Slayer and Municipal Waste. Some old-school death metal can be traced on a few songs, most prominently on "The Head Of A Skull", "People Of The Leprosy", and "Dying After Midnight". Funny samples are also used throughout the EP, from Terminator on "High On Carnage" to the crazy Christian lady from Wife Swap on "Hell Satan Bro Stalker".

After the hilarious and punky "Hell Satan Bro Stalker" the rest of the tracks are live versions of older material. The recording is fairly amateurish but it gives you a good idea of how much fun you will have if you attend one of their live shows. Birdflesh is actually the last band I saw live back in February 2020 before the world turned to shit and their show was so good that it has kept me alive and sane all these gruelling months.

Birdflesh's latest EP will make you laugh and bang your head at the same time. And, following their advice, if you don't have a head, bang your fist!