Earthburner - Permanent Dawn

Angry Metal Guy

There’s a sect of grind-lovers out there that say Terrorizer’s World Downfall represents the ideal to which grindcore should aspire, with many simply asking “Why hit anything else?” At its base, grindcore is a fusion genre of metal ideas against the speed and fury of fully torqued punk. And when bands like Terrorizer, Napalm Death, and Repulsion were making a name for the scene, the emergent flavor that spilled into their sprint-speed d-beats, hammering skanks, and flurried fight riffs was that of a nascent death metal. And on this foundation, Broken Hope veteran Jeremy Wagner seeks to unleash Permanent Dawn with his long-cooking Earthburner project in this time-tested vein of pit-churning burst of grinding rage.

Though Earthburner’s origins lie in the year 2001, Wagner never did much with the name save for some EPs and singles until 2023 when he recruited friends to finally make a true first strike. With family in the rhythm section—bass helmed by stepson Tyler Affinito and kit crashed by Broken Hope drummer Mike Miczek—and the trendy growl of Devin Swank (Sanguisugabogg) on the mic,¹ an air of familiarity ties Permanent Dawn’s concise expression together. Wagner’s primary outfit Broken Hope has never been the grandest attraction on a festival billing, but the draw of their chunky, no-frills death metal stewed in the barbarism of the early 90s scene stands simple and odorous. So too in Earthburner does Wagner find the uncomplicated elegance of accelerating, punky riffs, and full-force kit abuse with tracks like “Broken Head” and “Perception for Profit” carrying the rebellious torch of classics like World Downfall (Terrorizer) or From Enslavement to Obliteration (Napalm Death) all too well.

Permanent Dawn by Earthburner

At its core, Permanent Dawn expresses itself near line-for-line the classic grind playbook. Continuing a wordly exploration of progenitor inspiration, some of this debut’s more punishing run-offs come at the lower-tuned rumble of early Carcass gore-tifications (“Facelift,” “Hunger Pains,” “Slave to the Screen”). Finding a sneering, higher-range bleat to counter Swank’s low and gruff death bark, Earthburner plows through twenty minutes with little waste. In this construction, it’s neither the solo nor melodic lead that guides each tumble through its uphill scuttle, but rather quick intros and interludes of hefty four-string chatter (“Like Dogs,” “Positive Outlooks”) or loudness-driven guitar tricks (“Broken Head”) that break up the constant forward march to reset rattling heads. Some frustrating tropes of the scene remain too hard to shake, though. Whether a nod to the olde or otherwise, drummer-driven intro counts can be incessant—Miczek does switch up his snare pounds for hi-hat taps every now and then, at least.

In a divergence from the course of its influencers, Permanent Dawn finds its tones hitting modern in uncomfortable ways. Not all the sounds that composed the clamor of the fledgling grindfathers represented the pinnacle of amplified hunger, but many of them shared a shattered, organic nature that provided an urgent snap to the questionable distortion of guitars and unintelligible rapid-spew gurgles. And while I think Swank’s oral abuse and Wagner’s churning stacks—as compressed into clipping segments as they may be—do a fine job at capturing the rough exterior of the genre’s scrappy roots, the polish of kick and sheer pow of snare feel meant for an act more lumbering. Now, Miczek’s kit never feels behind or slogging, but in its excessive volume and booming presence, it robs part of the stage from the already ceiling-scraping guitar lines that find ugly fuzz in open rings and ear-zapping zips on sliding scrapes.

As an album so indebted to the past, Permanent Dawn finds an easy home in the ears of anyone seasoned in the arts of these punkified metal outbursts. However, in ease of expression through the lens of its influences, Earthburner forgets the all too important sentiment of expressing a vision all their own. Without a message to tie together its eleven tracks of societally challenged titles, its short runtime can feel frequently unnecessary in order and, consequently, in totality. Though not explicitly a cover band, the level of homage that Earthburner holds in its capable hands falls flat in reverence to its tones that don’t provide a unified bolster. I don’t consider myself that guy—you know, the World Downfall guy—but by the end of Permanent Dawn’s transient passage through my grind-hoping ears, I really do find myself wondering whether I should just stick to Terrorizer.

Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: M-Theory Audio | Bandcamp
Websites: officialearthburner.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/earthburnergrind
Releases Worldwide: November 8th, 2024

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