Friday, 11 January 2019

Neonderthal Death - Neonderthal (Nightmare begins) 7"


Labels: Ektro Records
Formats: Vinyl/Digital
Release Date: 04 Jan 2019

Tracklist: 

1. Neonderthal (Nightmare Begins)
2. Skeletal Remains

The latter half of 2018 was the first time I had heard of a genre called synthwave. I'd always considered synths to be the preserve of ambient black metal and symphonic metal, but when a promo dropped into my inbox for Swedish death metal/synth duo Neonderthal Death, I was a little intrigued. The duo features mysterious characters that go by the monikers Morbid and Angel (that\s probably where the death metal comes in) and they've combined the two styles on this, their debut 7", which was released by Finnish label Ektro Record on 4th January. What horrors lie within!

I’ll be honest with you, I’ve not caught the synthwave bug yet and while I’ve featured the 100% synth-based Master Boot Record recently (who are brilliant), I’m not fully sold on it. Maybe the added death metal element will help. The title-track Neonderthal (Nightmare Begins) is a strange beast with its synthesised drums and effects sitting alongside the harsh growls. I was expecting the guitar riffs to be higher in the mix but I guess that’s not the point with this. 

Second song Skeletal Brain is a bizarre beast with a sound akin to the original Game Boy game soundtracks. The mix of both harsh and whispered vocals make it more palatable for those not comfortable with death metal but it all feels a bit sterile to me. Neonderthal Death is definitely doing something new in terms extreme metal terms and I guess being more extreme and less synth isn’t going to be the duo’s MO. 

I suppose the metal and indeed extreme metal is always going to limited when it comes to progression and variation, given the confines on the traditional drum/guitar/bass/vocal formula. Neonderthal Death will not be for everyone, but the duo is pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable within  extreme metal while also bringing it to the eats of a whew new fan base, which has to be applauded.

You can stream the title-track via Ektro's soundcloud page below:-


 As I write this there is no obvious online presence from the duo themselves.


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Tuesday, 8 January 2019

Hollow Leg - Civilizations


Labels: Argonauta Records
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release Date: 25 Jan 2019

Tracklist:

1. Litmus
2. Dirt Womb
3. Mountains Of Stone
4. Black Moon
5. Hunter And The Hunted
6. Intro
7. Chimera
8. Akasha
9. Exodus

Floridian sludge/doom band Hollow Leg has been around for over a decade now and will be releasing their fourth full-length "Civilizations" via Argonauta Records on January 25th. They're not newbies anymore and are currently pumping an album every two years, which is more than many pop stars and so called "stadium" rock bands. They've learnt a fair bit along the road too, having shared stages with the likes of Black Tusk and Mastodon amongst many others. This new album should prove to be their most complete to date.

If your anticipation is getting the better of you it’ll only get worse as album opener Litmus builds, slowly. It’s wall of drums, feedback and riffs is certainly a sight for sore ears. The groove and stoner elements are all too obvious (in a good way) and the semi-clean vocals are perfectly set against the backdrop of heaviness. Hollow Leg goes from lumbering sludge to driving and heavy noise-rock on Dirt Womb. The grooves are still their and it is somewhat mid-pace but it does the job bloody well. There’s a crossover point for bands like this where they’re either too heavy for the majority or not heavy enough. Thankfully, Hollow legs sits slap back in the middle (in my opinion).

After those two initial heavyweights, Hollow Leg reverts to a more urgent stance on the fantastically titled Mountains Of Stone. Other layers are added to the band’s sound here with some full-on raging screams as well as subtle atmosphere thanks some great post-metal riffs. Black Moon is a more laid-back song, with no crunching guitar, cleaner singing and more of that atmosphere I was talking about before. Clearly, there’s plenty of room for variation and proper song-writing in this band’s repertoire.

I read somewhere that Hollow Leg’s influences include the likes of Faith No More and hearing Hunter And The Hunted, I’m not surprised. The grunge/rock flowing through it is great and once again it’s a sound that really compliments the album. Bizarrely, track six on “Civlizations” is called Intro and at first I thought it might have been a mistake in the press kit i received, but after checking a couple of other sources, it seems it wasn’t. That can only mean one thing, that Hollow Leg obviously has a bit of sense of humour and is quite happy to fool the music press. I’m okay with this because the song’s pretty damn good.

