the palace

Here's Delayed Response #5, all new recordings from Brisbane's trouble makers, Shock Value. Four tracks of '82 styled Boston hardcore. Think FU's and Jerry's Kids; fast, rough. There's a DYS cover too. This is called "The Palace" (I have no idea, ask Crispy). Sold out from me now, so don't send money. If you want one, hit up the band.
The second edition of the Sick People demo (of 100 copies) will be in my hands by the end of this week too. The band will have most, get in contact with me or them if you want one.

a sea of blood in a universe of flaming darkness

Here we've got the new (and reportedly sold out I think I read) debut recording from Column Of Heaven, the "Ecstatically Embracing Everything That We Habitually Suppress" demo tape. This Canadian band is comprised of Andrew and Eric, formerly of the now defunct PV juggernaut, The Endless Blockade. Released in Northern America by Survivalist (Andrew's tape release moniker) and Europe by Suburban Mayhem. I had a few for distro over here, but they're gone now.
What you get here is a similar beast to that of these guys previous band, if a little rougher and heavier. That's most likely down to the nature of the release though. Wether the guys keep it like this will be proven with future recordings I guess. There's a heavier angle with the random electronics too, reminiscent of alot of the stuff from the last TEB LP, "Primitive". The band have gone on record to say so too.
Speaking of future releases, a split 7" is in the works with England's holy terror flag bearers, Rot In Hell. I think that's due this year. Rot In Hell have a few on the way, so maybe early next year?

i am larry clark

Robert Cameron told me stop posting about metal, so here's some hardcore from Ireland for you lot. This is the Drainland MLP from last year, "And So Our Troubles Began". From what I can gather this was pressed on a limited amount of red wax and more black. Obviously I slept on this band for a while and missed out on an initial chance to get vinyl, so being the rad guy that he is, Jamie Grimes, one of the bands singers and axemen (and head honcho over at the now defunct Suburban Mayhem Records, also the fellow that has been supplying me with Crowd Control and related records for the last 18 months) hooked me up with a spare he found in his basement. Something like five different record labels had a hand in pressing this, I don't really feel like listing them all off here. You can probably find details if you use google, Southern Lord has just put out the CD version, so they're getting a good amount of attention now.
So what you get here is some kind of downtuned, dirgy hardcore with all kinds of tempos, from slow, right up to reasonably speedy. The band go as far as to use the term 'violence' when they attempt to describe their sound, and I guess it's somewhat a fitting label.
They have a few other releases under their belts, various splits etc. One new split LP with Trenches approaches and the song I have heard cements how fond I now am of this band. Jamie's vocals have improved ten fold in terms of pitch and style. He sounds alot angrier and his lyrics are fucking cool too. The song in question is brilliantly written and could possibly see this split landing in my top ten for the year.

2nd best Irish band.

ridiculous flesh

The US doesn't produce a huge amount of great death metal bands. Horrendous are part of the select group though, and this is their "Sweet Blasphemies" demo tape. Dark Descent Records. These guys hail from various places along the east coast.
This is more or less along the lines of the early Euro greats. Reminds me a lot of Dismember. Classic Euro guitar tone, typical Euro leads etc. There's also a good amount of grit and chug going on here ala Grave and some of the better Entombed stuff. Mostly mid to fast paced structures headed by some really throaty vocals.

i made a pact

This is the "Magister Mundi Xum" demo tape from Norwegian riff connoisseurs, Devil. What else to say? They play hard rockin', rifftastic Black Sabbath styled doom metal. And they do it really well. Iron Bonehead productions made this possible.
Soulseller Records has recently reissued this in the form of a 10" record with some really awesome artwork. I've considered buying it just for the art alone. The label has also just put out the bands debut 7".
And another band named Devil, completely unrelated in any other way. This is their tape entitled "Live Entry". These guys hail from the USA, play filthy, gritty, lo-fi black metal, and are fronted by the Gehenna singer I think. This tape is a reissue of a 7" that came out early last year. I think I read somewhere that said record was limited to only 41 copies or something just as ridiculous. Vedavu Records issued this cassette and the 7".
This would have to be one of the tidiest tapes I own. Professional, glossy sleeve with heaps of folds. Really nice artwork. An Obi strip that wraps around just the first fold of the sleeve. This is the only Veduva release I own, but as far as I know, they're kind of a label that's renown for stuff like this.

