Weekly Roundup #7

Back with another real quick rundown of various things I've been digging over the past week. I'm sure you know the drill by now.

-

Muzak:

Septic Flesh - The mid/ late 90's Septic Flesh stuff is awesome and seriously underrated. Sumerian Daemons and Revoultion DNA in particular.

https://youtu.be/p7CrjevjkVo

-

Napalm Death - Good lord "A Belly Full of Salt and Spleen" is terrifyingly heavy... What a great fucking song.

https://youtu.be/TLKjpobj4vg

-

Vile Creature - Super heavy blackened doom from a couple of politically minded Canucks. I had been meaning to pick up their stuff for a while now and they just happened to have "Preservation Rituals" and "Glory! Glory! Apathy Took Helm!" up at the local record store.

https://vilecreature.bandcamp.com/album/preservation-rituals-2015-2018

-

LÄHIÖBOTOX - Dub War Meets Orange 9mm meets Downset but sung in what I assume is Finnish? Could be in fucking Martian for all I know 'cos I seriously don't speak a word of whatever language this is in, but it's pretty fucking killer regardless. (Thanks to Andrew from the always amazing Aversionline for the heads up on this one.)

https://youtu.be/p8yFFURu3aE

-

Awich - I kinda have a thing for rap in languages I don't understand and that's what this is. More modern and "mainstream" sounding than I'm usually into but I like the chick's voice and how she ping-pongs back and forth between Japanese and English so I've been kinda feeling this lately.

https://youtu.be/nJaFpoo9Fl0

-

Video Games:

Speedrunners - 2D platforming meets a racing game, with a grappling hook. This is seriously one of Me and DD's favorite games of all time.

-

The Last Blade 2 - I wanna say what Garou was to KOF and Third Strike was to Street Fighter so Last Blade is to Samurai Showdown? Something like that anyway. Used to play this one a lot when I was younger.

-

KOF XV - Newest Installment of the long running fighting game franchise. I'n not particularly good at it, but I love the character designs and bright colorful graphics.

-

Layer Section - Sega Genesis (I think?) era Sh'mup with great pixel graphics and a cool lock-on laser mechanic.

-

Reading:

A bunch of dumb stuff about aliens and cryptids

-

Tube:

The Keep (man I want there to be a directors cut of this movie so goddamn bad)

The 1970s animated Hobbit/ Lord of the Rings movies

Eyes of Fire

Blood on Satan's Claw

Fiend Without a Face

-

Andy

The guitarist of the grind band I played in for over a decade was gay. He was also one of the best friends I ever had (RIP Andy), and in all the time I knew him he never once hit on me, dated anyone underage, or engaged in any behavior I would have deemed sketchy, creepy, or otherwise fucked up and unsavory.

We hung out, we laughed a lot, we played ugly music together, we watched ECW, we played N64, we ate a ton of fucking Chinese food, we lived in the same house for a bunch of years, etc.

Dude even got me into Cripple Bastards, Rupture, Discordance Axis, Regurgitate, Driller Killer, and Denak.

He was solid. Period.

That's why it bugs the shit out of me to see a bunch right wing weirdos racing back to the 1950's with the gay = pedophile "they cant control their urges" shit... It's just absolutely not so.

Am I saying gays can't be predators, groomers or whatever the pearl clutching buzz-word of the day is? Absolutely not. It's just that I think that they're not any more or less likely than anyone else, straight white evangelicals included.

Unfortunately, whatever "intel" you think you've gleaned from watching the TV and screwing around on the internet, most kids are victimized by people they know and trust... That is: family, friends, coaches, etc. Not a shadowy cabal of satanic human trafficking gays.

Don't agree? Well then, as long as you're over 18 you have my express written consent to fucking blow me.

Absu

Man, I was never all that into Absu back in the day but goddamn if they're not 1000x better than I remembered. 

Wound up listening to the entirety of their "Tara" album while I was deep down a late 90's/ early 00's USBM rabbit hole this past week and it absolutely fucking floored me... Blistering fast (seriously, there are moments where they get into straight up insane early Cryptopsy, Krisiun tempos) with just enough dissonant melody and frosty blackened "grimness" to hold it all together.

Can't friggin' believe their drummer sang on this stuff... Like, doing vox in the studio is one thing, but how the hell did he pull it off live?! Shrieking out their ultra complex mystical-word-salad lyrics while ripping blastbeats at that speed? You've gotta be fucking kidding me.

Klaus Schulze

Bummed to hear Klaus Schulze passed... I was a massive fan, and, although you probably wouldn't guess it from the music we make with Infestation Ritual, he was one of the very first electronic artists I actually kind of liked back when I was a pissed-off-at-the-entire-universe suburban teenager.

