Bandcamp Artist Of The Week: Drug Mule

Instead of following tradition today, buying crappy chocolates and acting like an all around goofball, I say give the gift of blast beats to that extra special loved one. Show them you really care by making their taste in music even better by schooling them about some hot, new groups. And since I love and care for you all, here is one of those said groups. Drug Mule (sometimes DrugxMule), are a fastcore influenced powerviolence band from California. I definitely remember being exposed to their first demo thanks to the amazing Vinod Karki Youtube channel last year. Definitely a solid first recording, relying closely on sounds akin to bands such as Gets Worse or Despise You. Nothing mind blowing honestly, but Drug Mule showed signs of individuality with some excellent use of guitar noises and great sample choices (see the track "I Need A Bath..."). Drug Mule's next two releases however, showed the band had gained all the improvements that I would hope for. They got an excellent third vocalist (aka Blake from Chainsaw Squid), and became faster, tighter, and more urgent.
Drug Mule have an upcoming split 7" with Chainsaw Squid, MxDxFxL and No Fucks Given (to be released by Opaques Records), and a split with Snuffx. The later definitely being my favorite of their releases so far. Drug Mule really get wonky with the songwriting on that one, and also much more technical. Vocals are rapidly traded to match the franticness of the music, and the guitarist really captures some creative sounds and tones. The samples are also a huge addition to this bands sound and inspired aesthetic. Obviously, almost every one deals with drugs or drug references in some way, and actually sometimes do a pretty effective job at showing the grotesque and putrid parts of addiction. Loving the new higher/bitchy screams too, I have a serious soft spot for the kind of vocals in my grind. Stoked too see what else these mules have in the works.

Stream/purchase Drug Mule's music HERE

~VII

Bandcamp Artists Of The Week: Snuff & Kaiju Daisenso

The bloated music hive that is Bandcamp has been saturated with a muck of  disasterous looking photoshopped album art and one-man bedroom grind projects lately. More bands named after random celebrities then I can count. Most of my perusals have began in vain this past year, but a few shining diamonds in the rough have peeked through. The most recent one being Snuff from Los Angeles. Not sure how many other "Snuff's" there are out there, but I haven't heard one that sounds like this! This is brutal west coast blasturbation giving to you with 100% no bullshit. Their most recent EP, "Slow Life Quick Death" is solid grind excellence. The attention grabbing groove intro is done well, showing off the lo-fi and distorted recording well, and then boom, blasting insanity for the next 10 minutes. If you like Nak'ay, Insect Warfare or Internal Rot, you'll dig Snuff.

I'm a sucker for anything Godzilla, so ya' throw some grindcore into the mix and you're pretty much guaranteed to have a mad decent thing going. Kaiju Daisenso is a NY trio featuring ex-members of many bands according to their bandcamp page, the only one I recognize being Unearthly Trance. Their first s/t EP is bit of a mixed bag of grind. You got some thrash riffs, some melodic leads, some early ANb tempo blasts, and Garageband drums!! I recognize those programmed sounds anywhere. It's some pretty interesting stuff, I don't really hear grind of this style very often. And it's cool as hell to listen to a song called "Monster Zero One". My nerdy side digs that a lot. If you like early Triac, Sick/Tired and maybe even Drugs Of Faith, check this out. A 7" version is also available on their bandcamp page.

~VII

Bandcamp Artist Of The Week: Confine

A few of you might remember a while ago I advertised for a new side project with Arif Rot that I would be involved in called Loathe. It was going to be a powerviolence band, a demo was gonna get put out, blah blah, long story short, it didn't end up happening (couldn't get songs in time). So another band was formed, entitled Confine, and actually recorded...but again didn't go quite as planned. But an EP was still released, and here we have "Setting Fire To The Western Hemisphere". Confine is made up of members of Oblivionized, The Afternoon Gentlemen, Human Cull and Corrupt Moral Alter, and with a line-up like that, you know that there's going to be some seriously hardcore shit produced. To no surprise, the EP shreds from front to back. This record is devastatingly aggressive and hateful, and best of all, you can download it for free! This EP was released a couple months ago, and from what I hear, a new record is in the works! 

