NO MASTER – 7″

•February 28, 2013 • Leave a Comment

NoMaster

 

NO MASTER – EP 7”

No Master has been rocking it since 2008 and this 7” is a culmination of that effort. This band was started out of the ashes of Big Fucking Missile Crisis, When Good Robots Go Bad and a few other K.C. bands. The first thing that grabbed my attention, besides the blown out ultra –noisy recording, is the difference in the two sides of the record. The first side is mostly just straight chaotic d-beat with an occasional thrash break down tossed in for good measure. There is kind of an early E.N.T. or maybe Pisschrist sound going on throughout this side. Except for the last song ‘Pain’ which makes me get my Grind on, all brutal style. The second side shows a little more of their diversity. There are some more grinding, melodic and crusty bits added to the song structures and arrangements which gives the tunes on the B- side a little different flavor. At first I was jonesing for some fast hardcore tunes so I would listen to the A- side more but then I wanted a little more riffage and heaviness. Luckily the second side provided that fix. It makes for a listenable record that doesn’t seem to just blend in and become forgotten in the slew of D- Beat bands out there. I have to say again though, the brutal blown out distortion and guttural vocals rule. It reminds me more of a crazed Japanese band then something I would expect reigning from Kansas City. The lyrics seem to speak of the desperation one feels in this day and age, dealing with the crushing weight of society’s follies. Real basic layout but it looks good. Actually it is so basic they didn’t even leave any contact info. You can’t miss the cover. It is just the No Master logo scrawled across white paper. These guys have a good thing going on. (Attucks)

www.facebook.com/no.master.3?fref=ts

www.nomaster.bandcamp.com/

 

 

WARTORN – Iconic Nightmare LP/CD

•February 26, 2013 • 2 Comments

wartorn_200

 

WARTORN – Iconic Nightmare LP/CD

If you haven’t already noticed, Southern Lord has decided to add some bands to their roster recently that stylistically fall outside of their norms.  In the past few months we have seen them reach out to the crusties with releases from KROMOSOM, MARTYRDOD, and FROM ASHES RISE.  Now they offer up this delicious slab.  WARTORN hail from Wisconsin USA and have had a number of releases over the past 4 or so years and today approach their craft with both precision and sheer brute force.  Strong soaring melodies pair with crushing metal-laced hardcore riffs evoking both later HHIG and HELLSHOCK.  The bass is so punishing and thick and is contrasted against the crisp snare drum hits.  I gotta say that one of the things I like most about this are the juxtapositions that are all over it.  There are guttural vocals set against Bitty’s clearer  shouting, and the drummer sounds firmly rooted in a punk sound as opposed to so many bands in this genre that have more of a death-metal approach to the drums.

 

Since I mentioned the genre, there is something else that I gotta get out here… There are many people out there who hold that crustcore bands today are all in some kind of rut.  They claim that there is little originality, but I think that there are many bands out there today that just know what they are into and want to play in that style while adding their own flavor to it all.  Some bands do this very well and develop their own particular sound over time and some bands just don’t.  Conductors and orchestras have been re-recording Beethoven for over a hundred years.  Were they attempting to do something new?  Not usually.  They just wanted to play in their style and do it particularly well.  Can you add your own touches?  Of course, and why not, but I bet if you ask, they would say they just wanted to treat the material with respect and a sense of integrity.  That sums up how I feel about many of the crust bands today.  These are people who have found something that they love, something that speaks to them and gives them a voice to speak as well.  One of my favorite bands over the past year has been INFERNOH from Sweden.  Straight up ANTI-CIMEX worship but done so well and with such conviction and it totally rules.  Anyway, what I am getting at is that originality and innovation within a genre does not equal great music.  WARTORN sound fucking great without having to reinvent anything.  They know who they are, what they want to say and they fucking kill it with this release.

Iconic Nightmare has a razor-sharp metallic production with a huge sound that is really leaps and bounds ahead of their previous offerings.  This LP shows WARTORN jumping from haunting and beautiful intros into savage onslaught, thrashing, chugging riffs lead into dark melodies without ever missing a beat or feeling disjointed.  Southern Lord has delivered yet another classic record with this masterful album from WARTORN.

