Sweden may have led the (dis)charge for furious, high octane grindcore in the first half of the 21st Century, but with many of the great beasts laid low – Nasum and Bruce Banner are no more, and Sayyadina and Gadget are barely active – ambitious young princes are carving up the kingdom with distilled greatness of their forebears like the fall of the Angevin Empire. Tellingly among the contenders for this throne, it's the multi-national Afgrund – a European Union of Italian, Swedish and Finnish members, blasting hard amid stop-start guitar dynamics and white hot Wolfpack riffs – who seem the closest to parking their behinds on the velvet, a nod towards the long term shift from Swedish dominance to Finnish echoed by Rotten Sound's relentless march into the heart of not just grinders, but extreme metallers of all stripes. It's pretty exciting, and it's more than reminiscent of the crossover appeal achieved by the late, sainted Nasum.If Afgrund are the heirs apparent of Swedish grind, then Feastem are the crown princes of Finland, sharing a member in guitarist Olli Nokkala, second album 'World Delirium' (stream this monster) is an exhilarating frenzy of whirlwind drumming, chainsaw riffing and breathless, chest-pounding calls to arms. This album drags you along by the balls over a carpet of broken glass and rock salt for 27 floor-punching minutes, and the abrupt change from a world of pain to the still silence of one without when that last minute is ticked off is so disorientating you'll momentarily worry that you're having a heart attack.
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