Mass Extinction – Never-Ending Holocaust

Militant vegan crustgrind duo Mass Extinction from New Jersey originally released their debut album Never-Ending Holocaust on tape and CD in 2020. The record was reissued for the first time on vinyl LP in January 2024 by Halenoise Records, Up The Punx, and Romantic Songs Recordings.

The album consists of ten tracks packed with unrelenting veganarchist rage. With a strong animal liberation message and an old-school crustgrind sound reminiscent of Destroy!, Extreme Nosie Terror, Disrupt, or Stàte of Feär, it’s delivered with utmost passion and aggression. The primary focus is on the mass exploitation of animals and the horrors of factory farming, but the band also targets any systems of oppression and terror, such as capitalism and the state, from which this injustice ultimately stems.

Mike and Tom, the main duo behind Mass Extinction, incorporate multiple audio clips from controversial vegan activists like Gary Yourofsky, emphasizing the band’s uncompromising convictions. Many of the lyrical themes are directly inspired by Charles Patterson’s book Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatments of Animals and the Holocaust, which alludes to the album’s name. The songs address a wide array of horrifying issues, including vivisection, the dairy industry, fur farming, and, most importantly, large-scale industrialized animal agriculture. The album serves as a misanthropic testimony of despondency and disgust with the current state of animal rights, while also tackling other issues connected with the anarchist cause, showcasing an intersectional view on modern political struggle.

The overall message is to persist, organize, arise, and fight to defend and liberate all animals, despite the current bleak circumstances. Sonically, this album is a perfect mix of crustcore’s ferocious energy and grindcore’s frenetic brutality. With a chainsaw-like buzzing guitar tone, a raw and distorted bass sound, and very intense (programmed) drumming that switches between frantic d-beats and barbaric blastbeats, Mass Extinction nails the crustgrind formula perfectly. The vocals are mostly vicious growls and grunts akin to John Pickering from early Doom or Disrupt’s Jay Stiles. At times, they reach lower, more guttural depths and occasionally deliver exceptional shrieking that many black metal vocalists would envy. The slower, sludgier parts align perfectly with the album’s message and atmosphere, providing refreshing diversity to a subgenre often seen as generic and repetitive. The riffs are mercilessly catchy and brutal, following no established rules and continuously buzzing until total grind annihilation is unleashed. The few solos on the album do it justice and showcase the band’s exceptional guitar work.

With the vitriolic madness of the tormented vocals and the technical proficiency of the other instruments, this record will surely become a classic in the genre. Never-Ending Holocaust will be remembered as an important touchstone, with few bands tackling these subjects so militantly and passionately while maintaining a strong compositional approach and unique sonic identity. While this is a staple of crust and political grindcore, not many acts tackle it so convincingly and in such a way, while maintaining unparalleled musical aggression and talent. (Some other current vegan grindcore/deathgrind bands that come to mind are Bloodmouth and Greia, which we reviewed a while back).

Recorded and mixed by Mass Extinction’s own Tom Maher (aka Skullbastard) and mastered by Scot Moriarty, with instruments tracked back in 2015 and vocals in 2017, Never-Ending Holocaust delivers a classic style of production yet sounds modern and up to today’s standards. Without losing its old-school grit, the record evokes the spirits of ’90s cult acts such as Rot, Agathocles, Dropdead, Assück, Masskontroll, and, of course, Disrupt. Featuring a classic ’80s anarcho-punk logo and circular artwork by Skullbastard/Devon Ray, the record’s aesthetic and layout are exceptional. All digital profits from the band’s Bandcamp page go to Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue in Wantage, NJ.

It is clear the band put significant effort into recording and presenting this release in the best way possible and in true DIY fashion. Clearly conceptual, this passion-driven veganarchist album is an ideal musical education on a vast array of topics and will undoubtedly quench every grindhead’s thirst for new and exciting crusty grindcore. Few bands today are so involved and staunchly dedicated to the animal liberation struggle, and even fewer deliver such a perfect outburst of crustgrind perfection. Go vegan, free the animals, support the ALF!