lundi 23 décembre 2013

Cut to fit - The doors of deception (2013)

Cut to fit is a finnish grind band that is around since 2008. The doors of deception is their latest release (for the previous album, see my review HERE). the album is all about grind, the old school way, but faster, the typical (and so cool!) punk sound / vibe and the ridiculously fast parts. and by fast I mean not fast like a grind band, I mean fast for a grind band! so you know, really fast then.. and at the same time with a really loose and spontaneous feel, not the cold technical stuff.
if you're into grind you'll love it!

their Bandcamp

their website


their singer answered to my questions by mail, read it below :

-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?

Everything great begins with something less great. I was struggling with my obligatory civilian service in 2008 and was denied all the welfare benefits my peers got (no one payed the rent, for example). I kept telling everyone I'd like to have grindcore band, and I wanted to include my brother, since everyone just kept mocking his skills as a guitarist. Yeah, he did suck, but this was sort of "our thing". I wanted to be careful with who we ask to join the band, but he went drinking with Vili and the next morning he just told me Vili would play the other guitar. Three of us had a shitty proto-band called Havoc Supreme with two other good friends of ours as kids, so it seemed fitting. We found our drummer Miro from the internet. We started "writing" songs in the first rehearsals, and in two or three weeks we had recorded the first demo.. The biggest changes came in 2010. First Vili quit the band. Then Miro got tired of playing gigs and quit. We had an upcoming Obscene Extreme show we did not want to cancel. Eetu went drinking with Vili again and told me the next morning that he'll be playing drums from now on. It  was one of the best things that ever happened.

-do you play or have played in other bands?

Yeah, we have played in shitloads of other bands too. At the moment Vili plays guitar in Inferia, a band older than himself! Eetu plays in a punk band called Zyprexa, has some sort of stoner project and whatever, I just do my own semi-acoustic voodoo-shit while I wait for them to have enough time to focus.

-what do you want to express through your lyrics?

Kinda big question.. We have 116 songs right now, if my memory serves me right. Mainly it's sharing my perception of this reality, but the focus seems to change on every album. I guess it all just paints a picture of our personal growth, my fears and frustrations and things like that. I find it quite hard to connect with most human beings, so there's quite a lot of some sort of feeling of social exclusion. But I am not misanthropic. I love people on the paper, but the reality of their social mind games usually just disappoints me. In one review we we're referred to as "beatnik grinders", I think it seemed quite fitting!

 -what about The doors of deception? In your opinion how is it different from your others records?

 Well, I think they're the best songs we ever had, but we kinda rushed it. I'm not going to tell you we won't do that mistake again, because I know we will. We're impulsive and impatient. It would have been way better if we would have recorded it live. Still, I think those songs just CRUSH! Of course we are still on our way to that "own" sound, I think the next album will be way better. But we prefer playing live, and albums are more like checkpoints in Crash Bandicoot, or something.

-The doors of perception features on the list of my favourite grind records in 2013, what would be your own list of favourite grind (or related) records released this year?

I always have trouble remembering which albums came which year, but I'm quite sure these were all last year:
Feastem - Avaritia Humanae
Nistikko - Kehä
Spawn From Deceit - Woven Promises, Unravelled Victims
Famine Year - Ja Kaiken Kruunaa Kuolema
And of course Magrudergrind's self-titled is the best grind album of any year!

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

I'm not sure about that. In many levels it has helped grindcore, too, to flourish. When the "marginal" things grow bigger, the smaller things in their marginal get more attention too. Personally I'm quite happy about the fact that people who listen to music seem to be more open to new things than few years back. I don't believe we'll ever get our living out of playing grindcore, to us it's more important to have some people who would still be eager to listen to this noise. I acknowledge that being independent lets you have certain creative freedoms..

-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?

Depends entirely on the scale of things. Aldous Huxley predicted in his Brave New World Revisited, that this world will eventually be so bureaucratic it will stumble on it's own impossibility. We are pretty damn close to that point, and it has already sprouted a sort of social microcosmos, where people actually get tired of bureacracy and start doing shit themselves. To me this is always a hope inspiring sight, but then again here in Finland things take much time since majority of people will let the state fuck them sideways for years before they'll decide they are sore enough to get mad. Globally there's kids who claim to have solutions for cleaning pollution from oceans, more efficient electric cars and greener technology, but the dinosaurs of economy keep them from getting funding in fear of change in the global status quo. But the generation of revolutionary ideas (and ideals) is there, waiting. We're not doomed yet. We're just waiting for the dinosaurs to die.

