Deathgrind Newcomers Shock Withdrawal Hark Back to the Old School

Shock Withdrawal, a new deathgrind outfit featuring members of Maruta, Mos Generator, Turbid North, The Destro and Contracult Collective, have unveiled “Despair Ratio,” the visceral new single from their forthcoming self-titled debut EP.

By the band’s own admission — and to the delight of these old ears — their music is a tribute to their extreme metal heroes from yesteryear. Guitarist Nick Emde commented on the new project: 

“The idea for the band goes back in time when me and Jono [Garrett, drums] were obsessing on extreme metal of the late eighties and nineties. Bands like Nasum, Brutal Truth, Lock up and Soilent Green. We couldn’t get enough of it and wanted to form a band of our own based on those types of influences. We moved apart from each other and time goes on.. Right before Covid we started talking about getting something going and through the exchange of riffs and drums via email across the country the band was formed. After a few demos and through the thoughts of finding a singer only one person came to mind and that was Mitch [Luna, of Maruta]. His vocal style was spot on, he was already a friend and his Latino attitude was just what we needed! As soon as the lineup was situated we got the process going. Jono recorded the drums in Texas and the rest was done in L.A.” 

The EP was recorded by Emde’s Contracult Collective bandmate Travis Bacon at Svart Sound and mastered by Arthur Rizk (Power Trip, Cavalera Conspiracy, Municipal Waste, Turnstile) with artwork by Primitive Man’s Ethan Lee McCarthy.

Shock Withdrawal comes out on March 4 on cassette (Brutal Panda), CD (Selfmadegod), and digital formats while a 7” (Roman Numeral) is slated for later in April. Pre-orders are available here.