Orphaned Aggression (Gridlink, Orphan 2011)

Amber Grey by far and wide, is renowned for being a technical masterpiece of mind blowing proportions. Backed by a legendary cast, Gridlink put 2008 in the history books, by recording a release that offered a technical masterpiece in a fast paced rhythmic manner, the end product being the grindcore equivalent of Paganini's 24 caprices. Of which their 11 minutes of splintering precision trumped the decades of effort of contenders and was named in true democratic fashion the King's of Grind. So the very thought and anticipation of Amber Grey's heir; Orphan, was enough to send large chunks of the Grindcore community in a spiritual state of zen whilst drooling and muttering babel and the very thought of it. So how did this second heir to the third Chang Dynasty fare?

Basically this is everything Amber Grey was, this time round one minute longer, packed with more dexterous precision, harmonious flow and enough condensed passion to inspire a thousand playwrights.

Jon Chang as ever screams forth his inner nerd in a blazing series of shrieks  all of which coded in an enigma and flurry of obscure cultural referencing, leaving each new deciphered word to askew your original interpretation of the message. Heavy on the treble guitar work weaves in and out of various moods, retaining that riff and shred inducing cacaphonic bliss and admiration that made we were first plunged out of the blue head first back in 08.

The drum works beats frantically in a scattering, yet somehow military precision (S.A.S. styled) coordinated rampage, creating an immediate sense of urgency, and pincering down the rate of fire that is discharged to a recognisable level. Vocals are the same vocal chord shredding we expect and love, this time round on occasion sporting the rare low pitched bellow to reflect the moments of a dark mood.

Now this next bit in the review is probably the moment I am going to regret and receive hate mail from the John Chang cult for the next dozen years, or until the Phelps idiocracy finally pick a bone with grindcore.

Although I would agree 100% that Orphan is more precise, technical, faster, coordinated and overall better on a theoretical basis. I can't help but feel they abandoned or left out the aggressive overtones they had back in Amber Grey. This feels more to me like a Hayaino Daisuki meets some elements of grindcore release than what I felt they offered earlier. It was the aggression of Amber Grey, whether intentional or a byproduct of what they did that grounded it all and gave it a direction I really liked, this time round the aggression has been superseded with a frantic feel of mixed emotion with a gross discharge of adrenaline, which I must commend is executed fantastically and they really do immerse the listener in such a vibe, just I personally preferred the emotive threading of the earlier. Perhaps I am just the odd one out on this one.

In any case, Orphan is a fantastic release that does not fail in expanding on everything that made Gridlink the masters of the realm and without a doubt is up there in the albums that people will idolise decades afterwards, unless of course the Chinese World Empire of 2045 doesn't wipe it out.

Read more >>

A Feat of Extreme Technicality (Obscura, Omnivium, 2011)

In a world of extreme technical competition amid a myriad of diverse Metal bands, those who prevail become masters of the art. This is exactly what German Death Metal band Obscura have done. With their latest release Omnivium, these lads have deemed themselves the almighty authority of technical assault. The super group lineup of this powerful mass of musicians is a force to be reckoned with indeed. On all of the bands previous releases (Retribution 2006, Cosmogenesis 2009) the supremacy of skill behind the instruments involved created a feeling of impossibility in terms to the realm of comparison or progression. However with the release of Omnivium, this feat has been surpassed. “Feat” (Definition: a remarkable act or achievement involving courage, skill, or strength) being the perfect keyword to describe the all around musicianship on this album. The review style that I have thus far enacted upon is not fitting to this type of album due to the fact that there is much to exemplify and would create one tiring read. Therefore, I have decided to speak upon the album as a whole and exploit the key elements within the album that which deserve massive praise.

Songwriting and song structure can be lost within the most technical of works in today’s monarchy of extreme bands. With Omnivium, Obscura have not only perfected the songwriting and structural integrity of this genre, but they have exemplified upon it. In regard to the overall tone of the instruments and resonance that is emitted through said instruments, the sound is smooth and vibrant. Within the previous albums by this band tone has been something that is one of the strong points, and this album demonstrates similar strength. The guitarwork is a forceful assault on its own, the riffs are catchy, the melodies are spine chilling, and the solos are incomparable to all analogous others. In observance to the vocals and lyrical themes much is to be said. The vocals on this album emulate the melodies that the guitars emit with great triumph and yet are screamed and growled with raw, insane power.

All around this album may not be to the critical among us, the “most technical” or “heaviest” album of all time, but due to the excessively talented and perfected musicianship that is shown through the compositions within, this work of technical art will be locked in the death metal catacombs as one of the most triumphant of its kind to rape the ears of the meek among us.

