There are many metal bands called Third Degree, but this Polish one is the only one I actually know due to their connections with Antigama, NYIA and Herman Rarebell. I never actually heard the band, so when their full length Punk Sugar arrived at our office I was anxious to take a peek. Here’s what I think of it.

 

Third Degree is a grindcore band. But just like the other two bands I mentioned in the intro, it is not a standard blastbeat grindcore band, but one which tries to look further at the possibilities of this extreme genre. They do this by adding a sort of punkish rock ‘n’ roll attitude, and by creating experimental song structures in the vein of Antigama. Overall this gives a refreshing sound, but it doesn’t totally convince me to be honest.

 

The production and mixing of this album has been handled very well, so the sound you hear is quite accessible. My main problem is that the songs don’t stick around in my head, they just pass by one at a time and before I know it, the album is over. I support their choice in trying something different with grindcore by trying to create a sound of their own. But in the end it just doesn’t grab me by the balls, and that is something that extreme metal should do I think. Good try, but not quite yet.