New England extreme metal unit Escuela Grind will release its new LP, ‚Memory Theater‘,
on September 30. Produced by Kurt Ballou, the album — the band’s first for MNRK Heavy
(High on Fire, Crowbar) — features 9 tracks of sharp, scorching underground music that rages
and rips in equal measure.
‚Memory Theater‘, Escuela Grind’s sophomore album, is seven minutes shorter than Slayer’s
‚Reign in Blood‘, but with a few songs running past the three-minute mark, it’s downright epic by
grindcore norms. The band’s music might be terrifying, but the overwhelming spirit behind
Escuela Grind is a message of empowerment. As it destroys musical boundaries, the quartet
attacks the idea of “gatekeeping” with equal ferocity. Anytime Katerina Economou (vocals),
Jesse Fuentes (drums), Kris Morash (guitar), and Tom Sifuentes (bass) convene, an aural
apocalypse will ensue.
Escuela Grind stitches together a new metallic hardcore monster from the rotten corpses of
grindcore and power violence with gleefully unhinged blasts of percussive bombast and chaos.
As DIY as the readers of photocopied fanzines and the early outbursts of Terrorizer, Escuela
Grind devours the nihilistic anxiety of modern life and vomits back a worldview as challenging
as their music. Destructive, yet purposeful, always championing the oppressed, not the
oppressor. Delivering on the promise of several split records, a handful of EPs (including
‚GGRRIINNDDCCOORREE‘ and ‚PPOOWWEERRVVIIOOLLEENNCCEE‘, both released in
2020), and the full-length, ‚Indoctrination‘, the nine songs on ‚Memory Theater‘ offer a near-
psychedelic trip to the genre’s soul. The album title references a specific historical concept,
constructing a “space” from one’s internal ideas, knowledge, and perception. An architect by
trade, Economou explores philosophy, politics, and experiential experimentation, building a
kind of structure amidst the band’s musical cacophony. The core creative duo of Economou
and Fuentes met at a college (“escuela” is Spanish for “school”) and became a trio with the
addition of Morash. Hailing from Dallas, Texas, Fuentes is a young veteran drummer with a
dozen bands in his discography, including Kill The Client, Humanerror and Creator|Destroyer. Conversely, Escuela Grind is the first band for vocalist Economou, who spent years
dreaming about the opportunity to create a band like this one. It’s the second band for guitarist Morash, formerly of Your Brain On Drugs. The initial goal was to make simple, catchy grind-
violence, worshipping at the altars of Crossed Out, Despise You, and Repulsion. With
breakneck speed, they filled a void in the Upstate New York/Western Massachusetts scene.
The group’s unique identity owes much to Economou’s voracious consumption of history and
philosophy. The singer obsessively amassed piles of research on everything from the Ariel
Castro kidnappings to 18th Century poetry on the free market and combined it lyrically with
flashes of memory from childhood. No Echo called Indoctrination the “perfect LP for (the) state
of the world.” The foundation of the first album was improvisational drumming, with the rest summoned atop
it. Hidden hooks did emerge. The group put further focus on those revelations into Memory
Theater. the sophomore set introduces EDM-style buildups, Slipknot-level immersion, and
expanded dynamics.
The album title references a specific historical concept, constructing a “space” from one’s
internal ideas, knowledge, and perception. An architect by trade, Economou explores
philosophy, politics, and experiential experimentation, building a kind of structure amidst the
musical cacophony.
Escuela Grind will perform as one of the featured acts at the 2022 Psycho Las Vegas
festival. Following the festival performance, Escuela Grind will continue its current run
which will lead directly into a U.S. headlining tour. The 23-city „Forced Collective
Introspection“ tour will launch on September 3 in Salem, MA and include performances at
New England’s RPM Fest, Illinois‘ Full Terror Assault Open Air, and Cleveland’s Hacked Up
for BBQ death fest, as it criss crosses the country. Support on the tour will come from
Brazilian band Test. Let Escuela Grind take you to class. (Class is in session)
Escuela Grind is Katerina Economou – Vocals, Jesse Fuentes – Drums, Kris Morash –
Guitar, Tom Sifuentes – Bass SELECT DISCOGRAPHY: Memory Theater (2022), GGRRIINNDDCCOORREE EP (2020),
Indoctrination 2020, PPOOWWEERRVVIIOOLLEENNCCEE EP (2020), Split with Violent
Opposition (2018), Split with Reeking Cross (2018), Split with Disparo! (2017), Non Serviam