Insecticide
The four-man grind unit Insecticide has been in a continuous process of evolution. What emerged from the friendship and mutual interest in modern grind between singer Jon Egan and guitarist Ethan Kedem has metastasized into a fully-gassed vehicle accelerating toward musical devastation. Having spent the four years since their formation in 2022 clawing their way through consistent lineup shifts, the Philadelphia quartet stayed resilient, rounding out their current iteration with bassist Perrin Bauder and drummer Jeff Malt. With Egan going deeper than ever into the conceptual world that finds endless ties between humanity and insects, Insecticide are now poised to deliver their newest offering of simultaneously crushing and cerebrally themed grindcore on their new EP, Raid.
Raid, and the May-released single “It Came From The Drain,” b/w “Paralyzing Toxins,” see Insecticide stepping up their prowess and expanding past their last release, Consume This Vile World, which was only released in February 2025. Insecticide’s songwriting is only more annihilating; the band has pressed 10 tracks into 12 minutes of music as they expand upon their forever-influence of Dirge-era Wormrot to include bits of the lyrical yet brutal vocals of a band like Whoresnation, the riffage and tempos of further Eurogrind like Death Toll 80K, as well as that of Australian bands like Internal Rot and Meth Leppard. The newly placed rhythm section of Malt and Bauder push Insecticide past their early mince tendencies into legitimate shred and blast providence, but on songs like “Dead + Shitting,” “Goodbug,” and “Sex Pest,” the band shows they still appreciate the utility of a simple kick/snare mosh part. Additionally, Insecticide also embrace mince’s core meaning by interpreting the insect imagery and philosophy with humanity’s interpersonal cruelty and God-complex treatment of so-called “lesser species,” through a political lens that discusses real world anti-ICE and pro-immigration ideologies as well as likening zionists and the Israeli government to the most evil interpretation of exterminators.
Recorded and mixed by Armen Koroghlian at Red Mausoleum Recording and mastered by Jamie King, Insecticide’s new work is their highest fidelity performance to date. Red Mausoleum Recording is an invite-only studio, and it’s clear that Insecticide entered the recording process with no other intention than to capture a specific urgency that leaps out of the speakers from track one, even when the sonic onslaught is interrupted by irreverent but no less thematically appropriate samples. Raid, “It Came From The Drain,” and “Paralyzing Toxins,” will soon be available through Strange Mono Records, with all the money made going to Juntos, an organization providing aid for and defending the rights of Latine immigrants in Philadelphia.
