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musicreveiwsbyezti · 8 months ago

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What's up babygirls (literally no one reads my blog) here's my March topster

This month was mostly shit I thought it would be interesting to listen... so lot of metal again. Also for the sake of my sanity I have 2 records that I genuinely don't know what the fuck I should do with.

Unrated: Current 93-I have a special plan for this world (Dark Ambient/Poetry): Arguably the best scary stuff I have ever listened but I never want to hear this again as once was perfectly enough. It gives a really disturbing atmosphere and the poetry part itself was interesting too. I highly recommend checking it out at least once. Slipknot-Iowa(Nu metal): I don't get it. The instrumentation is good but the lyrics are so god damned corny that it hurts. It doesn't help that it sounds like death metal for people who don't want to listen to actual death metal. I probably give it another chance later... not now tho I still can't take The Heretic Anthem seriously.

Alright now the actual tierlist begins:

14th: Combat Wounded Veteran-Electric Youth Crew(Powerviolence): I had a small journey and sat down to listen through the entire CWV discography (it's not that long definitely recommend it to get into powerviolence) and this is arguably the "weakest" of their releases. It doesn't really stand out and can be forgotten easily.

13th: CWV-This Is Not an Erect, All-Red Neon Body (Powerviolence/Grindcore): Idk it just doesn't click as well as IKAGWDCSP.

12th: Death-The Sound of Perseverance(Death/Prog Metal):Jesus Christ this album was a major disappointment for me. As a last Death album I expected it to be a last brutal yet technically extreme blast...but they just had to listen to 30 hour acid freeform jazz or some shit to get inspiration. This album has genuine fire songs, but they just had to fuck up the in the middle with a boring ass bass "solo" or someshit... Also the Painkiller cover is the worst song I heard this year so far, how the fuck can you ruin a perfect song when you are already a talented vocalist is beyond me.

11th: CWV-Duck Down for the Torso(Powerviolence/Grindcore): A short and sweet end for CWV's discography. Having it end on a Folded Space song was a great choice which gives an interesting feeling for the end.

10th: Stabbing-Extirpated Mortal Process(Brutal Death/Slam metal): Now this is a good slam metal album.

9th: Sematary-Bloody Angel(Horrorcore/Chicago drill): After Sems last EP I thought it was over... BUT IT ISN'T! It gives vibes of RB2 with RB3 mixing with some HAW mixed in. He can cook just let him do his thing :pray:

8th: Spycada-Hiking Lung(Psychedelic rock): It's good, great vibe, good tones, overall enjoyable. Looking forward to their next stuff.

7th: Magrudergrind-Self title(Grindcore/Powerviolence): THE grindcore album. Absolutely slaps, the sample use is interesting.

6th: Igorrr-Spirituality and Distortion(Avant Guard Metal/Breakcore) This... is Schrödinger's kitchen. I don't know if the kitchen is burned down or has served a 5 star menu, until I care to write an actual criticism of it. (Also the mixing of metal, break core and classical music is insane and the sheer heaviness this album gives is phenomenal, though it falls of gradually on the second half)

5th:Sweet Trip-Velocity : Design : Comfort(IDM/Glitch Pop) At least 200 people already circle jerk around this album, yes it is good, no I don't explain why I love it because I ain't talking about why breathing air is good.

4th:Have a nice life-Deathconsciousness(Post Punk/Shoegaze): Same as last time, people already told you enough why it's good, just fucking listen through it already. (side note some of the songs on this albums mixed weirdly quite for some reason, and it's kinda wack how the drone parts are the best, but still really good)

3th: Dead in the Dirt-The Blind Hole(Grindcore/Powerviolence) Jesus I listen to a lot of powerviolence this month... Anyways this is probably my favourite pw record yet. Probably the more understandable vocals help to lift it just a little bit above the rest for me.

2th:Mastodon-Leviathan(Sludge metal/Prog metal) Fun fact in the 2000's 2 whale concept prog metal albums came out, both of which are peak. I don't know how they got The Moby Dick nailed so well in metal form but they sure did with heavy riffs and amazing vocal performances.

1th: Electric Wizard-Witchcult Today(Stoner/Doom metal): I was afraid to check out the rest of EW discography after Dopethrone cuz it is too peak... However this album is probably as good as Dopethrone. Something about this album gives more OG metal vibes with less insanity.

#metal #rym #rateyourmusic #topster #topsters

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doktordismemberment · 2 years ago

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Watchmaker

Okay, the sixties psychedelic shit not working for you? Need something "heavy" to get the 'ol synapses firing and assure you that you are indeed as cool and kvlt as you think you are?

Fine.

Here's probably my favorite "grindcore" album of all time, though boy does the term "grindcore" fall far, far, short of what's happening here.

Under 30 minutes of utterly deranged wharrrgarbl equal parts black metal, powerviolence, and Voivod style dissonance that wrecks pretty much everything else on earth in terms of sheer clotted nastiness and dead-eyed ultraviolence.

