Curmudgeon-Human Ouroboros(Review)

I just recently heard this EP. I saw it posted on the TLAL facebook page, and TLAL has become my favorite label with some of my favorite new hardcore/pv/grind bands such as Sex Prisoner, Get Destroyed, ACxDC, Magnum Force, Eddie Brock, but most importantly two bands that have become my favorite bands, Lapse and D.O.C. I feel like those two bands encapsulate everything I want in powerviolence, definitely two of the angriest sounding bands I’ve ever heard. And now I think Curmudgeon has become my next favorite super pissed band. This band is relentless. They play a style of powerviolence that I think is a little more metal influenced, and they’re definitely not trying to be the fastest powerviolence band out there, in fact I think they rely more on groove then blast beats, but I really like that about them. But they have a great mix of everything, sludge, blasts, moshy mid tempo parts that make me want to destroy everything, d-beats, and even gang vocal parts that don’t sound like total bro bull shit, they just add to the intensity.

Another thing I really love about this EP is the production, it’s clean, but doesn’t sound over produced at all. And the fucking drums sound amazing, they pound your fucking head in, and they kind of sound like they have a little bit of an echo to them, which makes them sound really powerful, and it kinds of reminds me of drums on a doom metal album or something.
Now, lets talk about the vocals. When I first heard about curmudgeon(for anyone who doesn’t know, the singer is a female), my friend told me they sounded like Punch without any of the catchy parts. I don’t think that was a great description. First off, the vocals are nothing like the vocals in Punch. Don’t get me wrong, I love Punch, but the girls vocals can give me a headache after a while. I like Curmudgeon’s vocals more because it’s more of just a higher pitched yell, and I really like that I can make out most of the words the girl in this band is shouting because the lyrics kick ass! The lyrics for the most part are negative, but I feel like in the end are trying to convey a positive message. For example in the song “Worthless Generation” the lyrics are something like “Fuck me and fuck you too. The world tells me I’m not good enough, so it all must be true.” I feel like they’re trying to say, just because the world thinks our generation is useless doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to prove them wrong.

And the lyrics in the last song “Devoid” are also really great. It’s a song about consumerism, which is a subject that I feel passionate about, and this song just gets out exactly how I feel about it. Some of the lyrics go something like “I reject morality, while you reject everything, except another way to fulfill your desires. Ethics are not a dilemma when you ask yourself no questions. Living blindly to consume, you yourself are consumed. YOU YOURSELF ARE CONSUMED!” I don’t think it could be put any better than that. Very well written lyrics all around, and they’re all written in the vein of anger, which is what I fucking love.

This band delivers everything I want musically and lyrically. I really can’t ask for much more from this band. So if you’re a fan of really overly pissed off dark powerviolence such as D.O.C., or Lapse, or anything crushing... do yourself a favor and go listen to this band. http://curmudgeon.bandcamp.com/album/human-ouroboros-ep

P.S. for any hardcore fans in North Carolina, this band is playing NC on January 15th(at King's Barcade) with Torch Runner, another really fucking pissed band from NC that delivers live! And my new PV band Mad Dog!

GO LISTEN TO CURMUDGEON NOW

~Eli Thorp

Sick/Tired-High Life

I just started listening to this band, Sick/Tired features members of fastcore band Mk-Ultra, and the one and only, one of my favorite modern hardcore bands; Weekend Nachos. Sick/Tired take influences from lots of different music. In this newest lp they put out(on To Live A Lie records) there are many different influences including grindcore(being one of the most obvious), Punk/HC/PV/Crust, southern rock, and a little bit of old school swedish death melody. Every song kills! They have a great balance of noisy grind blasts, punk circle pit madness, and a little bit of catchy southern sludge to top it off, with sick growling to add to the rage. I feel like this band is creating something very original while still remaining grind as fuck. This record is really exciting to hear. Everyone should look out for this record/band. I really think they're going somewhere, I'm excited to see where they go. And if you live in the Raleigh North Carolina area you should come out on September 14th to Kings Barcade to see Sick/Tired play with West coast powerviolence legends Despise You, Modern powerviolent grinders Magrudergrind, Raleigh pissed of hardcore punks in Stripmines, Raleigh crust freaks Man Will Destroy Himself, and Wall, a powerviolence duo from Wilmington. Goddamn that's gonna be an amazing show. Listen to a track from the album here

Stand out tracks: Highlife, Razors, 30 Pack Attack, Last Stand For a Dead Man, Banishment.

