You Can Be My Wave

Fans of chaotic mathcore and grindcore are probably pretty happy to see The Sawtooth Grin continuing on with their second act; dropping a new EP to follow-up 2022's awesome Good. While Jabberwocky is just as wild and thrilling sonically, I sadly didn't see much of a point with these four songs, other than for the band to paint themselves into a tight corner. What this EP makes blatantly obvious is that The Sawtooth Grin have a default setting which can be characterized by Jason Springman's angular, syncopated riffs, and Jon Karel's frenzied mashing on the drums. Karel's approach is to ensure that every inch of space is taken up by trashy cymbals, kick drums, and calculated snare work where endless ghost notes are peppered in between whip-crack, double-tap accents. Sure, each song has tiny rhythmic variations, but there is nowhere near enough differentiation to keep all these songs from sounding a rehash of the same ideas. On Good., there were some groovy detours and some more easily digestible riffs that led to some memorable moments which saved the record from being too one-dimensional. However, I can't say Jabberwocky was as successful in that regard.

With that said, I still find the musicianship to be top notch. Even DJ Scully has moments to shine on the bass with standout moments like the gnarly bass fills towards the end of The Brown Recluse. The final track, The Meadow, the only attempt by the band to break away from their norm, begins by trading guitars for piano. DJ Scully plays a woozy line on fretless bass and Karel turns the snares off to create a tribal drum ensemble. Rich Lombardi briefly retires his earache-inducing shrieks to perform some spoken word with distant yells layered behind. As much as the band's bread and butter still rips, and is sure to satisfy any hardcore fans of these genres, I personally wish that the band expanded their instrumental palette a little more often. I'm hoping that The Sawtooth Grin finds a new angle for their next release.