Massachusetts is a coffin vol.3

Massachusetts is a coffin are compilations done by Where it ends zine, they recently released the volume 3 and like the previous ones (see HERE my review of volume 2) this one offers a great selections of good hardcore songs by bands from Massachusetts, 31 songs covering a wide range  of different hardcore styles, from beatdown (like Powerwolves or Revenge) to more emo stuff (like My fictions). the overall tonality is more aggressive metallic hardcore than melodic hardcore. if you're into the hard side hardcore don't fail to check it!

Massachusetts is a coffin vol.3 on BC

Wormlust - The feral wisdom (2013)

Iceland is a good provider of weird music and Wormlust, the one man band of HV Lyngdal  is another good exemple. Wormlust display a special approach of atmospheric black metal with a strong dose of dissonant guitar work and dark psychedelia. The cover art with it's mixture of Art nouveau revisited byt he 60' psychedelic movement and traditional black metal imagery represent well the content of its first full lenght called The feral wisdom, a work that could be the soundtrack to some colourfull demented nightmares (in wicked lysergik technicolor!). or to quote it's Bandcamp page "Wormlust projects astral body horrors to the cosmos from Iceland.". it's surprising and excellent along its four songs and I really recommend it, one of my best black metal discoveries of the last months.

check it (and the other Wormlust releases) on its BC page.

and read the interview we did by mail : 

-to start with, can you tell us how did you formed Wormlust? what was the project and is the fact that you do it as a one man man a choice or a result of circumstances.

I awoke from a dream, my mind still fragmented but I remember what I saw. A ghostly musical troupe that appeared before me out of focus and menacing to the point of absolute terror. Knowing that I would never hear or see this band in this reality I guess you could say that I have formed a tribute band to the band of my nightmares. During that time I had started to loose interest in a band that I was in at the time, a band where all creative control had previously been mine. This  new vessel was a excellent way to not to have to put up with mediocre music being made just because egos needed pleasing. Kind of an empty god-head to fill.

-what about The feral wisdom, how would you compare it with your previous releases?

It was just exhaustive as always but over a longer period that before, the previous releases had all been done over a few days - staying awake for days until the they were completed (summoning strength until everything around you and inside you starts to feel brittle). With this one there was much more time, planning and of course more songs . Musically you could call it a summation of what came before.

-what was the process of making the songs of Feral wisdom from writing to producing?

Sitting down with a guitar, creating something carthartic and recording it. Nothing more to it. What state I find myself in when doing so is another matter though, sometimes life deals forth so much shit that you start to get tunnel vision, thats when it´s really like a clenching fire to create art. Other times experiments with sleep deprivation, hallucingenics and other artificially applied stimulants are all interesting additions to the mix.

-I really like the weird, trippy, psychedelic, element of your music, do you think it's a way of giving more depht and evocative power to the black metal basis, whereas traditionnal black metal, done and redone many times, sounds all too often generic, unidimensional and boring?

There are really no absolutes to art and creation, sometimes worship/clone bands are a good listen and other times not. You could make the argument f.i that everyone that uses watercolors are creating something that is just generic and boring whereas the nuances that each individual brings forth are probably more different from each other on a closer inspection than you originally thought.Personally I felt like mating together two forms of music that I enjoy and that was instinctually done so, not because of esoteric fears for the genre.

-have you started to write new songs, have any idea about how the next record gonna be?
Yes and no, I continue to write music and then discard it. Failing myself on a constant basis. I had hoped to use something from an album I recorded before "The feral wisdom" that I named "Dauðadá" but nomenclature aside it found a better home in the trash so now it´s back to the starting point. I do have a pretty good idea of how it will be, a sparser record with the guitars taking the center role this time instead of the overdubs -  stemming mainly from something that I learned after making the first album. That while piling endless musical ideas unto a song is fine there is really no need to have them all at the same time and continously.

-what about the lyrics?

