All Them Witches - Our mother electricity (2012)

All them witches-Our mother electricity (2012-first and remastered release)

Fancy some blues based garage psychedelia?  Then All them witches from Nashville, Tennessee, got something for you. Their Our mother electricity record combines nicely blues, psychedelic garage rock and desert rock. The desert rock elements adding smoothly a modern touch to their 60' / 70' inspired blues based rock. They may need to add a more personal touch to their music, but that's very forgivable for a first record. A promising new band that could craft a very good magic if they find how to add more of their own voodoo to their already good music.

their bandcamp

Converge-All we love we leave behind (2012)

I use to post about less known bands than Converge. is there any use to post about their last records All we love we leave behind? yes maybe because I think it can appeal to more people than just the (many) Converge fans. I like and listen to them since a few years now but without being a huge fan. I have to say that All we love we leave behind is better than I expected, I wasn't completely convinced at the first listen, but after listening to it a few times I really like it. they managed to keep their trademark frenetic delivery, to be still grounded in hardcore (the drumming and the vocals especially) and at the same times are doing something different. what set it apart from other good hardcore bands is the guitar parts. It's maybe a bit more melodic than in their other records, and often goes into nearly stoner domain, and also in noise rock territory, while going deeper into their own Converge style. diversity, fast hardcore songs alterning with more melodic or noisy songs, catchy riffing,  intense vocals, many things gather to makes All we love behind more than another Converge record.

Converge website

the « 10 less fast & angry but nevertheless really cool bands » list :

same comments as for my "9 fast & angry metal bands" list applies (see two posts below).

-Aluk todolo-Occult rock                                    review

-Grand magus-The hunt                                     review & interview

-King giant-dismal hollow                                  review & interview

-Slug guts-Playing in time with the deadbeats   review

-White lung-Sorry                                               review & interview

-Graveyard-lights out                                           review

-Witchcraft-Legend                                             review

-Greenleaf-nest of vipers                                     review

-Unsane-Wreck                                                     review

-Monophonics-in your brain                               review

Ash borer-Cold of ages (2012)

I saw many positive comments about this band, Ash borer, and record, cold of ages, so I decided to try it. the fact that it's been released by Profound lore was also a hint of somehing good. I can only agree with all the positive comments about it. It is indeed a really good record. what it sound like? black metal with post-whatever elements. four long songs filled with good dark melodies and dissonant riffing, with a good balance between ambient / atmospheric moments and blasts beats with black metal riffing. they may come from California it nonetheless makes a good record for dark and cold winter times.


here's their blog

The nine "fast & angry" list

Before everyone gets completely fed up with all those end year list I start giving you mines.  won't be lists of "best" bands, just lists of bands I liked the most this year.

To start with here's my list of the "9 fast & angry" it's mostly extreme metal and related stuff but it will be followed by a specific grind list, death metal list, etc...and a list of bands that are less extreme but not less cool. It's bands / record that I reviewed and sometimes interviewed, so I give you the link to read that. There's not really an order :

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- Dephosphorus - Nightsky Transforms     review & interview

- Black breath - Sentenced to Life               review

- Cara Neir - Sublimation Therapy               review & interview

- Cattle decapitation - Monolith of Inhumanity           review

- F.U.B.A.R - Lead Us to War                                    review & interview

- The Kill - Make'em Suffer                                      review

- Burning Love - Rotten Thing to Say                      review

- Martyrdod - Paranoia                                           review

- P.O.O.R - Exctinction of Trust                                review


 Use the comments section to tell me which one I missed...

