New Music: Noisear, Sidetracked, Gas Chamber, Suffering Mind

Let's all give a nice, welcoming slow-clap to Jay and the Sidetracked crew for finally climbing on the Facebook train and getting a real internet presence. Although I was one of those people that would routinely check up on the actual Sidetracked Blogspot. It would only get updated like, twice a year. But when Jay give's updates, he gives you more then could ever think you'd want. Like hyping 10 in-progress records at once. Sidetracked's virgin posts on the 'Book are several new tracks from a few tent-pole inducing releases. Some stuff that's apparently been in the works for years. As usual, Jay gives us only the littlest taste of what these record's have in store for us. What we've been given so far of the "Escape" EP, a CD release which I believe Jay is releasing himself,  is literally only 12 seconds of music. Between two songs. A much rawer recording, reminiscent of the "Wrench" tape, which I dig a lot. The track "Unanswered" has a nice hardcore punk-era Beastie Boys riff. Next to that is a teaser for the stupidly anticipated split 7" with neo-legends, To The Point. This track, "Manipulate" is a much more standard-sounding powerviolence number. Fleshed out with rapid snare rolls and crusty grind riffs. Now with this genre of music, fastcore, it's pretty hard to get the impact of Sidetracked from just a few seconds. But honestly, if you haven't already heard Sidetracked and know what to expect, you should do your homework and listen to "Uniform" and their split with In Disgust asap!. Of course this is only the beginning for Sidetracked in 2015. If you take a look at the sidebar on their Bandcamp page, they've barely even scratched the surface of what they have planned. A new LP on To Live A Lie Records and splits with God's America and Limbs Bin are also in the works. Please give the boys a like HERE . 

Discordant grind nuts Noisear are right at the beginning of having an incredible year with a triple stack of new records for 2015. Recently reuniting with founding vocalist Alex Lucero and bassist Joe Tapia, and are in the middle of working on a brand new full length album! And have seemingly finished recording for a split 7" with the mighty Lycanthrophy, which will be released on Bloody Scythe Records. A nice pairing seeing as both bands will be gracing the stages of the annual Maryland Deathfest this year. And if there's a band that can keep up with Bryan Fajardo's drumkit abuse, it's Lycanthrophy. The new track we have here today, "Face First Into Concrete", comes from said split, and it brings that Noisear magic that they've honed to perfection. The wonderful production that they captured on "Subvert The Dominant Paradigm" is recaptured here, in my opinion. Dorian Rainwater's signature guitar skronking is bright and technically flawless, and of course Mr. Fajardo effortlessly lays waste to his drumkit. No word yet on when they Lycanthophy split or the as-of-yet untitled LP will be released. The fabled 3x7" boxest split with The Kill and Antigama is supposed to come out this year too. Very VERY excited to get my hands on that. You can (hopefully) thank Haunted Hotel Records for that beautiful piece of wax. That split was also released on CD by Selfmadegod Records. Listen to the track HERE !

And last but certainly not least we have the triumphant news of a new Gas Chamber EP, and the jaw dropping anthem, "Always Coming Home", to stream in anticipation. A new 7" entitled "Stained Hand", which will be released on SPHC Records. A label I certainly trust to deliver some of highest quality records of hardcore and grinds noisier and weirder side. Proceeding their incredible LP, "Hemorrhaging Light", released on Iron Lung Records last year, "Stained Hand" already has me amazed and feeling feelings I haven't felt about hardcore in a long time. "Always Coming Home" is a near five minute composition of pure brilliance. Opening with Gas Chamber's instrumental body in full jam mode, performing a gorgeous instrumental passage. With some very uplifting and beautiful interplay between the guitar and Patrick Bolger's bass wizardry. Slamming into a driving and powerful d-beat driven second half of more familiar hardcore song structure, and ending in complete satisfying victory. One of the best pieces of music I've heard all year, and definitely my favorite track Gas Chamber has created so far. Carrying the torch of such legendary bands like the Minutemen and Man Is The Bastard, Gas Chamber are the modern powerviolence and hardcore's titans of creative supremacy and integrity. If you haven't been converted yet, you might just be hopeless.

That time of the week to talk about new Suffering Mind songs (I swear do these guys ever sleep?). The split 7" with Milwaukee's shreddiest bass n'drums powerviolence band Lifes is very near it's release. So naturally two songs have been put up on Suffering Mind's end for streaming. "Subtle Manipulation" is a HEAVY short and fast number, that throws in some very nice crazy-man screams at the end. "Failed", the closer, is the real attention grabber. Certainly being one of the bands more, unusual creations. The standard grind fare trailblazes through the opening, and then rides an almost Jesus Lizard discordant note strum on top of some drum rhythm from Daro. It's a cool little left turn from SM, I like hearing the boys give some new tastes. That cover are is tripping me out too, and I love it. Great looking abstract textures. Anyone know who did this? This split will be released on SM's US home Halo Of Flies and Now Records.

