2009

Quite the debate has raged in my head over the last fews days as to wether I should again bother this year with a cheesey top ten release post. Last year, that is how I handled the post, this year though I think I'll just list a pile of records that really left a lasting impression. 2009 saw so many good releases, though in my opinion only a small percentage of them are really worthy of a mention here.

Mammoth Grinder- Extinction Of Humanity MLP

After much deliberation, I have come to the conclusion that while this record is virtually the cream of this years crop, the bands prior LP, 'Rage And Ruin' is better. The guitar tone with Extinction Of Humanity is fucking thick, but Chris' vocals get lost in the mix with the shoddy recording. Being an ep too, I don't feel the band really get to explore the full extent of their sound like the 6.33 minute dirge fest, 'God Is Stuck In A Black Hole' on the prior LP. A new full length in 2010 (fingers crossed) will surely make these guys number one with a bullet.

Converge- Axe To Fall LP

It's got it's skipper tracks but as a whole this is the best stuff the band has done since 'Jane Doe'. Better songs, better mix. And the two epic doom tracks at the end could quite possibly the best stuff they have ever done. Fuck the hype, fuck the scene kids, this is still great.

Hatred Surge- Deconstruct LP

Releasing rough as fuck stuff can be such a gamble, but Alex and co. pull it off great here. It sounds like it was recorded through a cup and string contraption, but it works perfectly. Less dirge styled PV, and more straight up crusty grind. Tour down under goddammit.

Urban Blight- s/t MLP

Raging Boston worship from... Canada. Straight up, simple, to the point. The best band doing this style of music period. Very rough sound, and it took me some time to warm to it, but I'm loving it no no end now.

Magrudergrind- s/t LP

A slightly new sound and direction, but in the end it's still grind as fuck with these guys. I had no doubt I'd love this LP, and I still spin it nearly ever day. Great band getting better.

Low Threat Profile- s/t 7"

At the time of writing this, I have had this 7" for barely 24 hours, and I have probably listened to it thirty times. If anything deserves the title of 'ripped my face off', it's this ep.

Mother Of Mercy- III LP

This one came to me as quite the surprise. To be honest I don't normally listen to much hardcore of this ilk, but there is something about this band and this LP that just tweaks my nipples. The dudes vox are flawless, and the mix is perfect. Moshy as fuck, but executed perfectly.

Iron Age- The Sleeping Eye LP

Possibly the most hyped album of 2009? I'd agree. End of the day though it is certainly worth the mention here. An epic in the true epic sense. This band gets better and better. You either get it or you don't (or you just buy into the hype).

Rival Mob- Raw Life MLP

I'd go as far to say that while this album is a killer, the bands radio set on WNYU from earlier in the year is better. Someone needs to bootleg it ASAP. NYHC worship from members of various Boston groups past and present. The best of this style since No Warning. New 7" on Six Feet Under in 2010.

Vaccine- Demo 7"

Wow. Spazzed out straight edge power violence. This is powerful. This is violent. Alot of hype, but all well deserved. Don't get me wrong when I use the spazzed reference. This isn't slapstick Spazz or Charles Broson bullshit, this is angry acid spitting hardcore. I did actually have a post for this record, but I lost it a few months back by accident. Maybe I'll re-up it at some point after christmas.

Downpresser- Age Of Ignorance 7"

Modern styled, groove based, mosh as fuck hardcore from Socal. Too many bands doing this style these days, and too many cocking it up. Downpresser don't cock it up though. In my opinion these guys don't get half of the attention that they deserve.

Extortion- splits with Septic Surge and Jed Whitey

You people should know me well enough to know that this band makes the list regardless.