The musical equivalent of being in so much pain it makes you physically sweat. Which, for the record, is how I spent much of my weekend.

You have been warned.

#Grindcore #Powerviolence #Fast #Bandcamp

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goodbysunball · 2 years ago

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Left in the sun

Four more hits from the musically rich vein of 2023. Take a breath and bask in these before the next wave hits. These'll keep your head above water in the midst of everything else; if nothing else, they'll airlift you outta here for a bit. You deserve the break, and these deserve your attention.

Brain Tourniquet, ...An Expression in Pain LP (Iron Lung)

Brain Tourniquet return after two 7" records to deliver an interesting take on the tricky proposition of a powerviolence LP: nine fast tracks and one side-long burner. If I didn't see the band play most of these songs last summer, including the 10-minute title track, I don't think I'd be too keen on the idea, but the trio delivers yet another winner with ...An Expression in Pain. Brain Tourniquet's take on west coast powerviolence has always been distinguished by clarity, a relatively clean sound with as much space as can be afforded on sub-minute tracks. This always makes the slow breakdowns hit much harder in my opinion, the listener swallowed by quicksand or a sinkhole just as they get their footing. It's still true here: "The Depths of Human Suffering (Are Boundless)" and "Exit Life" provide two of the record's heaviest moments. If I have one complaint about the record, it's that these slow parts seem a bit thin compared to those on earlier records, but overall the presentation here is (surprisingly) refreshingly clear. There's a more pronounced classical heavy metal influence here that the crisp production highlights, like the showy guitar line on "Empire of Misery," but it's an incremental addition, not one that smothers the ferocity with technical prowess. Same goes for the sidelong title track: it's everything Brain Tourniquet does well, splayed open and presented for close inspection or ready for your next at-home circle pit. Big chunky riffs give way to grindcore and then quickly pivot to thrashing punk and even make room for some psychedelic soloing at the midway point. It's a bad, bad trip, and one that someone owes the drummer some money for - he deftly navigates the band off and back on the rails repeatedly from start to finish. The whole thing's over and out in 20 minutes, and paced well so that you're not gasping for breath at the end, giving ...An Expression In Pain replay value that something similar like World Extermination, as amazing as that record is, does not have for me. Recommended even for those with just a passing interest in powerviolence or grindcore; go see 'em if they ever tour near you and it'll all make sense.

Mystic 100's, On a Micro Diet 2xLP (Listening House)

I've read a couple items on this Mystic 100's (née Milk Music) album, and most of them have an apologetic air, making excuses as to why they still mostly like what they hear while acknowledging that nothing on here sounds like "Fertile Ground." The band isn't, and hasn't been, anywhere near where they started as Milk Music over a decade ago, now reaching their final form as Mystic 100's and fully embracing the classic rock sound they've teased on the last two LPs. Wide-open and slow is the approach here, every guitar chord ringing out like the sun coming out from behind the clouds, solos searing like the light reflecting off of rippling water. "Message From Lonnie" is maybe my favorite example, the languid pace of the track a rare and refreshing take on the stretched-out portions of On the Beach, the band sounding as vulnerable as I can ever recall. The other obvious choice cut would be the 19-minute "Have You Ever Chased a Lightbeam?," that one also slowly navigating the landscape but with a heavy whiff of Pink Floyd in its wake. It features one of the best bass line/free guitar match-ups in recent memory, a mind-expanding track that you kinda always knew these guys had in 'em. Most of the 75-minute On a Micro Diet follows the lead of the two aforementioned tracks, though it'd probably be a bit of a slog if the whole album followed that same recipe for success. "Windowpane" is the only concession the band makes to Milk Music fans, sounding like that something that could've ended up on the previous two records, and of course we're gonna have to talk about "Drug Man." This song, which leads off the second side, is going to make a lot of people unhappy; populated by lyrics that sound like some sort of inside joke, vocal delivery that almost definitely is some sort of joke, and cheesy white man blues licks, "Drug Man" is definitely the outlier here. But, the way that the song deteriorates and opens up on the back half is of a piece with the rest of the album, shimmering guitars acting as some sort of lifeline or light at the end of the tunnel. A lot of the open spaces created by the band here sound like something you'd hear on a free improvisation record, the band letting the individual sounds slowly create tension in a vacuum, before exploding back onto the scene with a perfectly timed chord or solo. Might be showing my age a bit, or maybe it's just that stifling hot southeastern summers are perfectly suited for such slow music, but stuff like On a Micro Diet hits perfectly for me now. If you liked recent records such as Heron Oblivion's self-titled album (of course you did) or Shawn David McMillen's On the Clock w/ JJ & Mitch, this new Mystic 100's will scratch that itch and then some. Amazing return from this group, not even dulled by the accompanying $120 Online Ceramics sweatshirts.

