Grind with banjos. I’ll let that sink in for a minute; actual grind… with actual banjos. OK? You ready now? I’ve had the honour of reviewing this before elsewhere, but due to the format it was about as long as this opening paragraph, and I never had chance to say about it what I wanted to!

I’m a massive fan of grind, but after a while it can sound a bit samey; however, here, Matthew Widener (of Exhumed, County Medical Examiners and Cretin) provides a one man’s idea of a different approach. Described as both experimental and post-grind, Liberteer has a lot of the familiar elements that most grind fans will be comfortable with. Relentless blastbeats provide the background of short sharp tracks punctuated by gruff vocals; reminiscent of course of Napalm Death.  Where it differs, however, and what keeps this from monotony is its excellent use of instruments like flutes, horns and of course, the BANJO.

Evocative of civil war era patriotism that you generally hear in Hollywood productions, it runs the risk of sounding cliché; and people have been put off by its ‘cheesyness’. However, I find it to be utilised extremely well; it never takes over, but actually comes to compliment the tracks perfectly. As the horn blows you can almost imagine the southerners lining up… but it builds up, growing in intensity, and then…. full on grind assault, back to familiarity and comfort. The transitions are almost seamless, tied together with excellent use of melody, and it is that element that keeps you interested.

Even if not a fan of those elements, the grind is also done extremely well, and so it should to prevent this from being a gimmick. The overall production is extremely crusty, but it helps provide clarity between the crusty grind sections and generally sharper folk. The riffing is extremely intense, interspersed with melodic elements that bring it all together and give the blasting some direction. The vocals have the elements they should, guttural; though occasionally a bit monotonous as they lack much dimension. However, they’re understandable, and they probably should be to highlight, as it’s grind, the politics. The message matches the music, anarchy and revolution; reaching for total freedom.

Overall it ticks a lot of boxes for me, I love my grind, but I also enjoy something a little different from time to time. By combining brilliant grindcore with something I generally wouldn’t have listened to (folk), it is a release that really stands out to me.