Bleach Garden – Parasite

This is my first encounter with these powerful grunge rockers from Atlanta, Georgia and the second full-length album called Parasite has left me speechless. If you grew up listening to a Seattle grunge scene during the 90s like myself, then you’ll probably remain speechless as soon as you spin their brilliant record. By taking all the essential elements of the 90s grunge, noise rock, stoner and 70s hard rock, this trio is taking one of the crucial genres to another level with a lot more complexity, melodies, and fuzziness than their predecessors. It takes more than simple phrases to express all the elements Bleach Garden has implemented in their music, but bands like Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Kyuss, Melvins, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath played a major role in their musical development, so these fine musicians took all those sonic particles and assembled surprisingly good album which will impress all the fans of grunge music. Parasite sounds maniacal, chaotic, aggressive, but also melodic and calmy, depending on the emotions these musicians wanted to convey at the present moment, without leaving room for breathing. Bleach Garden showcased all the power of the grunge music, packed in hectic numbers full of claustrophobic, paranoid, almost schizophrenic moments which enlighten the future of this almost forgotten genre. Besides great fuzzy distorted guitars, crunchy basslines, and magnificent drumming capabilities, vocals are also playing key roles in the sound of this band with all the impressive dualities which reminded me of Kurt Cobain’s vocals at some moments. Parasite is accompanied by the great artwork comprised of both anatomical and floral elements, but the graphic artist who’s responsible for this piece of art also paid a great tribute to the cover artworks of the 90s grunge era with some background textures and fonts. Parasite is currently available at Bleach Garden’s Bandcamp page, but I truly hope this album will get a well-deserved vinyl treatment in the nearest future. Until then, enjoy it digitally and do not forget to support the work of this astonishing band.