Desolate shrine-The sanctum of human darkness (2012)

Desolate shrine is a finnish death / doom band. I really liked their previous and first record, Tenebrous towers, released last year so I had big expectations for this brand new one called The sanctum of human darkness and released two days ago by the excellent Dark descent records.
I cannot say yet if it's better than Tenebrous towers or not, but I can already say that it's high quality music that deserves some attention.
Still a lot of mid tempo heaviness with a songwriting inclined to "epicness". maybe it's now a bit more subtle, more sophisticated (some discreet keyboards parts here and there), I feel that they explored more their doom dimension than their old school death metal one (but you still have the death vocals, some blastbeats parts, etc). since the result is a really good, rich and complex record, I'm ok with it. I have a feeling that it's a record that is revealing it's "niceties" bit by bit listen after listen...And I think Desolate shrine is a band that is quickly becoming a classic in their musical style (at least they deserve it).

their FB page

Greenleaf-nest of vipers (2012)

Sometimes I wonder if there's more hard rock influenced by the 70' bands now than there was at the time...anyway that's a good thing when they are as good as Greenleaf, a band composed of well known musicians from the Sweden's heavy rock scene (there's two members of Dozer for ex.).
Nest of vipers is their fourth record and it plays in the same category as bands like Witchcraft or Graveyard. which means high quality. nothing innovative but really good songs played with the good vibes.

you can listen to it on the SmallStone recordings bandcamp

Slash dementia-Splits sessions 2012

This is my second review of this finnish grind band, the first one was about "wheels of Babylon " that they released in january 2012 and you can read it HERE. as the name let you guess the splits sessions 2012 are the reunion of tracks that will appear on splits with Zombie raiders and Agamenon project (I don't know these bands). At the moment it is a virtual release that you can stream / download for free on their bandcamp. What Slash dementia plays is grind / powerviolence with a rocking vibe, a bit like a grind version of the death'n'roll period of Entombed. If you're into this kind of stuff you'll find the splits sessions a cool and enjoyable listen.

Slash dementia's splits sessions 2012 on BC

the guys from Slash dementia answered to my questions by mail, read the interview below :

-how did Slash dementia started?

 Konsta: Slash Dementia was born from ruins of our short-lived hardcore punk project called "Anaalivapina". It was a hot summer and we needed a therapy project. Then we made a couple of fast grind tunes and recorded our first EP "Symptoms Are…".


-do you play or have played in other bands?

 Lassi: We all have played in many different bands for a long time and we've had other bands with the same guys as well.

-what about the split sessions, how was it planned, written, recorded, produced?

 Otto: Drinking lots of alcohol made me do rock 'n' roll things.

Lassi: We had a couple of split requests and we started to work on the new songs based on that. We don't actually know that are the splits even released yet.

Konsta: We knew that it will take a lot of time when the splits will get released so that's why we put it out as a single release as well. So you can think that as a one album as well. About writing, Otto did most of the songs on this one and Lassi did all the lyrics as well. We recorded the album in our rehearsal place. I recorded my other band's drums at the same sessions so I had to blast something like 34 tracks in one day…. Guitars and bass were recorded at my apartment and vocals again in the rehearsal place. I did the recording, mixing and maybe we could say producing as well. I am quite satisfied how the recording sounds. It is quite raw and powerful.

-I felt that the songs on the split sessions have a rock'n'roll vibe a bit more pronounced than the songs on Wheels of Babylon, do you think so?


Konsta: Yes. That's because Otto did all the songs. Maybe we'll blend this combination of rock and grind a bit further on the next album?

-what about the finnish grind scene? how do you fit into it? which bands would you recommend? Konsta: The scene is growing a lot here. There are not too much bands and people know each other well in the scene. And it is great that the quality of the bands is awesome! If I had to say just a few names then I'd say propably Feastem, Cut To Fit, Spawn From Deceit, Nistikko, GAF, Death Toll 80k….. We fit into it pretty okay though we'd like to play more shows.

-what does grindcore means to you?
 
 Otto: I don't think grindcore is a very big deal for me, I like rock n roll.

Lassi: To me it means that I can destroy my voice.

Hene: I don't know. Having fun and playing together.

Konsta: Anger management and a huge wall of noise.

-what's your opinion about the DIY ehics and actions?
  
Otto: Everything what we do is DIY. Everything that goes out of this town where we live is DIY.

