PREVIEW: Grind Before Death
Words: Dan Barnes
Photos: Rich Price
In an increasingly rare example of a politician speaking for the entire country, when the not-so-great Prime Minister of this great nation demanded the return of the sausages at the party conference of 2025, it appeared they had unified us all under a single common interest. Not since days of the London Olympics, or Her late Majesty’s – God bless ‘er – funeral had we been able to come together under a common goal: the sausages need to be returned.
Although Grind After Death is still several months away, giving ample time for the bangers to be back, the end of February sees a mini-show- the chipolatas to May’s full on Bratwusts and foot-longs – just to get the 2026 grinding off to a good start, and the blood boiling for some brutality.
Grind Before Death takes place on the evening of Saturday 28th February at Bolton’s Alma Inn and is set to feature half-a-dozen filthy sounding bands, which may or may not result in the need for some attention by a medical professional come March.
Headlining this shindig is Italian goregrinders, Golem of Gore, who’ve been purveying their own brand of musical devastation since 2017. Featuring grimy guitars and relentless blasting drums, the band released their second full length album in May last year in the form of Ultimo Mondo Cane. It’s eighteen slices of grinding brutality, coming four years after the Madness Is the Beginning: Beyond the Darkness of the Brightest Gore debut.
Far from being dormant during those four-years, Golem of Gore have been busy creating splits with Lymphoedema, Ischemic Necrosis, Lipoma and Nasty Face, as well as smashing up some of Europe’s most prestigious gatherings of musical extremity. Expect the sort of cultured violence that historically hails comes that part of the continent to show no mercy to Bolton.
From a little closer to home come Norfolk’s Vast Slug, who, after numerous EPs and single, issued their Driving Music debut album last year. Featuring a thirty-song roster, including the likes of Your Boyfriend Has a Micro-Penis, You Must Be A Piñata Because I'd Need To Be Blindfolded Before I Hit That, and Flat Earth Fuckwit, the Slug might just strip paint from anything within close proximity, while delivering mirth-filled ditties.
In as late replacements for Manchester’s Repel, is Wakefield’s Dychosis, who also released their debut album last year. An Exhibition of Human Brutality followed six years after the Sadistic Killing Machine EP and is a collection of Old School Death Metal with some thrashing added for good measure. Heck, they even throw in some atmospheric guitars into The Fourth Kind, just to give the listener time to catch their breath.
From the east Midlands come Nagasaki Birth Defect, whose self-titled debut celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2025, yet which still sounds a good today as it did back them. Blending progressive ambient grind with death and sludge, theirs is something of a misanthropic stance, with grinders like Trust No One, No Sign of Intelligent Life and The Worst Kind of Human Being, which features a funky bassline. Oxygen Thief pretty much sums it all up, as does the combined fourteen-second Cunt trilogy, including Shit.., You Fucking…, and Vladimir Putin is a….
Also in from the east Midlands – they may be sharing transport with NBD, who knows? – come Nottingham three-piece, Drēor. With a couple of EPs beneath their belt, the band’s output is more atmospheric than it is blistering with speed. Impressive progress can be heard between the two years of the debut, The Terror Rises’ old school vibes, and 2025’s Hell’s Kitchen, which has a more confident feel; and I always appreciate an alliterative song title, here we have Blood & Bourbon Pancreatic Parfait and Legume Lobotomy. Classic.
Opening the whole thing at six-o’clock sharp – or as near to it as the logistics allow – will be the widely influenced Culchie, incorporating blast-beats, thrash and Jungle – possibly heard on Kurupt FM – from the always popular people who brought you Grindcore Cake Makers.
Sure to be one of the most important musical events happening in Bolton that night, we at The Razor’s Edge are proud to sponsor Grind Before Death’s sheer insanity, and if it’s a fraction of the fun Grind After Death was last year, then I can’t image a better way to spend ten of the king’s pounds.
And give us back our sausages!