I sit here having written this and I can't help but ponder wether that is it? Have I missed something? Maybe I have. Here's the shortlist of honourable mentions:

Every Time I Die- New Junk Aesthetic LP

Lewd Acts- Black Eye Blues LP

Nomos- Demo 7"

Brain Killer- s/t 7"

Abraxis CDEP

Rot In Hell/The Process split 7"

Graf Orlock- Destination Time: Today LP

Gluttons- s/t 7"

No Tolerance- Demo 7"

Bad Choice- Demo Tape

Bad Seed- s/t 7"

Fever- S.E.S. 7"

Knuckle Scraper- R.I.P. 7"

Minus- Demo

Get Destroyed- Burnt Offerings 7"

Raw Nerve- Teens In Heat 7" single

Pulling Teeth- Paranoid Delusions/Paradise Illusions MLP

Hello 2010, bring on the new Extortion 10", demo 7" and limited 5", plus various comp releases. Hello new stuff by Rival Mob, Nomos, Innumerable Forms, California Love, Knife Fight, Sex Vid, Mind Eraser and Scapegoat.

True Nihilist

In my haste to get the intergeeking out of the way last night and get to bed, I forgot to post about this Hope Conspiracy 7" that I got yesterday, 'True Nihilist' on gold. I'm not even really siked on this band at all, I just grabbed it cause it was there. It's certainly not a bad effort though.

The sleeve folds out into this big poster.

In other news: blasting the LTP 7" today has left me without a face. It ripped it clean off. Eleven songs in five minutes of music though lol.

Kick My Heart

I'll assume that most people who read this blog know what this first 7" is all about. If you don't, well you need this in your life. Years and years of talk, rumour milling and the like, and finally in 2009 the Low Threat Profile s/t 7" has dropped. I haven't even had a chance to listen to this yet, but a couple of tracks have been floating around online for a long time, and said tracks are untouchable. The pedigree of this band should also say enough as to how fucking good this record is; Matt from Infest on guitar, Andy from No Comment on the throat, and Bob from Lack Of Interest behind the kit. Supergroup alert.

A split release by Deep 6 and Draw Blank, I managed to score this press on red wax of 100 copies. I also ordered a copy on black from a different source as an insurance policy just in case this one didn't turn up. I couldn't miss this record. When the black copy arrives I may offload it, I don't think I'll need it.
The two digital tracks that I have go for around 15 seconds a piece, so listening to them always generally leaves me feeling unfulfilled (gimme moar!), so imagine the relief I felt when I read that this thing packs ten songs in total. Based on the length of the two aforementioned tracks, thats at least two minutes of music!
The reissue of the second Carnivore LP, 'Retaliation'. I grabbed the reissue of the bands first s/t LP a few months back, but this is where the meat and gravy is. Every song on this thing ends worlds. Double LP. Gatefold sleeve. Black vinyl.

Start Suckin'!

Mancore.

Fast Life, Fast Death

New stuff. Landed the new Agents Of Abhorrence/Roskopp split 7" at the AOA show here in Brisbane the other night. Black wax put out by Crusificados Records.
Criminal Negligence demo tape. Gained in trade for a few copies of Downsided over the B9 forum. Good early 80's USHC kind of stuff, I'll tell you more when I give this thing a proper listen.

Cutter

So I was just perusing through my blog when I noticed a new comment on my recent Converge Axe To Fall post. Scroll to the bottom and read the new comment, it's by someone that some people may know of. Anyway in response to his comment I formally retract any ill fated remarks I made about the DIY approach of the band. What Nate says here makes total sense, me being me, I just have trouble with constant internet bombardment. Even though I have come up through the hardcore scene in a time of internet saturation, and even though this blog obviously relies totally on the aforementioned tool, I still (perhaps overly/obsessively) romaticise the idea of a more print/word of mouth based medium. But I am always willing to admit when I am wrong. To be quite honest, I am probably more chuffed that I am gaining a (perhaps shitty?) reputation, and that a member of one of my favourite bands took the time to read something I wrote anyway haha. Sup internet?

Mix Tape 2009

A music forum I participate in on occasion has made a 2009 Mix Tape upload thread. I was rather bored tonight so I joined in. I've also decided to upload the tape here for you guys to download aswell, but I'm just as interested in doing legit hard copy tape trades with fellow bloggers/hardcore kids. Hit me up if you're keen and we can arrange something.