May his vibrations carry ever outward through space, and onward through time.

Avulsion

Hyper fucking aggro powerviolence/ grindcore/ death metal from upstate NY circa 1998.

If you dig Assuck, Watchmaker, Crossed Out, Infest, Monster X, Disassociate, Morser, Soilent Green, and the first Circle of Dead Children album: Say hello to your new favorite band.

Side note: This album holds a pretty special place in my heart because it took a full 20 goddamn years from when I first read a review in some zine and decided I might like to grab a copy to when I finally managed to track one down.

Fudge Tunnel

Any time I mention Fudge Tunnel the only response I ever seem to get out of my metalhead friends is a vague “Oh, haha, didn’t they sound like Nirvana or something?” and I mean I guess so… Sorta?

Nirvana’s first album was definitely pretty fucking sludgy, and both bands sound like they probably really dug the first handful of Melvins albums, and I guess the vocals are pretty similar if you completely ignore the fact that Alex Newport has a fairly pronounced British Accent? I’m just not sure Nirvana ever sounded quite as overtly doomy.

Whatever, all I know is that this song crushes and if you chose to not check it out because “something something grunge music” that’s on you for being a fucking moron.

Mork Gryning

Uh, anyway, here's something less weepy and emotional than that last post: Ripshit Swedish black metal blasted out at speeds that sometimes border on full-on grind.

This was probably my favorite album circa 1997-98 but I honestly hadn't thought about it in a looong fucking time before it randomly popped into my head the other day and threw it on for a hit of nostalgia.

Definitely one of those albums that is inextricably linked with a very particular time/ place in my life, and a whole lot of memories... Mostly being 17 years old and riding my bike through middle of nowhere MA as the leaves started to change.

Ok I guess this is getting weepy and emotional after all. I'll see myself out.

World of Strangers

Been trying to keep the more "personal" stuff off this new site as much as possible, but me and DD had a really weird moment the other day and I felt like writing it out just to get it out of my head and down on paper.

So yeah, we were out taking a walk this past weekend and we saw a guy who had been a pretty good friend of ours pre-pandemic. I had just noticed him and was just about to say "hey" when he averted his eyes and sped up to get away from us.

That shit has been wigging me the fuck out for a couple days now 'cos thinking back probably the only time I've had people duck me like that was way back when I was a whole lot younger and angrier than I am today, and the person in question either owed me money or had done something pretty serious to "provoke the wrath."

And like, as far as I knew we were on pretty good terms with this dude and the only reason we hadn't been in touch is because COVID took a huge runny dump and smeared it across the last two years.

I dunno, that's really all I've got. I feel kinda disrespected, but mostly I feel lonely and confused.

Carl Kavorkian

This guy is the MC on the Manikineter album I posted the other day so if you dug that stuff you’ll probably dig this as well. Maybe not quite as full on noise-blasted as Manikineter, but still pretty fucking cool. Kinda reminds me of Shadowhuntaz meets Dalek meets Fabio Frizzi’s soundtrack to The Beyond.

Robbie Basho

Being that I'm a metalhead who mostly plays crunched up noise/ power electronics I don't feel terribly well qualified to "review" this kind of thing, but I do really enjoy this LP... File under: Daniel Higgs but 40 years earlier/ Music by people who were probably wizards.

 

Manikineter

Alright! After like two decades of searching for something like this I just finally stumbled across a project that fuses hip hop with full-on ugly industrial/ power electronics/ noise... And the guy is local so hopefully I'll get to see him do this stuff live at some point.

I checked this out on a whim because I saw a sticker posted up on a stop sign as my wife and I were taking a walk yesterday and thought the name was kinda cool... Music wound up being surprisingly killer, don't think I've ever heard a hip hop artist go as deep into PE territory.

Somnolent

A swirling maelstrom of dissonant/ abstract black metal, dark ambient, drone doom, and noise being inexorably drawn toward the light-devouring maw of a supermassive black hole... I totally missed this album when it was released right at the ass end of last year, but I've been listening non-stop since I stumbled across it about a month ago.

Weekly Roundup #6

Blah blah preamble blah. I'm alive, you're alive, make the fucking best of it.

-

Muzak:

Watain

Lifelover

Ghost Brigade

Erdve

Nero Di Marte

Autarkh

Cult of Luna

Mork Gryning

Terzij De Horde

All Are To Return

God Is War

Herukrat

-

VIdeo Games:

Dodonpachi Resurrection

Crimzon Clover World EX-plosion

-

Books:

Too busy and stupid to read lately. Sorry.

