Limbs Bin/Sidetracked - Split cassette

The cancerous infection of harsh electronics and experimentation in the grindy world is spreading deep. Now showing up from the fastcore lords of Washington, Sidetracked. Jay's incredibly heavy output coalesceing with Josh Landes/Limbs Bin mission to be the king of splits. Tons of release from both of these artists, they've all been great to just incredible, and them teaming up for a tape is just too much to handle. Sure to be another beautiful package from Josh's own label Follow Me Into The Laser Eye. Limbs Bin open up with another dated track, "Fourth of July 2014". This ladies and gentlemen, is some of the harshest stuff he's created since "Total Anguish". I'm definitely dubbing it his "gorenoise moment", but done completely Limbs Bin. Raging for a beautiful 2 minutes, this side is total chaotic, cathartic brutality. Brown noise walls of bass drums, echoing layers of screeching vocals and noise box abuse. It's a steady assault of impenetrable noise with those devastating drum machine bursts. There's a particularlly wonderful part in the middle where the reverbed synth noises and the vocals match up in the best way, total ear candy. Teaming up with Sidetracked is an obviously exciting partnership, and it's one where I really didn't know what to expect from Jay and the band. Sidetracked has never really been a group to experiment with noise, outside of arguably the the rougher recording quality they've used through the years. I really loved the few tracks posted from the noise-ridden "Abandon" EP, so I was hoping it would be some weird, Sissy Spacek-ish noisecore. Listening to it over and over, I am, sadly a bit disappointed with their side here. Another on-the-money two minute mini-opus of 10 drum and vocal bursts (aka Sidetracked songs). All held together by a hypnotic, sliding guitar drone. It is definitely something meant to be listened to as one piece, trying to pick each song apart would just end up adding unwanted effort. Each drum stab is a different fill or beat, staying away from just doing obvious blasts. Jay's trademarked one-lyric punctuations are basically the sole lyrical effort you'll get here. As the piece goes one, both drums and vocals stick around longer and longer. Finishing off with a 3 second hardcore beat and silence. Not what I would call the most enjoyable effort from Sidetracked, but to their credit, "Abandon" does sound incredible so far. I am eager to see what the final product of that will be. The tape will be out in May, in limited quantities, and can be purchased from Follow Me Into The Laser Eye or the Limbs Bin bandcamp.

~VII

Limbs Bin/Two Million Tons Of Shit - Split Cassette Review

Noise punks love splits. Noise punks love doing splits with Sete Star Sept. Sometimes noise punks who do splits with Sete Star Sept do splits with each other. I only say this because an SSS split is probably how all of you even heard of Two Million Tons Of Shit. A seemingly rando tape release that was highlighted to me by none other then Josh of Limbs Bin! Who hyped them as one of the best bands in noisegrind right now. Love like that can only mean one thing: split tape asap! Released on what has to be Josh's label, Follow Me Into The Laser Eye. Both acts toy with territory that is usually tip toed around in noisegrind; long track lengths. Particularly one track each at eleven minutes and fifteen seconds a side. Intended as an all out noise assault, of course, but also a exercise in deeper listening and total immersion in sound. Another detail I learned when asking Josh about this tape. One you can tell he is particularly happy with. With that aesthetic in mind, TMTOS's track "Cackhanded" blasts off into the cosmos with an overblown, no-fi drum and noise build up leading into torturous echoey vocals, and waves of drums beats. It's an incredible level of intensity that serves through barely noticeable bass noodling and a steady white noise of vocals. Everything is buried in thick recorded distortion. There is so much noise on this recording it's hard to tell where all of this sound is coming from sometimes. There's definitely bass and drums, that much I'm sure off, now. I honestly thought it was just a contact mic'd drum kit at first listen. While the blast parts are intense, TMTOS really let some creativity shine though with the mid-paced, tribal drum drones that pop up near the beginning and end. Imagine the most fucked up Lighting Bolt or Can free jams, right when whatever psychedelic of the night kicks in. Imagine the Gerogerigegege also somehow got on stage! These passages are great hypnotic segways, and give TMTOS a pretty unique sound. It's a monster jam that twists and turns and remains interesting throughout.

