Telling someone these days that you listen to grindcore metal is almost like admitting you enjoy French-kissing light sockets. (No, Doctor, I don't do that anymore; I'm married.) The look you get from some of the people you tell this to is kind of like the look your dog gives you when you feed it peanut butter. How could anyone like music which sounds like the soundtrack for the slaughter of a goat, they may wonder.

Well, truth be told, I can't explain why I like grindcore. I mean, it's easier to decipher a financial briefing from Alan Greenspan after he's had a dozen banana daiquiris than trying to make sense of the grunts, bellows and screams. But I can't help myself; I like grindcore. I like the energy that's poured into the songs and the raw electricity of the instruments.

Take the group Failed Humanity, for instance. Unlike many of their fellow bands, this quintet isn't afraid to take a song and stretch it into the five or six-minute ranges - something once unheard of for this style of music. Their debut effort The Sound Of Razors Through Flesh shows a group who are still learning all the quirks of each individual in the band, but have what it takes to be a major player in a very specialized field of music.

The group - vocalist Adam Catchpole, guitarists Matt Hoban and Dan Beadle, bassist Al Todd and drummer Zac O'Neil - often lay down tempos that would give a metronome a heart attack. Deciphering Catchpole? Maybe in another lifetime. Trying to keep up with the dual guitar attack? You first, buddy. Yet, despite the complexities of the band, they are able to create music which is surprisingly approachable, and easy to get sucked into on just the first listen.

Tracks like "Unleashed Defiance," "To Die A Thousand Times" and the title track all demonstrate the brute force this group has musically, while showing that they can indeed write a song that is recognizable through the feedback, screaming and cymbal crashings. For the fans who have followed this genre for some time, Failed Humanity might just be like a cold bottle of water thrown into the middle of a mosh pit.

Granted, The Sound Of Razors Through Flesh isn't the kind of album for everyone - but, then again, you probably wouldn't grab this as an impulse buy while walking through Best Buy. The true devotee of grindcore will enjoy smashing their heads into the wall to this one, while the uneducated simply watch and wonder just what is going on. Ah, well... to each their own.

Rating: B

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