You can also buy CD's/merch here.

~VII

Bandcamp Artist Of The Week: Flesh Police

Have I given it up for Australia recently? I'm not so sure I have, but you can be rest assured that the big, beautiful continent is still spawning as many awesome bands as their are poisonous snakes in that country (for those uneducated, that means there's a whole lot of them). The newest venomous offering comes in the form of a new brutal powerviolence outfit called Flesh Police. Not much is known about this band, other then that they are a 4-piece, and come from the powerviolence capital of Australia; Perth! The same home to a little band you may know called Extortion. This new EP/demo is 14 tracks, about 10 minutes, of chunky, heavy, blasting intensity. Great recording, maintaining a raw sound but still keeping enough clarity to make the riffs really punch out. I really dig how non-stop this EP is. From song one, it's just go! They throw in a few slow parts here and there, of course, but then throw in some fake out endings, heading right back into blasting grind parts instead of going the tired sludge route. That's right, no slow song at the end! It just stops, leaving you wondering what the hell just happened. Love it. This should be released on cassette sometime in the future.

~VII

Bandcamp Artists Of The Week: Prison Violence / Self

Double bandcamp helping coming attcha this week! Both bands coming from my favorite scenes ever too! Prison Violence from Squamish, Canada, and Self from Los Angeles.

Prison Violence (or PrisonxViolence, though I doubt there's any straight edge business going on with this group) came to my attention from a recent post on the Obacha facebook page, as this band shares members with them. Totally fast, totally crushing, totally Canadian. It also sounds like they're a drum/bass band too, which delights me to no end. Compared to Obacha, they're definitely less fastcore oriented, with a lot more slow parts, and a bit better sounding recording. They have new tracks up, from an upcoming split with some band, and older tracks from a 4-way split with Skuff, Violent Gorge and Selfish Beings that I NEED! Dig it.

Shout out to my buddy Alex for showing me this band. Self are a relatively new band on the west coast, and they play crustcore. I don't really ever post crust stuff on here, because honestly, crust bores the shit out of me. But throw some blast beats in the mix, and voilá, it becomes pretty damn good! The songs on this "Divine Intervention 2013" demo/ep are ragers, and are sure to turn a crowd into a flailing frenzy at live shows. Pretty killer stuff, can't wait to hear more!

~VII

Bandcamp Artist Of The Week: Dethroned Emperor

New Jersey's in the houseeeeee! I'm glad I can finally talk about this band, because I've been a fan of them for a while, but never found the opportunity to properly do a write-up. Dethroned Emperor are an unholy duo from New Brunswick, NJ, and are on the cusp of releasing their first full length record, "Moral Nihility". Deathgrind in the most literal sense of the word, these guys fully embrace any and all OSDM influence into their sound, creating a hybrid of the genre that you don't really hear that often, or executed quite as well. Imagine the bastard child of Incantation and Assück, who has heard his fair share of bestial metal, but learned some technical guitar chops too. If any of that sounds appealing to you, listen to this ASAP. Definitely their best stuff to date, in terms of recording and songcraft. Raise those horns(if you're into that, I don't know..)!

~VII

Bandcamp Artists Of The Week: Votnut

First BAoTW post of 2013! Here's to another year of finding new, awesome bands! Kickstarting this year off is Votnut, a North Carolina quartet that just kicks several types of ass. Boss distortion pedals are in full effect with this band, mixing together full on Rotten Sound/Euro-style grindcore with brutal Entombed style grooves and a perfect mix of whiplash inducing, mechanical stops and starts. This is a seriously awesome EP, one that looks to be getting a 7" release very soon. Preorder it here, and give them a like on Facebook.

