Escuela Grind: “We want to pull the ripcord out from underneath you”

“I'm injured beyond repair,” admits Escuela Grind’s exceptional vocalist Katerina Economou. You would be too, if you spent the last year performing over 250 shows across the world and solidifying your name as one of grindcore's most exciting new bands.

They jest. In fact, they’re planning on doing exactly that all over again, but this time backed by their ferociously charged new album Dreams On Algorithms. Their previous record, 2022's Memory Theater, was an all-out assault on the senses, with heaviness, gloom and spine-shaking riffs the order of the day. It was brutally brilliant. It took Escuela Grind globetrotting, as they laid waste to any and all venues that fell into their path.

The Massachusetts quintet have made it their mission to play to everyone, no matter where in the world. However, they’ve had to navigate some muddy waters. Firstly, in early 2024, guitarist Tom Sifuentes left the band citing safety concerns after raising issues with his hearing, but this was soon resolved after they welcomed him back in October, stating, “We really missed having this dude on the road, we're family!”

Combine this with a former tour driver claiming sexual harassment against a former tour manager, you could be forgiven for thinking Escuela Grind’s rise would be halted.

“Ultimately, we made mistakes,” says Katerina, echoing the band's original statement posted in March. “We did not know about the personal issues between our former driver and TM until they posted about it online. We immediately parted ways with him. We failed, but we have learned.”

Despite this turmoil, Escuela Grind have grown and learnt from the experiences. Armed with Dreams On Algorithms, it’s time for the band to let their music do the talking, with their expansive brand of grindcore slowly changing the face of the genre.

With the imminent arrival of the record, it’s hard not to notice the impressive expansion of their sound, making this unhinged brutality slightly more accessible. We say accessible, it’s still something you wouldn’t play to your nan.

“We knew we wanted to broaden our palette to things that were interesting to us and push what we can do,” says Katerina. “This album is a transition album for us in a good way. Literally, the first riff of the first song is the last riff of the last album. We wanted to introduce that we're coming from this, and then just pull the ripcord out from underneath you.”

Latest single Turbulence really did catch people by surprise; it was still their heavy blueprint, but the addition of clean vocals has added another impressive element to their sound.

“The last song on the album is Turbulence, our most crazy departure from what we do, but it's trying to at least show the fans that we will be taking more risks – ushering them into this new era. And I hope they like it.”

With the band comes a strong sense of identity. They’re not afraid to stand up for those who are constantly being marginalised. They’ve created a safe space for people who usually feel vilified by the expectations society bestows on us.

But with growth and facing more people, they want their shows to be inclusive for everyone regardless of agenda and ideology. “We are who we are, we do have these identity politics. But it's hard, because you don't want to make the band all about that,” Katerina explains.

“It is about the music for us, but we're not afforded the opportunity to just distance ourselves away from who we are, you know what I mean? We want to do that in a way that doesn't feel like forced or pushy or exclusionary of people that aren't who we are.”

A message of unity it seems. We’re not all going to agree on the same thing, but if you like the music, then come for that and embrace their world.

With the world constantly changing, and new opportunities rising, the singer has noticed a positive shift in representation within the scene.

“The sheer number of bands that have females or queer people or brown people here in the States have just exponentially gone up! It's important that people are seen. Once they feel seen, it gives them that encouragement to do exactly the same thing.”

And if it wasn’t for bands like Escuela Grind spreading their message, embracing under-represented communities and letting people connect on a much deeper level beyond the music, then these people wouldn’t get seen. Grindcore needs them.

Dreams On Algorithms is out now via MNRK Heavy.

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