Shooting Spree/TADROAEV - Split 7" (2015) Review

It always happens every year. A record will come along that I missed that kicks almost every top record of that year into the dirt! Happened this year too, after I finally managed to snag the Shooting Spree/TADROAEV split 7" released by Mullet Death Records in 2015. I bought it initially for the Shooting Spree side, since they're basically one of the best bands in Canada right now. But I was more then pleasantly surprised when I played TADROAEV's half. In fact, I was blown away. This is a fucked up split. Shooting Spree and TADROAEV (These Are Da' Results Of A'Thousand Electric Volts) have recorded some of the nastiest and most savage grindcore that was put on wax in 2015. Here's the kicker, I think this was supposed to come out in 2012 or 2013. This masterpiece was kept at bay for 3+ years. Well the wait was worth it.

 TADROAEV have actually won me over through and through with their perfect half. They're actually the side I play the most (and I play it a loooot). This is real deal, no bullshit chaos. Exactly the way I like my grindcore these days. The songs are a blur of unpredictable song twists, massive beefy tones (I think there's like 4 guitar tracks on here), and an unhinged amount of aggression. It's a perfect blend of bands like D.O.C., The Afternoon Gentlemen, Arsedestroyer, and Opstand. And it's fucking heavy!! These tracks get me so fired up, every time it ends I'm just awestruck. I have not been able to find any more recordings from these guys, and I believe they're broken up now. If any other records exist I want them. They even beat out Shooting Spree in claiming the superior side! No diss to Shooting Spree's contribution though, since it is perfect as well. Which comes as no surprise, I've loved every single recording I've heard from them prior. Crazy, fucked up and technical grindcore with a lot of deathy influence. Sudden snare hits, stops, vocal trading, I love it. Also, everything must sound like it's recorded on a boom box, no exception. I love these lo-fi recording's, they always make certain things more present in the mix. Like the "pang" sound of a snare hit, or a beefy guitar tone. Shooting Spree always have the sound of a great demo tape that survived being in your attic for years. It's seriously reinvigorating to hear grindcore written and performed this good. This split has become one of my new favorites for sure.

Everyone should thank Mullet Death Records for bringing this record into the world by spending your money at his store and buying it.

Listen to this: HERE!

~VII

Sordo/OG Jammer - Split 7" (2015) Review

I wish Tyson would kick me in the head for taking this long to score this beautiful gem. That's some pain everyone who doesn't have this record should feel, everyday. Seriously though, if you've been wanting a proper follow-up from Sordo to their perfect "Tactical Precision Violence" 7", you're going to get it here. This split 7" with LA's OG Jammer is a monster. Released by Eddie from Sordo's own label Dina Dog Records last year.

Sordo's side must be leftover tracks from the "Tactical Precision Violence" session. That flawless, Disgusting, punchy and heavy recording is completely the same here. Also they reuse a song featured on their split tape with Chulo from a few years ago ("Chris Doesn't Like Noisecore", but without the long sample at the end). The "leftover" part should not have you worried at all, Sordo bring the pain in full force. There isn't a single dud or dull moment on the whole side. If you like having your ears romped by some catchy-ass drum and bass powerviolence, this is essential. But then again what Sordo release isn't? Almost every track incorporates some sort of Myke Tyson based sample. They are almost as wonderful as the songs themselves. Best samples in the game, Sordo still has that award. This is the real deal shit right here. By far my 2nd favorite Sordo recording.

OG Jammer were a new listen for me. While there's no one that can match Sordo's side in enjoyment level, this powerviolence group does a decent enough job on their short side. You like random, bassy microphone peaks in your recording? OG Jammer got you covered. This recording is a rough one, and a bit distracting at times. Their side consists of five raw and overblown bursts of fastcore/violence. They remind me of a mix of Godeater, Detroit and Goner. Sordo's side does make this a one-sider record for me a majority of the time. But whenever I play OG's side I enjoy more then I remember doing previously. I might track down their other recordings.

