Unsavory Secret Cloaked in Mystery

With tracks as long and complex as the life cycle of its namesake, Hellgrammite amble, trod, and ravage through mindscapes... well, unsavory, secret, and mysterious.  And, not unlike the fungus of the opening track's title, each of the four compositions on the "II" cassette are like deadly spores infecting the listener's brain, splitting sword-like through the cranium, revealing the tangled bramble-patch of the mind's sense of pleasure, euphoria, pain, and fear.  Black metal, doom, prog... these are all comfortable reference points, but like all art/music, it's not just what is present that matters, but the spaces between.  Whether those spaces take the form of bass-heavy drones, or echoey psychedelia, the violent times are all the more confusing and thrilling by contrast.  Hellgrammite is brought to you by one half of Same-Sex Dictator, and members of Forest Friends and ...Wind Swept Planes... The "II" tape is (possibly) available from End Theory Records, or contact the band.

Hellgrammite "II" Cassette (digital rips... 320)

** Special thanks to Justin for hooking up the tape and the WAV files (and for the awesome drumming)!

From The Depths Of An Ether Binge

As I await my new stylus in the mail, this break allows me a chance to get caught up with blog e-mails, and post some submissions I've been sitting on. I can't say I'll do this much in the future-- I have a hard enough time keeping up with the whimsy that normally dictates the posting on this site. But where to start in the back-log was easy. James from Into The Storm was kind enough to send me a copy of the band's debut CD. I didn't think bands still did this! An actual CD! ITS obviously works hard on their presentation with the slick artwork, and the many extras they sent with the CD, but it's the music itself that we're most interested in here. In this category, I was not let down either. I feel like it's redundant to describe ITS's sound, when one of the guys at Razorcake already said so much of what I was planning on saying, from his comment on the art, to the Shotmaker reference (that was fuckin' creepy when I read it!). I could rattle on about the Post-this genre/that genre that could maybe fit their M.O., but that would imply that the band is some kind of Isis clone (certainly far from true). I mean, when a band can so easily warrant comparisons from so many genres that have been given such trite labels (post-metal, emotive hardcore, post-punk, post-rock, stoner rock, math-metal, metalcore...), but isn't the least bit trite, what can a "reviewer" do? This conundrum can only be solved with a download, which the band is more than obliged to provide. It's a pleasure to hear these guys working out their fertile ideas, and I look forward to their next release, hopefully with recording quality that does them even more justice.

Click the punk rock pelican:

For All You Media Parasites

This'll probably be the last Decrepit post on this site, but it's a real humdinger. Be sure to track down their CD released in Poland which collects all their work. On tonight's featured disk they team up with Seattle grinders, Cephlatripe. Decrepit are a great example of a band that broke no new ground, but made excellent use of the land they roamed. Those vocals are most certainly Decrepit's badge of distinction- like a Tasmanian devil hooked up to a car battery. They're in rare form on their side, and fire out a Disrupt cover to seal the deal. Now, as mentioned before, Cephlatripe play grindcore. You should know what that sounds like. It comes with all the usual trimmings of heavy, metallic guitars, dual vocals, blast beats, etc, but with nice start/stop precision and lots of intensity. If you really need a reference point I'll go ahead and throw out the Assück comparison, or maybe an obscure one like to their fellow Northwesterners, Blight. More info about this band would be nice to come along. Meantime, enjoy the noise...

Decrepit/Cephlatripe Split 7" (Extortion Records)

Scathed & Decrepit

Ah yes, the return of Decrepit to FE-- easily one of the most vicious crust-core bands ever to exist! In a mere three tracks on this split, the band minces no words as they take on ageism, elitism, pacifism, militarism, homophobia, and the God myth. After these four and half minutes I think you'll be left still holding the mouse and wondering what the fuck just happened. Click again; it will only do you good.

Scathed festered in the same damp corner of the country as their split-mates, and played similar "music" although tainted with a bit more noise and youthful sloppiness. What charges this band into the 'memorable' enclave are the harsh vocals which saw through the noise and lacerate the mind. The lyrics to "Buffy (the Clown)" earn Scathed some bonus points too. Knowing (at least vicariously) the Seattle situation, I wouldn't be surprised if the members played in other bands. But I'll leave that blank up to you to fill in.

The Decrepit/Scathed Split (199?) on Un-Yelliman Records

Note: The copy I ripped was in fairly sorry shape... I did what I could to clean it up. The Decrepit tracks are supposedly on a CD that I've seen around the web. Another Decrepit split may be forthcoming, but not for a long while...

