I didn't become interested in Tetragrammacide because I think I'm cool, and I only like cool, mysterious metal. I got interested in Tetragrammacide because I'm a weirdo who likes weird shit. Even then, Tetragrammacide really rides a line between interesting and inscrutable for me.
What actually works as a guide to interpreting many of the images, sounds, and song titles the band dumps on the listener throughout the course of their debut LP Primal Incinerators of Moral Matrix is that this is a grindcore band, and like most grindcore bands, they are at some level consciously making something absurd- and that absurdity is meant to be amusing. I really don't need much more evidence for this than the West Bengal-based group's name. The word "Tetragrammacide" is a kind of collapsing of Hebrew and English, that doesn't make any sense on its own, but if you know how to read it right, basically means "Deicide." That gives you an idea of what you can expect here. Layered obfuscation and references to Kabbalistic teachings, Buddhist texts, and cult Christianity, melted together and reformed along with the scrappings of a Silicon Valley pitch deck to assemble impenetrable titles like "Cyberserking Strategic Kalpa-Terminator (Advanced Acausality Increment Mechanism)" and "Dismal Ramification of Metamathematical Marmas and Sandhi." If turns of phrase like these don't elicit a bemused (and rightfully confused) chuckle from you, then this might not be for you. There is some actual history and a certain logic behind these titles and the symbolism the band employs, but I'll be damned if it isn't principally bestowed with a rueful smirk.
Beyond all this strangeness, the music on Primal Incinerators of Moral Matrix is really quite good and a cut above their debut EP Typhonian Wormholes: Indecipherable Anti-Structural Formulæ in everything from conception, design, and rendition. Think Napalm Death if they were attempting to saber-rattle a war metal group like Blasphemy and just way, way overboard. They list Goatpenis and Nuclearhammer as inspirations, which provide some illuminating insights, even if I'm not sure anything either band has done is as sonically swift, dirty, and chaotically violent as Tetragrammacide is on their debut. Amazingly for a grindcore band, a many of these tracks crack the 5-minute mark. This means that you're going to have plenty of time with each of these ominous omnibuses of harsh sounds and weird religious references to soak of the audacity and contemplate your divine punishment.
At the end of the day, Primal Incinerators of Moral Matrix is a competent, brutal, and wholly unique record, that you should give at least one full spin, if you haven't already. However, if you start hearing chanting from the shadows of your apartment at night or voices in your head speaking in uninterpretable tongues afterward, don't panic. These are likely only temporary side effects of the album (probably). If they persist with time, consult a priest, or a local underpass dwelling hobo. They might not be able to help, but they'll at the very least believe you.
Primal Incinerators of Moral Matrix is out via Iron Bonehead.