 -I like the fact that you have a real website for the band, with many informations, links, writings, etc,, some thought about it?

I think it's a great way to gather things together, instead of having just a boring chickenshitfacebookpage that won't even work, and reaches only those who are using the service. We use Facebook mostly to write something totally irrelevant and moronic or confusing on our wall.. And when it comes to writing, well, as you might have gathered I write quite a lot, so it is a way of digging deeper into some themes that are involved in our albums. Since you only have something like 8 or 10 verses, you really need to cut your thought to fit the songs, too.

-I read that you're interested in psychedelia (at least one of you!), do you relates it to playing grind? If so, how? Or do you just keep your “psychedelic side” for your other musical project(s)?

I think my interest in psychedelic, consciousness altering experience is pretty much related to grindcore too. Since I don't do any drugs (The rest of the band does whateverthefucktheywant!), our shows are my "drug". I black out instantly when Vili counts the first song in, and the next thing I usually actually realize is lying backstage, out of breath. Again, Huxley helped me understand this thing better. It's the lack of oxygen kicking in, combined with adrenaline rush and somewhat spiritual experience of the pure noise and resonance of the guitar amps and drums.  Also we think intuition is the key of writing music, most of our songs are played live in their early stages, when we usually fuck them up, and then we realize a minor mistake, that actually makes the song even better. Probably not the most conventional approach to writing music.

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

For me personally Neurosis, Tom Waits and all the music Peter Dolving has done. I think we're all influenced at least by Magrudergrind, which we had the honor to play live with, Phil Anselmo's several projects, which we grew up with, and Sepultura, since they are just the best heavy metal band in the world.  We listen to all kinds of music, hip hop, punk, blues, jazz, whatever! And of course it always affects you somehow.

-which bands from your area would you recommend?
The forementioned Nistikko, Spawn From Deceit, Famine Year and Feastem, and some other great groups like Psykoanalyysi, Nothing More To Eat, Lurk, Midget Fetish, which is not a porngrind band, though the name would imply so..

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

All sorts of experiments are always welcome. Music evolves with people, and I think we are on the edge of something new and interesting.

-what is planned for Cut to fit in the coming months?

Hopefully we'll get abroad very soon, we're also working on new songs and hopefully get to play shitloads of shows.

-something to add?

If you want to have us play where-ever-you-happen-to-be, contact us at cuttofit@windowslive.com, we have no sense of self-worth and we're cheap.



samedi 21 décembre 2013

Domovoyd - Oh, sensibility (2013)

Oh, sensibility, by the finnish quartet Domovoyd (released this year on Svart records) is an album in which I like to get lost into. it's a really trippy and addictive listening experience and that's why it made it into my best of heavy / psychedelic album for 2013. one of is strenght is also the originality of its take on the spacey psychedelic kind of doom. they play some occasionnal Sabbath inspired riffs butunlike many doom album it's not all about the riffs, the heavy trippy atmosphere it develops is more created by the thick layers of fuzzy and noisy guitars. the guitars bring some melodies but even more they bring an almost physical impression to the listener, somewhere between heaviness, noise and drone, but with some potent psychedelic effects. and the more you get into the album the more it progress from doom songs to trippy "noisescapes". and you get lost into it, in a smokey haze of guitar sound and hypnotic rythms.

try this sensorial experience on their Bandcamp.




a selection of excellent 2013 releases in various styles

here's a list of some albums I really enjoyed in 2013, which doesn't really fit in my list of best heavy / psychedelic stuff (that you can read HERE),  and won't fit either on the grind list and death / black / trash lists that will come later. I give it in no specific order. your comments are welcome.

-The Funeral and the Twilight - lust        review & interview

-Comadre - st                                         review


-Beastmilk - Climax                                review


-Lux interna - there is light in the body, there is blood in the sun


review

-Ascetic - self initiation                           review


-Coliseum - sister faith                            review & interview


-Ruined families - blank language            review & interview


-The black heart rebellion - har nevo        review


-Correction house - last city zero              review


-Circle of Ouroboros - The final egg         review



vendredi 20 décembre 2013

Ratbomb - Lowcost gangstas (2013)

Warning : play this album and you'll immediately get caught in a whirlwind of trashy grind crust and for the 20 next minutes you'll be seen headbanging with a stupid smile on your face.  
Lowcost gangstas is the second explosive album of the french grinder gang from Stasbourg called Ratbomb. and it's as cool as the first one (reviewed on Blasting days HERE). no big differences from the previous album but that's fine with me. you'll get the grindpunk drumming,  the crusty trash / crossover riffs grinding their way to your brain. the old school vocals are again very dynamic, adding some more energy to some already frenetic songs. it seems that they are not really well known in the grind / punk circles outside of France but I wonder why because their two albums are really excellent, at the same time punishing and fun.

discover it on their Bandcamp.

and, if you understand french, read the interview we did by mail :

-Est-ce que vous pouvez revenir rapidement sur la naissance de Ratbomb ? c'était quoi le projet à la base?