Crawling On My Hands and Knees

This Sunday morning quickie sends us back to Seattle for another dram of twisted noise. I first was interested in Walls because of Jensen's (Iron Lung) involvement. The band's actual product has a little more to do with Kortland's old band, Gob, than any I.L. style grind. But what you really get is some pretty unique and messed up sounding dark and heavy rock. One track appeared on the Walls LP, but the other ("Hands & Knees") I believe to be an exclusive. Said LP and the awesome one-sided 12" are still available from Painkiller and Iron Lung Records respectively.

Walls "The Crawl" 7" (Iron Lung Records, from the first pressing of 400)

White Belt In Blogging

I think it's great when bands adopt misleading or at least non-generic band names. The only problem is, I rarely ever check them out... because of their names. As fortune would have it, Justin from Same-Sex Dictator introduced me to his band by sending me rips of their awesome split with Requin and permission to post. S-SD appear here as a two piece showcasing a penetrating bass sound with just enough distortion to assert its commanding role without being too abrasive. Song-writing-wise, the band is a reunion with your old crush, but she's different now, and the novelty excites you: the throbbing, crawling pace of your favorite sludge bands, the bursting frenetic fits of a few noise rock legends, but sounding not quite like anything yet in your collection. But maybe "Eight: From Meal To Bait" is more grand and universal, laying out the ancient, cyclical war between our desire for precision and harmony, and our uncontrollable tendency toward entropy and violence, with each listen crowning a different winner. And trust me, repeat listens are inevitable.

Requin are yet another reason to look to the Northwest for rock that ain't your grandpa's grunge. These guys skip most of the contemplation and shoot for a mainly primal approach with regard to tempos. The proggy, noodly fret board action however, prods deep into the cerebrum, as do the drums which keep up beautifully with the breakneck pace. And the vocals: No high pitch screaming, no forced guttural grunting; not even a grungy croon. Just good, raw, throaty yelling! This is yet another solid and original band to bookmark from the mad, musical laboratory that is Seattle.

You can get this very limited 7" from S-SD or perhaps Crucial Blast's webstore. It was recorded this year, so if you like what you hear, you can probably expect each bands' next releases to be similar. In my opinion, that's a good reason to get stoked.

The Same-Sex Dictator/Requin split 7" (320 digital rips)

The Battle For Seattle

Here's another excellent Brandon pick from two unstoppable Seattle bands. Decrepit should need no introduction, and surely, just listening to their take on crusty hardcore is the best way for newcomers to get acquainted. The incessant, rapid-fire vocals are easily the band's greatest virtue. They released a 7" and a self-titled CD that I know of, both of which are/are probably completely awesome. Phalanx also released a self-titled LP/CD, and then called it quits, leaving this split 7" as the only other artifact of their existence. Their sound will inevitably be cornered as Americanized Scandi-crust galore, with bad cop/badder cop vocals. I remember liking their LP more than I like these tracks, and from what I can tell both Aborted Society and No Options records are sold out of it. Being a low profile band, it should be easy to find a copy in one of your favorite distros (the Phalanx tracks below were tacked onto the CD version).

Decrepit/Phalanx Split

Chernobyl Cthulhu

I was pleasantly surprised to find out how many FE friends enjoy Wormwood as much as I do. So as not to keep you waiting too long for more from these sorcerers of despair, I offer you their limited split picture disk with fellow Northwestern Metal alchemists, Teen Cthulhu. To be honest, I'll pick up anything by Wormwood, as long as it isn't at some crazy collector price. It doesn't hurt that the track provided, "Released From Expectation," is quite possibly the band's most deeply penetrating song. Words will inevitably collapse in weak-kneed admiration if any attempt is made at describing its power. Three years later, it would grace the grooves of the Starvation" LP. Brilliant, no matter where it appears.

Teen Cthulhu have made friends and enemies with their synth-laden horror-death metal-violence. I thought their LP was pretty fuckin' solid, and the two tracks on this disk are right along those lines. After that LP cover, the art submitted on this thing is a little lacking (just a humble opinion). Their two tracks deliver the goods, though, and for additional spankings, be sure to grab the band's LP and split with Iron Lung here and here respectively.

The Wormwood/Teen Cthulhu split pic disk

14 Inch Crust

I got a great response recently when I asked for requests for future posts. Thanks a ton to the cyber-homies who put in their bids-- your choices are coming up! Main man, Billy, of the mighty 7 Inch Crust blog mentioned Wormwood and Daymare, and excellent choices they are! The only OOP disk I have by Wormwood is the "Reversal Of Fortune" 7", so here it is! These two tracks represent the band's final recorded output and if you already love the band, you won't be disappointed. For the uninitiated, Wormwood played a fairly unique concoction of creepy-ass, blackened, guitarless, doom, embellished with keyboards (but tastefully; seriously). Everything they did was great; no exception here. Only 300 of these were pressed, but you can still find copies in such fine establishments as this and this. Pick one up if you can, because the layout is amazing!