-how did you get into grind or extreme music in general?
 
Konsta: I was listening to Carcass' debut album in high school with my friend and it sounded so chaotic and fun so I started to look for more bands like this. Then I found Regurgitate, finnish GAF and Napalm Death and more and more great bands. I wanted to hear something really extreme because I was tired of all of the boring metal stuff that is being played everywhere.

Otto: My friend played me Nasum's Human 2.0. once, there it started.

Lassi: I don't actually even remember when I first heard grindcore…..

Hene: I must say that to me it all started from Cause For Effect, a finnish drum 'n' bass grind core duo!

-what's your favourite record for 2012 so far?
  
Otto: Van Halen - A Different Kind of Truth

Hene: Testament - Dark Roots of Earth

Konsta: Killing Joke - MMXII

Lassi: Alcest - Les Voyages de l'Âme

-what can we expect from Slash dementia in the coming months? more releases planned?
  
Konsta: We'll start working on a new album soon. Then we'll do at least one more split and there's been some ideas of a cover album as well. Also we've been thinking of doing a music video for some songs/songs from the next album.

-any final "full of wisdom" sentence to close the interview?
  
Slash Dementia: Thank you and keep grinding.

Big box-Die now (2012)

Big box is a new hardcore band from Iowa. They say their influence is GG Allin, black metal, Wipers and Nirvana's Bleach. I can hear that in their music, but the band that comes to my mind when I listen to them is Black flag. they have the old school hardcore energy, the slower heavy parts, and the noisy a bit experimental parts, the kind of elements you have in Black flag records. but anyway I don't care what their influences are, what matters to me is that I really enjoy listening to their first record called Die now (after a demo last year). It's like they really tapped in the old school hardcore / punk spirit and are really sucessfull in making some angry and dirty music that sounds for real.

check it on their bandcamp page

Graveyard-Lights out (2012)

Not easy for Sweden's Graveyard to follow such an excellent album as Hisingen blues. and my first impressions about Lights out were a bit mixed. first the ugly cover art. then it's definitely less rocking than Hisingen blues. but is it really a problem? well I think a few more rocking song on the record would have made it more enjoyable maybe. but after a few listen you realise it's still a really cool record, and maybe they were right in choosing to develop another side of their sound. this time I think the focus is on the "hard blues" mood, and they did a really good job in writing new songs that sound like good ol' classics (try Slow motion countdown, the suits, the law & the uniform, endless night) from the hard blues band of the seventies, with a more modern twist to it. They can do more rocking songs on their next record, or try more psychedelia, or whatever direction they want, as long as they keep such a high quality level in the songwriting, the musicianship, the sound, and even the cool lyrics, then that's ok with me...highly recommended.

their website

Jungbluth-st tape (2012)

Jungbluth is a new german band formed by guys from the excellent Alpinist. They recently released a self titled EP on tape. six songs (including an interlude) of screamo / metal of a really good quality. they already had a lot of attention and it's quite deserved. nothing innovative, but really well crafted songs, and it's not too generic either. If they develop a bit more their own style their next record should be really good. I recommend keeping an eye on them.

you can stream / download for free their tape on their Bandcamp

Porta nigra-Fin de siècle (2012)

have you ever tasted absinth? that's what the women on this classy cover is gonna do and if you haven't tried it yet you should. the music? Fin de siècle is the interesting first record by german metallers Porta nigra (released by Debemur morti productions, a really good black metal label). they offer some quality "progressive black metal" (for lack of a better term), with black metal vocals, clean vocals, darkness, melodies, post-punk like synths. they have good musicianship, good songwriting (Megalomaniac being the highlight), and they bring something fresh with their music. it's like absinth, you should try it...

here's their FB page

The kill-make' em suffer (2012)

Australian metal bands knows what extreme means. The kill is another proof of that. Their grindcore is completely straight to your face and relentless with hyper fast blastbeats all the time, trashy riffing forward in the mix and with a sharp cutting sound, and frenzied shrieking vocals. All that makes their latest full lenght Make'em suffer (their first in fact even if they formed more than ten years ago) released this october a really cool and enjoyable listening. Their cover of Slayer's necrophobic is not a surprise due to the trash metal influence in the guitar playing but it's a well done cover and I can't complain if bands cover such a cool song by one of my favourite bands.