Spirit-Of-Metal

Facebook

Read more >>

Play Fast and Lot's of Noise (Cogs and Sprockets, Arms for the Poor, 2011)

With thousands of media and cultural impression of Las Vegas on any given individual, we more or less all know it to be a flashing neon hub of  idolised excessive vice of industrial proportions amongst the vast bleak and harsh desert of the Mojave, Las Vegas never sleeps, life there is fast, loud, hectic and sinful.
Transposing this Vegas experience is its very own native Cog's and Sprockets, who offer's a one man music crash course into the world of sleaze economics in a relentlessly fast paced noisy sonic abuse.
Racking up a grand total of 2 and half minutes, this little release sure does pack quite the punch, it noisecore twanging and hissing is non stop, and progresses in such a fashion you might very well think the entirety of the EP is in fact just one song. Quite on the short side of things, I hear you say, maybe so, but subjecting myself this to this certainly left a rattling noise in my ear, of which repeated loud listening to I am sure will subject you to some level of damaged hearing.
The cover itself being a grey scale reality of the growing homelessness problem in Nevada, which has spawned the infamous Cardboard City, and an uncanny vegas reference with the site to purchase their merchandise being Waste Your Earnings. Instant inspiration is once again the infamous Agoraphobic Nosebleed approach this time round with a lo fi production value and I am not quite sure if thats a drum machine playing fast human pace percussion, or just an actual person playing the drums, too lo fi to tell.
There isn't really much one can say with 2 minutes and 30 seconds of material, other than its loud and humanely fast, and best of all its free on Grindcore Karaoke!

Read more >>

Second Dish of Abuse (Wormrot, Dirge 2011)

Dirge, possibly holds the title of the most looked forward to Grindcore release ever, period, even more so than the rumoured debut release of a super Grindcore band featuring the Pope, Trevor McDonald and Conan the Barbarian. Literally when Dirge was released, every rss feed and every tweet before my eyes all stated the same two things: a) DIRGE HAS BEEN RELEASED OMG! b) OMG DIRGE IS AMAZING! So expanding on conjecture b, here is my following review.

I hardly feel words are sufficiently powerful enough to describe in depth the raw explosive feel that Dirge offers in its inhumane rampage of powerviolence on speed approach to grindcore. If you thought you knew bands who played fast, think again, I am pretty sure that Dirge, laps your fastest track a few times over as a warm up run, before it then proceeds to tear it to shreds with its superior grind bashing fury. 

Dirge is basically what would happen if you mixed a heavy influx of Insect Warfare's torrential top heavy grind with the screaming frantic uzi rampage of Hellnation, spiced up a tad with a small vibe of Magrudergrind. The Grindcore formula of Abuse has become heavily distorted with much weight and emphasis on an excessive spewing of Powerviolence, perhaps best described by the band themselves with the track Overpowered Violence, with the fantastic execution and dynamic of Abuse being the only keepsake. In fact I am pretty sure Wormrot's song naming policy on Dirge, is part inspired as a descriptive title to its upscale brutality, Meteor to the Face and Ferocious Bombardment are all words I would of used to describe this release, had Wormrot not beaten me to the chase!

Fuck traditional song development, and threading rhythmic sectors, interloping verses etc This is grind, the way it was meant to be! Wormrot chuck at your face a furious cacophony composed off  hundreds of fast paced riffs and endless beats, all the whilst screams of primitive emotion are belted out throughout, as for what is stopping the release from tearing apart the space time continuum located around your speakers, certainly stumps me.

The extensive drum work of Fitri's dexterous bash and smash rampage is worthy of grindcore commendation giving that barbaric ferocity a sophisticated demeanour that gives the tried and tested blast beats a more fruitful yield to the tradtional bang bang bang approach employed by many a band. While Rasyid jumps from one crushing punk oozing riff to another in quick succession, with Arifs hell bent screaming in probably the most passionate masculine screaming I have ever heard. Imagine the final theartre scene of Godfather 3, and replace all that sadness with pure Ichor and aggression, double its power and you probably are somewhere just shy of understanding the blistering fury that is vehemently yelled out at sensory shattering proportions. How that man is able to talk or not induce a heart attack as he screams, is beyond me.

Punching in just over 18 minutes across 25 slices of over the top powerviolency grind, Earache have really put out a release worthy of being equal to their early back catalogue, and perhaps this amazing piece of Grindcore will be a wake up call, and pave the way for a reconnection between the genre defining label and its former disenfranchised adherents. 

