North Carolina sure has some interesting stuff brewing in it's central regions lately. And it just so happens that two of the states products that I'm most excited for go hand in hand with each other! Hygiene Records, a new-ish DIY fast jams label (owned and operated by Priapus frontman Jordan Noe) who in it's modest several months of existence, has already built up quite a catalog. One of the first records under the Hygiene name is the debut EP from fellow North Carolinians, Abuse. (spelled with a period) A band that seemingly popped out of no where into the underground's consciousness, despite having little to no buzz about their demo prior. Fortunately though, more and more people seem to be taking notice to them, because rest assured, you're probably hard pressed to find a more solid hardcore/powerviolence (hardviolence?) EP then "A New Low". This EP is like the punch in the face that knocks you back on your ass, but gets your adrenaline going so much that you say "bring it on,". Right from the second that the band kicks in on the opening track, "Bible Belt", a crushingly rough recording, perfectly intense brick to the stomach drumming, clanging bass, and rabid bulldog vocals blast this record into mach 2. This is fast hardcore executed perfectly, and it doesn't hurt that Abuse. know how to construct a brilliantly enjoyable song. Every track on here is a winner, each one chock full of catchy and pulverizing riffs with breakdowns. They magically managed to keep enough of the old-school influence, but still sound excited and not tired. In a nutshell, "A New Low" pretty much nails everything I look for in a good powerviolence record, and anyone looking for a new release to jam and hype the fuck up, it's this one. Fans of bands like Vaccine, Suffer, and Extortion should definitely take note. And while your at it, check out the ripping new track from their upcoming To Live A Lie released full length. NCHC at its finest.
I Can't think of a better record to highlight in the 2nd installment of this series then what may be my favorite record of the year. I've talked about this record endlessly in person, online, on this site, etc. And if you still haven't gotten a clue and listened to this beast already, you may need to just go back to the Jurassic period where you belong. Here is the absolutely fantastic vinyl version, released by RSR earlier this year.
(All pictures by VII)
We all know the music on here is as filthy as it is amazing, and boy is it amazing. This is one of those records where you can tell the physical copy definitely sounds better. Every bit of aggression in the music is increased by the boost of bass and punchiness from the press.
Great artwork from both bands, and the best looking record I've seen from RSR yet. A nice matte sleeve, a double sided insert, and a righteous Psychic TV homage aesthetic.
I managed to get the clear vinyl version, of which there is only 100 pressed. Yay me, right? At the time when I bought it, this thing was dreadfully hard to find in the states. But now it's become a bit more common, and can be found at fine distro's like To Live A Lie and Diseased Audio. Buy or Cry!!!
Remember how this split was occasionally mentioned in interviews throughout the 2012 and this year? But with updates so few and far between, it sometimes gets forgotten? Well, here's another whooping update that waked my ass up and got me to remember about this epic grind combo! Check out this awesome cover art!
Pretty cool stuff right? I dig it heavily, and I'm positive the grind madness underneath it is sure to be as explosive and detailed. The Kill, who have been (no pun intended) killing it this year with a slew of awesome splits and records (including ones with Mortalized and The Communion), Antigama are already hot off the heals of killer new record, "Meteor", and the grind spazzouts that we can expect from Noisear. Definitely put this on my "Most Anticipated Of The Year" list.
If you already know Greber; props, you're an alright fella. This Canadian sludge/hardcore/grind duo, which features members of Fuck the Facts and The Great Sabatini, put out a noteworthy EP a couple years ago, and a raging split 7" with Proletar in 2012, are back again with new songs. Not only that, these new songs are going to be coming out on a split 7" with Hiroshima Vacation, a band featuring your's truly! Very excited to share a wax slab with these guys, especially considering how killer their songs are! This song, "Thunderstatment", was the first I heard from their recordings, and I just sat back and went, "damn...". It's killer stuff, blows my bands shit outta the water, and the accompanying video is out of control! Dig it. The records should be available in a couple weeks from a few labels, including Suburban White Trash Records, and my own, Maybe It's Art Records. And check out both sides here: (Greber)(Hiroshima Vacation).
