MASSES - Horde Mentality EP (2014)

Those of you who have the displeasure of knowing me, know that I love post-punk. And this is a particularly delicious tidbit of the genre. Like a surprising amount of my favourite modern bands, MASSES hail from Melbourne, Australia, a place known more for its beautiful sunny weather and nightlife than its depressing goth population. MASSES' debut EP, Horde Mentality is an excellent - albeit brief - example of modern post-punk. Taking clear influence from the classics such as Bauhaus, The Smiths and even a little Nick Cave, and playing with an irresistible punk energy, MASSES create a sound that is both classic and fresh. Clocking in at just over ten minutes long, this 4-song EP is short and sweet. The vocals in particular stand out, and they along with the chord sequences never go the way you expect them to. Misdirection is the key word here. A definite recommendation for those who wear their hair in Scissorhands style.

Looking forward to hearing a full-length soon.

Bandcamp

Assück - Anticapital (1992)

One of the most interesting grindcore bands to come out of the U.S. (and Florida at that) politically charged Assuck come at you like a ton of bricks. With perhaps one of the greatest grindcore drummers of all time Rob Proctor, and one of the best vocalists in the scene at the time Paul Pavlovich; the legendary grindcore band was bound for success. This posthumous release embodies everything that anarchist's want lyrically and what grinders want aesthetically, accentuating all the basic premises of what's to be expected from such a wondrous and redeeming band, you will never feel so full of anger and hatred for the system until you've had the pleasure of listening to this full-length. With tracks reaching intervals between eight seconds and one minute and twenty five seconds the release encompasses the usual grindcore song length. The brutal, intense, and I cannot describe in words how intense and spot on the drumming is with this album, but the blast beats are so spot on it's insane, the grinding guitar riffs and poetically well written lyrics give the listener a splendid insight on what grindcore is SUPPOSED to sound like and not like the shite that's produced today. This reviewer highly recommends listening to this album even if you aren't into grind, it's well worth your time, as is their later discog release - Anticapital/Blindspot/3. Enjoy.

Download (Zippyshare)

Yacöpsae/Res Gestae/La Vendetta 3-way Split (2008)

An exceptional three way split between German powerviolence giants Yacöpsae, La Vendetta, and Res Gestae. As we all know powerviolence is the one of the most extreme forms of hardcore punk. Fast and relentless, and very unforgiving, this split emphasizes all of those characteristics.Yacöpsae's performance is especially exceptionally and unforgettable in this split, possibly one of their best when compared to other splits - Yacöpsae/Fuck on the Beach, Yacöpsae & Rot split, etc. The heavy dissonant sounds, speed, and brevity of this split is just jaw dropping, each band does an exceedingly impressive job of pumping full blown iconoclastic and socio-politically charged adrenaline through you, you will not be displeased with this split in the slightest.

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Ulver - Vargnatt (demo 1993)

It's hard to describe the sound that Ulver purvey in their first demo, I suppose many would refer to it as depressive and avant-garde as this seems to be the case. The demo's first track  'Her Begynner Mine Arr' is quite an interesting composition, the music starts with a slow and steady riff and quickly progresses into essential blast-beats and Garm's very peculiar vocals make it hard to place the demographic of which they are trying to appeal. The rest the album supports quite well especially the next few tracks leading up to 'Nattens Madrigal' (not to be confused with their posthumous black metal album) the track certainly conveys the feeling of being one with the night that is certain, it's starting tone is exceedingly dreary and atmospheric, and possesses a certain eeriness, then it slowly slides into very heavy black metal riffs but unlike those to other Norwegian second wave black metal bands at the time, Garms vocals loose and heavy fit the track very well it gives it a complete feeling to it, the composition is well worthy of the title. It maintains within every deep polyphonic riff the true meaning of darkness and despair. Overall this demo is highly underrated and well deserving of praise which it hardly gets.

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Satan's Satyrs - Wild Beyond Belief! (2012)

We all love gritty lo-fidelity just as much as the next guy, but damn if Satan's Satyrs don't take low quality production to the next level, and it sounds absolutely wonderful. Straight out of the boondocks of Herndon, Virginia these guys deliver, they bring back the same feelings of nostalgia every lo-fi enthusiast gets when they listen to an old Venom track; their aesthetics range as well, covering doom metal, punk rock, garage rock, stoner rock, etc. Not to mention their over exuberant biker themes, and the fact that they were selected as special guests by Electric Wizard at the Electric Acid Orgy, these guys are clearly notable, hopefully this review compels you all to give them a listen, they surely don't get enough recognition throughout the community.

Download (Zippyshare)

be____all - be____all (2012)

be____all is, for lack of a better word, an enigmatic artist(s?) from Massachusetts. They make what they describe as noise pop, and it's exactly what it sounds like. This album clocks in at just under 20 minutes, but it is not an EP, from what I can gather. This self-titled release conjures images of travelling in a metro train, late at night, with only your thoughts and the twinkling city skyline accompanying you. A pleasant, if slightly unsettling ambient experience awaits the listener, and this album (as with all their releases) is available for free from their bandcamp.

be____all is the be all, end all artist of noise pop. Fans of music that's a bit "out there" will enjoy them.