However I all know what you really came to read this review for, in fact all you have already heard Dirge, and you search something specific amongst this review, you search for an answer you are not quite sure yourself and are looking for someone man enough to take up the mantle and answer it, and that something is "Does this trump Abuse?" Quite simply personally I feel it doesn't. Call me a drunkard, blasphemer, or claim I am suffering from a hallucinatory state from listening to Dirge too often, if that softens the blow for you, but either way personally I prefer Abuse. Not that this release is far from Abuse, its right up there in the kick ass factor infintiy quadrant, but I feel Abuse just had a sort of better dynamic going for it, this despite all the intense craftsmanship seems very rushed and not thought out 100%. However I do feel it perhaps not just to compare the two, each play on very different styles, this one being a more rapid contortion of irksome punk orientated noise, and abuse being a more progressive flow of  colossal proportions. 

Dirge regardless of if you prefer it to Abuse or not is undoubtedly a fantastic release, that offers an intensely amazing amount of quality that many a great grind band, hardly achieve in their lifetime. The galloping drums, raw passionate yells and lightspeed riffs all come together fantastically well in establishing some of the most fast and heavy grind there is on the market, so brace yourselves lads and ladettes, your second serving of Abuse is here, and this little bastard doesnt like to play nice!

Download

Tumblr

Myspace

Read more >>

Alamak! What are you doing on Grind to Death-lah? (Analdicktion, Sluts, 2011)

To all gore-grind bands and porno-grind bands I warn you, its a great gamble to request from me a review of your material, aside from my complete disdain for porno-grind, and my general loathing of 99% of gore grind bands for reasons of unoriginal, shit music, crap choice of aesthetic, etc. So when Analdicktion contacted me about writing a review, deep down I was dubious that I am going to have to slander another band off judging by band name, album art, lyrical concepts etc, but if I preach openness I best live up to it, lest be a hypocrite, so thus I accepted the challenge. And luckily for Analdicktion the gamble paid off, yep that's right it paid off, yes I know that I lured you into thinking this release was going to be terrible, but that is a technique I and actual real authors and journalists employ to keep attention, yes I know I am wasting time, and even more time by constantly writing, but its my blog and my post, and I can right as much as I like about whatever I like, did you know Hippo's eat only Red Herrings?

Time wasting aside, Analdicktion although as suggested by the name and artwork are not really goregrind, although there is that tone to it, however I personally would describe them as Cerebral Bore meets Circle of Dead Children  in a blood soaked bath tub of death metal cacophony, with all the free cadavers and chainsaws you can muster. Architectures of rhythm are grand and foreboding as they shake violently amongst the snare slamming savagery  as a constant howl bellows on occasion warping to a testosterone laden scream of intense anguish and despair.
Sporting bone crushing break downs that force the very earth before you to tremble, and a tyrannical manic smashfest of blast beats and rolling drum kicks, they quickly establish a dynamic that operates on interlacing rhythmic and harsh moments in a superfluous conjecture of brutal death metal than occasionally protrudes violently its bloodied fangs into a grindcore vibe like a hell bent rabid dog.
 The only grumbles are two in number, firstly the drums in the more intense moments play the same fast paced beat, which although one hell of a bestial beat it can feel samey as the tracks progress and the second qualm is a personal one, and that's I don't really like the general gorey porno theme, but in no way is a reflection of the top notch pounding they offer, and besides that's the beauty of music, you can make it about anything you want.
To be honest it is no surprise that these guys are good, this release will be released by Scrotum Jus Records, the same guys who originally released the legendary Wormrots - Abuse, and if my memory serves me well, Analdicktion's logo is designed by non-other than the man himself Arif Rot, either that or someone else from Singapore whose artwork goes by the name "Rot Art". Once again, SE Asia is showing up trumps as the new homeland for extreme music, with Analdicktion amongst is arsenal of sickening sounds from the orient. Fans of Brutal Death Metal, prepare to have your faces shredded off.

Myspace

Read more >>

DIY or DIE! (Terrorismo?, Catacumba Apodrecida 2011)

