Green Beret - Standing At The Mouth Of Hell (2016)

Green Beret latest album was released in 2016 so I guess they're not active anymore, but that's a pity since Standing At The Mouth Of Hell is an outstanding piece of old school hardcore in a Madball, AF or Terror vein, and is as good as most albums these bands have released. They're really a band you need to know if you're into that kind of stuff, and I guarentee you would enjoy this album. Recommended!

The BC page.

 

 

Shataan - Weigh of the Wolf (2016)

Shataan is a Californian duo that used to be affiliated with the Black Twilight Circle (its members are also in Arizmenda). Weigh of the Wolf released in 2016 (Iron Bonehead & Crepusculo Negro) is the last album with black metal vocals and maybe also my favourite (even if what they did afterward is interesting and good as well). But even when they were more black metal they already were of a unique kind, with melodies done not only by guitars but also flute, and a dreamy/gaze/psych atmosphere with also acoustic parts, their black /weird folk/psych metal sounds reminds me a bit of Circle of Ouroborus (one of my favourite black metal bands). Highly recommended!

Kuvera B - Mis Demonios (2016)

Kuvera B is a French producer, his music is an unconventional hardcore techno, distorted and heavy, with sneaky ghostly melodies. Mis Demonios, a four tracks release from 2016, on New York Haunted, is maybe my favourite released from him. But Sleepless Nights, also in 2016 is worth mentioning, as well as Meet The Black Dog he released this year. Quality music.

The BC page.

 

AZOK - SAPNP (EP 2016)

Don't know much about this one, seems AZOK is a Japanese band (or from the US?) and this EP? SAPNP was released in 2016 (or was it 2019?). You won't find a lot more underground... and maybe you won't find it at all! Whatever it is, it's excellent ! A kind of crust/low-fi black metal and power electronics/noise hybrid, very raw and very satisfying to my ears... An album from them would be great.

Highly recommended.

Akakabuto - 赤カブト (2016)

Akakabuto is actually a band from Sweden, that I discovered thanks to Terminal Escape. What they play is a super efficient and ferocious mix of råpunk, d-beat and fast hardcore. This tape, called 赤カブト,  recorded in 2015 but probably released in 2016 is their latest, I hope they are still active... Recommended stuff.

 

The BC page 

 

 

Lydia Lunch and Weasel Walter - Brutal Measures (2016)

New episode of my "I should have reviewed this one earlier" season : Brutal Measures from Lydia Lunch and Weasel Walter, released in 2016. They present it as a "longform composition featuring tense spoken word versus manic free drumming outbursts, glued together by cryptic electronics" and that's a spot on description. I'll just add that it's works really well, for an intense result. Strong stuff (The rest of their respective discography is also recommended, If you don't know them already you should take some time to discover what they did before, and you can start with my review of Weasel Walter's Flying Luttenhacher's Shattered Dimension ).

The BC page.

Plasmodium - Entheognosis (2016)

Entheognosis, released in 2016 by the Australian quintet Plasmodium, has unfortunately been largely unnoticed even though it is one of the most impressive, interesting, and best, black metal album of recent years. Why? I suppose because their music is so unusual and challenging (I considered reviewing it for a few years until now but I wasn't really decided about what to say about it ! And there would be so much to say...). I've been listening to the most extreme and radical metal and free jazz for twenty years now, but still wasn't sure how to handle this one! Four tracks in one hour of "undulating psychedelic darkness" as they present it.  It's for sure related to the most dissonant and free form black metal, but most Blut Aus Nord music sounds like pop songs compared to it. Maybe we could say it's in a weird and crazy place somewhere between Blut Aus Nord and John Zorn. Well, just listen to it and you'll see... It's challenging but very worth it, very special and strong. It really deserves more recognition.

The Bandcamp page.

No Balls / Blank Veins - split (2016)

This is an awesome split with two bands influenced by the Brainbombs kind of noise rock, trumpet (for No Balls) and sax (for Blank Veins) included. No Balls even features half members of Brainbombs.
The No Balls tracks are more repetitive (not in a bad way) and are more brutally industrial, whereas the Blank Veins tracks have more diversity, sometimes a bit melodic, sometimes more chaotic and noisy.
Both side of the split are really excellent.

The Lowest Form - Personal Space (2016)

Why the fuck did it take me three years to review this one? since three years I intend to do it but one thing after another prevented me from doing it sooner, you know how it can happen... But don't think this is an average album, it's an excellent one. The Lowest Form is an hardcore band from the UK and Personal Space their second release is filled with some nasty drenched in feedback and noise hardcore. Music truly sounding from the guts and going diretly to your guts through your bleeding ears and disoriented mind.
Highly recommended!

The BC page.

G.L.O.S.S - Girls Living Outside Of Society's Shit demo (2015) + Trans day of revenge (2016)

OK those two release (a demo tape and an EP) were released in 2015 and 2016, and now G.L.O.S.S doesn't exists anymore, but this was one of the very best recent old school hardcore band, so I just had to post about it. If you like hardcore don't sleep on this...

The BC page.

Genghis Khan - Her Absence is My Antichrist (2016)

Her Absence is My Antichrist is the second album from US producer/MC Genghis Khan (member of The Gemini Lounge collective). Often described as influenced by industrial/noise, it is dark and heavy yes, but actually it reminds me a lot more DJ Muggs or Ill Bill, with beats rooted in the nineties. Fisrt album The Broken Love was already good but this one's even better. If you like your hip-hop grim and old-school this is a must listen. Havily recommended!

