Canary Bones - Demo

Labels: Self-Released

Formats: Digital

Release Date: 03 Jan 2025

Tracklist:

1. I Heard You Die at the End

2. Pearls Before Swine

3. Hard Year

4. Service Delivery Failure

Later this year I'll be able to celebrate fifteen years of writing and building this blog. Even after all that time I still love receiving messages/e-mails from bands who have discovered This Noise Is Ours through other reviews I've written. In January I wrote about the recent 7" release from Australian post-hardcore/screamo band Keratin, which led to David from fellow Australian noise rock/post-hardcore band Canary Bones reaching out about the band's debut demo.

The Naarm (Melbourne, Aus) sextet released their four-track debut demo early last month. Their sound is recommended for fans of everything from the grunge rock of Helmet and Sonic Youth, to the alt/noise of Jesu and Swans, right through to the early punk/post-hardcore of Fugazi and Hüsker Dü, as well as the likes of At The Drive-In, Botch, Coalesce, Deftones and Poison The Well. Those influences are both varied and music (sorry!) to my ears. Let's dive in...

I couldn’t wait to get home from work today. Aside from being able to order the debut tape from a new UK death metal band (featuring members of bands I’ve been a fan of for years), I wanted to also delve into some new music by a band that reminds me of why I started writing in the first place. Enter stage right Canary Bones. Starting with ‘I Heard You Die at the End’, the sextet provides a groovy/danceable take on noise rock. It’s predominantly mid-paced, which is a nice change of pace given what I’ve been listening to of late and is catchy too.

‘Pearls Before Swine’ is much more riff-laden, especially thanks to the melodic/metallic delivery while the overall feel of the song is heavier. That owes a lot to the organic and raw mix on the demo, which nails down the sextet’s sound even though it’s surprisingly brief. We all get to a point in life where every year is considered a ‘Hard Year’ but Canary Bones condense post-pandemic life into less than four minutes of punk-fuelled noise that describes the tiredness both they and we all feel now. Being careful how I word this next sentence; there’s a similarity between the snotty old-school punk of the UK and the sound crafted by Canary Bones here.

The demo ends with the excellent ‘Service Delivery Failure’, which is something we can all relate to here in the UK. The slightly harrowing sample at the beginning leads to lone guitar lead-work and ambient distortion, as things build slowly. This is where the band’s post-punk influence grows and takes center stage. It’s simplistic and almost primitive but at the same time it’s cleansing too, showing the many layers this band has.

Ultimately, any band worth their salt has worked their way up from the bottom. I don’t use the word “bottom” in a derogatory way, just as a term to differentiate those bands from others that were born with silver spoons in their mouths. Canary Bones are just starting their journey and their demo is a snapshot in time, a strong one at that. It’s always hard to tell where a band is headed after just one release, but the only way is up if this is anything to go by.

You can stream and grab a digital download of the Demo from Canary Bones via bandcamp below:-

Canary Bones - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565754681613

Faithxtractor - Loathing and the Noose

Labels: Redefining Darkness Records

Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital

Release Date: 10 Jan 2025

Tracklist:

1. Noose of Being

2. The Loathing

3. Fever Dream Litanies

4. Flooded Tombs

5. Ethos Moribund

6. Caveats

7. Beholden to Nightmare

8. Cerecloth Vision Veil

There's an abundance of newly released US death metal doing the rounds right now. As a nation, it has always been prominent but the genre just seems to be growing exponentially over there. After a brief dalliance back in time with my last review, I'm back in the present (sort of) with the 5th and newest album Loathing and the Noose from US duo Faithxtractor. It was released in January and is their second on Redefining Darkness Records, following 2023's Contempt for a Failed Dimension. 

Three days ago I turned 39. How the hell did that happen! Faithxtractor are on hand to help me forget that I’m one year closer to 40 thankfully, with their new album Loathing and the Noose. Launching straight into ‘Noose of Being’, the duo’s death metal is surprisingly metallic and technical, for a sound that’s also so intense. The percussion brings most of that intensity, while the bass adds heft lower down. The guitar work provides much of the atmosphere and musical imagery while the deep vocals remind you that this here album is very much from the US. 