Olimpia Splendid, 2 LP (Fonal/Kraak)

This second album from Olimpia Splendid was among my most anticipated for the year, and I'm glad to report that there's been no dip in quality in the eight years since the self-titled LP came out. Even with the long gap between albums, I'm still struggling to come up with the proper adjectives to describe the band's sound. They take three guitars and a drum machine and make bad-trip psychedelic rock, replete with lots of repetition and harshly whispered gremlin vocals, and wrap it into a package that's both deeply hypnotic and unnerving. What's new this time around is the band's ability to gain traction and give some forward momentum to the tracks, whereas previous songs were more likely to get drunk on repetition and peter out. I don't think there's anything wrong with either approach, but I'm really enjoying the tense churn and groove of tracks like "Jacksonin Paita" and "Nicotinella," both given just the slightest hint of structure and then mowed down by these powerful and patient distorted guitar lines. My favorite track here is "Agda," where the electronic backing track makes it sound like Merzbow is playing next door while the guitar lines slowly ramp up the tension during the song's eight minutes. It's a track I could imagine the band teasing out for 20 minutes in the live setting, and that'd be just fine by me. No one's making music like Olimpia Splendid, and while that's something that's always been true, the bar to emulate their sound just got raised several notches with 2. Easily one of the best records of the year, if not the best. Finland, here I come.

Primitive Man & Full of Hell, Suffocating Hallucination LP (Closed Casket Activities)

File this one under "collaborations I didn't know I wanted": the smothering black sludge of Primitive Man melding minds with Full of Hell's noise-laced grindcore. To be fair, and this has been pointed out elsewhere, this pretty much feels like a Primitive Man record; such is their sound that it's hard to squeeze anything else onto a track. See opener "Trepanation of Future Joys," a song that could've fit in perfectly on either of the last two Primitive Man releases but featuring Dylan Walker's shredded vocals. But a few listens in, and that feeling starts to fall apart somewhere in the middle of "Rubble Home," where the drums emulate free jazz ferocity, and by the end of the grinding "Bludgeon" the armor's been pierced. I can't find the interview now, but Ethan McCarthy called this Primitive Man's "prettiest" record - and relative to their discography, he's right. The twinkling guitar line on closer "Tunnels to God" is the only obvious proof, but there are some softer edges to the instrumental "Dwindling Will" that would normally be rubbed out in favor of less forgiving textures. It's an unexpected result for a collaboration between these two bands, but it's hardly the defining result. This is an extremely nasty record, where Full of Hell flexes all the attention to detail that can get lost in the maelstrom on their own records. The push-pull between the two bands leads to some spine-chilling dynamics on "Trepanation of Future Joys," the sound dropping out to come roaring back with waves of crushing guitar and earsplitting noise. If you've been following either band, Suffocating Hallucination is a great example and extension of what both Full of Hell and Primitive Man have been doing for the last few years: slowly refining their respective sounds into well-sharpened blades cloaked in noise. It's way better than the sum of its parts, and while familiar on the surface, there's enough going on underneath, like the homage to the Body's "Ruiner" on "Rubble Home," to keep me coming back. There are four different LP cover variations to go along with approximately 800 vinyl variants, so you won't have a problem tracking down a copy - but please do.

#Brain Tourniquet #Iron Lung Records #Mystic 100's #Olimpia Splendid #Primitive Man #Full of Hell

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bubblesandgutz · 4 years ago

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Every Record I Own - Day 591: Infest Slave

This 1997 reissue of Infest’s Slave LP came out as my interest in powerviolence was hitting its peak. I loved Spazz, Man Is The Bastard, No Comment, and Capitalist Casualties, and Infest were the mythical godfathers with impossible-to-find records. Along with Crossed Out, Infest took hardcore to such an extreme points of speed and knuckle-dragging breakdowns that it felt almost comically absurd. Though they were kin with the youth crew hardcore that was all the rage on the East Coast, Infest owed more to early grind kings like Siege, with impossibly fast verses and heavy thudding moments of release. While the then-contemporary powerviolence acts resonated with me more, I appreciated that Infest were such an intense anomaly back when this record originally came out in 1988, and the overall savagery of Slave was always a good kick in the pants.

The last time I listened to this LP was in 2014 around the time Infest were doing a bunch of reunion shows. I went to go see them by myself at a big warehouse-style club in Brooklyn called The Well. I had made the mistake of getting six-hours of tattoo work done on my calf the day before, not knowing that calf tattoos have a tendency to swell a lot. If I stood up for more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time, it felt like my leg was gonna split open like a hot dog in a microwave. I lingered in the back of the club during the openers, trying to stay off my feet, and spotted a friend of mine hiding in a corner. Winds up my friend had taken a bunch of mushrooms and was having a bit of a bad trip. This guy had done an even worse job of preparing for the show than I had. So I sat with him and tried to talk him down until Infest took the stage. We both moved closer to the front, though my leg was killing me and my friend was going through some psychedelic-induced nightmare. We made it through about five songs (or roughly five minutes of music) before both of us were too uncomfortable to keep going.

