Yep, I mentioned 'Industrial'. Even though this is a brutal and ferocious piece of death metal and grindcore, there are loads of samples, keyboards and twisted electronics present. However, for the most part of course, this is just flesh ripping grindcore, often driving on continuously rolling bass drums and a pounding tempo. Yet, the combination of both genres, gives this album something extra, something unusual in this scene.
What it reminds me most of is a blend of Samael and Last Days Of Humanity, or Ministry and Haemorrhage or The Kovenant and Regurgitate. In 'Vassalage Grotesque' that combination reaches a stunning highlight, not only on this album but also in the grindcore scene. On the other hand, there might be a slight chance that true grindcore fans will frown upon the massive amount of electronics, but that's their problem, I don't think Grunt cares.
Besides, they shouldn't. This album is more death metal than the much hated 'Illud Divinum Insanus' ever was. If Morbid Angel would have recorded this 'Codex Bizarre', it would have been called a masterpiece. I liked 'Illud Divinum Insanus' a lot but I like the blasting chaos of this work by Grunt even more. It perfected the combination of death metal and industrial and for that I'm positive this album will become a classic in the evolution of extreme metal.
I perfectly understand why some people would disregard this album as being a betrayal of a genre ('ieuw, keyboards'), but those people should keep their narrowminded mouths shut. Stuff like this keeps a genre fresh and alive and it certainly helps to put Grunt on the map. Perhaps they now invented the new extreme metal trend of the near future. So check it out, as my good friend Paul would say, 'this is fucking sick and it fucking deserves your fucking attention'.
Serge