Chimera takes things back in a striding direction thanks to driving tempos and a huge amount of forward momentum. There’s forceful nature to the song that paints it out as an album standout.  Following Chimera is difficult but with penultimate song Akasha, Hollow Legs pulls out another barrage of heaviness that made the beginning of the album so impactful. Closing “Civilizations” out with one final mammoth-like blow, Exodus takes you back to where you started and continually smashes you abut the face with thunderous riffs of sludge/doom, which make it even harder to believe that this band is really from Florida!

You can stream the single Hunter And The Hunted via the Argonauta Records soundcloud page below:



Keep an eye out for vinyl/CD pre-orders at Argonauta Records here - http://www.argonautarecords.com/

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Monday, 7 January 2019

2018 End-Of-Year-List - Brandon Kellum (American Standards)


2019 may be underway and the holidays are by now a distant memory, so hears a 2018 EOY list from my good friends Brandon Kellum. Brandon is the vocalist of the chaotic hardcore/noise punk band American Standards from Phoenix, Arizona. He picks his favourite new albums released in 2018 below. If you’re a fan of chaotic, mathy and dissonant noise, these are bands you’ll want to keep on your radar.

TOP 25 FULL LENGTH LPs (in no particular order)

1. Greyhaven - Empty Black
Label: Equal Vision
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release Date: 16 Mar 2018



2. Birds In Row - We Already Lost The World
Label: Deathwish inc
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Tape/Digital
Release Date: 13 Jul 2018




https://www.wearebirdsinrow.com/
https://www.facebook.com/birdsinrow/

3. Fucked Up - Dose Your Dreams
Labels: Merge Records
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release Date: 05 Oct 2018





4. Limbs - Father's Son
Labels: UNFD
Formats: CD/Digital
Release Date: 27 Apr 2018





5. Vein - Errorzone
Labels: Closed Casket Activities
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release Date: 22 Jun 2018



https://www.facebook.com/veinma/

6. Daughters - You Won’t Get What You Want
Labels: Ipecac Recordings
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release Date: 26 Oct 2018




https://www.facebook.com/daughtersmusic/

7. Rolo Tomassi - Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It
Labels: Holy Roar Records
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release Date: 02 Mar 2018





8. The Armed - Only Love
Labels: No Rest Until Ruin/Throatruiner Records
Formats: Vinyl/Digital
Release Date: 27 Apr 2018





9. Ken Mode - Loved
Labels: New Damage Records/Season Of Mist
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release Date: 31 Aug 2018





10. Turnstile - Time And Space
Labels: Roadrunner Records
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release Date: 24 Feb 2018





11. Black Matter Device - Modern Frenetics 
Labels: Self-Released
Formats: CD/Digital
Release Date: 06 Apr 2018





12. Palm Reader - Braille
Labels: Silent Cult Records
Formats: Vinyl/Digital
Release Date: 06 Apr 2018


https://silentcult.tmstor.es
https://www.facebook.com/wearepalmreader/

13. MouthBreather - Dollmeat
Labels: Self-Released
Formats: Digital
Release Date: 06 Jul 2018





14. Kaonashi - Why Did You Do It
Labels: Get This Right Records/Self-Released
Formats: CD/Digital
Release Date: 23 Nov 2018





15. Coilguns - Millennials
Labels: Hummus Records
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release Date: 23 Mar 2018





16. 156/Silence - Undercover Scumbag
Labels: Innerstrength Records
Formats: CD/Digital
Release Date: 14 Sep 2018





17. Cult Leader - A Patient Man
Labels: Daymare Recordings/Deathwish Inc
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Tape/Digital
Release Date: 09 Nov 2018





18. Cancer Bats - The Spark That Moves
Labels: Bat Skull Records/New Damage Records
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release Date: 20 Apr 2018





19. Lower Automation - Shoebox Companion
Labels: Self-Released
Formats: CD/Digital
Release Date: 27 Jul 2018





20. Faus - Apestate
Labels: Blackhouse Records
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release Date: 04 May 2018





