Release Date May 1st, 2026
Format Digital
Genre Grindcore
Origin United States
Choke Me started in Los Angeles, California in 2020, coming out of the West Coast underground with a grindcore base, hardcore urgency and metal violence in the riffing. Led by Wesley Richards, who handles songwriting, vocals and guitar work, the band has built its name on raw speed, political anger and a DIY attitude. Their themes deal with far-left politics, anarchy and working class rights, giving Choke Me a clear identity beyond simple noise worship.
With "A Violent Phenomenon", Choke Me releases a sharp and angry grindcore album through Riot Ready Records. The music is fast, hostile and stripped of useless decoration, mixing grindcore violence with hardcore urgency and metal riffing that goes straight for damage. The
sound is raw enough to keep the underground stink alive, while the mastering from Brad Boatright at Audiosiege gives the album a tougher final shape. It is not clean, pretty or polite, and that is the right call for this kind of release.
The album throws political and personal rage into one harsh package. Songs such as "No Investigation, No Right", "The Ballot Or The Bullet", "Prosperity Gospel" and "A Patient Cured Is A Customer Lost" show a band aiming at social rot, power structures and economic cruelty without dressing the message in fancy language. The vocals spit anger, the riffs come fast, and the drums keep the whole release in constant motion. Choke Me sound pissed off because the material needs that fire, not because they are chasing shock value.
The flaws surface when looking at the structural variety across the entire running time. At nearly forty minutes, a grindcore release faces the challenge of keeping the listener pinned to the floor without becoming predictable, and this album sometimes slips into a linear pattern. Few tracks in the middle section begin to blend together, utilizing very similar tempo changes and vocal patterns that lessen the shock value. Still, the underlying aggression is pure, the political venom is real, and the overall execution remains highly convincing.
|7.5
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