Deny - Parasite Paradise

Record Label: Cramada




Swedish D-beat should be enough of a description of Deny's music for many out there to know whether or not they like it. Fast and angry punk rock with vocals that border on yelling would be a suitable outline for those unfamiliar with the music of Discharge and the D-beat sub-genre that the UK band spawned and was so named due to the band's drumbeat. The rest of you will already expect fast angry short songs heavily influenced by Discharge. "Parasite Paradise" is a comeback album as it's the first release for the band in a decade.



The longest song on "Parasite Paradise" clocks in at two minutes and twenty two seconds. There's no question as to whether or not this music is punk. It's sandpaper raw and scratches the right itches and places that don't itch until they bleed.



3.5/5

Release Date: 29 April 2018



If you do Spotify you can check them out here



Deny on bandcamp


Deny on Facebook

Vantablack Warship - Vantablack Warship

Record Label: Self-release

I remember going circuses as a kid enjoying the animals doing tricks, laughing at the clowns and being enthralled by the gymnastics of the trapeze artists and the tightrope workers. The tightrope walkers especially captured my attention as somebody who absolutely hates looking down from heights. I've always started shaking when I'm on the third floor of a shopping mall if I can see below. The enthrallment is similar for music, when bands straddle the tightrope between genres it's fascinating and attention grabbing. Vantablack Warship straddle the tightrope between hardcore and metal.

You might be asking yourself, which kind of metal do these genre-benders straddle? On "Another Dead Rockstar", it's black metal but there's an undeniable modern hardcore edge. On "Black Tongue Bertha", it's groove metal and I'd guess that a few members of this band own both Pantera T-shirts and albums. The vocals are spat out Phil Anselmo style. "Blood on the Mat" is Pantera wrestling with Converge. Kneel and pray you don't get hurt as a mere spectator. Towards the end of the song when a more standard rock beat is set down, the vocals move in the puking and growling direction of Blaine from The Accused.





Is death metal groove a thing or groove death metal? Because that's the twisted direction that "Kill this Kid" takes. It's slow but there's a metallic edge and a grooving underbelly. There's a little of nineties noise rock twisted in their mixture too. Amphetamine Records fans should be all over this track. There's a clear Slayer influence on the riffing on "Ruderalis" although the vocals lean towards blackened hardcore. "Abrasive Pulmonic Speak" sounds like Helmet jamming with Slayer. The chorus to "Crisis" is oddly reminiscent of "Stay Hungry" period Twisted Sister but the tune is a lot heavier and sludgier than anything Dee Snider's crew did in the eighties.

On surface level, Vantablack Warship come across as a metallic hardcore but scratching below the murky surface, the band are integrating nineties noise rock and black metal. If you wanted to hear any of the bands mentioned in this review take on a more experimental edge then I'd recommend checking this album out. With the eight song on full album clocking in at under thirty minutes, Vantablack Warship, thankfully don't wear out their welcome. In this day and age of over sixty minute albums and even songs, brevity is warmly welcomed.

3.5/5

Release Date: 26 January 2018

Vantablack Warship on bandcamp


Vantablack Warship on facebook

Planet Eater - Blackness From the Stars

"


On the metal band database, Metal Archives, Canadian band Planet Eater are described as death/thrash metal. "Blackness From The Stars is their second album and the album's first track "Boats" has me scratching my head at the death/thrash metal description. Not because it's horrible in a bad way, but there's a groove to the music that recalls Anselmo period Pantera. The vocalist's shouting falls somewhere between Anselmo and Matt Pike. There's no metal fan in the world that would class either Pantera or High on Fire as either thrash or death metal.

Second tune on the album, "Pile of Bones" edges a little closer to being death metal complete with raw rasping vocals. Third track, "Cold Confines", contains more than inkling of Swedish death metal however Donovan Turner's vocals are closer to hardcore shouting, which brings modern Psycroptic to mind however Planet Eater are nowhere as near as technical and this works in their favour as they rip a path of destruction without an excessive amount of noodling. There's an industrial clang to "Lies Evolution" whilst Planet Eater are too much of a ripping metallic beast so only incorporate repetitive factory sounds within their ferocity. In "Suffer What They Must" do actually incorporate thrash metal with speedy drumming and fast guitar playing but the base of this song is closer to sludge. Check it out below:



"Kill on Sight" is basically how I'd imagine Pantera would sound doing death metal so it's really deathcore stripped back to the bone.

