Cripple Bbastards - La Fine Cresce Da Dentro (2018)

Oh shit, I love Cripple Bastards and alwats expect great stuff from them, but witht their new album they managed to impress me, La Fine Cresce Da Dentro, is even better than what I expected. In this 7th album, after 30 years of grindcore, they managed to do more catchy, and even, yes, more melodic(!), songs  while maintaining their level of speed and relentless aggression. there was already a bit of that in the previous one, they just pushed it a bit further. It's surprising but it's working really well. A great album!

The BC page.

Majestic Mass - Ssavage Empire of Death (2018)

Majestic Mass and their first release Savage Empire of Death is another good find from caligari Records. Their garage speed metal sound a bit like a mix of Venom and The Lords of Altamont. Evil and Fun rocking. Yeah!

The Bandcamp page.

Operant - Harnessed to Flesh (2018)

Operant is a duo from Berlin and Harnessed to Flesh is their third EP (and third release), all on Instruments of Discipine (a good tech/noise label, also based in Berlin). Their music combines rythmic noise, power electronic and industrial techno, with various dosage in the different tracks, and they do it very well wether it's more noisy, more beats driven, with or witout voice/synths, etc. Dark and abrasive. Good stuff.

The BC page.

Maggot Cave - EP (2018)

This EP is the first release of the grinders from Sydney Maggot Cave (with at least one guy who was in the excellent Thedowngoing). This is old school raw grindcore, of a kind I really like and it's really done well, simple but hitting all the targets. So what's not to like? I'm sure most grinders will enjoy it as much as I do. Also I'm pleased to discover this new band and will follow closely what they will release next.

The BC page.

Exocrine - Molten Giant (2018)

All the praises this album is receiving is deserved. Molten Giant, released with Unique Leader records is the third, and best album of the French Exocrine. This is high quality brutal and technical death metal, somewhere between Morbid Angel and Obscura. Not only good riffing and grooves and nice leads but also well-written memorable songs that are catchy yet brutal. Really good stuff.

The Bandcamp page.

Christian Kjellvander - Wild Hxmans (2018)

This one's quite different from what I usually review on Blasting Days, but so far it's the album that made the strongest impression on me this year. Really. Christian Kjellvander (from Sweden) already impressed me a lot, that was with his first album "Songs from a Two-Room Chapel" back in 2002, but then I was disapointed by his second album (although it's good, but after the tour de force of the first I had big expectations), and I lost track of him. Until I listened to his new album "Wild Hxmans", and whoah! it's maybe even better than "Songs from a Two-Room Chapel", excellent folk-americana with a great voice and vibrant atmospheres. But with "Wild Hxmans" it feels like the music is given another dimension with some brilliant parts that are exploring new directions that could maybe be described as embracing some post-rock/free-rock elements. The music gets heavier, trippier, stronger. (from my exploration on Bandcamp of what he released between his second and latest album those elements are starting to appear on the previous album "A Village : Natural Lights".)
Wild Hxmans is an awesome album and I can't recommend it too much.

The Bandcamp page

Transient + Bastard Noise - Sources of Human Satisfaction (2018)

The idea of combining grind and noise is sure a good idea, but too often the result isn't so spectacular and sometimes it sounds a bit like a gimmick, not adding much. But no worry with Sources of Human Satisfaction, the album resulting of the collaboration between Portland's Transient and Bastard Noise (Eric Wood). I knew both before this album and thought they were ok, but not so exciting. So I expected something ok but not special and I've been really taken off guard. Yes this album is especially good, with twists and turns and all the intensity needed, the collaboration worked excellently. I enjoy it a lot and sure will go back to it many times. Among the best grind / hardcore albums this year.

The BC page