In a day were the world is becoming smaller and smaller, and more and more impersonal, music is merely an accessory to ones perception from others and expendable at a mere click, we often feel we lost something deep in musics transition into the age of 1's and 0's. However not all have forgotten the beauty of the scene that once was, operating on the ideals of personal interaction and DIY ethics.
Once such beautiful acquaintance with this vanishing underground is Brazil's Terrorismo?  who after contact had been established via email, agreed to send me their demo. After much time, I began to be anxious that once again the postal service had failed to deliver me goods sent to me, and I would have to resort to asking for a digital copy. However thankfully  the goods arrived, and what glorious goods they were.
A beautiful envelope displaying the picturesque scenery of Brazil lay before me, and as I rummaged inside I pulled out a letter, and two discs. They were kind enough to hand write me a letter explaining the band and what they stood for, and the purpose of the delay, which turned out to be that they wanted me to get not only hear their demo, but to hear their latest release Catacumba Apodrecida, both of which were about the most DIY fashioning s I had ever seen, from the self printed covers and its lamentation, printed CD's and accompanying lyrics sheet, all instantly recognisable as work people have slaved over every step of the way.
However back on track I run a review site of music not of rating music on its DIY factor, of which this would rate in more DIY than Blue Peter category (doubt non Brits will get that reference.
Catacumba Aprodrecida  reminds me a hell of a lot of a more lo-fi Archagathus'  Sick Life,  the mincecore vibrancy is just sheer bliss, finding yourself shacking your head and tapping your feet in tune with its fluid feel, only to have the feel disrupted with the desperate screaming pleas and harsh guitar work in a scrambling outrage of political rhetoric.
If the art and accompaniments weren't DIY enough, the release is recorded live and its quite gruff, but if you can see past the reverb and audio corrosion (of which I might add, I am starting to like lofi quite a bit now, much like a fine wine, but with more decibels and beats, either way too much of either will give you a splintering headache! And a good one too!), you will notice a fine rythmyn snaking its way in and out of the mincing mode, slithering around before it bites you again with its screaming venomous elocution.
Terrorismo? lay waste to the traditional mincecore formula and offer something really stimulating with just as much sting as the rest conjure up on world wide woes. This will slay your senses!

Myspace

Blasfêmia / Velho Ódio (ensaio)

terrorismo? | Myspace Music Videos

Read more >>

The South Has Risen Again (Flesh Parade, Dirty Sweet, 2011)

I consider myself an old school grinder, sticking to the past and liking current releases that show a lot of influence and raw sound from the older stuff I appreciate. This long awaited and overdue release is finally here and much like the album itself, my review for it has been quite delayed due to a tight schedule. Dirty Sweet is the second full length (if you don't count Kill Whitey as a comp) from Cajun Grinders, Flesh Parade. For all the people waiting over a decade for the amazing album's follow up, I think most of us can say it was definitely worth the wait. Although I do love Flesh Parade, it pains me to admit that they are criminally underrated along with possibly my favorite Grind band, Warsore. With Dirty Sweet under their belt and an entirely new generation to infest, I think they will finally start to get the attention they deserve.



Dirty Sweet is a little over 30 minutes and manages to destroy every preconceived negative thought I had about the album. Starting off with kind of a boring Choir Intro I started getting worried and had second thought; luckily this was just a tease, much like the album cover. Jumping right into the next track is a furious blast fest topped with their signature animalistic vocals. This is Flesh Parade at their finest, with upped production and sounding as vicious as ever. Perfect riffs matched with excellently cued blasts and beats, every riff was soon engraved into my memory like a pocket knife carving an oak tree. By far my favorite aspect of Flesh Parade has always been the vocals and the production has them louder then ever. Even though the production has been raised quite a bit, it is not over-produced into sounding lame and stale like most stereotypical Death Metal, this is Grindcore and no Death Metal is in it. I only have two complaints from this album, my first being the amount of songs, with only 17 tracks I would have liked to seen 21-25 tracks on this record, but the final song being as long as it is makes the album stretch out as if it did contain more songs. My other complaint is the album is only on CD for the time being, but the band has talked about releasing a vinyl version so this is just more of a minor annoyance for now. These minor things do not negatively impact the album in any way for me however, I love it just as much as Kill Whitey, if not more and both are extraordinary releases. If you loved Kill Whitey or just want some refreshingly intense grind to melt your brain, give this album a go, as it will definitely go down in the history books. Buy it and support these maniacs, they deserve it. The south has risen again.

Myspace

Facebook

Encyclopedia Metallum

Read more >>

Spreading the Dis-Ease: No Good Can Come From This

Torn Flesh Records are giving away a free compilation (all their works are free respectively) of blistering audio terror and depravity. Featuring many a decent band from the far corners of the earth, each bringing their  gruesome platter of cacophony to the table, akin to musical worship to the respective elements of defilement and anger. Be sure to get this monstrosity before it gets you!

