Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Altered States of America

Agoraphobic Nosebleed was born out of Scott Hull's inability to find an insanely fast and talented drummer in his local Massachusetts area. Inspired by bands like Godflesh and Ministry, Scott wanted to create a band which took industrial and brought it to a pace which is even faster than your average grindcore band.

Four years later, their debut, Honky Reduction, appeared on Relapse. It almost got lost among a slew of releases from similar bands liek Benumb, Nasum, and Blood Duster. A split EP with Converge (Poacher Diaries) came the next year, but it wasn't until 2002's Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope when Agoraphobic Nosebleed really started making some serious waves.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed have always courted controversy and their songs rarely approach even the one minute mark, but when they went and recorded Altered States of America, Agoraphobic Nosebleed have made an album that stuffs one hundred songs into a three inch disc which does not last for twenty minutes. Only opening 1:47 "Wonder Drug Wonderland" manages to last for more than one minute and most of the songs average about six seconds. One the surface this would appear to be a gimmick and perhaps cramming one hundred songs on here is a gimmick, but this is a band which has true talent and an ear for innovation. Their confrontational lyrics are meant to make you think and they are simply unrelenting. I can't wait to see what they will do next.