This multi-labeled release brings together two bands from around the world. Terlarang hails from Malaysia and Jagernaut resides in Greece. Terlarang plays Fastcore mixed with Power-violence or is it Hardcore mixed with Grindcore, I’m not sure but needless to say it is relentless in its attack. When I was listening to this I noticed that something seemed missing and that something is bass guitar. Just by judging this recording I would say a little low end wouldn’t hurt. The blazing guitar, although rad, just isn’t big enough to carry this. The vocals sound like someone strangling a cat with a chicken. Terlarang definitely has a sense of humor but keep it real with serious social-political lyrics. To me, this is one of those bands that would be great to see live. You can just tell by the energy and humor that is represented on their side of this split. They just seem like a fun band. Jagernaut calls Athens, Greece home. They play raging Crusty Punk with a heavy dose of Grind. Good stuff, right up my alley. 3 songs of distorted carnage guaranteed to melt your ear holes out. Heavy growling vocals and chainsaw guitars make this side stand out to me. I had to keep playing this side over and over, it just kills that hard. There cover is classic, exactly what I would expect, a big skull with bullets, knives and guns around it. It might not be the most original but it jams and Jagernaut, for me, makes this record a keeper. The apocalypse has been brought! The difference in the two bands styles makes this a record that has something for anyone into heavy fast Punk and Metal. (Attucks)
Fucking right on, I am super glad that bands are still playing kick ass Punk Rock without being Oi or Street Punk. This is an amazing 7”. It is not at all what I expected just from looking at the ink illustration that adorns the cover. I thought it would be more on the Street Punk side but instead my ear parts were blown away by something different. Killer fast distorted Hardcore Punk that is exactly what the doctor ordered. It seems like this sort of music has been buried by the redolence of monotony that has plagued the punk scene over the last 10 years. I am really glad to see bands like these guys laying down the righteous jams. Anal Warhead from Albany, N.Y. exudes a great energy and has a decent recording to back it. Anal Warhead employ heavy guitars, fast drums and vocals that aren’t too clean but aren’t too dirty either. When I listen to this record I am reminded of Poison Idea, maybe mixed with Short, Sharp, Shock era of Chaos U.K. or even a gnarlier Adrenaline O.D. It just has a layer of scum on it that makes it blare in your face. It does have a slight eighties feel which I really like and that definably draws me further into enjoying this wax. The name was a surprise, when I first looked at it I thought it said Anti- Warhead but no, luckily it is Anal Warhead. Lucky for whom? Lucky for me because that cracked me up and now I cannot forget the name. The art matches the name perfectly, scribbles of penises, people peeing, and strange doodles of monsters spackle the inside of the copy machined cover. It is Punk Rock plain and simple. This one will go in the collection to be listened to regularly. (Attucks)
Recent Neurot Recordings signees CORRECTIONS HOUSE —Mike IX Williams (Eyehategod), Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), Sanford Parker (Minsk) and their minister of propaganda, Seward Fairbury — will release theirdebut full-length this Fall. TitledLast City Zero, the eight-track, near 50-minute offering was produced by Sanford Parker at Electrical Audio, Soma Studios, 60 Psycho Hum and Nodferatu’s Lair and delivers a wholly cerebral, impossible-to-pinpoint kaleidoscopic synthesis of mechanical decomposition, atmospheric abnormalities, and poetic putrefaction.
Last City ZeroTrack Listing:
1. Serve or Survive
2. Bullets and Graves
3. Party Leg and Three Fingers
4. Run Through the Night
5. Dirt Poor and Mentally Ill
6. Hallows of the Stream
7. Last City Zero
8. Drapes Hung by Jesus
A mysterious cooperative of lostsouls, forged unwittingly by the impetuous forces of nature and altered states of consciousness,CORRECTIONS HOUSEis without control of their destiny. Boundless in their genre voyage,CORRECTIONS HOUSEembrace the unkind, the diseased, the forgotten, the morose, their lush anti-soundscrapes and shadowy verses — at once beautifully hideous, graceful and terrifying — a manifestation of societal ruin and psychological decay. The transformation of time and space; death begetting life and veils being torn; an imposing dissonancetoo penetrating to dismiss… CORRECTIONS HOUSE systematically create and destroy through audio disease and transcendent musical deconstruction. All things in all ways. There is nothing else.
Last City Zerowill be released in North America on October 29, 2013 via Neurot Recordings.
