Bee Magnet

I fucking love Post Natal Drip, I think they bring a certain kind of whimsy and a more refreshing musical freeness to their particular style of noisecore. They've been around for a couple years, and unsurprisingly have already created a girthy discography. I was lucky enough to do a split with these fine lads, but since they are from Canada, getting their tapes into my hands has been kind of a difficult feat. Thankfully, earlier in the year I was able to score the first two tapes they ever put out! This is the 1st demo, released in a hand numbered run of 80 copies.

Every song on this tape was written and recorded on the spot, and the freeness and general drunk and sloppy charms are there in full effect. This is noisecore made by dudes who love jazz and outsider music as much as brutal grindcore. There's definitely more riffs than just detuned bass noise, and the tone is super brittle and fuzzy with a psyched out, garage rock flavor. The vocals are incredible, and completely dominant in the mix. Honestly, considering the buffoonery of the lyrics and delivery there's a lot more akin to bands like Drunks With Guns, Sockeye and Fossil Fuel than say, 7MON. I may have lost some people with that comparison, which is fair. I can listen to it on repeat though.

Post Natal Drip have always had some pretty killer artwork. I remember when I first saw this cover art with that logo and it just looked so rad! It looks like some sort of sci-fi thrash/death metal aesthetic, I really love it. My copy came on a green tape and included a double sided lyric sheet.

So yeah, good luck finding this tape, but if you spot and PND shit anywhere I'd say pick it up and get lifted.

~VII

Squatter Water

I got to see Disease twice last year in Portland and Seattle when I was on tour. Bruh, lemme tell you, they are a band to look out for this year. A duo from Seattle, WA featuring Jim from Acid Feast/Exogorth and more. Tremendously nice people who know how to lay down true fucking gory and fun as hell grindcore!!!! Both nights they essentially played this whole demo cassette, their only release thus far. It was definitely a highlight of that whole tour for sure. Released in a run of 200 tapes by Nihilistic Despair, Snowbunny Records, and Rain City Grindcore.

Every once and a while a band comes along that I can only describe as "pure fucking grindcore", cutting right to the chase and just being fast, brutal and fun all at the same time. This demo, which contains a pretty hefty 20 tracks on it, has all the things I want in a great, old-school influenced grindcore tape. The riffs, all of them, are so on point; keeping everything familiar enough but at the same time incorporating a ton of influences from other grind styles. Seamlessly blending in stomping mince riffs, chromatic goregrind tremolo picking, fist-thrashing punky sections, and more. The lack of a bass player isn't all that noticeable, everything is recorded pretty well and EQ'ed enough to make it sound full. The vocals are cavernous and deep, both members supplying their own highs and lows. They also use a lot of very fun and catchy stops and starts, one of my very favorite song writing touches. Each track has it's own life, giving each song just enough variation to make the whole thing an enjoyable listen front to back, but not going "experimental", if you will. I love it all!!!

Even before I saw Disease perform the first night, I saw their tape on the merch table and it just screamed "buy me". This tape looks exactly how a good grindcore/death metal demo should look. Great illustrations and a drippy, eye catching logo, I knew I was gonna be into it. The tape dub sounds super excellent as well, everyone did a real good job.

My version also came with a dope mini-poster of the artwork. I'm not sure if every label's editions has this. I'm not entirely sure which label made this one actually..

If you see this demo I'd highly suggest picking it up before it's gone forever. Buy or die, hopefully they do a 7" soon.

~VII

Cutdown

Last year you might remember me posting about a lil' grind band from Connecticut called Gowl. Their infamous 7" EP, "BLURRR" took my heart and ears captive and was my favorite grindcore EP of 2014. It was a chaotic, suffocating, distorted storm of music. Full of attention grabbing riffs, grooves, and some incredibly fast drumming. "BLURRR" was all around wonderful, and the world has sat patiently ever since waiting for their first full length which was teased about. Before that however, Gowl has given us this new demo tape called "Cutdown". Containing some first drafts of songs from the full-length 10". Which was announced would be handled by Mass Deadening and Grindfather Productions. My copy was generously supplied by the band for a review. Limited to 50 copies on orange tapes. Same songs on each side.

Hopefully this tape doesn't mean that the album will be pushed back a lot longer (though with the overflow at the pressing plants currently I don't doubt it), as this tape supplies a lot of mysteries. No track listing or titles are present anywhere on the tape or online. From what I can tell there are nine songs on here, in just under 10 minutes. Gowl's usual blend of chunky death metal riffs with noisegrind's atonal chaos and frenzied hyberblast tempos still remains, and their songwriting has progressed into longer songs, and even more blasting. Seth's deep roar is more up front and clear in the mix then most previous efforts, riding their own unique pattern.
The sound of the recording really does nothing to compliment these songs however. I know it's a demo, and I certainly am not put off by a raw recording. But this kind of roughness just makes everything sound flaccid. Nothing is loud or overblown and mean. And that being the case, a lot of what's on this tape kind of goes in one ear and out the other for me. Unlike "BLURRR", a lot of the riffs don't have that aggressive punch or addictiveness that rough recordings can give music. It also doesn't help that my copy has a dub that is a little iffy. The cymbal hits all have this flanged/washed sound that's a bit distracting. I do hear parts and songs that I know would sound great with a better recording, so I'm not applying a lot of judgement on the 10" based on the sound of this tape. I do certainly hope it improves though.

Fantastic collage art again from Seth.

You can listen to a much better sounding version of this demo right HERE, and also find out how to write the band to order a tape. Bring on that 10"!

~VII

Chasm

With the latest couple of releases Disciples Of Christ have put out, they've rocketed their way into being one of my top American grindcore bands. I never get sick of spinning the modern classic split 12" with Triac. And last years "Decomposition Fantasy" was one of my favorite EP's of that year. Progressing and perfecting their penchant for unpredictable riffs and song structures, delivered with the utmost intensity on every record. While there was no records to speak of from D.O.C. this year, their self-governed label Malokul did release a demo cassette featuring six new songs. Released way in the beginning of 2015, but only recently arriving in my possession thanks to a lovely care package from Malokul itself. I think this was mainly released as a tour exclusive, limited to 100 copies on professional cassettes.

To get right to the point, this tape is excellent. Once again D.O.C have given us some of the rawest and most disgusting grind to come out in its year. The recording is a discordant mess, with guitar and bass tones roaring and choking each other out. It's the rawest they've ever sounded since, well, their first demo I suppose. The new tracks, all listed as "Untitled", are relentless. The brutality of their best records is not lost on this one. And as performers they seem to have only gotten rougher and more in your face. The 5th, 2nd and last track are my personal favorites. Built on the perfect blend of spastic, first wave PV and pummeling, deathy grindcore. The only qualm I do have is the 3rd "Untitled" track. The build-up during the majority of the song just dragged a bit for me. The tension from Chris Moore's repetitive and accelerating drum beat was lost on me, however the blasting payoff at the end saved the track from being a total flop. Aside from the new tracks, we also get new recordings of some choice cuts from the Triac split and "Decomposition Fantasy", in their rawest form. Nolan and Tim's vocals also sound much stronger on this tape, and I think I noticed a distinct absence of vocals from Chris. Hmm

Very cool and interesting art once again graces the cover. Kinda reminds me of something Portal would have on one of their albums. The tapes sound and look great. Very tidy and minimal layout used to good effect. As they say in advertising, the program does repeat on both sides.

This tape is actually now sold out from Malokul records, but it should pop up in distro's somewhere. D.O.C. currently are working on a split with Gas Chamber and a 5" with Shitstorm, so prepare to clean up your face from the floor when those arrive.

~VII