Extortion/Cold World - Split Review

Perth, Australia's Extortion hold a very very special place in my heart. For the better part of a decade, they've put out consistently great releases of ripping, fast hardcore, but with their last few releases, from their split with Septic Surge up to the "Loose Screws" 10", something seemed absent. The aggression was definitely pulled back, and everyone just seemed a lot less fierce. The recordings just sounded a lot less genuine than usual. So you can imagine my ear to ear smile when I heard their side of this excellent split 12" with Austria's Cold World. Extortion is definitely back with full force on this recording, especially their vocalist, Rohan, who sounds fucking vicious on here. Bringing back that fantastic higher register scream that I fell in love with on albums like "Degenerate". I'm picking up some sort of subtle video game concept on their side too, from song titles like, "Pitfall" and "Kill Screen". Plus the 8-bit sound effect on "Max 330 Mega Pro Gear Spec". Welcome back, Extortion! On the flip side, we get Cold World, who definitely hold their own against Extortion's side and make a very good companion band for this release. There's a strong 90's fastcore influence with these guys; ridiculous song craftsmanship with riffs spilling over each other and vocals roaring desperately to keep up with it all. I love the drum work on this, excellent precision and solid blasting. The track "Boardhole" is fastcore nirvana, if I saw them play that live I would go ape shit. I'm definitely on the look out for this bands past releases now. Buy this if you can, it's a winner of a split.

Rating: 8/10

~VII

10 Great Releases That Are Under 10 Minutes: Part 2

Y'all seemed to really like the first article of these that I did. And I enjoyed doing it, and my jihad against long grind albums is forever active, so let's make like these great records and not waste anytime getting right into it!

10. Extortion - "Control": Out of all of Extortion's EP's, I'd say that this one is their strongest. But considering how fucking solid their discography is, it's really not for any huge reason other than it's just really really really good. Excellent recording, super intense songs, and an outstanding vocal performance from Rohan. Dude's vocals in the earlier days were nearly untouchable, and I'd put him up their with some of the best vocalists in the genre. Their split 12" with Cold World this year was a great return to form for him and the band.

9. Beartrap - "Nailed Shut": A 16 track, under 6 minute release release from these TLAL favorites. Mmm, yes, let the brevity of it all consume you. If you like your hardcore fast, and unrelenting, "Nailed Shut" is for you. These songs literally bleed into each other, leaving absolutely no room to breath between songs (unless you're spinning the actual record, then you have to flip it half way, of course).




8. Thousandswilldie - "A Carcass Is Only Dead Once": Now this record right here, let me tell you, one of the craziest grindcore EP's I've ever heard. NO songs over one minute, hell, most barely reach 20 seconds. This record is all about fucking your shit up, being as crazy as possible, and blasting it out as fast and tight as possible. Excellent musicianship to bring it all together too, thankfully, so it doesn't sound like some amateur noisegrind band having a giggle and blasting out the quickest jams they can. 25 songs in 7 minutes, RIP Thousandswilldie.

7. No Comment - "Downsided": If by reading this you are just now learning about this record, you need to stop right here and learn up before going on. Widely considered one of the best hardcore/powerviolence records EVER, and it's not hard to see why. The importance and influence of this record can not be understated, you can hear it's influence in almost every modern fastcore band today. TIght musicianship, constant riff and tempo changes, and creative ones at that, and tons of stop/starts. A classic.

6. Spazz/Lack of Interest - Split: This is an essential powerviolence record, in my opinion. Not only because it pairs two of the best WCPV bands, but because, duh, it has some of their best stuff. Particularly the Lack of Interest side, goddamn son, it's just so good. The first song, "Mislead and Deranged", unf. Track this one down.

5. Parlamentarisk Sodomi - "Regnskog, Fred Og Vegetarmat": I really can't get over how fucking incredible Parlametarisk Sodomi was/is. This one guy, all by his lonesome, made some of the best and creative grindcore I've ever heard. His first EP didn't really have as much of the unusual riffing as his full-lengths, but the impact is more visceral and pulverizing. I love the almost blown out recording too, everything just sounds like it's exploding off the record. And the vocals on the track "Sakkosekk, Kaos Og Anarki" always put a smile on my face. RIP Parlamentarisk Sodomi (come back, please).