21. Frontierer - Unloved
Labels: Self-Released
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release: 27 Jul 2018





22. Snakehound - Imitation Crown
Labels: Self-Released
Formats: CD/Digital
Release Date: 01 Jun 2018





23. Zapruder - S/T
Labels: Apathia Records
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release Date: 23 Nov 2018





24. NoiSays - Self Titled
Labels: Dark Trail Records/Self-Released
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release Date: 17 Oct 2018





25. Old Wounds - Glow
Labels: Good Fight Music
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release Date: 09 Nov 2018





5 Notable EPs/Splits

1. The Threats - Saboteur
Labels: Self-Released
Formats: Vinyl(Pre-Order)/Digital
Release Date: 12 Oct 2018





2. Converge - Beautiful Ruin
Labels: Deathwish Inc/Self-Released
Formats: Vinyl/Digital
Release Date: 29 Jun 2018





3. Fero Lux - Cheap Funeral For Me
Labels: Self-Released
Formats: Tape/Digital
Release Date: 01 Oct 2018





4. Arms/Seizures - Split
Labels: Dark Trial Records
Formats: Vinyl/Digital
Release Date: 02 May 2018





5. Pressure Cracks - S/T EP
Labels: War Against Records
Formats: Vinyl/Digital
Release Date: 25 May 2018





American Standards’ recent release “Weep” is available on iTunes, Bandcamp, and Spotify. The band will be premiering a new single titled “Phantom Limb” in January 2019 with a US tour to follow.

Thanks go to Brandon for taking the time to put this list together. I'll have another two lists up by the end of January. 

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Sunday, 6 January 2019

(The True) Veiled - In Blinding Presence


Labels: Into Endless Chaos Records
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Tape/Digital
Release Date: 07 Jan 2019

Tracklist:

1. Glaring Brume
2. Triunity
3. The Healing Atter
4. Steps
5. Saintly Aisles
6. Selfchasm
7. Bringer Of Lambency

2018 was dominated by two of extreme metal's most productive sub-genres, death metal and black metal. Focusing on black metal, there was mainstream album from Deafheaven, Marduk and Watain that garnered a lot of attention. Below that bands including Falls Of Rauros, Panopticon and UADA played to ever increasing crowds and both European and UK black metal grew with labels including Avantgarde Music (and sub-label Flowing Downwards), Blackwood Productions and Into Endless Chaos Records releasing lots of underground bands of varying strains. It's the latter, Into Endless Chaos Records that I'm focusing on here as they prepare for the release (tomorrow) of the debut full-length from Germany's (The True) Veiled. "In Blinding Presence" follows on from the mysterious entity's debut 7", which was released last year.

As with much of the black metal I’ve mentioned in my opening paragraph, Veiled being with a short ambient track called Glaring Brume, which is starkly haunting and cold. No sooner has it fallen silent when the noisy metallic ferocity of Triunity springs forth. Its pummelling percussion and driving riffs are set against an orchestral melody and tortured screams/shrieks. Veiled definitely writes and delivers some very rhythmic and (dare I say it) catchy black metal. The Healing Atter, while being shorter, is full of musicality. That and the production make it better too. It’s too easy for bands to settle into the whole noise, lo-fi bedroom project sound, which doesn’t happen here.

That being said, it’s by no means an easy-listening record and Steps is probably one of the blackest songs on “In Blinding Presence”. The vocals are seemingly delivered at random while the instrumentation is off-kilter and jarring, but it all fits together. The riffs at the beginning of Saintly Aisles remain throughout the song, sitting underneath the band’s wall of extremity and gives an alternative edge (if that doesn’t sound too pretentious) to what is already a chaotic beast. What’s also surprising is the amount of music that Veiled can fit in to the song, which is over in under four-and-a-half-minutes. I hear elements of some of the Black Twilight Circle band’s within it too. 