This shit is fucking awesome!

~Eli Thorp

Despise You-Possessed To Skate

First off, let me just say that this whole comp is awesome, I would do a review of all of the bands on here but I’m too lazy to do that right now. But along with Despise You, this comp has songs from the bands Asshole Parade, Charles Bronson, Palatka, Pretentious Assholes, Spazz, and Unanswered. So you should know this is a pretty good PV comp. But Despise You honestly kills all of these bands in my opinion. In terms of portraying the powerviolence sound, I think Despise You does it best, because they have a very deranged and scummy kind of sound. And who doesn’t like the pictures they use for their album artwork? Despise You just sets something off in people, I feel their sound and imagery triggers thoughts of violence. Anyway, they’re a great band, probably the best powerviolence band ever if you ask me, and they’ve influenced some of the best modern powerviolence and grind bands like Hatred Surge, DOC, Magrudergrind, etc. Chris Elders is my fucking hero.

Blindside Assault- This song starts off with grinding buzzing guitars, goes straight into a blast beat, with Chris Elder disgusting pissed voice to make it all come together.

Extinction By Design- This song kind of has a punk/thrash sound to it filled with everything you love about DY, blast beats, fucked up lyrics, and it ends with a crushing breakdown. And no, I’m not talking about your fucking pig squeal hardcore dancing “chud chud” shit.

It Made That Man Snap- This song starts off sounding like straight old school death metal, it’s fucking awesome!! That’s another reason I love Despise You, they’re not afraid to show their death metal and thrash metal influence, while still remaining to there hardcore roots. The beginning guitar part has an awesome tremolo picking. This song manages to beat the shit out of your ears in a matter of 25 seconds.

End of the Line- This song is a little different from the grinding tracks I’ve already gone through. It’s pretty much an instrumental song. Very sludgy, it gives you a chance to breathe, while still remaining angry as fuck.

Run For Your Fucking Life- Gotta love that song title. This song is grind as fuck. I love when he screams “RUN FOR YOUR FUCKING LIFE!!!” This song should be the soundtrack to a riot.

You Can’t...- Another ridiculously fast song. Starts out at 100 mph, but slows down in the middle for a mid paced breakdown that kind of makes me think of something Hatred Surge would play.

We Won’t Stop Cutting You- Goddamn this song just sounds scummy as fuck. Never slows down for a second. Awesome lyrics as well. Chris Elder kind of growls in this song too which is awesome. Chris Elder always sounds like he’s in a lot of pain when he’s doing vocals, like he’s getting burnt alive or something.

Cry To The Bleeding Sky- Another song that is deeply influenced by death metal and thrash metal. See, what’s awesome about Despise You, is they’ll use the death metal sound without the stupid cheesy lyrics, and then they’ll turn into a song that still sounds like powerviolence somehow. This song has blast beats, tremolo picking, growling, and still manages to stay a hardcore song.

Mental Winter- I wish I could understand the lyrics of this song a little better because they sound extra pissed off. But none the less, this song is also good. Starts out kind of noisy with feedback, and then Chris Elder comes in, and then it ends. Goddamn it’s really hard to give a description of Despise You songs, cause they go by in such a fucking flash that it’s hard to explain what really happens. But I think that most powerviolence fans are okay with just knowing that song is fast and angry.

Rage of the Helpless- This is probably one of my favorite songs by Despise You. Starts out slow and sludgy, with feedback. Great song to end their part of the album with. The great thing about this song is it’s one of the most memorable songs, because it’s kind of catchy. After 40 seconds of sludge, it goes into a straight hardcore punk sounding part, super chaotic and awesome. The same way some of the other songs were a throwback to old school death metal and thrash, I feel like this a throwback to old hardcore punk, the good shit. If any songs make me want to actually go skate, which I never want to do, this would be the song to make me get up off my lazy ass and go ride around for a little bit, and maybe tag and vandalize some shit just to get the full effect.

