CHILD
Shitegeist
Suicide Records
Shitegeist, the latest long player from Swedish grindcore/punk/hardcore outfit CHILD, mirrors the present-day status quo of the world: “Everything sucks, everything’s fucked.” CHILD’s sound is probably best summed up as ruthless death grind.
CHILD describes Shitegeist. “We are heading fast into the new dark ages. Man-made destruction of society, of eco systems, of the world as we know it. We ignore all warnings, as long as we can grow our wealth. The world leaders create chasms in society. Terror, hatred, war is the result of their polarization. We are heading fast for annihilation…”
Founded in 2015 by Albin Sköld (drums) and Alex Stjernfeldt (guitar), CHILD didn’t take on solid form until 2021, when Jocke Lindström (vocals), Staffan Persson (bass) and Per Stålberg (guitar) finalized the lineup.
The band signed with Eat Heavy Records and went to work on their debut album, Meditations in Filth, which dropped in 2023. For their second album, Shitegeist, CHILD signed on to Suicide Records.
Encompassing 11 tracks, entry points on the album include the title track, a thrumming, wailing track drenched in heavy, crushing guitars riding a frenetic rhythm highlighted by thrashing percussion and Lindström’s visceral, raging vocals.
Waspish, buzzsaw guitars infuse “Tin Foil Party People” with imminent, ferocious energy, as vicious blast beats inject the rhythm with scowling energy that ebbs and rises. A personal favorite because of its industrial-laced intro, “I Will Refuse (featuring David Sandström)” starts off low and slowly gathers muscle, eventually ramping up to sneering layers of serrated guitars topped by barking vocals. A dirty, galloping bridge offers momentary respite, and then elevates the harmonics to fury.
Searing, platinum-colored guitars suffuse “Creative Inventions Of Killing” with whirling washes of slicing timbres as fulminating vocals imbue the lyrics with impudent anger. As the song progresses, darker textures juxtapose against the humming guitars, giving the melody a duality of shading.
Sköld’s spraying double bass lifts “Glowing Kids” to another level, adding perilous heft to the rhythm, whereas “Swiper,” the closing song, features thick, chunking guitars exuding hints of doom metal. Lindström’s anguished, dread-filled vocals supply a welter of breast-beating, black emotions.
Cruelly superior, abrupt, and insubordinate. Shitegeist establishes CHILD as purveyors of compressed, overwhelming bellicosity.
