Northern California’s vibrant music scene has given us some truly remarkable hardcore and extreme metal acts recently. Within the last 9 months we’ve been introduced to bands like Punch, Loma Prieta, and Deafheaven, to name a few. All of them similarly vicious, abrasive, and grimy enough to suggest the sounds of Bay Area bands are growing on a much more organic and tribal level than most cities nowadays. Out of this grind-centered scene comes Fatal Birth, the newest Nor’ Cal’ incarnation pushing decibel levels to new heights. Their self-titled debut EP is a five minute burst of grind, death, and power-violence inspired hardcore and has its hand directly on the pulse of Northern California underground music.

In the short duration of their debut EP, Fatal Birth unleashes into a noisy fury and constant intensity, switching between speed driven tirades and slow, pounding rhythms. The guitar creates an impervious wall of sound, which along with distorted vocals and fuzzed out bass, gives each song a dark and menacing aesthetic. In the midst of the chaos, there are brief moments (like in “Second Coming”) where the intensity isn’t dialed down, but is mixed with new elements (like using more than the top two strings of the guitar) that makes the song stand out among the rest. Those moments are brief though and it’s unfortunate the band doesn’t indulge in them a little more.

My only qualm with Fatal Birth is that there approach is almost identical to bands that are hot to this neo-grind sound, especially Nails. A lot of moments on this EP could very easily be out-takes of Unsilent Death, which isn’t such a bad thing since Nails is a great band, but it’s definitely not new. However, given that this is their first release, it’s really not a bad place for them to start. Fatal Birth should be an interesting band to watch as this sound starts to gain more notoriety and the band matures along with it.