Suzuki Junzo / Tetuzi Akiyama - Evaporation of Holy Water (2022)

Suzuki Junzo / Tetuzi Akiyama are two guitarists, prominent members of the Japanese psych rock music scene. On Evaporation of Holy Water (released by Utech Records) they join forces for a dual psych/noise guitar radical attack. Guitars, guitars, guitars, and that's all. But it's a lot! A powerful trip.   

The Bandcamp page.

 

Dead Neanderthals - Rat Licker (2021)

Dead Neanderthals is a Dutch noise/free jazz duo that like experimenting with various collaborations and various changes of instruments and styles, they recently did a death/doom album and a drone album with synths, and their latest one Rat Licker see them back at their most basic formations (Rene on drums and Otto on sax) and is a grind/jazz album, reminding the most grind moments of Naked City or Painkiller. The result is as good as you could expect from them. Recommended!

 The BC page.

Dead Neanderthals - Ghosts (2019)

On this new album called Ghosts (again with Utech Records) Dead Neanderthals teamed with Scott Hedrick, guitarist in the metal band Skeletonwitch (but don't expect riffs). The two long tracks composing the album are both exclelent. Bone Hill is repetitive drumming and we could say drones from the sax and guitar (the sax sounding a bit like ghosts moaning, or at least I can imagine that) slowly accelerating and going crescendo until the final climax. A captivating track. Death Bell starts more quiet but also has a more intense ending with the sax howling. Another really good tracks also a bit different from what they did before. Possibly their best release since Womb of God (but everything they did is worth checking).
Recommended.

The Bandcamp page.

Turbohaler - Metal Vessel Music (2019)

Turbohaler is a noisegrind duo (drums, guitar, vocals sometimes and noise), and they released an excellent cassette called Metal Vessel Music with the awesome Utech Records. They mention Napalm Death and Boredoms as influences but I'd add it reminds me also of Dead Neanderthals or a more savage Brainbombs. Wether you're into noisegrind, noise or the hardest free jazz, and even more if you like all that, you will love it. Really intense and strong stuff. I'm already waiting for their next release.

The BC page.

Chaos Echoes with Mats Gustafsson - Sustain (2018)

Sustain is the result of the collaboration between French avant -garde death metal band Chaos Echoes and Swedish free jazz baritone saxophonist Mats Gustafsson (who often collaborates with free jazz, rock/metal or noise artists). Chaos Echoes improvised and recorded their parts and sent it to the saxophonist who then recorded his. The excellent Utech Records is releasign the album. This could have resulted in some frenetic and noisy bursts but instead the two long instrumental tracks focus on the more atmospheric side,slowly building an ominous feel. Really good and immersive music, an artistic sucess for this collaboration. I'd be happy if they do it again.

On the Utech BC page.

Burning Tree - Ossuary Light (2017)

Four years after their excellent Lammergyer album, Norwegian free jazz duo (drums / sax) Burning Tree unleash a new one called Ossuary Light, still wih Utech Records. Another treasure. Their relentless and noisy kind of free jazz is not for everyone's ears but I love it. For people into Dead Neanderthals, the wildest moments of John Zorn's Masada, the latest Coltrane, and actually just anyone who likes extreme sonic assults. That kind of intensity, violent and trippy, fast and deep, is rarely matched.

The BC page.

Burning Tree - North Hex (2015)

Burning Tree is the free jazz project of a norwegian duo (Dag Erik Knedal Andersen on drums and Dag Stiberg on sax) that is also doing noise music. And Burning Tree is sure not "lounge" or "cool" jazz, but neither too minimalistic nor too complex. North Hex was released last year on Utech records again after the excellent "Lammergyer" in 2013. The sax is providing a kind of melody, a screaming and relentless one but a kind of melodic line anyway. The drumming is also on the relentlessly intense side of free jazz. North Hex is just one track but a nearly ten minute one and is a very good piece of the wildest and fastest free jazz you can have.

The Bandcamp page.

Utech compilation - And suddenly everything, absolutely everything, was there (2015)

Utech records is one of the best label for releasing experimental music, often ambient dark and noisy, sometimes electronic, often not, sometimes a bit metal, sometimes a bit jazz, always interesting and challenging stuff. This comp' called And suddenly everything, absolutely everything, was there was made to raise fund for an honorable cause (read more on the bandcamp page). It features many artists that released music for Utech records and some more. This is more than 4 hours of music, 41 tracks. probably you know some of the artists like Asva, Dead neanderthals, Locrian, Nadja, Theologian, probably you will discover most artists here, like I discovered Gates, Philippe Petit, Jeks Miller, Pan Gu, Redrighthand, and others. Anyway this will be an exiting journey in the underground. I think all tracks are exclusive, previously unreleased, live, or tracks created for this occasion.
Don't fail to discover Utech records if you don't know it already, and discover some fantastic music.

The bandcamp page

Dead neanderthals - Body horror (2013)

Dead neanderthals present themselves as part of a New wave of dutch heavy jazz. And why not? I don't really know about the dutch roots of their music, i'd say they follow musicians of the european free jazz scene like the german Peter Brotzmann or the swedish Mats Gustafsson. And they sure are heavy! Body horror is not their latest release but I especially like this tape (released by Utech records). On it they play as a soprano sax / drums duo (which is not unusual in a free jazz context). On twelve minutes track they drag you in their relentless trance of howling sax (but with a somewhat lyrical feel and a direction, not just bursts of noise) and non stop free jazz drumming driving the sax with its pulsating beat. If you're into freee jazz in it's most radical form you have to listen to it. And it's a very good start for any metalhead / punk curious and brave enough to try listening to some free jazz. Highly recommended!

The Bandcamp page

Burning tree - Lammergyer (2013)

If you want a proof that free jazz can be as intense and breathtaking as the most ferocious grind this one will do. Burning tree is the free jazz project of a norwegian duo (Dag Erik Knedal Andersen on drums and Dag Stiberg on sax) that wanted to transpose into free jazz what they do usually with noise music. the try is really a success and Lammergyer (relased as a LP on the excellent Utech records) is a very powerfull and inspiring album. if you're looking for comparisons you can look on the side of european (more abstract and noisy) free jazz pionneer Peter Brotzmann, John Zorn in his wildest projects or Dead neanderthals. the sax player sound like he doesn't ever need to breathe, never stopping his sonic noise assault, and the drummer is not less relentless and keeps banging his kit at a frenetic high pace (up to blast beats but with much more complexity than the usual metal drumming).
side A features shorter, more composed tracks while side B is a long improvisation but sounds even more dense and merciless than the rest of the album.
if you're in quest of something radical in an out of the ordinary way, then look no further.

the BC page.