Before I end this, I just want to say that the reason I like this comp so much is because it shows us how much skating and hardcore go together. Nowadays it seems like most of the skaters now are into hip hop and kind of follow that style too, which I think is pretty fucking lame for the most part. This shows us how it used to be, and how it should have stayed. But regardless of skating, Despise You is the best powerviolence band ever, and you should listen more of their music because they’re the definition of powerviolence in my opinion. And if you live in the Raleigh area, or in NC at all, you should come to Raleigh on September 14th because Kings will be holding an awesome show with the likes of Despise You, Magrudergrind, Sick/Tired, Stripmines, Man Will Destroy Himself, and Wall. Seriously, if you like Powerviolence/HC/Grind, and you have half a brain you will get to this show! I still can’t actually believe I’m actually gonna get the chance to see Despise You. So excited!

~Eli Thorp

Show Review:Night Fever, Double Negative, Unholy Thoughts

Night Fever
Double Negative -/-
Unholy Thoughts
July 4th, 2011
Kings Barcade, Raleigh, NC.


Fuck, this show really kicked ass. Every band was so good, and so fast and ferocious, and just great. I don’t think I've had that good of a time at hardcore show that was at a venue since November at the Berkley cafe for sorry state records fest. That was awesome. But I think I’ve been a little bit spoiled, because I've been to so many local shows at the Kent house, and when you go to shows their, that’s the real shit. To me, going to a show their is what hardcore is all about. It’s DIY as fuck if you think about it. But Kings Barcade has been putting on some really great shows lately, and are having more in the near future including Fuck The Facts, RBT, and Snake Baptist on July 23rd, I feel like someone’s just not going to make it out alive out of that show. Anyways, too the events that transpired at the show.

Originally, Slugz were supposed to play first, but for some reason they had to drop off the bill, not too sure why. So, Richmond hardcore band, Unholy Thoughts, played first. I really liked these guys, there was something about them, they had a very nasty sound to them, like a very ugly, hopeless, deranged kind of sound, I really fucking like that in hardcore bands. I feel like they take influences from both fastcore and a little bit of youth crew sound as well. They had a great mix of super fast circle pit parts, and a good mix of mid paced part if you felt like stomping around. They were just straight to the point. Unfortunately when they played, people were still kind of getting their, and whenever it’s the first band playing, the crowd is always a little reluctant to start moshing or moving right away. But the singer of Unholy Thoughts was not going to have that bullshit. After one of the songs, he was mumbling into the mic “This is a hardcore show..” implying to us to start moving. So once the band started playing the song, he got off stage onto the floor, and stood in the middle, and what do you know? People started moving. There was this one guy in the crowd that kept jumping on random people, just thought I’d throw that in there because it was funny, and he jumped on my friend which was awesome. After Unholy Thoughts finished I was pretty blown away, but that was just the beginning of my night. I really wish Unholy Thoughts had been selling some demo’s or something, because I really liked them, I did manage to buy a shirt from them for 8$. I definitely recommend checking this band out.

Double Negative was up next. Man were they on point! The new drummer they have is so good, he can really rip. And each band member just seemed super energetic. Double Negative have done a fair amount of touring lately, but you could tell that they were home that night. They Played a mix of songs, they played Beg to a vile nude, which was awesome as always. Everyone in the crowd was into it, and it was just a complete good time. I got a fair amount moshing in for their set, to make up for the lack of moshing I should have been doing to Unholy thoughts. It was super fun. We even had some stage divers during Double Negative’s set. Probably one of the best times I’ve seen Double Negative.
After their set, I wasn’t sure if it could get much more awesome than that. I was very mistaken. But before Night Fever came on, I got an awesome Double Negative shirt, and got two sweet stickers for free.

