Auditioning Gods

Fed Ash are from Syracuse, NY. Members have played in bands in the area for some time and when I heard my friend Matt who plays bass was starting a new project I was excited, but I had no idea what kind of sound this project would have. Grief as a Prison takes many forms and with its twists keeps you engaged, wondering what will come next. Its 8 songs go through the painstaking process of loss, and the emotions and feelings that accompany it.                                            

The production is murky but you can hear most of the elements in the recordings clearly enough. The quality could be better but for what the band is trying to convey it fits perfectly. The best way to describe the songs is a combination of grind and sludge-y hardcore with tinges of black metal tossed in occasionally. The songs vary in sound from track to track though, with songs like Disconnect, Anger, and Depression focus more on a sludge sound than grind, but songs like Bargaining and Denial have a more grindcore song structure. The vocals are screamed but in a sludge sense, not high pitched but not rough-and-tough sounding. The drumming is solid as well, the blasts are fast and never lose intensity.

Between the music there is samples that are undecipherable as to what is being said as well as some harsh noise. It creates an eerie mood as the sounds are unsettling and they fit very well with the production the tracks have. The only issue with the whole release is that sometimes the transitions can sound a bit sloppy. Everything else matches up well and creates a unique sound that can’t be pinpointed to being one influence, yet it doesn’t sound like a bunch of mismatching riffs just thrown together. This is a fantastic first release from the band and I am excited for what is going to come next from them. The EP is available on tape from the band via bandcamp, its a beautiful gray/black spread and fits the release. You can purchase and stream the release here.

~Tyler Hammer

Sewer//Geyser

Leading up to the Napalm Death is Dead/Unexamine/Penis Geyser tour that happened in the mid-USA this year, Mikeal from Penis Geyser posted a picture of some naked 7" records. What could this be? I asked myself, eager for the answer because I knew it would objectively be awesome. Low and behold (and thanks to some tips from friends) I found out it was a new Penis Geyser split from Smash Music! The other band, Sewer System, I was unfamiliar with at the time but once I learned it was a solo project of Charlie from Sissy Spacek, my need to obtain it doubled. I was thankfully able to pick it up from Charlie himself when my band got to be on a show with SS. Not sure how many of these were made, they were most likely all pressed on black vinyl. 33 RPM.

Penis Geyser's side is a crazy spewing of violent musical nonsense, thankfully always and forever. Curiously titled "1st Rehearsal Demo", even though it says it was was recorded throughout 2017. It definitely sounds like the Brad/Mikeal duo line-up, particularly from the vocal delivery. Some in the moment singy vocals open the side before the wonderful, cassette fidelity bursts of crashing symbols and quick drum hits, out of tune guitar noise and aggressive vocals. There's several moments where the blasting cuts out and the guys just sort of fuck around, which breaks up the intensity but keeps that "fuck music" etho's alive and kicking. Great stuff, it's always good to hear new stuff from this band.

The Sewer System side is fucking great too! This is that totally raw, gross and dirty, short track worshipping noisecore that I need in my life. Kinda goregrindy vocals here, genuinely beastly and throaty sounding. I'm not sure if there's actual string instruments used here or just noise gear. Charlie does everything as far as I know, except for a few extra vocals that were supplied by some other people according to the (very hard to read) info in the sleeve. Sharp stick clicks and snare hits begin every short track, with a crunchy, low-end rumble underneath furious and powerful blast beats. Each small track more or less sounds the same, and the whole side is broken up to about 7 parts, each part containing a block of tracks. The intensity here is very attention grabbing, I'll definitely be on the look out for more Sewer System releases from now on. 

My coworkers thought that the cover of this split was hilarious, since it's just a picture of John Coltrane with a nuclear blast in the foreground. John Coltrane's the shit, so thumbs up there. The collage art here is pretty sick, it sets an interesting vibe that's for sure. The sleeve is one of those matchbook-style things, with the extra little flab on the end. 

If you're into noisecore you already know that you need this, this whole review is pretty redundant. 

~VII

Penis Geyser's Two Minute Tape

I was happy to be able to score some sweet additions to the Penis Geyser/Smash Music label collection the past couple of months. Penis Geyser obviously being a very loved band on this blog. One of the gold standards for American noisecore in my own opinion. This is a tape I always wanted to hear, mainly from friends talking about it and just knowing how short it was. This is the self-titled, C2 cassette they did on Smash Music, not sure how many copies were made.

Unsurprisingly, this tape fucking rules! Recorded in 2011, but released three years later according to the info in the Jcard, most likely with the trio line-up. Now what is surprising actually, is how good this recording actually sounds. Like, it sounds like they actually used more than one mic in a room, and recorded different instruments separately. This is all speculation of course, but the recording is remarkably crisp. I think I actually let out an audible "woah" when the tape started playing.

Penis Geyer's trademark noise explosions maintain their strengths here. The recording is cut up and spliced together in a very rapid pace to help it work with the very short run time, which I love. It's a super great listen, all two whole minutes of it. Maybe some of my favorite PG material I've heard. It's a great tape to play in your auto-reverse tape deck and just let spin and spin.

I'm not sure who did this great collage work, but it looks like something Colton/PMS would whip up. Pretty sure this is the same image that appears on one of their shirts that I own.

I've seen this pop up in a few distro's lately actually, so if you see one I recommend buying it. Don't be scared to pay five bucks for a two minute tape.

~VII

Cadaverlanche

I've been picking up basically every release that Sulfuric Cautery is on these days. Definitely the grind band that is impressing and exciting me the most as of late. They keep putting out new shit about as fast as their blast beasts with no slowing down, which is all fine by me. This particular tape was put out on the bands own labels, Blast Addict and Feel Good Grind. A live recording, squishily called "Frozen Daiqueri In The Urethra Of Ralph Ferrari", not sure how limited it is.

This tape has since sold out from the label, and it honestly is not something I would call a mandatory release to get from Sulfuric Cautery. If you've watched the video on Youtube of them playing St. Vitus in NYC, then you've heard this. It is however, a fantastic performance, and a good way to hear some of these tracks from the Incinerated and Take That Vile Fiend splits with a much cleaner recording. It's mindblowing to me how everyone in the band can keep up a set this fast. It's a pretty long show too, almost 20 minutes! I really wanted to make it to this show too, I can't remember what the reason was for me not being able to attend. It was a stupidly stacked show, and it's always good to see Ralph down in the city. To this day, I have still not seen Sulfuric Cautery, but this recording definitely shows that they can bring it live. As if there was any doubt of that.

I think there's a couple different cover variations for this. One that is a bit more gory. The tape 

sounds awesome, the soundboard mix is very good and it's nice to hear some more of the riffs pop out more. The Jcard is also printed on a nice sturdy cardstock.

I'll finally be able to see these guys play at Rapid Decay fest in Binghamton, NY in October. Couldn't be more excited!

~VII