‘The Loathing’ picks up right where the opener left off, albeit for the momentary pause in between. It’s blisteringly fast tempo-wise yet there’s still plenty of time for Ash Thomas and Zdenka Prado to pack it full with subtle and short moments of introspection, as well as mind-bending musical expression. The continuation straight into ‘Fever Dream Litanies’ keeps the momentum level high, while the song itself flits between an illusion of mid-paced death metal and more familiar aural battery. This album is so good and I’m not even three full tracks in yet!

All eight tracks here only just stretch past the 37 minute mark, so there isn’t any time to waste on gimmicks or ponderous interludes. Neither of which are in Faithxtractor’s nature. ‘Flooded Tombs’ goes all out straight away with the nastiest off-kilter death metal you’ll hear anywhere. The instant switch between insane tempos and pensive, yet uneasy atmospherics make the song all the more engrossing. The stupidly good solos and utterly heavy ending help as well!

The scarily fast groove/thrash musicianship and tempos that kick off ‘Ethos Moribund’ dig their heels in, providing an intense backdrop to a killer death metal song filled with intricacy and melody. Speaking honestly, Faithxtractor was a band that was always on the periphery for me; however, not anymore. ‘Caveats’ presents an eerie facade during it’s intro before the duo leap back into yet more technical, maniacal death metal. 

Before you even have time to blink, you’re up to the album’s penultimate song ‘Beholden to Nightmare’ with it’s blistering percussive battery, constant metallic guitar mastery and gnarly vocals. It’s an explosion of extremity that shows no sign of relenting. Closing out Loathing & the Noose with ‘Cerecloth Vision Veil’ is a masterstroke as Faithxtractor pivot from frenetic up-tempo death metal to something that’s more mid-paced and old-school sounding (at least for a time). It’s not too long before everything’s turned up to 11 once again, mixing tempos and ultimately ending on the highest of highs.

This album is a revelation. Dark and brutal enough to satisfy extreme metal’s hardest of junkies while having the melody and lightness (if that’s the right term) to be able to gather in new listeners, who’re maybe taking their first steps into heavier realms. Brilliant!

You can stream and purchase the album on all formats via bandcamp below:-

You can also purchase physical copies from Redefining Darkness Records here - https://www.redefiningdarkness.com

Faithxtractor - https://www.facebook.com/Faithxtractor

Redefining Darkness Records - https://www.facebook.com/redefiningdarkness

Sulfur - La démone Premiere

In just over ten days time, Canadian label Tomb Tree will be releasing a brand new split tape featuring UK emoviolence bands Sulfur and Martin Randal Travel (who have sadly called it a day according to their Instagram page). I am thrilled to be able to premiere Sulfur's track 'La démone'. I can't tell you how excited I am about the fact that two new-ish UK bands are being released by a label halfway across the world, who in turn are championing them across the whole damn world!

Before I post the fresh YouTube stream of the song (courtesy of Tomb Tree/ZBR), here are some words about the song from Sulfur:-

'La démone was the first time we'd sat down and written a slow burner of a song so I decided I wanted to make the lyrics hit as much as possible. Written about my struggle with bulimia, it's almost a chronological walk through the most intense part of the disorder that I'd dealt with right up until the point before I really broke out of that cycle. 

Thankfully, a song we'd put that much work into could go on a split with some of the people who helped us get involved in the wider UK emo scene. Kush especially has done so much work to help grow the scene and allow newer bands to make their way around the country.'

Without any more delay, here's 'La démone' in it's violent, radiant glory:-

As for the tapes themselves; here's a picture of the lovely Primary swirl variant /20:-

Sulfur Instagram - @sulfur.hc

Martin Randal Travel Instagram - @martinrandaltravel

Tape copies will be available for purchase on February 24th via Tomb Tree here - http://www.zegemabeachrecords.com/tomb-tree-tapes and here - https://zbrusa.com/collections/tapes.

