Album Review: Death Toll 80K - 'Step Down'

Troll 2 is one of those movies that often gets put on a pedestal when discussing the worst movies ever made, and while no doubt it can justifiably be considered a shit-can fire of a cinematic experience, I'd argue it as far from the bottom of the barrel. Here's why: you see, the cards were stacked against it from the beginning. No budget, a lack of talented actors/actresses, language barriers throughout the entirety of the script, time constraints, the foundation of the original content, etc. It's a typical low budget horror film only atypical in the cult following it's garnered for being so awkward to watch in it's pitiable presentation.

It's the major-motion picture misfires that have potentially everything going for them that I'd platter forth as far more reprehensible than the aforementioned underdog productions like Troll 2. Remember Spawn? Aliens vs. Predator? Each with source material in graphic novel form that was far more dark, violent and interesting than the watered-down, marketed bullshit that was released in cinema to the masses. Death Toll 80k's Step Down is akin to those movies with every opportunity going for them to be amazing. And while the album is not at all watered down per se, it does have the talent, the skill, the writing, and the production to be amazing, and instead delivers - what is to me - a Grind-accessible mediocrity that does more harm to the genre than good.

It's all - all of it - on the vocals. Now, granted I have niche' taste within the niche' of the genre. I find I typically lean towards an incorporation of intermittent highs and lows in a song to help offer both a variance in delivery as well as some depth in emotive impact, which Step Down has in spades, but the inane and banal one syllable at a time conveyance over what is some really good Grindcore and Power Violence music just feels wickedly lazy and slightly imbecilic. Added to which - and I really tried here - the syllables don't match up with the lyrics they're passing forth. As if they totally and completely phoned the vocals in over the top of what was already done as a complete after-thought, without any preconceived notion of lyrics or a message.  Then afterwards, it feels as if they penned some lyrics which, while I admit are rather decent, don't seem to fit at all with anything in the incomprehensible monosyllabic grunts and screams that are finalized in the mix.

There is a lot of Grindcore out there like this I get it, and I also GET it. For a lot of folks this is exactly their bag, but with all the recognition I see Death Toll 80K getting in the underground scene through the likes of under-the-radar websites way more legit than here, and various comments sections dealing with posts within the genre I personally expected a whole lot more. I hear the writing chops and production values of bands like Wormrot, and maybe even more-so Insect Warfare with the high-highs and low-lows with no in between on the vocal front, but with almost the same kind of sonic presentation look at how much more Insect Warfare or a band like Coffin Birth stand out in terms of dynamics and variation.  I'd be embarrassed to put this forward to someone on the fence about the genre as something to represent an already very discredited kind of music that I think is unique and deserving of more respect. I really don't mean to be so harsh, but I think it's because I can feel the goddamn potential there beaming like a hot flare locked away in a cellar. There's already an incalculable myriad of less-than mediocre, lazy garbage out there in Grindcore, these dudes have every bit of talent, creativeness and accessibility to raise the bar more than a few notches. Right now this just isn't my cup of tea I guess. Listen here and then berate me about how I listen to false Grindcore. No matter how I feel, I hope you dig it - and good on them for even doing it in the first place.