Friends like to support friends. And very fortunately, I have a lot of very talented friends. And look at Terminal", shows the band has only gotten stronger. The recording is once again incredibly solid. All the instruments are loud and perfectly balanced and pummeling. The drums are bone breaking, and the guitars have this super crunchy distortion that's like putting nails through a meat grinder. The recording is a lot more bassy this time around too, it's crushing. The range of influence on "Terminal" also differs from the demo in a few ways. There was a big hardcore punk sound that I picked up on, mostly in the chord progressions and tone of the guitars. There was grind/powerviolences too, but it wasn't totally up front. On here, the band is faster, and way heavier. Less hardcore punk and way more brutal break your face-core. I can pick up on as much Iron Lung or The Endless Blockade as I can bands like Full of Hell, Harms Way or Nails. Which naturally, makes way for some absolutely crushing breakdowns, like in the tracks "Disguise" and "Permanent Solution". It's an absolutely slammer of an EP, and one of the best I've heard this year. This should hopefully be coming out on vinyl soon too, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
that, I am able to share them with all you hundreds of people and tell you how awesome they are. Brilliantly convenient. If you don't know the NJ duo/now trio band Damaged Goods, I gotta say you're kinda sorta missing out on hearing the best young band that I can think of. And when I say young, I mean it. All members are but 17 years old now, but they play tough powerviolence/hardcore like they were born with it in their veins. They dropped a very impressive demo last year, and this first proper EP, "
Well, another Maryland Deathfest has come and gone. This was my humble 2nd time going, after missing on the stupidly awesome 10 year anniversary line-up, there was no way I was missing this one. And it was a real treat celebrating all forms of extreme music with thousands of like-minded people, even if it was in the ass-crack of Baltimore. I got to meet a lot of awesome really cool people, make some righteous friends (shouts out to my NC bros), and of course, see an epic amount of awesome bands. The inclusion of the Soundstage venue, a space highlighting more of the hardcore and grind bands, was a great addition (though I have some mixed feelings about it), and made seeing a lot of these bands a lot more enjoyable. I narrowed everything down to five though, here were my favorite shows I saw this past weekend.
Infest: Y'all shouldn't be surprised. Ff course this show was going to be amazing, and was by far my favorite set of the entire festival. I knew this show was going to be rowdy, but goddamn if this wasn't the craziest show I've ever been too. The soundstage was packed, and everybody was ready to go nuts. Joe even started the show off by telling the audience that he told the security guards to prepare for the craziness that was about to ensue. Bodies were flying everywhere (apparently I stage dived a total of 5 times, according to my friend. I only remember 3), bodies were smashed against one another, and of course, the whole band was absolutely perfect. The inclusion of Bob Kastiz from Lack of Interest and Chris Dodge were great, and Joe is an absolutely killer frontman. Staring down into the audience, built like a brick house, and that awesome, commanding, classic hardcore bark. They played all the classics, and of course ended with "Where's The Unity". It was certainly found that night!
Melvins: The Melvins, by far, one of my biggest musical inspirations. Basically growing up with them, after I found a copy of "Houdini" in my car while I was riding with my mom, and immediately being captivated by the hypnotic crushing rhythm of "Hooch". Consider them on of my, "bucket list" bands. I knew this was going to be incredible the moment I found out that they did in fact, come with the Big Business guys in tow! Yes, this 4 piece Melvins was absolutely incredible. Coming on stage dressed in extravagant costumes, and plowing though crushing track after crushing track, with Dale Crover and Coady Willis's jaw dropping synchronized drum solos. Every second of this set was hard hitting, loud, and impactful. Buzz's voice hasn't aged a day. Hell, it might have gotten even more powerful!! The band wonderfully chose to play a lot of classic older track, including many near and dear to my heart, like "Honey Bucket", "Revolve", and my beloved "Hooch". Mind blowing set.
Full Of Hell: Truth be told, FoH was one of the bands I was most looking forward to seeing. After completely winning me over with their new record, one that I am still crushing on hard, I knew that their set was going to be something not to miss. Though I almost did after getting painfully lost trying to get to the Soundstage venue (note to the MDF: staff for next year, please include some obvious instructions on how to get to the venue next time. Thaaaanks)!!!! But fortunately, I was able to catch it all, and man, it was scary intense. This set was just evil!! With the dark lighting, the harsh noise transitions between songs, and their amazing frontman, who wins my personal "Best Frontman Of MDF" award. An absolute force on stage, brutal as fuck locals, and throat shredding high vocals. This set still has me pumped.
