Disgusting Taste

I have not been very good at keeping up with my beloved Archagathus very well this year. Truly, the pains of being an avid collector of an active-as-fuck band like the this are heavy. And the Prince of Mince has definitely not been slowing down. They released the brutal, gore worshipping full length "Dehumanizer" last year, and the usual spree of crucial splits with bands like Sordo, Lt. Dan, Sete Star Sept, and Carcass Grinder. Sadly, many of these are still not in my possession, and I mourn that every day. However, one split I was very happy to recently land is the incredible split 7" with Self Deconstruction from Japan. Released on Agromosh Records this year in a run of 1000 copies.

This split seems to be unanimously received as one of the best things that Archagathus have done recently. I do definitely place myself in that club of opinion, to me one of the best group of songs they've done since "Canadian Horse". Opening shit up with that perfect and notorious cover of Dahmer's "Thomas Hamilton". Absolutely nailing it with an attention grabbing drum intro and the right amount of shameless worship of the band they're honoring. Dahmer's influence is all over this side, most notably in the layered vocals (which are the bomb btw), and repetitive and consistent riffing styles song-for-song. Archagathus's more recent evolution into a mincegore band often doesn't always leave me satisfied, but they really nailed it on this one. Throwing in a lot more catchy riffs, like on the closer "Government Influenza", which to me is an excellent blend of the gore side, and the fun punk as fuck mince of their earlier works. Goddamn I love this band.

Strangely enough, I really don't see many people mention Self Deconstruction's side when they're talking about this split. Which is really unfortunate, because I feel like that definitely would detract people from checking this band out. I initially wasn't that motivated to turn the record over and hear their side, cause I didn't hear any real hype. Holy crap though, Self Deconstruction's offering is just insanity! Admittedly, a pretty weird band to share a split with Archagathus, as their approach to writing grind is almost night and day. If you didn't know this band was from Japan, you'd probably figure it out pretty quick from just a few seconds of their side. Metallic, semi-free, chaotic and dissonant spazzcore is what they bring, with a huge thrashcore influence. Distinctly over-the-top and unhinged song writing, bouncing from riff to riff at the speed of light, but still sounding tight and professional. I was really pleasantly surprised with this band, and I'll definitely be on the lookout for them in the future.

Standard packaging on here, with all the proper info and credits on the inside. All copies are on this purpley, marble vinyl. Fun fact: Archagathus side plays at 33 RPM and SD's plays at 45 RPM. Don't let that fool ya.

There's 1,000 copies of this, so you should have no problem finding one. Buy or forever pose.

~VII

Sedem Minut Strachu Promo 2015

The amazingly awesome Sedem Minut Strachu have been one of my favorite musical crushes this year, but I've sadly been unable to collect almost any of their discography. Hopefully soon that will be fixed soon when I get my online ordering back on track, and I'll have a lot more interesting things to post. But, the noisecore God's gifted me with the perfect tape for me right now. This is a promo/compilation tape that Noise Not War Records put out a month or so ago. Limited to 100 copies on clear tapes. 

I guess this was mainly meant to be sold/given out for their stint at Obscene Extreme Fest this year. Rado, one of the vocalists/noise makers in $mS very generously sent this tape from the leftovers. For any beginner to Sedem Minut Strachu, this tape is a perfect entry into a large chunk of their recordings. Mostly sticking to records and tapes put out in the past year. Like the "Overmassonanizationated Twist" 5" and Percy Jerk-Off split 7" lathes, and the split with Castration Rite. All of them are kicking the shit out of everything. Consistent, fantastic, no-fi, aggressive recordings with monster drums that I've played over and over many times in the past. There are also pre-released sides for upcoming splits with Paranoia, Noiseattack, and a split lathe with Deche Charge (!!). The later being basement-quality, bass rumble attack. A fittingly old-school sound and homage and another complete disregard for trying to create anything musical. I love it so much.

I dig the very minimal layout on the tape. it looks like a real deal, well, promotional item. The 7MON worshiping logo is so shameless, it looks so good. I think there actually is a Sedem Minut Strachu/Seven Minutes Of Nausea split coming out sometime, wouldn't that be something? Sadly, no hints of that are on this tape. Or the splits with De Blenders and PTAO, which are some of my personal favorite SMS recording. Oh well. Noise Not War did a very good job with the dubbing, thankfully. 

I cannot wait to hear everything else this band makes in the future. 

~VII

Ausländer

The "Window Hammer" 7" was one of the first grindcore-style Sissy Spacek records I really got into, even before "Contretemps". It was released last year by super-noise label Chondritic Sound, but avoided being in my possession until a few weeks ago when I spent way to much money at the SS merch table. Limited to 313 copies, all on black vinyl, 45 RPM. My copy came with the bonus DVD-r which I'll get to later.

The A-side consists of all nine tracks of "Window Hammer" that I was familiar with until getting this record. Yet another very focused and visceral take on stripped down noisecore/grindcore. This session featuring the trio line-up of Corydon, Mumma and Wiese. Loosing the guitar noise and going for more stand-alone bass riffage. Brief stick clicks are the only break between songs before all three members immediately snap into attack mode. Everything on here is tight, do not be lead to believe otherwise from the lo-fi recording and lack of song writing variation. What this group does with only blast beats and bass is very impressive. You can tell a lot of attention was put on the different variations of blasts and cymbal hits to make these songs still flow as, well, songs. Instead of just taking the easy microsong/noise burst approach. Fun fact, Joe Preston of Thrones/Melvins fame supplies some back up vocals on a couple tracks.


The B-side was a new listening experience to me, consisting of a single track entitled "Seven Dwarfs". As you could probably guess, this is another collage/cut up piece, created by the Mumma/Wiese duo line-up. If you've heard any of this line-ups work, like the "Brath" full length, you'll feel immediately familiar with the mayhem on here. Consistently harsh and blurred throughout it's whole run-time, leaning towards more of a raw noisecore style. Buried drum hits and vocals fight against blaring junk distortion and bass fuzz. It's a chaotic mess, I dug it a lot. Very similar to something that would be on their first "S/T" full length, or Charlie Mumma's other noisecore band Surplus Killing.

"Window Hammer" comes packaged in a standard fold-over, double sided sleeve. Again, no lyrics or insert of any kind. I do really wish I could read some of the lyrics. I've always been curious what Corydon is yelling about.

My copy also came with this bonus DVD-r, which contains a couple live concerts from the band during the "Contretemps" era. Most of the footage is very intimate, claustrophobic. Lots of close-ups of the band and crowd, with some extra spliced in footage of the band shooting guns, and recording a concreté piece with Smegma (I believe). The sound quality is tastefully overblown, it definitely fits the footage. I'd say it's worth trying to find a copy with the DVD, though I'm not sure how many of these were made.

Definitely another essential piece of the Sissy Spacek catalog, and thankfully this is still pretty easy to find. Don't sleep.

~VII