year of skulls

Newish metal/hardcore band out of Arizona, this is the debut EP "Decade Of Dust" from Tuscon's Hellhorse. Red and black split 7", pressed by Twelve Gauge Records earlier in the year. I've had this for a good three months or so now, but just haven't had the time to post about it. If there's going to be any kind of award for coolest record title this year, then I'd have to nominate these guys.
Touted as part of some new wave of black metal/crust/d-beat coming about at the moment, I suppose such descriptions aren't entirely off the mark. If the opening track/intro is anything to go by though, I'd sooner describe these guys as some 80's thrash rehash before anything else. Heavy comparisons to a lot of that era's great in this one track alone. Sadly these 57 seconds would have to be the highlight of the entire release, as it's a gradual decline in quality for the remaining seven songs. Not to say that this 7" is a terrible presentation, but it's nothing overly inspired either. Just middle of the road metal influenced hardcore that dabbles lightly in melody and crust vibes, then throws some weak hardcore vocals over the top. I really think I'd be a great deal more into this if the vocals held a little more meat in the low end, but sadly they don't. Reminds me of Black Breath to an extent for the same reasons really.
Infant recording from a band in it's earlier stages, I plan to keep my eye on these guys if just in hope that the vocals morph into something a little more hectic and ballsy. Something that has happened with other bands in the past.

hospital bed

The second Just Urbain record that Texas' 540 Records has released, this is the reissue of the "Everybody Loves" EP originally pressed in a run of something like 200 copies back in 1980. I've explained it before, but for the uninformed, Just Urbain were a first wave KBD styled punk group from my home town of Brisbane. Formed, played, and disbanded long before I even existed, what I really know about these guys and this style of music in general is minimal at best, and if you follow a few links you'll be able to find a better description and story about the band from the mouth of the bands drummer, David Holliday himself.

desolate ways

It's perhaps dangerous to admit that I have never been a massive Morbid Angel fan regardless of their influence in the death metal world over the last 20+ years. With that in mind though, I can appreciate quality when it's due and their first two records are certainly sought after items for me, and when a friend offers his copy of the "Blessed Are The Sick" original LP for a steal, I don't turn down the offer. Black vinyl from 1991, Earache Records #31.
In terms of influential American death metal in it's infancy, I do clearly rate Autopsy before these guys, I just prefer the more punk/less precise sound of that band, but you can't deny the quality in the utter technical proficiency of this band and this album. This LP and "Altars Of Madness" spawned an entire genre and when you think about it's long term influence, it's fair to say that this style of music's lasting legacy would be the most prevalent these days in more modern extreme metal. Listen to the ideas and the execution in the fret work. Listen to the kick drums and percussion in general, Pete Sandoval was a a bit of a machine.

Too band about that new album, repulsive. Someone sell me "AOM" for a reasonable price.

final verdict

Sick People now have a blog. Follow.

weight

Here's a record that's more or less snuck on me completely unannounced, the debut s/t 7" from Death Evocation. This is on blue wax of 100 copies. The remainder of the press is on black. Unsure of the numbers there, but the pressing is somewhat larger from what I have heard. Point the finger of blame at Quality Control Records out of the UK for this one.
Disregard any pre conceived notions that you may have developed over of the name of the band. These guys don't play Swedish death metal. What you get here is three tracks of very faithful and on point 80's thrash metal by way of Slayer. Fast and unforgiving, the opening riff on the opening track "Relentless" would have to be one of the coolest thrash riffs that I have heard in a very long time. Constantly stuck in my head. This bands selling point is that all vocals are handled by a female. Such a feature draws heavy comparisons to mid 80's Birmingham thrash unit Sacrilege, and to be honest it's a remarkably close resemblance. Another point of note here is that members of this band come from across two continents, not just the UK; the basic story is that a few guys from the greater Boston scene made a trek to the the old land to record this with some natives. Someone told me it was members of Mind Eraser, Ampere and Rival Mob amongst others. I wouldn't be able to tell you just who though, as everything here is credited to satirically named members.
Simple packaging in this glued, card stock sleeve with all relevant notes and lyrics printed on the back cover. No insert and no inner dust sleeve for the record itself.
What a surpirse. One of the best releases of this year, even if I had to adjust to the female vocals at first.

