I do not know if I ever stated this idea before on this blog, but there are cases where I would give a bands discography a higher rating than the average of the individual album ratings. Case in point: Full of Hell. Full of Hell as a band is an easy 8 or 9/10 for me, but I would grant few of their albums and EP’s similar scores, if any. Full of Hell have, despite constant output, always sought out new and interesting ways of expression within their sound and I appreciate that about them. Even if, more often than not, they come just a tad short of true greatness on an album to album basis.
Broken Sword, Rotten Shield is the newest entry in Full of Hell’s eclectic musical canon. In a way, it’s a continuation of the bands previous record, which explored more noise rock-oriented textures inspired by ’90s outfits like Helmet or The Jesus Lizard. At a greatly reduced tempo to earlier grind-speed works, the bass region finds favor on a production level and Full of Hell favors riffs that are groove-leaning, angular but — less textural and percussive. With a midtempo strum, Broken Sword, Rotten Shield does not strike in all-out aural assault. And, frankly, it works. I enjoy this facet of their evolving sound, and the bite-sized song-lengths help in not letting the material grow stale.
The issue with Full of Hell has always been that the lack of a creative filter means that whatever material they write will likely feature on the finished album. Full of Hell are the King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard of grindcore, in a way, albeit overall much more cohesive (and successful) in sound. This lack of a creative filter led Full of Hell to include two industrial interludes on the album, taking up considerable space on a release so short and otherwise driving. I enjoy these industrial excursions on a song by song basis, but the issue is how they relate to the release’s pacing. Momentum builds only for it to come to an, ironically, grinding halt abruptly. Whenever I get into a moshing groove during the quasi-hardcore punk chugs of “From a Dog’s Mouth, A Blessing”, said groove gets interrupted for two minutes of I would call “atmosphere” — if I was fond of the track. Broken Sword, Rotten Shield is full of cool songs, but I am not rating seven songs individually and taking the average – I am rating an EP. And as an EP, Broken Sword, Rotten Shield is structurally flawed, at least to a degree — mirroring the relationship between my assessment of the band itself and their discography.
