Crom
Satyricon
Portland, OR
In my mind, the best part of the festival is witnessing a band you've never heard of perform. So, on the recommendation of my friend, I decided to go to the tiny, dank surroundings of Satyricon to witness the Los Angeles, California grind/thrash band, Crom.
I'm usually not the biggest supporter of the grindcore genre. It is quite unsettling, but when the monster breakdowns hit, they can generally make up for half the damage the song had been inflicting up until that point. But Crom turned out to be much more pleasant than your average grindcore band. The antics of Crom, in all of their abrasive, vile natures, turned out to be quite humorous.
This is largely based on the band's stage banter. One guitarist was saying, "Thank you so much for coming out," after every song, while the lead singer Will Helphin made it his personal mission to insult every member of the audience. Most of what he said cannot be reprinted for good taste's sake, but the banter was rather sexist and misogynistic overall. But the juxtaposition of the intensity of the grind/thrash sounds pummeling your ears with the absolute hilarity, albeit -– absolutely disgusting shock hilarity -- of Helphin's banter had me laughing non-stop.
Crom is just one of those bands you have to see for yourself, just once. Then make your own decisions.P
Reviewed on 09/19 by Peter Woodburn
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