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The Sawtooth Grin - Cuddlemonster

Sunday, 10 August 2008

Editor's rating

7.7

out of 10

Reviewed by:
Chad Coup
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Sunday, 10 August 2008
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Music Information

Track Listing:
01. Give Me The Amulet You Bitch
02. A 2 Minute Lecture On The Finer Points Of Instability
03. Sometimes She Tasted Like Burnt Plastic Smells
04. Meat Hook Marty And The Pajama Party
05. Please Shit All Over Me, I Love It
06. Satan Would Sit In The Smoking Section, But He Doesn't Like The Creepy Waiter
07. Good Touch Bad Touch 123

Artist: The Sawtooth Grin
Title: Cuddlemonster
Genre: Grindcore
Release Date: 01 January 2004
Record Label: Dead By 1918
Format: EP
Country: United States of America
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Editor review

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Overall rating (weighted)		7.7
Musicianship		8.0
Composition		7.0
Experimentation		8.0
Production		6.0
Value		10.0

The long out-of-print, sought-after debut by NY's now-defunct The Sawtooth Grin still remains one of extreme technical metal's most unsettling releases of all time. At a short fifteen minutes, these seven tracks have more changes, odd notes, and strange creative choices that still entertain many years later. For those unfamiliar with the band's sound, imagine the noisy grind of Daughters or Robinson, inject some Psyopus for wackiness, and then filter it through a broken Nintendo soundcard. This album sounds like crap, is extremely hard on the ears, yet it has an unbelievable amount of staying power.

These talented musicians have thrown every semblance of traditional songwriting out the window to create something that can only be called metal. Yes, it's grindcore, avant-garde, hardcore, but it's all of these things to such an end that you can't really figure out what it is. It's The Sawtooth Grin, and that's all I can figure out. Tracks four, five, and six are probably the brightest moments on this album, because they are the most tonally diverse and very representative of the band's sound. There is no ground these guys aren't afraid to cover.

I can't help but imagine that the songwriters here purposefully wanted to piss of their listeners and give them an experience they will not forget. Nobody will feel apathetic to this album; you will get an extreme reaction either way. Personally, I really like the intent of this band: go where few have gone before and make it super caustic. However, it does remain kind of same-y at the end of the day. After ten seconds, you know what to expect for the remainder of the album.

For a band that only released around twenty five minutes of material, what we are left with is very entertaining and worthwhile. It's most certainly not for everyone, but those that do find joy in this kind of aural abuse will intensely love this. This kind of stuff begs to be rereleased by Debello or 187 Records. It's too strange to be forgotten.

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