Nothing has really been set in stone so far , only scattered phrases, a few trips to libraries and the occasional purchase of occult literature. Usually words come pouring of the self imposed thematic confines these three words; 1)Astral 2)Body 3)Horrors which can be transformed into the vast lyrical arena of 1)spirituality 2)mortality 3)Fears and anxieties realized. Astral Body Horrors also has inherent to it the eternal, the mortal and chaos, a kind of personal evocation to the spaces inbetween matter and to space, filled with matter.

-do you sing in icelandic because it better suits the lyrics and the music, or just because it felt more spontaneous for you to do so?
A band in iceland Vansköpun got me thinking about the power of my mother tounge and it´s beauty, especially works of  early 19th century poets such as Steinn Steinarr. In icelandic truly even the smallest words can have multiple meanings and almost unlimited illustrative potential, in hindsight though most of that doesn´t translate very well into english so the next project will most likely be in icelandic. Climbing the temple stairs to address the most ears.

-how is the metal scene in Iceland? which bands would you recommend?
 I withdrew myself from that world in the last decade but I do keep up with the releases that occasionally come out of it, from bands such Sinmara, Svartidauði, Vansköpun and Carpe Noctem  which are all now among the best in the world I find, a far cry from when I played in the only active black metal band in the whole country and what we had to offer wasn´t that great.  As for icelandic psychedelia from the turn of the 60´s -Trúbrot, Svanfridur, Náttúra, Icecross are hidden gems.

-do you think some bands (not only icelandic) play a music which could be related to yours? an album like Kosmonument by Oranssi pazuzu comes to my mind for exemple?

Not really. Otherwise I would just listen to the bands that sound like what I were doing.

-which evolution would you like to see for underground music in the future?

No idea, most likely simultaneous stagnation and progression as always - there will be fads that will bring forth definitive releases  but in the end all will be lost to the strands of time.  I would like to say that living in the present is more important but saying so as a person that is neck deep in obsessive nostalgia for a time that came before me would be a bit hypocritical.

-what is planned for Wormlust in the coming months?
The next releases.

-a final "full of (feral?) wisdom" sentence to close the interview?
I possess no wisdom, hopefully though the preceding Q&A is of interest to people that read your site.
Good luck in your endeavours.

To the point - Shit You Should Have Bought On Vinyl The First Time Around (2013)

To the point is a cool grind band, fast stuff played really tight and with precise rythms, but still with a "primitive"  old school grind vibe. it's a band with Chris Dodge who also played in Spazz and East wast blast test, and he's giving as free downloads on his blog a compilation of To the point releases called Shit You Should Have Bought On Vinyl The First Time Around.

here's what he has to say about it :

"Here's a collection of stuff from one of my bands that's actually still around:  TO THE POINT

First 8 songs are from the split 7" with Yacopsae on the Rot Box 3x7" collection, released on Fucking Kill Records from Germany.
Tracks 9-11 are from our first one-sided 7" "Mentally Checked Out". Only 160 copies of that one.
Tracks 12-14 are from our second one-sided 7" "Success In Failure".  Only 300 copies there.
Track 15 is from the upcoming split 10" with Pick Your Side.
Track 16 is from the upcoming split 7" with ACxDC.

I've entitled this collection "Shit You Should Have Bought On Vinyl The First Time Around", for obvious reasons...

Prepare to release your inner Caveman! "

find it (with other suff related to his different bands) HERE on his blog called Dodgy sounds.

thank you Chris for sharing!

The body - Christs, Redeemers (2013)

Nowadays you'll find many droning doom band. ok. but none like The body.

Christs, redeemers the new album (out in october) of the duo from Portland, is of course heavy, I mean really heavy, slow and noisy, with nightmarish shrieks as vocals. but not only that, with their drone and noise bordering ambient / industrial, some strings parts and melodic female vocals (yes! these vocals are performed by The assembly of light choir) they create a kind of eerie atmosphere. bleak misery, nihilism, but also light. this atmosphere that coupled with the organic feel of the heavy elements (drums and bass, I mean a lot of really heavy bass), gives this album a kind of haunted presence, slowly infiltrating the listener. it's not music as usual, it's truly a sonic experience. it's not for everybody but I recommend you try it. 

their Bandcamp (but without the new album).

one of the new song (to attempt openness) streaming here.