The bottom line is that this definitely isn't death metal unless the genre has radically changed when we weren't listening. This is groove sludge with some thrash parts and a hardcore vocalist who often touches on deathly growls. Despite the negativity attached to this review, this is actually a really solid outing from this genre defying metal band and those into the heavier side of metal should enjoy Planet Eater.



3.5/5

Planet Eater on Facebook




Planet Eater on bandcamp

Kamikazi - At the Age of Destruction

Kamikazi might have a Japanese sounding band moniker but these punk maniacs hail from Greece. On their bandcamp and in their email Kamikazi describe themselves as a punk/metal/hardcore band and their chosen style is definitely a hybrid of the three with some straight up rock 'n' roll added for good measure.

If you have any desire to sit down in a comfortable chair and just lay back while listening to this EP, you should reconsider and strap yourself in. There's no time to take in the scenery as Kamikazi hit full throttle along the punk 'n'roll highway with "Deathride". You shouldn't find your mind wandering then the metal tinge on "Crooked Path" but if you feel a little under the weather, there's no stopping or winding down the windows for fresh air, so stop your whining. "Cold Black Cells" features metallic guitar solos with a topping of punky shouting with gang choruses.



If Minor Threat had been a punk 'n roll band then they may well have penned tune close to the mark of "Fuck The World" although the metallic chug towards the end of the song would have been avoided but it propels Kamikazi along very nicely indeed.



The band have released 200 tapes of the EP.

3.5/5

Listen to the whole EP on Kamikazi's bandcamp

Earthbound - Dead Weight EP

Hardcore's conventions have always been fairly narrow. The shouted lyrics over the same power chords with all-in choruses by either burly tough guys, pseudo-tough guys or vegans who expect everyone to follow their way of thinking.

Polish hardcore band Earthbound want to challenge these conventions and "cross the borders between metal and hardcore". The obvious danger taking this approach is that a band with this idea can run with it and wind up sounding like a lot of the hardcore bands did in the late 80's when many of them took a more metal approach or a band that calls themselves hardcore can end up metalcore but sounding like Anselmo period Pantera. Poland's Eathbound have avoided these traps by adding death and black metal to the mixture.

The first song appropriately entitled "Intro" gives no clues other than metallic riffing as to what is about to hit the listener largely due to the track being an instrumental that clocks in at just under 80 seconds. "Nothing is Foverever" is angry hardcore with throaty vocals and all-in gang vocals backed with steady riffing and drumming. Earthbound take an interesting turn in Cursed with vocals taken from the Obituary school of death metal vocalists, speedy drumming and occasionally borrowing the bumble bees from hell black metal guitar riffs. The death metal style vocals are a feature on "Imprisoned" which is paired with buzzsaw guitar. The breakdown mid-song will keep the smile on the dial of modern and more taditional hardcore fan


The crossover direction is always an interesting one. Earthbound have definitely found a good formula of crossing death metal, black metal and hardcore. It's a blend that on paper doesn't really sound like it would work at all but on this "Dead Weight" EP, the marriage between the styles is certainly not dead weight. Whether this can be carried all the way through an album remains to be seen but in the EP format, it gets two thumbs up.

3.5/5


Check out Earthbound's "Dead Weight" EP on bandcamp



Earthbound on Facebook

Agata - Horror Stories

I'll admit that I judged by the pictures and expected Agata to be a B-grade Misfits or goth tinged pop-punk. On their second album, "Horror Stories", Agata serve up a dish of tight 80's style skater thrash. The opening track is melodic hardcore of the early 7 Seconds variant. The title track exists in a world where nomeansno cover the Descendents and vice versa. The song channels both these bands with great punk rythms and slightly shouted vocals. If you like any of the bands mentioned in this review, you should go straight to Agata's bandcamp and check this album by this Oakland trio out.

