Sunday, March 28, 2010

deconstructing girth

Enlisting the shredding powers of Mark and Blaine from the infamously epic Swarming Hordes, Dave and Peijman (also drummer with Secret Chiefs 3) the core and principle directors of GIRTH make a triumphant return to METAL!, in this last of their incarnations.

With endlessly morphing riffage to feast on, listeners should take heed of this overwhelmingly energetic itinerary that may feel like you are licking your finger into the nuclear plant’s electrical socket- and keeping it in there for the whole duration of the album! Analytic attempts in this maelstrom of organized chaos is futile, just let the waves of riffs wax and wane over you, purifying any stagnation with restless exploration and unwavering intention.

GIRTH embraces a highly refined metal aesthetic here, transcending math, thrash, death, black, power, classic, and other heavy metal genres arriving at a sonic heaven completely their own. As if stripping away all unnecessary elements in heavy music, GIRTH attempts to expose the essence of power and grandiosity and milk it with a libido who’s thirst overfloweth.

Top-notch production from Seattle’s most in demand and progressive recording team Randall Dunn and Mell Dettmer, makes every detail of this hysteria blissfully audible. Huge drum sounds and rhythms bite your ears so hard they force their way into your conscious, then subconscious, then extra-conscious self. Guitars blaze out from all angles, relentlessly layering harmonies, melodies, and rhythms, painting a maze and puzzle for you to decode through epic-ness.

For those who witnessed this third and final exalted manifestation of GIRTH live in 2006 in Seattle, this is beyond memorabilia.

For those who missed out, listen and weep…. maybe next time you will be awake enough to have your ears to the grindstone.

decongirthstruction

Saturday, March 20, 2010

dr. mint - visions & nightmares

spontaneous composition fusing jazz, metal, grunge, trance, avant-garde, impressionist, and free improvisation.

Formed in late 2007, DR. MiNT is dedicated to the process of spontaneous composition – intuitive group improvisation focused on fluid and cohesive musical construction. Visions and Nightmares and Apocalytptica are two such improvisations, and have been indexed for release and radio consideration. These were recorded consecutively on August 26th, 2007, and are uncut, unedited, and unabridged.

Imagine Ornette Coleman, Wadada Leo Smith, Vinny Golia, Godflesh, Jimi Hendrix, Squarepusher, Maurice Ravel, Don Cherry, Nels Cline, Alban Berg, Jackson Pollack, John Zorn, Dave Douglas, Frank Zappa, Mike Patton, Henry Threadgill, Claude Debussy, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Weather Report, Primus, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Pearl Jam, and Karlheinz Stockhausen all rolled up into a fluid discourse of intuitive music-making.

trks 1-7: visions & nightmares
trks 8-15: apocalyptica

riyl: john zorn, frank zappa, weather report, kneebody

sounds & pleasant dreams

wilt - wither

noise / ambient / industrial

Brand new release on Crionic Mind from one of the most interesting sound artists working in the US today. WILT extol the invisible corners of the thirsty earth with this exaltation of decay and reclamation. Best described as Noise Ambient, "Wither" is an aural quagmire of dusky vapors and ivy draped relics, grating erosions and the thorny shadows that rise and fall across dying landscapes.

A wilt recording that takes most of its source material from natural sounds found around James P. Keeler's new (as of 2001) home in the countryside of upstate NY, this is a very dark album with roots in dark-ambient, but a style that frequently pushes out into the noise/power electronics direction. Forceful ambience?

The sound is fluid but textural, billowing and dissipating.... a wave morphs into animal growls. A field of static releases short bursts of these growl-like tones, outlining a jerky, staccato rhythm. From the hard noise to the dripping ambience... (not to mention the eerie transformation of bird wings to military drums)

... this is an album not to be missed. The album is full of fairly short, recognizable loops, fields of static and drone, and interesting experiments that fit a very cohesive vision. Wilt here produces a vibrant environment that has a definite sense of space to it. An experience the whole ride through.

wither away

violence jazz - vd in modern jazz

noise / improvisational / experimental

debut release from this experimental noisy improv outfit, who later changed their name to catholic skin ...

this is not for everyone, but those who can appreciate the above mentioned styles will probably dig it

vd in modern jazz

chewable cyst - no country will escape america

Creepy, industrial, heavy as a ton of bricks, faster than crazy glue. If you hate GW Bush, this is for you.

... insane drum machine grind from members of Deadfood, Fetus Eaters

Seven songs of fluid Industrimetal oddity ...

song description snippets:

... a droning wash of guitars and minimal disembodied vocals interspersed with random blast beats...
.. a dark intro, before an intense white noise blast, then drifts a little, and a strange theme follows that doesn't really lead anywhere but still sounds good, a little like a more hyper Melvins. ...a rhythm and riff is heard, sludgey and demonic and topped off with oddball, Lard-esque vocals!....

... electro infused piece, featuring scuzzy chugs, Mortician style, with industrial style distorted vocals... strange orchestral keyboards, stabs, weird shouts, then music as if lifted from a British 50's comedy film takes over..... a quirky electro beat beneath the chugging guitars and heavily processed vocals that plays out like a filthier, more irreverent version of Skrew or something along those lines....

spastic, jerky tantrum that mixes dramatic slow beats, with weird electronic beats, frantic screams and a monotone spoken vocal.....

mixes Middle Eastern melody with more whimsical electronic beats, and weaves into it digital Grindcore blasts that stop and start as the rest plays out..... Mr Bungle-isms with death vocals, Egyptian melodies and demented nightmare-ish techno.... a combination of sounds ala The Devils, Send More Paramedics, Brujeria, A.C. and babies having fits to imagine the chaos...