~VII

New Music Round-up: Suffering Mind, ACxDC, To The Point

People who haven't "liked" the Suffering Mind Facebook page should seriously stop what they're doing and do that right now. If you're like me, an über-fan, getting updates from their page every day about what new split they're working on, or recording, is like Christmas every day. The bands latest gifts to the grind world are 4 new songs, coming from their upcoming split 7"s with N.I.B.I.R.U. and Archagathus. I knew about the N.I.B.I.R.U. split (which I think was originally going to be on an 8" record, and is now coming out on Haunted Hotel Records), but the Archagathus split has seemingly come out of nowhere, and I couldn't be more excited to have these two bands paired up. Solid songs from both splits, give em a listen. And check their facebook page for daily updates.

Next up is a brand new track from westcoast violence grinders, ACxDC, from their upcoming split with To The Point! I say pretty often that that their are "best splits of the year" when I hear about them, and you can definitely add this one to the list, because this split will be fucking incredible. They've put two songs from their split on their bandcamp page, entitled "Fiction Monger" and  Bone Claw". Each one keeps their super sharp sound, but the grindcore influence has taken a step back for a more direct powerviolence attack. Longer slower parts, and a more shouted vocal delivery. Maybe due to who their splitting with? Who knows. Who cares? These songs rock.

And speaking of To The Point, they also have just put up a new song from their split with ACxDC! Neato, right? This track that the cavemen have grunted out to pleasure our ears takes a stab at the curious phenomenon of people taking photo's of their food. The track's title; "Photos Of My Food". Brilliant. The track is short and sweet, and knowing them, there will probably be about 8 more tracks to round everything out. Unstoppable band, as you all should know by now (they did release one of the best records of 2012 after all. Fact).

Learn how to get your music noticed at ReverbNation.com

~VII

VII's Top 20 Releases of 2012

It's not to late, is it? I always seem to do lists like this way past the time they usually pop up. But anyway, happy new year everybody, we made it through 2012! It's been a crazy year; extreme weather,  face eating drug zombies, anti-climactic Mayan apocalypses (lulz), and more grindcore and powerviolence music than you can shake a stick at. When I look back at 2012, in terms of music, it was overall a pretty lack luster year. Most of the new releases I heard either made me go "ehhhh" or "that was pretty good". Maybe I've just gotten too overexposed to this music and it's starting to take a lot more to impress me, who knows. All you need to know though is that the 20 records were in constant rotation throughout my year, and I highly suggest you check out all of these releases if you haven't. And since I'm terrible with intros, let's not waste any more time and dive right into my 20 favorite releases of 2012!

20. thedowngoing - "ATHROUSANDYEARSOFDARKNESS": This Aussie noisegrind duo blew my ears wide open when I downloaded this beast of an album off of Grindcore Karaoke. This is scarily good music, and they really are, in my opinion, one of the best examples of a grindcore band purposely embracing noisy production. There are just so many things that make this album work; the riffs are there, which is unusual for noisegrind, the songs are brutal, the vocals are so ridiculous that it's hard not to love them. Great band that I want to hear more from asap.

19. Pig Destroyer - "Book Burner": Maybe a curious album to be on this list considering how unenthusiastic my review of it was. But when we get down to nitty gritty, at the end of the day, this is still a Pig Destroyer album, and it is definitely a good one. Scott Hull riffs all over this album, J.R. still gives a sick vocal delivery, the album sounds great, the grooves are killer. It's Pig Destroyer being Pig Destroyer, we just had to wait 5 years to hear it again.

18. JJ DOOM - "Key To The Kuffs": Anyone who knows me knows that I listen to a whole lot of other music besides grind, and that I am a huge fan of hip-hop. One of my favorite rappers is the masked super villain known as DOOM (or MF DOOM, the name changes depending on if he does production or vocals). On "Key To The Kuffs", DOOM teams up with Jneiro Jarrel for an album that hasn't sounded like any DOOM collab. album before, but still kicks incredible ass. The über modern, yet fresh production style is a bit of a weird companion to DOOM's trademark flow at first listen, but that quickly faded away for me. This album is a fantastic listen the whole way through, and in my opinion is the best DOOM project since "Madvillainy". Come at me.

17. Sakatat - "Bir Devrin Sonu": Unfortunately, this may be the last release we'll see from this Turkish grindcore band (they're playing their last couple of shows early this year), but man did they go out with a ripper of an album. Keeping it brief at a scant 8 minutes, "Bir Devrin Sonu" is about as solid as a grind album can get. The only thing this album does is blast; fast and efficiently. The songwriting isn't that varied, like, at all, which can be a bit distracting, but it's hard to ignore just how good these guys are at writing quality grindcore, and this album is 100% quality.