Tomb Tree - https://www.facebook.com/tombtreetapes

Yarostan/Aleska - Split 2xLP

Labels: Bad Mood Asso/Bike Punk Salamanca/Bus Stop Press/Crapoulet Records/Longrail Records/Seaside Suicide Records/Self-Released/Smart & Confused/Zegema Beach Records

Formats: Vinyl/CDr/Tape/Digital

Release Date: 04 Apr 2019

Tracklist:

1. Yarostan - Des parkings pour admirer

2. Yarostan - Nous contre nous

3. Yarostan - Effondrement

4. Yarostan - L'inertie du mouvement

5. Yarostan - Commencement

6. Aleska - (Re)commencement

7. Aleska - Indispensables

8. Aleska - Vanite Illusoire

9. Aleska - La Derniere Lueur

10. Aleska - Construire

11. Aleska - Un Enternel Recommencement

12. Aleska - Detruire

14. Aleska - Quand La Lumiere Disparait

For the first time this year I'm jumping back into my ZBR roster review series, due to focusing my attention on 2025 releases where I can. This particular split is a special one, as it combines two albums (Yarostan's Self-Titled debut and Aleska's 2nd album Construire ou detruire). ZBR made a limited run of tapes in April 2019 for this comp, while many of the labels mentioned above helped make vinyl, cdr and additional tape runs for Yarostan's album while Aleska self-released their record on LP and cdr. I'm going to write this review as if I was writing about both albums separately, to try and make things slightly easier.

Yarostan are first with their self-titled album, opening with ‘Des parkings pour admirer’. Ringing feedback leads to semi-melodic post-hardcore that’s rooted in the sound of the early 00’s, to my ears. The instrumentation is lovingly performed and the mix of both harsh, and clean vocals make it more accessible than at first it might appear. Having already reviewed the 2022 album II, as well as being the proud owner of a copy of Cinq (the 2020 five-way split), I’m familiar with the band’s newer recordings but not so much their earlier ones.

‘Nous contre nous’ is a glorious piece that builds with an extended instrumental that takes up almost the entirety of it’s first half before Yarostan’s heaviness takes over for a short while. What’s great about this song is that the heaviness doesn’t detract from it’s atmosphere (it actually adds to it) and the mathcore-esque ending gets the heart rate going.

Sometimes, sitting and just listening to music without trying to dissect it for review purposes is lovely and I’m trying to do it more this year but so far February’s been a slow month for various reasons. Listening to ‘Effondrement’ nearly brings a tear to my eye because it itself sounds so emotive. I’m also reminded that being shackled to a computer all day and then again most evenings doesn’t help either.

Yarostan’s penultimate song ‘L’inertie du mouvement’ brims with both noisy punk attitude and emotion-filled post-hardcore. It’s a song that makes use of their heavier side early on before the second half sees a retreat. Gentler instrumentation from the band is joined by additional brass tones as it reaches it’s conclusion with ambience and French spoken-word.

The grandest song of all on Yarostan’s self-titled album and indeed this split is ‘Commencement’; all twelve+ minutes of it. Aa you’d expect, it’s a slow build but one that’s filled with anticipation. It’s instrumental, moving through different passages of gentler melodic guitar and percussion, to heavier sludge-like riffs and off-kilter time-signatures later on. Again, they use spoken-word elements to dramatic effect. It finishes as it began before segueing into cinematic, yet distorted guitar noise.

The second side belongs to Aleska’s album Construire ou detruire and as if it was meant to be, it opens with ‘(re)commencement’, which acts as an intro and leads into ‘Indispensables’. It’s here that I understand why ZBR chose to put Aleska alongside Yarostan on this split. Their take on post-hardcore is very similar musically but with the addition of much more caustic screams. It’s great. There’s a slightly unnerving edge to ‘Vanite Illusoire’ thanks to it’s earthy heaviness, though that uneasy feeling is soon banished by more excellent musicianship and song-writing craft. It kind of reminds me of the twinkly emo/screamo of UK band Healing Powers.