Not everything I've selected here is necessarily from this year, but it's all stuff I've been jamming a fair bit in the ohhh nnyynnee. Now I have had problems with uploads in the past, but I've used MediaFire with this so hopefully it should work fine. Message me if it doesn't though.

SKULL FUCKED 2009 MIXTAPE

Yeeessssss

Good news...

Blood Wars

Suffer just uploaded the digital of their Blood Wars tape from earlier in the year. I raged on about it when it came out, I still do today. Their new split 7" with Pathetic Human is due to drop any day now. For now though, if you haven't heard this stuff already, download this.

BLOOD WARS

Also, Rohan recently uploaded their first demo tape on his Dullsville blog, get that too. A bit rough around the edges, but still a pipe bomb of a release.

If I had a dollar...

...for every Cro Mags rip off band that emerges, I'd be a rich fucking man. Regardless, the new demo from Bostons Streetsweeper is a shredder...

Streetsweeper Demo

Friend Or Foe

New stuffs today. First up is the reissue that Bridge 9 have done of the 'United Blood' EP by Agnostic Front. To go along with the 'Victim In Pain' LP reissue I guess. Like I said about the LP, hideous artwork. Gold vinyl.

Exact replications of the OG insert, so I guess that makes up for the shitty sleeve.

Front.

Back.

Next, 'Obscene Humanity' MLP by Nails. Black wax. This is the new project by that dude that's done heaps of work with other very notable band of past and present, including Carry On, Terror and Betrayed. His name escapes me at the moment, but I met him once when he was here a few years ago, trying to get in the pants of some local girl. What a guy. This stuff sounds like it's heavily influenced by Trap Them and maybe Mind Eraser, except not as good as either. I like the minimalist idea of the layout (all it is, is a plain white sleeve, with this sticker in the corner, and a plain, hand scrawled A4 insert), but I hate it at the same time. I paid 18 Ozzy bucks for this thing, I want something pretty to look at.
And finally the sophomore effort by fantastic modern PV shredders Get Destroyed. The 'Burnt Offerings' 7" on black. I haven't given this a spin yet, but I checked a few new tracks out on their gayspace and with only one listen of three tracks I was quite impressed. The bands first ep also killed it, so I suspect that this will be a regular rotator here at my place for the next fortnight. He's not credited, but I'm almost certain that I heard guest vox by Alex of Hatred Surge on a track online too (edit- I've listened to it properly now, and I'm certain it is Alex on two, if not three tracks).

Urine

A389 Records have re-issued 'The Promise' LP by Cleveland killers, Ringworm. Today I got my pre order version of 300. Gold and red split wax.

OG artwork on a gatefold sleeve with a big black and white booklet with various collages of flyers and photos etc.
Came with this limited 7" press of the '91 demo too. Black vinyl. As far as I know this 7" only came with the LP pre order. I may be wrong though.


And this limited black press of the Gluttons s/t 7". This is Human Furnaces new(ish) band. Raging Motorhead worship with his vox over the top. It's fucking shit hot.
Dom also threw in this The Love Below demo CD. Not crazy about this band, but they are listenable none the less, even with the questionable artwork.

Mammoth Grinder interview

It's been quite a while since I've posted an interview, and I've had nothing else to talk about lately so I figure I'll throw this up. Following is the interview that I did with Chris of the Texas doom juggernaut Mammoth Grinder. You guys should all know how I feel about this band, I've raved on endlessly all year about them. Their MLP "Extinction Of Humanity" is one of this years best releases, hands down, and If you haven't heard it yet I feel sorry for you. This appeared in issue #3 of Downsided. I still have a few copies of that issue if you want one. Hit me up here if so. It's got interviews with Nomos, Rort, Abraxis, Shock Value and Downpresser aswell.

____________________________________

Another raging band to emerge from Texas in the last few years, Mammoth Grinder play meaner than fuck, raging bellowcore. Chris Ulsh sounds more akin to that of a T-Rex stomping over a human carcass than a hardcore vocalist, and the music suits it all perfectly. Following is an interview I did with Chris recently. Everyone should check this band out.