I initially loved Infest because their records had an intense energy, and listening to their records made me imagine their early shows and how all the hardcore kids that were used to stuff like Chain of Strength must have been properly pulverized by their short bursts of brutality. It winds up my friend and I weren’t tough enough to endure their show either, even though we were more pulverized by outside circumstances. Regardless, Slave still sounds ferocious, and I still associate their sound with physical and mental duress.

#infest #everyrecordiown

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matarifes · 5 years ago

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Best of the 2010s

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/00I0wjqs9mIOBp9npilhwt?si=iKEGj6i0SFKmdJR8lwjoWQ

Noi!se - The scars we hide, 2014 (Oi!, Street Punk)

Vektor - Terminal Redux, 2016 (Technical Thrash Metal)

Yob - Clearing the Path to Ascend, 2014 (Doom Metal, Sludge Metal)

Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind, 2012 (Metalcore, Post-Hardcore)

Voïvod - The Wake, 2018 (Technical Thrash Metal, Progressive Metal)

Battle Ruins - Glorious Dead, 2018 (Oi!, Heavy Metal, Hardcore Punk)

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Blood Lust, 2011 (Heavy Psych,Traditional Doom Metal)

Wormrot - Voices, 2016 (Grindcore)

Sólstafir - Svartir Sandar, 2011 (Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Post-Metal)

Martyrdöd - List, 2016 (Crust Punk, D-Beat)

Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden, 2014 (Doom Metal)

Cloud Nothings - Here and Nowhere Else, 2014 (Indie Rock, Post-Hardcore)

High on Fire - De vermis mysteriis, 2012 (Stoner Metal, Sludge Metal)

Perturbator - Dangerous Days, 2014 (Synthwave, Horror Synth, Darksynth)

Rolo Tomassi - Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It, 2018 (Post-Hardcore, Mathcore)

Thou - Heathen, 2014 (Sludge Metal, Doom Metal)

Power Trip - Nightmare Logic, 2017 (Thrash Metal, Crossover Thrash)

Gillian Welch - The Harrow & the Harvest, 2011 (Contemporary Folk, Americana)

Nails - Unsilent Death, 2010 (Grindcore, Powerviolence)

Amenra - Mass VI, 2017 (Atmospheric Sludge Metal)

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Skeleton Tree, 2016 (Singer/Songwriter, Art Rock)