16. Converge - "All We Love We Leave Behind": I really fell of the Converge train this year, since their last 2 splits were very underwhelming, and I more than likely over-saturated myself with their music (I used to live and breath this band). So imagine my surprise when I finally gave this album a spin, after putting it off for so long and hearing so many people tell me how amazing it is, to find that this was in fact a killer Converge record! This album reminded me of why I love this band; everything about this band, and this album is fine-tuned and fitted to make absolutely refreshing, interesting, brutal, heavy, melodic, blasting hardcore music. I only wish I had heard this album earlier in the year, it probably would have been higher on the list.

15. +HIRS+ - "100 Songs LP": Yes, compilations count! I mean, how could I not include the discography compilation from my Philly favorites? Readers of this blog know that I've sung this bands praises many a time over the past couple years. And having all of their recorded material on one convenient 12" slab of wax is fantastic. Drum machine blasting, techy, sample smothered, sexy, industrial, grind as fuck, non-stop assault to the dome. Heres to another year of quality music from +HIRS+!

14. Extortion/Cold World - Split: Much like Converge, I haven't really been a fan of Extortions last few releases, but they came back with a vengeance on this split 12" with Cold World! This is the fastest and most aggressive stuff the band has done since their split with Agents of Abhorrence, and it is a great return to form for these Australian titans. And let's not forget Cold World, their side kicks just as much ass as their companions. Crazy, old-school inspired, blasty blast fastcore from Austria that is the perfect addition to Extortion's brutality.

13. OSK - "Wretched Existence//Bleak Future 2007-2010": The most criminally slept-on release of the year? I'd certainly say so. People, do you knot realize how crazy good OSK are? Buy this compilation CD and you'll get treated to some of the best grind Canada has to offer! This release is crazy good from front to back, and shows that this band has been consistently on top of their game for their entire recorded history. If you guys don't know my now, now you do. Buy or die.

12. Dirty Projectors - "Swing Lo Magellan": This is a band that I fell head over heels in love with in the last half of 2012. I had been a fan of their last album, "Bitte Orca", a long time before I heard this, and "Swing Lo Magellan" definitely is a very different sounding album that the last one. It's a lot more stripped down, less flashy, more rooted in grooves and simple melodies, and it's all absolutely fantastic. There are just so many great pieces to this album: "About To Die" is a high contender for my favorite song of the year (that bubbling programmed drum beat, and that bass, unf), I love the bouncy, playful piano melody on the track"The Socialites", and the vocals are just absolutely gorgeous. Fantastic, inventive, artsy indie-ish rock that I highly suggest checking out.

11. Death Of Self - "S/T": Here's a band that arrived, put out a stupidly good 7" EP, and then went and broke up. It's a real shame they didn't stick around longer, because if they continued to make music as sick as the material on this thing, they could have been untouchable. The songs on here are just absolutely brutal. Like, body smashed into jelly with a sledgehammer brutal. Also, Ethan Lee gives one of my favorite vocal performances of the year. Dude is just straight up vicious on this album. RIP guys.

10. Column Of Heaven - "Mission From God": It made my top 10!! I had some little problems with this release when I first reviewed it, but like most things in life, I get over them and move on. I really can't think of a grind or powerviolence album that sounded anything like "Mission From God" that came out this year. It really does stand out from the crowd. Equal parts grind and noise, with a little dash of death metal thrown in for good measure, this is an album that I've really grown to love, and I can't wait for their future releases.

9. Death Grips - "No Love Deep Web": The band that put out what I called my favorite release of 2011 came back with 2 types of vengeance in 2012 with "The Money Store" and this album, "No Love Deep Web". And while they're both very solid albums, I have to say I prefer "No Love.." more. This album really brought the heavy, noisy aggression that I fell in love with on "Exmilitary". MC Ride is back screaming his throat out, but also has given a lot more variety and character to his vocals. And the beats range from strange and futuristic ("Pop", "Whammy"), to just straight up punishing, like the track "No Love", which has a beat that sounds like Darth Vader coming down a staircase to hatefuck everyone to death. This album is catchy, heavy, groovy, and all around enjoyable. Can't wait to see what they do next.

8. Sea Of Shit/Water Torture - Split: A split that I'm sure we all saw coming before it was announced, this slab of black wax is a double dose of disgust. The Sea Of Shit side is good, for sure, "Black and Blue" is an excellent track. but to me this split really shines on Water Tortures side. This release has some of my favorite songs from the band ("Living Hell", "Attn: Starved"), and the heaviest recording the band has had so far. I'll end by saying that "Living Hell" has the nastiest breakdown I've heard all year. Fist-through-the-wall kind of material.