Progress of inhumanity - Economy extortion (2013)

I discovered this greek grindpunk band thanks to the new volume of the Monomaniac series (by Blastbeat Mailmurder production,see two post below). and I'm really glad I did because Progress of inhumanity is a band that carries everything I like in this kind of music. the relentless balstbeating agression, the punk rythms as well, the angry vocals really fitting the music and good songwriting putting aside everything that would be useless in the songs, so all the energy is concentrated and goes straight to the point. the perfect combination of speed and groove that put a smile on my face and makes me "air drum" every time I listen to it. what they do is not really special in that they're bringing something new, it's just that it's especially well done, which is more than enough! Economy extortion is their second release, their first one, Escalating decay being already excellent as well.
one of my favourite grind and hardcore release for this year.

 check their bandcamp.

and read the interview we did by mail :

-can you go back to the origin of the band and tell us how it happened? what was he project at the start and how have you evolved since the beginning of the band?

The band started as a three piece in 2006 , consisting of Nick on drums , Kostas on guitars and Patroklos on vocals ,with the purpose of playing fast /ugly stuff .There was no bassist at the time but we kept going , rehearsing , making songs, playing gigs etc. After we did the “escalating decay” cd in 2010 , Kostas Alatas came in and filled in the bass player position. This lineup is up to present day . Now with the bass involved , there is a different perspective in sound. more raw = more intense…

-do you play or have played in other bands?

Nick used to play drums in Vulnus (brutal death metal). Nowadays is doing Cut Off (fastcore/powerviolence) as well. Kostas (bass) is playing in Mencea (technical death metal) and Ravencult (black metal)

-the band is called Progress of inhumanity, I suppose we can take it as an observation concerning the state of the world. how in your opinion inhumanity is progressing, and do you think we can stop this progression and how?

Every day we see the decadence of human society especially the self-centered society we live in, so inhumanity comes in many forms. Suppression and exploitation is everywhere : in schools , in the army(army is obligatory in Greece), in the system , human relations , your everyday job , unemployment , the streets , through hunger , police brutality. Fascism and celebration of greed are the current issues we have to face, now more than ever…

-what do you want to express through your lyrics?

Nothing more than a personal opinion on shit we face every day.

-how does the situation in Greece affects your music and your relation to it?

Every day we feel more and more caged up , so we try to let all the anger in the music. It surely affects us in any way, that’s the reason we play fast and raging stuff. Greece is a trainwreck nowadays and we see no positive future ahead. you can feel that in our lyrics.

-what about Economy extortion? In your opinion how is it different from Escalating decay

We think that it’s a more spontaneous and raw recording, since the whole thing was recorded live in one day and we added the vocals next. There is a small change in the music concerning the fact that we have a new instrument in the mix(bass). I guess it sounds a bit more punkish and crude.

-do you think grindcore (or grind related hardcore music) can be undestood as a reaction against the recuperation and commodification of punk?

Yes, but not easily, because most people think that this is crappy noise. As long as they don’t like the music , they wouldn’t be in the position of even opening the record sheet , finding out what the hell is all about…

-do you think that the DIY way of action could be a global alternative or do you see it more as a practical way of growing for an underground band?

We believe that the DIY action IS global alternative itself. Bands making their own records, their own recordings ,doing gigs and working with friends … it’s a growing network of independent thinkers. We prefer this way because we can really build bridges between people rather than having vacant personal relationships. “Doing it yourself” is very healthy for us. 

 

-which bands were more influential for you, either for the music or for other things?