(val)

http://www.southernlord.com/

 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wartorn/272404432793464?fref=ts

 

NEUROSIS – My personal history of…and show review

•February 18, 2013 • 1 Comment

Neurosis_2

 

In the summer of 1989 I had just graduated high school and was back in New York visiting my Grandma.  She always liked to hit the malls and I would use that time to peruse the record stores.  On this particular trip we were at the Jefferson Valley Mall in Westchester County and I, like usual, was looking for music.  This was back in the days when you bought records based on the logo, the cover art, the pictures of the band and maybe even by what shirts they were wearing or stickers might be on their gear.  There was no internet and you didn’t have the luxury of checking out a band before taking the leap.  As fate would have it the album I picked up that day was ‘Pain of Mind’ by some band called NEUROSIS.  It kicked ass.

When ‘The Word as Law’ came out about a year later I came across it pretty quickly and was excited to see another album by this band.  Already their sound was starting to morph a little but it wasn’t that far from the debut release.  The track ‘Double Edged Sword’ was my favorite off that album and still gets my blood pumping today.  Although NEUROSIS had made it to Denver in 1990 I missed it.  Thankfully it wasn’t long after that they came back, ‘SOULS at ZERO’ wasn’t out yet but was coming out soon as most of their set list was composed of tracks from that album as well as a few select tracks from ‘The Word as Law’.  Everyone was yelling out ‘Black’ wanting to hear this classic track from the ‘Pain of Mind’ album.  After the show I had to opportunity to chat with the bass player Dave and he informed me that they didn’t play anything off of that album anymore.  They were embarking on a new journey and that saw them in the present, not dwelling in the past.  I think a lot of my friends at the time kind of drew a line right there.  They weren’t ready for the new sound and were just as content to go back to spinning their EXPLOITED records.

When ‘Souls at Zero’ did come out I recall being one of only a few of my friends that really embraced it.  I’ll admit though that I didn’t quite get it at first and after several plays it finally “clicked” and I was sucked in.  Something special was happening and I was in on the ground floor.  I want to say they came back to Denver again on this tour, I thought I saw them at the Mercury Café twice.  I was in my early 20’s and things were a bit foggy back then…

I had taken acid for a couple of days and was kooking out pretty hard before the NEUROSIS show at the Aztlan Theater.  A few of us made the trip over the mountains to catch NEUROSIS on the ‘Enemy of the Sun’ tour.  The bill was filled out with SLEEP and ANGEL HAIR.  It was during SLEEP that my partied out body gave out and I just keeled over…Like the Nestea plunge, I slammed hard into the floor.  It took a little while but by the time NEUROSIS hit the stage I was back on my feet and ready for the trip they were handing out.   By this time the band had added the visual projections and minds were blown.  Most of us had never seen anything like that.  The BUTTHOLE SURFERS did some visuals but not really on this level, they mostly just showed movies.

Ironically my ‘Enemy of the Sun’ LP was destroyed by the sun years later.  I had moved and didn’t really take into account the angle of the sun in this new room and the sun cut right through the lid of my turn table melting my record right where it lay.  Imagine me, after I got home from work, trying to figure out why my record was right where I safely left it but now it was all warped to shit!  What the fuck?!!!  It took me a few days to figure this one out.  It wasn’t until the weekend when I was able to catch the sun doing it’s thing.  Damn!  Oh well, I was stoked for the vinyl reissue a few years ago…

A few years later I was lucky enough to catch NEUROSIS with GWAR and BRUTAL JUICE again.  I suppose this was in support of ‘Through Silver In Blood’.  The visuals had really been perfected by this time and were super heady and complimenting of the music.  Over the next decade or so it could be pondered that they started to distract from the music and became an attraction unto themselves…I think NEUROSIS only came back to my neck of the woods one more time with PANTERA and then the Queen City of the Plains hit a dry spell and wouldn’t see the experimental, noise/metal gods for another 15 years.

I’m a huge NEUROSIS fan and with the new album, ‘Honor Found In Decay’ ranking amongst my favorites of their expansive catalog I was in a bit of a bind.  I had to experience this shit live!  But alas, they don’t tour…Knowing that they only play a few select shows a year I arrived at the fact that I would have to fly somewhere to see them and this was the year I was going to do it.  I couldn’t hold back, I had to get in front of them and bear witness to their evocation of musical spirituality.  My very soul NEEDED it!  I started seeing a few shows had been announced and was set to pick my city for my sonic mission when lo and behold there was a Denver date!!!  FUCK YEAH!