you're finished

Out now. Interview with Crowd Control, Irelands premier exponents of doom/death metal charged hardcore. Also contains ramblings, reviews, photos, my want list. $2 postage paid anywhere in Australia. Obviously gets cheaper if you buy multiple copies. No Patience Records should have some this week (along with Downpour, Slaughter Strike and Sick People demo tapes). I'd like to get some out to more distros around the country. International friends get in touch for rates.

Cover photo of Mindsnare by Jhat. No they're not in the zine.

destined to fester

Full circle (to an extent) I guess with today's post in Autopsy's second masterpiece, and the album that I was lucky enough to discover them with, "Mental Funeral". To give credit where credit is due, I will admit that "Severed Survival" is a great record, but this full length would have to be my favourite of their entire catalogue and pretty much the release that I compare virtually any other death metal record to, new or old. This is last years reissue from Peaceville Records on red wax. I grabbed this at the same time I bought the new album. I'm a little surprised at myself that I'm only just getting my hands on this now, but I suppose I wasn't willing to shell out the silly amount that this seems to regularly go for on eBay and the like. Combining this with the other LP made it alot more affordable. I must have got in just in time, as a couple of hours later this wasn't listed in the webstore any more.
Gatefold sleeve as you can see, single 12" though, unlike the new album's double LP. Having never seen an OG copy, I'm not too sure how this edition weighs up in terms of similarity to the original, but this is certainly a tidy little package.
Holograph sticker to tell you how 'limited' it is. Of 2000. I guess for a band of this influence and reputation 2000 is reasonably scant. Mine is number 564. I wonder how much extra it costs to print out 2000 individually numbered stickers as opposed to just writing it in?

dirty gore whore

The fact that people may have been concerned about the quality of this new LP by the godfathers of death metal, Autopsy is arguable. With so many bands from the earlier era of death metal churning out absolute shitters of albums over the last decade or so, I doubt it would have come as much of a surprise to any fan if "Macabre Eternal" turned out to be a total polished turd. Following the massively achieved MLP "The Tomb Within" of last year though, I think that alot of people were more than probably a little confident that this album would be at least good. We're lucky then, that this new double LP is the definition of total mastery of the genre. I landed a copy on blue vinyl. This comes about courtesy of Peaceville Records, I secured my copy direct from the label.
While most older bands of the genre are 'evolving' to progress their sound, and trying new things (ie they've run out of ideas), this band has produced a total mind blower of a full length that could easily contest any of their back catalogue in terms of quality and execution. It blows me away to think that guys of such age are still able to produce music of such quality. Pure, driving, American death metal like it was originally intended. Comprised mostly of slower and mid paced chugs, there isn't a bad song amongst the twelve on offer here. Most bands strive for their entire lifespan to create metal of this quality, these guys have been doing it for almost as long as I've been alive.
What would have to be the stand out of the album here (and I think most would agree) is Chris' vocal performance. He is obviously sounding a little more haggard with his age, but where he lacks in the pure guttural low end, he more than compensates for with his amazing range and varying approaches. So many cool sounds from high to low, with some really 'phlegmy' sounds here and some sloppy delayed/revered styles there. The premier death metal vocalist.
Came with a folded poster inside the gatefold. Also in the package the guys at the label decided to throw in a similar poster from last years MLP. Someone sell me said release please. Definite priority.
They could have called it quits after "Mental Funeral" but they've managed to produce a solid agenda of releases over their career without a single dud in the bunch. 22 years since their first LP and they've written the album of 2011. Right on.

no excuse

Download the Sick People demo if you're into gruff, early 80's NYHC. The singer is 17 but he sounds like he's 40. I did an edition of 50 cassettes for their demo launch over the weekend and we literally sold all of them overnight. Second edition of 100 copies coming to a back alley brawl near you soon (about 3 weeks at the most).

