Review: Gridlink – Coronet Juniper

Style: Technical grindcore (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Pig Destroyer, Beaten to Death, Bloody Cumshot
Review by: Zach
Country: US-NJ
Release date: 15 September, 2023

Let’s talk grindcore. Out of all the subgenres of extreme music, grindcore is quite possibly my least favorite. I find it what most people think death metal to be: noise without purpose. When I was going down the rabbit hole of my music taste getting heavier and heavier, I hit a bit of a roadblock when listening to Napalm Death. I thought…well, this is garbage. Turns out, there are exactly three good grindcore bands in existence, and they all share a member. Jon Chang–of Discordance Axis, No One Knows What the Dead Think, and Gridlink–is one of the few people of the scene who has my undying respect. Not just because of his taste in anime (and excellent vocals), but because all of the projects he’s attached to drip quality like no other grind albums.

Gridlink is a strange band to say the least. Their album prior, Longhena, long (hena) remains my favorite grindcore album of all time because of how out there it is. It’s melodic in the strangest way possible, littered with post-rock melodies, and even has a violin at some points. It’s about as close to prog as grindcore has ever been, and I was heartbroken to find out Gridlink had been disbanded for years after I’d found them. Furthermore, guitarist Takefumi Matsubara suffered a brain infection resulting in total paralysis of his left hand, ending his musical career on a high note that left me wanting more…

…until he recovered. My eyes practically bugged out of my head when I saw Willowtip’s notification on my phone saying a new album from Gridlink was coming. Lead single ‘Silk Ash Cascade’ told me all I needed to know. The melodic leads of the intro, Bryan Farjardo’s absolutely insane drumming, and an actually clear mix that gave Mauro Cordoba’s bass plenty of time to shine. Gridink were fucking back, with a mecha on their album cover no less. I just know these guys have been playing Armored Core 6. 

Turns out, those nearly ten years in hibernation was just so the rest of the scene could catch up. Gridlink have catapulted themselves so far ahead of everyone else, once again. This is a grind album with purpose, infectious melodies cover all nineteen blistering minutes of this album’s runtime, some that got stuck in my head for days afterward. Despite all the melody, and dare I say, epic and sweeping feel to this album, they don’t sacrifice any of the aggression or abrasion for beauty.

What I love about this album can be summed up in the track ‘Ocean Vertigo’. At a grand two minutes and forty-five seconds, it’s practically the closest we’ll ever get to a grindcore epic. If you listen to the karaoke version (which the band have kindly included with every copy), you’ll find that Matsubara’s guitarwork is incredibly melodic for grindcore, and him slowing it down (for gindcore, anyway) adds to the song’s dramatic, violin-laden crescendo. Matsubara is honestly the star of the show on this album because he knows when to take a break from the constant tremolo assaults. In the rhythmic department, Farjardo’s unrelenting blasts and seemingly infinite fills keep the energy high, even when Matsubara chills out for a whole eighth of a minute.

The whole nineteen-minute Beam Saber-to-the-face leaves this album sitting at just the right runtime for a grind album, and it leaves me wanting more. The only flaw I can possibly find in this otherwise masterful album is the treble-heavy guitar tone. I would’ve liked something more bass heavy, like No One Knows What the Dead Think. However, even if you don’t like grind, I’d recommend checking this one out. I may even regret the rating I’m about to give in favor of .5 higher. I know my comrade Andy is gonna have the complete opposite opinion, so you can read his hate-filled rant against fun and good albums below. Or you could just listen to Coronet Juniper. I’d say go with the latter.

Final verdict: 8.5/10

Review by: Andy

In the long, illustrious history of extreme metal, no genre has been worse than grindcore. In total, six bands have been worth my time including deathgrind: Cattle Decapitation, Okazaki Fragments, Bloody Cumshot, Knoll, Strigoi, and Gutslit. Zach swore that Gridlink would join that exclusive list… He was wrong.

There’s a lot to admire about Coronet Juniper–from the viciously melodic, swaggering guitar parts to the manic energy intrinsic to grindcore, Gridlink bring it all to the table for a thrilling nineteen minutes. Like a good grind band, Gridlink waste not even a second, the opener “Silk Ash Cascade” starting things off right with a searing hot, punky-tech riff that reminds me of Protest the Hero, and the bass underneath ties all the chaos together. Especially notable is the song structure with a theme actually developed, an oddity in the grind-sphere where “You Suffer” (Napalm Death) is considered a classic. Other tracks also flash several techniques and riff-styles in their diminutive runtimes. “Anhalter Bahnhof” uses a melodic tremolo to stand out from the intensity; “Ocean Vertigo” has a sweet little guitar solo and demonstrates that drummer Bryan Fajardo can do more than incessantly blast; and “The Forgers Secede” uses swirling little guitar parts to overwhelm the senses in a more creative way than the stereotypical onslaught of grind. 

But I’ll be damned if Gridlink don’t overdo the onslaught. Obviously, I expect the band to have everything dialed up to eleven at all times, but the blast beats and ripping vocals of Jon Chang become grating almost immediately. Sporting a dynamic range of four, Coronet Juniper is obnoxiously loud and upfront about it, and the vocals still drown out everything else–thank god for the included karaoke versions I guess–and the drum tone is classic grindcore and sounds atrocious to my distinguished prog ear. Gridlink are performing at their best when they lean into the melodic, technical aspect of their sound, and while flashes of Bloody Cumshot and other aggressive yet melodic grind come through, the band always switches back to the droning cacophony of blast beats and screeches. Coronet Juniper often comes across as evoking intensity for its own sake by forcing mountains of noise into every second rather than crafting the feeling through anxiety-inducing riffs or sheer intimidating structures. Even at a prim nineteen minutes, Coronet Juniper fatigues my ears like little else. 

I wanted to love this album, I truly did. I think that the melodic sections and overall energy are out-of-this-world cool, but the production choices and relentlessly abrasive vocals hamper any enjoyment I can glean from this. In the storied history of grindcore, Gridlink is certainly a band to look out for, but thus far they’ve failed to expand my list of six to a list of seven. 

Final Verdict: 5/10

Recommended tracks: Silk Ash Cascade, Nickel Grass Mosaic, Ocean Vertigo, The Forgers Secade
You may also like: No One Knows What the Dead Think, Discordance Axis

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page

Label: Willowtip Records – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Gridlink is:
– Jon Chang (vocals)
– Takefumi Matsubara (guitars)
– Bryan Farjardo (drums)
– Mauro Cordoba (bass)