The Mechanics of Failure

First up, I know, it has been a long time since I posted on this blog. It kind of slipped my mind for a minute there, mostly because life has been pretty good! Lots of new changes and different shifts in my life. Good excuses as to why I haven't paid attention to my vinyl/cassette review blog. However, I have gathered quite a lot of new releases over the months that I would like to talk about. Some were gifted to me, and I really need to get on those. So let's not waste time and get down to chewing the meat. I have here a brand new release. from a brand new label, Cult of Nine Records based out of Syracuse, NY. Their first release is this split/Vs. CD from two incredible bands in the USA underground. Fed Ash, also from Syracuse, and Landfill, who's main members mostly reside in the midwest. Digipack CD, actually this is the first CD review I've ever done on here!

If you're familiar with either of these bands, you know what you should be expecting. Two words: Sheer Brutality. I was so excited when I heard these two were doing a split together. I've known members of each band for a while, and hearing that there was going to be another union of Upstate NY and midwest bands was tremendous. Each band here is a fantastic representation of their to different styles of fast, heavy music. Landfill going for the straight up, blast beat infested, skeleton disintegrating grindcore. No flashes or extra splashes of technical prowess here, just in your face, relentless blasts, with the right kind of punky grooves and gory vocals too boot, stirring up the pot a bit and helping make their songs diverse. They get three to four song chunks per section, and they just shred!!

I've seen Fed Ash fine tune, and expand their sound and delivery quite a lot the past year. Nowadays they perform with three guitar players, and it's absolutely insane. They play a style of grindcore that takes influences from a swath of different genres. From sludge and doom metal, pure electronic noise, good 2000's metalcore (trust me it makes sense), and maybe even black metal. The sound they are able to conjure is something altogether sinister and crushing. The pure pain and misery of existence composed into music. This is some of their best recorded material.

The Vs. style formatting of this split works really well in my opinion. Landfill's songs go by lightning fast, completely bonkers. Fed Ash adding the finishing moves and more pain right after, it's a pretty intense listen actually.

This is the first release on Cult of Nine Records, please pick this up. I think these are two of the most promising bands around at the moment and I'm very pleased with this release.

~VII

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

Chokin' On Bones

Another Haggus split 7" post today. I've been trying to slowly catch up on all these new records that keep coming out this year. This split 7" with Heinous, an awesome gory grind band from Phoenix, AZ. was put out by a whole crew of labels (Suicide of A Species, Grindfather Productions, Fuck Your Life Records, Morbid Reality Records, and Not Kvlt Records). This is the standard black vinyl press, I couldn't find a clear vinyl copy, 33 RPM.

I'll start off with the Heinous side, which was released a little earlier than this split as an EP called "Four Under The Floor". This definitely stands as my favorite material the band has done so far. The five songs on here just straight up slap. Starting off with the devastatingly heavy track, "Chokehold", which is about as good as a first song gets. That slam part in the middle gets me every time. Heinous are an interesting band for sure; rooted in goregrind but with some war metal riffs and heavy as hell slower, more groovy moments. This is probably the recording that best conveys how great the drumming is live as well, fast and tight as hell. I also really dig the guest vocals on the 3rd track, "Dissected". At first I thought that they were trying out more non-pitch shifted, low and high vocals until I realized that it was Payson from Gimp and another person who I don't recognize. Great, great stuff, I come back to this side often.

On the flip side is Haggus, who give three tracks of fun, bouncy, gory mincecore. More songs with that earlier sound and style. Coming in hot on the opener "Septic Aroma" with a pit starting mid-paced beat and guitar leads. There's not as many blast beats as I would like overall, lots of metal-ish riffs and d-beat passages that kinda just do the job but have a little too much of a bland flavor too keep eating. But it still is hard to deny that good ol' Haggus energy every time.

Got a nice, and tidy packaging job split with both bands different art styles. That Heinous art is so great. Gimme those big, bold, high contrast B/W illustrations all day!