Pig Destroyer: I was fanboygasming for this whole entire experience. Another "bucket list band" for me, and I was not disappointed in the slightest. They started the set off with some choice cuts from "Book Burner", even having Kat come out on a couple songs! But thankfully, they evened out the set with tons of choice cuts from almost all of their albums, including a few of my personal favorites (they played "Thumbsucker"!!). The real highlights were the tracks from "Prowler...", they pulled out "Junkyard God", leading into "Piss Angel", and the "Jennifer" intro track. They even played "Naked Trees"! Closing out with "The Diplomat" with Jason Netherton on vocals was a great way to end the set, and I definitely got a serious bangover when it was done. Only problem, they didn't play "The Machete Twins". C'mon guys!
Disciples of Christ: Little known fact; these guys and Triac released my favorite record of the year with their untouchable split 12". So seeing these guys was absolutely mandatory. I even got my nocturnal ass out of bed before 11 AM to get ready to see these guys. That's giving a shit. And of course, their set was amazing. After some pretty hilarious banter between the sound guy and the band, D.O.C. busted into a crushing 8 minute set (boo-ya). Opening with one of my favorite tracks of the previously mentioned split, "Hosed", and not letting up until their time was over. They even played some new tracks in the middle of their set, which were fucking great. Very excited for their new record to come out. Get wise to this band and listen to that goddamn split!!!
Hope you all had a good MDF. See you next year, maybe.
Three cheers to the good people at Headfirst! and Dead Chemists Records for bringing us a gorgeous vinyl edition of False Light's debut self-titled EP. For those who are still living under a rock, this EP burst forth from the murky depths of the underground and crippled almost everything else I had heard that year. A vinyl release seemed only appropriate, and more than justified, and it seems like a lot of you agree. I've heard that this first pressing is almost sold out from both labels.
(All photo's by VII)
I've already talked endlessly about this record, so I won't take the time to regurgitate past praises. I mainly want to use this new article series to talk about presentation, and packaging, and quality, and hopefully I'll influence a couple people to pick up the record. Rest assured, the two labels responsible did an incredible job with the presentation. All new cover art is plastered all over both sides of the barn-door style sleeve, with a silkscreened obi-strip and murky, marbled vinyl.
I'm kind of glad that they distanced the aesthetic of this record away from the digital version, to give it it's own identity in a way. That being said, this art is pretty curious, and pretty abstract. The grimness of the old cover art was definitely well suited, but this is just as cool. Kind of reminds me of Feeding's art, or Rudimentary Peni.
The closing slow track, "///", is also absent from this record. A bit of a disappointment, since we aren't really getting the whole EP here, but I can understand why they did it, given a 7" record's time limit per side.
Great record though, very happy with the release. I believe the band still has copies, and you can pick it up from distro's like To Live A Lie and Diseased Audio. False Light will also have a track appear on the EPIC "To Live A Lie Vol. II" 12" compilation, and should have another new record come out in the future.
North Carolina sure has some interesting stuff brewing in it's central regions lately. And it just so happens that two of the states products that I'm most excited for go hand in hand with each other! Hygiene Records, a new-ish DIY fast jams label (owned and operated by Priapus frontman Jordan Noe) who in it's modest several months of existence, has already built up quite a catalog. One of the first records under the Hygiene name is the debut EP from fellow North Carolinians, Abuse. (spelled with a period) A band that seemingly popped out of no where into the underground's consciousness, despite having little to no buzz about their demo prior. Fortunately though, more and more people seem to be taking notice to them, because rest assured, you're probably hard pressed to find a more solid hardcore/powerviolence (hardviolence?) EP then "A New Low". This EP is like the punch in the face that knocks you back on your ass, but gets your adrenaline going so much that you say "bring it on,". Right from the second that the band kicks in on the opening track, "Bible Belt", a crushingly rough recording, perfectly intense brick to the stomach drumming, clanging bass, and rabid bulldog vocals blast this record into mach 2. This is fast hardcore executed perfectly, and it doesn't hurt that Abuse. know how to construct a brilliantly enjoyable song. Every track on here is a winner, each one chock full of catchy and pulverizing riffs with breakdowns. They magically managed to keep enough of the old-school influence, but still sound excited and not tired. In a nutshell, "A New Low" pretty much nails everything I look for in a good powerviolence record, and anyone looking for a new release to jam and hype the fuck up, it's this one. Fans of bands like Vaccine, Suffer, and Extortion should definitely take note. And while your at it, check out the ripping new track from their upcoming To Live A Lie released full length. NCHC at its finest. 
