Judas Cradle / Fetus Christ - Split CDr

(June 2019 edit: this should have been posted years ago, so please excuse the promotional tone in which it is written!)

Okay, so here it is, the first release on the new Lines In Wax "label", the glorious split EP between thrashing Newport grinders and Hereford powerviolence trio Fetus Christ. We've been toying with the idea of doing a split for quite some time, so it fit perfectly with the intention to start my label, and considering we are supposed to be touring together at some point too. Both sets on this disc were recorded live at the excellent FHED Halloween weekender in October 2016 by the promoter and all round good egg James Payne. A full release of all the recordings from the event can be found at fhed.bandcamp.com. 

The run is limited to 50 and gave me a chance to "try out" a number of suppliers, including The Duplication Service who did a great job on the CDs, and Disc Jugglers who have done a bang up job on printing the covers. The inserts I did on my super wicked awesome new Brother laser printer (just wait and see the tape inserts this thing has been printing). 

Quick shout out to t'lads in Judas Cradle (RIP) for their patience with my strange ideas, Fetus Christ for being on the ball and generally just being awesome, and of course Mr. Payne for the recordings.

Cheers!

Paramore - After Laughter

(words by Bizrae Isnae Disnae)

Okay so, this sounds nothing at all like the Paramore records you may have come to know and love; this is worlds apart from their more pop punk and power pop tendencies, but what with times changing, and a series of line up changes within the group, that time has kind of passed anyway, I guess, and the band had been slowly morphing for quite some time, lets be honest. Of course, it is the voice of Hayley Williams that really lets you know it is a Paramore record, of which there's no denying its anyone but her upon listening.

Aside from the breezy catchy little 80s inspired tracks that shine through here like "Hard Times", "Pool" and "Told You So", there are some slower numbers scattered throughout such as "Fake Happy", and "26", but if I'm honest prefer the straight up catchy 80's poppy moments on this; they are the record's finest moments, and where the album kind of shines through.

Overall, it's a bit hit and miss for me, but it does have it's moments, and again if we are going back to previous albums by the group where every track is an absolute belter, start to finish job, then this does unfortunately lack that level of enjoyment - not that I'm calling this a bad record as such; I will let you decide for yourselves, however.

Highlights include "Hard Times", "Told You So". 

Dreamcar - Dreamcar

(Words by Gareffff Burra)

Dreamcar is a new project made up of Tom Dumont, Adrian Young and Tony Kanal of No Doubt, and AFI's Davey Havok.

Since hearing of this unique and perhaps mix-matched collaboration, I have been very keen to hear how this album would sound, having the majority of the members (i.e the band itself) coming from a very ska and pop-based background, and the vocalist coming from more of a punk and alternative rock style of music. This was definitely something I was curious about hearing; excited about how it'd sound, especially as I'm quite partial to both acts, especially AFI.

Upon first listen I am immediately drawn in by - and familiar with - Davey's vocals, and pleasantly surprised as the album kicks off with opener "If I confessed", which sets the tone and sound for the project nicely to anyone else curious. I'd say there is a strong 80's vibe shining through on this release with the guitar sound particularly, which is very A Flock of Seagulls-esque at times. Overall, we're talking a more moody and darker 80's sound here, rather than a straight up pop record. Although, I can't help but get an ever so slight Duran Duran vibe from "On the Charts", especially from that vocal hook, so there are elements of both.

Overall though, a cool and very refreshing sounding side project here, and a great album. Personal highlights for me include "All The Dead Girls Love Me", and the album's single "Kill For Candy".

Altered Sky - Without Wonderland

(words by Gareth Burra)

Here we have Without Wonderland from Scottish pop rockers Altered Sky. I have seen this band play a good number of times (and in most instances, I shared the stage with them, in my Led by Lions days). I can say that every single time, there was always a very good live show with a fantastic stage presence, and I have always been impressed with how well front-woman Anna performs vocally. They were a band that I'd actually heard live first before hearing a record, so when it came to checking out their stuff I had a very good idea of what to expect and was looking forward to hearing it.

The production on this album is spot on for this type of music; it is on point for all instruments as well as the powerful vocals - there's a perfect, big, dramatic pop rock sound here (just like their live show). Something for everyone here really too, a nice mixture of pop rock anthems (i.e "Bury It All", "Waves") as well as some piano ballads ("Imagine Adventure"); some really high quality sounding material throughout.

Highlights include the massive sounding "Waves", and the slightly heavier toned "White Witch". Overall, a great sounding album, from a very hard working band.