So you guys have a new album, ‘Extinction Of Humanity’ coming out soon with Cyclopean Records. I’ve heard the tracks posted on the myspace. Really good. What’s the round up with the LP? Songs? Running time etc?
I am definitely more happy with it than anything else we've released. 7 songs, a little bit over 21 minutes overall. It's got a way different vibe and is much more reflective of what I like and listen to. The songs have an early Swedish death metal influence but the recording itself is more punk friendly, very noisy similar to the Nihilist demos or some of the Carnage recordings since we decided to record to tape this time. The first time we recorded it, we got kicked out of the room we were trying to record in and had to move our whole setup around twice. Then after everything was done and we were mixing, the tape machine broke and we had to completely re-record somewhere else. The only other place that we could finish it in time used bigger tape and that was significantly more expensive. Lots of bullshit and setbacks for this recording and I don't think we would have been able to get what we wanted out of it if it wasn't for Jason Tarpey, he was super helpful in making sure everything could still happen. The good thing about redoing it though was that we got to change some stuff and add an extra instrumental track.

The artwork for ‘EOH’ looks great. Who handled it? Who’s the dude/dudette?
Joe Petagno, he did all of the Motorhead artwork and more recently Saviours and Mind Eraser.

It’s a one sided LP. What’s the deal with that? Why go with that format? Why not release just a 7” or 10” or something like that?
It's two sided, 4 songs on one side and 3 on the other. We had originally planned for a 7" but wanted to do something a little bigger since we were putting so much into the artwork. Then I wrote a couple more songs and we decided a 12" would be best. The last 7" was so crammed, it's nice to have some extra space on it and be able to press it at a louder speed this time.

With the ‘No Results’ 7” and the ‘Rage And Ruin’ LP there was a distinct duel vocal thing going on but one of you were definitely handling more of it. The new stuff from what I can hear only really has the one vocal track, coming all from the dude who handled less with the past releases. Does that make sense? Am I hearing right? What’s going on there? Why the change? Which Chris does what? There’s certainly a higher more standard hardcore snarl going on and a more dirged out metal guy too.
On those two records I did most of the vocals and Chris Camp did the back up stuff. My vocals sound a bit different on the new recordings but it's still just me. No back ups or anything on the new record.

While I’m not too learned about the demo, I know that the LP and the 7” both only came out early this year. First the 7” then the LP. The liner notes with the LP though credit it as being recorded as early as 2007, before the 7”. Why did only see a release this year? And after the ep?
It's actually the other way around with the LP and 7". I recorded the demo by myself while I lived in Tennessee just so I could show Brian back home in Texas some new ideas I had. A friend of ours wanted to release it on tape so it kind of unofficially became our demo. We changed a couple parts and rerecorded them with some other songs that summer in 2007, then went back to finish it up and record vocals in December. We burned CDs of that recording as a demo type thing to sell on tour that winter so that we would have songs for people to hear while we were playing out of Texas. When we got back home our friend Matt wanted to start a label and release it as an LP to get it going. The record came out in May 2008, we did a tour and then recorded the 7" when we got home, and then Inkblot released it later that year in December.

So when did you guys form? 2007? 2006? How?
I guess you could say 2006 because that's when I first started with Brian but the three of us didn't get around to playing and trying to make stuff happen until I moved back to Texas in 2007.

Not knowing if you have to really weather many questions regarding the line up, I’ll just ask... why only a three piece? The idea certainly doesn’t hinder you guys on disc in any way. Does it effect the live performance?
There isn't anything we've recorded that we can't do live yet I don't think. I'm really specific about all the guitar stuff and it's kind of weird and impersonal when someone else sings lyrics they didn't write, so it's worked out nicely as a three piece so far. The only downside is that it's kind of hard to regulate when people are getting weird in the front, running into the drums and falling on our shit. A lot of times when we play on the floor, people run into the mic and I've had a tooth chipped and some other stuff.

