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!

 

Napalm Death - Scum

How does one approach a review of a revered classic that spawned a genre? There are various debates about whether Scum was the first grindcore record, but there can be no argument that it was the first one that blew up on any particular scale. It was the album that cemented this weird sounding “grindcore” as a real thing. It also put Earache on the map, and seeded the entire worldwide scene that would follow. That’s a pretty big achievement if you ask me.

The most hilarious thing about Scum is Napalm Death’s ridiculously OTT revolving door line up, with the only thing Sides A and B both have in common is drummer Mick Harris. I think personally I prefer Side A as it has a much better sound, but in reality the real grindy stuff happens on Side B, with track after track after track of pummelling punk goodness. Obviously Side A has “The Kill”, “Scum”, “Siege Of Power” and the classic “You Suffer” but Side B just churns out a gauntlet of really similar sounding tracks – not that there isn’t any decent tunage here too (“Life?”, “Deceiver”, “Conservative Shithead”, “Divine Death” and “Dragnet” to name a few).

It’s because of the disjoined “is it a record / isn’t it a record?” argument that I think most people prefer the follow up, From Enslavement To Obliteration, which is a lot more solid and expands upon the sounds on Side B of Scum (with the same line up, no less) and also comes across as more of a full album rather than two separate studio sessions crammed together on one disc. Scum is, in all honesty, a bit shakey, and isn’t something that I listen to on a regular basis. But you gotta know your roots. I spend most of my time in grind and its freakish subgenres, so it’s only right that now and then the granddaddy of grindcore albums gets a spin.

Hey, I own it three times, so it can’t be that bad!

Unholy Grave / Rotten Sound - Split CD

Two grind legends head to head on one split - that's all it takes for me! I'm sold!

Rotten Sound's polished uber-super-grind has gotten more and more streamlined and refined as albums have come and gone, so it's refreshing to hear some old stuff from them now and then and remember what sounds they used to make 'back in the day'. Mixing Napalm Death-brand grindcore ferocity with tinges of death metal, Rotten Sound plough through two originals and a Unholy Grave cover with "Nanking Atrocity", which is actually really cool.

Unholy Grave on the other hand play their usual mash up of noisecore and old school grindcore, only with a better quality production sound than most splits. My favourite tracks here are opener "Horror" and "Social Rinse", which is also the longest track from UG. The "Outro" track is frankly, pointless as fuck, but this is some great shit from Unholy Grave, as per. Grindbastards unite!

Dead Infection / Parracide - Split 7"

Maaan the newer Dead Infection stuff just gets randomer and randomer (I know that's not a word, but whatever). This particular EP, as you can no-doubt see, features a cat that looks like Adolf Hitler. I'm not sure what the particular meaning is behind all of this surreal stuff, and I don't really care as long as the tunes are good. Dead Infection have a lot to live up to with every new release, but they have so far managed not to dissapoint. The songs on this split are of the chunky, brutal grindcore stock that we have come to know and love from present-day Dead Infection. My favourite is probably "Subduction" with it's super-tight blasting and cracking riffage.

This is my first experience with Parricide, but I love what I hear. The drumming is fucking unbelievable, I'll give them that. The production on their stuff is a lot more polished than Dead Infection, and it's kinda obvious that the drums are triggered but I guess that works for them, not to mention it sounds brutal as fuck so who can argue? Not me, let me fucking tell you! 

This was released this year on the excellent Selfmadegod Records, on both black and clear wax. You can stream a Parricide track and the entire Dead Infection side below. 

Napalm Death - The Code Is Red... Long Live The Code

To me, mid-to-late 2000s Napalm Death releases seem to follow a certain pattern. Each of the records share a similar cover art style, perpetuated by a specific colourising which is different on each record. Order Of The Leech was yellow, this record was red, and Smear Campaign was blue. Leaders Not Followers 2 and Time Waits For No Slave also shared similar artwork to the three mentioned above and even had similar traits in production. Out of them all though, The Code Is Red... has to be my favourite. 