Download

01 - No Good Can Come From This (Intro)
02 - Paroxsihzem - Nausea
03 - Abriosis - As The Shepherd Spites
04 - elephantknuckle - This song SUCKS, a Ramones sample couldn't even make it better
05 - Robocop - Fed To The Wolves
06 - XII Boar - Train Wreck
07 - Disphere - Behind Red Eyes
08 - Kusari Gama Kill - Kabuki Jesus
09 - Nekropolis - Ground Zero
10 - Everfailed - Haunting Me Within
11 - ATOMÇK - Dark Prism Strategy
12 - Deadskin - kAtAsTrRrOfFf 0010 [Feat. -(rG13)-]
13 - Magenta Harvest - Spawn of Neglect
14 - BLOODINGTON - THE TRUE USE OF USERS
15 - PiGSHiT- Sweet Rats
16 - DEEP COMA - Under The Ground
17 - Dala Sun - Drunk
18 - Unhumanity -Through Hell
19 - KUNTPUNCHER - THE SPASTIC WHISPERER
20 - Igorrr - Putrefiunt
21 - Ending Quest - Body of Christ
22 - Carcharias - Büntetés és Bosszú
23 - ...and then, there were FROGZ! - I Am The Loris
24 - a beautiful lotus - oh! a breakdown
25 - Relikt - Master Of The Fools
26 - Cerebral Engorgement - Shit Fuck Garbage Truck
27 - SEDATIVE - CIRCLE PIG
28 - Macabre Demise - Full Of Hate
29 - Blasphemation - Immaculate Deception
30 - Cosmic Shock Absorber - Guiltrip
31 - Venomous Supremacy - Removal Of The Flesh
32 - Fallen Grace - Putrid Remains
33 - Wraith - Lacerated For Your Pride
34 - Surachai - Isolation
35 - Avoidant - Catatonic Force, The Disconnection Phase.
36 - Expendiency - Masturbation Lust
37 - Gore Obsessed - Dis-Organ-Ized (Impetigo Cover)
38 - Flatulated - Burn The Flames (Roky Erickson Cover)

Read more >>

Focus on my mind. Focus on my strength. (Suffer the Cycle, Expire, 2011)

This band, oh man. Where do I even start? I fell in love with them when I first saw them with Rotting Out last summer, of course. They were promoting their EP, Grim Rhythm. Heavy, fast, and energetic. I found myself moving to every beat of their music, wanting to go completely nuts. I know that the next time they came back, I definitely did. I sang my little lungs out and went home with no voice. So you can imagine how incredibly fucking stoked I was when I received a little preview (or all of it) from their new 7", Suffer the Cycle. I was all smiles and immediately started listening to it. It has literally been on repeat since I received it last Tuesday.

Suffer the Cycle is being released under Six Feet Under Records. The 7" contains 4 songs worthy of both east coast and west coast mosh. While the rest of the world has been arguing which coast is the best coast the Midwest creeped up and boldly said "No coast is the best coast, Midwest is where it's at motherfuckers." I can't really say much else without giving the whole thing away. Basically, you need to listen for yourself so pre-order the 7" here before it's too late. You can also to listen to "Sleep Lost" on there, which is one of the track on the record. Obviously. So what the fuck are you waiting for? Do not sleep on this.

Read more >>

A bit of the old Ultraviolence? (Kuntpuncher, Take Drugs and Eat Kebab 2011)

Had I not known better, then I very well might of guessed that Britain's very own happy hardcore grinders Kuntpuncher were non other than the violent youthful rapists and general troublemakers that  are Alex DeLarge and his fellow droogies. Blending in loud electronica abuse with grind, they offer a fast paced, aggressive, yet humorous and even sometimes trippy reality, to their mind boggling grind. Straight from the outset one can see that an Altered States of America era Agoraphobic Nosebleed are a heavy influence on the material, although not as fast nor intense, but more mellowed out, as if years of drug abuse have finally caught up with them, and thus either fucked up their perception of time, or it has impeded on their cognitive ability to process so much rattling noise.
Aside from the overtly politically incorrect and offensive choice of band name, Kuntpuncher offer an even more vulgar array of abuse in the form of merchandise and lyrics, in a manner befitting the Burgess' aestheticisation of violence in a  regressive dystopian urban youth culture. From the head cracking pounding fury to the mind screwing audio sampling of complete randomness of it all, your heads going to be giving you  "what the fuck is going on!" voice for the most part of it, and perhaps I think this may be one of those rare instances in art, where things actually make sense if you took drugs prior to exposure (perhaps drugs and kebab, maybe the title is instructional?) give the full picture to this psychotic cyber frenzy. Actually upon reflection, perhaps taking drugs to listen to Kuntpuncher isn't the best idea, as the band learnt first hand. From masquerading around in black face, fucked up videos and a rather messed up feel of Doctor Who crossed with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the rape of cultural innocence these drug fiend bastards offer, is going to be more than a sober you will ever tolerate! Highly recommended for those who just like to fuck shit up!