Conan - Existential Void Guardian, 2018 (Sludge Metal, Doom Metal) The Good The Bad and the Zugly - Misanthropical House, 2018 (Hardcore Punk) Lord Vicar - The Black Powder, 2019 (Doom Metal) Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, 2014 (Outlaw Country) Inquisition - Ominous Doctrines of the Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm, 2010 (Black Metal) Bongripper - Terminal, 2018 (Sludge Metal, Doom Metal) Dinosaur Jr. - I Bet On Sky, 2012 (Indie Rock, Alternative Rock) Integrity - Howling, for the Nightmare Shall Consume, 2017 (Metalcore, Crossover Thrash) Looking for an Answer - Dios carne, 2017 (Grindcore, Deathgrind) Monarch! - Never Forever, 2017 (Drone Metal, Sludge Metal, Doom Metal) Deströyer 666 - Wildfire, 2016 (Thrash Metal, Black Metal) OM - Advaitic Songs, 2012 (Psychedelic Rock, Drone, Doom) Dance with the Dead - Out of Body, 2013 (Synthwave, Darksynth) The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream, 2014 (Heartland Rock, Indie Rock) SLEEP - The Sciencies, 2018 (Doom Metal, Stoner Metal) Midnight - Satanic Royalty, 2011 (Speed Metal, Black Metal) Wolfbrigade - Run with the Hunted, 2017 (Crust Punk, D-Beat) Absu - Abzu, 2011 (Black Metal, Thrash Metal) Baroness - Purple, 2015 (Stoner Metal, Psychedelic Rock) Subrosa - More Constant Than the Gods, 2013 (Doom Metal) Full of Hell - Weeping Choir, 2019 (Grindcore, Deathgrind) Satan - Cruel Magic, 2018 (Heavy Metal, Speed Metal) Black Breath - Sentenced to Life, 2012 (Death 'n' Roll, Crust Punk) King Woman - Created in the Image of Suffering, 2017 (Doom Metal, Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Post-Metal) Plebeian Grandstand - False Highs, True Lows, 2016 (Black Metal, Mathcore) Cosmic Psychos - Glorius Barsteds, 2011 (Garage Punk, Noise Rock) Dying Fetus - Reign Supreme, 2012 (Brutal Death Metal) Elder - Lore, 2015 (Stoner Rock) Misery Index - Heirs to Thievery, 2010 (Deathgrind) Spectral Voice - Eroded Corridors of Unbeing, 2017 (Death Doom Metal) Blood Ceremony - The Eldritch Dark, 2013 (Heavy Psych) Cobalt - Slow Forever, 2016 (Black Metal, Atmospheric Sludge Metal) The Hookers - It's Midnight... The Witching Hour, 2014 (Heavy Metal, Horror Punk) Napalm Death - Utilitarian, 2012 (Grindcore, Deathgrind) KEN Mode - Loved, 2018 (Post-Hardcore, Noise Rock, Sludge Metal) Mammoth Grinder - Cosmic Crypt, 2018 (Death Metal, D-Beat, Crust Punk) Trap Them - Darker Handcraft , 2011 (Crust Punk, Hardcore Punk) Krallice - Years Past Matter, 2012 (Black Metal) Incendiary - Thousand Mile Stare, 2017 (Metalcore, New York Hardcore) Neurosis - Fires within Fires, 2016 (Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Post-Metal) Electric Wizard - Black Masses, 2010 (Doom Metal, Stoner Metal) Infernal Coil - Within a World Forgotten, 2018 (Deathgrind, War Metal, Death Metal) Blut Aus Nord - 777 - Cosmosophy, 2012 (Atmospheric Black Metal, Avant-Garde Metal, Post-Metal) Eagle Twin - The Thundering Heard (Songs of Hoof and Horn), 2018 (Doom Metal, Stoner Metal) The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us Is the Killer, 2013 (Mathcore) Slowdive - Slowdive, 2017 (Dream Pop, Shoegaze) Cattle Decapitation - Monolith of Inhumanity, 2012 (Deathgrind) The Last - Danger, 2013 (Power Pop, Punk) Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city, 2012 (Hip Hop) Inter Arma - Sulphur English, 2019 (Sludge Metal) Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica, 2011 (Plunderphonics, Ambient) Kvelertak - Kvelertak, 2010 (Hardcore Punk, Black 'n' Roll) Windhand - Soma, 2013 (Doom Metal) Unsane - Wreck, 2012 (Noise Rock, Post-Hardcore) Godflesh - Post Self, 2017 (Industrial Metal, Post-Metal) Kadavar - Kadavar, 2012 (Stoner Rock, Heavy Psych) Oranssi Pazuzu - Värähtelijä, 2016 (Psychedelic Rock, Black Metal) Kurt Vile - Wakin on a Pretty Daze, 2013 (Folk Rock, Singer/Songwriter) Ulcerate - Shrines of Paralysis, 2016 (Technical Death Metal) The Drones - I See Seaweed, 2013 (Punk Blues, Art Rock, Noise Rock, Garage Rock) Tomb Mold - Planetary Clairvoyance, 2019 (Death Metal) The Ruins of Beverast - Exuvia, 2017 (Death Doom Metal) Street Dogs - Street Dogs, 2010 (Punk Rock) Hell - Hell III, 2012 (Sludge Metal, Doom Metal, Drone Metal) Fucked Up - David Comes to Life, 2011 (Hardcore Punk, Indie Rock) Primitive Man - Caustic, 2017 (Sludge Metal, Doom Metal) Sick of it All - Based on a True Story, 2010 (New York Hardcore, Hardcore Punk) Triptykon - Melana Chasmata, 2014 (Doom Metal) Night Birds - Born to Die in Suburbia, 2013 (Punk Rock, Hardcore Punk) Deathspell Omega - Paracletus, 2010 (Black Metal) Tombs - Path of Totality, 2011 (Sludge Metal, Black Metal) King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Nonagon Infinity, 2016 (Psychedelic Rock, Garage Rock) Wormed - Exodromos, 2013 (Brutal Death Metal, Technical Death Metal) Terror - Keepers of the Faith, 2010 (Hardcore Punk) MGLA - Exercises in Futility, 2015 (Black Metal) Horn of the Rhino - Weight of Coronation, 2010 (Sludge Metal, Doom Metal) The Men - Open Your Heart, 2012 (Indie Rock, Noise Rock) Bölzer - Hero, 2016 (Black Metal, Death Metal) OFF! - First Four EPs, 2010 (Hardcore Punk) Gorguts - Colored Sands, 