After obsessing over Scum, FETO and the other early, genre-defying classics that Napalm Death released, I found it a bit difficult to stomach the slower, more groove-orientated stuff of the 90s. With the records listed above, Napalm Death fell into their own unique pattern of mixing blasting grindcore with groove, and vicious death metal. Opening track "Silence Is Deafening" was a single for the band, and even features a really heavy breakdown part at the end, but after that, a whole bunch of blasting grindcore follows, with the right amount of punch and speed. 

There's a couple of oddball moments to the regular formula in here to keep it interesting though; "The Great And The Good" features guest vocals from Jello Biafra, and the penultimate track, "Morale", has a much more different, slow and crushing, early-Swans vibe which you don't see very often from a band as fast as Napalm Death. 

All in all, The Code Is Red... is a very focussed record but also varied enough to remain interesting.

Witch Cult / Drainland - Split Tape

Well, this is one short-ass tape. I should have seen it coming really, going on the Witch Cult live sets that I've experienced. This tape is Witch Cult to the core; starting off with some building harsh noise before ramming head-on into a grinding fury of total chaos and speed.

Drainland have only two songs here, but they are really good; I just wish it lasted a bit longer (then maybe this review could be as well ha ha). 

I got this at Witch Cult's last ever show, up in Brizzle, supporting Despise You on some fairly-big grind/powerviolence/crappy-hardcore bill. It was a crazy show, albeit one that lasted mere minutes, and included a human pyramid and a long outro track that sounded suspiciously like an Electric Wizard cover. It was great, though! I've only seen them twice but they will be missed.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed / Halo - Split 7"

I think this is probably the hardest thing in the ANb discography to get a hold of. Sure, the Insect Warfare split and the Converge split can fetch rather hefty prices, and Tentacles of Destruction is fairly limited, but for sheer difficulty in regards to unoptainability (is that even a word? *edit - no, it's not), the split EP with Halo currently holds the crown (seeing as I don't have all the ANb shit yet, I won't say for definite, but I'd be surprised if anything else is more difficult to obtain).

The three original ANb tunes are from the Altered States era (they have that sound/feel, at least), and they are the typical old-school ANb stock of uber-fast drum-machine grindcore punishment. What I didn't see coming however, was the Slayer cover that takes up most of their side. "The Antichrist" definitely sounds a lot better with Richard Johnson on vocals, but I was never the biggest fan of Slayer, so I could take or leave this cover version.

Halo are the polar-opposites to ANb, in the speed stakes, at least. Deathly slow drumming and horrendous guitar feedback and low-end vibes make up the main "songs", where sparse but abrasive vocals howl over the top of it all, creating a rather unsettling yet interesting listen. Despite it's snail-like pace, the track doesn't last that long and I am left contemplating whether to search for more Halo material or not...

This was released on Relapse Records a while ago now, and was part of some subscription series. That's probably why it is so bloody difficult to come by. I'm glad I've finally gotten a hold of it though, as it goes towards the inevitable completion of my ANb collection, and it also contains ANb material that isn't available anywhere else, as far as I can tell.

Trivia - did any of you eagle-eyed ANb fans notice that track one is titled "Street Magician" on the cover but the same track is named "Ghetto Wizard" on the inner sleeve? 

Total Fucking Destruction / Skat Injector - Split 7"

Wowzers, what a noise! Ha ha! I got this split because I am slowly making my way through collecting the Total Fucking Destruction stuff. I'm not've really been that familiar with Skat Injector, up until now that is. Neil from Legs Akimbo was a legend in finding an unsold copy of this split for me, as this shit is pretty limited now. The TFD stuff here is just some live versions of well known tracks of theirs, but it's the Skat Injector side that really shines.

It's got a centre-hole like Amy Brooke's arse.

Skat Injector is some crazy shit. I don't really know how to describe it; it's like a mix of every possible electronic genre in one big jumbled bag of super-fast, dancable insanity. I'm not sure if the record is supposed to be spinning at 33 or 45 until the vocals come in; it really works both ways, but the correct speed is 33 1/3. 

Released as a collab between Binjuice Erotica, Hirntrust Grind Media and Legs Akimbo Records. Check it out below!

