Totalis — Griefstate. as reviewed by Mark J. "masterful audio torture"

Totalis — Griefstate (Phobia Records)

On paper, Totalis reads like a fantasy-league crust band — Mark "Barney" Greenway of Napalm Death and Fredrik Wallenberg of Skitsystem splitting vocal duties, Charlie Claesson of Anti Cimex on drums, Andy Lefton of War//Plague on guitar, Kelly Halliburton of Severed Head of State on bass. Supergroups built on paper this stacked usually collapse under their own hype, or worse, sound like a victory lap.

Griefstate is neither. It sounds like exactly what it apparently was: two friends, Lefton and Claesson, trading riffs back and forth since New Year's Day 2024 until the project outgrew being a side thing.

Six tracks, vocal duties split cleanly down the middle — three with Greenway, three with Wallenberg — and the alternation keeps the record from ever settling into a single register. Greenway's tracks ("The Power of Plight," "Theory in Practice," "Dead Legacy") hit with the savage barked urgency you'd expect; Wallenberg's side ("Corpse of Mind," "Control the Narrative," "Somnolent") leans grimier, more vehement, d-beat-driven, closer to Skitsystem's own lineage. It's a record that honours everyone's day-job bands without ever feeling like a tribute act to them — genuinely political, genuinely fast, and entirely uninterested in being a nostalgia exercise for people who grew up on Anti-Cimex records.

These six tracks are the opposite of corporate supergroups thrown together for fame. This is blistering and perfect for fans of any of these foundation bands the members hail from, whilst sounding insanely urgent, yet modern and original. Please give us a whole album of this masterful audio torture.

https://phobiarecords.bandcamp.com/album/totalis-griefstate-lp

https://www.instagram.com/totalis_official/