Download

Blog

Twitter

Read more >>

"Like a Crow Attacking a Vinyl Player" (Atomck and Paucities Split, 2011)

One day I was on the train home, when my train somehow ended up taking me to Narnia, and whilst asking the locals of Narnia for directions back to reality, I spotted a man dressed up in a full suit of armour, thinking he also was a local I decided he may very well know the route home, as the other locals seemed intent on finding their way to Mordor for some reason, and knew not of the fair city of London, but said it may lye between the realms of Atlantis and New Vegas. Mustering up enough courage to ask the foreboding man I approached him and asked "Excuse me kind sir, noweth thee, the route one may take to reach the city of Londinium" To which he replied "Fuck knows! I was on my way their also, to go to an art convention, I was supposed to showcase my work in the Museum of fine arts (as us Londoners like to call it "the building which contains overpriced pieces of paper"). Having realised we were both looking for the same destination, we decided to trek together and hope to finally find a path to London. Along our arduous journey I learnt many a thing of this masked stranger, finding further that we shared many a thing in common, from our mutual disdain for dolphins and 8 sided shapes, to our shared passion of Grindcore and Haribo. As we proggressed he delved further telling me of his band Atomck, and he wished to create the greatest pokemon tribute band the western hemisphere had ever heard via the medium of Grindcore.

As it transpired the land we thought to be Narnia, turned out to be Bracknell, and as was southern Railway custom; all passengers are given suits of armour to protect themselves from the drug fiend locals, who have tendency to stab at anything that broadly reminds them of Jeremy Kyle.

Luke's own Artwork

The identity of this masked stranger, is non other than fellow grindcore zealot, and grindtodeathian Luke Oram. Who contrary to their self styled pokemon outlook on grind, play a blend of chop and change grindcore and psychedelic electronica with a pulsating vein of progressive guitar work. I feel I have best described Atomck via twitter, as a crow attacking a vinyl player. The crow being a metaphor for the unnaturally high heinous shrills screeched out at ear drum blistering proportions, who surprisingly hasn't wreaked his vocal chords enough, to allow him to juxtapose the highs with a bellowing booming of equal ear torturing proportions. 

Having pestered Luke in many of a conversation, I am well aware of his love of progressive rock, which shines throughout offering a really fresh injection of new blood to the heaving mass that is grindcore. They have for the purposes of this split and future releases, brought a human drummer to their traditional drum machine operated percussion, bringing a human element to their abstract quasi-death/grind/electronica/prog which in all honesty is a mindfuck to even begin to unravel. Having just spent the better part of the last two weeks at uni stressing the importance of independent judicial review, I feel somewhat of a nepotist hypocrite stating on this site that I really do enjoy listening to Atomck. I feel by well and far you will have a hard time finding a band who are equally as idiosyncratic and enjoyable as Atomck

Taking the remaining 2 songs on the split, we have Chicago's self-styled Repulsion grinders Paucities. Starting off with the traditional gore ethic as established by Impetigo, of sampling b-list horror flicks, we then are introduced to lo-fi high reverb buzzing drumming and guitaring in a manner akin to early grind days cassette days mums basement recordings. Although I do admit I like the general direction the music goes in, I can't say its repulsionesque in any form, the recording quality really does make this half of the split irritable to listen to. Being a child of the 90's I may lack the appreciation of lofi basement grind, that I am sure many a reader here once partook in, but for me the audio quality resembles that of one cassette player recording the output from another cassette player which fails to bring any hope of hearing the finer points of their musicianship.

Another critique is that the vocals really are awful, half the time they sound like an angry Alsatian who demands his dinner, and at other times, sounds like the scenes from The Exorcist played on a dusty VCR through a 1950's television.

Committing to purchase splits on the basis of one half being amazing and the other not so credible, on the advice given by a stranger is a risky grindcore related investment, well luckily for you fair lads and lassess of the realm, this release is 100% free so fuck off and download it and make your own opinions for a change (Just Kidding please come back! You guys are my only friends!)

Download

Atomck

Paucities

Lukes Art Work

Read more >>

The Kraken Awakes (Rotten Sound, Cursed, 2011)