This split should be pretty easy to find still. Again like with all of these Haggus splits, it would rule to have the cassette version as we'll.

~VII

Garbage Gets Me Hot

I'm a big fan of the whole 4-band split thing. I suppose most people would call that a compilation and call it a day. Personally I say you gotta get up to at least 5 bands for it to reach that "compilation" level. Anyway, four bands on one tape means more bang for your gorebuxxx, and I'm always down for more hot garbage sounds. This tape that Ben put out on the bodacious Craniophagus Parasiticus Records I've been after for a minute. I was happy to finally get it from him in person on the Scab Addict tour. Here's the Twat Slug/Womb Stew/Post Natal Drip/Cutaneous Horns 4-way split.

I've had an affinity for this split since it got announced. It's a stacked line-up, obviously, but everyone really just brings some of their most over the top material. One of the most coward-unfriendly splits I own, it's marvelously filthy. Twat Slug's quarter opens up the tape with four tracks of stomping, lo-fi gorenoise. Cheap, programmed drum beats, bizarre porn samples galore, blown out bass riffs and cavernously burpy vocals. This shit is great, I really adore Twat Slug. This is the kind of healthily porn-obsessed music I can get behind, and getting to see how rad the dude behind it is was really sweet too. The love for hunting down the most ridiculous and wild films, kinda like finding the most unmusical music.  Real freak music, total fetish material.
Right after Twat Slug, shit gets seriously fucking loud with Womb Stew. A harsh, harsh, HARSH gorenoise project from Aaron who ran Fermented Bile Vomit Records. This offering is one of the more pure harsh noise recordings from Womb Stew. I've always admired the projects almost complete lack of separation between pure noise and gore-stylings, but again on this split it's just extra cracked out material. The drums are almost completely buried under the overdriven distorted noise and feedback, absolutely no string instruments by the sound of it. It's a harsh and heavy wall that doesn't let up, the only thing that puts it in familiar territory are the continuous roaring troll vocals. Painful and unfriendly.

Post Natal Drip come through again with another session of drunk, no-fi jamming insanity. Post Natal Drip will rip every cowards face off, as is declared while the band prepares to slam dunk this shit. Completely free, way too overblown, sloppy and wild. Like if Deche-Charge mixed up with Peter Brotzmann. Seriously, the complete bastardization of music here is so on point and in your face, I love it.

And of course we end with Cutaneous Horns, who honestly could not have done a better or more proper job with the closing track. Big ups to starting it off with a good hip-hop sample, again referencing lack of friendship towards cowards. What follows is just pure wetness. I'm almost certain that it's just layers of water under distortion. Wet gorenoise taken to the fucking limit, shamelessly and triumphantly. What's funny is that the way the different samples weave and come in and out, it actually sounds quite nice and somewhat creepy at times.

As is usual with Ben's releases, the tape sounds great, and the whole package looks nice. 

If you can find this you should buy it, it gets a big recommendation from me. Real freak shit.

~VII

I'll Give Ya Mook

I’m not too into introductions, but my name is Tyler Hammer, I play guitar for Hallucination Realized and today I’d like to talk about Deterioration and their newest EP, "Lupara Bianca". We recently went on tour with Deterioration and I’d have to say they are 100% the best grindcore band in America right now, and this EP is their best material yet. Currently out on their label Shattered Dreams Production as a CD and a now sold out 8-track and cassette. Hopefully their will be a vinyl version in the future.

Production wise this is their best stuff. The guitars and bass are massive sounding and the riffs have a lot of energy. The drums sound solid with a great sounding snare tone that has a nice crack but still has good ping to it. Riff wise they really bring it with a lot of really catchy parts and good slower sections, like the sludge-y riff in "Lupara Bianca" and the breakdown in "Car Battery Interrogation". For the most part the songs are blasting or doing some sort of hammer blast variant. The main theme of this release is Mafia related and it's nice to see a mix up from the usual gore related albums and songs they've done in the past. They are one of the few bands that can have funny song titles like "Car Bombing In The Name Of The Family (Bada-Boom)", while still keeping the music serious.