INFERNÖH – 7 Spar EP – I AM SO PUMPED ON INFERNÖH THESE DAYS! This band fucking rules! Only the most bombastic raw scandi-punk in years! Three swedes and an englishman destroy their way thru 7 songs of total mangel that gets swedish hardcore back to its roots. Though this does have a much better sound quality to it than any of the bands that these guys get compared to. They were an onslaught to see live and this ep captures all their fury. Once again though, INFERNÖH leave me wanting way more. These 7 songs go by so fast! I guess thats the sign of a really killer record, wishing it would go on and on. Comes on pukey multicolored vinyl with a fun photo-collage insert from Distort Reality…Hail to SWEDEN indeed! (Val)
KRÖMOSOM – Nuclear Reich 12” – I have been a fan of KRÖMOSOM for some time now as many know due to their raucous d-beat shenanigans, but with Nuclear Reich they really take it over the top. As soon as the needle hit and the ohm of some tibetan monks opened the way for dark and distorted bass intro that quickly explodes with fury, I knew that this was going to be a new fave. I hate to say it, but this might just be one of the greatest d-beat records ever. It is so powerful and raw but there is some real nuance here too, especially in the mix. Nothing that comes across as showy or anything, just skillful songs and razor sharp execution. These guys have so much intensity behind them, pushing them, as if it might just kill them not to let this out. Yeap has been a captivating front man for years and here he might have just created a masterpiece. Thick distorted guitars and crazed drumming drive these stompers into your brain and the catchy riffs and choruses keep them going long after the record is over. Find this now or suffer. Their live shows in Austin will become the stuff of legend. Especially the show they played on the bridge. They are super cool guys and are cranking out the most punishing hardcore punk you could ever hope to find. All hail the new masters….(Val)
DEADLY REIGN / HELLKRUSHER Split EP – This came out last year but I just finally got a copy and it was well worth the wait. DEADLY REIGN from Austin Texas hooked me last year when I saw them live in their hometown. Crust core done right. Straight up and pissed off! No long intros, no “epic” harmonies, no bullshit, just hardcore punk played mean and dirty. Gus delivers the vocals with ferocity that never feels forced like so many other vocalists all while laying down some truly punishing bass. Raygunn rages on the guitar serving up perfectly punk riffage while Guerinot keeps it all moving along with breakneck drumming. Another killer release from these Texas veterans.
HELLKRUSHER deliver their first songs in many years here and seem to pick up right about where they left off in the late 90’s. Churning metallic fused punk that sounds as gritty and urgent as ever. Fast and tight with a better recording than they have had in the past, but still sounding punk as fuck. Damn, that snare drum sound is instantly recognizable still. I hope to see more soon!! Welcome back boys. (Val)
INFERNOH / EFFLUXUS – Split EP – INFERNOH = Face melting Swedish hardcore punk that absolutely seethes with frustration and anger. I have been a fan of their earlier War Tjard LP and was more than stoked to see them in the USA this year. And whatta show it was…raw, unrelenting and powerful. With members from SKITKIDS, HERATYS, INSTITUTION and FY FAN its no wonder. Instant classic.
EFFLUXUS deliver some great chaotic noisy punk direct from the bay area. A hard hitting follow up to last years killer 12”……but sadly called it quits after playing their sets at Chaos in Tejas. I love the creepy artwork that adorns the textured, heavyweight cover. RUST AND MACHINE is yet another label that is at the top of their game. (Val)
I didn’t know much about this band before seeing them at this years Chaos in Tejas fest, but they were a total surprise, making a really strong and positive first impression. I picked up their new 7” after the show and it is a gem. Side A starts out with a cool track that harkens toward HIS HERO IS GONE, with its forceful dissonance and fury, then plunges into raging HC frenzy that summons forth the ghost of BASTARD. Side B is equally rampaging punk ferocity with some melody thrown into the mix the way FROM ASHES RISE would. They seem to be able to take bits of many of the styles that are out there now and blend them together into a cohesive unit. Their live show was the same way, showing they have a diverse palette and don’t want to be boxed into a stylistic corner. It has to be said that these guys are from the city of Fukushima, Japan which had the recent tsunami, and subsequent reactor meltdown and radiation release at their nuclear power plant, which was the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986. Punk does best when its topical and on the front lines. Support these guys and find a copy. Seems like the label HARDCORE SURVIVES can currently do no wrong. (Val)