wet cough

Earlier in the year Iron Lung toured down this way and this is the result, the Australian tour tape that they've just put out, "I Hate You Motherfuckers". Limited to 150 copies, this one sold out really quick. Iron Lung Records. Pro dubbed and screened cassette.
Three separate sets from three cities, Newcastle, Sydney and Adelaide, disappointingly Brisbane isn't represented here. Bummer, it was a great set. Content here isn't overly removed from that night though. On point, tight sets by the guys, consisting of mostly newer material, with the suitable peppering of shit talk, crowd baiting and general awkwardness between songs. The sound quality in the actual recording of the sets isn't the most fantastic, and the B side is actually the Sydney and Adelaide recordings playing at the same time (yes that's correct, Sydney in your left ear and Adelaide in your right ear simultaneously), but you get what you pay for I suppose. Iron Lung Heads shouldn't be dissapointed. Just listen to the Newcastle set alone and that's good enough.
Throughout the three sessions the set list varies slightly with the edition and subtraction of various tracks. Nothing gets repetitive though which is a good thing and the songs that do see repeated slots are generally the better Iron Lung songs anyway. Sets are relatively short, but in the grand scheme of Iron Lung music you could argue that these set lengths are very appropriate.Personally I am hanging out really hard for a new Iron Lung full length. No word has been uttered at all about anything of the sort, and Jensen and Jon seem so busy with their numerous other musical endeavours, so who knows what's in the pipeline, but while their more recent efforts have been entertaining to an extent, nothing gets my blood pumping like the A-side of "Sexless//No Sex". Who knows, maybe soon? It's been long enough.

runaway

I've found that generally when I'm really excited about a new record, I'll get photos of it and post about it within a few days of receiving. Not to say that I haven't been at least interested in this 7", but I've had this thing for at least six weeks now, and to be honest, I'd more or less completely forgotten about it. Anyway, this is that newish split 7" from Converge and Drop Dead. My copy is a mucky dark green and black smudge of who knows how many. Touted as self released by the bands, there is an Armageddon Label logo on the back. Not sure about the details of that label really. You could probably unofficially chalk this up to Deathwish Inc too.
One song from each band, the Converge number, "Runaway" is quite a good song surprisingly. It's fast and rough in the right places, built largely around a d-beat that's injected with cool blast beats here and there. The only part that's a let down is the totally out of place guitar noodling bits that Ballou utilises in each chorus. Some Converge heads that I have talked with love it, but I can't stand it. Prevents a 'good' song from being a 'great song'. The blast beats are very cool though.

I've never been a massive Drop Dead fan so I think I'd struggle to accurately describe their input here without annoying some fans of theirs. "Paths Of Glory" is a predominately fast track structured on a quick 1-2 1-2 beat. Relatively clean recording not dissimilar to that LP of theirs that Ballou recorded years back. The guys vocals come across a little more reserved here compared to that album, age may have something to do with it.

Here's the part that I use to bitch about Deathwish Inc as an online store. I am not too sure what has happened at Deathwish headquarters, I heard that they employed someone new to handle the processing of orders, but in the last 18 months I have experienced nothing but trouble with this label as a reliable source of vinyl nerdery. I originally ordered this split direct from them, only to have it never show up. Various emails did nothing to help, so I gave up and just grabbed this at my local store. Three other orders I have placed with the label in the last 18 months either never showed up, took a VERY long time to show up, or showed up minus items or the wrong items. Every time correspondence with the label was either sub par or non existent. In my opinion, a label of such repute and size should be putting a lot more effort into how it operates in this field. Okay, rant over.
In the better light you get a much better idea of this particular colourway. I think officially there were something like four separate colours pressed, something like that was announced anyway, but from what I've gathered from various blogs and forums over the last few months, because of the method used in the pressing of this split, the actual variations number in the high double digits, possibly more. Sucks to be a Converge collector. This one will do me just fine.

I read that Converge are writing for a new album now. I predict an early 2012 release. Maybe?