Old Napalm Death for sure, S.O.D. , Suicidal Tendencies, Regurgitate, Disrupt, Brutal Truth, Japanese grindcore, some American hardcore, etc. We all listen to tons of bands, and our tastes vary from Brutal Death Metal to Crossover, Thrash and sludgy stuff and we try to mix it up in a personal perspective.

-which bands from your area would you recommend?

Delete The Mass, Slavebreed, Inveracity, Ravencult, Dead Congregation, Sarabante, Head Cleaner, Wreckage, Cut Off, Gutter, Raw Noise Apes, there are some great bands lurking in the greek underground.

-what about your part in the new Monomaniac compilation?

Panos Agoros is a long time friend and we liked the first compilation when it popped, so he offered as a spot for the next monomaniac, the answer was an immediate yes. We like this compilation coz it’s like tasting different shots rapidly in a bar! We like the fact there are so different artists in it.

-what is planned for Progress of inhumanity in the coming months?

Some gigs here and there to play live our new release and have fun, more rehearsals for new material, and we’ll try to play abroad some time. Anyone interested in some furious grindcore can get in touch here:

progressofinhumanity@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/progressofinhumanity

www.progressofinhumanity.bandcamp.com

The Funeral and the Twilight - Lust (2013)

The funeral and the twilight used to be a band in a gothic rock / post punk vein with some theatrical singing, sounding a bit like Slug guts (without saxophone) or early Bad seeds. it was a good band but with the evolution of their sound they are becoming something more special and exiting, injecting life and a dangerous vibe in the no-wave rock formula. it started a bit with their previous release, Sullen life, blighted death but is becoming really evident with their new tape called lust.  it's a bit like they started where Lydia Lunch and her Teenage Jesus and the Jerks left..but with the addition some crust / grind drumming! yes no-wave with blast beat, cool isn't it? a brilliant way to add some more radicality to an already quite sharp and acid take on the darkest noisiest side of punk rock. that's what you'll find in the first side of the tape, less that one minutes grinding no-wave angry songs. the other side being a long song in a more classic gothic rock style. more classic but good as well.
 a really interesting evolution for a band and a really enjoyable and recommended release. one of my favourite for 2013 yet.

check their Bandcamp.  


and read this interview we did by mail :

-can you present The funeral and the twilight, how did the band formed and what was the project at the start?


NOAH: Ben is the founder of the band, and can give the complete history; I joined around December 2011, having known the band for a few years already.

BEN: I started tfatt with some close friends back home in California in 2003. It has always been focused on the darker/negative sides of life, but musically was more pop goth/post punk then. It even evolved into a six person noise group with two drummers before a few of us moved to Colorado. That was where I met Brandon. He joined when we moved to Minneapolis in late 2007. 

-do you play or have played in other bands?
NOAH:  I was in several bands in North Dakota, including Toxic Shock Syndrome, Fine Young Knives, Solar Systems, and War On God.  I currently have a solo project called Lazarus Long.

BEN: I play guitar in a band called Submission. Brandon plays drums in a band called Bloat. They are really great.

-on the first half of your new release, for the first time (or nearly) the drumming is really agressive and the songs really short and fast, a bit like if you played grindcore / crust cover of your "usual" songs. what happened?

NOAH: After playing a few shows with our friends Brain Tumors around TotalFest in 2012, either Ben or Brandon suggested we do a 'grindtape'; being a long time fan of grindcore, crust, and power-violence, I responded with a resounding 'FUCK YEAH!' Despite the rather flip manner in which we decided to do this, I feel we ended up with a rather interesting look at the more aggressive facets of our sound.

BEN: I really liked the idea and thought it would be rad to sing and play guitar like I "normally" do while Noah and Brandon just totally destroy.


 
-is the "other" song, cambion asmodeus, a way to make a tape with one side angry and another side more quiet. so people can choose that one that suits their mood of the moment the most? or is it a way to "reassure" people and show that you've not turned metal completely?