-

Movies:

The Keep

Batman: Ninja

Ninja III: The Domination

Highlander

-

Aeon

Extremely dark and menacing DM from Sweden that manages to come across super solid and riffy without sacrificing anything in the way of speed and intensity... I've been a massive Aeon fan since the early 00's so this record wound up being kind of the sleeper hit of 2021 for me.

If you like mid-era Vader, Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal, Pessimist, and that absolutely savage Golgothan disc that came out a couple months ago you'll probably really dig this.

Knut

Aw man, I missed the news when it happened but I guess the singer of Knut passed away last month. Sad to hear it, they were one of my favorite bands of all time. RIP.

Dark Worship

Ok, I'm "officially" better... So fuck it, I'm back.

Let's start things off weird with six tracks of heavy industrial from members of Axioma (who are one of my favorite bands going right now), Exorcisme. and Ancient VVisdom.

If you can imagine a cross between Skinny Puppy, Youth Code, Hide, and Corrections House with an added splash of blackened evil you've got a pretty good idea of what's happening here... It's definitely a pretty strange combo, but it's also pretty fucking rad.

Side note: Is it just me or does the weird little vocal melody on "Destroy Forever" (you'll know the one I'm talking about) make anyone else feel like these guys are about to bust into the heaviest cover of Prince's "7" the world has ever heard?

Weekly Roundup #5

We’re probably gonna continue to chill and recover for the next few days before posting starts back up in earnest, but I figured I’d check in with a quick update to let everyone know that that we both seem to be alive/ okay/ through the worst of whatever godawful black plague adjacent ultra-virus we came down with last week.

And I figured that, since I was here anyway, I might as well drop a new roundup because they’re quick and relatively painless on the skull full of fever-ravaged mush that used to be my brain.

-

Muzak:

Encoffination

SWANS (mostly “Greed” this week)

Omnibael

The Body + Oaa

Earthless

Dissecting Table

Hum of the Druid

Sightless Pit

Cripple Bastards

Aeon

Psychic Teens

Ardent Vein

20.SV

Withered

-

Video Games:

Andro Dunos 2

Ghostwire: Tokyo

-

Reading:

Barrage Tapes - N Casio Poe

Anomaly - John Keel

-

Tube:

Ninja Assassin

Kickboxer

Bloodsport

Revenge of the Ninja

Spongebob Squarepants

-

Thoughts and Prayers

Well, we’re both sick as fuck with what may or may not be COVID... Gonna take a break from this til we feel better.

Weekly Roundup # 4-ish I think?

My wife isn't feeling very well today so I'm gonna keep this week's roundup short.

-

Muzak:

Armatron

Failing Lights

Hair Police

Wolf Eyes

Burmese

Factrix

Wormwood

Lethe

324

Multiplex

-

Video Games:

Endocrisis

Forgive Me Father

-

Reading:

Not much this week, been busy

-

Tube:

Bloodsport

Kickboxer

Wolfen

-

Armatron

Spazzy bass/ drums Powerviolence from Lincoln Nebraska... Not a million miles removed from stuff like Wormwood, Man is the Bastard, Godstomper, Burmese, etc. etc.

Weirdly enough, these guys were one of the very first "underground" bands I ever heard, mostly because a punk chick I had a crush on in high school was super into them.

No Rest for the Dead

Here’s some shit you probably didn’t care about back in the late 90s. Kinda “rocked out” Japanese grind with EFX overloaded psych rock guitar parts. Sorta reminds me of an even more whacked out CSSO, or maybe something like Swarrrrm or Hellchild jamming with Earthless.

I’m honestly kinda bummed I can’t find the full album anywhere online 'cos I seem to remember the last track being almost an hour long and completely fucking insane. Oh well, I definitely have this on a shelf somewhere, might have to go digging around and try to find it.

.

Suicide Weather

 

Fall Silent

Uptempo (bordering on grindy in places) metallic hardcore from NV that kinda reminds me of a cross between heavy southwestern stuff like Gehenna and Unruh and a significantly burlier take on what some of the screechy/ spazzy 90's CA bands like The Locust and Jenny Piccolo were doing.

Pulled this album out on a whim for the first time in almost 20 years a couple weeks ago, then it came up in conversation with a friend yesterday which reminded me that I should rip it and throw it on my iPod so I don't forget about it for another two decades.

These guys released a bunch of other stuff, including two or three full lengths and a couple of EPs on Revelation Records that should be fairly easy to track down, but this album is far and away my favorite thing they ever did.

