Bastard Noise / Endless Blockade- The Red List
It would be the height of foolishness to outright dismiss this split album between Man is the Bastard offshoot Bastard Noise and Toronto's Endless Blockade as mere noise music. The music on The Red List is far more innovative and, dare I say, catchy than the typical "screamy dude with ten effects pedals" stuff of endless cassette releases. This album was first conceived two years ago, when these two bands had occasion to share stages together -- and the intervening time was quite well spent, as each outfit has evolved and refined their sounds far from their scree-and-rend origins.
Bastard Noise's contributions are almost stunning in their nimble, fleet-footed vileness. Drums and bass are pushed far to the fore, creating a deconstructed-funk/doom hybrid, with mountains of percussion shifting like the desert sands, undercut every step of the way by pathologically evil serpentine vocals and understated spurts of electronic weirdness. Grindcore and post-rock and musique concrete are all pushed into the Bastard Noise puree and the result is nonlinear noise music that is surprisingly listenable and, umm, you'll find yourself banging your head if you're not careful. However, Bastard Noise, being stubborn fuckers till the end, even depart from their own new formula with the spine-tingling electronics and spoken (well, screamed) word menace of "U.S.A. Today" -- we're talking Abruptum territory here.
New model Bastard Noise is a goddamn tough act to follow, but the Endless Blockade do their best. They contribute the fourteen-minute original track "Deuteronomy," a monumental mashup of Khanate and Nausea; fascinating in its simultaneous ambition and disdain thereof. It's unfair to judge them by the quality of the remixes, as The Rita's fourteen-minute treatment of "Model 49 Rebreather" is seemingly nothing more than a loop of VERY painful and distorted static, much better is composer Noah Creshevsky's mangling of "Advanced Directive ," wherein he goes all William Burroughs and Brion Gysin on the source material, creating a sound collage that is disorienting in its quick cuts and scissor snips of their most brutal moments into a kind of twisted highlight reel which might, possibly, be their most perfect metal song. Or for the more sensitive, a headache.
Reviewed by Ink19
Cripple Bastards- Variante alla Morte
20 years after their inception, Italy's finest exponents of grindcore bile still haven't learnt to chillax - as "Variante alla morte" proves. Packed with short, spazzed out anthems of hate but this time out they're transformed by Fredrik Nordström's production.
Reviewed by Kerrang
Extortion- Loose Screws 10 Inch
Extortion are a hardcore/powerviolence band from Perth, Western Australia who have built themselves something of a cult fanbase over the past few years. Operating since 2005 or so, they released their first LP Degenerate in 2006 and it's follow-up Sick in 2008, along with a myriad of 7" singles, splits and the EP Terminal Cancer in 2009.
Loose Screws is the groups 2010 release, and is straight to the point from the get-go. What follows are several tracks which simply do not let up in energy for the entire duration of the release, with a cutting rhythm section fueled by melodic basslines and excellent drumming guitarist Brendan's powerchords always cut through with a healthy intensity. The songwriting is excellent, vocalist Rohan (Extortion do not seem to believe in last names) provides a suitably shouty edge to the playfulness of the music, the band often stopping on a dime and starting up again at will in a manner that is constantly engaging.
It would be futile to analyse the direct nature of the music in detail but The Pessimist, Stare At The Sun, Blindspot, Kill The Lights and Faulty Wiring are perhaps the standout tracks here. Closer Socially Inept is a personal favourite with its repetitive riff and simple rhythmic pattern, highlighting the value of the "less is more" approach i've come to take for granted. If there is anything to flaw, there is little variation throughout. Still, if you were looking for that you wouldn't be listening to powerviolence.
Loose Screws is an excellent 2010 outing for Extortion, it's short, sudden and to the point which is often all one could want with this brand of hardcore. Despite this the whole ordeal feels very well controlled throughout, with a lot of care taken not to fall into the traps this type of music seems to invite with bland songwriting and dull chugging. It's an entertaining, worthwhile listen.
Reviewed on Sputnik Music
Extortion- Sick! LP
Do you fancy powerful tunes? Do you like violent music? If the answer is YES, therefore you are a powerviolence hound! If so, these lads sure will appeal to you. Australia’s Extortion has got the idea of powerviolence pretty good- fast riffs, and even faster beats with a minimum of mid tempo or even slow parts. The only three slow songs are: Bedridden, Body failure and Rot (a teeth grinding instrumental), which are not to be doubted about their fuss and energy.
The matter of this very review is Extortion’s latest record, named SICK. And some sick album this is. An issue of Deep Six records, this purple vinyl features tracks in the vein of bands such as Infest, Lack Of Interest, Crossed Out, No Comment. The album cover is something that catches your attention right away- a suffering little girl with tears of pain in her eyes vomiting black fluid. Quite remarkable. The songs are conceptual and describe the slow and excruciating death of a person infected with the H5N1 virus. Each next song’s lyrics describe a different stage of the illness (Infection… Fever… Medication… Bedridden… Last Breath). What a ferocious idea, eh? So if you’re in the mood for a sweeping whirlwind of angry hardcore- get a hold of this record!