What is the average Mammoth Grinder gig like? Do kids get loose? Are they confused of what to make of a three piece? I’ve seen shows where kids had o idea what the fuck was going on when watching a three piece, but the back cover of the 7” looks pretty hectic.
Haha, I think we were playing a cover when that picture was taken so that might explain it.

With past releases I have noticed quite a bit of the gang style group vocal stuff. Do kids find it tricky with the group vocals in a live environment? Do they snatch the mic from the stand? Has there been any problems or funny stories?
They are all over the first LP but no where to be found on anything else. Something we tried but never ended up writing into anything else after that. No one really sings along but we also haven't played any songs from that record in a while so I'm not sure if anyone knows it well enough to sing along.

The new stuff seems to lack the gang vox? Conscience decision? Why? Gang vox equals mosh bands for me. You guys don’t seem like a mosh band.
I know what you mean but the gang vocal parts we had don't really sound like that. I always liked the gang vocals in the earlier hardcore bands and more recently stuff like Cut The Shit, even some Look Back and Laugh songs. That was more or less what we wanted it to sound like. I guess it just comes with finding the sound you like best and we haven't had the urge to write them in to anything new. I wrote that LP when I was 18 and never intended for it to be officially released so there's a lot of stuff I wish I could have done differently. There are people that like it though and I'm thankful that Matt wanted to release it since it's probably the only thing people have to hear from us besides the 7", which is in the same vein as the full length. Although I wouldn't want people to use it as a reference point for what we sound like or what is to come in the future, we have a better idea of what we want to do with the band now because of it.

So as I said, the LP is coming out on Cyclopean, Tarpey’s new joint. How’d that hook up come? I guess I can assume the obvious Iron Age/Austin TX connections? He’s described it as “an eldritch beast trampling mankind”. Suitable?
I play guitar in Alex's other band (Hatred Surge- Ed) and that band played and travelled a little bit with Iron Age so I got to know most of them that way, Mammoth Grinder has also played quite a bit with Iron Age as well. Even though Jason hadn't released anything since that Burden of Empire 7", I asked him if he'd be interested since I thought he would be into the newer stuff we were writing and it turned out he was trying to get the label thing back up again so it all worked out pretty well. And I'd say that's a pretty suitable description.

You guys seem to have a history of releasing stuff on very small labels. Was that the idea? Or did you just go with whatever came along?
We just went with it. Depleted Resource was just starting out and so were we so teaming up kind of helped get both our names out in the open. Inkblot had been releasing more and more and on tour I'd see records that they'd released in stores all across the country. I played in a band for a couple months that did a record with them so I got in touch about our 7" and then the rest is history.

What’s the scene like in Austin? So many good things seem to come from there. I’ve read in the past that it can be a bit of a shithole? How does such a shithole go at fueling such a good music scene? It must help.
Austin is doing it right now for sure. Aside from our record, Hatred Surge, Iron Age, and Sacred Shock all released LPs in the past month or so and they all rip. Total Abuse put out a record earlier this year that I like a lot and just recorded another one. Power Trip from Dallas a couple hours away just recorded a new 7" that I got to hear the other day when we played with them and it rips as well. Texas is really exciting right now. As far as being a shithole, I'm not so sure about that because I love living here. There's tons of deep V-necked freaks that are texting each other about their bicycles all day but I'm never at coffee shops or any of that so I don't see a lot of it. Lots of good places to eat and good shows coming through on the reg. There's something to complain about anywhere you live but I really like it here a lot.

You guys also have another release planned, a split with Legion from Alabama. How did you guys all get together? Who’s idea was it for a split? What can we expect from the record? Who is releasing it etc?
I met Jeff and Kayhan from Legion when we toured a bit with Die Young, since they have been playing in that band on tour for a while. They told us about the other band they had and we ended up playing a bunch with them on the next tour we did. Our side of the split was written about a year ago, before Extinction of Humanity, and is a pretty good transition between the 7" and Extinction. We recorded it in the same session as EOH so there is kind of a similar feel but the songs on the split are different enough to not fit on that record I think. I'm planning to release it myself on a label called Nuclear Solution. I'm not sure if I'll have enough time to continue releasing stuff but it's something I've wanted to do for a while so we'll see how it goes.