David : Ratbomb est constitué de 5 personnes : Gralex (chant), Ludo (batterie), Antoine (Basse & chant), Max (Guitare et chant) et moi-même (Guitare et chant). Le line-up actuel est issu de notre ancien groupe de Death Metal. Lassé de ce registre qui ne correspondait plus à ce que nous voulions faire, nous nous sommes lancés en novembre 2010 dans l’idée de faire du Grind teinté d’influences Crust, Hardcore, Sludge ou même rock’n’roll. Bref, un registre plus en adéquation avec nos goûts et aspirations en matière de musique.

Après avoir travaillés quelques mois sur des morceaux, sorti en février 2011 une petite démo en ligne intitulée «A few minutes of dirty rage », notre baptême du feu en concert a eu lieu en juillet de la même année, en ouverture de Misery Index. Depuis, nous avons fait notre bout de chemin, deux albums, des concerts en Allemagne, Suisse et République Tchèque et surtout des tas de rencontres.

-je dirais que votre dernier album Lowcost gangstas est dans la continuité du précédent, bien old school grind, avec un côté crustpunk bien présent, comment vous voyez ça?

L’avis que tu te fais de ta propre musique est toujours différent, ça me paraît tomber sous le sens. De mon point de vue, « LowCost gangstas » est plus mature, plus travaillé et plus violent que « Natural born grinders ». Je dirais néanmoins que ce dernier a l’avantage de la spontanéité, mais je le trouve plus imparfait, dans l’interprétation notamment, avec le recul. Et en toute honnêteté, il y a des morceaux sur cet album que je ne peux plus écouter haha.

-quelques mots sur la création de Lowcost gangstas justement ?

Il a été composé et travaillé plus « collectivement » que son prédécesseur, je pense que ça doit le rendre plus cohérent. De plus, nous avons eu le temps de jouer en concert tous les morceaux qui sont dessus, ce qui nous a permis de les travailler, les améliorer et mieux les maîtriser.

Par contre, concernant son enregistrement, nous avons dû travailler très vite. Nous nous étions vu proposer un concert à Strasbourg avec Blockheads et Chiens le 30 mars 2013. Impossible de louper cette bonne occasion de sortir l’album : un concert dans notre ville, avec deux groupes que nous adorons, notamment Blockheads qui a été une de grande source d’inspiration, et organisé par l’Eastern Blasting Crew, association d’amis à nous dont le fondateur, Sam le chti – la bise au passage -, s’occupait de la coproduction de l’album avec son label, EBC Prod.

L’enregistrement a donc débuté le 2 janvier, dans des délais plus que courts : mixage, mastering, pressage, livraison. Au final, les CDs sont arrivés dans la semaine avant le concert !

-De quoi parlent vos textes ?
Sur le premier album, c’était des textes enragés teintés d’idéalisme et d’indignation d’un côté, et une apologie de la fête et de l’alcool de l’autre. Sur le second, nous traitons de sujets « sérieux », globalement en rapport avec les comportements humains que nous voyons autour de nous, mais de façon très cynique. Le titre « LowCost Gangstas » est assez explicité en la matière. Il peut aussi bien parler de nous 5 que de beaucoup de « révoltés » dont la colère mène au ridicule.


-en concert Ratbomb ça donne quoi? Des choses intéressantes à raconter sur vos dernières dates?

En concert, on crie, on saute, on fait des blagues et parfois des bides. On a le sourire quand il y a du monde et que ça bouge dans tous les sens mais on l’a aussi quand il n’y a pas grand monde et que c’est plat. En juin prochain ça fera 5 ans que l’on joue tous les 5, ce qui fait un sacré bout de chemin ensemble pour des jeunes ayant entre 22 et 24 ans. Ayant fait des concerts merdiques (on appelle ça des plans gaufre) comme d’autres extraordinaires, on a appris à avoir le sourire et à être complices à chaque date.

Sur nos derniers concerts, une belle anecdote date de juillet. Nous avons joué en 1ère partie de Brutal Truth à Nancy. C’est un groupe que j’adore et qui était à l’affiche de mon 1er concert de Grind, en 2008. Pendant notre concert, je voyais leur chanteur, Kévin Sharp, qui ne décrochait pas et semblait apprécier notre set depuis son stand de merch. En sortant de scène et en entrant dans les backstages, les 4 gars de Brutal Truth nous ont applaudis et félicités. Ca a eu le mérite de me faire plaisir.