This record came in a "green" color variant, probably limited to 100. I don't know, it seems more blue to me. But I guess someone will call is sea foam green, or something like that. It's mine, whatever it is!

Buy this.

~VII

Couple Skate - "Tales From The Corpse" (2015) Review

Man, there was a lot of talk and anticipation floating around the release of this lil' ol 7" record. Personally I was looking forward to hearing this new Couple Skate EP for a couple years. Their vocalist Kyle Schroeder has been a musical commrade of mine from afar for a long time. And knowing him, I was pretty instinctually positive that "Tales From The Corpse" would be good. Couple Skate is a mince/gore trio from Lima, Ohio and has been spreading the gore gospel for a couple solid years. Their debut vinyl EP, "Tales From The Corpse", was finally released towards the end of 2015, thanks in part to over half a dozen labels.

Now generally, if you're in a goregrind band, you will generally be pulling from one of two sides of influences. The side that goes for more of a "riff composed", polka beat/blast ridden, deathy and raw approach (Regurgitate, Dead Infection, early Carcass, Maggut, Squash Bowels, etc). Or the even more raw, noise guitar, toilet vocal, structureless, blast abuse side (Last Days of Humanity, Anal Birth (gorenoise), Inopexia, Phyllomedusa, among countless others). While all these artists are more then likely adored by the members of Couple Skate, the old-school sounds are proudly in their music. They've taken the bold step to actually steer away from the easier latter half and make Couple Skate *gasp* a band. With some real *wait for it* lyrics, and write some *omg* sick riffs! And they do it very well I might add. Look at that, my gut was right. Always trust the organs.

Couple Skate do not set out to revolutionize any part of the goregrind genre on "Tales From The Corpse". You know whatcha gonna get, and they give it to you in every way you could like. All twelve and a half minutes of this EP are incredibly solid and fun. A perfectly balanced amount of super blasting and gore stomping grooves. The classic riffs and chord progressions we've heard hundreds of times are here, and played well. There's Regurgitate and Agathocles worship in abundance. Thankfully they do manage to sneak in a couple real attention grabbings riffs that remind me a lot of Internal Rot. Side B is definitely my favorite side of the record. The opener "Abra Cadaver" has all the fun of a good Rompeprop or Rectal Smegma track. And something about all the songs afterwords just generally sound more savage and aggressive then the flip side of the record. The quantity of samples used is surprisingly very low and used well, and overall the EP sounds very good. Counting the fact that it was recorded on a cassette 4track. The drums, one of my favorite parts of grind, are just a tad too low in the mix which is a shame. I can't hear that snare go BOOM BOOM PANG!

Plenty of people had their hands in putting this out. You got a lot of options and places to pick a copy up from! No excuses! Also let's get more bands to stick three or more variations of their logo on their record sleeves. More!

You should check this out, I give it a solid, necrotic thumbs up!

LINK TO LISTEN: Here!

~VII

Lung Cancer/Sete Star Sept - Split Cassette

Another curious pairing between the God's on Earth that are Sete Star Sept, and a exceptionally more polished and less noisy fastycorey band to smear in your ear. Lung Cancer are a trio from Calgary, CA, who I wasn't very familiar with until I knew the Chainsaw To The Bass Records guys. On this split C8 cassette we get both bands offering three tracks. Lung Cancer's side comes first and it goes off right away. Definitely not a band you would picture sharing a release with SSS. Playing into the more emoviolence side of fast hardcore. High-pitched, screechy vocals, lots of mosh parts, and some powerful drum work. The first and second song on their side are both great, but I was not a fan of the drawn out intro in the closer, and the song just sort of pitters out at the end. All I'm saying is that they could have fit another song in there. Other then that, no complaints here. Sete Star Sept go completely no-fi and free on this session. Play this on some good speakers with a lot of bass, as you'll need it. Consisting of only mainly mid and high tones, besides Kiyasu's drum hits. Completely free and structures drums under Kae's harsh vocals and "bass playing". Most of the time just letting her bass ring out into harsh feedback. Which to me seemed to work itself more into a power electronics type of sound. Especially on the final track, "Burning Chair". Oh yeah, every song is about chairs too, because chairs. Describing it like this may make it seem like I'm not a fan, but I actually and honestly love when SSS get all weird on our asses like this. Not every one of there releases has to be like "Visceral Tavern" you know. SSS are at it's core a noise band, and that means sound is limitless. As long as it hurts your ears and annoys your neighbors. This tape is awesome, I recommend you check it out. Chainsaw To The Bass Records is putting out this cassette.