Ok…Enough setting up.  Lets jump to the show.

I didn’t catch the first opening band and the second one was boring as a shit in a library stall.  But it made for great background music as the crowd mingled and long lost friends were reacquainted.  This was surely one of those shows that brought everyone out of the woodwork.  There were more familiar faces than I had names to attach them to and often a nod of the head and smile served as a greeting between dudes that only recognized the face.   But there were also the full scale bro-downs and hugs and shared beers as friends rejoiced that they were going to be together for this amazing event.  In a crowd of aging crusties, metalheads , old school punx and beardoes the shout out of the night goes to the worn out dude in the weathered ‘Souls At Zero’ tour shirt and ragged denim jacket with the LOGICAL NONSENSE backpatch.  Fuck yeah dude!

There were chants of “NEUROSIS, NEUROSIS, NEUROSIS!” as people could no longer contain their excitement.  The anticipation was high (and so was a lot of the crowd) and the tension was as thick as a Bay Area fog as the NorCal power merchants hit the stage with the force of a locomotive plowing through a stalled out automobile stuck on the tracks.   The band was fucking EXPLOSIVE!!!!and yet as gentle as a baby lamb…Only to erupt again in and explosion of angst and power.   As I watched them with my drawing drooping to floor I thought to myself that maybe the only other band to use the heaviness so effectively against the more melodic and softer moments was the gods themselves…BLACK SABBATH.

I knew going in that they were no longer using the projections and visual graphics and upon hearing that news I was more than a little disappointed.  But after seeing this awesome display musical armageddon it was more clear than ever that they were not needed and as I mentioned earlier were maybe even a distraction.  With the flashing images you had nothing to set your gaze on but the esoteric rockers.  Like a lot of us in the crowd there was less hair and teeth, but more belly and the lines of hard living.  NEUROSIS are the real deal and live real lives and other than being musical wizards they are like you and me.  Having come up in the hardcore and punk scenes they have already lived through and witnessed  more than most people ever will.  Their music draws on these tales of sorrow, loss, despair and even joy.   It take the raw emotion and eloquently y weaves these experiences into musical tapestries.   Their execution was flawless and with such precision that it almost seemed inhuman.  With a set list that started with cuts from ‘Through Silver In Blood’ the hour plus set was a spectacular musical journey that captured moments from every  album from that point to the present.  Of course you can never satisfy everyone in the room, but if anyone found any room at all to complain about the set list that person obviously did not “get it”.

The spirit evoked this evening clung to my being and after my quick drive home I felt compelled to light some candles and put side 3 of ‘Honor Found In Decay’ on the turntable and try to recapture the magic bestowed upon me only an hour earlier.  Thank you NEUROSIS for saving me several hundred dollars on plane ticket to wherever…But most importantly thank you for letting me in on your secret.   (Josh Mosh)

 

 

Better Late than Dead…Val’s Best of 2012

•February 14, 2013 • Leave a Comment

Lost Tribe

 

With this BEST OF 2012 I tried really hard not to look at any other Top 10 lists before I compiled my own.  I didn’t want to be influenced at all by the opinions of others, even those people that I respect and trust musically.  I only looked back thru the stacks next to my record player and tried to find those that stuck with me most over the past year.  Yeah, its a bit nostalgic with more than one band that have been non-existent for the past 20 years, and more than a couple that have been around for more than 10 years. But, that being said, there are some new bands here as well that have made an impact with me as well so hopefully it doesn’t come off as some backward glance of some punk over 40….. (Val)

 

  1. TRAGEDY – Darker Days Ahead LP  – Layered and complex, dark and brooding with masterful riffing just as you would expect from TRAGEDY.  I think I might like this one best of all their material, which is saying something because every one of the records in their back catalog have been amazing.  Down tempo and heavy as all hell, with tons of texture that makes this an instant classic for me.  Too many people these days seem ready to pass judgement upon TRAGEDY but they seem to me to be at the top of their game.  Stoked to see this material live this summer at Chaos in Tejas!