Sinon en septembre nous avons joué à Paris, et Antoine et moi nous sommes perdus pendant plus de deux heures et demie en cherchant la salle à pied, après nous être trompés de métro. Du coup nous sommes arrivés moins d’une heure avant le concert. Le genre d’histoire qui ne fait rire qu’une fois terminée.


-vous avez commencé à composer des nouveaux morceaux? Il faut s'attendre à quoi?

En toute honnêteté, très peu, et ce pour une raison simple : nous sommes adeptes de la composition collective, et Antoine vient de passer 9 mois dans le sud de la France, ce qui a grandement compliqué la donne. Il vient de rentrer, ce qui va faciliter les choses, d’autant que nous sommes très motivés. Les nouveaux morceaux devraient être dans la veine Ratbomb, je ne sais pas quoi dire d’autre !

-Qu’est-ce que vous avez de prévu pour 2014 ?

Pour l’instant, un concert à Strasbourg le 22 février et un autre à Sault-lès-Rethel dans les Ardennes le 8 mars. Nous allons travailler sur de nouveaux morceaux dans l’idée de sortir un EP ou un split dans l’année. Rien de défini, on va travailler et agir comme cela viendra. Et en août 2015 nous avons prévu une tournée à Cuba, on a le temps d’ici là, mais on est déjà bien excités.

-Le grind ça représente quoi pour vous? Qu’est-ce qui vous a attiré dans le grind à la base ?

Le Grindcore est un style de musique, un univers musical et humain qui n’a pas de semblable. Le fait que ce style soit irrécupérable commercialement parlant lui permet de conserver son authenticité. C’est certain, le Grind n’est pas un style homogène et tous les groupes n’ont pas les mêmes influences et ne me plaisent d’ailleurs pas autant. Je préfère les groupes de Grind aux influences Crust et Punk plus que ceux aux influences Death Metal. Mais dans tous les cas, « tant qu’ça blaste », que ça ne tricote pas et que ça ne dure pas trop longtemps, j’y jette une oreille.

Ce qui m’a attiré, personnellement, au-delà de cette authenticité, c’est la violence qui se dégage de ce style de musique. Pas de la brutalité, vraiment de la violence. La musique en tant qu’exutoire, venant de personnes pacifiques mais en colère. Etant également comme ça, j’ai vite été touché par ce style de musique.


-C’est qui les groupes qui vous inspirent ou vous ont inspirés ? Vous avez l’impression de faire partie d’une « scène » ?

Il y en a beaucoup, alors je citerais pèle mêle ceux qui m’ont marqué dans le registre Grind, Crust et/ou Hardcore les dernières années, sans vouloir être exhaustif : Blockheads, Weekend Nachos, Coke Bust, Cursed, The Afternoon Gentlemen, Chiens, Magrudergrind.

 Quant à l’impression de faire partie d’une « scène », j’aurais tendance à dire oui tout en refusant de définir exactement ce qu’est une « scène ». En tout cas, sûrement pas une « attitude », une « morale » ou quelque-chose d’autre d’aussi codé et fermé. La musique Grind ne l’est pas, on ne va pas demander à ses acteurs de l’être. Ce qui m’intéresse, c’est la musique et ce qu’il y a de bons dans chaque personne que je rencontre, pas les polémiques et les jugements. Ce qui nous rassemble est plus fort que ce qui nous divise ;)

-Quelque chose à ajouter pour finir l'interview ?

Je te remercie de m’avoir accordé la parole Dennis, ainsi que pour ta chronique de notre dernier album. Je passe le bonjour à tous nos copains en France et ailleurs, j’ose espérer qu’ils se reconnaîtront. A bientôt sur scène ;)



lundi 16 décembre 2013

Satan's Satyrs- Wild beyond beliefs (2013)

Let's imagine The Stooges recording some medleys with songs from Electric wizard and Discharge between two Raw power sessions for the soundtrack of a B movie about the adventures of a satanist outlaw biker gang in 1969. would have been cool isn't it? (of course Electric wizard and Discharge did not exist at the time but well..). I have the impression that on their first album, Wild beyond beliefs, Satan's satyrs (from Virginia) are trying to catch a sound and a vibe that could be close to this fantasy. anyway they did a good job with a very enjoyable result! it manages to evoques the birth of both punk and heavy metal in the psychedelic times but without sounding really like a retro band (this kind of heavy fuzzy noisy guitar sound did'nt exist before the nineties!). this album is released by Bad omen records a promising new record label from London that is specialising in dealing some fresh early heavy metal sound.

ride it on their BC page!


jeudi 12 décembre 2013

2013 : the heavy, sludgy and / or psychedelic moments

here's my selection of my favourite albums released in 2013 that belongs to the heavy / trippy family : heavy metal, doom, heavy rock, sludge, psychedelic rock and stuff related. 16 albums not really given in a specific order.
of course you're welcome to  say in the comments section which other album would, in your opinion, deserves to be in this kind of list.

