Triage - Triage (2020)

Triage is a band with three guys from Kill The Client : vocalist Champ Morgan, bassist/guitarist Chris Richardson and Bryan Fajardo on the drums. They make a good mix of crossover trash, old school death metal and grind. We could say it sound somewhere between Napalm Death and Bolt Thrower. Old school pleasure!

The BC page.

Ghostface Killah - Ghostface Killahs (2019)

In the 21th contury Ghostface Killah has probably been the most reliable and consistent member of the Wu-Tang, and Ghostface Killahs, if it's for sure not the best thing he did, even solo (the collaboration with Badbadnotgood for exemple was better), is still an enjoyable old school hip-hop album, with a few really good tracks, the best being the opening one with a Method Man and Cappadonna featuring (also from the Wu-Tang galaxy Inspectah Deck and Masta Killa are featured in the album).
Some tracks are average but overall the album is still easily better than most of today's rap production.

Feastem - Graveyard Earth (2020)

Feastem are back with another album, seven years after the previous one (which I reviewed at the time HERE), and if you're in need of a fresh dose of fast and modern grind, Graveyard Earth would be a fine pick.

The BC page.

Weeping Icon - Weeping Icon (2019)

Really good first album (after two shorter releases) from these New York girls. Weeping Icon music could loosely be described as a noisier, rawer and darker Sonic Youth (have you ever wanted SY to be noisier, rawer and darker? yeah, I did too!). Anyway... Weeping Icon are excellent.

The BC page.

Macabre Demise - Awakening (2020)

Awakening is the third album from the German band Macabre Demise. Most of the time it is mid tempo brutal death, slamming a bit, grooving more than a bit, and they also inject some change of pace and diversity with grind elements. Well done and enjoyable release, I like it!

The Bandcamp page.

Heavens Blade - Heavens Blade (2019)

Heavens Blade is the hardcore side project from the Youth Code vocalist Sara Taylor and with Suicide Silence drummer Alex Lopez, Rob Zombie bassist Piggy D. (on guitar) and former Marilyn Manson bassist Fred Sablan. But what they do is quite traditional old school style hardcore, and they do it well on this EP of five straight to the point no bullshit hardcore songs. Cool stuff.

The BC page

Pharmakon - Devour (2019)

To be honest I wasn't fully convinced by Pharmakon (Margaret Chardiet) previous releases, I don't know if Devour, released last year by Sacred Bones (but she's probably their noisiest and most extreme artist), is better or if I just listen differently to her music, but anyway I find this one really good. Excellent power electronics, with a bit of rhythm and somewhat melodies deep in the background, making each of tracks a distinct and memorable one.

The Bandcamp page.

ESP Mayhem - Bloodsportswear (2020)

Was starting to despair about finding a 2020 release that I'd like to review, so far none had made a big impression on me... until I found this one! Exciting stuff! Coming from my favourite grind dealers Nerve Altar records ESP Mayhem is a new band composed of experienced musicians from the Australian extreme scene (Internal Rot, Incinerated, Headless Death, etc.). On Bloodsportswear what they play is grind with synth instead of guitars, one vocalist, one drummer, and three synth players!
You could expect something "cheesy" but it's not at all, it sounds different but still definitely grind, maybe it could evoke something like "sci-fi grind". Anyway it's really well done, with some excellent tracks, ferocious and catchy in their weird ways. After the 10 minutes of those 8 tracks you'll just be clicking "play" again before you realize it. I highly recommend you try it!

The BC page.