 

  1. DEVIATED INSTINCT – Liberty Crawls to the Sanctuary of Slaves LP – Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE DEVIATED INSTINCT fan.  Now most of their early material had a ‘loose’ yet extremely potent intensity to it.  It wasn’t that it was sloppy, though some might accuse it of just that, it was more like they probably didn’t want to turn in a recording that was too tight and be branded as sounding over-produced.  I always got a sense that what I was hearing was more live than it let on.  That they simply got up and did it with no mucking about.  This LP sees the lads return to offer up their current take on it all and it still retains that immediacy but also sounds like they worked to polish just enough of the rough off and the additional effort sounds epic indeed.  Crushing and sludgy in parts, driving and bombastic in others, all while still sounding like themselves.  I hope they keep it going and do more soon.

 

  1. LOST TRIBE – Unsound/Listless Mind EP – This little jem of a 7 inch takes its cues from the likes of WIPERS, 45 GRAVE and early TSOL.  Haunting deathrock that sounds timeless and vibrant due to the interesting guitar riffs and creepy backing keyboards.  This is one of those records that would just remain on my turntable for days at a time.  Find one and see for yourself.

 

  1. ANTISECT – 4 Minutes Past Midnight 10”  – Technically I guess this came out back in 2011 but I didn’t get my copy until this summer when I got to see ANTISECT live so I am going to include it here.  Two songs from the past getting the update they have long deserved and it sounds great.  Sounds just as urgent as it did over 25 years ago.  ANTISECT warned us then that this world was coming and here they let us know that there is still a need for everyone to do what they can.  Passionate and succinct as always.

 

  1. MAUSER – Isolation 12” – A modern hardcore punk classic from a younger band spits forth a powerful venom andthat has been killing it for the past couple of years.  With the rampaging chaos of DISORDER,  and the sheer ferocity of ANTI-CIMEX, but with an updated sound that lets you know that you are dealing with something that is lurking out there right now.  Certainly this has a foot planted in the noise core so popular today but this stands head and shoulders above most of what is out there.  Crucial.

 

  1. CONFRONT – Curtain of Intense Attack EP  – FUCK YEAH!!!  This is the sheeit!  Kinda goofy keyboards intro into one of the best records out of Japan this year.  MAIDEN drenched guitars lead then to powerful DEATH SIDE styled hardcore punk.  There is some weird experimentation on this that brings to mind PAINTBOX but this has a bit more metal than that.  Throw in some classic gang vocals like only the Japanese can make sound cool and its like a little smorgasbord of all the things that I love.  FUCKING GREAT.

 

  1. MARTYRDOD – Paranoia LP – I freaked when I first heard their “In Extremis” LP.  It was the best of melodic black metal and Swedish kang forged into something dark and moving. This LP takes that even further, with killer songwriting and powerful, angry vocals that show influence from across the heavy music spectrum but remains unique and instantly recognizable.  Fucking amazing!

 

  1. NUKLEER BLAST SUNTAN – The Wheel of Fate is Turning EP – Frenzied HC punk that is raw and insane.  The guitars sound so mind numbing and noisy without ever loosing their sense of direction.  And not your typical power chord kinda stuff, either.  The drums are so fast that it sometimes sounds like it was recorded at some other speed but never delves into grinding or blastbeats, just pure punk mayhem.  With bass lines that throb incessantly and snarling vocals, this EP sets the mark high and makes me want another one soon from these guys.

 

  1. BRAIN KILLER – S/T EP – Raw and noisy hardcore punk outta Boston that brings as disparate bands as INVASION and DEATHREAT to mind at the same time.  Blistering and to the point.

 

  1. INFERNOH – War Tjard 12” – Hold on to your skin cause INFERNOH is here to fucking melt your face off with pure, rampaging hardcore d-beat fury.  Sure its a genre with a lot of clones these days but these tracks reveal guys that take it to heart and make it sound fun and raucous but tight as shit and never sound generic.  Total scandi-raw-crust mayhem in the vein of CRUDE SS and early ANTI-CIMEX. With members from FY FAN, HERATYS, and SKITKIDS, (had to do the name drop) its no wonder that its this good.  Noisy, but not too.  Gnarly, but never sloppy.  Fast parts, some more mid tempo parts, killer air raid leads over absolutely crushing riffs.  Killer cover art work that brings to mind the creepy scratchings of Blinko.  Essential.  One of the bands I am most looking forward to at Chaos in Tejas this year.  MANGEL!