You’re also about to embark on a tour with those guys. What places are you hitting up? What do you expect? How well do you find kids from out of town recognize you guys? Have you guys toured extensively before this?
We just got back from that actually. That was the 6th tour we've done and it didn't go as well as I thought but we all had a lot of fun. We stayed mostly in the south and didn't have anything new to offer besides one shirt design so I think that might have had something to do with it. We were also racing around trying to make sure that everything was finished with the record before we left so it was hard to line up a tour like we usually do.

I find it really hard to categorize you guys specifically. I don’t need to elaborate... you know what’s going on. There’s so much going on sound wise... crust stuff, straight up hardcore, sludge, Sabbath riffs, doom, metal. And it’s all pulled off so well. When the band was put together what was the idea for the sound?
I was like 17 and just messing around in weird low tunings, playing faster punk parts into low slower stuff. Then over time everything was written in that same vein more or less, up until this upcoming LP and split. When the No Results 7" came out, I was writing in that style just because that was what we sounded like, not because that's what I jam the most at home or what I like playing the most. It's a good record but there are some things I would change if I had to do it again. I think that is one of the main reasons we got so sick of playing older songs and don't really play them anymore. Now at least I feel like I could play a lot of our newer stuff for a long time and not get as tired of it, mainly because it seems more thought out and put together to me. But it's all for a reason, this is the first band I have ever been in trying to write so I have been just kind of learning more with each release.

Is there a specific driving force behind the group? Like a member? Who writes the material? Is it exclusive? I suppose being a three piece keeps it a little more low key, for lack of a better word?
Usually I have the song pretty much completely written and I'll show it to Brian and he'll make some suggestions and add some things on the drums.

The cover photo for the 7”... where did that come from? I’m assuming some war literature? Elaborate?
Our friend Faiza found that picture. I'm not sure where but it is a solider from WWII that had a grenade blow up in his face I think. It's a little hard to see but he's putting his fingers in the whole where his nose used to be.

Lyrics... they seem to revolve around a seemingly tried and true formula. Dark themes, retrospective and introspective. What’s some of the specific motivation behind the words? Songs like ‘Two More Classes Until Blackout Weekend’ seem aimed at everyday working life etc? A demo titled ‘Goes To College’? Drunken youth themes?
I just started going to this university when I wrote that so besides the obvious Descendents reference, I just wrote about all the whack shit I would see. Nothing like the lyrics for the newer recordings but at that point it just worked for me writing about the things I would see.

Who writes the lyrics? Being that there is a duel vocal thing going on? Do you guys work on songs together? Or individually on certain songs?
Mostly me but Brian helped write some on the first LP.

‘God Is Stuck In A Black Hole’ is sheer brilliance in musicianship. Easily one of the best songs I have ever heard. That riff. Fuck. So slow and heavy. The lyric notes with the LP are reasonably obvious as is the title. Do you guys take an active approach in anti-religion/christ ideals? Is it any kind of an issue with you guys as individuals or as a band? It seems so popular these days to be ‘no god’.
Haha, that phrase was actually something that a homeless person walked up to Brian and said. We maybe wouldn't have centered the song around that had we known it would be released on record but the title seems fitting for the song at least. I think it was actually the first song we had. We had the title first and then wrote the lyrics if I can remember correctly, not necessarily because it's a subject we are interested in. There aren't any other songs about religion because I don't care about it enough to want to write about it, even about how stupid it can be. Putting effort into hating it is the same to me as putting effort into trying to promote it.

What’s up next for the band? I can only hope lots more? Tours? Releases? Come to Australia!
We are leaving in a week to do a full US tour with Hatred Surge, then two days after we get back from that we're heading out with Iron Age and Power Trip to play Sound And Fury, as well as a couple other shows in the area. The new 12" on Cyclopean should be out by the US tour and hopefully the split with Legion will be available at Sound And Fury. Australia would be sick. I have never left the continent but hopefully we can get over there sometime soon.

Thanks?
Thanks ;