December 2021 Feature Release – The Horde Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month’s feature release for The Horde has been nominated by Vinny. It's the 2014 sophomore album "Stranger" from California grindcore outfit Cretin.

https://metal.academy/releases/30477

Grindcore is the type of genre where you don't need to be original or have a lot of variety to impress the diehard fans. It's all about energy & extremity & Cretin possess both in spades. You've almost certainly heard all of this before as it really does pay tribute to the gods of grind from start to finish while keeping its tongue stuck firmly in its cheek but you know what? I don't give a fuck because that's not why I listen to grindcore. It's just downright fun to listen to! Grindcore releases rarely see me being tempted by my higher scores but when it's done right it can brighten my day by giving me the strength & motivation to charge through my challenges & that's just what Cretin have managed to do with "Stranger" which doesn't offer a dud amongst the fourteen tracks included.

For fans of Repulsion, Brutal Truth & Machetazo.

4/5

I should probably listen to more grindcore than I do. It is a genre whose albums I consistently rate highly, although I've only listened to a limited number. Cretin's Stranger is yet another example of the genre that I thoroughly enjoyed. After yesterday's miserable experience getting to grips with Majestica and Bad Wolves as I make a concerted effort to cover all the featured releases this month, I was feeling a little jaded by the whole experience. Then along comes a gut-punch like Strangers and suddenly all is good with the (metal) world again. I was completely unable to engage on pretty much any level with those two other releases I mentioned, but Strangers hit a mainline right to my heart. Uncomplicated, unpretentious, irreverant and loaded with full-on aggression, the perfect palette cleanser after yesterday's musical junk food bonanza. It's unsurprising that the band are so adept as mainwoman Marissa has had spells with both Repulsion and Exhumed as well as being the mainstay of Cretin since 1992, so is obviously well-immersed in the grindcore scene.
Sure, it's good to try to step outside your comfort zone occasionally, but it's even better to "come home".

I first heard Cretin as part of a forum "tape swap" we did years ago on the now defunct Terrorizer forums. I was not that into their particular blend of death metal and grindcore and so found the couple of tracks from the album Freakery to be a bit too much for my listening tastes at the time. Over time, as my tastes have gotten more extreme I actually find them to be one of the more structured grindcore bands out there based on their albeit limited output over the years. I prefer them to the Brutal Truths of this world for example and benchmark their style to being more akin to Repulsion style grindcore as opposed to a Carcass style for example (indeed vocalist/guitarist Marissa was guitarist in Repulsion 2011 - 2013). Somehow Cretin manage to walk that fine line between an all out auditory assault and still giving you enough form to nod your head along to appreciatively (in years gone by that statement would have read "bang your head along to", but those days are long gone for me - oldie alert!)

The band's typical lyrical content of perversions and humorous characters continues on Stranger with tracks such as Sandwich for the Attic Angel (a woman's dead husband turns out to be living in the walls of her house), Mr Frye, Janitor Guy (one seriously pissed off and suicidal, turd-collecting Janitor) and We Live in a Cave (pretty self-explanatory - I mean it is not a tribute to Fraggle Rock) all highlighting the bizarre and dark comedy of the band perfectly. Musically the band are tight and relentlessly savage in their delivery of one of extreme music's most primitive formats. Considering Elizabeth Schall (who joins Marissa on guitar duties) is from well-established melodic death metal band Dreaming Dead, she puts in a rowdy and abrasive performance here backed up the core percussive unit of founding member Matt Widener on bass and former Repulsion and Exhumed drummer Col Jones who together create a swarming backdrop of beats and unearthly rumbles that gets punctuated by wild sonics through a wall of solid as fuck riffs.

Always sporadic with their output (the band have been around since 1992 but only released a demo in 2003 after disbanding in 1996 so Widener could join the Marines), Stranger is only the bands second full-length and this was seven years ago now so we are long overdue further nuggets of joy from the guys who are still considered to be active. Despite the gap since the release of the album, it has aged well and is just as in your fucking face today as it was back in 2014. The world needs more Cretin please.

4/5