 

Honorable mentions include, NO STATIK LP, WOLFBRIGADE LP, VENDETTA EP,, EFFLUXXUS 12”, OILTANKER/NO TOMORROW Split LP, KRANG LP….it has been a hellava year and I’m sure I will find something that I somehow overlooked but whatever.

 

 

 

FOLKEIIS – Destroy Agony EP

•February 14, 2013 • Leave a Comment

Folkeiis

FOLKEIIS – Destroy Agony EP

 

 

 

Whoa,  This kinda caught me off guard.  I expected straight up Japanese noise-core but this is so much more!  Crazy tempo changes, raging metallic parts, rock solid dark HC riffage.  I bet these guys are KILLER live.  I should have known better after the great tracks on the COMPLETE AURAL TURMOIL comp.  Its like the metal bits of SACRILEGE and TERVEET KADET ran headfirst into the brain damage of GISM!  These dudes are touring the west coast of the USA in March 0f 2013 with MAUSER so see them if you can.  I can’t wait to hear more from these most excellent Japanese crashers.  AWESOME!!!!!

 

http://hcsurvives.exblog.jp/

 

DEATHRAID / DESPERAT – Split 12”

•February 14, 2013 • Leave a Comment

Deathraid

DEATHRAID / DESPERAT – Split 12”

 

 

 

This one, I know took forever to come to light, but its a FUCKING GEM and well worth the wait.  Both bands are at the top of their form.  DESPERAT were the first side I threw on and all I could think was, its really amazing that there are some guys out there that can just keep on coming up with catchy and straightforward guitar riffs that don’t sound generic, year after year and it seems that Ake from DESPERAT is just one of those guys.  Look back thru the mass of songs that he has cranked out over the years.  I might even like this better than the MOB 47 of his past(which is really saying something).  Raw and simple, just like you’d expect.  DESPERAT have proved again that they are in a class above most.  Catchy guitars carry forward alot of the speed of DESPERAT but Chrille (also an alum of MOB 47) lays down the pulse with cracking precision on the drums.  With Jocke from WARVICTIMS barking out lyrics about the close-mindedness of some punk scenes, the rich and privileged, and facing a modern world that may be beyond any hope.  And it all comes across as urgent and passionate as ever.  Maybe even more so, because they aren’t simply frustrated teenagers anymore.  They even have a song about this; the moment where you realize that you have become an adult with responsibilities that would have made you “boring” when you were a kid, and the fact that you gotta make extra effort as you get older not to align yourself to the systems of the modern world.  I also like the fact that the gatefold cover has the lyrics in Swedish, but with a little rant in English about the song and what it is all about.  DESPERAT may be some older dudes but they are still kickin ass and taking names.KILLER.    DEATHRAID kicks off the other side right were they left off after the “All Life Ends” LP from a few years back, which was a record that I would champion to anyone that would listen to me.  These songs were recorded back in 2010 not too long after that release and perfectly carries on.  All the tracks are so intense and powerful that I can’t stop listening!  The bass is so thundering and violent, the guitars so tight, the drums so furious!   Pick up the needle and start over.  Repeat.  Repeat….  DEATHRAID is the absolute best of HC punk today but with more confidence and swagger which only adds to its power.  To top it all off, Jay’s vocals are total savagery and it never sounded sweeter.  In a gatefold cover with a killer painting from Halsey gracing the cover.  World Funeral has yet another masterpiece on his hands here.   Find a copy today.  A++ (Val)

 

http://worldfuneralrecords.com/

 

http://desperathardcore.wordpress.com/

 

http://deathraid.wordpress.com/

 

APPALACHIAN TERROR UNIT – Discography Part 1 CD

•February 13, 2013 • Leave a Comment

ATU

 

APPALACHIAN TERROR UNIT – Discography Part 1 CD

I was actually kinda surprised by my own reaction to this CD.  I found that I liked it far more than I thought I would.  It has got some pretty killer, hard-hitting anarcho-crust tunes that bring to mind earlier outfits such as INSURGENCE and NAUSEA, and not only because of the dual female/male vocal thing.  There is also a touch of something like SEDITION here with their hardcore thrash meets tribal punk but ATU adds a modern, fully metallic production that makes it sound like they spent some time in the studio making these songs sound as large and powerful as they could be.