For fans of: 

Avril Lavigne, Paramore, Tonight Alive

CxBxFxIxHxFxLxFxRxE / Tetrahydrocannibal - Split CDr

This CDr is a split between prolific gorenoise lads Catastrophic Blunt Force Intercranial Haemhorrhage Fluid Leaking From Ruptured Eardrums and my gorenoise (read: "weednoise") project, Tetrahydrocannibal. It's the first time I have released something under this name in quite some time, so it was fun to get back to and work on some ridiculous song titles. I swore I wouldn't do another record until I'd shifted all the copies of the first, but this is a split, so that doesn't count, right? :P

Anyway, the CxBxFxIxHxFxLxFxRxEx side is fuckin' savage; I guess which is due in part to the usual cacophonous bludgeoning being broken up into smaller chunks. The studio production work (from George of Dead Woman's Ditch) also goes a long way in making sure CxBxFxIxHxFxLxFxRxEx's gore explosion comes with the necessary clout, as does the creepy as shit sampling work, which will literally make your year/decade if you love Ren & Stimpy quotes as much as you do gorenoise.

Kong Lives - Kong Saves

Kong Saves is the debut EP from new South Wales based doom metal / stoner outfit Kong Lives, featuring members of Tradish and the recently (sadly) defunct Desalvo. Kong Saves treads firmly on the ethereal yet groove-laden side of doom, rarely falling full force into the pits of sludgy despair. The trippier, more laid back parts remind me of Germany's Samsara Blues Experiment, whilst the more full-on, distorted passages are akin to The Inside Room-era 40 Watt Sun mixed with something altogether more Slabdragger (yeah fuck it I'm going with that statement haha).

Track 4 features backing vocals from Judas Cradle's very own Sam Wall, which is a nice addition to the nihilistic blast of doom. The fitting artwork was pen(cilled?) by long-time illustrator and once PUS vocalist Bvrzerk, and the amazing studio production was carried out by Newport's Rhys Bryant (who has recorded the likes of Grand Collapse and Pizza Tramp, among others). 

You can stream the whole thing at the group's Bandcamp page, so check it out below.

Christine And The Queens - Chaleur Humaine

Excellent, if not a bit too polished pop from France. Initially I suspected that this record suffered from "lead single syndrome", and whilst to some degree that statement still stands, this is a subtly clever album that will grow on you over time. Well, unless you exclusively listen to shit like Hatebreed, then you'll probably despise this, obviously.

This was subject to one of those weird comeback-outta-nowhere scenarios; having originally being released in France back in 2014, yet marketed as an entirely new release here in the UK in 2016. In 2017, most idiots have forgotten about it already, which isn't surprising really; some of the songs drag, I'll have to be honest, but it is clinically executed, and Christine's (real name Héloïse Letissier) delivery is a an astute homage to figureheads of pop both past and present. 

If you've got nothing else to do, click play. If you come here for the grindcore posts, I probably wouldn't bother, though. 

Necro Deathmort - Martian Cartography

Martian Cartography is an excellent album release by the criminally under-rated experimental duo Necro Deathmort. Mixing catastrophically heavy atmosphere with intelligent, progressive electronic work has always been ND's forte, but on Martian Cartography, I find that this approach to sound design has finally had chance to spread its wings and fly. In some respects that means that this record isn't as hard-hitting or droning as something off Music Of Bleak Origin or earlier, but the duo more than make up for it on the journey that they help take us on.

The opening track "Repeat-O" - and also, I'm sure not coincidentally, my favourite track, "The Ultimate Testament (Remix)" - both have pulsating beats carrying them; a clinical industrial backbone to a sparse electronic worldview. Other stand outs for me include "Cold Sleeps" and the muted closer, "Terra Cimmeria", which has a relaxed, almost deep house feel. 

Originally released as a download by the band themselves, this was eventually pressed onto CD by Extreme Ultimate.

Behexen / Satanic Warmaster - Split EP

Didn't really know what to feel about posting this, what with the "accusations" against Satanic Warmaster (who denies flat out being racist, despite some extremely questionable lyrics). It is also a weird situation where a non-NSBM band has done a split with a band that is considered to be a NSBM act. Regardless, I've covered some pretty extreme shit here before, and have also written about Death In June and even Burzum, so the show will go on, objectively at least.

I'll start with the offending article of Satanic Warmaster. It is almost a relief to me that they are the weaker of the two bands on the split, so the temptation to check out any more of their stuff has literally died on its arse. It isn't entirely bad, but it isn't particularly stunning or original either; a lot of the nuance gets lost in the cluttered distortion, rather than being granted life by it instead. And the second track...fuck I don't even know what to say here. It kinda goes off into a dreary, acoustic nod to the type of melody that Lifelover would have executed in the Pulver days, but it just sounds like complete shit.