4/5

Agata on facebook

Mustard Relics - Martyred Heretics CD-R compilation

I've been out of touch with the blogging world for a little while now. I could make up or just give a bunch of excuses but blow that....readers don't look at this blog for excuses although I guess some would say this is an excuse for a music blog that covers excuses for music and that'd be right in an opinionated way.

Anyway lets get to the bit that you probably want to read and cover some musical ground. My blogging buddy, Justin from the Mustard Relics blog has been a lot busier than this lazy blogger and put together a compilation CD that largely covers electronica. My knowledge of electronica is fairly limited as it's not a genre that I listen to a lot of. I do know and like bands like Front 242, New Order, Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails plus a few others that I can't remember the names of right now and if I get around to editing this, you'll likely see them written here otherwise put a pen to screen and insert the names I've missed here: _________________________________________________________________________________)________________

The compilation opens with a horror movie sample which sets the theme of the CD. The first song is by a band called "Prayers" and the opening of this song reminds me of Depeche Mode but these guys have slightly shouted vocals and looping over the electical sounds. The tune is a definite toe-tapper.

Angels Dust song "Funeral" has a bleak spacey dark feel that reminds me of Joy Division (a band I've been thrashing during my time off blogging). The female vocals give the song an uplifting feel despite the title. This tune is great. Listen to it!

B
Pornostroika dadaifi's track had me thinking of the collabaration that Afrikaa Bambata did with Leftfieldd. If you don't know it, you must watch the video to Afrika Shox. Due to the lyrics of the track not being in English I have no idea what these guys are on about but if I consider the lyrics and vocals as a separate instrument, it's a rocking track.

Mach Baron's track "All Flesh is Grass" opens with a sample from a horror movie and is an apocalyptic industrial number with more frightening precise accuracy than your average horoscope writer both lyrically and musically.

Street Sects - sound like a death metal band playing disco and if that sounds terrifying keep well away. Truth is, it's great and sounds better than most of the death metal that appears in my inbox. Oh shit, now I'm likely to get a tonne of disco review requests, haha.

Blitzkrieg Baby have a spoken track with music in the background. There's a poetic feel to the tune.

After a misanthropic rant Pornostroika dadaifi are back and the tracks called NZ's on the trees. I have no idea what these guys are on about but the electronic noodling and ranting (n whatever language it i) mesh well.

Pyrotoxxxn's "Microsleep" is sleep paralysis nightmare hell put to song.

Gianko's track is a little difficult for this listener to get into but that's because it's over 14 minutes long and lately a goldfish would have a longer attention span than this reviewer.

I'm not going to give this a rating as compilations are tricky beasts to review let alone rate. Support Justin and give Martyred Heretics a listen on bandcamp and if you're inclined to get a CD do so before he runs out. There's zine styled inserts with the CD which look really great and lend a hands on feel for those of us who still like tangible music product.

Brond - Feint

The EP format is usually a great thing as it doesn't contain the fat that an album and it's over quickly. Brond are a post-hardcore band from Sofia, Bulgaria, which have chosen to release an EP entitled "Feint".


Brond's music is heavily influenced by the likes of Fugazi and Helmet. The first track has a lot of throaty hardcore shouting and a great start/stop dynamic. "Build Re Build" features some quick drumming and vocals which are a reminder of Fugazi. There's a progressive type feel to the music as it is difficult for a listener to guess which direction the song will take. Despite that, there's definitely not a lack of focus as Brond sound super-tight. While it falls between the post-hardcore of Fugazi and the more stripped down metal of Helmet, "Atlantic Empress" employs a tasty and fitting jazz-punk type direction. "Lava Divers" features the strong pound drumming that Helmet are known for and clear hollering over the music.


This is the sort of release that kicks a slacking off reviewer in the ass and leaves drool stains in the floor. There's mopping to be done shortly.