Industrial Metal sort of sound but breaks it up with ambient synth interludes and samples.... moderately more straight forward Grindcore track, that uses some awkward processing on the vocals to kind of double them up...

dirging sludge atmospheres ... a droning more spacious track, loosely akin to the more abstract Godflesh songs.

The production on this is a bit raw, but I think everything comes through alright, and I think gives it more impact than if it was real polished. Definitely not what I was expecting from a band named Chewable Cyst whose first track is called "Cocksmoker." It’s a pretty interesting record, and certainly different than most of what passes over my desk. Probably not for everyone, but enjoyable.

chewable cyst

Saturday, March 13, 2010

speedqueen - big leaves on a small tree

avant-garde / experimental

Speedqueen (or SQ, as they would alternately call themselves) were the duo of Joe Tunis and Marc Faris based out of Rochester NY back in the 90's; at their core they were a guitar and drums duo, but they also utilized keyboards, effects, and a lot of noise in their longform jams. Big Leaves On A Small Tree is a much heavier and more varied collection than this bands' other recordings.

song description snippets:

... spastic noise metal riff and busy, percolating drumming locking in on a crushing groove-loop .... skittery improv-drone piece, with strange conversations overheard in the background behind quiet free drumming, scraping guitar noise, amp hum and room ambience..... metallic math workout, sludgy and spastic, somewhere in between Godheadsilo and Melvins with wild howling vocals, eventually breaking down into a cacophony of freeform noise and feedback.

.... going from brutal heaviness to Slint-y math rock workouts to those weird improvised dronescapes and spoken word conversations..... a huge amp drone freakout a la Total or Earth as rumbling loops of guitar distortion tumble into the void surrounded by streaking feedback, and screaming cable noise..... sounds like what Godheadsilo might have sounded like if they had started messing around with avant-garde improvisation and heavy free-drone.

.... a deep dronefield, pure floating heavy tone that sounds like Speedqueen are summoning up clouds of black smoke out of rumbling amplifiers and Tibetan prayer bowls.... like Melvins stomping through a stoned free drone jam. The last half of this track morphs into a massive psychedelic feedback drone jam on par with the more recent stuff from Zaimph, Hototogisu, Skullflower, and Double Leopards.

drone/math rock stuff.... a gorgeous rippling melody propelled by layers of guitar loops, a girl's voice appearing in triplicate panning around from speaker to speaker as a krautrocky drumbeat kicks in and the whole song lurches forward, angelic female singing drifting over the clockwork Circle-like hypno rock jamming.

.... brutal and noisy math-sludge beating, spastic riffing grappling with the pounding drums while gritty, crackling drones hum in the background... krautrock type jam but way heavier than anything they've done before..... a trippy mess of manipulated tape heads and loops of droning guitar chords swimming in pools of shimmering drone that all becomes more and more distorted and loud until it builds into a crushing, grinding roar of Total-esque white light feedback and distortion.

Big Leaves On A Small Tree is just amazing, combining crushing arty math-metal with blasts of heavy free drone, krautrock, and avant-improv soundscaping, a radioactive mix of Godheadsilo, Circle, Melvins, Dead C, Hototogisu, and free improvisation.

big trees small leafs

leopold - the wreck of hope

out of Los Angeles, Leopold's "the Wreck Of Hope" CD is ten tracks of bone crushing noise/art rock. Recorded by Alex Newport, Leopold crushes the listener with good noise rock/sludge mayhem which was influenced by such bands as Unsane, The Jesus Lizard, Helmet...

riyl: helmet, melvins, the jesus lizard, the locust

hope wreckers

whitford - whitford whitford

Indie rockers playing the soundtrack for a samurai film

Whitford Whitford is both structured and boundless. These 14 instrumental tracks sooth and scald, offering the listener a dynamic, satisfying ride. Whitford's resonant tones, winding song structures and occasional blasts of colossal guitar noise converge here to deliver an inimitable aural extravaganza.

Features 8-string bass, guitars, saxophone and percussion... and rototoms.

whitford (x2)

whitford - orson welles: planet devouring robot

dark-jazz-math-rock

Dancing on the line where jazz and rock collide. An album's worth of the moment before a storm.

Orson Welles: Planet Devouring Robot is Whitford's dynamic, hauntingly beautiful debut album, an instrumental immersion in eight string bass, electric guitar, saxophone and percussion. Recorded live and without overdubs in a small home in Pittsburgh, PA, the fourteen tracks of "Orson" oscillate between composition and improvisation, tension and sweet release.

planet devouring

the psychedelic river chickens - half dozen over easy

The P.R.C. formed in the early 21st century in Sonoma County California. After a bizarre incident involving a chicken, a banjo, a wood chipper, and a large amount of alcohol, this four man freak fest emerged on the music scene with a sound unheard by most. Coalescing rock, country, blues, metal, and perhaps a touch of polka, they pioneer their way through new musical horizons. Downtrodden, yet uplifting, their clever songs touch on all emotions. They actually formed by accident when their alter ego heavy metal band STOMACH was asked to perform an "unplugged" set at a local event.