4. Sidetracked/In Disgust -  Split: Hey look, my favorite fastcore and grindviolence band made a split record. I love when that happens. This fut rucking monster of a split has my favorite material from Sidetracked on it, rivaling the near perfect, "Uniform" EP. Best sounding recording from Jay and co. and crazy great riffs. The In Disgust side is incredibly solid too, more of the same stuff from them, but the Sidetracked side is a real winner here.

3. Defeatist - "In Praise Of False Hope": My favorite EP from a band that was criminally underrated while they were still active. Great "tech-grind" that I never really thought was all that technical though. The riffs they made though were always intriguing, and they definitely gave Defeatist a recognizable sound that was all their own. Heavy as iron knads too. This EP is a total ripper, pick it up. RIP Defeatist.

2. Quattro Stagioni - "S/T": If you're looking for the fastest fastcore bands there is, I bet you Quattro Stagioni can keep you satisfied for quite a while. Inhumanly fast drumming, like the dude injected a cocktail of testosterone, cocaine, and speed into his arms right before recording. The first time I heard this, I was blown away just from the sheer ridiculousness of it all, but in a good way, of course. If your curious about where The Afternoon Gentlemen got a lot of their sound from, it's these guys.




1. SFN - "Itching": I'd say these guys are on of the most promising modern fastcore bands right now (I hope they didn't break up, please tell me they didn't). "Itching" is a lo-fi, distorted little gem of techy-fastcore. I'd almost say it's a little too lo-fi, since a lot of the great riffs don't really shine through the mix that well, but you can tell these dudes have their shit together and know how to write interesting and pulverizing music. This EP is progressively getting harder to find, so pick it up if you can. I hear a posthumous split with In Disgust is somewhere down the line too, let's all hope that's true.

~VII 

New Upcoming Extortion Splits are STUPIDLY AWESOME!!

I've been very up-front with my love for the Australian grindcore/powerviolence scene on this blog. And anyone who knows me, or has seen my record collection, know's that I have a special place in my heart for Extortion. Everyone should know what this band is about by now, and if you don't, shame on you, buy their records immediately. Their recently released split 12" with Cold World was an excellent return form, after a few underwhelming splits with Completed Exposition and Septic Surge (I should probably review that record soon). But the awesomeness doesn't stop there, because according to a recent post on their blog, it looks the these Aussie fuckers are hard at work writing and recording songs for four, count em, FOUR sure to be amazing and legendary splits. 

"OTHER NEWS. THE COLD WORLD SPLIT LP IS OUT, AND THOUGH  WE'VE RUN OUT OF OUR ALLOTMENT, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET A COPY FROM RSR OR SOME HELL COOL DISTRO SOMEWHERE.
WE'VE WRITTEN FOR AND ABOUT TO RECORD OUR SIDE OF THE HATRED SURGE SPLIT 7". THEIR SIDE IS RECORDED ALREADY SO SHOULDN'T BE TOO LONG A WAIT TIL ITS OUT ONCE WE'VE GOTTEN IN ALL HELL RECORDED.
ALSO IN THE WORKS IS SPLITS WITH LOW THREAT PROFILE, AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED AND BASTARD NOISE. WE ALSO AIM TO RECORD OUR NEXT FULL LENGTH LP SOMETIME HELL SOON."

Holy.fucking.shit. I knew about the Hatred Surge split, but I had no idea that it was so near completion. Fucking outstanding. But those splits with ANb and Bastard Noise, man. I mean...that seems almost too good to be true. Some of my favorite bands..doing splits...my brain almost can't take this much awesome sauce. 

~VII

10 Great Releases That Are Under 10 Minutes

I'm just gonna flat out say it; I can't stand long albums. To me, there is nothing more aggravating than a record that just goes on and on, overstaying it's welcome. I definitely think that this animosity comes from the very nature of grindcore, where a band can say all that they need to say in no time at all. Don't even get me started on grindcore albums that go on for too long (read this excellent post to see what I mean). Personally, I feel like a grindcore album shouldn't have to ever break the 20 minute mark. Even just 10 minutes of music is enough to keep me satisfied. So, with that being said, I present a list of 10 excellent releases that are under 10 minutes. Bitch, moan, or agree in the comments below.

