Moisturizer’s “Second and Mystical” Pushes Grindcore Toward the Absurd

Grindcore often treats humor as an accident. Moisturizer, from Rhode Island, makes it part of the structure. On their latest album, Second and Mystical, the band leans into the kind of twitchy, off-kilter writing that gets labeled “zany” without sacrificing the genre’s core aggression.

The self-released record moves through chromatic riffs with a stop-start physicality, paired with drumming that sounds perpetually on the verge of collapse. Vocals carry a level of disgust that would scan as purely hostile if not for the absurdity underneath. The result is less a novelty act than a band using comic timing as a pressure valve.

That balance is difficult to sustain. Too much chaos and the songs blur; too much humor and the bite disappears. Moisturizer stays close to the line, particularly in the way the riffing shifts between sprint and convulsion, keeping the listener off balance without turning the music into a joke. It is aggressive, strange, and compact.

There is no label campaign behind Second and Mystical. The album arrives on its own terms, which suits the music. It’s grindcore that understands the value of not being taken entirely seriously while taking the execution seriously.