From what seemed like an urgent demeanour from Aleska, ‘La Derniere Lueur’ changes things with a slower tempo and airwaves filled with precise drumming/guitar work that deserves your full attention. Those harsh vocals take hold later on alongside their more familiar passion and poise. ’Construire’ is as long as the song it follows, just with more of an At The Drive-In influence in places. It’s more mathy than others on the album too. Basically the culmination of this song is just top-tier post-hardcore/metal delivered in a way that sounds pretty retro, which is always fine with me.

Aleska’s urgency is back in spades on ‘Un Eternel Recommencement’, though only for a short time and for greater impact as a result, because as soon as they’ve started they too retreat slightly into a lighter mid-section that’s followed by more off-kilter trickery. Their majestic long-player comes in the form of ‘Detruire’. True to form and just like Yarostan did, Aleska provide a lovely track filled with cinematic melodies all of their own. I’m imagining at this point what it would be like if both bands just did a proper collaborative album together. It would certainly be a spectacle.

After such a journey, album closer ‘Quand la lumiere disparait’ sounds very lo-fi to the ear initially before there’s one last gasp for air from the lungs of Aleska. Joined by subtle blues/jazz tones, it still has a lot of personality as it drags you through a violent end. 

Trying to reflect on both albums individually and in terms of this split release without repeating anything I've already said is tough. There's a real affinity between both bands and it shows, especially when both albums sit so well alongside each other. Having spent all my time so far this year listening to new 2025 releases, going back in time a bit doesn't hurt, especially when the music is a flawless as it is here.

You can stream and buy the individual albums on all formats from both bands here:-

 

Note: Aleska has one copy of the ZBR split tape still available via their bandcamp page.

ZBR also has one other copy available here - https://zegemabeachrecords.bandcamp.com/album/yarostan-aleska-split-2xlp

Yarostan - https://www.facebook.com/yarostanband

Aleska - https://www.facebook.com/Aleskaband

Bad Mood Asso - https://www.facebook.com/assobadmood

Bike Punk Salamanca - https://www.facebook.com/seitanshellbikepunks

Bus Stop Press - http://busstoppress.weebly.com

Crapoulet Records - https://www.facebook.com/Crapouletrecords

Longrail Records - https://www.facebook.com/longrailrecords

Seaside Suicide Records - https://www.facebook.com/seasidesuiciderecords

Smart & Confused - https://www.facebook.com/smartandconfused666

Zegema Beach Records - https://www.facebook.com/zegemabeachrecords

Malauriu/Sinoath - Scuru/Symphony of the Scythe Split 7"

Labels: Doomentia Records

Formats: Vinyl/Digital

Release Date: 20 Jan 2025

Tracklist:

1. Malauriu - Scuru

2. Sinoath - Symphony of the Scythe

Czech extreme metal label Doomentia Records recently gathered together two bands rooted in Sicily (Italy) for a split 7" of epic proportions. Featuring one song from both Malauriu and Sinoath respectively, it's a proper nod to the old-school way of doing things. Split releases like this don't come round very often, what with the current fashion of bands shooting for collaborative albums instead. Malauriu is a duo that has been active for over a decade now (splitting time between Italy and the UK), while quintet Sinoath stretch all the way back to 1990.

Malauriu started out as a black metal band before heading in a more experimental rock/darkwave direction (according to Metal Archives) and it’s their song ‘Scuru’ that opens this split. Their sound contains all kinds of elements from ambience to orchestral organ/synths and the black metal that signalled their formation. As somebody who isn’t a huge fan of the recent dungeon synth explosion, nor symphonic metal in general, the extreme metal that forms the backbone of this song is perfect and I really appreciate the honest approach that Malauriu takes.

Sinoath have many years of recording/performing experience under their belts compared to Malauriu (who haven’t exactly wasted any time themselves) and ’Symphony of the Scythe’ is a hellish soundscape filled with raw black/death metal. It’s very European sounding as you’d expect and the addition of both brass, and classical piano textures add bombast where there was none before. The solo towards the end exhibits their musical prowess even further.

This split is executed brilliantly as it showcases two bands from the same region/country who both have their own unique interpretation of extreme metal. At first Malauriu didn’t hit me properly but their music is catchy here and it soon grew on me, while Sinoath’s old-school rawness was unexpected before being overpowered by classy instrumental layers. Sometimes, it’s easy to form expectations as long as you’re prepared for them to be shattered. Mine were here but in a very good way.