You can listen at their bandcamp which is linked right here. Keep on the look out for new material sometime soon and of course they will likely be playing near you as they as touring non-stop and aren't likely to slow down anytime soon. 

~Tyler Hammer

Fortress of Solid 'Tude

Two American fastcore bands unleashed full lengths on to the world last year. Both of them have an output that I consider to be something special. One more modern (I'll get to them in April), and the other a band of veterans. The Almighty Hummingbird of Death gave us their 3rd full length LP, "Forbidden Techniques", released by To Live A Lie records in a run of 500 copies. 100 on this orange vinyl color.

The 'Bird was actually the first band I've ever made a conscious effort to collect all their records. I fell off over the past couple years since my online buying days are past me, but getting this record was essential. HoD are always a band that push themselves and seems to strive to make every record they do stand apart from each other. Every one maintaining the signature style and grace of the band: from the 5" EP classic, "Goatmeal", to the 13+ minute long track on the Downsided split. "Forbidden Techniques" is the band at their peak right now, they've made what I consider to be their best record so far.

Everything about this record is just the best; it's the best recording the band has ever had. The drums sound full and punchy, same with the guitar and bass tones. The performances, the compositions, pshtt forgetaboutit. Not a dud in the whole line-up here, everything sounds so inspired and finely tuned. But not in a proggy, annoying way, they've just crafted amazing songs. Tons of fun little moments, like the solid decreasing tempo on the outro to the first song, "Fresh Hell". Which goes immediately into one of the most hard hitting tracks on the album, "Thicken". I can't not help but trash a few fists in the air every time that song kicks in. Or the fantastic gang shouts on "Fuck An Apology", one of my favorite tracks on the album and surely a future anthem for the band.

Always a band to have topical lyrics, "Forbidden Techniques" is not without it's fair share of social commentary. From our obsession with technology, the current political climate, to social media, the 'Bird have a lot on their minds. But still keeping a general fun attitude, more like poking and prodding instead of just preaching.

And the ARTWORK! Man, this is some of the coolest artwork I've seen on a grindy/fastcore album in a while. I love everything about this, the colors, the detail, it's glorious. Huge shout out to Lucan Korte for this masterpiece.

This release is still available, you absolutely need this in your life. Now a surprise kitty photobomb!

~VII

Prince Of Reality

I've posted my list of favorite records from 2017 in a couple places on the interwebs. Several of them individually on here over the year too. I'll try to catch up on a few that I feel compelled to talk about (the new Hummingbird Of Death LP and Beggin For Oxy's 7" to name a couple). This record right here though, was by far the my most listened to and cherished piece of wax that was released last year. One of my new favorite grind records, the BxSxRx/Parlamentarisk Sodomi split 12", released by Haunted Hotel Records. On orange/brown split vinyl, limited to 500, 33 RPM.

Everyone and their dog knows Parlamentarisk Sodomi; the one-man grind band brilliance from Norway. Mandated entirely by a person known by many names, mostly by Steinar. We all know him, we all love him. Mr. Steinar released multiple records from his many bands and projects in 2017, all of them absolutely fantastic. Nowadays Steinar has taken a liking to releasing split records with another one of his own projects, in this case it's BxSxRx. Basically P.S. as a trio, featuring people from Laserguys and Hellstorm. 

