As one dictionary tells us, the German word zeitgeist means “the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time”. It combines two words that mean those very things — time and spirit.
Now, take a guess about how the Swedish band CHILD think about our current age, given that they’ve named their new album Shitegeist.
Photo by Richard Bloom
It’s fair to say that these five experienced musicians are pissed off by a lot of what they see in what passes for human society around the world, and how little progress it reflects. They’ve introduced the album with these words:
“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 polarisation. We are heading fast for annihilation… And maybe that’s for the best. Everything sucks. Everything’s fucked.”
How CHILD express those perceptions is through a ferocious, caustic, and viscerally powerful blend of grindcore, crust punk, hardcore, and noise rock, with bits of death metal in the mix as well.
Photo by Richard Bloom
CHILD‘s new album is the full-length follow-up to Meditations in Filth, which was released in early 2023. The new one is set for release on March 29th by Suicide Records. What we’ve got for you today is the premiere of a song from the album called “Creative Inventions Of Killing“. CHILD explain what that title means:
“We seem to be paralyzed in order to come up with ways to save this world, the climate, the animals, ourselves. But we never seem to fail in finding new ways to kill it all. Another creative way after the other. We’re good in that sense, the human species. We’re good at killing ourselves.”
In line with that perspective, the song is a raucous and ravaging storm of despair and rage, backed by pulse-punching grooves that provide an irresistible propulsion.
The dense riffing in the song scathes the senses. Raw and abrasive, it sounds like a cross between a wail and a siren heard through a shrapnel storm. The vocals are no less raw, expelling the words in a furious throat-ripping howl. With relative clarity, the lead guitar periodically surfaces, and it too sounds like a wail, a dismal one that seems purged of hope.
Matched against those unnerving, anxiety-inducing sounds, the rhythm section do their own thing to pump up the adrenaline, while getting muscles jumping too, providing a mix of skull-bouncing drum beats and feverish bass-lines that throb with gut-rumbling heaviness, and their clarity creates another contrast with the abrading grittiness of the riffing.
Near the end, the torquing tension of angst and anger in the song boils over in a fusillade of blast-beats and slashing chords, followed by a finale of grim hammer-blows.
CHILD is:
Jocke Lindström (The Grifted): Vocals
Alex Stjernfeldt (Grand Cadaver): Guitar
Per Stålberg (Division of Laura Lee) Guitar
Staffan Persson (Let Them Hang): Bass
Albin Sköld (Aardena): Drums
Shitegeist was recorded and mixed by CHILD, and was mastered by Johan Reivén at Audiolord Mastering. The album brings together 11 tracks, including a cover of Pailhead‘s classic “I Will Refuse” penned by Al Jourgensen (with guest vocals on CHILD‘s cover by David Sandström).
Suicide Records will release the album on 12″ vinyl and digital formats. For more info and pre-order opportunities, check the links below. And after the links, take a listen to the previously released album track “Time Island“.
That one is shorter than the track we just premiered, but still a dynamic affair. It bounds and bounces like a punk, swarms and slashes, and if anything its bursts of blasting fury are even more violent. As icing on the cake, it will also give your head a chance to bang away at the end.
SUICIDE RECORDS:
https://suiciderecordsswe.bandcamp.com/album/shitegeist
https://www.suiciderecords.se
https://www.facebook.com/suiciderds
https://www.instagram.com/suicide_records
CHILD:
https://www.facebook.com/childgrind
https://www.instagram.com/child_grind/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1U8rqyuzM93pfSQ1eoxzEE