NOAH: I'm very interested in quiet/loud dynamics. Loud and fast doesn't mean anything with out some contrast.  I don't think we're at all interested in "reassuring" our audience, in fact I'd say being unsettling is a big part of what TFATT is about.

BEN: We wanted to do a long noise track for the b side, but ended up with a more off putting instrumental. The song was mostly us just feeding off each other.


-are the noisy ambient interludes in the first part a way to let people breathe between to raging blast, or just something you recorded and wanted to use?

NOAH: Feedback is something we play with a lot live, and those interludes are something of an extension of that. They were recorded especially for this recording, done at the same time we did the vocals.  Everything else was recorded live, mostly in one take. 

Ben: Yeah, I really wanted this tape to be a grind/noise/ambient experiment for us.


-I'd say what you play is around gothic rock and noisy post-punk stuff or no-wave, around Birthday party and Lydia Lunch & Teenage Jesus and the jerks. is it scenes that influenced you?

NOAH: Genre labels are always a little nebulous, but all the things you mentioned are pretty relevant.  I can't speak for the others, but I feel there is a connection to underground extreme music, as well as hints of psychedelia and country.  Ultimately, it's more a feeling than a "sound" that defines us.

Ben: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds are my favorite band. Most of the records I own are goth, post punk, and death rock. I am also very influenced by 80's country music and pop music from the 50's and 60's.

-I think your music could really fit as a soundtrack to some occult film noir or some romantic / fin de siècle poetry. other idea? what would you pick to go with your music?

NOAH: Once again your observations are pretty accurate.  I tend to visualize natural forces, like storm clouds, or high winds.  But really any dark, perverse, and/or powerful imagery can fit.

Ben: I see death, decay, departures, doom, and gloom. Something creepy or disturbing.

-have you started writing new songs, how will be the next record?

NOAH: We have been playing a number of new songs for a while now, and hope to be recording before the end of the year.  The next full length will be a pretty natural progression for the band.

Ben: Yeah, the new songs are something a little different but easily recognizable as our sound. Brandon's drumming on the new songs are the best he has ever done, very remarkable and creative.

-which bands from your area (or from anywhere else) would you recommend?
NOAH: We're very fortunate to be in a great music city like Minneapolis.  It seems like every band we know in the Cities is incredible.  CLAPS, Burger Thirst, Serenghetto, Crimes, Hollow Boys, Prostate, With A Gun For a Face, Kitten Forever, Much Worse... The list just goes on and on.

Ben: Yes, also Oaks, Thunderbolt Pagoda, Shakin' Babies, False, Brain Tumors, and many more. Great bands from elsewhere I would recommend are: Mr. Dad (Minot), Populations (Chicago), Loto Ball Show (LA), DEAD (Aus), Smoker (Knoxville),  Species (OLY), Singing Knives (PDX), and Pink Lightning (Detroit).


-which evolution would you like to see for the underground music in the future?
NOAH:  Part of what I love about music is the unpredictable nature of trends, so I wouldn't deign to dictate it's course; that said, I'd like to see support for music by communities increased to include the less mainstream corners of the music scenes.  Important work is being done all the time in spite of a lack of resources and/or exposure.  A bit more emphasis on art and less on profit would be a welcome change.

-a final "full of wisdom" sentence to end the interview?


NOAH: Do cool stuff, meet cool people.

Ben: Death is the end

Noisem - Agony Defined (2013)

Noisem is a new band from Baltimore, and they released a really good first record, Agony Defined, through A389. But wait, it's not another hardcore metal album. It's cooler and more exiting than that (I suppose the fact that A389 is also based in Baltimore explains the association. Plus it looks like people in A389 recognize quality even when it's not hardcore!). What Noisem plays is all-out metal, old school tHrash metal. It sounds like Slayer mixed with the rawer German tHrash sound (early Kreator, Sodom). And they do that with all the frenetic energy needed plus a modern production. Nothing really new but really pleasing music, and quality thrash metal gets rarer nowadays so it's good to see a new band doing that and doing it the way it should.

