The first and the last. After a slew of EPs, demos and splits, including a 7″ with Drainland last year, Floridian grinders Cellgraft have unleashed their first LP and with it have announced that they are calling it a day with their last show on September 1st in Tampa. But talk about going out in a blaze of glory. Cellgraft’s LP is a totally belligerent and caustic grindcore affair that marks another wholly impressive LP to the already striking list of grind records that have landed this year.

Predictably short, the LP clocks in at about 12 scant minutes with 17 tracks all in typical Cellgraft fashion. That’s the other tragedy here. It’s only 12 minutes and it passes by oh so quick, hardly a surprise given the ferocious velocity of the music. However, the LP opens with False Sequence of Value, which is the album’s longest song, at just over two minutes, commencing with slow dirge-like sludgy riffs that act as the calm before the storm. Before long, Weapon Abuse has entered the fray with 26 seconds of searing grind. Vocals cascade between guttural growls and stinging shrieks and screams. The vocal attacks on this album are some of the finest of the year so far as the hail keeps coming at you from all directions.

While the rapid fire may seem endlessly unforgiving at this stage, the band throws the brief reprieve of Deformed Resonations your way, slowing things down for (and mark these words) a couple of seconds. If anything, it lulls you into a false sense of security only to quickly remind you that each passage is ephemeral and before you realise it, the burning blasts recommence.

On all their records, Cellgraft have pushed their extremity to new levels of scathing intensity. This LP marks a staggering climax for the band, harnessing all their strengths into a concentrated pipe bomb of unrelenting grindcore contained within an agonisingly short 12 minutes. And unfortunately, it marks the end of this great band.

Drop-d Rating: 8/10

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The LP is available for a name your price download