4/5

Check out the Feint EP on bandcamp here

Drones for Queens - Practically Weapons

This E.P. from Philidelphia band, Drones for Queens, is a tasty slab for the D-beat fan to drool over. There's a very metallic feel to the EP's title track that won't really annoy D-beat fans and may even convert the more open-minded metalhead. For a large sum of the song, the guitar sounds like it could have a thrash or grind album which gets the thumbs up on this blog. "A Blinding Future" has a similar metallic leaning running through it and you know what? It works. Drones for Queens have offered up something much more interesting than standard Discharge worship. A thrash metal pulse with a tinge of death(of the metal sub-genre kind) runs through "Duress".

Play the title track "Practically Weapons"



"Practically Weapons" is being released as a limited to 300 copies 7" white vinyl. There's a link or two below for pre-orders.

4/5

Drones for Queens on facebook

Pre-order the vinyl here.

Reign of Fury - Death Be Thy Shepherd

Any dedicated record collector will deny that old adage "You can't judge an album by its cover" and then tell you a story about the album or albums that they bought solely because of the cover and then they found out that the music was also solid and the purchase was worth it for more than just the artwork. From the moment I laid eyes on the cover of the second album from UK band Reign of Fury, I didn't know whether it would be death or thrash metal but I suspected it would be right up my alley and knew it would be one of the two metal sub-genres. Reign of Fury are not death but straight up no-nonsense thrash metal.

The band's sound is very much 80's metal. There's a little bit of "And Justice For All" Metallica here and there. At times vocalist Bison Steed sounds like a youthful James Hetfield. A number of the all-in shouts hark back to Tesament's "Practice What You Preach" which followed the Metallica blueprint that countless bands were following back in the day. Remember UK metallers Onslaught's "In Search of Sanity" album? Metallica had a song called "Frayed Ends of Sanity" and Reign of Fury have a song called "Gates of Sanity". Reign of Fury clearly aren't looking to reinvent the wheel and just want you to headbang along to their thrash and with songs like "Hypnotise the Masses" they succeed at their goal. Bison's vocals are melodic although not in the Joey Belladonna style and fit the band's Bay Area style of thrash. The bridges work well and the band are tight as hell.

"All is Lost" is the obligatory ballad. Haha, remember on "Practice What You Preach" that Testament simply named theirs "The Ballad". Reign of Fury's ballad does speed up into more traditional metal territory. For straight out thrash, it's difficult to go past "The Love of a Dying God", with its speedy intro and all-in shouts. The tempo does slow down a little but it's only so the band catch a small breath so that they can speed up again. The band works the slow/fast dynamics really well in this particular tune making it one of the album's highlights. "Sorrow Made Flesh" cops a number of Metallica riffs but it isn't quite paint by numbers as Reign of Fury manage to inject a little of their own style there largely due to Bison's vocals. The title track "Death Be They Shepherd" is the longest track on the album and clocks in at over ten minutes. Fortunately the band knowing when to speed up and when to slow down doesn't make the song seem quite that long

Reign of Fury might not be setting any new ground but in this day and age, what recent thrash metal band does? Reign of Fury and "Death Be Thy Shepherd" should be checked out for those looking for decent late 80's style thrash metal or just solid thrash metal. The full album is streaming on the bandcamp link below so check it out.

3/5




Reign of Fury on Facebook




Reign of Fury - Death Be They Shepherd on bandcamp

Home "Bound To Gravity"

As a longtime supporter of the underground it's always great whenever a band takes the time to email me rather than just go through a label or a publicist. I'll admit I appreciate hearing from labels and publicists too if they actually have taken the time to look through the blog and realize whether or not the music they are currently pushing fits with the blog.  The amount of rap and country music that comes my way astounds me as it just doesn't fit with the context on the blog.  Anyway enough about the blog and back to the recent email(it was actually received in late February), I really wanted to talk about.  It came from Austria from a guy named Amadeus who said his band Home were Austrian Sludge/Stoner/Post-whatsoever and that because it was release day of their album "Bound to Gravity", the trio were going to get drunk.

On listening to the first track it became apparent that post-whatsoever really means post hardcore as there is a bit of both Quicksand and Fugazi in both the music and the vocals.  The sludge label makes sense for the track "Next To Last", though the song opens with stripped bare metallic riffing, the vocals recall the likes of Killdozer and Clawhammer.  There's no prettying things up here.

