Sickmark - "s/t" II"

The name Sickmark might not immediately strike any bells with most of you. If you were around the ol' internet circles a lot last year, you may have stumbled upon their first 7" EP. What was actually one of my favorite records of 2014. A particularly filthy gem of a powerviolence EP. In that super negative/super serious and mean style of the genre. The first self-titled EP met all the criteria I give bands of that style, and more. Displaying serious technical and frantic songwriting chops, and having a very gruff recording and aesthetic that was also loud as fuck. I really dug the bass in one channel, guitar in the other sound too (fun fact, they switch which channels they're in on this record, haha). Sickmarks newest self-titled offering, which has some seriously baddass cover art, yet again, immediately shows that they are comfortably and confidently sticking to their comfort zones. A bit of a more lo-fi recording this time around though, but the band still sounds incredibly tough and relentless. Sickmark are still an impressively quick and tight unit, and the songs they write on here are brutally breakneck. I did pick up on a lot more focus on grooves this time around. Lots of sprinkles of blasts sandwiched between disgusting breakdowns, too a largely great effect yet again. The track "Hammer" has a particularly big WTF groove in it. Very strong influences are taken from the negative heavyweights, maybe even more so now. Bands like Sea of Shit (they even have a track with the namesake on here), Socially Retarded, and Despise You are obvious comparisons. Or like if Spazz really hated life. This kind of style does tend to sound pretty familiar after a while, and the songs on this EP honestly do tend to all melt together. There is almost no real trace of variation here, which is totally not a bad thing at all, don't get me wrong. But a little bit of the excitement is lost for me when I can almost predict what's going to happen next. It's a solid, consistent filth storm, a very good follow up. Their first EP definitely did have a little bit more going on, but this new EP is still a total ripper. Definitely check this band out, and try and see them on their upcoming August USA tour with PA's, Constraint.

~VII

Listen To Slave, Right Now!!

I remember posting about Slave and the 2-3 tracks that they had online a while ago. They were good, standard powerviolence, stuff a lot of people would dig. Well, a short while ago, I found out that this band has been very active, and holy shit, I'm sorry I've only been paying minimal attention. Slave are a force to be reckoned with in 2013! Their new cassette EP (as pictured above), is a bombshell of a release. Great recording, and great song after great song. They've really got a nice Triac meets SFN meets The Endless Blockade thing going on, and I fucking love it. I'm ordering a copy of this cassette ASAP (buy here), and if I'm lucky, maybe come across their split tape with Obacha (!!!) eventually. Give Slaves new tape a listen and fall in love like I have. And listen to Obacha too!!!

~VII

Cellgraft - "Cellgraft" Review

Well, it looks like Cellgraft have decided to call it quits, after some odd years and a few seemingly well received releases under their belts. The "online grind scene" seemed to blow up with cries of literally many bummed out fans, which kinda caught me off guard, honestly. I had never really heard of a lot of people talk about Cellgraft before, or hold the band in high regards. I guess it's that strange/unfortunate phenomenon where a band breaks up and suddenly everyone jumps on board their music. Can't say I ever payed much attention to the band, but it's sad to see them go. The Florida outfit leaves us with this,  a 12 track, 17 minute swan song album. I'm a big fan of this growing trend of releasing full-length albums that could easily fit on a 7", and this album wastes no time kicking in and busting out the heavy intro. Pretty much the only slow part on this entire album. What follows after the pretty well constructed intro is a non-stop blast-grind-fuck fest. Cellgraft have made it abundantly that they're not going to fuck around on this final album, bust out some last minute experimental bullshit or try and be anything more that a legit grindcore band. This is overall, probably their best recording. Their past records always seemed too thin to me, they didn't have a lot of punch. They brought the low end on here, and it's very much appreciated by my ears. However, the left channel seems to be a lot louder than the right, which is distracting as fuck if you like to listen to your music with earbuds, like I do. Another issue I have with the album is that there really isn't a lot about the songs that stick with me. Very little, to no memorable or stand out parts, except for a cool riff every now and again ("Abdication"). I know Cellgraft is not meant to be a catchy band, I accept that. But I would have liked something to stand out. Their really isn't anything original or ground breaking about this album, but as a final output, it's definitely a good output. Throw it on whenever you want to get a 12 minute dose of eardrum violence. RIP Cellgraft.

Rating: 6.9/10

~VII