2013 (Technical Death Metal) Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss, 2015 (Darkwave, Gothic Rock) Jason Isbell - Southeastern, 2013 (Americana) Gaza - No Absolutes in Human Suffering, 2012 (Mathcore, Sludge Metal Grindcore) Cult Leader - A Patient Man, 2018 (Sludge Metal, Mathcore, Slowcore) Royal Thunder - CVI, 2012 (Hard Rock, Stoner Rock, Blues Rock, Psychedelic Rock) Baptists - Bushcraft, 2013 (Crust Punk, Hardcore Punk) Witchcraft - Legend, 2012 (Hard Rock, Heavy Metal) Eyehategod - Eyehategod, 2014 (Sludge Metal, Doom Metal) Yellow Eyes - Rare Field Ceiling, 2019 (Black Metal) Shellac - Dude Incredible, 2014 (Math Rock, Noise Rock, Post-Hardcore) Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit, 2010 (Atmospheric Black Metal, Post-Rock, Dark Folk, Folk Metal, Post-Metal) Fuzz - Fuzz, 2013 (Heavy Psych, Garage Rock) Gojira - L'enfant sauvage, 2012 (Progressive Metal, Death Metal) Deafheaven - Sunbather, 2013 (Blackgaze, Post-Metal) Earth - Primitive and Deadly, 2014 (Psychedelic Rock, Stoner Rock, Heavy Psych, Drone, Post-Rock) Enslaved - Axioma Ethica Odini, 2010 (Progressive Metal, Black Metal) Blood Incantation - Starspawn, 2016 (Death Metal) Cloud Rat - Pollinator, 2019 (Grindcore) Esoteric - A Pyrrhic Existence, 2019 (Funeral Doom Metal) Ufomammut - Eve, 2010 (Doom Metal, Sludge Metal, Heavy Psych) Boris - Dear, 2017 (Sludge Metal, Drone Metal, Post Metal) Between the Buried and Me - Automata I, 2018 (Progressive Metal) Usnea - Portals into Futility, 2017 (Sludge Metal, Death Doom Metal) Altarage - The Approaching Roar, 2019 (Death Metal, Black Metal) Pinkish Black - Concept Unification, 2019 (Psychedelic Rock Gothic Rock, Darkwave) Adrift - Black Heart Bleeds Black, 2012 (Sludge Metal, Atmospheric Sludge Metal) Hot Snakes - Jericho Sirens, 2018 (Garage Punk, Post-Hardcore) Portal - Vexovoid, 2013 (Death Metal) Iron Reagan - Worse Than Dead. 2013 (Crossover Thrash, Hardcore Punk) Sumac - What One Becomes. 2015 (Sludge Metal) Mylingar - Döda Själar, 2019 (Black Metal, Death Metal) Descendents - Hypercaffium Spazzinate, 2016 (Punk, Hardcore Punk) Evoken - Atra Mors, 2012 (Funeral Doom Metal) Weyes Blood - TItanic Rising , 2019 (Baroque Pop, Art Pop) Behemoth - The Satanist, 2014 (Death Metal, Black Metal) Spirit Adrift - Divided by Darkness, 2019 (Doom Metal, Heavy Metal) Expulsion - Nightmare Future, 2017 (Deathgrind, Crust Punk) Funeral Mist - Hekatomb, 2018 (Black Metal) Bob Wayne - Outlaw Carnie, 2011 (Alt-Country) Overkill - Ironbound, 2010 (Thrash Metal) Mizmor - Yodh, 2016 (Doom Metal, Sludge Metal, Black Metal) Chris Stapleton - Traveller, 2015 (Americana, Country) Indian - From All Purity, 2014 (Sludge Metal, Drone Metal, Doom Metal) In Solitude - Sister, 2013 (Heavy Metal, Gothic Rock, Post-Punk) Leviathan - Scar Sighted, 2015 (Black Metal) Graveyard - Hisingen Blues, 2011 (Hard Rock, Blues Rock, Heavy Psych) The Body - I Shall Die Here, 2014 (Drone Metal) Cought - Still the Pray, 2016 (Doom Metal, Sludge Metal) Cock Sparrer - Forever, 2017 (Oi!) Cult of Luna - A Dawn to Fear, 2019 (Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Post-Metal) Black Tusk - Pillars of Ash, 2014 (Sludge Metal, Stoner Metal, Hardcore Punk) Abstracter - Cinereous Incarnate, 2018 (Black Metal, Sludge Metal, Death Doom Metal) Th' Legendary Shack Shakers - The Southern Surreal, 2015 (Cowpunk, Psychobilly) Alcest - Écailles de lune, 2010 (Blackgaze, Post-Metal, Shoegaze) Runt - Positions of Power, 2017 (Hardcore Punk, No Wave, Noise Rock) Panopticon - Autumn Eternal, 2015 (Atmospheric Black Metal) The Goddamn Gallows - Seven Devils, 2011 (Psychobilly, Gothic Country) Altar of Plagues - Teethed Glory and Injury, 2013 (Atmospheric Black Metal, Post-Metal) Peter Pan Speedrock - We Want Blood, 2010 (Punk Rock, Hard Rock) Lord Mantis - Death Mask, 2014 (Sludge Metal, Doom Metal) Scott H. Biram - Bad Ingredients, 2011 (Alt-Country, Cowpunk, Electric Blues) Deceased... - Ghostly White, 2018 (Thrash Metal, Death Metal) Impalers - Cellar Dweller, 2017 (Hardcore Punk, D-Beat) Noisem - Blossoming Decay, 2015 (Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Deathgrind) Horrendous - Anareta, 2015 (Death Metal, Progressive Metal) Amebix - Sonic Mass, 2011 (Post-Punk, Crust Punk) Killing Joke - Pylon, 2015 (Post-Punk, Industrial Rock/Metal) Carpenter Brut - Trilogy, 2015 (Synthwave, Darksynth, Electro House) The Templars - Deus Vult, 2017 (Oi!, Punk Rock) Big Business - Battlefields Forever, 2013 (Stoner Metal, Sludge Metal) Waste Management - Tried and True, 2018 (Hardcore Punk) The Last Crusade - S/T, 2018 (Oi!) Ausmuteants - Band of the Future, 2016 (Synth Punk, Garage Punk) Niechęć - Niechęć, 2016 (Jazz Fusion/Rock, Avant-Garde Jazz) Carcass - Surgical Steel, 2013 (Melodic Death Metal) Helms Alee - Sleepwalking Sailors, 2014 (Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Post-Rock, Stoner Rock) Bell Witch - Four Phantoms, 2015 (Funeral Doom Metal) Teitanblood - Death, 2014 (Death Metal, War Metal) Hank Williams III - Rebel Within, 2010 (Cowpunk, Alt-Country, Country) Monster Magnet - Last Patrol, 2013 (Stoner Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Psych)

