Necrocest - Prenatal Massacre

Wow this shit is brutal. Probably one of the best bits of death metal I've heard in a while, Prenatal Massacre is the third full length album from Welsh sickos Necrocest. I remember seeing these guys supporting The Berzerker in Newport many moons ago (2008 methinks) and I had forgotten all about them until I came across them on Youtube recently, because y'know, I'm an idiot, but there you go. All that matters is that I finally listened to them properly.

It took me a while to figure out that there may be a drum machine on the go here. If not, then those are some triggered-as-fuck drums. My hazy memory of their live show includes a drummer, but you know how things are on the production side of death metal; drum machines out the ass. Or, to make that more death-metally; drum machines out the ass, prolapsed cunt and bursting from your stomach like some shit from the Alien franchise. Either way, Prenatal Massacre is fucking awesome brutal death metal.

(Apologies for the image quality - it was very difficult to find a full sized version of the album cover, and Blogger crushed the life out of it during the upload.)

Godflesh - Decline & Fall

It was only with the release of Godflesh’s new full-length album A World Lit Only By Flame that I realised that I hadn’t even done a post for their comeback EP, Decline & Fall. I suppose it’s because it dropped when Lines In Wax was taking a bit of a break earlier in the year, and I did most of my listening for Decline & fall lying on beaches on exotic Thai islands (a strange way to aurally ingest the ‘Flesh, I’ll be honest).  If I had to sum this review up in a single line, I would tell you that Decline & Fall sounds so much like Godflesh that it hurts.

But it also sounds like nothing they have done before. All the parts are there, but the massive break that this band has taken has obviously allowed them to re-look at the Godflesh template with fresh eyes (and ears). There is only so much you can do with a sound as limiting as Godflesh’s punishing drum-machine metal attack, but I’d call this a successful comeback. It is a mirage of all the band’s previous styles (“Dogbite” sounds like it could have easily been on Us & Them) funnelled through the excess heaviness of an 8 string guitar.

I will also say that the music world has missed Ben Green’s bass. He’s an understated dude; the quiet back-end of Godflesh’s raw power, but shiiiiiit it’s good to hear that cheesegrater bass guitar again. It’s so simple but once you hear it again you can’t imagine heavy music without it. Expect a more in-depth look of the new album soon. Until then, all hail the new ‘Flesh!

Snuffgrinder - Snuffholic

Ever since I decided to include CDs on Lines In Wax about a year and a half ago I have looked forward to reviewing this album. It's purely one of the most unique things I have ever heard, and every time I scanned my shelf for something to listen to whilst at work, Snuffholic would catch my eye, but every single time I'd think to myself "hmmm, maybe next time". Well, finally that "next time" came around and I took this crazy little fuck out to the car with me for 7 hours of raining hell. I'm not sure if it made my shift better or worse! Ha ha!

 

Snuffgrinder is a very unique project with a very unique sound. I guess it falls under the usually-horrendous "gabba-grind" genre, but without the usual ghastly pitfalls of that particular sound. The best (and most alienating) way I can probably describe Snuffgrinder to the uninitiated is to imagine Libido Airbag crossed with Aphex Twin and a DJ in a fetish swingers club or something....Ha ha! Yeah, that's about right. There aren't really "tunes" here as such, any synths or instruments are very mininal, as are the sparse vocal performances, the entire thing is driven by a pile-driving drum machine barrage of pain, death and anguish. Swans' Holy Money-era nail gun experiments ain't got shit on this motherfucker! Some of the drum hits sound like fucking gun shots, I'll just put it that way.

This album isn't very long, but when you think of it as 14 tracks of pummelling drum programming, it's plenty long enough; it's enough to give anyone a permanent fucking headache, in the best way possible, of course. I'm not sure of the rarity of this release as I got it through a trade years ago, but it was put out on Apathic View Records back in 2006. 

 

Some facts to finish up on: Snuffgrinder is/are from Poland, and when he/she/they talk of snuff, they are talking about tobacco, not snuff films (so readeth thy booklet: "SGR has nothing to do with a crap called 'snuff movies'. It's all about tobacco."). Also, QNZ - the guy who runs Rotten Roll Rex - guests vocals on track 2. Check out some Snuffgrinder carnage in the link below!

 

Tumour - Spinal-Castrated Humanoid

I'll quickly start this post by asking if anyone reading has any idea what's become of Tumour these days? Is the project still going? Any news at all? Gimme a shout on Twitter or Facebook or even by email if you know what the deal is. Thanks!!!

This was the first Tumour record I heard, and I got it through a trade with the label in (I think) 2007, so it was a while ago now. I'm not sure if I fell in love with the vocals, bass or drums first. All of which are quite frankly awful - the vocals sound like a tuned-up waterfall-generator (you know, one of those relaxation boxes that give out sounds and pretty lights?), the bass sounds like humming machinery and the drums are cheap 'n' nasty programmed hits. But it all comes together to form the mother of bedroom goregrind! I'm not sure entirely if Rogore records his Tumour shits in a bedroom or an actual studio, but that is really besides the point here. The sound is what I'm trying to define.

The "album" itself isn't really that long, but is bolstered by a metric fuckton of "bonus traxxx", all of which are untitled, which seems a bit of a waste, because if you really like one you can't fuckin' tell which one it is, unless your watching the track number go up with every blast of grind. Or maybe you can memorize the sample at the beginning of the track! That's a good trick.

Anyway if you like nasty shit this is well worth a blast so give it a go. This was put out in 2006 by the great (and possibly defunct?) indy label Half-Life Records.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Agoraphobic Nosebleed

 

Some of my most favourite ANb stuff ever! What a mess! There are like 28 songs on this 7", all of them micro-blasts of pure grinding hell. For those of you that have Bestial Machinery, these tracks are on disc 2, so you've probably heard them before. I can waffle on about like I can with any other ANb release but this really just has to be heard. It's been out since 1996 on Bovine Records and it's still essential today. If you're into grind you've more than likely heard this once but if not; get it down you, boyo!

 

There is no link to this on Youtube, however they do have disc 2 of Bestial Machinery uploaded. If you can figure out when track 25 starts (hahaha) then you can listen to the demo from there. It's worth a go? ;)

Big Black - Songs About Fucking

One doesn't really know where to start when it comes to analyzing the works of Steve Albini, and if I'm honest I'm still a total amateur on the subject; although I guess Songs About Fucking is a great place to start considering it is rather well known. I kinda worked my way backwards through the world of drum-machine propelled music, starting with Agoraphobic Nosebleed and other digigrinders, then onto Godflesh and other industrial. Big Black, as influential as they were, came as a bit of a shock to me when I finally got around to checking them out. Coming on initially to my inexperienced ears like a bizarre mix between Swans and Marilyn Manson, Songs About Fucking holds all the swagger of punk and rock'n'roll, mixing it oddly with the distorted and experimental edge of early drum-machine powered industrial and the growing synth-pop trend.

 

Personally, I find Side A a load more fun that Side B, and it is no co-incidence that the two sides are separate sessions recorded in different parts of the world. "The Model" is so catchy it gets stuck in my head for days, whilst "Bad Penny" and "L Dopa" are two examples of drum machine rock music at it's very best. Side B seems a lot more clanky and heavy. Unfortunately, this record was to be Big Black's last. Steve Albini, as some of you are probably aware, went on to forge an extremely successful studio recording career as a producer, pushing his love of analogue and his more "authentic" recording techniques upon some of music's more well known stars. Good man!