Album Review: Concrete Winds - Concrete Winds
Reviewed by Sam Jones
When it comes to extreme metal, few have got to the point of brutality as firmly or quickly as Concrete Winds have done. Formed in 2019 out of Helsinki, Finland, Concrete Winds play a raw fusion of death metal and Grindcore that has rapidly garnered the attention of many fans far and wide, especially since Concrete Winds have, since their formation, only released full length albums, with not a single EP or Demo to their name to at least get themselves established in the wider metal community. Releasing their first album, Primitive Force, in the same year of their formation, it’s in 2021 with their second record, Nerve Butcherer, that the band first came to my attention. Another three years later and Concrete Winds are back to unleash a self-titled record, with album artwork that’s akin to a Jackson Pollack piece turned bloody, continuing their long-running partnership with Sepulchral Voice Records. Primed for an August 16th release date, Concrete Winds are set to destroy our eardrums once again. This is their third album.
No preparation. No fanfare. Concrete Winds throw your torso straight through the wall the moment you start up this record, and they do so to these visceral vocals, wailing guitar solos and a pace that’s utterly frantic in nature. Few band do Grindcore much like Concrete Winds and I don’t know whether that’s due to geographical differences or how the approach songwriting, but these guys have consistently churned out extreme metal that feels like it’s forever snarling its teeth, even as the band incorporate bridges and middle 8’s within their songwriting that tempers the band’s manic tendencies. The riffs themselves differ to US Grindcore too, as Concrete Winds write guitar tracks that feel like they’re on the absolute cusp of losing all sense of sane order; chords come at you faster and faster until everything is breaking loose and any such attempts to bolt the band down will prove fruitless.
Adding to this assault on the senses, the production too is left as this abrasive, scraping experience whereby any riffs and devastation the band may conjure is reduced to blinding savagery. There’s nothing refined or tidied regarding Concrete Winds here. Though the listening experience itself isn’t too harsh on us, the band evidently wanted this to be some unsightly, boundlessly energetic piece that cares not a one for us. It fits elegantly with Concrete Winds as a band too since their previous output has also been along these similar veins of unrepentant slaughter; had the band aspired for a cleaner production standard, it would have declined throughly the quality of songwriting we’d listen to. There are records where the insistence of a coarse production benefits the band and this self-titled work is one such example.
While some sections of Concrete Winds’ songwriting slows for a moment to allow for changes in track progression, it must be stated just how fast this record is. Barely over twenty-five minutes long this is a quick listen, even by modern Grindcore standards, and thus you have tracks that aren’t sticking around long for you to decipher and piece apart what makes them tick. If you’re after a record that allows you to sit back comfortably and fragment a band’s work one bit at a time, then this isn’t it quite frankly. Concrete Winds are here to tear your face clean off and they do not care if you think you missed something notable the first time round; that merely gives you a reason for another listen in the near future. Tracks begin by throwing you into the earth and end doing the exact same, and when you think the next might offer you some relief, you’ll find yourself happily mistaken, and the annihilation resumes once more.
Now, the band’s pace is frenetic and tracks go by like a flash owing to the short length this album runs for, but you can’t deny the power the band still infuse to each song. We’ve touched upon how the production eviscerates our body and soul owing to the scraping effect its raw mix produces, but when all the band’s instrumental components come together at their fastest and most aggressive, it makes for a seething, cacophonous soundscape that’s intoxicating to experience. Since the band are holding nothing back, and make it seem easy to throw such power at us again and again, it makes for a truly evil and malevolent time as riffs build upon vocals that build upon blast beats and do not opt to tidy their ongoing assault. As a result, you get a record that’s proudly savage and is capable at going from zero to a hundred in half a second, thrusting you into the back of your seat where they intend you to stay until their self-titled record is done.
In conclusion, Concrete Winds have burst out of the gate storming, sprinting at us with blade in hand. This is a band that has absolutely zero intention of letting up the ferocity at which they open up their record with and there is no way they’re about to compromise for anyone who might want them to simmer down. Having released two studio albums with no other Eps or such, Concrete Winds are already making a name for themselves amidst extreme metal circles and this self-titled record is merely going to cement that notion all the more. At just more than twenty-five minutes long, this record literally goes by you like a breeze but pummels you with knuckle dusters as the band relentlessly pursue your battered body for one round after another. It’s this slicing, punching, snapping, searing work that’s bound to get your adrenaline pumping. I’m all the more excited now to see them in October when they play Kill-Town’s London edition later this year.
