Deep Six Records: Reviews

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- 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

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.

Despite that, the band's latest effort, Unforgivable, has left me a bit disappointed. To be fair, it's not so much a poor showing as it is a failure to reach extremely high expectations.

The hateful band with the fun-sounding name hasn't lost any of the contradiction between its title and its lyrical themes. Relaxation and good times are nowhere to be found, and the vitriol is taken to a downright shocking extent. Anyone who was into this band because of the attitude couldn't possibly be disappointed with this release. The songs definitely take on a new meaning in light of the words behind them; the extremity of it all is terrifying and the sincerity behind it can't be questioned.

With that said, I feel like the sonic merit of this release probably doesn't match that of Punish and Destroy. Admittedly, part of my assessment is based on nothing more than personal preference. If you like breakdown-heavy d-beat, you should love this album. If you're more interested in blast beats and irrational bursts of carnage - the stuff you're likely to find in greater abundance on the band's past recordings - this record might underwhelm you. The rage is still fully intact and there certainly are fast parts, but some of tracks feel as if they can't wait to get to the breakdown. On the other hand, the verses, short as they may be, are usually of good quality. There's also a ton of fantastic feedback manipulation.

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.

“Rejected Psychopath” is a track where this formula doesn't work as well. It starts out with a verse of rather generic hardcore riffs and beats and turns into a snore-worthy breakdown in under a minute. The lyrical content of this track shows it isn't filler, but the music tries to convince me otherwise, which is a shame.

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.

As a whole, Unforgivable is a solid release. I do feel like it's underwhelming when placed aside Punish and Destroy, but it definitely stands on its own.

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.

It's amusing that the prudish, conservative masses in the U.S. freak out over harmless antics from the likes of Marilyn Manson and Slayer while this band goes totally under the radar. I consider myself quite hardened, but this shit is just beyond belief.

It's not like I find this to lessen the band's artistic merit; quite the opposite. I can't relate to most of it, but the convincingness of it all forces you to accept and understand it to some degree. That in itself is impressive - it's a definitive characteristic of powerful art. It would take a completely cold and insentient person to read these words and not feel connected. Ironically, the humanity of Weekend Nachos can't be denied.
Reviewed by Scene Point Blank