Reviewed by Vinyl XXX Edge
Extreme Noise Terror- Law of Retaliation
I first heard Extreme Noise Terror's brand of intense grindcore on John Peel's show sometime in the late 80's. The experience rendered me agog with delirium and ever since, these soap-dodging Suffolk fuckers have been more than welcome to squat round my house and drink all my cider.
ENT have come and gone with various line-up shuffles for nigh-on 25 years now but this release, their first in 7 years, sees a reinstatement of their original dual vocalist assault force, Phil Vane & Dean Jones and, happily, they've lost none of their fury. In fact, if anything, they sound better, tighter and more focussed than ever, making this album's production the only 'clean' thing about these crust-punk pioneers. The pace is fiery and those chunky punky chainsaw guitars are still very much in evidence; no frills, no flash solos, just relentless thrashing rage, with the odd interludal snippet of random film dialogue providing some brief respite.
This is one of the most unlikely and most satisfying comebacks of the year from a band who can rightly be considered masters of their art. Ugly, ferociously unpleasant art, but art none the less.
Reviewed by DSD Music Magazine Blog
Hirax- Assassins of War LP/CD
Katon De Pena's yowl is just as distinctive as those of '80s greats like Paul Baloff or Steve "Zetro" Souza. However, while his band Hirax is revered for flying the flag of thrash through the years, it hasn't hit the big time like its Cali colleagues.This is partly because of its Spinal Tap-esque revolving door of lineups, but it's also due to songwriting. Hirax has consistently delivered solid, energetic thrash, and nothing more. In other words, no crossover appeal or huge anthems - which is fine, since few bands have a Master of Puppets or Reign in Blood in them.
Assassins of War again sticks with the tried and true. However, this incarnation of Hirax does so with precision and power; the band picks up where it left off with 2004's strong comeback, The New Age of Terror. At 21 minutes, this EP feels skimpy, but at least it leaves one wanting more. Hirax has never enjoyed better production; beefy drums, massive guitars, and warm basslines leap out of the speakers, while De Pena cuts through with perfect clarity. The cymbal work and tempo changes are often Slayer-esque; "Summon the Death Dealers" gets minus points for essentially grafting a Slayer intro onto Judas Priest's "Eat Me Alive."
In a world of Haunteds and Carnal Forges, Hirax is hardly cutting-edge. These aren't the most mind-blowing riffs, but they fit perfectly, with little excess. The result is memorable songs with timely lyrics about war; the title track even drops old-school melodic chords in its chorus. Today's new wave of retro thrashers could learn a thing or two from these masters.
Reviewed by Metal Injection
Hirax- El Rostro de La Muerte 12" and CD
“I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor, dumb bastard die for his country.”
Dude. DUDE. That is how you start a fucking badass record. And this record is fucking badass. Hirax have made me happy. They have made me cum. I lie down on my cum and roll side to side. I am happy. Katon W. de Pena is the sole remaining member of the original Hirax, and if you’ve seen the man in documentaries like Get Thrashed, you know the guy is the real deal and all about metal. His vocals, on the other hand, have changed dramatically, and dare I say, much for the better. He sounds much more aggressive now, raspy, thrashy, gnarly and all that. It’s a desperate scream of someone who sees the world coming apart and is yelling his way into oblivion. Fuck yes.
Katon has surrounded himself with a killer crew, and although I can’t really hear the bass (surprise, surprise), everyone here leaves no stone unturned, no quarter given in the war against FALSE METAL. Alright, I’m just messing with ya, settle down. But what matters here are the tunes, and what fucking tunes they are, man. I love every single one of them, swear to Satan, and the little intros with badass spoken passages like the one I started the review with, it just fits perfectly. Thrash metal has been seeing an interesting revival, not only the bands of yore (like Hirax) have returned from the depths of hell, a lot of new guys are doing their homework and releasing quality shit. Naturally, there are those bandwagon cunts that will be gone soon enough, but everyone, and I mean EVERYONE in the scene could take a lesson or two from Hirax.
“El Rostro de la Muerte” is a vicious album, thrash metal the way thrash metal is meant to be, aggressive, dirty, fast, furious. This is a lot heavier than Hirax’s “Raging Violence” classic, for instance, but retains the undeniable attitude, all thanks, no doubt, to de la Pena. It’s great to listen to an album like this in the final days of 2009. Thrash metal is on the up-and-up, but fashion is fleeting, and like everything else, it’ll come tumbling down as fast as its going up. Only the betters will remain. Hirax? I welcome them at the very top of the heap. The sad thing is that Slayer’s shitty “World Painted Blood” will get a lot more hype than this album.
