What a nice surprise this was. No Zodiac are purveyors of Heavily Death Metal influnced Beatdown Hardcore. The grooves run slow and thick as tar, with enough blastbeats and thrashy moments to keep tensions high. The considerably seismic guitar tone (I'm guessing A-tuning?) will surely devastate any yuppies or hipsters within a 50 foot radius. The vocals are a bit run-of-the-mill and could use more neanderthal fury, but they get the job done. This is what I wish the Xibalba full-length sounded like. Smash all your Bane and Comeback Kid cd's. This is the real shit.
What we have here is my favorite Hardcore album of the season. This shit is tough-as-nails and packs enough surprises to keep the interest high. There's just enough tasteful spits of blast beats and Death Metalish riffs to break up the mosh. The production is nice too. True, the lyrics are at times misogynistic, but I think most of you won't notice or care. If you do care, feel free to skip it. I mean, tough Metalcore like this is usually sketchy in some way or another. It's good, but it ain't Posi-core.
I often question the direction or "theme" for this blog. At first, I wanted Triple B to be very personal, a place where I could vent about my life. Not an easy feat. Very few people have the gift of being a good storyteller, so most end up just being whiny, arrogant pricks (which is what I must sound like right now). Or worse yet, they bombard you with sentimental pics of their children. Really man, no one wants to see pictures of your dorky son and we especially don't want to read what his prune-sized brain is thinking about on his very own shitty, non-music related blog. Or how about those uber-hipster tumblr pages? I can't believe people think that they're "talented" or "artistic" just because they collect and repost other people's photographs. Ok, I veered off topic for a bit. What I'm really wondering about is whether trip B should be more Metal or more Hardcore oriented? I suppose it doesn't really matter, because you guys seem to be pretty satisfied with both.
So, anyway, Heikousen have bridged my two favorite styles in a very pleasing way. They've really ramped up the technicality level past their Mathcore/"Post-Everything" contemporaries. Sure Perth Express, Comity, and Trap Them are competent players, but can they really compare to the musical Kung Fu of Prog Death practitioners? Not so much. Heikousen can slap, tap, and pinch-harmonize with any Relapse alum any day of the week. Does that alone make them good? No, but it does add a tigher, lighter flare to the songs as well as break technical barriers that would hinder your average 'Core musician.
Another band in the seemingly endless ocean of Modern Hardcore mash-up. I always expect myself to get bored with this style, but I never do. I think it's because I love pretty much every sub-genre that these bands pull from. Powerviolence, Metalcore, D-Beat, Death Metal, Sludge... All of which are great on their own, and just as good when puréed into an ultra-tough, roided, muscle pudding. Dog Days (from jolly, old England) take a Metalcore soup base, add Post-Hardcore chunks, Euro Death Metal cream, jullienne'd Thrash, and drizzled with real guitar lead lustre. Serve chilled and enjoy!
New York Hardcore by way of Richmond Virginia. This reminds me a lot of fellow Richmond dudes Down to Nothing, but maybe slightly more metallic. There's also a slight Rap influence to the vocals, very much akin to their influences Breakdown and Crown of Thornz. But don't worry, they never end up sounding like Biohazard or anything, and the lyrics are anything but thuggish. This is just super straight-forward Metalcore with killer riffs, near-perfect production, and some tongue-in-cheek humor thrown in too.
You guessed it, this marks my 200th post! It's been well over a year, but I've finally made it. Thanks for everyone for sticking with me through the slow times. To celebrate, I'm posting the new LP from one of Washington State's finest purveyors of Hardcore: Marrow. Much like my aging "bod", The Sea Of... has everything you could possibly want: metallic riffs, blast-beats, dissonance, and a scathing production. Sure, bands of this style are a dime a dozen these days, but how many of them are actually worth listening to? This one is...
It's time for us to take a trip into the thick, cheesy depths of Münster
(which is in Germany, in case you thought it was in Wisconsin or
something). What we have here is the finest example of Sludgecore that
I've heard in months. It's brutal, viscous, and plodding without ever becoming droney (a tag you'll never see on this blog). I the Unlord
manage to be lethargic and violent simultaneously, which is a very fine
line to walk. The production works very nicely too, with the proper
amount of sharpness and low-end without distorting your brain and speakers to oblivion. If you're (like me) waiting for the new Xibalba full length, Praise the Most Dead should satiate your hunger for seismic musical catharsis.
I'm serving to you three reviews that are gonna be short and sweet, instead of making you wait even longer for the paragraph-long reviews I'm known for. Thinking up entertaining reviews is what keeps me posting so seldomly, as I rarely have time or motivation to write them. Would you guys be more receptive to more frequent posts that have shorter reviews, or would you rather things stay the same?