Enjoy it on BC


The guys answered to my questions by mail, so thanks to them you can read below what they have to say about Noisem and Agony defined :

-can you present Noisem, how did the band formed and what was the project at the start? 

SP- Noisem is the result of 5 years of lineup and name changes. Over those years we also honed our songwriting craft to what you hear on Agony Defined. It's basically been a slow but steady process of finding what we want to do and what works best for us.

 -do you play or have played in other bands?

SP- Iv'e been playing music and performing for almost as long as iv'e been a live. We all have side projects and other musical endeavors we poke at once in a while but for me Noisem is my main focus.

HP- We're always starting different bands, mostly non serious bands like our group of improvised bands.

-what about your first album, how did you wrote and recorded it?

SP- It was written between winter 2011 and summer 2012. We recorded demo after demo and played shows. When it came time to finally record it professionally with Kevin Bernsten we had been playing these songs for a while. We tracked everything in 2 and a half days at Developing Nations.


HP- The recording process was really smooth. Kevin knows exactly what he's doing and is such an easy guy to work with.

-how did you get signed on A389? I supposed that the fact that hey are based in Baltimore like you made it quite a "logical" thing? 

SP- Dom had contacted with interest of hearing our stuff, but we didn't have anything, He eventually invited us to play the A389 9th anniversary bash and almost immediately we began our incredible working relationship and friendship.

-did the "thrash metal revival" of the last years played a part in the obvious thrash metal influences in your music or were you from the start directly into old thrash bands?

SP- Of course we listened to tons of the newer bands coming out a few years ago but for the most part we mainly took influence from the older bands.

HP- I'd say that some of the newer bands in a way, pushed us to start actually doing things with this band. But when it comes to our song craft, most of the influence came from the original wave of thrash.

-i'd say Slayer and German bands like Kreator or Sodom are maybe the closer to the kind of thrash you craft, do you think so? Are there other thrash bands that were influential for your music?

SP- Definitely. Exodus was also another band that led to us wanting to play faster, heavier, crazier stuff. Bands like Dark Angel, Evil Dead and Demolition Hammer are also pretty big influences on us.

-I guess old school death metal is an influence as well? Which bands do you like, Cannibal corpse, obituary?

SP- For the most part its early Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Pestilence, Terrorizer and Repulsion.

-which is your favourite song in Agony Defined, and why?

SP- Probably Severed. Its just one of those songs that always gets the adrenaline flowing a little harder than the rest of the songs.

HP- I'd have to agree. Severed has been my favorite since it was written last year.

-have you started writing new songs, how will be the next record?

SP- We have been writing and next week we will be entering Developing Nations to record with Kevin again for a few releases for next year.

-which bands from your area (or from anywhere else) would you recommend?

SP- Full of Hell, Dead Gods, Barbelith. Always the coolest guys and a pleasure to play with.

HP- It's always fun to play with Universal Remonster, Budd Dwyer and Ilsa.

-which evolution would you like to see for underground music in the future?

HP- I would just like to see the great bands from around here keep doing it and hopefully all the work they put into it pays off.

-you're currently on tour, is it your first one, how is it? 

SP- We actually just got back at the time of us writing this. This was our second tour and it was great. We got to hang out with Full of Hell and travel to places we've never been.

HP- It was a great tour and the bands that played each night killed it.

-what is planned for Noisem in the coming months?

SP- More touring, more writing, more chilaxin, and probably some GTA 5 thrown in for good measure.

HP- And hopefully some more releases

-Final words?

HP- Thanks for your concern.

