Backstabbers Inc. - While You Were Sleeping
2001 Trash Art

Track Listing:
1.  Suicide Song For The Small Town Purple Heart Recipient
2.  Upon Completing Your Application To The Club Of Indifference
3.  File Under Hostility
4.  Concrete Evidence Supporting The Educational Value Of Snuff Films (When It's A Secret Everyone Knows)
5.  Buy That Fucker A Graveyard Dance (File Under Hostility Version 2.0)
6.  SB2K Mosh Anthem
7.  ...And Your Good Friend Is Your Scapegoat

Line-Up:
Vocals:  Ryan
Guitars:  Matt, Mike
Bass:  Brian
Drums:  Matt

Website:  www.backstabbersinc.com

Shev's Rating:  A
Average Album Rating:  A

Also be sure to read:
Backstabbers Inc. - Kamikaze Missions by Uncle Meat
Backstabbers Inc. - Theory/History 7" by Lamp

Shev's Review:
Formerly knows as Life Passed On, New Hampshire natives Backstabbers Inc. apparently know a thing or two about grindcore.  Peppering their music with strong influences of hardcore and metalcore, this isn't exactly an EP that's easy to get into.  Melodies are thrown in the gutter and replaced with incredibly well structured and technical grind, hairpin tempo changes, and sick breakdowns.

What strikes you first is the amazing job on vocals done by Ryan, which come across as raw, skin stripped anger.  A fine mix of hardcore and death, which many of the generic grind bands these days seem to be avoiding.  Complimented with this is the highly convoluted work of the guitar and bass, with visionistic drumming serving at the backbone of it all.  With only one bad song on the release, it's terribly unfortunate that this couldn't have been a full length.  I suppose fifteen plus minutes of some of the best grind around is better than none.  If you're into elaborate and well-performed grind, then seek this out.

Song summaries include...

1. Suicide Song For The Small Town Purple Heart Recipient/Upon Completing Your Application To The Club Of Indifference - Starts off with the cheesiest line from Phantasm, so before the first song even begins I'm expecting some cookie cutter grind.  Obviously not the case as this is highly addictive hardcore grind with some husky tempo changes and unrealistic drumming.  For some reason, they cram two songs onto one track which weighs in at total of 1:48  A-
2. File Under Hostility - Nice Fight Club intro, then turns into a salient grinding assault with just a hint of groove thrown in for good measure.  A
3. Concrete Evidence Supporting The Educational Value Of Snuff Films (When It's A Secret Everyone Knows) - Starts off way too slow, but picks up speed into a mid/fast style, ending at the 0:50 mark as it drops off into a ludicrously sludgy, although catchy, tone.  Picks up into a moshable mid-pace at 1:27 and builds up speed from there.  Great job on the raw vocals from Ryan, and Matt on drums mixing up the aggressive styles is a nice touch.  B
4. Buy That Fucker A Graveyard Dance (File Under Hostility Version 2.0) - 2:52 of mostly slow, droning grind.  Not bad for what it is, but with the exception of a somewhat fast break at 1:10 lasting for roughly 20 seconds, and a short freemess-like job starting around 2:19, this isn't Backstabbers Inc.'s style.  D+
5. SB2K Mosh Anthem - Intense 36 second mosh grind onslaught.  A-
6. ...And Your Good Friend Is Your Scapegoat - Over six and a half minutes of Backstabbers Inc. and Al Pacino in Scent Of A Woman.  Only about a minute of actual Backstabbers Inc. grinding chaos, with the rest spent as the outro background music to Al.  Great stuff.  B+

Shev's Rating:  A