Child Abuse – Cut and Run (2010) [Lovepump United] // Grade: A-

29 minutes of monsterously dirty speed-sludge, lurking from middle earth, hulking, slaying—no breaks, no prisoners—and holy shit, my muscles are sore. The silence is shocking. So much clear, white and unencumbered absence of noise, and I’m deaf to it—still bracing for impact even after Cut and Run closer “Froze Toes” stomps away like some demon giant with nothing left to set on fire. And it’s not the same as Pig Destroyer impact (though Child Abuse have toured with them), the Locust impact (them too) or even the impact of the band’s 2007 debut. Cut and Run has something fresh about it; some grown up and impossible terror.

So what do we call it? Grind. Noisegrind. Post-San Diego electrogrind, because so much of Cut and Run is, like Ghengis Tron before it, a less aesthetic version of the city’s Three One G-fueled heyday. It even owes a bit to Throbbing Gristle and Einsturzende Neubauten; Child Abuse may not actually play scrap metal, but the way they manipulate synths, the screeching, pulsing, catastrophic scream of them…man, you’d never know it. If the songs aren’t possessed and panicked (“Hold This”, “Cut and Run”), they’re straight-on invasive (“Bebe”), and sometimes, like apex “Opportunity Point”, everything at once: guttural wails and whispers, theramin-like squeals, sludgy bass, freak-out beats, kitchen sink and all.

And I want to say it needs to be longer. I wish it were longer. Child Abuse are on a serious stride, and it begs another listen, a desperate what-will-they-do-next. But more than 29 minutes of their four-dimensional assault would be overkill. Violence for the sake of it. Gnawing on a bleeding fever blister just to make it bleed more, grinding your teeth to cringe at the noise, slamming your fist through a window just to hear the shatter and pop, but you’ll be sore tomorrow. Mark my words: you’ll be sore tomorrow.

- Rue Sauvage