Behexen, on the other hand, are fucking class. These two tracks are beautiful, and encompass everything I love from black metal; the way that the duality floats between complete sonic nihilism and intense, bombastic, almost symphonic-in-scale moments of grandiose velocity. I can't remember why this was even on my Spotify to-do-list (it has been there a very long time) but I'm mega glad I bit the bullet and checked it out. A ton of Behexen shit has just replaced it. Amazing.

Nothing Clean / Higgs Boson - Split 7"

10/10 split 7" from Olso fastcore/PV maniacs Higgs Boson (who perhaps have one of the sickest bass tones ever), going head to head with British kings of start/stop savagery, Nothing Clean. Both bands churn out rapid-fire bursts of aggression, as, of course, you would expect, but with Higgs Boson not being afraid to slow things to a crawl pace for a few seconds to highlight the speed of the quick bits even more, or to add little - dare I say it - melodic passages to proceedings. Also, is it a coincidence that HB's side of the split is 4:20 in duration?

Nothing Clean are a little more direct with their approach; there is a hardcore punk edge to their powerviolence mentality. The way the chaos just fucking cuts with the dead stops literally drives me mad in the best possible way (I've seen 'em live too, and that shit is fucking mint).

Released as a collaboration between SuperFi Records, Samizdat Records, Glass To The Face Records and Cardiff's own F.H.E.D.

King Midas Sound - Waiting For You

King Midas Sound is a beautiful collaboration between Roger Robinson, Kiki Hitomi and Kevin Martin, which (I think, correct me if I'm wrong) began life as a track for Kevin's much more wider known project, The Bug. I find it hard to describe and categorize KMS simply because my exploration into this kind of music is incredibly limited (I got here through Godflesh, Techno Animal, etc.), although I can say that this is a incredibly strong and moving record. Revisiting it years later for the purpose of this post has acted as a written reminder to myself to explore these kinds of things more often.

Robinson's soft, bizarrely ethereal vocals are the perfect human accompaniment to Kevin Martin's spaced out dubs, shuffling beats and sparse yet hard-hitting arrangements. Waiting For You walks that perilous tightrope between being chilled out and having a profound message; equal parts dark and light, with finishing flourishes from Hitomi, who would take more of a central vocal role as the project progressed in later years. Waiting For You was released by the excellent Hyperdub.

AUN - Black Pyramid

AUN are one of those bands that I constantly end up back at. For what is essentially noisy ambiance with synths and the odd guitar, this is quite impressive. Fantastic, shoe-gazy drones meet unfurling electronics in transcendent "songs" that average around the 7 minute mark; deep, involving worlds swirl into life, conjured from the chasms of nothingness by this bleak yet somewhat inspiring show of digital noise. Enter the Black Pyramid!

Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Honky Reduction

This has to be the benchmark to which all drum machine grindcore is judged. ANb's first full length record is far cry from anything that has followed it (even the lightening fast pharmaceutical headfuck of Frozen Corpse... is a million miles away from this); the production is bassy, fat and bludgeoning, the guitars almost sludgy, and the shrieked, yelped vocals are almost drowned out by the cacophony of the strings and machine. And that harsh noise at the end... Jesus fuck, that's some moody shit which truly encompasses the meaning of the words "power electronics".

Can't really say much more other than just point out a few of my favourite tracks, "Die And Get The Fuck Out Of The Way", "Vexed", "Hat Full Of Shit".... the list, she goes on! Essential! 

Deafheaven - New Bermuda

Ah man, this is just, like, so lush. That was probably the Welshest sentence I've ever written to describe music, but I feel like it is somewhat entirely justified in this instance; you tend to hear the term "nice" black metal bandied about to describe acts such as Alcest, but I don't usually rate those types of acts. However, Deafheaven for some reason seem to be an exception for me. This band have managed to follow up the ethereal Sunbather with something even more profound, expansive and all-encompassing than before; heaps of washing atmospheres and glittering passages of light mash head on with elements of blasting brutality, throat shredding vocals and soaring leads. Or, you could just write it off as hipster black metal, if you like.

Can't wait to catch these guys live in a few weeks; if this material is anything to go by then the live show is bound to be intense as fuck. Favourite track: "Baby Blue".

Salt Bath - Uncomfortable Choices

Salt Bath are a new band from the Newport area of South Wales, playing an abrasive form of back-to-basics noisemongery distilled through the blunt force weapons of choice - bass guitar and drums (with Venom Prison sticksman Sheehy on the skins). Uncomfortable Choices boasts an impressively all-encompassing production sound, courtesy of One Louder Studios, again in Newport. Imagine Big Black meets Melvins or if you want to go all out; Death From Above 1979 meets early Mr. Bungle.