~VII

Bandcamp Artists Of The Week: Agonizing Blight and Rapturous Grief

More solid as a rock powerviolence-y hardcore from the west coast for ya! A brand new band featuring members of the mighty Crutch, Agonizing Blight keep their jams short, to the point, and pulverizing with the old-school powerviolence inspirations in full force. Definitely gonna get these guys on the OG West Coast comp. Check em out.

Guh, I wish I had listened to this band sooner. Rapturous Grief play the kind of simple powerviolence that I can fall in love with at first listen. All the key ingredients are there, the flail-in-the-mosh-pit riffs, the punchy drumming, and an excellent recording (the distant low end rumbles during the slow parts is a fantastic touch). This is a band that knows what a guitar/drum band should sound like, dynamically. Add a few stop/start riffs in there, and you know I'm sold, baby. Fans of Shitstorm should definitely dig these guys.

~VII

Bandcamp Artist Of The Week: Bad Friends

See, I really do appreciate it when you guys tell me about bands, because otherwise I most likely would have looked over awesome groups like this (thanks for the heads up, Tyler!) Bad Friends are a kick-fucking-ass fastcore/powerviolence band from Albany, NY (a mere few hours from where I live. Need to get these guys down here). This debut (?) EP is 10 track beast of gritty intensity. Loud and lo-fi recording; the kind where the drums are über-present and the guitars scream over everything, and the buried vocals yell out, desperate to be heard over the mix. You know, the good kind of recording. Fans of bands like Vaccine should instantly fall in love these guys. This shit will make you power stomp small children. Check it out below, and give them a like on Facebook.

~VII

Bandcamp Artists Of The Week: Habitual Defender and Cheap Art

Great fucking hardcore violence from this Seattle duo. Seven songs in just over 3 1/2 minutes, so you know there's no room for bullshit. Great straight forward jams of sonic rawness that remains catchy, just how I like it! I can see these guys pleasing fans of bands like Punch and Extortion, and any fastcore fan. A cassette version should be out soon on Mind Melt Records. I wants it.

I'm so glad I stumbled upon Cheap Art today. I've been really craving some new fastcore jams lately, and Cheap Art are giving me the fix I need. Everything I love about the genre is here, manic and tight musicianship, creative song structure, tempo changes all over the place, and yelled vocals. Sexy stuff right here. Fans of SFN, Lack of Interest, and No Comment need to listen. Apparently this recording is being re-issed on cassette as a split with the band Rapturous Grief. I wants that too.

~VII

Bandcamp Compilation Of The Week: "USA Power Violence Vol. 1"

These week I'd like to bring your attention to this super kick-ass compilation, originating from a currently unknown source (can't find the origin of the comp. at this time). This digital/cassette release features 18 powerviolence/grindcore bands from across the United States, and each one of them contribute some solid jams to this beast. A good chunk of the bands on here have been talked about on OG at some point (False Light, Curmudgeon, Snakes, Suffer On Acid, Stresscase, etc.), so right there you know you have some good jams to listen too. Most of the other bands are ones that I've been meaning to talk about for a while (Bridge, Necklacing). And holy shit, listen to the Beast Plague track on here, goddamn. The cassette is sold out (darn), but you can download it for free on their bandcamp. Help spread the word, and keep your fingers crossed for a Vol. 2!

~VII

Bandcamp Artist Of The Week: Absvrdist

Fucking awesome modern grindcore from San Antonio, Texas! I've been seeing Absvrdist's debut full length all over bandcamp, and I've seen tons of people talking about them all over the internets. Truth be told, I've listened to "Illusory" a few times over the past couple months, and I have no excuse for why I'm just not writing about them. Tons of great qualities about this release; the recording is superb, first and foremost. Great modern sound, and ridiculously heavy. The guitars are mixed beautifully and the drums are perfectly punchy and bassy. Great song writing too, excellent riffs and with tons of groove, blast riffs and some parts that might catch you off guard (they break out an acoustic guitar at one point). They say that there's black metal influence, and I guess you could say that, given their use of minor-key chord progressions from time to time. But overall (and thankfully), the black metal thing isn't really a focus. Bands like Gadget and Nasum have done this too, and Absvrdist pull this sound of brilliantly. Love it.