Anal Cunt - Top 40 Hits

According to the ever-reliable source for information that is the internet, Top 40 Hits is considered a bit of a disappointment in the worldwide circles of AxCx fans (or at least it was upon it’s initial release date back in 1996). But, you know me, I don’t give a fuck about what the internet says (lawls, hardcore) because for me, Top 40 Hits shows AxCx at their messiest, blurriest best. Granted, this record is missing the offensive content that the band would become so well-known for (well, if you discount the fact that the band is called Anal Cunt, that is), but this is still a stone cold noisecore classic.

The first few times I heard this in my teens I wasn’t too sure what to make of the whole thing. Seth had it up for free download (possibly against Earache’s permission?) off his old website, back before AxCx reformed for a final time and Seth replaced his personal webpage with that of Wicked Sick Records. The first few songs are mixed so low that the first thing the record will have you doing is reaching for the volume control with a confused expression on your face. I have come to learn that these tracks were mixed this way in order to rumble the living fuck out of speaker cones, and maybe even damage them in the process. Cheers, Anal Cunt!

Despite the mushy, low-fi blur tracks that carried over from the previous LP (only on a much lower frequency, ha ha), we see the first budding AxCx jokey tracks. Tracks such as “Art Fag” and “Shut Up Mike” are a nod to what type of stuff was to dominate on future AxCx records. The best thing about Top 40 Hits however, is the full and amazing production that the band finally dedicated to their small selection of sludgey, doom-metal paced tracks. Some of the best Anal Cunt tracks are their slow, Eyehategod-esque sludge epics. Seth Putnam is a fantastic vocalist, and to confine listening of his talents to just Anal Cunt is definitely a waste; the guy was an absolute legend, there is no doubt.

So all in all, Top 40 Hits does seem like a bit of a jumbled up mix of styles that don’t really go together; it doesn’t help that it seems that the sludge songs, jokey songs and blurry, old school noisecore songs all seem to have come from different recording sessions, which totally annihilates any chance this album had at attaining a flow. I think maybe that this is what put a lot of people off when it first come out; that AxCx had literally just thrown out a whole bunch of shit on one CD and called it a new album. But once you get over the flow issues, you can appreciate each parts for what they really are; fucking amazing! Ha ha! This was released on Earache back in 1996. 

I dunno why this vid has the old artwork for the Fuckin' A album attached to it - perhaps the uploader is a cretinous swine ;)

Shoot The Bastard - Demo 2012

This is one of my favourite grind-related things of 2012. Everything about this thing is just perfect; the production, the balance and the over-all vibe is amazing. Shoot The Bastard are a fast, punky grindcore act that features members of boozing grind unit The Afternoon Gentlemen. STB are most definitely more "to the point" though, with a stripped-down affair of super-fast hardcore goodness. Imagine Crass on amphetamines crossed with, I dunno...Unseen Terror or something. That's a pretty far-out comparison for such a simple, no-nonsense sound, but fuck it.

I caught these guys supporting Weekend Nachos at some crazy grind/hardcore all-dayer in the now sadly-defunct Croft venue in Bristol, and that's where I picked up this demo for £2. Best £2 I ever spent, I think (and that's coming from someone who's bought a lot of bottles of Estrella). I award Shoot The Bastard bonus points for the cover art. Whilst I don't think wetting up Cameron with hot lead would solve any of the country's problems it would be extremely funny to see, because obviously, he is just a dummy stuffed with used bank notes; a capitalist puppet on a series of invisible strings. Yes. Time to stop writing now. Enjoy the music!

By the way, I also made this whilst editing the photos for this post, although I have no idea why I did it. Looks cool though, I guess.

Chloroformed Female Victim - Demo #1

There comes a time in every musician's life where they must stop and think "why do I do this? What is the point in my existence and in turn, my creative output?". I've definitely asked myself that question many, many times. I assume then, that gore-legend and general all-round good egg Bobby Maggard never has, what with his seemingly never-ending repertoire of projects, bands and label releases. The amount of stuff this guy (and his cohorts-in-gore) churn out never ceases to totally astound me...what we have here is a fellow totally dedicated to his scene, his sound, and his dodgy xeroxed gore artwork.