Here's a rare side of Death Metal beef (two puns!) that I found while searching Metal Archives. Gorelust tread the familiar waters of "plain Jane" Death Metal. Not offering anything new (even in 1995), but providing sufficiently heavy sounds for effective headbanging. It's vaguely reminiscent of Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation with a bonus of very good drumming.
This record is far better than you would think, coming from a band named after an expulsion of gas. In My Embrace is an overlooked gem of early Death Metal for sure. There's plenty of great riffs and sick, retching vocals to be had here. This could even be a classic had there been more interesting drumming and better arrangement. But, this album must be appreciated for what it is: good, thrashy Death Metal.
Of course, I can never go too long without posting some moshable Deathwish-style Hardcore. Songs about Straightedge pride, being stabbed in the back, and destroying your enemies are all par for this course. The lyrics maybe "old hat", but there's just enough variety and "freshness" to keep things entertaining and energetic. There's a lot to like if you're into the late 80's fast crossover style, or the mid 90's mid-paced mosh. It's hard, it's tough, and it gets you're blood flowin'. That should be good enough for your chunky, mouse-potato ass.
Time and time again I realize that bands I used to shit on years ago are actually rather good. DBD is one such example. Without having listened to them much, I dismissed them as "untrue" thugs because of their association with FSU (whom I consider to be a gang). But now I'm older and have shaken loose those militant stances of my youth. I mean, who really gives a shit about their lifestyle? Thuggish tendencies of musicians never stopped me from listening to Rap or Black Metal back then. As long as the lyrics aren't too ridiculously depraved, all that matters to me is that their music is good. I think Death Before Dishonor deliver in this field. While they may not be at Trial or Violation's level, the thick tones and burly delivery still hit my proverbial spot. DBD (at this stage) is like an improved version of Terror or Death Threat. Very metallic Hardcore with good speed and just the right amount of breakdowns. You know what you're in for here.
Let's get into some slow jamz for the ladies. Seriously though, I'm taking a break from what's now my regular Thrash posts and giving you some Tae-Kwon-Do quality Metalcore. Last Witness are sort of in between the obese, Sumo-slap of Xibalba and the more "Rocking" sound of Hope Con. It's a nice balance for me. The medium pace makes this record great for lifting weights, or a brisk jog. 'Cause, let's face it, exercising is probably the number one activity people do while listening to this stuff. Metalcore might be the C&C Music Factory or Snap! for people with stretched-ears. Mourning After isn't without merit though. There are plenty of cool riffs and grooves here, and the band have seemingly limitless amounts of variations of each. My only real gripe is the singer's voice seems to be "cracking" and some of the lyrics are rather uninspired; but don't worry, you'll be too busy counting reps and looking good to notice.
It's been quite a while since I posted something like this. Violent Ends (band name of the year) play my favorite style of modern, moshy Powerviolence. They definitely remind me of Weekend Nachos with their fat, girthy sound. In fact, the "fat" has been taken one step further with a Swedo-Finnish "muddy buzzsaw" guitar tone (which I always love). There's just the right balance of moderate chugging parts and fast, stiff blast-beat parts. This album is expectedly straightforward and very well done. I would have preferred a more guttural vocal instead of the typical Hardcore rasp, but that's a pretty minor flaw. All in all, Invisos hits all the right spots.
Unless you're really into Hardcore, you might not know that Zach de la Rocha used to sing for one of the best and most important "Youth Crew" bands out of California. What also might surprise you is that Seminal band only released one amazing EP before disbanding a year later. So far ahead of their time, this EP (with some cleaner production) could be considered Modern Hardcore even by today's standards. The breakdowns, the pinch-harmic leads are all very Metallic, but the lyrics and vocals are pure Hardcore Punk; harkening back to the early 80's golden age. This effort combines the two genres in the best possible way; the musicianship and bottom-heaviness of Metal with the energy and honesty of Hardcore. I've always liked Zach's harsh screams, and here, he's even better than he would become with 'Rage. I can't believe I haven't posted about this earlier. This record is sort of the Hardcore equivalent of Antichrist or Privilege of Evil; an almost untouchable scene classic. It's that good.
This record sounds a lot like listening to an Integrity record backwards. Does that mean anything to you? What Pale Creation did was take the "Holy Terror" formula, slowed it down, added some atmostphere, and made it much more interesting from a technical standpoint. While Cleveland pioneers Integrity and Ringworm are about as straightforward-heavy as it gets, Pale Creation added challenging mathematics to the equation, resulting in a very different experience indeed. The feel is more trance-like than cathartic. This record doesn't kick your ass, it fucks with you.
