Saturday, May 28, 2016

NOTHING LEFT TO BLEED

All Out War- "Dying Gods" 12" EP (Organized Crime)
First Pressing, 2015
Red Vinyl /??

"Into The Killing Fields" was one of my favourite LP's of 2010, and it still sits within the top 5 albums of the last 6-7 years for me. So when All Out War announced the follow up to that record, with this new large format EP, "Dying Gods", I got pretty excited. The general consensus seems that this is a true return to form, being the bands first recorded material since "FTWWC" with the full original line up, and the basic hallmarks of that early material are here; it's chuggy as fuck, but with an updated recording. But with listening to this material as much as I have since it's release last year, it's become gradually apparent to me why I was so fond of "ITKKF"; the crawling chug was really toned down in favour of a far faster aural assault with that album, it was snappy and really energetic.
This isn't nearly as jumpy but it's got plenty of signature crawling mosh, and the Amebix and Carnivore covers aren't bad either.

Monday, May 23, 2016

KILL THE BILL

Arms Race- "Gotta Get Out" 7" (Quality Control)
First UK Pressing, 2014
Orange Vinyl /50

Debut EP from this gritty UK Hardcore band. Massive hints to Negative Approach and bands of similar ilk. I originally ordered this on blue vinyl and it arrived to me cracked so Ola at Quality Control was kind enough to send me a copy from the limited orange press. This is of the UK/Euro edition, PKR handled a US pressing.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

COMMON ENEMY

Napalm Death- "Grind Madness At The BBC: The Earache Peel Sessions" LP (Earache)
Reissue, 2014
Black Vinyl /?? 

Reissue/compilation type thing from a few years back. Brings together three seperate Peel Sessions from '87-'90. The '87 sessions are generally considered to be legendary early Napalm Death material and the hard copy versions from this time are relatively coveted items. This reissue is part of a wider collection pressed by the label that also showcases similar releases by Bolt Thrower, Carcass and a few more early staple Earache bands.

Sunday, May 8, 2016

BORN IN A TOMB

Black Jesus- "Everything Black Everything Dead" LP (Doomentia) 
First Pressing, 2015 
Black Vinyl /?? 

One of Australia's strongest active bands is Melbourne's Black Jesus and this is their debut LP "Everything Black Everything Dead". Following a brilliant demo from a few years back that was subsequently pressed to vinyl, I must say that amongst all of life's distractions, I did take far longer than I like to admit to warm to this album. Attribute some of that possibly to the fact that it took quite a while for this to be pressed to wax following it's initial CD release in 2014. It's been receiving regular repeated listens from me for months now though and I'm not bored yet.
Earlier in their career, the band coined the term 'Scrap Metal' when describing their own style and I don't think that a better description could be applied. While firmly rooted in the Death Metal underground, a strong punk undercurrent is apparent throughout, most easily attributed to the recording that tips its hat to 80's pioneers like Repulsion and Terrorizer.
Horrific stuff.