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daggerzine · 8 years ago

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Southwest Sound and Fury! A Short Overview of Indie and Punk in New Mexico by David Ensminger (Special thanks to Jobrian Stammer)

By and large, New Mexico is a wind-swept, arid slice of the U.S. known as the home to the nuclear bomb; vast white sands; an occasional gritty city; stretched-out Albuquerque, the notorious backdrop to Breaking Bad; uber modern popsters The Shins; and hot-pounding drummer extraordinaire Randolpho Francisco "Randy" Castillo, from Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue. It has nonetheless produced a startling punk community, especially from the 1990s until today.

In the 1960s, frat-rock, big beat, and garage nugget style music held some sway, in which King Richard and the Knights instrumental surfy forays broke through the din, while The Kreeg offered up desert-rock tuneage and Fe-Fi-Four Plus 2 unleashed psychedelic noodling.

Flash forward a few decades, though, starting with the time that band like Jerry’s Kidz electrified the state at joints like B&M (behind a lock shop), where Conflict from Arizona would stop by for insurgent gigs in 1983.

That same year Jerry’s Kidz released their opus “Well Fed Society,” a well-produced, manic, guitar-slathered, incisive EP (sonically resting between Secret Hate, Los Olvidados, and the F.U.’s) on Test Site; the fine-lined horror punk graphics by Jaime Trujillo (who sketched for Mutual Oblivion zine too) are grim, death-teeming, and memorable as Pushead, firmly within the skate-punk aesthetic (a shreddin’ skeleton leers on the back cover), while the tunes like “Marionetts” and “DWI” are smoldering bash’n’rock embodying frantic pre-hardcore rage and rigor. Check out the cut’n’paste images of E.T, skate crews, and the band in action on the insert. Singer David Duran soon joined Clown Alley, legendary mid-1980s Bay Area metal-punk provocateurs featuring Lori Black (later of Melvins fame), the daughter of Shirley Temple, who released Circus of Chaosfor Alchemy Records.

On the new wave and power pop spectrum, The Philisteens, a slightly geeky but fluid and focused power trio unit, were tightly coiled and electrifying, producing tuneful, hi-energy fare that reminds one of agile Code Blue meets a meatier version of the Police. Their gigs drew boisterous crowds at the likes of the Student Union Ballroom at the University of New Mexico, while the groovy light dance-pop of the Muttz (from Taos) drew similar college crowds, as did Beverly’s Boyfriend, who embraced Pat Benatar formulas. Most bizarre, though, might be The Wet Sox, a homegrown version of UB40 that played “NM Funk Rock Reggae.”

By the 1990s, though, punk had metastasized as the hammering genre of choice for many antsy, dissenting, feral, and fierce desert youth looking for kicks.

Santa Fe, a tourist-heavy enclave in the northern half where one can smell pine nuts roasting in the biting chill, somehow delivered Logical Nonsense to the world, who were grabbed up first by Very Small, then Alternative Tentacles, by the late 1990s. Their wall-of-noise and scum/thrash/grind/powerviolence is menacing and seemingly out-of-whack with the Polaroid picture, pueblo-lined nature of the city. Try the metallic “Death Approach.” One member later helped form Econarchy in 2013, a grind/hardcore unit known for releases like Economy Monarchy. Others in the 2000s, like Laughing Dog, bottled the grindcore method too.

On the southern tip, Las Cruces has been often overshadowed by its larger, West Texas sister city El Paso, which burgeoned with punk, from the Plugz and Rhythm Pigs to At the Drive-In. Often, lonely Las Cruces suffered brain drain, like the five punks who ventured north to Albuquerque in the mid-1990s to form the rockabilly-punk Jonny Cats, whose “Burning Rubber” 7" (American Low Fidelity) is a pomade-drenched motorcycle classic. In recent years, Local Crap Records took up the slack in town, producing bands like The Casual Fridays and Homegrown Outlaws.

For years, the underground music scenes clustered in Albuquerque, centered mostly around Central Ave. and the university neighborhoods, where cheap rent, dry bursts of oven-like heat, abundant diners and eateries, as well as armies of skittering roaches were the norm. Record stores like Mind Over Matter, Natural Sound, Bow Wow Records, and Drop Out Records became epicenters.