Finally, the band of the night was here. Denmark’s finest, NIGHT FEVER! Their name makes me think of an old 80’s metal band or something, but they absolutely shred. They’re so awesome, they have really sweet riffs, and lots of parts to sing a long to. And the singer’s voice is amazing! I had listened to them a little bit before the show, and I envisioned the singer to be some small little skinny guy, because his voice is so high pitched, but he’s actually not very small, and when he talks his voice sounds pretty deep. For someone who had not listened to them before hand, they’d be very thrown off. After Double Negative, I wasn’t sure how much energy the crowd was going to have left, but they definitely shocked me. Right when Night Fever started ripping, the crowd went crazier then ever, everyone was jumping on top of the other, shoving groups of people back and forth. I love moshing and thrashing and all that shit, but I was too tired. So I just enjoyed Night Fever from the side, and watched the carnage take place. The singer might have been the most energetic singer of the night. I really like a lot of jumping around from the members to take place on stage, and that singer was just leaping from one side of the stage to the other. His voice was so powerful, it was absolutely great! The singer kept asking for more volume in the monitors, which I’m glad he did because his voice started sounding heavier and packing more of a punch. I mean I really think that singer makes that band, and I like how the guitarist incorporates a little bit of melody in the songs, but still manages to keep it shredding. When they ended there set, everyone in the crowd yelled “One more song!” I could tell that the singer was completely exhausted, but they didn’t take their stuff off or turn anything off, and went right into playing a song. Not only did they play one more song, but THREE. They completed the destruction that took place that night.

All in all it was a great show, and shows like these show me why the hardcore scene has continued to exist in Raleigh.

~Eli Thorp

Old Painless Demo

Old painless are a four piece grindcore band from Raleigh. Three of the members are in other local bands, Rich Lombardi(vox) is in Snake Baptist, and he was also in a band from New York called the Sawtooth Grin. Alex Taylor is the bassist for local Raleigh hardcore band Stripmines(AWESOME). And the drummer Rodney was the former singer of Raleigh fastcore band Thieves (R.I.P.).

Old Painless are one of Raleigh most furious and fierce bands. They just sound like absolute psycho animalistic rage to me, and I fucking love it. The first time I saw this band was at the Kent house. It was such an awesome show! They were playing with Burma(pissed off Raleigh powerviolence), Hellbear(progged out thrashy, mathy, hardcore from Richmond, VA), and Street Pizza(Relentless Richmond powerviolence trio). Old Painless was the first band to play. I remember as they were setting up, there guitarist was messing around with these weird effects pedals, and making his guitar sound super noisy and chaotic. Then all of a sudden this short white guy with crazy blonde hair and a scruffy beard walks up to the front and says “Old Painless, Raleigh, North Carolina.” and then starts screaming super loud, and the whole room erupted into a frenzy of moshing. It all seems a little blurry to me because I couldn't help but completely rage with the rest of the dudes in there. And man can Rodney fuck those drums up! He was beating them in! And you could tell he was seriously into it! Awesome band, and it was an awesome night. But anyways, on to the demo:

Black Tar Burning White- This song starts off with a little feedback, and then Rich comes in with his vicious high pitched screech, and right away the demo starts off completely grinding. But this is only the beginning, and it ends and flows right into the next song so well.

Street Howitzer- I absolutely love the way this song starts off, the guitar intro with the drums absolutely rocks, it’s adds a little bit of catchiness to it. The guitars and the drums in the beginning make it sound like a hardcore punk song, but Rich’s vocals definitely give it that extra nasty grind kick. The drums in this song are done so well. Rodney is so good at changing it up. He doesn’t have to rely strictly on blast beats. He can go from your to hardcore circle pit kind of beat, right into a desecrating blast. And the drum fills he does are so sick, It’s almost as if he’s angry at his drumset and is trying to beat the shit out of it. The song ends in a noisy fog of sludge, awesome!

Snow White and 7 Different Kinds of Whore- This continues on the path of super fast punk influenced noisy grind. Old Painless really do a good job at making there songs sound absolutely evil. Rodney continues to pound away at his drums.

Goner- This song has got to be one of my favorites. Starts off very quiet, with this eery sounding radio playing in the background, and it’s this woman singing. And then a faint guitar sound comes in. It builds up for a bit, and then the drums come pounding in. The first line of the song goes as followed, “If my name is hate, your’s must be shame.” This song is definitely heavy, and the demo just keeps getting better and heavier. I think it’s really awesome that Old Painless are to step out of their grind sound for a second and kick ass at a sludge song as well. This band never fails to remain ridiculously heavy!

Teenage Candyland- This song continues in the sludge direction. Starts off really groovy, and then goes straight into grind. The end is filled with start/stop guitars and lots of noisy feedback.

