First and foremost, I would just like to state that Graf Orlock, or as tourmates Comadre jokingly refer to them, Crap Orlock, kill it live. Their drummer is fucking on point, and vocalist Kalvin Kristoff is as humorous as he is intense. Plus, it doesn't hurt when you have a basement full of sweaty punks yelling out movie lines like, "I only live to get radical." So if you have a chance to see this band on their current tour, make sure you do it.
That being said, it's still mind boggling to me that Graf Orlock hasn't been sued by anyone yet. Destination Time Tomorrow, and all of the band's past efforts, use numerous movie samples in every song on the album. And unlike the overplayed Fight Club samples that are used by tons of other bands, Graf Orlock manages to use the gimmick to perfection. There's a very satisfying feeling listening to Sylvester Stallone telling a futuristic computer to fuck itself before the band brutally comes in and manically thrashes through the rest of the song with the movie as inspiration.
Whether used as a joke or not, Graf Orlock has been termed as playing a genre of music known as cinema-grind, a term I could go without. Besides the fact that other bands that can't pull it off nearly as well are now taking the genre seriously, Graf Orlock isn't really a grind band either. The vocals of Kristoff could break glass with their ferocity and speed, but they are complemented nicely by the backing vocals of guitar player Jason Schmidt, who has a deep and powerful voice more in the vein of Westcoast hardcore than grind bands. As stated above, the drumming of Kristoff is excellent, and with the bass and guitars moving at breakneck speed, all three constantly crash into each other for a train wreck of sound. Songs like, "A Shocking Interrogation" and "A Waste of Ammo" find the band hitting on all cylinders, combining post-movie sample breakdowns, lightspeed drumming and intense bass and guitars with interchanging screaming and yelling. While these may be the best songs on the album, none of the songs on Destination Time Tomorrow surpass three minutes in length, and all of them end up as quick lightning bolts in a raging storm.
Graf Orlock is a gimmick band, but they use the gimmick to perfection. You're not going to find thought-provoking lyrics and you're not going to find a band that takes themselves too seriously. Graf Orlock is a band that likes singing about action movies and having a good time. The band is brutal, and if you can't see the theme music of Jurassic Park slowly being transformed from violins to the band's rumbling bass and drums as being simply awesome, then stay away from all things Graf Orlock and all types of fun in general.