The strong positive response was unexpected. In 2003 they released a live CD, LIVE AT THE TRAXX. Again, the response was overwhelming. After releasing their first studio recording, HALF DOZEN OVER EASY on MOHAWK AND HEADBAND records, they have continued to snowball through Sonoma county and beyond with their unique brand of music, capturing the attention, and endorsements, of fine companies like EMG pickups , MESA-BOOGIE amplification, and DRAGONFLY clothing to name a few. A double cd/dvd is in the "chicken smoker" at this time, along with legendary live performances both locally and regionally. One of the coolest things about the P.R.C. is that their diverse musical abilities enable them to play for a wide range of audiences, both young and old.


1/2 dozen over ez

me infecto - death errand

Slow metal/stoner rock meets Chicago style Shellac and Melvins. Two piece bass and drums band that sounds like a full band.

death errand

stomach - sacrificial microscopic eternity

Watch your back, Dimmu Borgir. It looks as though the North Bay’s Stomach are out for your “Most Syllables in an Album Title” crown.

This album has two personalities.... in one corner is pure, undiluted thrash—the kind high school kids wearing Venom shirts would have made circa 1986.... some tracks charge full steam ahead with intensity rivaling some of the finest material from those denim-vested, shaggy-haired glory days.

Sitting opposite its irate twin is the seemingly more thoughtful side, represented by slower, more plodding riffs....

Leads and catchy double-bass runs are found in abundance, and Judd Mason impresses quite mightily as a lead singer, while Kent Varty possesses a death growl as effective (and intelligible!) as has ever been heard.

sme

leval blessing

The debut full length from Milwaukee's Leval Blessing combines blistering grindcore and power violence with mathy tech/death acrobatics and violent sludge/metalcore riffs, fronted by a monstrous two-vocal assault. Fierce ogre grind for fans of Cephalic Carnage, Despised Icon, Pig Destroyer and Bodies In The Gears Of the Apparatus.

level blassing

singers ruin perfectly good bands

Seattle based GRINDCORE duo featuring PIANO (run through Marshall Guitar amplification and DRUMS-combines Speed/Thrash, Math Rock, Weird Jazz, Punk. Highly Technical and unpredictable. Mike Peterson also plays drums on tour with THE ACCUSED.

SEAN is a Seattle based GRINDCORE duo featuring Luke Laplante on Keyboard (on piano preset through noise gate pedal and into Marshall guitar amplifications) AND Mike Peterson on drums. (Mike is also playing drums for THE ACCUSED on their Sept. Tour). This speeding GRINDCORE music is a combination of Speed/Thrash/Math/Weird Jazz/Punk

autobio by Luke Laplante of SEAN:

Sean formed out of the remains of the grindcore three piece "TION". That name came from the fact that there are so many death metal bands who's name ends in tion. there for we figured why not just be that. We played a bunch of shows in Seattle and then finally went on tour at the time with Burke Eglington on guitar. Eventualy we had to let go of Burke due to the fact that he was way too busy for the band. He left and continues to play with "AKIMBO". A couple years later we went on tour with Seattle boys "THE ABODOX"

So after a few months of practice we played our first show with THE ABODOX and DOOMSDAY 1999 at Graceland in Seattle in June 2004. I chose the name "SEAN" because I had gotten a phone call from Ben Wah in L.A who told me that he thought of the name "TION" and that I should find a new one. I decided that "SEAN" would be a funny alternate way of saying "TION" in a SoCal accent kind of way.


ruining good bands

echo hawk - stitches [ep]

Due to circumstances beyond the control of this finite world, the summer of 2007 left the three piece rhythm section of local L.A. rock band The Distants without a singer. With The Distants being on a temporary hiatus David Arthur Kelly (guitar) returned to L.A. after having spent a month at Wauzhushk Onigum (Rat Portage) First Nation Indian Reservation at Lake of the Woods, Ontario. He brought with him a host of unfinished songs and ideas.

Thankfully drummer Jamie Douglass and bassist Ben Jindra were eager to collaborate and help David finish the tunes adding their own unique signatures to the skeletal ideas. Things came together rather absurdly fast and in three, three hour jams the five songs that would make the EP were arranged and demoed (Opposites Attack in under seventeen minutes). All bed tracks on the EP were recorded at Ben’s house on a Yamaha 4 track, the guitars and vox being completed at David’s on a computer.


stitches

good god - doorway to hell

In September 2003 when former Belijerens members Josh, Ben and T.J met and began collaborating with Corpse Fondler/Second Class Citizen's drummer Eric at Barn Owl Studios in Wallingford CT. Good God was born.
With a line up consisting of Josh: Guitar/Vocals, Ben: Guitar/Vocals, T.J.: Bass and Eric on Drums, they began writing songs and playing shows in CT. In July 2004 the band began recording their first album "Doorway to Hell"

After recording the tracks, in the winter of 2004 Ben and T.J. decided to leave the band for personal reasons leaving the post production duties to Josh and Eric. After completing the album in the spring of 2005 and despite all the set backs, Good God continued to grow and evolve their unique brand of metal.

