We currently have the limited edition UK digipack version of the expanded reissue of Need TO Control, but once this is sold out, we'll just be stocking the regular jewel case edition.

In the early 90s, the grindcore scene started to produce some really ambitious music that experimented with the capabilities of the genre while continuing to test the limits of extremity, and one of the most stylistically experimental albums from this period was the sophomore effort from NYC's Brutal Truth, Need To Control. This 1994 release has long been one of our favorite grindcore albums, following the pot-fueled anarchistic blastwave of their debut Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses with a set of songs that went far beyond the boundaries of their crusty roots into a new realm of complex, unpredictable heaviness that's still one of grind's most audacious efforts, one that cemented Brutal Truth's place in the pantheon of extreme music. The experimental tendencies that were hinted at on their first album bloom into something astounding on Need To Control, their grinding chaos now fused with stretches of immense doom-laden heaviness, extreme abstract noise, the unexpected appearance of a didgeridoo on one track, and industrial elements.

The album begins with the crushing industrial dirge "Collapse", a Godflesh-like crush of slow spastic rubbery mechanized drumming, grating factory noise and clanking metal that turns into a devastating slow motion death metal dirge surrounded with the sounds of burbling water bongs, super heavy and pummeling, kicking into this weirdly anthemic, melodic chorus with high screeching howling vocals and climbing air-raid guitar noise, a surprisingly catchy hook sinking it's teeth into the song. A massive slab of lumbering heaviosity that probably surprised fans who were probably expecting Brutal Truth to kicks this off with nuclear strength speedblast.

It doesn't take long for the band to crank up the tempo though, launching into some awesome chaotic grind on the second track "Black Door Mine", a super complex blast of speed and frantic time signature changes, screeching vokills trading off with guttural roars, some of which are contributed by guest vocalist Bill from Exit-13. "Turn Face" kicks in with a frantic bass solo, then rips into a savage take on hardcore punk sped up to mach twenty velocity, almost like an old Corrosion Of Conformity jam but way heavier and more complex and freaked out and blasting.

Then the album takes another left turn, now into the weird industrial noise rock of "Godplayer"; a crushing, off-time stop/start groove is underscored with the deep droning buzz of a didgeridoo, launching into crushing double bass and thrash riffage, becoming more abrasive and angular, then slipping into an awesome slow industrial metal dirge with more weird effects and didgeridoo.

The next couple song are blistering grind eruptions, the blazing angular thrash of �I See Red� and the wonky riffing and crushing grind of �Bite The Hand�, and then goes into the pure harsh noise of "Iron Lung" where the music drops off and we're treated to a din of guttural snarls, metallic scrape and deep burbling low end. From this point on, it keeps moving through varying degrees of experimental grind and noisy soundscaping, the grindcore on songs like "Judgment" and "Brain Trust" becoming warped and complex, the sound infected with fucked-up vocal noises and howling effects, creepy industrial textures and thick buzzing drones, the extreme speed downshifting into thunderous D-beat or pounding sludge. The song "Ordinary Madness" is one of the standouts, another slow pounding dirge, ultra heavy and ominous, laced with samples from the movie Bad Lieutenant, sheets of dissonant guitar and awesome zonked out acid-guitar soloing that turns this into some sort of freaked out Hendrix-in-a-wormhole grindpsych, and it's followed by a wicked cover of the Germs song "Media Blitz", which has Mike Williams from Eyehategod taking on the vocal duties while the band whips the punk classic into grinding ferocity, and the last song on the album proper "Crawlspace", which is a strange abstract soundscape of random computer noise, harsh feedback abuse and incantatory voices.

This reissue also features some of the bonus tracks that had appeared on the limited five-record vinyl box set that Earache released for Need To Control, including some unlikely covers; there's the infamous cover of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Here" which is redone as "Wish You Were Here... Wish You'd Go Away", the first half of the song played surprisingly straight with spacey guitars and sung vocals, but then halfway through it, it turns into a total noisecore jam, random percussion and wailing fucked vokills and chaotic guitar noise, a weird almost Boredoms-like grind freakout. There's a handful of turbulent grind jams like "Painted Clowns" and "Eggshells", as well as a killer cover of "Dethroned Emperor" by Celtic Frost, and it ends with the strange fractured noise/grind chaos of "Head Cheese", a garbled assault of feedback and piercing noise, deranged vocals and pulverizing sludge, another Boredoms-style experimental grind jam.

The ease with which Brutal Truth was able to flow from punishing grindcore to hardcore punk to industrial noise to crushing doom on Need To Control was brilliant, and the album remains one of the greatest experimental grind records ever, certainly one of our favorite extreme metal discs, encapsulating everything that we love about this band and about grind as an art form, making this an absolutely essential album for anyone into boundary-pushing, adventurous heavy music...

This UK version of the reissue is presented in an eight-panel digipack that includes a booklet with a great interview with BT singer Kevin Sharpe.