The masters of anarcho-punk are back with their first record in six years. If you don’t know who Oi Polloi is, they are a punk band that was started in 1981 in Scotland. They have been through about 50 different members but the lead singer Deek Allen has been the stalwart after all these years. Oi Polloi has always been one of my favorites and I can honestly say that I have never heard anything that they put out that wasn’t fucking punk as fuck and on the spot as far as song writing goes. This record does not disappoint. Actually I am blown away by diversity of the songs on the album. If you prefer the more Oi! sounding Oi Polloi or the more metal crusty side of their releases they have you covered on Duisg! It’s like a little something off every release comes through in each song and makes you excited about what the next song is going to be. This record is pretty melodic at times but cuts in with some heavy driving jams espescially on side two with the song Cyklopen about an autonomous space burnt to the ground in Stockholm by Neo-Nazis. Dion’s Cuidich and the blazing Ionnsaigh Adhair on the first side drive it home for me. As you may have guessed the entire album is sang in Gaelic which just makes it that much more important. Important as in you should buy this and sink your teeth deep into it. This release just really blows my socks off. You here one song and think damn that was a cool tune just to be kicked in the teeth by the next solid jam. At first I wasn’t sure about the melodic side of this release but then that become what made me love this record. The only complaint is the lack of album cover art but they make up for it with a 20 page booklet that goes in depth and translates every song. The booklet is filled with all kinds of cool things to read and look at including Oi Polloi cut out action figures. This one won’t leave my turntable for a while! (Attucks)
Here I am on the eve of the official release of the new Black Sabbath album. I’ve been spinning it since Saturday and…
Let’s address two things before we dive in:
There is no Bill Ward. I followed that story pretty closely as it unfolded and I do believe the truth is somewhere in the middle. I also think they legitimately wanted him on board. He wanted to be paid for benefit gigs, maybe he wanted more or too much money overall. Maybe he deserves a substantial pay increase…I don’t know. But let’s face the fact that he was not in good enough shape to play out a couple of different times the band got together. Does he still have the chops? Maybe not. The fact is he is not on the album. Live with it. If you are boycotting the album because of this misfortune you are a fool and you are missing out.
The cover art just plain sucks. You would think that with the 35 or so years they’ve had they could come up with some better art work for fucks sake.
Haters will hate and they will die alone and miserable having missed out on one of the greatest albums in the BLACK SABBATH catalog. Negativity is easy, the human psyche gets easily sucked up in the negative, jumping on the bandwagon and bashing whatever victim is the object of their hate. To take a positive stance often means to take a risk and make oneself vulnerable.
With that said I will declare that all haters can piss off! This album is fucking awesome!!! I could get all super descriptive but I am too busy rocking so again I will just simply state something along the line of “this kicks fucking ass!”
I can see Rick Rubin bringing the Sabs together and while making them listen to those first 6 albums picking out the coolest parts of each album and ordering them to write a new song around each idea. I say that because it’s all here. ‘13’ is so fucking classic, I mean you get that the first time you listen to it. I’m on probably my 20th or so listen and I still get goose bumps. They pull out all the stops from classic Ozzy “oh yeahs” to the 70’s guitar tones to the ‘Planet Caravan’ tripped out jam of ‘Zeitgeist’ and the harmonica. Yeah that’s right!…Ozzy gets busy on the ol’ harmonica again and it sounds so perfect.
Everyone turns in the performance of (arguably) their careers. Iommi comes out the winner with some mind blowing guitar work that just blows my fucking mind! Damn! How does he do that? Geezer is probably the busiest bass player ever, the man is a maniacal genius. Ozzy’s voice is remarkably strong and fits in these epic jams so perfectly. Is there a little auto tuning going on in there? Maybe…probably…If so Rubin did a great job of keeping it real and making the Ozman sound human, not robotic. I was scared of what Ozzy would sound like but damn! He sounds great and like I said earlier, turns in his best performance since maybe ‘No Rest for the Wicked’. Oh…and the drummer just plain kills it! He does a great Bill Ward impersonation keeping it true to the SABBATH sound if just a little more aggressive.
Lyrically I get the feeling that through many of the songs they are exploring their own mortality and questioning what lies beyond. Listen to and read the lyrics and I think you’ll pick up what I am laying down here. It’s inevitable right? With Dio having passed a few years ago and Iommi’s own battle with cancer I think it’s safe to say Ozzy and company know that the Reaper is watching them closely at this point. “I don’t want to live forever, but I don’t want to die.”
Every song is stand out track. It’s really hard to pick a favorite but it seems like the album gets better as it progresses. ‘God is Dead’ was the first single and although it had some great parts I wasn’t that sold at first. But I have to say the song is growing on me. For reference I will name a couple of my faves and that would be ‘Loser’ and ‘Damaged Soul’. Fucking epic!
On a side note I’m pretty sure the Sab dudes were getting high as fuck while writing and recording this masterpiece. You just get that vibe…If ya’ know what I mean.
I declare album of the year…I don’t know how this could possibly be passed up by anyone else. As a lifelong fan I am ecstatic that they were able to capture the spirit again and be able to do something like this not just for the fans but more importantly, for themselves. They are certainly going out on a “high” note.
BLACK SABBATH RULES! \m/
I really wanted to include a clip of ‘Damaged Soul’ but couldn’t find a good one…here’s ‘Loser’ though…Dig it.
ThrashPunx 