-Oranssi pazuzu - Valonielu                           my review

-Windhand - Soma                                          my review

-Subrosa - More constant than the gods        my review

-Horse latitudes - black soil                           my review & interview

-The Body - Christs, redeemers                      my review

-Battilus - concrete sustain                             my review

-Nibiru - Caosgon                                           my review & interview

-Pyramidal - frozen galaxies                          my review

-Seven sisters of sleep - opium morals           my review

-Primitive man - scorn                                    my review

-Blaak heat Shujaa - The edge of an era        my review

-Zodiac - A place to hide                                 my review

-Hollow mirros - Hollow mirrors II                my review

-Valient Thorr - our own masters                   my review

-Naam - vow                                                   my review

-Domovoyd - Oh sensibility                             my review

mercredi 11 décembre 2013

Who's my saviour - Wall of sickness (2013)

Who's my saviour is a german band founded in 2001, they did just a full lenght record, Glasgow smile in 2007, after two splits. and now there is a vinyl 12'' called Wall of sickness released in september through the excellent 7degrees records. it's eight songs but it's more than enough to let the quality of their music shines. it has a strong metallic hardcore basis and they do it the way it should but what set them apart from the countless metal hardcore bands in activity is the smart additions of some others elements to it. the grind parts adds an extra dose of aggression and energy and more diversity in the tempos. but they bring also some more melodic elements to give the songs some more "colouration" and personnality. the overall result gives a listen that is full of speed and relentless beatings but with each songs bringing a renewed "catchiness" with the unpredictible apparition of some different elements (be it melodic, rythmic, the vocals, etc.). recommended!

their Bandcamp

their blog









mardi 10 décembre 2013

Ascetic - Self initiation (2013)

Self initiation is the first album by Ascetic. I t comes from Australia but it is cold. and dark. and slow. and yes it does remind a lot Joy division. it's a new band doing some extremely well crafted post-punk / new wave. they don't really bring something new to the genre but they play it with really good taste. excellent songs good melancholic melodies, good vocals, a softly cold atmosphere growing around you as the album progress.
a new band that matters in the post punk scene.

check it on BC.


samedi 7 décembre 2013

Beatriz Carnicero / Pudrëtë split (2013)



this cool split features two cool bands from from south america and playing fastcore / grindpunk.

on one side you have Beatriz Carnicero from Uruguay. I reviewed their previous releases and you can read it HERE and THERE (you'll find as well an interview in english and spanish that we did by mail last year).
their songs are really short (under one minute), fast and raging, with two vocalist singing in spanish. I really like how they strip the songs from all unecessary "fat" and goes straight to the point with a feel of urgency. they really do what I love in punk / hardcore / grind.

On the other side of the split you have Pudrëtë from Peru. what they do is in a similar vein but i'd say it's more crust, longer songs, more slower parts (but it's still fast overall) and with a sound that is less sharp but more raw and noisy.

both side of the split are really good and enjoyable if you're into this kind of music and I really recommend it.

you can stream / download it from free on Bandcamp



mercredi 4 décembre 2013

Malthusian - MMXIII (demo 2013)

Malthusian is a new death metal band from Ireland. their first release is called demo MMXIII but is released by Invictus productions and with good produciton value so we could say it's more like an EP (three song but around 23 min of music) than a demo (and its members are experienced, some have been in Altar of plagues and Mourning beloveth among others). it's a really solid and interesting release, a start already on a high note. it's rooted in old school death metal, with some elements reminding a bit Morbid angel in it's massive epicness and weird melodies. but it develops also more modern elements in its songwriting, evoking sometimes the darkest doom metal and even more some recent death metal bands like Mitochondrion or Portal, basing more its effects in the building of suffocating and ominous atmospheres than on brute force. we could say they choose with taste their recipes and cook it with all the needed savoir-faire to get their own tasty blend of death metal. if you're into death metal this release really deserves your attention.

its BC page