7. False Light - "S/T": This sickening South Carolina outfit gave me my favorite debut of 2012, and have serious potential to become a big thing in the underground this year. This EP mixes disgusting grindviolence, gutter production and heavy sludge metal, into a soupy, distorted concoction of incredibly enjoyable jams. This will finally be getting the 7" treatment very soon, and hopefully we can expect new material in the near future. Must listen!

6. Standing On A Floor Of Bodies - "Sacrilegious and Culturally Deficient": SOAFOB broke through the sophomore slump and released an album that slays even more than their demo, which I had thought would be impossible. "Sacrilegious..." is 15 minutes of total horror-grindcore. The cold, chilling industrial sound that this band captures, with nothing more than a bass guitar and a drum machine is basically unmatched in grindcore right now. These guys have a their own sound, and they push it to the extreme. Now hopefully my bands split tape with these guys will come out soon ;)

5. Six Brew Bantha - "S/T": This band shot out of the Canadian scene like an atom bomb and decimated the underground with their amazing debut album. I'd to say that this is definitely my favorite grindcore full length of 2012, no other album has kicked my ass in that good kind of way quite like this one has. This band is just so ridiculously tight, and the recording is just absolutely perfect. I'm still jizzing over how good the snare tone on this album is. Two splits are coming out this year, hopefully another full length too. Hail Canada!!

4. To The Point - "Success In Failure": To The Point are one of my favorite new bands, a band that I will buy anything that they release. "Success In Failure" completely sold me on this band, it's a 7" that I completely fell in love with at first listen. Old-school powerviolence runs through the veins of all the members of this band, and they bash out quality song after quality song with years of experience to back them up. Listen to this band immediately and if you find this record, buy it without any hesitation.

3. Water Torture - "Shellfire!": Yep, Water Torture make a 2nd appearance on this list with their EP, "Shellfire!". This really has been my favorite band of 2012, not other band has made quite an impact, or kept me as consistently satisfied as Water Torture have, and this EP never ceases to be absolutely amazing. What more can I say about this band or this record that I haven't said countless times already? It's bass n' drum powerviolence perfection; top notch recording, fantastic songs, completely over the top heaviness, it's an astounding release.

2. Sordo - "Tactical Precision Violence": However, if there was one bass n' drum powerviolence release that I'd have to say rules over them all, it would have to be the debut 7" from Sordo. More bassy powerviolence perfection that you all should seriously pay more attention too. This EP is just absolutely fucking disgusting, in the best way possible. Perfect, destructive recording, with a brutal bass tone.  There is not a dull track out of the 20 that are one here, this record gets me pumped up every time I listen to it. It's heavy, but it's also fun. It's not that über-serious face kind of powerviolence, this shit just straight up rocks.

To The Point - "Success In Failure" Review

Guys, I'm really having a hard time deciding what my favorite EP of the year is. I've definitely narrowed it down to 3, this being one of them. I'm sure you've all heard of To The Point by now; the unstoppable group comprised of members of Actuary, Fetus Eaters, Lack Of Interest and Spazz. Caveman powerviolence. "Success In Failure" is their 2nd EP this year, a beautiful 1-sided 7" in what will probably be a series of EP's of this nature (their previous EP was also 1-sided). Honestly, this new one blows the first completely out of the water for me. And I'm really not sure why. Maybe it's because now I knew what to expect, whereas with the first, the release really was kind of shrouded in mystery. No audio clips, not a nothing was presented before the release. Now, I know the type of noise To The Point bring, and it's a style that I just absolutely love. Total and complete Lack Of Interest-core. Everything that made LoI great is executed perfectly in To The Point, which is no surprise given the people involved. I guess it you could say that there's a distracting lack of originality here, but fuck that noise, because this EP is the jam. Just as the band name advertises, these guys don't fuck around and give you nothing but the best stop/start, hard blasting songs that you're likely to hear all year. The musicianship here is tighter than a nuns nether regions, and the songs are crafted just how you would expect seasoned veterans of this style to make them; perfectly. I just love hearing Bob bash the shit out of a drum kit. Dude really blasts like no other, he definitely has captured a sound that is uniquely his own, with the very dry drum tone and super hard attack. It's also great to hear Chris Dodge, Caveman almighty, front a band again. Again, very early Lack Of Interest style vocals; gruff, low, and kind of cheesy. This 7" is nothing short of absolutely fantastic, and I highly suggest every single one of you to hunt it down and keep tabs on their upcoming releases.

Rating: 9.8/10

~VII