Rotten Sound are no stranger to the grindcore scene, blasting away a furious breed of scandigrind in a fast paced blast beat blitzkrieg of calculated riffs and drum bashing. Their recent instalment and choice of armament for the 2011 simply titled Cursed, has finally hit the world in a storm.
For all of metals technical and precise nature, it often fails to bring the raw depravity of punk fuelled rage and intensity, but no longer is that so. Cursed  bridges this gap, through thick doses of intense metal madness warped around a apparition of dirty crust punk manifestation, bringing forth a beast of metal with the throbbing heart of a militant punk.
It is equally complex and rhythmically structured as deep it gets the grindcore gears in motion, pouring down on the listener a triumphant bellow of sheer musical intensity, comparable only to the Nasum effect. This is the Cycles we are all acquainted with and love, pushed through the Hadron Collider, and the results recorded. Once again Rotten Sound, lay waste to the argument that grind should have the traditional dirty abrasive production (a feat only a few bands have successfully countered), and offer a fantastically fashioned recording quality, and precision mastering skills, to offer Cursed in all its blazing glory.
This is a behemoth of an album, hell you feel like your drowning in the expanse of riffs and percussive hounding, with an ever present rasping screams indicating signs of life amongst the wasteland it leaves in its wake. This is without a doubt the best Rotten Sound to date, their playing has become airtight, there is not one fraction of a moment that is not filled with their instrumental barrage, your hearing is bound to suffer!
They make incredibly good use of juxtaposing the dynamics of their "slow" moments, before unleashing a quick paced sonic slaying, on occasion sporting the short lived traditional metal solo interjection. Layering their guitar work, they take you to and fro various dark corners of the grindcore spectrum, with Keijo's vocals acting as a screeching doppelganger to your inner voice describing your journey through their single word titled tracks of mayhem.
I must stress again in all honesty that this release is one of deception, you feel throughout a crushing rawness and explosive anger always attributed to punk, but somehow they accomplish this through a surgically precise metal approach of complex rhythmic structures and layered progressions.
Rotten Sound have really raised the bar this time, they offer a fantastically well executed album, which will fully immerse the listener for the entire duration of its paradoxical sensory onslaught,  but why take my word for it, listen to it down below courtesy of lambgoat.

Myspace

Metal Archives

What Rough Beast Slouches Towards Relapse Records?

Rotten Sound - Cursed by lambgoat

Read more >>

Alternews: Maruta Album Stream

Because of the coding genius that I am (well not really, more code thief) I bring to you stolen from Metal Sucks, the complete stream of Maruta's latest album Forward Into Regression, available via Willowtip Records. If for any reason the album doesn't stream or the gadget does not appear, then feel free to check it out from the original source here.
P.S Don't forget to cast your votes for the Grindcore World Wide series.

Read more >>

Review of "To Hell With God" by Deicide

Deicide is back, and the Satanic serpents from Tampa, Florida have unleashed their most brutal release to date, To Hell with God. Although this may sound like a large claim, a proper listen to this album will be enough to suffice the confidence I hold that you shall feel the same way. This speed picks up quickly with the title track To Hell with God. This song is fast as fuck, and the chorus is catchy with the right hint of erratic melody. There is no way to hold back from screaming your bloody balls off when listening to the “TO HELL WITH GOD” chant towards the end of this track. A few songs in comes the epic track Angels in Hell. This track opens up with an assertive catchy riff that is always replaying over and over again after a listen. The shred in this song is fantastic and reminds me of earlier Deicide shred from perhaps the Legion era.

The track directly after Angels of Hell has one of the best titles I believe Deicide has created. This track being entitled Hang in Agony Until You’re Dead. This title almost seems to be a direct stab at a popular topic in Deicide literature, the crucifixion of Christ. This shall set the tone for more of an anti-Christian lyrical theme, which is something Deicide and Glenn Benton (Bassist and Singer of Deicide and Vital Remains) have strived for and excelled in throughout Deicide's metal career. I’m sure that the albums lyrics are going to be pleasing to the mind and to the dark hearts that some of us embrace. When the album is released and if you are fan of the mighty Deicide, I personally suggest you give it some of those, oh so very important pieces of green paper you may hold so dear to your heart.

-Jordan Barsamian

Read more >>

That Crack is Some Bad Shit (Marion Barry, Black Power Violence, 2011)

I first heard this sometime last year when the band posted it up as a one-song demo to download on their MySpace. Recorded in 2008 only now getting a proper (re)release free to download (at the moment) from J Randells excellent Grindcore Karaoke label.

With mostly unintelligible vocals ranging from high pitched almost Japanische Kampfhörspiele style rants to the standard PV Grumpy Granddad Grunt and sounding like its been recorded in a dustbin, if you hate Power Violence this isn’t about to convert you.

Luckily I love Power Violence. This isn’t your everyday PV either, they seem a lot more playful than your average Man is the Bastard clone, not just with the obligatory silly song titles and samples. They often throw a curveball from the fast/slow (that they do very well) with the odd two-second lounge music breakdown and mid song laughing. If you heard them on last years ‘This Comp Kills Fascists Vol 2’ you’ll know what to expect.

I'll be honest, this release hasn't changed my life but they nail pretty much everything I love about this sort of music. Big meaty riffs come and go and all the all out blasting any fasthead could want. Songs are nicely wrapped up in under a minute and the rawness of the recording even adds to the experience, listen to ‘Counter Establishment’ and dare to disagree. Stick these guys in Foel Studios and I think you’ll lose the manic energy and spontaneous vocal sounds they come out with, I swear there must be more than two members.