GK Twitter

Shitstorm - Split 7'' with Radiation (2016)

I noticed just recently that the mighty Shitstorm from Miami released in 2016 their latest stuff, a split with Radiation, 7 songs in 6 minutes of super heavy grindcore (a bit like Cellgraft, also from Miami used to do). Draws from Napalm Death, but focusing on the faster and more brutal side (while keeping the punk feel).
Grindcore as it should be done, in my opinion. I can listen to it many times a day.
Heavily recommended.

As for the Radiation side, I just don't know, it's not online. I suppose it's ok...

The BC page for the Shitstorm side.

Lament Cityscape + Theologian - Soft Tissue (2016)

This one, released two years ago is an interesting collabaration between the band Lament Cityscape and Theologian. On this album called Soft Tissue the post-metal doom of Lament Cityscape and the dark ambient / power electronics of Theologian mix very well together. the result is not really surprising, but who cares since it is well done and works really well ? If you like it dark, heavy and industrial there's no reason you wouldn't like it. Seperately the two are good but maybe they are even better together. A really sucessfull collaboration, at least an enjoyable one to listen to...

The Bandcamp page.

Iszoloscope - False Vacuum (2016)

False Vacuum (released in 2016 by Ant-Zen) is the seventh album from Iszoloscope (Yann Faussurier). It is a good hybrid of dark ambient and industrial techno. The beats are not on every tracks and it reinforce their impact when they comes in. Good armospheres and driving powerfull beats. Good stuff.

The Bandcamp page.

Emanation - Temple Sleep Crystallization (2016)

Temple Sleep Crystallization is the second album from the Spanish one man band Emanation (you can read HERE my review of it's previous one). This is the kind of black metal that would feel at ease in the company of bands like Blut Aus Nord, Aluk Todolo or Chaos Echoes. There's definitely a black metal base (low-fi guitar sound, blast-beats on some traks, a bit of croaked vocals, the anguished feel), but sounding a bit like it's played by free jazz musicians, plunged into a vortex of dissonance, and passed through a krautrock machine (repetitive patterns and the general weirdness). It is a very special and excellent album.

The BC page.

H880 - Noir et Mornes (2018), Czarnadusza (EP 2017), You, Me and the Violence (2016)

I'm briefly reviewing here three releases form the French techno producer H880.
His most recent Noir et Mornes stress the most dark ambient side of his industrial & hardcore techno, you guessed it it's darker and more ambient...
the Czarnadusza EP released in the end of last year is more beat-driven, with a more warehouse rave / hardcore feel.
You, Me and the Violence released in 2016 is more an album, a set in 6 acts, and progress from a quieter dark feel to more direct hardcore tracks. (so we could say it combines the sound of his two releases that followed).
Anyway, those three releases, as well as what he did before, is all good and anyone into the bleaker/darker /industrial side of hardcore techno should pay attention to it and enjoy.

The bandcamp pages :
Noir et Mornes

Czarnadusza

You, Me and the Violence

Our Solar System - In Time (2016)

In Time is the third album from the Swedish prog/fusion/psych rock band Our Solar System, and I'd say it's their best. Two 20 minutes long tracks, mostly instrumental, different each from the other and both good. The first one, my favourite, is mostly sax and piano driven for the melodies, the sax playing a leading role, not just solos here and there. In the second track the guitar is the main melodic element. The album is of the quiet psychedelic kind, not buried under cosmic effects allover, but trippy anyway and the atmosphere created and the melodies are really enjoyable and not already heard countless times.  Good stuff.

The Bandcamp page 

Agathocles - Commence to Mince (2016)

If you know a bit about grind or crust you probably know Agathocles, the Belgian band formed in the eighties having done an incredible number of releases, especially splits, and more than a dozen of albums (they released nearly thirty releases in 2016 for exemple), but they're also well known because they're among the best grind / punk band, or mincecore as they say. Commence to mince is the album they released in 2016 (with Selfmadegod records) and it showcases perfectly the ability of the band to deliver all you want from a grind / punk band. Of course a discography so immense have some highs and lows, Commence to Mince is among the highs. Good stuff, keep going Agathocles!

The BC page. 

Gendo Ikari - Unit 1 (2016)

2016 was a good year for new grind bands and Gendo Ikari, from Scotland are another proof with their first release called Unit 1. Ten minutes (7 songs) of excellent grind, with a balance of chaos and groove that reminds me a bit Brutal Truth. Each track is really good, and with enough diversity in rhythms so that it grabs your attention from the start and never let you go. They seemed to have escaped many radars but that should be corrected and probably will be, because they are not only promising but already very strong. Highly recommended!

Their BC page.

Violent Magic Orchestra - Catastrophic Anonymous (2016)

Violent Magic Orchestra is a very weird beast, don't get fooled by the fact their album Catastrophic Anonymous was released (in december 2016) by Throatruiner Records, it's completely different stuff. it's a band composed by the impredictable Japanese collective Vampilia, the French techno producer Paul Régimbeau (Mondkopf), and noise musician Pete Swanson (ex-Yellow Swans), with also vocal contributions by Chip King (The Body) and Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Sunno)))). The result could be loosely described as some kind of industrial black metal, with somewhat baroque melodic orchestration (coming from Vampilia I suppose). Most tracks are both really good and surprising  and it's a very interesting and enjoyable album. An exemple of a successfull collaboration and an excellently mastered first album (first together, not a first for each of them of course, all are experienced musicians). I hope they'll make some music together again. Recommended stuff!

The Bandcamp page.