GREAT GRIND IS FLOURISHING

Photo by Alyssa Scheinson

Last night I got to check out NYC death-grind trio Flourishing when they played a record release show for their new EP, A Momentary Sense of the Immediate World. A sort-of-but-not-really new project from Wetnurse project guitarist Garett Bussanick (who also handles vocals here), Flourishing went on pretty early and the crowd in the always-sweaty basement of Cakeshop was much smaller than a band this good deserves, but they still ripped.

Flourishing’s music is like the aural equivalent of being repeatedly penetrated with quick, short stabs from a dull, rusty, knife. There’s a constant contrast between that which is sharply in-focus and that which is painfully out-of-focus, like a series of fast camera-racks. One minute the band comes on like a dull, throbbing headache, and then suddenly they’re a mad scientist with an eyedropper full of acid. In other words, Flourishing are evil, but so is every other band like them; it’s the bi-polar manner in which they’re evil that makes them interesting. Tracks like “Fixture” and “Watching Sparrows” are dirty and polished at the same time. It’s a tricky balancing act, but these guys make it seem effortless. No wonder their MySpace page lists bands as disparate as Immolation, Godflesh and Deadguy as influences.

And, on a much simpler level, they’ve just managed to write some great fucking songs. A Momentary Sense of the Immediate World is only five tracks totaling less than seventeen minutes of music, but the strength of the song craft will instill within you a temptation to just leave it on repeat for multiple spins.

You really should check this band out. A Momentary Sense of the Immediate World comes out this Tuesday, March 30 on The Path Less Traveled Records. Crustcake has an interview with Bussanick, and a FREE mp3 download of “Watching Sparrows.” And for the third time in this one article, here’s a link to Flourishing’s MySpace page.

-AR