~VII

Bandcamp Artists Of The Week: Beatriz Carnicero, and Shoveit!

I'm gonna treat you guys this week, and expose two pretty gnarly bands to you for your listening pleasure.  The first of which I believe is the first band from South American that I've talked about on here. More specifically, from Uruguay, a country that I don't think I've heard any kind of abrasive music from. Anyway, the band is called Beatriz Carnicero, and they are a pretty killer fastcore outfit. On their EP, "No Recess", they tear through 15 tracks in almost half the time, with only one track reaching the 1-minute mark. Pretty proper for a fastcore band, amiright? They're definitely more inspired by the old-school sound, as opposed to the modern-mindfuck fastcore bands like xBrainiax or Dead Radical. But they incorporate some tastefully placed stop-start passages(always good), and some more unconentional down-tuned riffs show up every now and again. Check them out!

The next project is a seriously vicious drum-machine grind band that fans of +HIRS+ and Agoraphobic Nosebleed should be all over like white on rice. This band, Shoveit!, will definitely appeal to those who still get a stiffy for the early 7" days of ANb. I wouldn't be surprised if this dude listens to their two self-titled EP's religiously. Short, short, short songs, fast drumming, and a super thick and distorted guitar sound. Not a whole lot of groove on here, but there are plenty of good, simple riffs to sink your teeth into. Check it!

~VII

Bandcamp Artist Of The Week: Gets Worse

GRUFF! Oh man, if you like your powerviolence mean, burly, and crushingly heavy, than you need to listen to the new album from this English powerhouse band, Gets Worse. These songs are fucking tough, and will kick your bitch ass wether you're asking for it or not. Seriously, this album has balls. The production is perfectly heavy. The guitars are just smothered in this deep, crunchy low-end, and the bass guitar just booms right along with them. Like, imagine if The Afternoon Gentlemen and Xibalba decided to join forces, and kidnapped "Unforgivable"-era John Hoffman to do vocals. It's heavy (very heavy) and has a nice balance of fast and slow riffs, it's fantastic. AND! On top of all this, included in the song, "Loner", is a sampled from on of my favorite Adventure Time episodes. Bloody brilliant. A 10" vinyl release of this should be out soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that. 

~VII

Bandcamp Albums Of The Week: Obacha & Skuff - Demos 2012

Double post!  Seeing as Skuff and Obacha both have recently released 2012 demos, and are touring the west coast together next month, it was all too fitting.

Obacha are a band that knows how to do fastcore right. These guys have been consistently killing it for a few years now, but their 2012 demo is their first release as a 3 piece (drummer quit, singer became drummer/singer) and it is a very apparent step up. With the sound being a lot dirtier than their previous output, these 8 songs in 4 minutes are as fast and frantic as any PV fiend could want. The vocal duties are also shared a little more, which rules and totally works for these guys. As you can tell I have a huge boner for their new demo, but all their stuff is worth checking out(  here's their first demo, the only thing not on the bandcamp).
*Edit: I was totally off, Obacha were still a four peice for this demo. They're even faster now. Here's proof.

Skuff on the other hand are a drum and bass two piece, playing super, super catchy and greasy PV.  Seriously, listen to “Wasp Eyes” and try not getting that shit stuck in your head.  Sweet samples, no songs longer then 1:10, and the least shitty Skuff production yet, what more could you ask for?  This new demo is showing up everything they’ve done previously so hard, while still being the perfect amount of raw.  These guys are going to be on that all drum and bass six way split with the almighty Water Torture so keep your eyes open for that as well. 

Check out the tour dates here , and listen to these bands at full volume!