I'm willing to bet that "Not Even Me" is a live favourite and unites hardcore and metal kids only to battle it together in the pit before the abrasively raw sludge applies sandpaper to their wounds.  Often the direction where Home go with their rhythms takes the listener by surprise and the unpredictability adds to their charm. The lengthy "Dead City" slowly pulsates with a Black Sabbath heart although Home take a more experimental turn with speeding up the rhythm and lightly applied sandpaper raw vocals.

The initial description of the band by Amadeus still rings true to my ears as this is likely to appeal equally to fans of Eyehategod style sludge, rawer post-hardcore and amphetamine reptile fans.  Check out "Bound to Gravity" on their bandcamp site linked below.

4/5


Bound To Gravity on bandcamp



Home on facebook

Toxic Waltz "Decades of Pain"

  Is it even necessary to explain which genre a band who picked a moniker from an Exodus song and have an album title that isn't miles away from that of a Slayer live album?  If you're guessing that these five Bavarians are in a jazz fusion band, then you're reading the wrong blog.  It's highly possible that the title to the opening song " Intro" was chosen as a tribute to a Testament ballad.

Toxic Waltz are a throwback to the peak of eighties thrash metal.  Exodus is indeed a major influence on the bands sound and style however there are pieces of 80's Metallica and Slayer in there too.  The vocals fall somewhere between the spitting razor blades style of Steve Souza and the louder and throatier hardcore style of Gordo from Ratos De Paroa.  The riffing is tight as hell.  With two guitarist, it's the guitar sound that is in the forefront here with the drums mostly playing second fiddle despite the fact that the drummer is no slacker.  The gallop leading into "World of Hate" proves this but it's the guitar sound that provides the crunch and there's a Metallica of old style slowing and breathing before going for the throat.  "Toxic Hell" is pure Exodus but really what else would you expect?  It's an enjoyable romp although not quite as hooky as the band Toxic Waltz take their major inspiration from.  "Suicide Squad" however is catchy number that has hooks and riff in spades.  "Priest of Lies" simply thrashes.  Tight and fast.  It's difficult not to imagine the song causing utter chaos in the front row whenever it's played live.   Slayer plays a part in the serial killer ode "Obsession to Kill" with insane vocals that are a cross between Steve Souza and Scooby Doo.  If this was an 80's song, this track would be considered proto-death metal.

A weakness on "Decades of Pain" is that a few of the songs do seem a little too similar to each other.   The two closing songs, "Suicide Squad" and "Obsession to Kill" are the highlights as they veer a little from the path these Bavarians have set for themselves.
However, Toxic Waltz's thrashing is very welcoming.  I'll definitely dive in and give it another try.  Check out "Priest of Lies" on the band's facebook bandpage.

3/5

Toxic Waltz on facebook

She Rides/Dripping Slits - Crucial Fix 7"

If you think limited 7 inch vinyl releases are the domain of douchebags, then skip this review and go read Pitchfork, douchebag. For the non-douchebags, here's another 7" platter served up from the good folks from Negative Fun records. The first band, She Rides play tight booze fuelled garage rock to swell booze too. At the start of "Grease in the Wheels", there's a touch of soul in the vocals but things get a heck a lot of rawer and more raucous after where informed, "the party never stops". "Rage Forever" is a speedy head rush that propels at full throttle although there is a tempo change at the end and as it has previously been a full rush the only option is to slow down. Dripping Slits are dirty, raw garage nicotine stained garage punk and when they sing about rock bottoming out, you just know there aren't any pretences here. This is another grimy slab of rock from Negative Fun that brings the party and swills in the mess for days while stepping on the potato chips and tripping over the bottles and cans but still partying despite being bleary eyed.   If this 7" is a contest and let's face it, split releases are, it's a damned tie.  Both bands equally bring it.   Get this 7 inch now, douchebag.

4/5

Check out this release here.

