New Music Round-Up: Standing On A Floor Of Bodies, Backslider, Damaged Goods

The spring season is quickly closing in, which means new music is starting to come at us faster than a Bryan Fajardo blast beat. The middle part of this year is sure to be an absolute clusterfuck of new releases, some of which I'm very highly anticipating. Such as this new split from the best grindcore husband and wife duo ever, Standing On A Floor of Bodies. These guys released as absolutely killer record last year, and they've told me that they were working on this other split with their friends, Man Among Wolves. Well out of no where, I find out that a new track was posted and that it's coming out on a 10" record! Way to keep me informed guys, gawsh. Nah, but seriously, this new song, entitled "Nothing Wounded Goes Uphill", is a crusher. This is definitely their best and most fleshed out recording yet, and the song is probably one of the best they've written so far. From the length of the track, and the number of songs on their side, it definitely looks like they toy'd around with their trademark brevity, and maybe added a few new ideas to the mix. Can't wait to hear the whole thing and see.

Another 10" release, another duo; the best Philly fastcore band, Backslider, is right on the cusp of releasing their new record, "Consequences", which will be put out by the veteran west coast label, Six Weeks Records. Two new, but unmastered tracks from the record have been put up by the band. The first, "Born Annoyed", is probably one of the most reserved and straight forward songs that the band has done (as in most of the riffs go on for more than one measure). I was actually pretty surprised at how un-technical the song was. Not that it's a bad thing, just unexpected. The nest song, "The Lords Work" has more of the traditional Backslider insanity, and has a couple of the southern sludge-influenced riffs that they bring out every now and again. Both the tracks are bangers, and I'm very excited to hear the rest of the album.

Finally, we have a new track from my homies, Damaged Goods. Another duo too, what a nice little coincidence. These young lads, who released an excellent demo last year, are gearing up to release their new EP, "Terminal", on cassette and (fingers crossed) a 7" record. This new track, "Resolutions", which opens the EP, is a fucking slammer. The slow intro, the drum fills that lead into the blast riff, the breakdown at the end, it all kills. These kids play powerviolence/hardcore like they've had 10+ years of experience under their belts, it's sickeningly impressive. I've heard the full EP, and expect a very positive review when the time comes.

~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.

Standing On A Floor Of Bodies - "Sacrilegious and Culturally Deficient" Review

As some of you may know, I am notorious for cursing myself with atrociously high standards when it comes to new music sometimes. Which more often than not leads to bitter, sickening, curl up in a corner disappointment. But I mean, how can I not do this to myself? Especially when it comes to bands like Standing On A Floor Of Bodies, who released one of my favorite under five minute grindcore releases EVER in 2010, with the "Teaching Pigs To Sing" demo. Now back with a new member, Bvnny Stitches, doing additional vocals, this husband and wife duo (cute, it's it?), return with their debut full length, and it rips! If you loved their demo as much as I did, you should have absolutely no problem getting into the material on here, and you have no idea how happy it makes to to say that. Everything that made "Teaching..." great is amplified on "Sacrilegious and Culturally Deficient". The recording is much thicker and brutally heavy this time around, the riffs and the excellent programmed drums all blend together into this wall of destructive low-end punch to the jugular. If you want your perception of what a bass/drum grindcore band sounds like to change, listen to this band. Yeah, absolutely no guitar anywhere near this recording. The tones they get are insane. The vibe this band sends off is also genuinely unsettling and cold. SOAFOB's style of horror-grind is pretty unique, and it's something I don't hear a lot of bands pulling off, or at least not as convincingly. It's like the musical equivalent of a trap from one of the Saw movies, or the torture cellar of some sociopathic killer.  It's great stuff. Mike Stitches vocals are top notch, as always, and Bvnny's natural high screams are a great companion to Mike's guttural roars. 15 minutes of sickening grind, and on a side note, the record is on one beautifully packaged single-sided 12" with a screen printed B-side. 7 Degrees records did a great job with the presentation. A cassette version was also put out on Sisster Ssound, which is equally awesome looking (it comes it a fucking body bag). Can't wait to hear this bands future releases.

Rating: 9/10

~VII

Remembering Thousandswilldie

Goddammit, Thousandswilldie was fucking great. I mean it, really really awesome! One of grinds best kept secrets, and one of the several great bands that decided to call it quits in 2010. They played their last show at the 2010 UGZ Speed Trials at Gilman street and left in a blaze of blasting glory.

Thousandswilldie were a major part of the west coast grind scene when it came to live shows. Word is from vocalist Mike Stitches that a majority of grind shows that were put on, Thousandswilldie would get on the bill. I really wish I got to see them live, their live shows looked insane!! Just non-stop blasting grindcore!