i fear

Another great old band to come out of practically nowhere with some brand spanking new music is Boston legends Gang Green with this new single on Taang! Records, the "I Fear" 7". Black vinyl in a nice, simple, glossy sleeve.
'Wanna hear what Gang Green sounds like in 2011?' leads the current speal put together by Taang! to promote this record. My answer was undoubtedly 'yes', and to be honest I am surprised with the results. Well a little. Like a lot of these rehashings as of late, I did expect these guys to return to form with some actual hardcore reminiscent of the "Sold Out" days, so as to pander to the current crop of enthusiasts. In terms of the actual music here though, what they've coughed up isn't overly removed from a lot of their later material; heavy rock vibe with plenty of riffs and leads and loads of that typical, party guy Gang Green attitude. The lead track is introduced by a phone recording of what sounds like some coked up American woman abusing Chris Doherty over standing her up or something. It's amusing I guess. The song itself runs a totally slow paced tempo, largely revolving around a rolling tom drum beat, a simple riff, and a repeated crew vocal delivery of the songs namesake. Lyrics pertain to something along the lines of fearing a coming home late to the significant other. Certainly seems like an satirical take on the older dude's life. Flip the slab and it's a little more up beat, but again, it's ruled by a very rocky, 80's metal lead. Both songs get a pretty clean, modern styled recording, but it's by no means over polished like yesterday's post fodder. The end result is a really fun record and listening to these two songs make me realise just how similar that Detroit band RZL DZL is. Surely they've taken some kind of influence from Gang Green.
No real gripe here, other than the cheapish packaging that doesn't really seem that thought out. Generally as a rule, I don't approve of liner notes and the like printed on the back of the sleeve. That's what inserts are for. You don't get that here though, not even the lyrics are supplied. Bummer. For an old band making a come back though, this is very cool.

heresy on the monkey bars

Out of this current resurgence of older hardcore bands reforming and releasing new music, this new Sheer Terror record, their EP entitled "Spite", would have to be one that has most grabbed my attention. You can't deny the (sheer) quality of alot of their old discography, so with no hesitation I grabbed this. Out of something like four different variations, this is the brown and black splatter edition of 1000 copies. Reaper Records.
I don't know whether I have actually detailed it on this blog before, but I have never been the kind that's heavy into the analysing of lyrics to the nth degree. One hardcore band that has always managed to capture my interest in this department however is Sheer Terror. I doubt I need to really tell you why, everyone know's that I'm talking about "Just Can't Hate Enough". What a song. So with initial inspection of this new EP, the first thing I did was get my hands on the lyrics sheet. More or less convinced that I'd be somewhat disappointed, I'm happy to say that the Rev. is in full effect here with some intelligent, hateful and working class verses. I mean really, of course he won't ever match "JCHE", but he's presented here a lengthy and complex platter of spiteful gripes that puts to shame a lot of today's modern day 'lyricists'.
In terms of actual music, what we get here is what would be perceived as pretty faithful Sheer Terror I suppose. Simple structures and riffs, nothing new. Heavy, crunchy, sharp guitar tone, as always. Bearer's trade mark snarl, thank you. The most immediately noticeable difference to me though is it's heavily modern day recording and mix. Massively appropriate for a label such as Reaper Records, fans of any modern day HARDcore bands (Terror, TUI etc) will lap this new music up whether they're familiar with old Sheer Terror or not. There though lie's this EP's weak point; it's likely that fans of the older material may be put off slightly (or even a lot) by the crispness of these new songs. It's certainly something that I will have to adjust to, maybe I won't at all. It's tricky at the moment.

Two new songs on the A side, and a cover on the B by some old band that I've never heard of that goes by the name of Old 97's. A quick google search uncovers that they're from Texas and that they play a style of music touted as 'alternative country', whatever that is, I don't have the inclination to look further. Two of my most hated terms when used to describe any kind of music. The song itself , "Salome", is a tricky number, introduced by a simple progressed power chord, it's a mid paced number, dominated by a clean singing Bearer. I've never been a fan of his clean vocals, and this song does nothing to alter my opinion in any way.
Thick cardboard, glued sleeve, with no(!) dust sleeve for the actual vinyl. Bit of a no no for a label of such stature I think. Lyrics and liner notes arrive by the way of this large fold out poster thing. Tidy package that you would more or less expect from Reaper.

