Killbite - Discrimi-Nation

Killbite are a hardcore band out of Bremen in Germany, playing in the heavy, almost metal style rather than the punky, upbeat style of hardcore. Discrimi-Nation isn't a million miles away from the powerviolence sound; hard-hitting, dark, distorted, angry as fuck - there are many tracks here worthy of getting the pit moving, whilst a few others are more thought provoking and morose, especially the untitled closing number.

This is thoughtful, powerful hardcore music with a strong message. Asides from a 10" on German label Break The Silence, the band have been very dedicated to the DIY approach and this album is self-released on both CD and vinyl. Physical copies are available directly from the band. 

Nunslaughter - The Devils Congeries - Volume 1

This double CD package brings together a bunch of old splits and demos from the prolific, blackened grinding thrashers Nunslaughter, as well as a bevvy of live tracks. The splits and demos are fantastic, and I will surely review them on their own with the material from the respective splitting bands, but I just want to cast some light on this little package as I got my hands on a copy recently. Do you love Nunslaughter? Yes? Good. Do you love horrendously recorded live material? Er…

Unfortunately, about a third of disc one and the entirety of disc two is nothing but awful recordings of live performances. I picked this CD up when I recently bought some second hand cymbals so I didn’t pay too much for it so I’m not particularly bothered, but don’t be fooled by the ace looking art and fancy 2 disc set. This is handy if you can get it cheap and want all the old Nunslaughter stuff in one place, but the sheer volume of crap live tracks really cheapens this package, which is a shame. Definitely for die-hards and collectors only. 

Here are some tracks off the Blood Devil 7", which appears on disc one.

The Judas Cradle - The Self-Inflicted EP

Warning! Self-promotional post!

 

I just wanna take a post to tell you all about my new grindcore band The Judas Cradle (google the definition for epic luls and potential cringing). Formed out of the ashes of Newport death metal crew O.A.P., The Judas Cradle became a real thing in September of last year. We’ve have been rehearsing pretty much weekly since, and we recorded our debut EP in our rehearsal space. It was released in December online, and we had physical copies made up in January, which were all put together lovingly by our guitarist Will.

 

We have about a 100 of them to go around at shows and shit, but this EP is available to be spread far and wide on the net. So give it a download, rate it or hate it. If by some astronomical odds you fancy a copy you can get one off my Discogs page!

 

Grind it!

 

Salute To The Sun - Destroying The Heavens

Salute To The Sun are a death metal band that sent me their demo many moons ago, when I was trying (and failing) at running a record label full time. Out of the tons of shit I got sent to me, this is one of the very few things that stayed with me and didn't get lost in moves, clear outs etc., probably because of it's professional looking cover and not just some shitty xeroxed piece of paper with the words "First Demo" written on it. At least it looked like Salute To The Sun were putting in some effort.

Sadly, the same cannot be said for the music. Sure, the passion is here but unfortunately the skill and proficiency is lacking. STTS need to tighten up bigstyle if they want to get anywhere in this particular strain of death metal. When it's heavy it just sounds like some badly recorded death metal, but when the acoustic parts come in you can really tell that a lot of practice is needed before progressing any further. The vocals, also, are a huge let-down from start to finish. I don't even know if STTS are still going, or why I really still hold onto this knowing how shite it is, but it's in my collection for now so it gets the Lines In Wax treatment. If by some random chance you come across this - avoid it.

Deche-Charge / Necrocannibalistic Vomitorium - Split Tape

This split opens with a disappointing Deche-Charge recording of a live set. It takes forever to get started and when it does, it really doesn't amount to much at all. Recorded grind/noisecore/whatever can go one of two ways (both of which sound awful) - the recording can really capture the energy and/or dirty sound in a nutshell, or just fall flat on it's fucking face. Unfortunately for the legendary Deche-Charge, their contribution to this split falls (no pun intended) into the latter category.

 

NxVx on the other hand are much more with it, which is not something I ever imagined saying. Their material here is a lo fi bass-driven polka soundtrack for fisting your (preferably German) partner to. It is that filthy. Coupled with the mid-placed groovy goregrind is a whole farmyard's worth of vocal varieties, to keep things extra weird. I won't lie, every song does sound the same (until they break into something slowly and funky like jazz, with stick claps and everything), but there has to be some give and take with this particularly niche genre.

This tape was put out (and is still available) on the dank as fuck Belgian Bringer of Gore Records and is limited to 200 hideously orange copies. No links for this on Youtube, sorry guys!

"Could it be any more orange?" - Comic Book Guy

Shitfun - Promo 2013

If Shitfun isn't one of the greatest names for a band ever, then I don't know what is. And if that cover picture isn't one of the creepiest, nastiest sleeves for a band ever, then I don't know what is! Shitfun are here to ruin everybody's day with some "serial killer grindcore" from the deepest, darkest parts of Brazil. They have a growly death metal approach to the vocal side of things (this might explain why they are named after an Autopsy album?) but the grind is a low-tuned start-stop blasting nightmare. 

I got this through a trade with the Japanese label Fuck The Industry, who, as I have probably mentioned elsewhere, are off to a flying start with a whole bunch of awesome releases in 2013. They are all DIY as fuck but are of the highest quality. I cannot recommend this label and their releases enough, definitely one to watch, I would think. This is out on a super limited tape release of 20 but is also available on CDr for those not so analogue-inclined. 

To Die - Jiwa Jiwa Yang Terkumpul

Now this is what I'm talking about! Trading pays off when you get gems like this! Starting off sounding like demo-quality Converge with Iron Monkey's Johnny Morrow on vocals, it doesn't take long for To Die to burst into mental grindcore and body-slamming breakdowns. Most of the songs are notoriously short, but they are mental as fuck and really really rabid. The guitar has a really mournful undertone to it, almost like black metal riffing in a way. The record is dubbed on a c10 and it's shorter than the tapes capacity, but it is well worth a listen. At the end there is a couple of live blasts, and then it's all over.

I've never considered Indonesia to have any semblance of a grind scene before, other than Wormrot, but I got some research to do. To Die are definitely ones to keep an eye on, and I'll be treasuring this tape for a long while. As of the time of writing I have a few copies for sale / trade over at Pointless Records, so get a hold on that shit! Alternatively, get on Japan's new (and off to a great start) label Fuck The Industry, which is all totally DIY and awesome as fuck. Get in!

PS: Please excuse the recent lack of updates...been a busy few weeks. Normal posting schedule should be back within the next few days.