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

Brickbath

I've been waiting for Mellow Harsher's follow up to their "Demo 7"" for a long, long time. It was a solid bunch of songs for sure, but were drastically improved on with MH's more recent outputs. The two songs on the "Bitter Cold Compilation", split 7" with Internal Rot, and my long awaited "Served Cold EP", solidified them as one of the most exciting grindcore bands in the Midwest. The "Served Cold EP" was very recently released by Washington D.C. based label Malokul records in a run of 500. 100 were on orange and 100 on purple, the rest on black. Malokul very generously sent me an orange and black copy for this review. 45 RPM.

I've heard these songs dozens of times on Bandcamp, and was always thoroughly satisfied with this EP. It keeps some of the roughness of the Demo's recordings, but with the clarity and precision of their more recent output. The vinyl pressing definitely highlights this. Man is it nice to hold a new, physical MH record. Like all their releases, "Served Cold EP" is a brilliant example of how to pull of herky-jerky, techy grindcore, in the right way. The vocals, riffs and brutal drumming all trade off and switch with surgical precision, but they keep it tough! There's no flashy guitar noises, or plastic and sterile sounding production. It doesn't sound like this shit is just wanking, it's earned. Mellow Harsher apply their musicianship into actually writing some fantastic, blood boiling songs! With some very well written breakdowns that thankfully avoid blatant Infest and Crossed Out worship ("Brickbath", "Stepped On"). Playing this in my room I can't help but thrash my fists around and stomp-mosh around the place. Also, probably my favorite snare drum of the year, this drummer is unstoppable.

I love the consistent, crude, colored pencil drawings that Mellow Harsher uses. They're effectively bleak and at the same time raise questions. Mainly why the Charlie Brown sweater? Anyway, Malokul gave the "Served Cold EP" a very nice glued sleeve package with a thick vinyl pressing. No insert however.

The orange vinyl is only available exclusively through the Malokul Records webstore. The purple vinyl is actually a band-only exclusive. So I might pick one up when I see them this month. Just to round everything off since I have 2 of the 3. They look beautiful.

One of the best grindcore EP's of the year. Worship Mellow Harsher.

~VII