caught in the gears

No Faith are this new band from Massachusetts playing noisy/doomy/frantic hardcore. Members of Vaccine and other notable groups, this is another Killingsworth creation. This is their new tape, not actually referred to as a demo. 15 tracks that are to be appearing on a 12" vinyl version through Painkiller Records before the end of the year. This was sold recently at a handful of shows they did and I managed to grab it when they posted on VLV about a few left over copies. Sorted by Red Room Records.
Various people, including the band themselves, have described this as comparable to Vaccine but with more slow/doom bits. I'd say that the description wouldn't be far from the mark, this is practically Vaccine anyway, just with one different member. Matt McKeown's very nihilistic and hateful lyrics are as obvious as ever, as are his still very identifiable vocals, even under the layers of reverb and delay. The frenzied riffage apparent with practically 99% of the Vaccine stuff is very prominent here when the band decide to get loose too, and it's made very familiar by the similar tuning/recording style that they use. Obviously what sets this collective apart is the slow bits, the arguably more doomy/rough recording, and the bouts of noise and feedback that pop their heads up here and there. There's a couple outright tracks that are devoted totally to noise and drone.
The A side of this tape was released properly online by the band themselves back when I was in the UK. One note they made at that point was that the product they were previewing had yet to be mastered. Listening to this tape version though, I must say that this final product isn't vastly different to before. This version does possess a slightly lower low end, but that may just be down to the nature of the format, I'm not too sure. I did question how mastering could improve the mix at the time though, because it sounded pretty good then, as it does now. Maybe they decided that it was more than acceptable how it was, and that it didn't need too much work.

Simple packaging. Black, screened cassette, stock matte j card insert with a stapled paper booklet. Clean and tidy.

drowned

So Southern Fraud Records have gone and reissued the Nihilist demos as one complete gatefold LP, packaged together with the Entombed demo as a 7" EP. 2000 copies were pressed in total, and I think the colourways were divided evenly in two of this gold press and a silver edition. I just grabbed the one version.
Very tidy package as you'd expect from Southern Lord, each record housed in it's own matt black dust sleeve, inside a silver coloured, glossy, printed jacket, inside the gatefold. Heavy.

The 7" sleeve is mounted directly onto the side of the 12" sleeve.

Sometimes it's tricky actually justifying being into 'early Entombed' when the vast majority of it was actually written when the band was still using the name Nihilist. I'd assume that most would know the story with this early stage of the band, but for the uninformed, basically Nihilist was 4/5 of Entombed, just with Johnny Hedlund on bass instead. Nicke Andersson (founding member) broke the original band up when his relationship with Johnny soured to reform as Entombed later on. Most of the first Entombed album, the "Left Hand Path" LP, is actually Nihilist material. Hedlund went on to form Unleashed and release several influential, arguably cleaner sounding albums with that band.
Gatefold sleeve that includes an expected collage of old, unseen photos of the band in live and various situations. Also included are liner notes by quite a few influential members of death metal history including Wannes from Asphyx, Anders from At The Gates, and Chris from Autopsy amongst many others. Well written and concise.
All four known Nihilist recordings are here, the "Drowned", "Premature Autopsy", and "Only Shreds Remain" demos and the other officially unreleased "Drowned" session songs, as well as the Entombed demo. 14 songs in total that all gradually progress in sound quality through each release. If you want to talk about classic, lo-fi death metal recordings, then go no further than these releases. Easily the best stuff to come out of this scene at this time.
Obviously there's nothing new here, but never having the chance to get my hands on hard copies of these demos any other way until now, this LP will certainly go down as a top ten of 2011 for me. You can't deny the total quality of this band.

instant collection

swine control

What I know about the following band in question is minimal at best, and what I really know about the style of music they're playing is probably even less. This is the new Krömosom LP on black vinyl, recently pressed by a handful of labels, including Hardcore Victim Records and Havoc Records. Japcore/d-beat/crust hardcore played by former members of a handful of bands, including Melbourne's Pisschrist. Similarities to that band shouldn't go unmentioned here. Fast, metallic crusty hardcore.
Following an extensive line up change since the last demo cassette, this new album see's the band recorded in a much more quality setting, without getting too clean or crisp for the style. Yeap's ungodly vocals would have to be the highlight of this LP, reverbed heavily, he sounds easily at his best here. With that said though, I was never a massive fan of his previous work with Pisschrist, there's clearly just a lot I don't really understand about that/this style of music.
Even though there's only eight songs on offer here that span barely 13 minutes, the similarity of nearly every track to one another by nature of their fast, relentless d-beat structures tend to bore me if I listen to more than a handful of them in one sitting. As a result, I don't normally get through and entire listening session of this record before I skip on to something else. Obviously I just don't really get it. For an Australian release though, this is quality and I'm happy to call it mine.

explosive aggressive

Shackles are a great PV styled band from Byron Bay. They did a demo last year and they should have a 7" EP out before then end of this year. From the recording sessions for said record, they've been kind enough to donate five cuts for a future Delayed Response cassette release. Tentative title for the tape is "Preliminary Hurt". I don't actually have the music yet, but I hope to have it ready in about a month for their show in Byron with Downpour and Sick People.