To be honest, I have always kinda been on the fence about APPALACHIAN TERROR UNIT.  I do like their passion for the causes that they support and I like the heavy thrashy crust that they put forward, but that being said, I sometimes think that they come off as a bit “holier-than-thou” about it all.  I am not even sure how I came to that thought.  Maybe it stemmed from seeing them live in the past.  But whatever, that was then.  This is now and this makes me rethink ATU cause this is pretty solid material.

This CD takes tracks from the “Armageddon Won’t Be Brought By Gods…” 7” from way back in 2007 and the “Greenwashing LP” from 2008 and it comes as a striking reminder of just how powerful this band can be.  Chugging riffs, searing vocals imploring for change and a drummer that shows off his expertise without showing off.  Had APPALACHIAN TERROR UNIT been on the scene back in the mid 90’s they would have probably been one of the biggest bands of the time, with their politically-charged lyrics and anarcho punk meets thrash metal sound (that has been done to death in the past few years with varying results).

Packaging is, as you would expect from Profane Existence, exceptional.  The CD booklet that accompanies this is 22 pages of lyrics, explanations, backgrounds and photos, and shows that they are willing to expand on their lyrics in a way that is often lost today.  It brings to mind CONFLICT and many of the early anarcho punk bands of the 80s that saw their releases as an opportunity to educate and share ideas beyond the songs themselves, packing the record sleeves and inserts with explanations of their songs, putting them into historical and/or cultural context or just providing more of the story.  ATU show that they aren’t just spouting a few political catchphrases but want the listener to have a deeper understanding of the issues at hand.  Songs span topics as diverse as the impacts of strip mining coal, the american war machine, keeping the pressure on fascist elements within our societies and the failure of modern healthcare to provide for the poor, even here in one of the richest countries in the world.  There is also a song that confronts the wasteful war on drugs and supports the legalization of ganja.  (Thanks to the residents of Colorado for making that dream a reality!)

My big beef with this release is why do we need this when both the 7 inch and the LP that lend tracks to this “discography” are still in print?

APPALACHIAN TERROR UNIT may not have done anything remarkably new or inventive, but they do have some great punk songs and some vehemence about our earth and its inhabitants.

 

www.ProfaneExistence.com

 

•February 13, 2013 • Leave a Comment

xbezerkerx's avatarProfane Existence

Raw Power (Profane Existence)

April 26th Detroit MI ,@ Korktown tavern/ HERESY, The STATE….

April 27th   (FORWARD OHIO FEST) Columbus, Ohio@ Caraber 115 Parsons Avenue/MASAKARI …

April 28th Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania @ BELVEDERES  /SUBMACHINE ….

April 29th  Indianapolis Indiana @ IHOP /WE MUST DISMANTLE ALL THIS…..

April 30th Chicago Illinois @ Reggies /tba

May 1st  Kenosha WI @ Hattrix Bar / Pistofficer …

May 2nd  Appleton WI @ Subterranean / RAT SACK…..

May 3rd Madision WI @ UW Memorial Union /Pyroklast ,Panther

May 4th Minneapolis Minnesota @  Medusa/ kontrasekt …

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SILENCER – The Great Bear CD/LP

•February 12, 2013 • 1 Comment

Silencer

 

