Red Death - 2014 demo

Crossover-tastic.

Might be slightly more on the hardcore side as some of the riffs remind me something like Knife Fight. Still plenty of wailing guitar solos and thrashing and moshing though.

Definitely kind of Power Trip quality rather than that post-Municipal Waste trend.

Fela Kuti's entire discography on bandcamp

Fela Kuti's entire discography has been put on bandcamp

Bona fide classic.

Sithu Aye - Pulse

"Happy progressive metal" is the self description. It's awesome instrumental tech widdle stuff done by a physics student in his bedroom. Seriously, when people moan about how easy access to home recording has made music worse show them this. Then punch them in the face. Metaphorically of course. Violence isn't very happy or progressive. Maybe make widdly guitar hand gestures at them provocatively.

Pile - Special Snowflakes

Previously I've gone on about how good that Pile album was. Thankfully they've finally got a new thing coming out. Just a 7" but judging by this song it's going to be a corker.

HEBOSAGIL and THROAT - Finnish Noise Rock

Looks like the HEBOSAGIL and THROAT UK Tour is go. Here's what it's going to look like:-

Thurs 5th June - London
Fri 6th June - Bristol
Sat 7th June - Leeds
Sun 8th June - Nottingham

Info on venues and other bands etc will come in time. Be patient. Here's what it'll sound like:-

Gross Ex Machina - Ruiner

Bloodlet/Candiria/Starkweather/Botch/Today Is The Day/Nocturnus/Cave In style whatthefuckerry. Avant prog tech metal weirdness.

It's not an all out widdle fest though. Loads of sickening slow sludgey riffs in utterly fucked time signatures. Add Disembowelment to the list of bands for that bit actually.

Also makes me think of The Kevorkian Solution or Koreisch and the way they were off in their own little world of headfucking riffs.

The label blurb attempts to explain it:-

Lancaster Pennsylvanias GROSS EX MACHINA have meticulously crafted elements of grindcore, jazz, prog, post hardcore, and experimental electronic music to create a truly unique, avant-metal debut, RUINER.

This monster EP seamlessly transitions between a psychotic vortex of carnal aggression, beautifully layered guitar-scapes, sci-fi carnival music, and a deep lumbering wall of distortion. These elements alone have made way for G.E.M to blaze their own path through the mire of predictable metal and hardcore trends, while concurrently ruining preconceived notions of what “heavy” music is all about.

Not too far off the mark. The sci fi thing is definitely there. Occasional synth bits with spacey guitar fx etc. Oh, and occasional vocoder vocals.

Did i mention that it's really fucking good? Well, it is. Can't recommend it enough.

Theoria - Mantra

Blut Aus Nord-y black metal. Savage as hell riffing. Also, they're from Aleppo in Syria. kind of redefines the term "war metal".

Today Is The Day - Willpower

One of the greatest albums of all time. A total noise rock classic. One of the best things Amphetamine Reptile ever put out. Their later Relapse stuff that was more metallic was good but this stuff is perfection.

Marius Neset - Birds (Edition)

Once you've got over your violent desire to kill drama students from looking at the artwork this is a great album. Modern jazz stuff.

Found it via a great article in The Quietus. A column all about jazz - http://thequietus.com/articles/14092-complete-communion-jazz-reviews-2

This is how they described the Marius Neset album:-

You can always expect the unexpected with Scandinavian composers. 27-year-old saxist and composer Marius Neset has been hailed "the most talented Norwegian saxophonist since Jan Garbarek in the 1960s", but Neset’s compositions range from the chattering density of Frank Zappa circa Hot Rats to the melodic hypnotism of Steve Reich. Birds is a wild, symphonic and metamorphic recording.

Don't have enough jazzbo knowledge to declare how accurate that description is but it piqued my interest and it was definitely worth it. Been playing this fairly regularly for the past month or so now.

I'd highly recommend checking out the rest of that Quietus column because it's a goldmine of great tips.

Lawsuits - Future Failure

Discovered this via the excellent Shiny Grey Monotone blog. Their review is here - http://shinygreymonotone.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/lawuits-future-failures.html

Basically it's a mix of stuff like Tar, Jawbox, Drive Like Jehu and Bluetip. They've got the chops and the songwriting nous to back up those kind of comparisons as well.

Vaura - The Missing (Profound Lore)

Black metal gone gothy/shoegaze-pop. Yeah, I know, I know but it does actually work. it's on Profound Lore so just trust.

It's got Toby Driver from Kayo Dot and Maudlin Of The Well so there's pedigree in this band. Before we go on a quick reminder of how astonishingly incredible Maudlin Of The Well were:-



Back to Vaura it's really hard to explain their sound. It's a bit of a slow burner. Thought it was alright on the first listen and maybe listened to again a week later but became one of those albums you're strangely drawn into playing until you suddenly realise it's incredible. Layers and depth reveal themselves. For example right this second I've noticed a bit of Cynic style vocoder space vocals in one of the songs (Putting Flesh To The Bone). At other points it's like 80s King Crimson covering Amorphis or My Bloody Valentine covering Rush. Other points it's a bit like that Beastmilk polished neo-goth thing but doing California by Mr Bungle. Strangely though it does all sound normal. They're not pretentiously trying to make really weird off beat sounds to be purposely obscure. It doesn't sound jarring in the slightest. In terms of black metally underground stuff it's really pop orientated. This lot could quite easily be hounded out of the hall by Manowar for being wimps and poseurs. Tedious people with BO will talk about Pitchfork and the brooklynisation of music nowadays.

I think I'm losing the thread of what I'm trying to say.

All these different sounds float about but it's a coherent voice. It's a bit like the way Take 5 by The Dave Brubeck Quartet is a totally whistleable pop tune but it's in 5/4 and the musicians are doing all kinds of acrobatics without you realising unless you really listen.

I've got a gut feeling that this album will slowly release even more secrets as time goes on and I think i'd put money on me declaring it a bona fide classic in ten years time

Nohome - s/t (Trost)

Caspar Brotzmann Massaker reborn!! It's Caspar Brotzmann and friends making a Massaker-esque racket in Berlin last year. If you loved the Caspar Brotzmann Massaker albums then you won't be disappointed. You've probably already got it or have at least pressed play before this paragraph has even ended.

For the uninitiated you're in for a treat. Well, as long as you like harsh experimental guitars blasting at full volume. Caspar Brotzmann is the son of notorious free jazz sax blaster Peter Brotzmann and the apple didn't fall very far from the tree.

Think 80s Sonic Youth at their wildest but more, well just more....

If stuff like The Dead C, Skullflower, Fushitsusha, Swans etc takes you're fancy then you have to check them out. He could teach black metal bands more than a thing or two about outright savage guitar playing.

He was incredible when he played Cafe Oto a while back. Fingers crossed he comes back soon.

Grave Miasma - Odori Sepulcrorum

Profound Lore is finally getting the rest of their albums they put out in 2013 on the Bandcamp. Had this one for months off soulseek but good to pay the cash for a decent version.

Grave Miasma put out possibly the death metal album of the year. Considering their competition has been Carcass, Gorguts, Ulcerate and Autopsy that's no mean feat. There's some real depth and craft to the music. I'm happy enough to listen to an occasional blast of total generic old school death metal worship but Grave Miasma have the ability to go far beyond that.

Big Jesus - One

a friend recommended this to me describing them as "Deftones/Quicksand/Torche and a smidge of Smashing Pumpkins". Sums it up perfectly.

Life Leone - Comes Crashing In

somewhere between Ty Segall and QOTSA? maybe if an indie band borrowed Fu Manchu's backline?