~Isaac

Bandcamp Artist(s) of The Week: Slave & The Satans

Two bands this time around, not only to make up for last week, but because there's just too many cool bands I want to talk about, and I want to expose them all to you as fast as I can. You can thank me later. First up is a solid powerviolence band from Birmingham, AL. called Slave. They bring absolutely nothing new to the genre, but the songs they write are familiar enough to make their stuff instantly enjoyable for seasoned listeners. A good, semi-lo fi recording, well timed breakdowns, and shouted mid-range vocals, it's all key ingredients for an awesome powerviolence group. The five new songs on their bandcamp are included on their upcoming full-length cassette, and they have an upcoming split with False Light, so get stoked. 

Next up is a project that I have to thank my homie, Ross Gnarly of American Aftermath, for showing me (love you man!). The Satans is a one-man band spearheaded by a Mr. Nikolai Gawin, who some of you might know as the man behind James Doesn't Exist. Straying away from his usual drum machine grind blasting mayhem, The Satans is an exceptionally badass hardcore assault. I may not be a fan of the name, or the album art (and I'm gonna guess that most of you aren't either), but don't let that steer you away from this because it really is an excellent EP. Undoubtably, this is the best and most professional sounding recording that I've heard Nikolai do. The guitars are loud and trebly, the drum programming is excellent, and the whole album just has this constant momentum that keeps this thing engaging and fun the whole way through. And those riffs, goddamn son, those riffs. I can see fans of groups like ranging from Dangers to Every Time I Die digging this. Solid.  

~VII

Bandcamp Artist Of The Week: Corrupt Bastards

You guys know that I love me some bass n' drum powerviolence. So there's absolutely no reason why I shouldn't love the Texas duo, Corrupt Bastards. And...I don't, at all. There's actually nothing bad I can really say about these guys, and what they've recorded so far. All the goods are there; they got the grooves, they got the good recording, they got the good bass tone, it's just instantly enjoyable and solid powerviolence. Absolutely nothing wrong with this band. I'm stoked as fuck for their upcoming releases, including a split cassette with Calafia Puta, and a six-way split with bands including Sordo and Water Torture. Get your jizz rags ready, people.

~VII

Bandcamp Artist Of The Week: Snakes

Are you a fan of fast bands that use the Entombed guitar sound? Yes? Then you should be all over Snakes. Hailing from Michigan, Snakes play heavy, metallic hardcore with a plethora of grooves, bad-ass bass breaks and sprinkles of blast beats thrown in the mix. Excellent breakdowns are also tossed in that are sure to cause some broken noses at shows. The recording is absolutely fantastic, utilizing the high-mid and treble guitar tone that we've all come to know and love very well. You could have told me this was recorded by Kurt Ballou and I wouldn't have doubted you for a second. Good stuff, check it out!

~VII

Bandcamp Artist Of The Week: Damaged Goods

This is a long long long long LONG overdue post. This here demo from Damaged Goods, my homies from NJ, is a top-notch, excellent, mosh-pit-bloodbath-inducing piece of hardcore. Professionally recorded and played by two young kids with the utmost knowledge and respect for hardcore and powerviolence of all kids, and it definitely shows; the songs on here showcase influences ranging from the discordant(Irong Lung, big influence on the riffs), to the beatdown. Fans of bands like Punch, Spazz, and the previously mentioned Iron Lung should definitely listen to this. These guys play a lot of shows, and hopefully will be recording later this year. Keep a look out, best young band going right now! Be sure to follow them on their Facebook too.

~VII

Bandcamp Artist Of The Week: False Light

Hell yeah, bringing this series back! Did you miss it? I hope so, if not, fuck you! Kidding, I love you all. Anyways, I'm super excited right now, because I just stumbled upon this excellent band called False Light. A relatively new band from Charleston, SC, and I knew just from the first couple seconds of the first song that I was going to love this band. Tough as nails grindcore with some great breakdowns, and a full, bassy recording. Excellent vocals too, the dude really makes his voice flow well with the riffs being played. Very, very short release though. I've listened to it four times through just while writing this. So if I had one complaint, it's that I'm left wanting more. Hopefully they'll get some more stuff recorded soon, but until then, blast this shit loud!!

~VII