(demo cover)

Their output was pretty minimal, consisting of a demo, a 7", a split 7" with Kill the Client, and a split CD with Psychofagist. I've heard all of their released material and it's all very solid, but polarizing, even for most well-seasoned grind fans, and they definitely changes their sound a bit over time. The demo and 7" are complete grind-chaos; super, super short songs with constant riff changes. I still don't even really know what I'm listening too when I play the 7", it's so insane! The splits with Kill the Client and Psychofagist show a bit more refined songwriting. Yeah, the songs are still short, but they hold onto riffs longer and actually develop the songs a bit. 

Guitarist Yong-Sung spent a little time playing second guitar for In Disgust before they broke up, and vocalist Mike Stitches went on to form his excellent (sorta)solo project Standing on a Floor of Bodies, who released an amazing demo last year. Something every single fucking one of you should download right now here. I have no idea what the drummer is doing, anyone who does feel free to say in the comment section. 

Super great band, you all should get familiar with them and try and track down their releases. RIP Thousandswilldie!!

~VII

VII's Favorite Grind/Hardcore/Powerviolence Vocalists

The vocalist is the messenger. The person who regurgitates his pre-written thoughts, beliefs, ideas, concepts and stories into a microphone and into the ears of the audience. In short, a vocalist is a necessity in a grind band. Here are a few of my all time favorite vocalists in the genre, I chose a few PV/hardcore vocalists too to make it a bit easier on me. All of these vocalists bring add something to their select bands that add that extra bit of awesomeness to the music the scream behind.

1. Aaron Kenyon(Man is the Bastard): Aaron Kenyon's voice brought so much intensity MITB. His gruff barks and his gravely screams were fueled by genuine anger and frustration. Incredibly political and socially conscious lyrics were his battle cries, and he delivered them with incredible power and volume. Listen here and here!

2. Rahi Geramifar(ex-Insect Warfare, Hatred Surge): Rahi only has two voices; growl and scream. He is a fucking non-stop vocalist, unrelenting in his delivery. No bullshit here, just a pure visceral vocal onslaught. His lyrics may be indecipherable, but he sure makes up for it in intensity. He now lends his vocals to fellow Texas bruisers Hatred Surge as a 2nd vocalist. His attack isn't as fast in that band, making his voice just a little bit more clear, but his trademark growl is still there. Listen here!

3. Jay Randall(Agoraphobic Nosebleed): I frickin love Jay's voice! It's definitely one of the more recognizable voices in hardcore/grind, nowadays going for more of a yell/loud talking technique. When he does scream though it sounds very loose and out of control, which I dig. He definitely doesn't sound like a "fine-tuned" vocalist, which may sound like an insult, but it's anything but. I think it adds a very unpredictable edge to his voice and makes it much more enjoyable to listen to. Plus, I love the way he puts words together and the vocal patterns he chooses. Listen here and here!





4: Lukasz Myszkowski(Antigama): Lukasz has one of the most interesting and recognizable voices in extreme music, matching the equally interesting weirdo-grind of Antigama. It's hard to really describe his vocals, at times it sounds like he's adding a little side-of-the-throat gurgle to his growl, a lot of times he seamlessly blends the growl/scream together into pure vocal gold, with occasional added vocal effects to boot. I'm so glad that he's back in Antigama and I can't wait to hear their new material! Listen here and here!

5: Matt Gomes(ex-In Disgust): Matt Gomes has one of the best, deepest, most chocolaty sounding growls in grind(violence), and it didn't sound out of place. A lot of times when a grind band has a deep-growl vocalist, it just sounds like a death metal singer that somehow ended up fronting a grindcore band, but Matt Gomes sounded genuine and had the perfect voice to match the down-tuned, blasting fury of In Disgust. Plus, he can do a sick pig squeal(see here.) Still pissed that band broke up!!! Listen here.

6. J.R. Hayes(Pig Destroyer, ex-Enemy Soil): J.R.'s vocals are absolutely disgusting. The noises that come out of his mouth are as slimy and grotesque as the lyrics he writes, making his sick, twisted fuck stories of stalkers, piss angels and girls in slayer jackets all the more hard hitting. Of course I mean all this is the best possible way. Listen here and watch the most badass thing ever here!

7. Andrew Beattie(ex-No Comment, ex-Man is the Bastard, Low Threat Profile, Dead Language): Andrew Beattie has one of the best open throat, pissed off yells I've ever heard, and he's only gotten better with age. The new super group Dead Language displays a new found grit and growl to his vocals. This guy is a beast! He sounds like someone that would be leading a massive protest. Listen here.

8. Mike Stitches(ex-Thousandswilldie, Standing on a Floor of Bodies): Mike Stiches has a one of a kind scream, one that I can instantly recognize. Kind of a bark/scream hybrid actually. Deep growls and harsh screams are also expertly executed. His vocals on the Standing on a Floor of Bodies demo are half the reason it's one of my favorite demos/grind releases ever. Download and listen here!

~VII