SILENCER – the Great Bear CD

I’ve known and followed SILENCER since the late 90’s.   I’ve seen them morph through line-ups sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.  Always at the helm was die-hard metal head Keith Spargo.  The first time I ever even knew of that dude was seeing him get up on stage, picked from the crowd, to jam on stage with MANOWAR! And he fuckin’ nailed it.  For years SILENCER carried the flag for Heavy Metal in Denver while getting some attention on the national and international scenes as well.   In the last few years I have to admit the band slipped off my radar, I hadn’t seen or heard them in some time.  But, it wasn’t long ago that news started to spread that Patrick Russell of SERBERUS and CEPHALIC CARNAGE fame was joining the band on bass.  Fuck yeah! This was good news indeed as I knew Patrick and he was a serious dude, no fucking around, all metal…No bullshit.  Well he brought that to the fold and that is what we have a here…A return to form for SILENCER…No bullshit…Just serious fucking HEAVY METAL!!!!  My favorite thing about this album is that it spans multiple sub-genres of metal integrating their influences of thrash, power, and classic metal.  Dare I say there is even a Pink Floyd influence on here?  The song ‘Enigma’ sounds like a Heavy Metal Pink Floyd.  Not that sappy QUEENSRYCHE bullshit, but a heavy song with a tripped out feel if not only in the vocal delivery.  And let’s talk about the vocals.  My favorite stuff these guys did was always when Keith was fronting the band.  Somewhere along the line they got a “vocalist” and that’s really when I lost track of them.  The vocals on this album are dead-fucking-on.  They are powerful and moving and are varied in their delivery depending on the needs of each track.  In short the vocal deliveries and arrangements are fucking ace!  Again, like I said I was a fan of Keith’s vocals on the early stuff but I have to say I was blown away when I looked at the credits to see who was holding the mic these days.  Keith has really grown and/or pushed himself into being a stand-up metal vocalist.  His delivery, like their overall sound, is powerful and unique yet familiar. The influences are not so much worn on his, or their, sleeve(s) but celebrated with passion in the fabric of what is uniquely his (theirs) own creation.  That’s the beauty of this album, it sounds familiar yet original at the same time.  It sounds fresh without sounding new, it sounds old-school without sounding retro or dated.  It’s rare when a band can pull that off as flawlessly as SILENCER has.  Even the perspective that this album is written from is original.  The concept is a look at the cold war through the eyes of the Soviets.  American propaganda was out of control and still infects our society today in how we view the Soviet Union.  To tell a tale from their perspective is incredibly interesting but also risky or even brave one might say.  We live in society where the media and our leaders beat us down, into submission, with the idea that the world is our enemy.  Most sheeple will never stop to take a more empathetic look at the world from the eyes of the “enemy”.   And with that peace stays at arm’s length, just out of our grasp.  The war on terror has villainized entire cultures and races of people.  The only real enemy is our apathy and ignorance…I digress…  This album is the shit!  I hope it gets SILENCER the attention they deserve.  (Josh Mosh)

http://www.facebook.com/Silencermetal

http://vanitymusicgroup.com/

 

BONE SICKNESS has a bone to pick with 20 Buck Spin

•February 11, 2013 • Leave a Comment

Bone Sickness

 

BONE SICKNESS: Debut 12” From Olympia Outfit Set For 20 Buck Spin Release

This week Olympia, Washington-based dispensers of auditory demolition at 20 Buck Spin confirm the impending release of the debut 12” from neighborhood death metal outfit BONE SICKNESS.

Having raided the local punk/metal scene since 2010, BONE SICKNESS recall some of the earliest and most savage days of death, grind and punk into a beastly and belittling blend of what 20 Buck Spin dubs “American death metal disfigured by grindcore.” Following a demo tape and a self-titled EP on Detest Records — both having been well-received by scene diehards and maniacs — this ravaging quartet have completed their debut 12”, Alone In The Grave. A maelstrom of breakneck intensity in the tradition of Repulsion, Autopsy, early Napalm Death, Infest, Despise You and others, Alone In The Grave aborts seven tracks in twenty minutes. Ghastly, unbelievably-detailed cover art for the release was executed by the sick mind of Chips & Beer Mag’s in-house illustrator Hand Of Beaver, finalizing this ghoulish platter for 12” vinyl and digital release on April 30th, 2013. View that monster, as well as live footage of several songs from the album HERE.

Having instigated audiences locally alongside Acephalix, Miasmal, Anhedonist, Dead Congregation, Grave Miasma, Poison Idea, Christian Mistress, and even the Melvins — a band that rarely abides local openers — and having been invited to Chaos In Tejas 2011 playing alongside Hooded Menace and Mammoth Grinder, BONE SICKNESSwill infect humanity with further live attacks in the coming months. Stay tuned, as tunes from the release are leaked and more live actions in support of Alone In The Grave are declared.

BONE SICKNESS Live:   4/25/2013 Highline – Seattle, WA w/ Absu

Alone In The Grave Track Listing:

1. Submit To Decay

2. Strange Obsession

3. Paranoid Delusions

4. Scraping The Bones

5. Alone In The Grave

6. Death And Dismemberment

7. Tied To The Stake

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