Graf Orlock: Destination Time Tomorrow

First off, this is, hands down, the coolest album art design we’ll come across all year, as Graf Orlock’s second CD comes ingeniously wrapped in an elaborate cardboard cut-out of a facehugger from the movie Alien (the disc is the back of the victim’s head), while the special ten-inch vinyl release features a stunning gatefold that reveals a pop-up chestburster from the same film leaping out of a torso. All this visual fun is perfect for this band, who are equally obsessed with movies as they are with full-throttle, top-notch grindcore. Over the course of this scorching, often hilarious 16-minute CD, the foursome bombards us with arrangements that alternate from spazzy, to crushing, to downright catchy, with film dialogue interspersed throughout. The way the band balances movie samples with surprisingly dynamic songwriting is enormously fun, like a bunch of Pig Destroyer fans flipping TV channels in between verses. We get songs devoted to Alien and its sequels Aliens and Alien Resurrection, Lethal Weapon, Demolition Man, True Lies, Terminator 2, Bad Boys II (huh?), but the band saves the best for last, playing along with John Williams’ bombastic score from Jurassic Park, bringing things to a tongue-in-cheek, yet suitably cinematic close.