The addition of long time friend and fellow metal fanatic Matt (ex.BBR/Transiency) on bass in the winter of 2005 further intensified the vision that is Good God

Although open to the idea of another guitarist joining the band they continue to write and perform regardless. They emerge once again focused and driven towards something new while maintaining the original vision.

riyl: mastodon, melvins, today is the day

doorway

Friday, March 12, 2010

same-sex dictator

... the new band from Justin Straw of Tundra and Gods Among Men.

now Justin finds himself in the strangely named band Same-Sex Dictator.... this is probably the most accessible band that I've heard from this guy so far, the hardcore is still heavily mutated and there's a big psychedelic vibe to the six songs on this disc, but the jams are shorter, more concise than his previous bands, and the band belt out some killer hooks behind their burly prog-crust-noise rock.

It has a heavy prog influence, and reminds me of bands like Tarantula Hawk and Human Anomaly, like heavy crusty hardcore informed by Magma or something. But then there are deep death metal vocals, and skronky riffs a la Microwaves. Very interesting. Very heavy. ---- crucial blast

same-sex dictator

across tundras - herds (tour cd-r)

Herds of the Fathomless Valleys tour CD-R

This last press contains 3 bonus songs - a newer demo of Weary Travelers Rest, a OLD live cover of "Cortez the Killer", and a cover of "Where the Wild Roses Grow" sans Kylie Minogue on vocals

thanks to Tanner & Across Tundras for this cd

herds tour cd-r

humanasaur - bedlam easy listening

Humanasaur combine an engaging amateurism with an unusually articulate brand of self-abasement. Its hard to define, but theres something about these tortured, hateful dirges that is almost unnaturally compelling, especially given their essentially primitive nature.... ----Terrorizer Magazine

... they just create these towering walls of sound that level everything in their path." ---Daredevil Magazine

Pure crushing sludgy plodding heaviness, but Humanasaur also wrap their scuzzy sludge around weird, out-of-tune, awesome pop hooks buried in the thick mass of floppy-string dirge and feedback, as well as sometimes forgetting about a song altogether and just wandering off into a chaotic tarpit of amp-blowing sludge noise." ---Crucial Blast

bedlam easy listening

tundra (final recordings)

Tundra wowed me with their split with Gods Among Me a few months ago, but this is all Tundra, all the time. Twenty-seven minutes of music await the listener, and the band seems to even made themselvews better than they were on their last go-around. The band is able to make some of the hardest, most intense music through using instruments and time signatures that would not normally seem proper for a composition of that style. The one thing that individuals will notice immediately about Tundra is that their compositions are considerably long (most range in the five to six minute range, besides "Bow Hunter")

However, these compositions run through listeners’ hands like water; individuals will think each of the songs on this self-titled EP are only two to three minutes. Each of the tracks on this EP brings something new to individuals' perceptions of Tundra. Even with this "lighter" sound, it still goes and throws ample double-bass action and a bouncy bass line into the mix. The use of tribal drums during the ending segment of the track continues the varying sound of Tundra. It is true; Tundra is like the mythical Proteus, thrashing about and changing forms to escape reviewers like me pigeonholing them into a specific style.

Tundra can be as influential and as impressive as Nation of Ulysses, Dag Nasty, or Cradle of Filth.... their arrangement skills are well beyond other bands that have existed as long as they have, while the fullness of the band is something that cannot be rivaled.

tundra (final recordings)

tundra & gods among men - split cd

Tundra came out of three of the members of Gods Among Men, which decided to go on without Ruth and do their own thing. Each of the tracks on this EP are very long, drawn out tracks that really seem to be along the path of Hydra Head acts (Khanate, in particular). However, the inclusion of the viola on tracks like “Tubring” may just be the most memorable facet of the band. This is not to say that the rest of the band is sub-par, especially considering the chaotic mess that is created on each track churns through with a blood rage.

The division between the higher register of the viola and the deeper mixture of drums/bass/guitar makes for two distinct paths of Tundra, two different ways to listen to each and every track on this EP. This is not really the furious noise of The Locust or the crust punk of 9 Shocks Terror, but rather a mixture of metal, sludge, crust, noise and rock to make something that is the equivalent of the shit color one gets when they mix together all sorts of different colors.

Tundra shines brightly during "Animus/Anima." The shuffling nature of the track, coupled with a number of different shifts in the band’s sound during this seven-minute track, make this the one song that everyone needs to hear to get a proper appreciation for the band.

The two Gods Among Men tracks that are on this disc (“No” and “Pagan Invasion”) are a little more rough than the Tundra album, but the review should really focus on the future rather than the past. Tundra is a different band than Gods Among Men, that is true, but there seems to be a spark in Tundra that really needs to be exploited when the band can get a few more tracks down ...

tundra & gods among men - split

Sunday, March 7, 2010

girth - sleeper, awaken!

We toured with this line-up for 6 months or so September 2005- February 2006. The shows were our most brutal and experimental to date, often going off on long improvisational rampages. We recorded a through-composed 19 minute movie-like piece in four movements, entitled "Sleeper Awaken."

With Randall Dunn at the board, our intentions for this piece were to create a mindfuck journey of psychedelic metal to supply a soundtrack for the listener during his/her most "indulgent" moments. WARNING: Not for the weak at heart.... bum trips guaranteed for the unexperienced, depending on his/her state of mind -Girth

wake up !

girth units

"Living In Truth" is metal guitar + drums duo Girth's debut album from 2004. Girth consisted of drummer Peijman Kouretchian and guitarist Dave Webb.