I'm going against my normal rule of only high bit rate dowloads today. You can take the shitty quality one for free, or pay $5 for the HQ one from the label. Also, I just watched Tron: Legacy and it's pretty fuckin great!
This is probably what The Acacia Strain would sound like if they were actually good. The foundation here is build solidly on mid-paced grooves, but there's just enough fast parts to break it up. The production works, it's pretty clean, but it could use more bottom-heaviness with the guitars and the overall mix. Not much to say when you know what you're in for; belligerent, mosh-tastic Metalcore (without any lifestyle elitism or "thug" influence). Interesting art too.
More mash-ups? My answet is yes. Century are about two-thirds Deathwish-style Hardcore and one-third "Djent". If you're not familiar with Djent, it's a trendy new genre that was born on youtube and is really just a bunch of bands aping Meshuggah (who I never liked). Somehow though, I do like this album. Coming from a solid foundation of Metallic Hardcore doesn't hurt, and their Djent influence is pretty light; it's limited to using 8-string guitars and occasional polyrhythms. Which is good, because I could never get into the "jerky", stop-and-go riffs of Meshuggah and their subsequent Djent-spawn. This one rather flew under the blog-radar, which is unfortunate 'cause this is some supremely moshable shit.
Up now is a pretty damn good hybrid of "beatdown" style Metalcore and Grind. They're taking the concept of Ratos de Porao and creating a modern interpretation of it. So instead of sounding like 80's crossover thrash, it's more like 90's Metalcore with Death Metal/Grindcore influence. A marriage of Mosh riffs and blast-beats. To some of you it may sound like mixing oil and water, but it works for me.
Isn't it so satisfying when, after hours of blog exploring, you finally find something that doesn't sound like everyone else? I certainly feel rewarded when that happens to me, even if it's a short-lived feeling. This is Black Metal in the truest sense of the word. The feel and energy are a constant pitch black married with a suffactingly thick atmosphere. The result will have you in that familiar, trance-like morose state. Unlike most Metal, which focuses on guitar riffs to carry most of the song, this album relies on tone, written music and production value equally to drive it's point across. This approach may not be new, but it is seldomly done well; with only a handful of efforts by Gorgoroth, Wodensthrone, and Demoncy coming to mind as successes. Nightbringer might describe themselves as "Orhtodox", but this ain't your dad's Black Metal.
You read the title right, this is indeed The Red Chord's first album. I maybe pretty prejudiced against Deathcore like most of you are, but I must admit there are a few treats to be found within it's walls. This happens to be one of them. Stylistically, it's different than their later albums; more Mathcore than Deathcore (more Coverge and less The Faceless). The production is also different, as it's much more moderate and doesn't sound compressed and quantized to oblivion. Say what you want about the current genre trend, this is still one damn good album that changes meter faster than your mom changes boyfriends.
When a new Deathwish album is posted on several Death Metal blogs, it's a pretty big deal. That's how this initially got my attention. Listenting to it for the first time today, I had to change what album I would be posting tonight, It's that good. Oathbreaker have created a new prototype for Modern Hardcore here. They've pulled from many styles of Hardcore and mixed them flawlessly, with no "choppy" transitions to be found anywhere. Honest vocals, unique riffs, great tones, thick yet spacious production... everything is delivered here. This should appeal to fans of any Hardcore style across the board, whether you be into: Tragedy, Punch, Integrity, Pulling Teeth, you'll find something to like here. Being nitpicky, I found only one riff alternation that I didn't like. Other than that, this album gleams. Get down on it.
If you're like me, you often have to push really hard to motivate yourself to work out. After a long day of work, you need all the help you can get to manage getting off the couch and exercising (more work). This squeaky new album is just the remedy for such problem. You can now look forward to your routine knowing you have the perfect soundtrack for muscle development.
Harm's Way have been making waves in the hardcore/metalcore scene for a few years now; starting as a vaguely metallic Powerviolence band, and later as a typically "moshy" Metalcore band. This most recent album continues in that path, but now, I hear a significant Godflesh influence. There's even one song that uses a drum machine, very odd, but it doesn't suck. Aside from that, this is pretty straight-forward slow to mid-paced heaviness. The production here is great too; slick and punchy, reminding me of Dan Swano's work. Overall, this is just a great album to do strength training to, or to beat people that don't meet your elitist ideology.
yes, that's the singer, talk about tough-guy cred...