10. Colony - "s/t": If you ever get the chance to see this band live, do it. Dude's have some of the most intense stage presences I've ever seen. The drummer alone looks like he's just about to explode from rage and testosterone. Their "s/t" 7" is a brilliant piece of über-negative hardcore. Very strong down-tempo and sludge elements, there's actually very few fast parts on the entire record. It's a sound that I've grown to absolutely love, and these guys do it better than most.

9. Agents Of Abhorrence - "Earth.Water.Sun": Yeah, you all knew this was coming. In my ongoing mission to get everyone to listen too, and love this album, I shall remind you all that this is one of the best post-Discordance Axis style grind albums that has ever been made. There are razor sharp, bright, dissonant riffs by the truckload, with a fantastic drum performance serving as the backbone and excellent vocals being the cherry on top. These Aussie's now how to do it right, and this is their crowning achievement, so far.

8. Psychic Limb - "Queens": Another one that you all probably saw coming. I'm still amazed that Psychic Limb aren't getting talked about more, what the hell is wrong with you people? "Queens" was one of the most solid, enjoyable and well executed grind/hardcore records of last year, and I didn't see it make any year-end lists but mine. For shame. These dudes are pretty pretty much on every big grind show in NYC, so if you're in the area, you should be able to see them at least once. Amazing album.

This New Extortion Track Will Cut You In Half

It's definitely a good day when a new Extortion track is unleashed upon the world. The song, called "Cut In Half", comes from their highly anticipated split 12" with Austria's Cold World, which will be released on RSR. I can safely say that this track, although only a modest 23 seconds, slays in every way; the snare drum is pingy and aggressive, the blast riff is killer, there's a bit of a fastcore song structure, and it has a welcome groove riff (which lasts about 5 seconds). It basically covers all the bases. Rohans vocals also seem to be a little bit in the higher register, and remind me of their early records like "Degenerate". Consider me stoked! Listen to the track here.

~VII

The Cover Art For The Extortion/Coldwar Split Is...Different

Don't get me wrong, I think this is a really, really cool cover, but it's just so different from the typical Extortion aesthetic. It's much more subtle I'd say, no one's about to get mutilated or fucked up or anything. It reminds me of Blade Runner mixed with 1984, or something. Anyways, this new split 12" will be released sometime later this year on RSR. 11 new songs from Extortion and 7 from Cold World, who I've never heard before. New Extortion gets me pumped.

~VII

The Best Video Featuring A Pug and Extortion You'll Ever See

Need I say more?

~VII

VII's Recent Purchases(16oh Records)

I made my first purchase from the 16oh Records Big Cartel about a month ago, and had my records arrive yesterday. Normally, I'd be upset by this long wait, but the dude informed me he was in Europe at that time. All good man. For those who don't know, 16oh has released a few Sidetracked records, the Bookburner 7", and In Disgust - "Reality Choke" 10". Super legit. And speaking of In Disgust, I managed to snag this little gem. The In Disgust/Massgrave split 7", 33 RPM, white vinyl.

In Disgust are one of my favorite grind bands, anything I can get from them is a treasure. I've heard their whole discography, and it's all stellar. This recording it definitely rougher, but it still kicks ass. Massgrave are a Canadian crust/grind band and share some members with the might OSK. They've been around for a while and have quite a large discography. I'm normally bored to death by crust, but the grind elements these guys throw in the mix keep it from being a snooze fest.

Next up are a couple records from Hummingbird of Death. I'm trying to get all their releases that I can, and I have a couple more on the way. First is their split 7" with the band Dead Stare, black vinyl, 45 RPM. Good side's from both bands, not much more to say, it's fastcore.

Next one is super! My two favorite fastcore bands, sharing a 6" record together. Dream come true. This came out a year ago on Cowabunga records. Super happy to finally get this.

I'm pretty sure the labels were reversed in a pressing flub, cause the HOD side clearly has 8 songs on it as opposed to 5.

Last one is the Extortion/Rupture split 5", transparent yellow vinyl, 33 RPM. I got this cause 16oh had it for the cheapest price. Everywhere else has is for 6-7 bucks, which is a bit much for a 5" to me. Nice little record, great artwork from Rohan as always, any Extortion record is good to have. Rupture play crust, snooooooore.

~VII