The debut record by Seattle duo GIRTH is a genre-crushing onslaught of intelligent and accessible instrumental fury. From mathematical grind to epic soundscapes the band envelops the listener with their huge sound and mature, varied compositions inspired by diverse acts such as The Melvins, Hendrix, Fantomas, John Coltrane, Dillinger Escape Plan, John Zorn, etc.

"Living in Truth" is graced with exceptional packaging and artwork designed by Stephen O' Malley (Southern Lord, Hydrahead, Sunn O))))) and the extraordinary fidelity of Producer Randall Dunn (Secret Chiefs 3, Critters Buggin', ASVA etc.).

"Cultivated post-modern-math-rock virtuosity. All their tunes blaze." – Portland Mercury

"Few albums pass through my ears that make me look at music in a completely different way, as bold as it may sound, this is one of those albums." – Indie Workshop (indieworkshop.com)

"Wow! The spazzed-string strangulation and octopoidal drumming make this one for all seeking the ultimate mathy heaviness." – Aquarius Records

.... remains an engaging and grossly underrated release in the metal world given the talents of its two primary members.

living in truth

the womb

The Womb have been making their rounds on the Toronto circuit for some time now and if this self-released EP is any indication, are poised to move on to bigger things sooner rather than later. The overall approach they take is in some ways similar to A Life Once Lost, though less predictable and derivative.

The group play a fairly technical fusion of power groove and progressive influences, wrapped up in memorable songs with a touch of hardcore/sludge acidity..... there's a lot to be said for a "metalcore" band that steer clear of genre conventions, barring the vocals occasionally drawing too much from Phil Anselmo's playbook.

The Womb's greatest strength is in their rhythmic dynamic — seemingly mismatched riffs are blended together using well-thought out technical embellishments similar to Soilent Green, and repetition is not shied away from. This allows for a balanced listen that resonates well after its completion, which precious few independent debuts deliver. This is a promising beginning and recommended to fans of Eyehategod, Soilent Green, or later Pantera. - exclaim

the womb - s-t

free jazz meets death metal...

Free jazz meets Death metal where THE HUB is modern hybrid of jazz, funk, punk, & hardcore. This instrumental jazz trio does not play tunes that should be listened to on a romantic date.

"THE HUB, with a growing reputation as undiscovered gems, are rapidly developing a dedicated cult following." -BBC Radio 3

... a band whose appetite for far flung sounds often defies categorization and whose members, Sean Noonan, Tim Dahl, Dan Magay play with the conviction and ferocity of men on a mission. A look at their recent European tour schedule indicates that they could be on the road as often as AC/DC. After initially shocking audiences with their eclectic array of original compositions, THE HUB have earned a loyal fan base worldwide. HUB fans have even been known to travel up to six hours to see them perform.

"Maniacally exhilarating, gripping in its precision and energy, a real breath of fresh air." John Fordham - The Guardian (U.K)

THE HUB is creating a new movement in jazz joining diverse music listeners from the hard core/metal, punk, new music, and electronic music scenes. Their latest album release "Trucker" is another existential leap...

"Clearly a totally new form of music with an aggressive heavy metal touch belied by a jazz sensibility and control." Jeremy Hurewitz - Prague Post

"Trucker" comes straight out of the Brooklyn underground music scene where they create a sonic amalgam of hip-hop, hardcore, punk, funk, and freeform jazz improvisation. All of these modes lead to music with originality.... an irresistible force for progressive music listeners everywhere.


the truck - hubber

the grasshopper lies heavy - soft noise

Another side of TGLH. Drone/noise guitar and hammond organ, with various fuckeries and noises.

The Grasshopper Lies Heavy is a band that will change the placement of your inner organs with their sound. If you lean towards them while they perform live, you will be pleased to find out that you don't even need to stand on you own. The sound will hold you up.

soft noise

worst case scenario

a brutal assault on the folklore of the times.the point where genies borders with insanity.

Hailing from North Carolina,this 4 piece metal act has taken hatred to another level. Blending technical song structures with hate driven speed and inspirational lyrics.

"the order of the morning star" is a mixture of all great metal... death, black, thrash, speed, etc..... a pure assault on the folklore of the times... a must have for fans of mastodon, burnt by the sun,
slayer, etc.

riyl: burnt by the sun, mastodon

order of the morning star

cemetery - detriment image

Brutal skull-punishing death metal assault from Indonesia ! Be Prepared for the F****** Brutality!

Debut CD from one Brutal Fucking Death Metal from Kudus - Indonesia in the vein of NY's Disfigured, Dying Fetus and "Rated X" era Deranged, etc... Contains album "No End Possibility" and their 1st Demo, 18 tracks over 52 minutes long. An absolute must for any fan of Brutal Death Metal!

trks 1-8: No End Possiblity
trks 9-18: 1st demo

detriment image

Saturday, March 6, 2010

illogo - when liquids stay dry

experimental / post-metal / eclectic brutal core / avant-garde / black metal

Illogo is in fact not really the name of the band that recorded this record. This Italian post-metal/post-core band seems to be quite bent on not having any name at all! (in fact there is no band name or even album title anywhere on the sleeve or disc). Illogo is merely a substitute, apparently. Now then, you'd expect a band that doesn't even want to have a name to be terribly non-conformist, right?

Think Today Is The Day; however, Illogo is clearly not about shocking the bejeezus out of you and instead about intelligent, slow progressions, which makes the experience simply unpleasant. While indisputably heavy and extreme as hell, Illogo is nevertheless more about pained, yet contrived expression of emotion, immediately similar to last year's Home by Versus The Mirror. Now, this is the sort of production you should have aimed for, Illogo!