Bandcamp

Drive Like Jehu - Drive Like Jehu (1991)

Drive Like Jehu was a post-hardcore band from San Diego, California who from 1990-1995 made two of some of the most influential albums in the post-hardcore genres. Though short lived, they paved a way for many bands in the new millennium. This album, the band's debut, is a very straightforward and cutting album. Filled with driving grooves and powerhouse drumming, the album is a pummel fest. Rick Froberg's vocals range from punk rock rasps to almost grunge-esque clean vocals. Songs like Step on Chameleon and Good Luck in Jail have infectious hooks on the verses and choruses, locking in the listener. This album also features multi-faceted songs with longer lengths such as O Pencil Sharp and If It Kills You. Drive Like Jehu's ability to project raw emotion is almost unparalleled.

Breach - It's Me God (1997)

Post-Hardcore is notorious for having a generally bad rap with most of the musical community today because of certain bands that try to define themselves in the genre. Swedish band Breach however took the post-hardcore namesake and put it to good use. Between the mid to late nineties (and into the millennium) Breach produced several good albums further enhancing the genre, certain members of the band would later form the Post-Metal/Avant-Garde group Terra Tenebrosa. With this release however Breach took things to the next level. It's me God, is an incredible display of musicianship and vocal ability, you certainly haven't heard Post-Hardcore done right like this since Fugazi's days. Each track gives it's own signature sound, some more sludgy and abrasive others more with the post-rock aesthetic, all in all it leads to plenty of tumultuous climaxes throughout the album which gives the listener more the reason to check out their other releases, which this reviewer highly recommends.

Download (Zippyshare)

2014 in music: week one

The purpose of these posts will be to briefly detail the releases in 2014 as they come out.

Before I start, it should be noted that I haven't yet heard albums by Lvcifyre, Persuader, Skull Fist or Hail Spirit Noir, hence their non-inclusion here. Also note that any description here might be completely wrong - they are mostly from memory of one or two listens.

Thrash is looking a lot more promising in 2014 than it did at this time in 2013 (and remained so throughout the year): although the split between Sodom and Hirax, perhaps the only big-name thrash release so far this year, is ultimately disappointing, with Sodom doing more of the same old shit and Hirax producing nothing memorable, there have been two more-than-decent releases from new bands. Firstly, Nuclear Omnicide's Bringers of Disease EP is very promising, fundamentally sounding like a slightly cleaner-produced version of Darkness Descends with hints of Agent Orange. The other is Phantom's Triumph of Death EP. The band wears their influences quite prominently on their sleeves, not only with covers of Sodom and Destruction, but also with references to Hellhammer, Celtic Frost and Venom with the EP title, and songs (not covers) called 'Dethroned Emperor' and 'Raise the Dead' respectively. Believe me, it's a tasty concoction.

Black metal is also looking decent. ROTS' The Night the Trees Burnt is probably the most exciting thing so far this year, offering a blackened take on the type of deafening, huge-sounding, slightly grinding sludge (if you can even call it that) exemplified by things like Rorcal's album last year. Abbotoir also offer a solid piece of funeral doom on their Reclaim EP, a single, 26-minute piece, the closest point of reference for which is probably Esoteric*. Nazghor offer a piece of black metal which can't decide whether it wants to ape Dissection or mid-period Darkthrone while forgetting that chucking all your longest songs on the end of a release probably isn't the greatest idea for listenability. Sammath's Godless Arrogance is pretty dull - by-the-numbers European black metal. Finally, Razörschrieck have Depressionnaire, the sole depressive BM EP of the myriad offerings thus far this year. It's pretty varied, which is refreshing for the genre, but nothing in it really stands out as excellent, or good even.

Of the two punk releases I've heard so far this year, Doom's Corrupt Fucking System is by far the best (and I'm counting it as a 2014 release due to the date of physical release). Perhaps closer to their roots than anything in a long time, it's a triumphant return for the crust legends after an 8 year absence. The other is Backstabbers Inc's M.I.A., which, contrary to the expectations you might gain based on the band name and album title, is not a beatdown hardcore album. It's modern d-beat with occasional grind influences. It hasn't struck me as excellent yet but I've got a feeling it's a grower. Solid Discharge cover too.

Of the stuff from other genres (which I haven't heard two releases from), Cimmerian's Hollowing is okay, which is a compliment as to me, progressive melodic death metal pretty much sounds like the worst thing ever. If the rest of the album was as good as 'Among Ghosts, We Slept', it would be an excellent release. The Fleshtones' Wheel of Talent is decent garage rock but nothing to write home about. Gum's But Woman Monkey sounds like fairly good stoner doom in the Electric Wizard vein with hints of Crowbar (which I could do without), but probably needs more listens to sink in properly. Jaldaboath's The Further Adventures... is the gimmicky shit one would expect from this band. Finally, the split between Exhumed and Iron Reagan shows Exhumed releasing more of the same fairly mediocre deathgrind they've been making all their career with perhaps a few nods to early Suicidal Tendencies and a poor interpretation of Minor Threat, with Iron Reagan doing the polar opposite in terms of quality and sounding the way Municipal Waste should have sounded.

Album of the week: Doom - Corrupt Fucking System

Here's an 8tracks mix to sample this stuff.



*The band are included in the black metal section because there haven't been any other doom albums I've heard.