The meat and bones of the record is a series of under-two-minuters that really compliment the chaotic bass and drums combination (I might be biased here...), although there is a smattering of longer tracks too, which not only help to break up the chaos and offer something a bit more profound, but contribute an intense layer of atmosphere, which considering the mediums chosen for expressing such sounds, is no small feat. Case in point would be "Love Song"; a lurching - almost swaggering - minimalistic crawl that just gathers in tension as it clamours together its seven minutes.

What a beauty!

Portal - Seepia

Jesus, what a glorious fucking mess. I am instantly reminded of the Pissgrave review I did recently; these guys are really, really similar, only Portal has a more dark and eery vibe, rather than the terrifyingly vivid, gory splurge of Pissgrave. It would not surprise me if the bands shared members or something (edit: I just found out how old this album is, guess that Pissgrave relation was wishful thinking).

Anyway, this is some spooky shit. It can be difficult to successfully blend a theatrical element into death metal, especially without it seeming hammy or corny as fuck, but Portal's racket (and image) is genuinely sinister and terrifying. It is almost as if the essence of death metal itself is being sucked through some other-worldly tear in the fabric of time and space; siphoned off to some unknown existence beyond the material plane, where it is subjected to inhuman and incomprehensible levels of horror, before being spewed back to us for our listening pleasure. Yeah.

Agathocles / Generation Spasfon - Split CD

I've had this for so long but the sodding thing is so small I keep losing it amongst my CDs! The Agathocles stuff here seems to be original tracks, which is refreshing in itself, but the greatest surprise is that they are also somewhat strangely melodic; it is the same lo-fi high quantity of shredding mincecore, but with strange, almost ethereal guitar leads over a few of the tracks. Just when I'd thought I'd heard it all with Agathocles, they really took me by surprise. Excellent stuff!

Generation Spasfon are hardcore punk through and through. Rebellion runs through the blood of this energetic, if not slightly typical, hardcore assault. This, unfortunately, appears to be the only thing that this band has released (correct me if I'm wrong!) The band provide reams of information on vegetarianism and veganism on the CD itself, and also run a website which is still going today, which you can visit here.

Repulsive Vision - Look Past The Gore And See The Art

Look Past The Gore... is the long awaiting debut album from Barrow-based death metallers Repulsive Vision. It is to my knowledge that RV have been around for quite some time in various different line ups, with the most recent incarnation of the band solidifying suitably enough for a much-overdue full length to finally gestate. I am pleased to say that it has been well worth the wait, as this is a serious slab of death metal we are dealing with here.

Man, this is fucking good (once you look past (see what I did there?) the cringey rock 'n' roll intro to track 2); the drumming is tight as fuck and the guitars are literally weeping Carcass blood. To say Repulsive Vision is melodic would be a lie, but there is definitely a progressive edge to this record; the band are not afraid to stray from the gurgle'n'blast death metal template, there is definitely a heavy punk and thrash influence here, and this only adds to the overall nuance and dexterity of the album (the production too, helps immensely with making this stand out from the bogs of typical death metal).

My favourite track has to be the closer, "Credophilic", although through the rasp of the vocals it kinda sounds like something far less savoury is being shouted about...

Sodomized Cadaver - Verses Of Putridity

You'd think that given the opportunity, I would do everything in my power to throw mud at this band, but the reality here is that I have to admit that this is a decent fucking record. The production is solid, the riffs are intense and the vocals are on point. As with the previous release, Vorarephilia, the main downside is that for some godforsaken reason the band used a drum machine in lieu of their actual, real-life human equivalent, essentially making Verses of Putridity a solo record from a guy that isn't even in the band any more. A pretty accurate representation of the band's sound, then?

Objectively though, as above, this is a wicked slab of metal, it's just a crying shame that it doesn't feel like a coherent band recorded it. I'll leave it at that before I get ahead of myself.

Hallucinocide - The Peel Session

Hallucinocide is one of the noise identities of Chilean artist Vicente Perez, perhaps most well known for his other project, Bucket Of Piss. The Peel Session isn't quite so drumstick-meets-saucepan-core as his more "meme'd" project, but it definitely offers up a much more violent and vital exercise in proper harsh noise.

Comprised of two tracks, each clocking in at over 20 minutes, The Peel Session is a meandering listen covering a broad spectrum of the patterns, frequencies and expressions one would expect to find in such a performance: "Espresso With A Twist Of Lemon" is almost primal in nature, sounding in parts like some sort of digitized wounded animal. "Get The Fuck Out Of Here? (No, I Cannot)" offers a more traditional exploration through the static; feedback loops, bleeps, rumbles and some nice'n'spicy crackling. 

Currently streaming on the Dismissive Records site but also coming soon on a physical tape release under Trashfuck.