Finally I’ve got to say the bands moniker is amazing! The possibility for stupid song titles based on Marion Barry quotes alone is almost limitless. Actually, here’s a few I just made up…'Bitch Set Me Up', 'Gravity is Racist' and 'It Was Not a Strip Bar, It Was an Erotic Club'. You can have those lads, on the house, no need to thank me.

This release includes the ‘Smoke You Out’ nine-track demo. FREE! You spoilt little blighters.

DOWNLOAD

WEBSITE

Read more >>

Spreading the Dis-Ease: Noisear, Subvert the Dominant Paradigm, 2011

Noisear - Subvert The Dominant Paradigm by lambgoat

I am digging this release quite a bit, sort of reminds me of the Inalienable Dreamless crossed with Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses, with a bit of an oriental twist and that should be a good sign in any ones books. Review will be up one day soon. Ohh btw not only is this stolen of Lambgoat, but also the last track is done by none other than our favourite new label head honcho J.Randall.

Read more >>

The Copenhagen Experiment (Chaos Surge, Kusari Gama Kill, 2011)

Having called the wonderful Eustachian the Euramerican joint answer to Japan's blazing Cyber Noise Act Deathstorm, I have greatly neglected to acknowledge Deathstorm's even more electrifying  Danish doppelgänger Kusari Gama Kill who flamboyantly dish out a terrifying blend of industrialised Grindcore warped by an ambivalent psychosis of egregious electronica and naiant noise, in a manner akin to entering the plot of hellraiser via the matrix.

Brace yourself for a 22 minute synthetic assault of epilepsy inducing crash course into the realms of noise and electronics. Heavy use of stop and start shell shock tactics emulate an aural crash course into a digital battle of noise as a continous stream of an insane quantity of beats hammer away at your cranial cortex. Almost paralysing in nature it will proceed across a splatter of 32 tracks to offer to kick your nerves into overdrive as it proceeds to shock your system at speeds and forces that were meant more for torture than for leisure. The only other comparison is detonating a dozen copies of pre Agorapocalypse era ANb through a black hole, recording the result and then playing it backwards via dial up tones.
Vocals are a sickening electronic bastardisation of a deep wrenching scream and coupled with the omnipresent white noise that relentless twitches, we get a filthy machination of heavy and scary of a thundering blitzkrieg of electronic cacophony.
As your local doctor I recommend some electroshock therapy in the form of Chaos Surge, collect it at your local Grindcore Karaoke pharmacist.

Download Now!

Myspace

Kusari Gama Kill Blog

   

Read more >>

Dystopian Punk (Robocop II, Robocop, 2011)

Punk has never been my forte, nor will it ever be despite my constant amateur dabblings in it, but even I appreciate a fine douse of Punk when I hear one, and Ryan and Co certainly deserve a thumbs and a pat on the back from my metal laden tastes.

Robocop's second instalment is one part Boston Hardcore, one part S.O.B and a healthy dose of Powerviolence, which all combine to unleash a storm of grim punk bordering and occasionally crossing  into the realms of Grindcore.  Robocop offer a relentless churning punk attack of attitude and music in a wittier than thou ethos of both words and chords. Featuring jibes left right and centre of both humour and wit in a self indulging genre mockery best seen in titles such as Feminism  Über Alles and Maine is the Bastard, yet somehow Ryan Page manages, to layer such lyrics and titles to at face value juxtapose each other, so what may have a funny title, is in fact lyrically a tirade of intellectual rhetoric or contemporary observation of issues clouding the scene. (check out the lyrics here)

Although never attaining supersonic levels of speed, they often click back a few gears and offer a nice cruising punk vibe build up, before letting all hell loose where they end throwing in chords here, riffs there all topped by a screams splattering forth arguments to and fro in a true homage to powerviolence. As the songs progress as well, mechanical machinations seem to get stronger and stronger, taking form and offering a dystopian alternative to the already grizzly guitar work and gritty feel to the rest.

Overall this has to be one of my favourite punk releases of all time, it has everything from humour, intellectualism, attitude, killer musicianship and best of all its free to download! Although I hardly feel my rushed review does it justice, come to your own conclusion and download it over at Grindcore Karaoke.

Download Now!

Ryan Page's Blog

Read more >>

Alternews: Rotten Sound

Cursed seems to be coming along very well thus far. Enjoy.

Preorder

Read more >>

But it's not even the weekend yet! (Weekend Nachos, Black Earth, 2011)

I had to put this up as soon as possible, everyone must know about this. Weekend Nachos just released and announced a new track on their Facebook page from their new upcoming 7", Black Earth on A389 Records. They have made it available for download here: Black Earth by Weekend Nachos. So hurry the fuck up and listen to it already.

Read more >>