Meanwhile, rock’n’roll clubs offered cheap thrills, from small dives like collegiate Fat Chance, all ages Club 909, and the murky Dingo Bar, which booked the likes of Mike Watt, Unsane, God Bullies, and the Cows, to Golden West Saloon, which hosted road shows by the dozens, from Brainiac and L7 to the Dickies, Pegboy, and Jon Spencer. The sister venue to Golden West was the much larger El Rey, which held terrific nights of brazen underground rock’n’roll, like co-billed Jawbreaker and No Means No drawing 1,000 kids.

Unfortunately, the Golden West Saloon, in the hands of the Kathy Zimmer family since 1929, when her grandfather erected it, was ravaged by fire in 2008, after a linseed soaked rag in a plastic container spontaneously combusted, not long after the Business gigged there.

Such spaces nourished locals like Elephant. Not unlike the Pixies, they were a tight, dual-gendered, gravely rock’n’punk outfit that released two singles and an album on Resin Records, a start-up label that incubated a variety of acts, like Bring Back Dad, ALLUCANEAT, Treadmill, Flake, and more. In fact, Flake toured out West on occasion, opening for notables like Archers of Loaf, Rocket From the Crypt and Yo La Tengo. They also cut the tune “Deluca” for a split single with Henry’s Dress, for Omnibus Records, and the Spork EP for Science Project before renaming and rebranding as The Shins.

Meanwhile, Big Damn Crazy Weight, whose thudding, thundering “Tijeras” 7” (on Resin) recalls the era of Amphetamine Reptile, landed a single, “Mighty As Well,” that debuted on Sub Pop in Oct. 1992.

Resin’s prime act was The Drags, the delirious three-piece garage ensemble that soon took up residence on Empty and Estrus Records, who released three of their non-stop action albums, including Dragsploitation … Now! Try the scurvy surf beater “$7 Bologna” or the full-bore smash’n’pummel “Shovel Fight,” a little like early Makers, or “Elongated Man,” a head-spinning mash-up of the Ramones, Ventures, and Man or Astroman? They even appear on The Sore Losers soundtrack alongside Jack Oblivion, ’68 Comeback, and Los Diablos Del Sol. And in a true testament to their stripped-to-the-bone, wild-ass charms, Rocket From The Crypt covered their “Allergic Reaction” on RFTC’s EP On a Rope in 1992.

On the poppier spectrum, bands were aplenty, like the Alarm Clock, Young Adults, and the Ponies, but the persistently tuneful Rondelles (also members of LuxoChamp) drew the attention of Grist-Milling, Teenbeat, K, and Smells Like Records, producing fare that is garagey, smart, lean, and wooly. They eventually hightailed to Washington D.C. and toured with the likes of Mooney Suzuki before imploding. On the emo side of things, Silver, featuring writer David Ensminger on drums, self-released a 45 single as well as a split single with roiling Midwest greaser punks Nitro Jr. Guitarist Jobrian Stammer, currently a noted tattooist, continued in acts like Rollover 45, Better Off Dead, and more recently, the venal distorted grit of Losing It.

In 1994, the tongue-tying, indie rock Triskadeckaphobia released “Lady Brown” on Superstition Records, while Luxo Champ (punchy keyboard punk ala Servotron) released their self-titled EP on Super 8 Underground, including titanic tunes like Spacerobotactionfun! Scared of Chaka blitzkrieged the states with their manic Dickies-meets-Marked Men energy, producing numerous quintessential cuts for 702, Sub City, Hopeless, and Empty Records, including a split with Word Salad for Science Project. As their more obscure counterparts, Word Salad pursued the dark side relentlessly, cutting drum-heavy grind for Prank, Dogshit Recurdz, and Hater of God.

Meanwhile, three adept sisters (Gel, Laura, and Lisa Baca) formed the core of the Eyeliners (formerly Psychodrama), who remain one of the state’s most prolific and recognized exports. Their stealthy pop-punk fare quickly rose to the top of the heap, making labels like Sympathy for the Record Industry, Lookout! Records, and even Blackheart Records scramble for them. Chew on "Here Comes Trouble" for snotty, leather-jacketed, melodic fury.

Meanwhile, young guns from Albuquerque over the last decade continue to ply their trade, like trad-punkers Party Vikings, the hybrid metal minders Leeches of Lore, and Russian Girlfriends, a nimble hardcore unit reminiscent of a thrashier version of early Asexuals or Samiam, whose debut LP was released by Orange Whip Records. Doomed to Exist (brute distortion that sounds like Japanese d-beat), Wulff, Lucia, Twelve Titans, Honorable Death, Embelisk, and Cobra Vs. Mongoose shred too, filling up places venues like the Launchpad, American Legion Post 49, and the Armory.

In addition, SceneXSplitter is now one of the self-made DIY media outlets that keeps the city abuzz.

Though most of the country thinks the southwest is a weird void, desert youth will never recede and keep quiet in the dustbin of history.

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