~VII

Avian Terror - "Demo 2015"

Do you remember back in your teen years, and the first grindcore band you formed and started fooling around with? I sure do, and believe me, modest beginnings were rough. Lots of very awkward starting out performances. Something about Australia's younger population though, they really got the knack for making pretty kick ass stuff. So now here comes a duo called Avian Terror, doing brutal grind as Aussies do, and it goes the fuck off. Also, it's written and performed by a couple of 15 year olds. And as cheeky as it may be to highlight that, I just have to. People love to have a little "fun fact" with their bands, ay? Not that all youngsters are doomed to suck until they "reach a certain age", but let's just be real hear. And just listen to this! This is definitely some solid brutal grindcore, in the same vein as countrymen like Internal Rot and Headless Death, with some Hellnation and Insect Warfare in there too. However, Avian Terror certainly are not as intricate and tight as those other bands are, to be fair. They still are largely sticking to the a very linear and rudimentary song writing style. Strictly blast beats over blast riffs. Sometimes boarding into noisegrind territory, thanks in part by the rawness of the recording (tracks like "Visceral Dismemberment" and "Point Blank"). A lot of ye ol' standard riffs are on here too, simple but effective. And the band really does reach some impressively fast and vicious moments ("Decadence", "Gash Desire", "Instant Regurgitation"). There's definitely a lot of promise here. No doubt the more these guys play and perform, the gnarlier their craft will get. Awesome stuff. Naked Noise Records will be handling the cassette release, be on the look out for that.

~VII

Headless Death - "Poxy Death" EP

Australia Alert!!! Another brilliant provocateur of brutally from the magical city of Melbourne. And honestly a very new one for me. Even though Headless Death have been steadily putting out dynamite material since 2012. A quartet from Melbourne, who play a what I can only call bestial grindcore. Or super heavy, deathy, war grind. A style they bring out in full honest force again on their newest tape, "Poxy Death". On here we have three new songs, and a rerecording of the title track of their last EP called "Under the Mushroom". As well as a track that I guess is a Ringworm cover at the end. But I don't listen to Ringworm, and a quick Youtube search shows me a song much different then HD's interpretation so I'm lost. "Poxy Death" for the most part is perfect example of brutal hyperblast grind done perfectly well. In a very Australian way, I can say now. Distinctly rich with the same sounds that countrymen Internal Rot and Coffin Birth have perfected. Though with a much, much, much rawer recording. The musical performances here are relentless, particularly in the drumming. The speed that Headless Death maintain would make any average-joe-band sweat trying to keep up. The death soaked riffs are here at some of their most primal and savage, HD keep the variation levels nice an balanced. Definitely letting in a lot more space for more groovy, headbangable passages. The opener "Underground Existence" has a pretty sweet hXc mosh part that pops every now and again. The following track "Not A Worthy Death" opens with a very attention grabbing bass and drum riff, and utilizes some twisted dissonance and melodies. I'm not too hot on the closing, mysterious Ringworm cover though. The slow-song-at-the-end cliche is getting way too, well cliche for me. This track unfortunately does nothing to change that. The super sluggish punk beat towards the end is where I especially loose interest. What "Poxy Death" gives we on the whole first half though is completely fantastic. Headless Death are yet another knight in shining armor for Australia's grindcore army.

~VII

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