Chloroformed Female Victim is one of Bobby's many hundreds of thousands of goregrind-related projects (slight over-exaggeration), who recorded their first demo abouts a year ago. What we have here is a 2-person aural assault of drum-machine fuelled, unrelenting goregrind. Or is that gorenoise? I'm not sure really where the line between the two blurs, but this is pretty abrasive stuff! The "21 Untitled Trx" are over in just shy of 15 minutes, so it's a short journey of blasting hellnoise, complete with the odd creepy spoken sample to really set it off. Sexy!

If you're familiar with the works of Mr. Maggard (and Mr. Astor) then you will no doubt know what to expect from a release such as this, but if you're not sure about things then be prepared to have your head cut off, hollowed out and stuffed with faeces. You heard. Self-released on Regurgitated Stoma Stew Productions.

Check out the first track off the demo here:

Suppression / Noothgrush - Split 5"

Suppression are quickly becoming one of my favourite grindcore acts. I mean, how long have this band been around? And I only heard of them a few months ago! What an idiot! Despite this fact, I've had the mp3s of this split on my computer for ages thanks to Grindcore Karaoke, but listening to it always got pushed back because I have so much stuff to get through...which is a curse as well as a blessing.

 

On this wee little 5", Suppression resort to a very Man Is The Bastard-y mix of harsh noise followed by bass-driven grind madness. I know Suppression have their own thing going on, but MITB definitely springs to mind whilst spinning this. It's over in a fecking flash, unlike Noothgrush's side which drags out a bit longer. Noothgrush take a much more traditional full-band approach of just ripping out a track for us. Very sludgy!

 

All in all this is a pretty awesome 5", but as you would probably expect it doesn't last very long. This piece of wax exists thanks to the good people at Blow The Reactors and Fuck Yoga. My version is the simple black one, but 150 of these little buggers come with a 48 piece puzzle. These editions are pretty rare, but you can still get one for around £10. 

Charred Remains A.K.A. Man Is The Bastard / Bastard Noise - Split 7"

"First Music", "First Noise"...what fitting titles as this 7" is my first Charred Remains, Bastard Noise and Man is the Bastard purchase, and my first proper experience with any of these projects. The whole switching of the names confuses the living fuck out of me but I think I've actually got my head around it; MITB is the powerviolence group, Bastard Noise is the noise spin-off? Amirite? Well, I would think so until I open up the fucking booklet and see that "Bastard Noise" is an EP titled to MTIB. Mang....what the fuck? Shoot me now!

 

 

"First Music" is pretty damn awesome, regardless of who fecking made it; be it Charred Remains, MITB or even Bastard Noise (unlikely). It blasts and grinds through 4 songs in next to no time; the bass clanking menacingly and the low powerviolences vokills are out in force. "First Noise" on the other hand, is sadly underwhelming for me. I love a bit of harsh noise now and then, but whilst the "songs" on offer are interesting, they are a bit mundane. Nevermind!

 

 

If you are, like I was, looking for an in-road into the weird and wonderful world of the previously mentioned bands/projects I would recommend you this 7". If you're already in the know however, I assume there is much better material to hunt down. Out on Deep Six Records.

Wormrot / I Abhor - Split 7"

I Abhor are a weird mixture of sounds. Slow, dissonant riffs lead into unbelievably fast blasting grind; the drumming really is something you must all hear! The vocals are distorted and hellish a la the sound used on earlier Pig Destroyer records, only not as high; the singer utilizes mainly lows in his delivery. I Abhor are kinda similar to Wormrot in a way; they both peddle the same grinding mix of excellent riffing and flat out blasting.

 

Wormrot on side B contribute 8 (yes!) tracks to the 7". Opener "Twelve" is bloody hilarious, before "Critical Human Stupidity" blows your fucking head off like it was nobody's business. The production here betrays to me that these songs are from the same sessions as the Abuse album, or at least that's what it sounds like to me! 

 

For a grindcore band, Wormrot haven't really done that many splits, which is odd (but great for me as I have literally everything they have released, barring the odd demo tape or two). Anyways this 7" was put out by Fat Ass Records in Poland and is truly excellent as fuck. I recommend!