Here

Repo(st) Time:

Daymare is another case of a band that died tragically young, with so much going for it. They are so my kind of hardcore, it's just ridiculous-- gloomy, both fast and slow, heavy, passionate, crusty, intelligent. Sadly, I think these five tracks are the only proof they existed, but if you know of any other releases, you've got to let me know! I posted this 7" way back in the beginning, so the 320 treatment is long overdue; file this in the same category as Ballast, Schifosi, Protess...

Here

Nothing Can Save You

I've only got the time and motivation to post a quickie today (that is, an EP). I thought Oroku only released a 7" and their "Living Through The End Time" LP. Apparently they also released this split 7" with The Gammits Make War. Oroku was an incredibly promising, mid-paced crusty hardcore band from Seattle who, like many up there, didn't last too long as a band. I believe the three early tracks on this one were left off the CD version of the LP, but they're just as good as the band's other output (except that the recording was done in 30 minutes in exchange for a 12 pack, and it shows!). I posted Oroku's EP last summer, but it was remastered and tacked onto the CD, so contact Inimical Recs to get a piece of that.

I don't know too much about The Gammits Make War except that they're from New York City and they play snotty, melodic hardcore with lots of punch. Sometimes they have a more modern Econochrist thing going on, but at more sing-along moments I hear a bit of Drunk (the Norwegian band). It's quite a change from the mournful Oroku tracks, but they play the style well, and I'll be glad if I find more from these guys in the future.

The split

The Social Darwinism Of War?

The excitement of adding a new favorite band to my list continues with the "Weed & Seed" 7". Whipped is by no means a new band, but for me they are; and it was all made possible by the power of blogging! Brandon H. introduced me to them, and Shawn pointed out the greatness of this EP (thanks for offering to rip it, by the way!). I finally found a (much abused) copy of my own and ripped it for you all. This is possibly the best and fiercest of the band's releases. If you enjoy the snottiness and power of bands like Dirt, Lost World, and Harum Scarum, Whipped might be a new old favorite for you as well. The band mentions that these tracks are "old," and since they deal with George Bush the senior's foreign policy, I would date them around the time of the band's inception ('90 or '91?). The four tracks have a long release history, appearing first on some comps and demos before being compiled conveniently for us here. Some of the lyrics are a bit naive (see post title), but their intentions are good and crusty, and the music is action packed! Member's previous involvement in Aspirin Feast may or may not interest you; either way, enjoy these crackly punk rock rips:

Here

We Need Our Wars

Many 'Mercans have the day off today to celebrate a holiday notorious for its imperialist origins. Really it has just become an excuse to feast and hang out with The Fam. So if you've got the day off, enjoy! And to cleanse the genocidal aspect of the day, I have a nice nugget of crust to offer. The second featured band this week was brought to my attention by Brandon. This dude was cool enough to send an e-mail requesting any rips I may have by Seattle's Whipped. I hadn't heard of them, but I figured if someone likes what they hear on this blog and goes out of his to e-mail me, this band must be great. My search led me to their split with Inhumane, an LP, and I almost got a 7", but that's gonna have to wait. Until I get the LP ripped properly, chew on this split! Whipped play crusty hardcore punk that totally kills. On this split they remind me of Dirt or Mankind?, although their sound expanded quite a bit on their LP. So on this little Martha Foker, you'll receive two snotty originals and an Aspirin Feast cover. These songs only hint at what these guys/gals would do on the full length, which I'll have up by this weekend. From what I understand, some members of Whipped continued the rock legacy in Whorehouse of Representatives.

If you like other heavy crust bands from the early nineties North West (Decrepit, etc.), Inhumane may tickle your fancy. They may not have been prolific or original, but crust is all about power, not forging the next fashionable sub-genre. Metallic, heavy, plenty of conviction, and a bass player with a motorized finger. Sounds good to me. The 7" was put out by Sabotage, Earth Records and came with a poster for each band. The cover design looks generic from a distance, but upon closer inspection it's actually pretty kick-ass.

Get it

More 7" Comps That Don't Suck Vol.5: "Disoppress"

To satisfy your Saturday afternoon noise hunger, here's another out-of-control, non-sucky comp. "Disoppress" was released around 1997 on Disoppress records, a label I am not familiar with. There are some good unknown bands on this one (for me at least) and a couple of long-time heroes (see back cover). The styles are all either straight forward political hardcore, or total ear-assaulting grind/noise. The one exception, and a real highlight on the record, is Depressor, who play metallic industrial crust. Depressor now plays with a drummer, and their releases (if you can find them) are definitely ones to look out for. First, the disclaimer: the production isn't great and my copy's a little warped... sorry about the (extra) noise. Second, the actual noise... Download