It is a downright bizarre record at times, as close as one can get to the term avant-garde without embodying it. Imagine what a very emotionally distressed chain saw would sound like, and the band gets surprisingly close to imitating this sound. There is strength in their convictions, and passion in the delivery.

autobio from cdbaby:

At the beginning we presented the peculiar elements of a death metal band also influenced by grind and black metal. Over the year, the simple fact of being affected in a positive way from the world wide music tendencies, which continually develops, and the wiliness of personalizing our music path besides the need of new solutions and cues, carried out the idea of mixing different music materials without being worried to guarantee any kind of continuity (which may be offered only by the use of the voice). This way of composing music has brought a revisiting of the standard models on which laid our music even with the insertion of rock and electronic elements.

Our texts do not follow a login patterns intended as a necessary element, but those texts are written d'istinto and with improvvisation. Just after that process, sometimes, we think and reflect to what do they mean, and how they can be interpreted taking into account who is the listener and his /her feeling. We use both italian and english but we prefer the former because is our mother tounge and it has the potential that english do not offer.

We are influenced by: uzeda, neurosis, meshuggah, fennez, tool, don caballero,shellac, suffocation, isis, nasum, godspeedyoublackemperor, cannibal corpse, ulan bator, pansonic, DHG, laddio bolocko, thorns, steve coleman, einsturzende neubauten, information, brutal truth and much more.


when liquids stay dry

black harvest - shrine of hours

melodic / progressive / avant-garde / black metal

from pyromusic.net:

Mixing standard raspy-yet-distinguishable death vocals with much cleaner vocals that sound similar to those of Andreas Hedlund a.k.a. Vintersorg, (current lead singer of Borknagar) and your usual brutal Death music, Black Harvest’s Shrine of Hours isn’t quite what one would come to expect from most ordinary Death Metal.

Despite their young age as a band, Black Harvest have put together a very nice piece of work with Shrine of Hours. The musical highlights for me are the softer and acoustic moments (borrowing heavily from Opeth) on tracks in which both music and vocals slow and soften, helping to separate the tracks from many other Death Metal bands whose music is a relentless, full-on aural assault the entire duration of their records. Fans of Katatonia and My Dying Bride may also hear a few similarities as there are even some doomy segments to please the ear.

Many Death Metal fans are likely to quite enjoy Shrine of Hours and I recommend it to anyone interested in younger and up-and-coming metal acts. While it’s certainly not a masterpiece, Shrine of Hours has its merits. Tracks are structured, varied and well-produced.

riyl: katatonia, akercocke, enslaved, cannibal corpse, opeth, my dying bride

shrine of hours

solace of requiem

A new concept is born with Virginia's premier Death Metal band. The jazz vibe and the flowing textures bring the seemingly ancient atmospheres to life. Every song is like a gateway to another world, the lyrics telling the same brutal tale as the music.

Nine original tracks from Virginia's Masters of Traditional Death Metal. Including one cover track from Grave's "Souless" album. Technical and crushing guitar work with a jazz like quality have been incorporated with wicked dynamics and grueling vocals to create a unique and unmistakable sound.

solace of requiem

dvorhead

Brutal Death Metal from France, not a scene which instantly springs to mind like the mention of USDM, or Swedish Death Metal. So it comes as a pleasant surprise when I begin to listen to the debut album (I think) from French maniacs, Dvorhead. Apologies for a lack of general information here, but the website is in French, and I didn’t really pay much attention in that class, but one thing remains crystal clear here – Dvorhead are a brutal death metal machine not to be fucked with!

House of Pain is 12 tracks of violent and technical death metal, with psychotic vocal attack, and the terminator on drums. Think Cryptopsy and Cannibal Corpse in a pub brawl, and your kind of there. Each song is crafted to a professional level on par with their established peers, and there doesn’t seem to be a filler in sight. There is nothing groundbreaking or inventive here, but a thoroughly enjoyable feast of blood guts and battery which would make a perfect addition to any death metal enthusiasts catalogue.

Having not heard of Dvorhead before, I am assuming that they are fairly new players in the scene, but I can’t see it being before long that a respectable label picks up this obviously talented and creative outfit, and hopefully manage to see some tour action in the near future.

Once again, a skeletal review, but by no means a skeletal album – there is plenty of meat on these bones to be chewed. I can’t emphasize enough – buy the album so you can say in years to come, “I heard of them years ago, I’m kvlt!” - Phil Wilson


riyl: aborted, cannibal corpse, cryptopsy, deicide, severe torture, suffocation

dvorhead

hot n' steamy monkey love

The sound that these guys bring forth is a vicious combination of sludge/crust that is equal parts Iron Monkey, Black Sabbath, Motorhead and Genocide Superstars. This is topped off with a throat-ripping vocalist who sounds very much like Tomas Lindberg at his most vile.

Each song strikes you like a clawhammer to the temple. The band is tight with the drumming being spot on, the bass bringing in a dirty crawl and the guitar churning out an endless supply of slaughtering riffs.