Selfchasm goes by without fuss and in the blink of an eye. It’s another angular demonic hymn that forces itself into the deepest parts of your brain and buries itself. It retains some of those catchy elements from earlier on in the album but its maddening edge of all too obvious. Bringing the album to a close is the lengthy, twisted Bringer Of Lambency, It’s progressive nature and use of repeated structures only reinforce how creative and scary Veiled is as a band. The music ends abruptly leading to an outro as haunting as Glaring Brume at the beginning, though the female singing here is kind of comforting given what you’ve just been through. Judging by this record, we’re in for a truly frightening year of black metal.

You can stream both The Healing Atter and Selfchasm via Veiled's bandcamp page, where the album is available for digital pre-order:-



Physical copies can be ordered from Into Endless Chaos Records here - https://intoendlesschaos.de/

Into Endless Chaos Records - https://www.facebook.com/IntoEndlessChaos/
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Thursday, 3 January 2019

The Mound Builders - The Mound Builders


Labels: Failure Records & Tapes
Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital
Release Date: 18 Jan 2019

Tracklist:

1. Torchbearer
2. Hair Of The Dogma
3. Separated From Youth
4. Acid Slugs
5. Star City Massacre
6. Regolith
7. Broken Pillars
8. Vanished Frontier

It's time for the first taste of new sludge in 2019, coming courtesy of The Mound Builders, who ply their trade in the Midwestern US city of Lafayette, Indiana. This heavy quartet has been playing sludge and metal since 2009 and their self-titled second album comes a whole seven years after their debut "Strangers In A Strange Land". They've been letting their music grow and this is the result. They'll be supporting it's release by heading out for various dates across Indiana in mid-January and February. 

Distilling all that’s great about the UK doom/sludge scene and mixing it with the chops of their own US genre forefathers, The Mound Builders present groove-laden riffs, varied tempos and harshly shrieked vocals on album opener Torchbearer. It’s obvious how much they love sludge here and reading about the bands that influence them, it’s easy to understand why. Their rock chops ain’t bad either and that’s what gives them extra personality. Sludge is always best when it’s delivered with classy lead-guitar, which is here in spades. Talking of varied tempos, Hair Of The Dogma starts with a thrashing intro and that pace only adds to the urgency of the song, which barely reaches three-minutes and is in stark contrast to the opener. The Mound Builders don’t just settle into a slow slog, they actually take their music in different directions, which can only be good for the listener. 

The closest comparisons musically I can make would be Crowbar and Electric Wizard; however, that’s not to say the TMB are mere copyists. Separated From Youth borrows from those bands but the higher-pitched shrieks of vocalist Jim Voelz point to something more unhinged. Acid Slugs is the perfect name for a stoner band, though it would probably be too predictable. Instead, it’s the name of a song here and if slow is what you’re looking then you’ve found it. Hypnotic in delivery and a little bleak in atmosphere during its first half, TMB pick up the pace in the second with the help of some punk rock percussion flourishes. 

The thrash is strong again in Star City Massacre, which leads you into the second half of the record with neck-snapping metal and gang-vox. It’s still sludge-filled but it rages from start to finish and it’s over before you know it. Throw in another great solo and you’ve got yourself a winner! Regolith conjures the sense of urgency once again and there’s no hiding this time. The addition of subtle semi-clean vocals is a nice touch, though they are very subtle and don’t detract from TMB’s whirlwind at all. The whole band is well in their stride here and clearly enjoying spewing out these sludgy tunes. 

Penultimate behemoth Broken Pillars sees the band going back to their slower roots again. As with the record, the bass work of Brian Boszor and the guitar of Robert Ryan Strawsma is filled with low-end heft while Jason Brookhart’s drumming keeps everything steamrolling on. Album closer Vanished Frontier, like Torchbearer at the beginning, is another long one and it will remind you of a certain troupe of Cowboys from Hell. It ends the album on an ever slowing note that’s actually quite reassuring, considering everything that came before it. The Mound Builders aren’t reinventing sludge  but they are making sure it’s enjoyable and listenable. To me, there’s no better music than that. Good work!


The full record is streaming on Youtube here prior to it's release https://www.youtube.com/watch.

The record can be pre-ordered on CD and vinyl here - https://failurerecordstapes.bigcartel.com

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