She Rides on facebook.     Dripping Slits on facebook

Hymns of Despair

Tony Maim of the great black insect laughter blog made a compilation of his musical highlights from last year.  The tracks are a mixture of hardcore, sludge noise and stoner rock.   Permission was obtained from the bands and labels involved.   The great final result is available in digital for with a downloadable bookelt with band info and reviews from this bandcamp page.

The New Enemy - Darkness, She Was The Universe

This Canadian hardcore bunch who go by the handle of  The New Enemy have a metallic sound that harks back to a time before every band that mixed metal with hardcore wanted to be Pantera. For the most part, no one's going to accuse these guys of being groundbreaking unless you count the fact that the band are from Toronto but have a New York hardcore type sound and often fall somewhere between Gorilla Biscuits and early Biohazard.  A lot of this is largely due to the vocals being of the gravelly variety.

"Keratine"is one of those tough guy hardcore songs that would be rap if it wasn't for the band laying down the metallic jams.  "Lives on The Run" has a crunchy rap feel but the threatening mood is ruined with melodic backing vocals.  The usual hardcore sing or shout alongs are present in "Change in The Weather" and it's easy to imagine a crowd joining in with the chants.   The melodic backing vocals ruin "Dead Eyes" as the band reveal a closet fantasy to be Evanescence or Nightwish with a metalcore type up the front.  Experimentation is all good when it works but here it doesn't.  Those sickening sweet backing vocals come into play way too quickly on the album close, "The Muck", which will have people running away but it won't be due to any menacing fist in the factor but the fact that song has a symphonic type ending. There are people out there that want candy after being smacked around but don't count me among them.  A shame really because that this album ends like this because the rest of the songs are quite enjoyable.

3/5

This album is available from the band's bandcamp site for a name your price option and all money raised will go towards Youth without Shelter, a Toronto Shelter for abused and homeless youth.

Averman/Stonewall Split

(Pushed Too Far)

Splits are always weird beasts as all too often one band comes out on top. However they're never the mixed bag that compilations to often tend to be.
This split features two different sides of the punk rock coin from the state of Virginia. Averman are a pop-punk band and Stonewall whereas Stonewall drive in from more of a hardcore direction.

The Averman side is four songs of chirpy poppy cheer. The band remind me of Horace Pinker in that utimately they're fairly forgettable and have fast drums that sound way too loud. At times, it sounds like the Averman drummer would be way more comfortable in a thrash metal band which just doesn't blend with the melodic vocals. But hey, I had the same problem with Lifetime and one of the songs is entitled "B-side to a Lifetime Cover Set" which is pretty much the way their sound leans.

Stonewall are by far the stronger the band. The band play heavy energetic hardcore with a very slight metal edge. It'd be unsurprising to find out that these guys are huge Gorilla Biscuits fans. Admittedly Stonewall aren't quite up to that level of appeal and the vocals are more of the shouted variety rather than half sung. The band only serve up three songs. Thankfully both the vocals and instruments come through clearly in the mix.

The ratings are separate because the bands are so different.

Averman 1.5/5

Click to listen.



Stonewall 3/5

Click to listen.



Small takeover on facebook

Gladiators Eat Fire - Psychedelic Hogwash

Another day and there's another noisy Seattle band popping up or so it seems. It's fairly easy to pigeon hole Gladiators Eat Fire as living directly of and coming out of the bowels of that particular mushroom cloud since their bio describes them as an organic psychedelic hardcore movement. However, with their first EP, "Keep The Beat Alive" released in 2008, it's clear that despite being a young band, Gladiators Eat Fire are far from green and inexperienced although they are definitely experimental.

In many ways, the band are either a reviewer's dream or nightmare because nailing their sound down pat is akin to playing pin the tail on the donkey with a live animal. The band chop and change their sound with greater frequency than a third world transportation system. Unsuspecting listeners will easily dismiss opener "Dispossessed" as sludgy hardcore due to its slow and heavy start with microphone swallowing shouted grunts but the midway through the song changes with melodic chanting with more indie type sounds ensuring a good time but won't be heard any time at a monastery near you. If the Birthday Party discovered funk and speed simultaneously then they might have just come up with the noisy dance trance "For a Second I Thought I was going to Die".