Limbs Bin, one of my favorite noise/noisegrind artists in the NY scene, delivers "Halloween 2014". Another excellent composition and recording adventure, toying heavily with his growing love for long-winded pieces. This piece, which is quote, "a series of shattered songs about ebola, confronting cars in cross walks, feeling like societal slack, and being miserable". Sounds brutal ay? Limbs Bin's core trademark sound is in tact, but all around somewhat more lo-fi and with a lot of influence from power electronics. The syncopated blasts of vocals, 1000 bpm drums and oscillating noise carry the piece. But it's all so raw, bleeding into one another, the drums pretty much act as a noise wall. The piercing feedback that's spread all through out the track is effectively hard to listen too. Even a bit disorienting at the end (listen with headphones). The recording definitely shines light on the way the recording sounds. Comprised of spliced together recordings at different times with different microphones, volumes and effects. At times Josh could be dueting with himself! Some passages are louder then others, some less distorted, more distant. Intimate and even breaking the "4th wall" of sorts (one part when you can hear the effect switches being flicked). Like TMTOS, Limbs Bin makes use of his time well and give many excellent, varied performances of consistent intensity. Watch out for cars on the road Josh!

Buy/Stream the tape HERE

~VII

Listen to Puke! Australia's Youngest Grinders!

I am convinced that some ancient magic was cast over the Australian environment by the ancient grindcore Gods of yor. I've praised this countries grindy exports more times then I can count on this blog. There's almost as many excellent bands in Australia as there are poisonous creatures. The newest example is Puke, a frantically discordant grindy band out of Brisbane. A sadly now defunct quartet who power stomped their existence into my grindcore consciousness with their swansong EP. A fantastic 9 song effort that blends techy, shiny grind with the bloodthirsty rawness of a powerviolence demo. The spastic, forward momentum of these songs was already impressive enough. But when I learned the details of the Pukes musicians, I was floored.

You know how every once and a while you read about a "super intense" heavy band that's comprised of a bunch of young kids? And how 9.9999 times out of 10 that band is complete gimmicky shit? Well let the fact that everyone in this band was about 16 when this was recorded soak in. The usual lack of talent that unfortunately trails along with bands this young is thrown out the fucking window here. Puke absolutely crush it, with sound and composition. The recording is crisp, loud and professional, and they've actually managed to craft some pretty impressive song structures. Thankfully staying away from a lot of familiar riffs and breakdowns that are a dime a dozen in grindcore. Hearing kids this young making grind that avoids a lot of norms and sounds this fresh just puts a big smile on my face. Surly if Puke continued, they could have been something great. I sincerely hope all of them are on to bigger and better things in the future!

Big thanks to my good buddy Drew for turning me on to these guys. He actually released this EP on cassette just a few days ago on his new label Naked Noise Records. He already has two more releases under his belt and many more on the way, be sure to pick up a tape and support the people who continue to support this scene.

~VII

Detroit/thedowngoing - Split Cassette Review

Man, what an awesome split. Can we give a collective round of applause to the always on point Hygiene Records, for throwing down the dough for this excellent pairing of two super overlooked bands? Starting off with Detroit. A rawasfuk, grinding fastcore trio from Canada that's as mean and intense as the city they're named after. These guys have always had a pretty solid and consistent output of quality tunes, and their side is no different. This time going for more of a straight-up fastcore style then usual, with tons of Spazz-ish barks and going to almost Quattro Stagioni tempos. It's a pretty unrelenting assault, made all the more powerful by the screeching, clanging, grinding-sheet-metal guitar tone and machine gun snare hits. No faults here with Detroit's side, at all. And what an excellent return for Australia's best noisy grinders, thedowngoing! Though I will say that if you're going in expecting the same kind of sound they had on "ATHOUSANDYEARSOFDARKNESS" or their split with Water Torture, you might be a little disappointed. The recording here is much more clean and polished, and they've done away with pretty much any vocal effects. Something that would normally spell disaster for a band who have stuck with a certain sound for basically their whole existence. But you know, to me, it isn't even an issue. Because thedowngoing are still writing some tremendous riffs and songs, no matter how smothered in noise they may or may not be. They take the discordant style of grinding and make it all their own, which is something I've always given them props for. Thedowngoing actually create captivating and powerful songs, instead of just taking the usual "noisegrind piss". Which is still great, and a style that I very much like as well, but they surpass it. Creating a sound that has me clinging to each second their side plays. I love this split. Stream it down below!