You can stream and download this split digitally below:-

Vinyl copies are also available to purchase from bandcamp above, as well as from Doomentia Records here - https://www.doomentia.com/7/.

Malauriu - https://www.facebook.com/malauriuofficial

Sinoath - https://www.facebook.com/SinoathOfficial/

Doomentia Records - https://www.facebook.com/doomentia

Pathogenic - Crowned In Corpses

Labels: Skepsis Recordings

Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital

Release Date: 07 Feb 2025

Tracklist:

1. Mass Grave Memory

2. The New Rot

3. Dead But Not At Rest

4. Exiled from the Abyss

5. Fragments

6. Crowned in Corpses

7. Drag Your Crosses

8. Silicon Regime

I decided to take a few days off recently and it has proven to be the wrong decision. My rhythm is completely out of whack, especially when it comes to writing. I've had this review queued up for about the same amount of time and I couldn't sit on it any longer.

Crowned In Corpses is the latest album from US prog death band Pathogenic and it's due for official release on February 7th via Skepsis Recordings. Pathogenic formed in 2004 and this is their third full-length to date. They have shared the stage with the likes of Suffocation, Revocation and The Faceless amongst many other, while also performing at festivals including the mighty New England Metal and Hardcore Festival along the way.

It’s prog-death time again thanks to Massachusetts quintet Pathogenic. Crowned In Corpses will be released on Friday, so this review acts as another quick heads-up on it. Opening with ‘Mass Grave Memory’, you’re greeted with dissonant guitars, off-kilter drums, creepy modern synth work and guttural vocals. It has quite a clean sound for such a heavy album, but don’t let that worry you. From what seemed like a straight-forward first salvo, ‘The New Rot’ dials up the progression a couple of notches, adding in more off-kilter bass/guitar drops and wild lead work throughout. There’s plenty of full-throttle moments in there but it’s the closing section that really hits the spot. Just when it sounds as though it’s coming to an end, Pathogenic throw in a final dramatic solo amidst the death metal backdrop.

The wholesome acoustic intro and seductive guitar build-up on ‘Dead But Not At Rest’ smacks of classic progressive heavy metal before Pathogenic’s true sound takes over once again. There’s a lot more made of the instrumentation here, though the vocals aren’t hiding away. This is a beast of an album so far. Talking of beasts, ‘Exiled From The Abyss’ is the perfect song to close out the first half of Crowned in Corpses. There’s more of a European/Scandinavian tone to it and the slightly shorter length means it has a crushing urgency too, even when the bridge section slows things briefly.

Kicking off the album’s second half with ‘Fragments’, Pathogenic take a gentler approach (if that were possible) by replacing their dissonant death metal sound with something more brooding and melodic. There’s no break in momentum either and as soon as ‘Fragments’ comes to it’s final conclusion, the album’s title-track ‘Crowned In Corpses’ takes over with barely a breath. Normal service is very much resumed too, as the careening heaviness is back in spades on what turns out to be the shortest song.

“Drag Your Corpses’ is everything you want and need this far into a record. Hard and heavy, it prepares you for the album’s curtain closer ’Silicon Regime’, which delivers a truly progressive high-bar. I’ve been putting off using this comparison up to now but I feel that Pathogenic sit absolutely perfectly alongside many past/present Willowtip bands (like Electro Quarterstaff, Wormed, Vale of Pnath etc). Maybe I’m way off but that’s how this hits me.

If you’re waiting for release day to stream/buy this then you’re gonna be in for a treat. Pathogenic have been plying their trade now for over twenty years and that experience shows. Top-tier stuff for sure!

You can stream and purchase three of the album's singles including 'Dead But Not At Rest' below:-

You can pre-order physical copies and also merch from the Skepsis Recordings store here:-

https://www.skepsisrecordings.com/collections/pathogenic

Pathogenic - https://www.facebook.com/pathogenicmetal

Skepsis Recordings - https://www.facebook.com/skepsisrecordings