The cover: Done by Ed Repka, who has worked with a myriad of classic thrash bands like Megadeth, Violence, Nuclear Assault and also newcomers Municipal Waste, and he paints some great stuff here once again. As twisted and disturbing as the music.
Reviewed by Global Domination
Landmine Marathon- Sovereign Descent 12"
In the end, if you like death metal in its slightly more recent incarnation, you'll probably be into this record. Purists will no doubt find plenty of things to complain about (don't they always?) but for casual death metal fans like myself, it's a perfectly acceptable example of the genre as it stands in 2010. It's not super-tight, it's not crammed with polyrhythms or anything crazy like that, but it's by no means a boring record. The songwriting and musicianship is solid enough to make for an entertaining listen. Hell, I managed to listen to it about six times just while writing this and never got sick of it. If you like metal, give this one a try.
Reviewed by 411 Mania
Parasitic 7''
That's crushing band with ex-members of The Locust and Cattle Decapitation. Parasitic continues the best Suffocation's tradition. I don't want to suggest that "Born of Decay" is a copy of "Effigy of the Forgotten" or "Pierced from Within". Parasitic's songwriting is original enough to avoid such accusations. On the other hand, such brutality and intensity that one can hear on these three tracks justify the thesis that San Diego's quintet presents the same advantages that NY's Death Metal masters have. The compositions from "Born of Decay" have good structures with dominating very fast parts and competent solos. The riffing is memorable and keeps all important brutal standards. Even taking into consideration how many bands play brutal Death Metal nowadays, such virtues should place Parasitic among the most promising acts of the California's scene. Two tracks from "Born of Decay" were released as 7'' by Deep Six Records. That's an obvious must for all collectors of EP's. I hope that the next release will be a full-length album.
Reviewed by Metalside Webzine
Reproach- Is What It Is 7"
Close to ten years ago now, when the youth crew thing was starting to wane, and a faster, thrashier, noisier hardcore started taking its place, us saps in New Jersey knew we had some kindred spirits in the Netherlands by way of Henk Smit and crew surrounding Kangaroo Records. I had long associated neighboring Belgium with its absolute glut of mosh-metal; the likes of which New York hadn’t even seen in the heyday of that style of music. So it took me by surprise when I found about this kid Stijn who knew his hardcore, followed some of the bands from our area, and was starting this band “Reproach.” I wasn’t familiar with Dead Stop at all yet, so this was a rather cool anomaly, and his ‘zine “Stand Apart” was a good one.
Well, that same Reproach wound up getting around quite a bit in the world of DIY hardcore, and this record, their 2nd for Deep Six Records shows them to have turned into quite a band. They definitely outlived the “bandana thrash” trend that reared its head when Reproach were just releasing their first 7”, both in terms of longevity and quality!
What we have here on this whirlwind 7” is 9 songs of hardcore thrash influenced by skateboarding, horror movies, and a good deal of youthful resentment. Although the songs are short, they don’t skimp on songwriting, and they pack enough hooks into a one-minute thrash song to rival Dead Nation. The slightly metallic guitar tone brings to mind Infest (especially in “Boiling Inside”) or early Drop Dead, with all of good qualities those comparisons imply. Well done!
Reviewed by Mad at the World Blog
Weekend Nachos- Unforgivable 12"
When I heard Punish and Destroy for the first time, Weekend Nachos easily became one of my favorite punk/metal bands. I was positive that these guys, along with Trap Them, would be the leaders of the next wave of great extreme music. Then Trap Them released Seizures in Barren Praise, a significant drop-off from their first two releases, in my mind. Weekend Nachos, however, put forth a few decent tracks on This Comp Kills Fascists. I wasn't blown away like I was with Punish and Destroy, but I convinced myself they were saving the best for last.
The album's first two tracks (“2009,” “Elevated Tracks”) play continuously and display the previously mentioned breakdown-emphasis. It works well in this instance, to the band's credit. “2009” begins with a typical d-beat guitar line and an onslaught of tight blast beats before “Elevated Tracks” descends into an otherwise boring breakdown with interesting background atmospherics. I don't know if it was produced by the band or a sample, but there's a really cool, evil-sounding chant in the background that gives the track grim and entrancing exit music.
One of the more interesting and promising songs on the album is the title track, which basically takes the band into doom metal territory. I have no problem with slow metal - some of my favorite bands qualify as such. I just want my slow metal to consist of quality riffs rather than copout breakdowns, and this track accomplishes the former. “Unforgivable” demonstrates an impressive brandishing of distortion and crunchy doom riffs.
This band's lyrics and imagery really are something else; something horrifying. The album cover to Unforgivable speaks for itself, but I don't even feel comfortable reciting the words to this album on here. It's not that they're especially offensive or vulgar - it's just that they're so incredibly bleak and nihilistic. In addition, no one can read the lyrics sheet to Unforgivable and dismiss it is vapid or feigned.
Reviewed by
Scene Point Blank