‘Deaden thoughts indoctrinate, Brainwashing kept sedate, Molded to robotic sludge, Blind to what you’ve become’ (Deathmask)

Portland’s Frenzy have been honing their own particular brand of noise-fuelled hardcore for well over a decade now, and Beyond The Edge Of Madness is their second full-length following 2019’s self-titled album.  Drawing with relish on influences from late 1980s’ UK hardcore, the band continue to fashion these inspirations into something very distinctively their own.

The defining aspects are, perhaps, the semi-shouted, hoarsely rhythmic vocals together with a relentlessly morphing rhythm section that injects a constantly shape shifting, barrelling dynamism to the band’s delivery.  Meanwhile, the rapid-fire guitars prove partial to recklessly exuberant solos and even flourishes of enticingly off-kilter melody.

Lyrically, the album takes a bleakly humorous view of our current malaise spanning social media contagion (Collective Psychosis), economic exploitation (Deathmask), climatic breakdown (Poison World, Zero Population), and sub-standard beverages (Sewer Cider).  My personal highlights are the utterly infectious Poison World and Urban Alienation, with its swirling vortex of anarcho-punk tinged vocals, scorching solos, and martial drumming punctured by ferocious blast beat eruptions.