The newest release from Belgium's self proclaimed "Razor Grind" export LENG TCH'E finds the group a little less Grind and a little more Death Metal. The practice of Grindcore bands "graduating" to a more Metal-centric style is nothing new...NAPALM DEATH, BRUTAL TRUTH, and PIG DESTROYER have left behind their more-fast beginnings, opting for more variety that often finds the bands discovering a new, even more brutal style of music (see BRUTAL TRUTH's "Need to Control" or PIG DESTROYER's "Prowler in the Yard").

Sometimes, though, the band falls flat on their face (see NAPALM DEATH's output from 1994-1999), leaving the grinders out there to wonder just what in the hell happened. LENG TCH'E is fortunate enough to not invoke the rabid following of the aforementioned acts, giving them a little more leeway while they are under the radar. The band has matured, no doubt, but that doesn't change the fact that "Marasmus" is a dull record. It's heavy. It's fast. It's void a personality. The songs are indistinguishable from one another, all falling somewhere between half-baked Technical Death Metal and uninspired Metalcore, with no enthusiasm or real reason for being.

"Marasmus" finds LENG TCH'E shifting gears for the sake of shifting gears. It lacks the conscious decision and genuine vision of a "Need to Control" or a "Prowler in the Yard", which not only pushed their respective makers into genius-like realms, but the genre itself. LENG TCH'E just doesn't have the chops to churn out anything more than mediocre ill-defined Deathgrind slop, and that's what they've done with "Marasmus". Rediscover the Razors, fellas.