Monomaniac vol 2&3 (2013)

with many compilations I skip most of the songs after listening to half of it. but there's no chance I'll do that with the vol 2&3 (released together on one LP) of the Monomaniac series.
the brilliant idea of the Monomaniac concept is that the songs must be less or around 1 minutes (in this one the longer is 1min 40sec), so the bands have to write songs that goes straight to the point, no useless intro bullshit , only stuff that grips you immediately.  another element of the Monomaniac series is that it features only previously unrealeased songs so you don't know it already even if you know the band. what also makes the excellence of these comps is the quality of the bands, Panos Agoros, the man behind Blastbeat Mailmurder productions and the Monomaniac series (among other BBMM releases), clearly knows the extreme metal underground and select the finest bands from Greece and other countries, mostly Black, death, grind, and what is in between and around. the bands on the 2 & 3 Monomaniac volumes are the following :

WITCHRIST, MONOMAKH, SKULLSHITTER, NOCTURNAL VOMIT, NADIWRATH, END, HAAPOJA, DEPHOSPHORUS, OMEGA MONOLITH, BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA, WAKE, PROGRESS OF INHUMANITY, GODS OF CHAOS, MUTANT SUPREMACY, RAVENCULT, BURIAL HORDES, WEREGOAT, DODSFERD, NECROSADIST.

check this on its Bandcamp page.

 it's on my "heavy rotation" list, as well as the releases of the bands I discovered or rediscovered thanks to it. no need to say it's highly recommended stuff.


ps : Here's the interview we did with Panos Agoros about the first Monomaniac volume, with also the link to my review of it.

Blaak heat shujaa - The edge of an era (2013)

Blaack heat shujaa is a french band now based in California. they recorded their second album called The edge of an era with Scott Reeder and released it through Tee pee records. good references then. does the music lives up to that? yes it sure does! with its trippy psychedelic elements their desert rock / stoner has extra flavours and colours that makes it more interesing than usual stoner rock. their songs develop some trippy, hypnotic melodies and grooves more than standard stoner rocking. and they do it with personnality and taste. just look at the cool cover artwork it represent well the kind of vibe they build.  recommended if you like the more psychedelic side of rock.

their Bandcamp.

Wrathprayer - The Sun of Moloch: The Sublimation of Sulphur's Essence Which Spawns Death and Life (2012)

Wrathprayer is a chilean trio and Sun of Moloch, released last year on Nuclear war now, is their impressive first full lenght. they play a kind of old school death / black metal with mostly mid tempo and a focus on building dark atmospheres more than on brutality. a bit like bands like Ritual necromancy or Antediluvian, but less chatic and dissonant and with some more black metal influenced riffing. the vocals are nightmarish the way it should and the drumming simple but really fitting and efficient. but above all they succeed in channeling a fascinating vibe of "primitive evil" through their songs.


dive into the darkness

Captain Cleanoff / War of the second dragon 7'' split (2013)

Excellent split between two cool grind band.

the 3 songs by Captain Cleanoff from Australia are old school classic grind of the finest quality, and if you like early grind these songs sure will please you. one song is a Righteous pig cover (I told you it's good old school grind!).

the 3 other songs are by War of the second dragon, a new band formed around Shane Embury with other guys from Birmingham (England), including Fukpig's screamer. Shane is there from the beginning but the grindcore of his band sounds clearly the more modern of the split! but it's not so surpising since we know that he never lost touch with the evolutions of extreme music.
I think this split is the first release of the band and it's a great introduction. it's very intense, very fast, heavy, merciless and pissed off, with also some epic grooves.

in conclusion it's a highly recommended split, I played it many times and I'm waiting for the next releases of these two bands.

you can get it HERE.

Lux interna - There is light in the body, there is blood in the sun (2013)

Lux interna is a very good californian band playing some gothic americana (think 16 horsepower or Nick cave and the Bad seeds) with maybe a slight neofolk touch. their new album, There is light in the body, there is blood in the sun, is maybe their best one. anyway it's excellent. the great male / female vocals brings emotions in additions to the the guitars (including banjo) and strings dark melodies (with also some subtle noisy drones) while the rythmic elements gives the songs an hypnotic, ritualistic and solemn vibe. each songs are deep and crafted with taste making the album a masterpiece. highly recommended.

you can check it on their Bandcamp page.