The kill's FB

Cattle decapitation-Monolith of inhumanity (2012)

When it comes to death metal I'm usually inclined to the old school more than to the modern and technical death metal and I confess that I paid little attention to the previous Cattle decapitation records. But when you're listening to a record like Monolith of inhumanity, their seventh full lenght released in 2012, you're compelled to recognise its greatness. Impredictible and innovative (they dared adding some weird melodies and clean vocals giving some songs a surprising nearly industrial vibe) they are clearly playing their own brand of death metal allying a faultless technique to a clever songwriting. They kept their mastering of the brutal death grooves and sucessfully added new intersesting elements to it. many songs on the record would deserves a few words, as well as the video clips they made, but I prefer letting you discover it all by yourself. don't fail to do it, Monolith of inhumanity is really a special and awesome record. 

Cattle decapitation website

Witchcraft-Legend (2012)

There's many bands heavily influenced by the 70's but rare are those that do it with as much talent as Witchcraft do. Their new record Legend is a new testimony to that and also show that they continue bit by bit to craft their own style as well.  at times their powerfull and melodic heavy metal / hard rock still reminds strongly  bands like black sabbath (it's evident on the song called Dystopia. the closing song has a riff that's close to the one in Sweet dreams by Eurythmics and covered by Marylin Manson but I won't tell you it's an influence from the 70'!). but these moments are less present than it used to be in their first records and the voice of their singer has enough personnality to make them instantly recognizable. But above all they write really good songs and plays it perfectly. 

Witchcraft website 

Kill the client / Feastem split (2012)

Kill the client and Feastem are releasing a split 12'' vinyl record on the occasion of their common european tour. two really cool grindcore band so I expected quality...and wasn't disappointed. With eight track each they confirms the good opinion I had about them.
Kill the client is quite well known, they are masters at producing a really intense and dense grind (and Brian Fajardo behind is no stranger to it with his usual breath taking relentless and precise drumming).

Feastem from finland are less known but attracted some deserved attention with their latest record called World delirium. what they plays is a ferocious grind, less dense than Kill the client, but that does not means it's less good. just it's more punk / hardcore oriented, more old school grind.

with two bands like that it's no surprise that this split is among the best grind split of the year.

Kill the client side on BC

Feastem side on BC

Bad friends-st 7'' (2012)

Bad friends is a new band (formed in nov 2011) from Albany, NY, that plays a punishing fastcore/powerviolence (I discovered it thanks to Operation grindcore, check the link in my blog list). their self titled 7'' is ten minute of frenzied beats played with all the agressivity needed and with a production that really adds to the damages done. a good demonstration of modern fastcore, going full speed most of the time with a few vicious and noisy sludgy slowing down finishing nicely the job of audio destruction.


highly recommended!
download / stream it on their bandcamp

Deathspell Omega-Drought (2012)

Deathspell Omega is a band very respected as a leading figure among the bands that opened new paths for the black metal genre and widened its scope.  The EP Drought released last summer by Season of mist won't be remembered as one of the most experimental and innovative record of Deathspell omega. Anyway it is a really good record, combining with talent the brutality of black metal and more melodic / ambient post rock moments, moments that on Drought have a kind of "americana" feel, a kind of "desert black metal" vibe, associating warmth and darkness. Maybe that "desert" vibe is the new element in the Deathspell Omega sound brought by Drought. Not a radical change in DO music, but more like a new step in the exploration of its very own style. Like any DO records, if you like quality and ambitious extreme music, it's pretty sure you'll find something that you'll like in it.

Stream it on Bandcamp