The wait is finally over. Grind titans Gridlink have finally begun to set details in concrete for their upcoming and enigmatic swansong, Longhena.
Gridlink, featuring members of Phobia, Burnt By The Sun and the legendary Discordance Axis, have lain dormant for a couple of years now, slowly drip-feeding us information about Longhena. With the initial expected release date of ‘Winter 2013’ having come and gone without much fanfare, the group unleashed a whole torrent of information upon us just before Christmas, including release dates and other information.
The confirmation comes courtesy of a compilation hosted over at Invisible Oranges that showcases music, new and old, from three record labels: Handshake Inc., Mutants Of The Monster and Alternative Tentacles. Included within is a brand new minute-long trek into the world of ‘surprisingly melodic’ grindcore by the name of ‘Ketsui’ and some accompanying notes, stating: “‘Ketsui’ is from the forthcoming and final Gridlink album, Longhena, which will be out on February 19th on vinyl and as a digital download in North America, and on CD in Japan (Disk Union) and CD in Europe (Selfmadegod).” All previous material from the group was released through the, now sadly defunct, Hydra Head label.
The most important news of all however, comes from the comments of a Facebook post from earlier in the year, that reveals Longhena totals a running time of nearly 22 minutes. Doesn’t sound like much, but to put that into perspective, that’s nearly as long as the rest of the band’s entire recorded output!