The bottom line is that if you're a fan of sludge, crust, anything brutal or that rocks like hell, you need to check this disc out.

ps- this album has been called "self-titled" & "get the LP you f*cks"

hot n steamy

eloe omoe - marauders

The cross-pollination of genres is so abundant, it’s hard to keep up with the new terms coined on a seemingly daily basis to describe what the current breed of American garage dwellers might be pushing through their vintage SUNN® amps while customizing the settings on their Line 6's. ‘Free-sludge’ seems to be the term du jour bestowed upon Boston duo Eloe Omoe. For me, ‘free-sludge’ sounds too much like something you’d get as a souvenir from the Labrea Tar Pits, so I’ll go with my own made-up term: freeform fire-doom.

Omoe (named after the bass clarinetist from Sun Ra's Arkestra) join a burgeoning group of new acts skirting the line between rock and noise, though from astonishingly divergent angles. Gary Beauvais’s Animal Disguise label, on which Marauders is released, seems to be one of the top showcases for acts of this sort. Amongst the ADR roster: Kentucky’s Cadaver In Drag blend screeching noise histrionics with old time Discordance Axis-style thrash; Sic Alps sound something like the Brainbombs covering Strawberry Alarm Clock; Gary's own Mammal project has morphed into a bass-rumbling Saint Vitus-ish one-man band, complete with detached blues singing and American loner style; and new signees Warmer Milks have yet to meet a musical trope they couldn’t bifurcate and leave splayed and dripping blood on the altar of post-rock. Eloe Omoe are fortunate to be ensconced by such a tight-knit family of like-minded deconstructionists.

When masquerading as humans, the members of Eloe Omoe go by Tim Leanse (drums) and Sam Rowell (bass). References to other power duos like M__th_s and L_g__ni_ B__t will be tempting to make, but are best left unstated, as such a crass pigeonholing would be uncouth. Other comparisons to GodheadSilo and the Amp-Rep roster of you're are not totally out of line, but one could argue that the similarities are in sonority and attitude alone. Eloe Omoe are much less structured and more in line with the wild jazz stylings of their namesake’s mother-ship.

Regardless of what genre you feel the need to place them in, the results are pummeling. Rowell’s bass playing is intense, essentially a non-stop assault on the ears, while Leanse’s drumming, though kind of familiar-sounding, is masterfully annihilative. Their group dynamic is something akin to a 72-car pile-up -- sounds of screeching metal, bursting carburetors, and the hum of stalling transmissions whirring in cacophonous disharmony until FEMA rolls out its new state-of-the-art Gargantuon 2000 industrial steamroller to pave over the whole mess.

Hail to Eloe Omoe and Animal Disguise for keeping the amps turned up and the inhibitions low. Furthermore, hail to this new golden age where lo-fi nihilism and free-form expressivity are put back into rock ‘n’ roll where they belong. It’s heartening to know that such ideals still burn in the darker recesses of this country’s dying culture.

eloe omoe - marauders

forest of witchery - invokation of the ancient one

Only 1,000 cd's pressed from this grim black metal band (the only release they've made)--FoW's "Invokation of the Ancient One." Get a copy while you can, as they are becoming scarce and in high demand. This cult band quickly severed ties after their initial release and has had followings in the Euro and U.S. underground BM circuit 5 years after its release. This CD was on CD baby's Top Editor's Choice list for three years and was voted one of the top ten black metal albums of 2004 on several review sites.

riyl: borknagar, emperor, dimmu borgir

invokation of the ancient one

humansbeing - waiting for a greater good

Screaming hardcore metal, with many diverse influences, so much more interesting and spirited than most.

waiting for a greater good

bosola - re:ep

bosola are an experimental/prog/post rock/avant garde trio from new york who pull influences from bands like don caballero, sonic youth, fugazi, jesus lizard...

besides those references, they have also been compared to king crimson, ruins, minutemen, cheval de frise, a hungover led zeppelin

this album is sometimes noisy, structured differently and in a sense jammy .... some songs on this ep utilize instruments like a trumpet, a musical saw and a tabla among others

there is a lot of drumming on this record... lots of drum beats, drum rolls, cymbals, lots of drums period

from cdbaby:

"With RE:EP, Bosola outline their iconoclastic blueprint for a new rock. Not just your standard three-piece, Bosola draws up, and sometimes denies, their varied heritage. Each member has been involved in music since childhood having grown up in the house of a music teacher. Guitarist/vocalist Tickrangler cut his teeth in Hong Kong Virus, a hardcore/experimental band that now sounds entirely contemporary. Grandpa Scorpion, the band’s drummer, is an alum of NY slow-core legends, Alger Hiss. Bassist/vocalist Eli Machine has spent time in new wave/goth bands like The Change and has most recently performed Glenn Branca’s Hallucination City. The band continues to evolve their sound drawing congruent yet divergent influences from Don Caballero, Jesus Lizard, King Crimson, Ruins, and Fugazi. The songs plough a sonic landscape of odd time signatures, distorted strains and angular, collage-like arrangements.

For this first outing, Bosola selected Wharton Tiers’ FunCity (Helmet, Sonic Youth) studio to record. Finding an immediate rapport with Wharton, Bosola pounded out five complex and fully produced songs in three hot days in July 2005.