SICK PEOPLE "NO EXCUSE" DEMO

bottom feeder

This blog posted vinyl rips of three of the four new Painkiller releases today. They are horrendous rips in terms of sound quality to say the least, heaps of the songs are miss-tagged, and some are even straight up missing, but it's a good indication of what to expect when these things start to arrive in peoples mail boxes. As I suspected, the Scapegoat portion of the Brutal Supremacy 4 way split is comprised of tracks that have existed for about two years. Well that's how long I've had them in my itunes for anyway.

reasonable doubts

It occurred to me recently that the majority of the more genuine, focused hardcore that I listen to is stuff from the early-mid 80's. Most of my posting on this here blog is about bands that are either straight up metal, or have a strong metallic lean in one way or another. There's about four or five current hardcore bands that I'm actually enjoying at the moment, most of them play a take on hardcore from one of the big three east coast cities. With all that said, I do understand how ironic the following post may seem. This is the new Soul Search 7", "Intolerable Weight" on black wax thanks to Thick Skin Records. This is the vinyl pressing of their demo.
These guys take heavy cues from the harder 90's metallic hardcore bands from New York City. Thug mosh like early Biohazard, Crown Of Thornz and 25 Ta Life. Quite a modern vibe with these songs though thanks to the recording. Thick, heavy. Like I said, one of maybe five actual modern hardcore bands that I like at the moment. Not sure if it's the same with the entire pressing, but my copy came in a very simple package. No insert or anything, just the closed sleeve and the actual vinyl. Because of this I've only had to take two photos to cover the entire release, which leads me to the following record, perhaps a polar opposite...
The new split from Gorgonized Dorks and HFSS. Weird vomit vinyl on My Cheap Ass Life Records. I didn't buy this, it was sent to me (I think so that I'd throw it on this blog), so I almost feel obligated to make a post.
I've never heard of HFSS, and I think that Gorgonized Dorks may have passed over my radar once or twice. Both bands play a reasonably horrible take on fastcore/grind. I don't really know who to compare them to. As most would know, I do like heaps of good grind bands, but I don't like this at all. Sorry dudes.

Cool art on both sides though.

light of lune

Green & Wood put out an amazing LP in 2009 of pure Black Sabbath worship, arguably the best of it's kind in a modern day sense. This is the follow up to that album, the "Light Of Lune b/w Siren" 7" single. Black vinyl and handled by the label that did their LP, Cyclopean Records. The two songs here are an obvious follow on from those previous works. Much the same in style, but with a slightly cleaner recording that shines a different light on Ethan's vocals. Allows for more range. It works.
Artwork by Ralph Torres, I think he's the fellow that did the recent Iron Age tape too. No online presence that I can find, I'm curious to find out more about this guy.

Simplistic packaging, just a glued sleeve and this blue insert.

Cyclopean talks of a new upcoming LP this year.

turn me loose

Dis-beat, Discharge styled hardcore punk is on today's agenda and it comes via the demo tape from Texas' own, Impalers. Black cassette, this edition has been pro dubbed by W Tapes, the label responsible for the bands debut 7". The band are selling said 7" on their current tour with Miasmal and others at the moment, and I've heard that it will be available to buy online soon.
Members of Hatred Surge and Mammoth Grinder as you've probably heard by now. A very basic release in terms the layout, just a simplistic j card insert, hence the lack of photos. This black cassette marks (I think) the third press that this demo has seen. The initial was handled by the band themselves, sold out on a short tour they did and had alternate artwork. The second edition was released last year and had the same art as this version but with a red cassette.

Black screen print on the tape.

Brisbane locals, I will have a handful for sale this Saturday at the mixed bill madness show, along with a handful of other tapes and zines.