Pick up a copy of the tape over at Hygiene Records: HERE

~VII

Column Of Heaven - "Failures" Cassette

No strangers to breaking the barriers of powerviolence, grind, and heavy music in general, you wouldn't really be blamed for thinking Column Of Heaven were trying to distance themselves as far away from their grindcore labels as possible. I'd say twas not the case, given the key members staggering creative ambitions and opinions (read their blog and learn some stuff). Along with their most recent release, the "Holy Things For The Holy" 7" on Iron Lung Records, which is a two-part sludgy noise-scape, the first born brother release was this cassette, entitled "Failures". Something I haven't seen talked about very much so I'd figure I'd break the ice.

These are my own photo's of my own copy. Its a very nice looking tape, made by the band themselves. As far as I know, this won't be coming out on any other format, and I'm sure there were less at least 100 made. This tape, from what I recall,  is a collection of various bits and pieces of recordings done between a period of a couple years. Strung together into a collage, or little vignette's of sound. There's moments of conventional musicianship, occasionally, but most of "Failures" consists of found sounds, field recordings, industrial clangs, and straight abstract noise. Powerviolence gone music concrete. It's an interesting release, more of a document then anything else, and it kept me captivated. 

Check discogs and eBay for people selling this for 25+ dollars. I guess they have a split with Suffering Luna, Gas Chamber and another 12" in the works. Big stuff!

~VII

VII's Recent Purchases (Diseased Audio Records)

I made my first order from Diseased Audio a few days ago, and I couldn't be more happy with the package I received! It came to me in about 4-5 days, and in a manilla envelope, which almost always screams disaster when we're dealing with vinyl shipping. But when I opened it up I found that my purchases were wrapped in 2 more layers of mangled cardboard boxes. Looked sketchy as hell, but everything came out amazing! No bent corners, no warped records, no cracks. Excellent shipping! First up is the Worn Out demo tape(who were one of our Bandcamp Artists of the Week), I got the last one (sorry Andrew) and it looks fantastic. Pro-cassette, self released by the band.

Shitty webcam photos are shitty, but the quality of the pictures I tried to take with an actual camera were crappier, so for now this is how these posts are gonna look. But I digress, the art is printed on heavyweight paper and folds out into the whole picture, with lyrics on the back. This band rips, definitely check them out!

Next up is Vile Intent - "In the Shadow of the Skull", their first 7" release. Diseased Audio actually put out their follow up 7", "Regression to the Mean", which has stirred up a bit of a buzz in certain underground grind circles. I opted to get this one first because it's harder to find.

Very excellent packaging from Choking Hazard Records, die-cut sleeve printed on heavyweight black card-stock with silver ink with a double sided insert. Black vinyl. Very raw grindcore, I'll be buying their other 7" soon.

Lastly is another band and 7" that has created quite a buzz, Sea of Shit's demo. Originally released on cassette I believe, but then pressed on to wax by Suburban Mayhem Records from Ireland. Very simple packaging, folded sleeve with an insert. Black vinyl, black labels, no bullshit.

I can't say I'm in love with this band yet, like everyone else seems to be. Raw PV, and that's about it. I actually prefer the stuff I heard from with s/t EP and their split with Socially Retarded, but those were unfortunately sold out. I'll hopefully be getting those soon.

~VII

Bandcamp Artist of the Week: Shitlist

Yet another band with "shit" in their name, this week we at Operation Grindcore are highlighting the Indianapolis hard-grinding outfit Shitlist. Four dudes playing fast and heavy grindviolence. This is their debut self titled EP, 7 originals and 2 covers(Scholastic Deth and Infest). Excellent recording quality and production throughout, everything is good and loud and evenly mixed. The guitars definitely have a very metallic sound to them, kinda reminds me of early Insect Warfare splits. The vocals are definitely the most "hardcore" part of this band, going for a shouted delivery with not a lot of vocal grit. It kinda contrasts with the heaviness of the instrumentation, but not to much. Last thing I'll say is I frickin love the intro; great, tongue-in-cheek hype track, fantastic. Download the EP here, and eagerly await the cassette version that should be coming out in the near future.

~VII

Pre-Order Fuck the Facts "Die Miserable" and "Misery" EP Now!! SO AWESOME!

     Awesome news everyone! Fuck the Facts have made pre-orders for their new album "Die Miserable" available on their bandcamp page today! The awesomeness continues however with the inclusion of a pre-order for the "Misery" CD EP, a side-release that was originally going to be paired with the vinyl version. Even MORE AWESOMNESS!! There is a cassette version "Die Miserable". Yes, cassette. Boss. CD and cassette versions are the only ones available directly from the band right now, the vinyl pre-order is at Relapse Records. Also, when you pre-order you get an immediate download to some new tracks. So dope. Pre-order here.

~VII