The selection of songs also show the various sides of the band and moves from the abrupt odd-times of Leaky Aura to the more wistful State of Illfitting. The band is intensely interested in jamming and the music community and brought in Tim Byrnes of The Friendly Bears who lends his trumpet playing, William Bredbeck on musical saw, and the widely denounced Sri Usted Taco Leg who donates his tabla talents. Each addition was purposely done in two takes or less to keep the feel spontaneous. Similarly, the band has a tradition of creating “perishable” songs which are quickly assembled jams meant to be played only once or in this case memorialized on RE:EP. The band explores a larger sonic palette on this recording – evident in Fred’s expanded drum kit as well as Ali’s use of an electric version of the traditional Turkish saz."


re:ep

rellik - deceive the deceiving

USA Thrash Metal Band from Philadelphia featuring Craig Smilowski former Immolation/Goreaphobia drummer.

imagine if you will a sick blend of ripping old style Death / Thrash à la Ripping Corpse with hints of early Morbid Angel, James Murphy-era Death and pre-"Dawn Of Possession" Immolation.

"Rellik has many original ideas and they make this band one of the best Death/Thrash Metal projects from East Coast. " - Metal Side

"I like the bands enthusiastic, dry produced sound, the straightness of the songs and above all the awesome singer. So if you are interested in a rousing, rocking Metal / Thrash / Core-mixture, check out this album"
- from "Voices from the Darkside Webzine"

deceive the deceiving

yes, collapse - climate

from crucial blast:

"These guys were pretty much the house band for the noise/core/drone label Epicene Sound System, releasing a host of ridiculously limited-edition cassettes and CD-Rs, oftentimes doing splits with likeminded heavy noise bands. I've been grooving on Yes, Collapse's blasted electronics and factory deathcrush since their Smeared White Sickness disc from a couple years ago, and ended up talking back and forth with Matt from YC for awhile about releasing something with them.

Yes, Collapse has that distinctly midwestern brand of improvised noise-rock that you'll recognize immediately, but then they go and drop in caustic crawls through rust-coated computer doom, brutal factory scrape, tribal junk-metal percussion trances, guitars with the distortion pushed all the way into the red and beyond, deranged verbal rantings, and pure free-noise fuckery, all combined into a crushingly heavy noise-dirge epic that will strip the paint from your walls."

yes, collapse - climate

anomanes - pronunciation

reminds me a little of old sepultura (pre-chaos ad)

from mutant renegade zine:

"This starts off with some cool tribal drumming which I know Mite and Dawn would love them it breaks into grindcore. I like grindcore when I'm at a show, but it really doesn't do much for me when I'm listening to it at home. Actually I guess you could call this death metal but it really does remind me a bit of the beloved Blatherskite from Indy. A pretty cool CD if you're into grindcore or thrashy stuff." {Grog}

anomanes - pronunciation

seized - live at kfjc

four songs recorded at a live radio session live in the kfjc studio (pit) in los altos hills, ca, on january 2nd, 1999

these are the last recordings of this great band

"During their brief existence in the mid-1990's, these guys delivered some killer misanthropic sludgecore, part psychedelic human-hate a la Dystopia, part Man is the Bastard bass-heavy craziness, and part Disassociate/Brutal Truth-styled hemp-fueled grind, with mosntrous, gutteral roars.

The lyrics are pure negativity, but there are some surprisingly catchy hooks and uptempo chuggers on here beneath a triple bassist assault. Thats right, these guys had THREE BASS PLAYERS, no guitar, with the basses downtuned as fuck and eerily dissonant, crushing, winding bass lines driving these dirges along, a bulldozing heavy avalanche of catchy tarpit blast.

There are also violins on some of these songs, making them even creepier than usual. Featured former members of the even more obscure Human Greed." -- crucial blast

seized - live at kfjc

violence jazz

Seldom have I come across a more aptly named band. Violence Jazz produces a veritable storm of sound that can only be interpreted as jazz in the broadest sense, reminiscent of some of the most tumultuous free jazz offerings. This isn't jackhammer metaljazz from the Ettrick school. If anything, it recalls some of the more pulverizing moments of Blue Humans without Arthur Doyle, Masayuki Takayanagi at his most stratospheric, or Borbetomagus if they all played guitars and/or drums.

I was also reminded of Alan Licht & Tamio Shiraishi on their brain-scorching duo sessions, but I do not detect any horns in the roiling lava of this improvised eruption. Instead, we are treated to four people trying to convince guitars & percussion to plow up pavement through sheer sonic force & exuberance. I thoroughly approve & I would love to hear more from Violence Jazz.

violence jazz - s-t



bethell - ep1

This is one fucked up release. Bethell is the brain child of one Justain Netherly, another ohio resident with some desfunctional ideas. At first you might think this is a grind record, but only if said grind band had Masonna and Merzbow in it's ranks. Then there is all the Galaxy 500/My Bloddy Valentine space/psych parts... then back into the sick noise grind blur. completly fucked.

A fucking amazing 20-"song" private-press CD of totally fucked free-death/grind noise/noise pop from this seriously obscure Ohio project, issued on the always-confounding Epicene Sound Replica imprint. Each track is an explosion of lo-fi, multi-tracked guitar noise and retarded/jumbled hyperspeed shred metal buried in a shitstorm of crumbling distortion, with weirdly pretty pop hooks crawling out from under the relentless wall of urk and fucked up grindcore vocal vomit. Imagine Masonna and Hanatarashi and Faxed Head and Galaxy 500 all playing at the same time, with the session recorded on a disintegrating 4- track, a white-hot gob of insane, gibbering grind blur and psychedelic death metal noise. Totally fucking excellent. Comes in a simple red/black xerox wallet sleeve.

bethell - ep1