If you've got cable and work nights or are unemployed, you may already know Phobia for their appearance on RealTV, where bassist Bruce Reeves (replaced on 'Cruel' by Leon del Muerte of Intronaut, Exhumed, etc.) smashed a guy in the head with his bass at a show in Japan. The clip and ensuing commentary from Reeves and vocalist Shane McLachlan pretty much sum it up: "I got a swollen pinky, a swollen knuckle and my feelings hurt," McLachlan says with a subdued and smug sense of forthrightness that ironically accents his intense personality (and crappy sense of humour). 'Cruel', Phobia's debut release for Willowtip Records pretty much follows suit, offering, as the album's eponymous opener declaims, "no sympathy / no empathy / no remorse / just cruelty."

Try to set aside your pretenses and accept Phobia's cursory punk-politics and testaments to all things disorderly ("Loud, Proud and Punk as Fuck", "Drunken Spree of Violence", "Yankee Swine" "Ignorant American", etc.) with a sense of remove. The reward is a filthy-dirty, grindcore album that moves relentlessly through 21 songs in a just over 26 minutes of frenzied blast-beats (will somebody please start a Danny Walker appreciation thread?), power-chords and punk-rock grooves. Almost inexplicably I find myself gravitating to YouTube to check out car accidents, fight footage and skateboard bails over a flat Black Label Supreme that somebody left half-finished on the counter last night.

In terms of production, 'Cruel' towers almost embarrassingly over its predecessors. Scott Hull (Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Pig Destroyer, etc.) has capitalized 'Crust' for Phobia, giving just a touch of sheen to the band's abrasiveness and thereby proving that--trite though the statement may seem--presentation is everything. Don't believe me? Listen to the difference between 'Cruel' alongside its antecedent, 'Grind Your Fucking Head In'. Pre-Hull, Phobia's sound is something like a night at the Asbalt--dirty, sketchy and barely worth the trouble.


That said, this summer, grindcore is the new dancepunk, filthy skid is haute couture and 'Cruel' is an undeniably brilliant place to get on board.