Half Man, Half Bottle- This song is one of my favorites because of the lyrics, they’re so evil and fucked up. For example: “The broken blood vessel in your face vessels in your face are telling me that you’re thirsty. So put your teeth to the curb, and I’ll pour you that drink.” This song is probably the heaviest song on the album. It has a great mix of everything. This song is one of the more technical songs on the album as well, the band is really pushing themselves to go faster and faster. But of course they throw in a super heavy grooving sludge part to give you a small break from the hyper blasts and super spazzy guitars. The songs end with some feedback and guitar and Rich Lombardi’s disgusting screech. The final lyrics are “Half Man, Half Bottle, All Empty.” Absolutely fucking EVIL!!!!

Bronson- This final songs starts off grinding, and creeps into a dark thick sludge. You can tell that Rodney’s goal is to absolute finish off his drum set on this last one. And then the demo ends right when you feel like it’s just begun in an eery daze.

Old Painless are definitely one of Raleigh’s up and coming bands. You can download their demo at the link below. And I highly recommend seeing this band live as soon as you can, this demo is great, but when you hear it live, it’s so much more intense, and watching each band member go absolutely crazy makes it even better. They’re playing in Raleigh, August 12th, venue TBA with Fellow Raleigh powerviolence band Burma, My new grind obsession Priapus, seriously I aspire to be able to make music like them, and west coast powerviolence/grind band ANTI CHRISTIANxDEMON CORE!

Download

~Eli Thorp

Double Negative-Daydreamnation

Double Negative is one my favorite bands. They are one of Raleigh’s leading bands in the hardcore scene. Their sound is described as hardcore confusion. They have a unique sound for a hardcore band, but they still know how to stick to their 80’s hardcore punk roots. They’re unique in the way that they add a little bit of noise into it, which really adds to the intensity of it all. And let me tell you that this band is FAST and are quick to change things up, so be ready.

The first song Erase Yourself starts off with with loud pounding drums that invoke excitement, and you can’t help but want to push and or shove anyone or anything around you. It even has an awesome noisy guitar solo. This song starts the album off at 100 mph. In Patient Out is super noisy, and stays at a constant fast speed. If you listen to the guitarist it almost sounds like he’s improvising at some points, but it works out very well, and that’s what keeps it exciting. Once again provoking you to push/shove something around you.

The album doesn’t get slow at all until you reach the song Endless Disappointment. But don’t get me wrong, this song still kicks ass. It’s at more of a mid pace, but it has one of the catchiest chorus’s ever. One of those chorus’s that you’ll learn the lyrics to, so you can go to the show and be able to get in the singers face and sing along. Trust me, it feels pretty awesome.

The songs continue to flow by, and although some of the songs might seem to blend together, Double negative has this sound that is so abrasive that you don’t really mind it. And they have such a fun but still kind of angry pissed off “fuck you” kind of sound. Towards the end we get to a song that sticks out the most on the album. It’s called Beg To a Vile Nude. Unlike most of the other songs on the album, this song is pure noisy sludge with a nice hints of blues. I mean, they’re from Raleigh, North Carolina, they gotta have atleast one sludge song. But just like the rest of the songs, it changes quick, and goes to an awesome riff and back to the fast pounding drums. Finally we get towards the end of the album to my favorite song Side Three. This song is incredibly fast, but manages to keep a really sick groove. The main riff in this song is just so awesome. It’s just absolute fun, care free chaos, but it’s performed at a certain precision by these guys that is just so awesome, and I really don’t think Many bands would ever be able to copy them.

This band is really special to me because they were the first local hardcore band I ever saw. It was at hopscotch music festival, and they were opening for Fucked Up, and I’d never heard anything about them. So I asked some people who they were, and they looked at me like I was crazy, and they told me Double Negative. This band opened me up to the hardcore scene that is around me in Raleigh. Without this band I really wouldn’t have had some of the great experiences I’ve had at the local shows I’ve been to. And just sayin.. if you ever get the chance to see Double Negative at the kent house(a house in raleigh that holds basement shows) then go to it, it’s a totally different experience up close and personal. And check out other kent house shows, they’re pretty rare now, but some great bands have played there such as D.O.C., Coke Bust, Old Painless(saw them for the first time at kent, never seen a more angry pit in my life), Priapus, Burma, Stripmines, Devour, Secret Police, Hellbear, Street Pizza, etc.

~Eli Thorp