Listening to "This Shit is Chiamus", it's a challenge not to think of Nomeansno, even if the vocals sound nothing like the elderly canucks, but as the band possess the same freaky ability to switch style mid-song and keep a listener interested while the drummer moves from pounding demons from his chosen instrument to a more loving caress whenever the mood takes him. "The New Paridigm" begins with yelling over buzzsaw guitars yet transforms into Fugazi nightmares about maybe more than just stage diving and T-shirts.

Those who think hardcore is nothing but noise will have their delusions shattered by this EP. Gladiators Eat Fire are a band who challenge genre purists to think outside the mosh pit. So remember, hogwash is better than no wash at all and Psychedelic Hogwash is cleansing.

4/5



http://www.gladiatorseatfire.com/



www.facebook.com/gladiatorseatfire



Small Takeover on facebook

Into The Storm - Captains

Into The Storm – Captains, 2011
(self-released)

Anyone who has been reading this blog regularly will be aware of the current wave of noisy Seattle rock bands. Into The Storm are definitely in this category and fall under the experimental metal umbrella.

The band have self-released a five song album. There’s absolutely no nice greeting for a listener in the opening song “Bodhi Zephyr” as the song opens with fast complex riffing and raspy scooby doo death metal growls yelling “Fuck Off”, the song does slow down for a little and the death metal growls continue over slow clanging metallic noise. Quick tribal rythms open “Jean-Luc Picard” which then slow down into ambient noise that is not unlike some of the territory Jakob cover but that cartoon dog voice comes into action once again before the song ends with samples over the quieter side of the band. The cliched metal reviewer adjective crushing was coined for “K’nuckles” as it is punishing Obituary death metal. This song is easily the highlight of the album and also the shortest. “Walter White” has a more melodic voice half-singing and dueling it out with the death metal guy and the end of the song the more melodic guy is still left standing.

While the self-releasing an album is applause worthy, Into The Storm could have been a better album if the band either made better use of the melodic vocals or did away with them completely. The death metal vocals make it unpleasant to listen to and that may well be the point but it doesn’t win the band any points here and neither does the fact that most of the songs are just too long.

“Captains” is available from the bands bandcamp site below either digitally at a price of your choosing or on vinyl for $15US.

2/5



Into The Storm on bandcamp.


The small takeover on facebook

Deadkill - Self-titled EP

Deadkill Self-titled EP, 2012
(Good to Die)

It’s as enjoyable as a music reviewer to see young bands that are looking back to the past as it is to those that totally unashamedly ignore artists that have gone before with the idea of coming up with something new rather than something borrowed. Seattle's Deadkill twist their heads back into Washington DC’s 80’s hardcore punk past when the likes of Black Flag and Minor Threat.

The vocals on “Oh God Help You” are reminiscent of a youthful Henry Rollins fronting Black Flag although the rhythm is set dowm with drumming from a more standard rock pattern. The first 24 seconds of “5150” is an intro that a number of metal bands would be proud of. After that a constipated parrot voice that typified many an early harcore band comes in and when the song slows a little in the middle the vocals fit between spoken and shouted. If there is such a sub-genre as harcore and roll “Outa My Head” fits. There’s punk ‘n’ roll music with rapid-fire dual shouted vocals which then slow into shouted instructions, “Stand tall, one and all”. The shared yelling reminds me a lot of Minor Threat but going by the song’s lyrics there’s absolutely no way these guys are straight edgers. Those wanting a long song ar going to get cheated by the ninety-second burst “Rip Off”.

This EP serves well as an appetizer as my main complaint is that like a lot of hardcore records, it’s over way toosoon. This EP can be comfortably filed between those twenty plus year old well worn Black Flag and Circle Jerks albums or those still shiny Career Suicide and Off! records. I’m willing to bet Deadkill are an energetic bunch in a live setting.

3.5/5

Deadkill on facebook



Dead kill on bandcamp

The small take over on facebook

Happy 50th Ian Mckaye

A couple of days late but it's not as if he reads this blog anyway since he can't tell if people using the internet are stage diving.

Here's some pictures of Ian's surprise birthday and he's competing for a prize with Kirk Cameron.