By Keith Carman
Something’s going over in there in Portugal and boy, is it scary. Maybe it’s all of those weird scum-sucking bottom dwellers that get pulled out of the ocean and put onto their plates that’s causing this sort of rabid overdose with psychotropic hangovers. That can be the only explanation for what’s fuelling these insane beasts known as Utopium. Either way, let’s just hope they keep ingesting whatever it is that prompts them to issue such explosive, provocative and powerful old school grindcore.
Raging from the get-go and never once losing track of its vision, Conceptive Prescience boasts 18 minutes of rudimentary blast-grind pulling from the ravenous, almost overbearing attack of early Napalm Death but shoved through the dirty filter of Nasum, Phobia and other crossover acts.
However, lest we forget the Scandinavian contingent, the occasional shot of low-end dirge akin to Entombed’s earlier days pop up here and there, most notably during half-time chug riffs that ensure the overall feel of these eight tracks is as dynamic as it is obliterating and extreme. Throw in a few politically-charged samples to elevate the overall sense of binding tension and this expedient dose of guttural cacophony is as inspiring as it is incendiary.
(Indie)
Rating: 7.0