"We're turning into robots and no one seems to care."

Bird Of Ill Omen

I'm semi-hopeful that eventually the "metalcore is old enough to be retro" thing will hit it's stride and spawn a whole crop of new favorite bands for me to obsess over, but so far nothing I've heard from any of the revival bands comes even close to this 1998 Bird of Ill Omen EP.

Conjureth

Man, Wayne Sarantopoulos has gotta be gunning for some kind of death metal lifetime achievement award. Seriously, take a look how many bands the dude has been in, both under his own name and his Elektrokutioner alias... There's gotta be close to thirty or forty at this point. It's absolutely fucking insane.

Craziest part? They all rule. This newest Conjureth album being no exception.

The New Flesh

Angry, ugly, hardcore/ noise rock skuzz from Baltimore circa 2007... Sorta occupies a middle point between Black Flag, Deadguy, The Jesus Lizard, Unsane, and early Today is the Day.

Derelict Sermon

Well, it's looking like this is the mood I'm in today, so here's more crusty grind/ sludge from the drummer of one of my favorite grind bands ever (Scalplock, for whatever that's worth to anyone).

The second Derelict Sermon album "Wardycurse" is actually my favorite thing they did (mostly 'cos it's their sludgiest) but it seems to be kind of a hole in the internet so here's their first instead... Reminds me of Ulcer or The Communion with the "Iron Monkey" knob cranked to 11, snapped off, and thrown in the fucking ocean.

Fans of Derailment and Cattlepress will probably cream jeans over this as well.

AHNA

Seriously fucking feral sounding crusty grind meets brain-throttling sludgecore. I had honestly never heard of this band before I picked the CD up on a whim a couple months ago, but fuck me this stuff is HEAVY.

Weak Flesh

Picked up my weights for the first time in ages aaaand… It actually wasn’t anywhere near as horrible as I was expecting. Now, granted, I was putting up significantly less than usual, but I figured that finding out if I was gonna hurt myself by actually hurting myself wasn’t the best way to start back up.

Gonna try to get back into the groove and lift every other day starting this week.

SWANS

Probably my pound for pound favorite album that isn't by Black Sabbath.

Weekly Roundup #3

Don't have a whole lot to say right now, mostly just that it's late (again) and I'm tired (again). I would really like to be asleep, but it's looking like I have to kill a couple more minutes before there's enough hot water in our faulty-ass water heater for me to take even a semi-lukewarm-ish shower.

-

Muzak:

The Bug

Intonate

Zero Trust

Absent In Body

Miss Red

Earthless

Khost

Midnight

Coumadin

Koufar

-

Video Games:

Andro Dunos II

Roof Rage

-

Reading:

Inhumanoids - Barton M. Nunnelly

Batman: Crimson Mist/ Red Rain

Robocop vs Terminator (1992)

-

Tube:

Bloodsport

Amon: The Apocalypse of Devilman

Doesn't Matter If We All Die

 

Send the pain straight up your fucking ass...

Anyone remember about five years ago when I kicked off an absolute shitstorm by admitting that Sepultura's Roots was probably the main album that made me want to play guitar when I was a kid? And that I thought a lot of that early "Nu-Metal" and Nu-Metal adjacent stuff that was coming out on Roadrunner Records back in the mid 90s (by which I mean Sepultura, Machine Head, Fear Factory, Nailbomb, Thorn, Brujeria, first Couple Soulfly albums, first two Slipknot Albums, first Ill Nino album, second VOD album, Merauder, etc.) was actually pretty fucking okay? 'Cos boy I sure do... I legitimately lost friends over that shit.

Flash forward to present day and whaddaya know, the cool kids are doing it and there's a full on Nu-Metal covers comp on The fucking Flenser.

And seriously, no disrespect to the label or the artists involved 'cos some of these covers are pretty fucking great, but as far as the rest of the world? I would Like my apology now.

Intonate

Ok, real quick blurb 'cos it's 3am and I'm really just waiting for this stupid lightning storm to be over so I can hop a shower and go the fuck to sleep, but in a lot of ways I feel like what Anata was to melodeath Intonate are to dissonant Immolation/ Incantation worshipping caveman DM, and that's saying a lot because I really, really, fucking loved Anata.

With Intonate you get the same swirling vortex of inter-dimensional terror that a lot of these dissonant bands fuck with, but laced with killer doomy riffs and enough soaring, spiraling, melody to make the whole thing really memorable (hell, even "catchy" if you're the sort of person who hums whacked out DM riffs to yourself while you do the dishes).

Powerful stuff.