The Flesh-Peeling Power of Human Suit

When it comes to grindcore, it’s perfectly acceptable, and oftentimes encouraged, to judge a band by its album cover.

Case in point: The art on new Fort Collins grind group Human Suit’s six-song debut demo is a black-and-white, anatomically correct rendering of a human head being unzipped from the crown down. Pretty spot on.

The image, created by Hannah Benson, partner of vocalist Eli Fraser, lets listeners know exactly what Human Suit is all about, including what they can expect through the ensuing twelve-plus minutes.

“It sounds like a gruesome type of thing, and that visualizes something that you don’t want to look at,” says drummer JC Carista. “It’s like a person’s skin literally being zipped off.”

Other than body horror, lyrical themes center around the miseries of existence and existential agony.

“A lot of our songs and titles, we try to go for a Lovecraft sort of influence, a philosophical sort of horror,” says guitarist Ryan Schutt.

“It’s the horrors of people,” Carista adds.

For example, “The Anthill” is about the brutish, childish act, that morbid curiosity, of setting such an insect colony aflame for no other reason than to see what happens when it burns.

“It’s like a kid taking a magnifying glass and putting it over ants and lighting them on fire,” Carista explains. “Those horrors that humans create.”

“Like the carelessness that a serial killer is handling his victims with while sort of tormenting them in that childish way,” Schutt says.

“Yes, a disregard for life,” Carista adds.

For “Inexorable Tide,” Human Suit goes full-on eldritch in conveying a sense of dread that only the indescribable possesses.

“It’s more something that the human mind can’t really comprehend and is slowly losing oneself,” says Fraser, who is also in FoCo band Reason for Concern.

With its crusty concoction of metallic grind, Human Suit is festering for more after coming together within the last year and dropping the demo in November. That means more live appearances, including this Friday, January 30, at DIY space Glob. Twin Cities powerviolence purveyors I Owe This Land A Body and local openers Pig Splitter and GOD TOLD ME TO are also on the bill.

“We do a decent job of demonstrating the brutality of grindcore and what that actually physically looks like,” Carista shares.

So here’s what to expect whenever Human Suit takes the stage.

“Ryan’s on the floor half the time, Jackson’s rocking around violently and Eli’s screaming so hard he’s almost dying at the end of songs. Sometimes when I’m doing a blast you can see I’m physically almost at my limit of how fast I can play,” Carista continues. “But watching Ryan and Eli be out of breath at the end of a song and being like, ‘Don’t start the goddamn song, I need a second.’ You can listen to it and be like, ‘Oh, that’s hard. It’s fast.’ But seeing it physically, it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, that shit’s brutal.’”

But that’s what makes for a good grind show.  

“You only get back from people what you give them,” bassist Jackson Levin says. “If you’re just standing up on stage, it’s not a fun show to go to, it’s not something you want to watch. You want to see something interesting.”

And with new music in the works this year, expect to encounter Human Suit more often live.

“Even if we fuck up some riffs and we’re just rolling around on the floor and shit, we’re just trying to give a show in terms of the visual aspect and experience,” says Schutt, also of FoCo punks Yapper, while encouraging the type of audience participation and chaos he’s seen at previous shows.

“People are jumping off of amp stacks,” he concludes. “I’d be kind of mad if someone did that to me, but if they pull off a sick flip if they do it, fuck it, let’s just have that energy and give somebody something crazy to watch where we’re not really worried about looking cool. But that’s what is cool to me.”

Whatever goes down, just remember to zip it up when you’re done.

Human Suit, with I Owe This Land A Body, Pig Splitter and GOD TOLD ME TO, 7 p.m. Friday, January 30, Glob, 3551 Brighton Blvd. Tickets are $10 at the door.