I love Parlamentarisk Sodomi dearly, and their side is great and I'll get to it. But the BxSxRx side, this is my jam. I've listened to their side probably close to 100 times this year. It's some of the most exciting, refreshing, original and if I dare say, rocking grindcore I've heard in a long time. Coming in at over 20 minutes, their half could be a full LP as it is. Consisting mainly of reworked and rerecorded versions of songs from their "Böyfil II" demo, plus a couple new ones. Steinar's signature wrist-snapping riffing is crystal clear, so sharp and accurate it's almost superhuman. Lots of chromatic chord progressions and guitar techniques, like hammer ons and atonal chords that stand out. The guitar tone is bright and very slick, but with the backing bass and drums everything sounds incredibly full and almost chaotic. The drums in particular add a very interesting sound. Often times they are quite loose, almost like they're trying to keep up with everything going on. It's a very interesting dynamic, if you can call it that. Especially when coupled with the razor sharp precision of Steinar, and you can audibly hear the drummer finding the groove. All that said though, it fucking works, and it really makes sense when put in context with the sound of BxSxRx. They are loud, cartoony, and over the top. 

I gotta talk about the vocals too, probably my favorite part of the band. All 3 of them contribute on the pipes, and they are off the wall bonkers. Sometimes taken to such an extreme over the top level it reaches absurdity. But they're so engaging and captivating, I just adore them. I can't remember a grindcore band I could take seriously that had low growls that sound like the Gungan leader from "The Phantom Menace" ("Anal Queen Of Minor Preperations"), or have cock rock falsettos mixed with NY thrashcore bro vocals. Everything is just taken to such a perfect level and it's all wholly original. Although I have to admit they cut back on the zaniness of them compared to the demo, which is truly demented. I consider this to be perfect grindcore, I'll listen to it for many years to come, and I hope the band records more material in this lifetime. 

Now all that being said, the Parlamentarisk Sodomi side is probably the part of this release that will have people scratching their heads the most. I remember going in when this was first released, the sound was shockingly different from what I was used to. Gone were the crust soaked, hammer blasting, catchy compositions, in place of a more Psudoku styled space/future grind sound. A year later, it's definitely as extreme and polarizing as it was back then, but I love it a whole lot more. Steinar apparently had many interesting opinions about Scion getting it's cold, industrial mitts into the grindcore world when these pieces were being made. It blatantly and ironically dedicates this whole recording to the importance of merging automobiles in contemporary grind. Har har har. 

Essentially, this plays out as a cybergrind record through and through. Instrumentation and sonic production that's programmed to play, and sound inhuman. It's very cold, claustrophobic, and does not give you any room to breath. As a rabid consumer of hard-to-take-in music, I love it for that reason. The kick drum and the rapid, ever changing guitar and bass riffs become completely hypnotic at points, and you transcend through the wormhole into the cyber realm. Like the Mahavishnu Orchestra on "Breaking Bad" style blue crack, or Magma performing on a rocket getting sucked through a black hole. 

All these recordings were recorded over the course of 2011-2014, a bit of a lull point for Parlamentarisk Sodomi, but just around when Psudoku and Brutal Blues started putting out records. It's easy to see where Steinar's head was at at this time. Especially when listening to the bombastic, almost circus music sounding track "Total Sodomi". Or the ending piece,"Schlammgebert", featuring vocals from Ouchsock Panzer. Which has to be one of the most intense and completely insane songs ever made by this project. It definitely ends this record off with a huge bang! Completely nailing a concept and performing with the most impressive accuracy, Parlamentarisk Sodomi has done it once more. 

This first came out late in 2016 I believe, in Europe thanks to Grindfather Productions, who released it on cassette. Haunted Hotel Records gave it a well deserved vinyl treatment here in the states and did a superb job. A nice, sturdy double sided insert, and a full color double sided jacket. The vinyl looks and sounds fresh as hell too. I'm obviously hyping this up as an essential record, so if you haven't listened to or bought this yet, you're a fool.  

~VII

Radiation Mutation

First post of the new year! I'm not really much for resolutions and all that malarky, but I do intend to increase my productivity on this blog, and already a steady stream of interesting tapes and records are coming my way. Maybe some interviews will start actually happening too, who knows. Let's just get right into the real meat of this post though, and talk about this Cystoblastosis/Deterioration split tape I picked up last year. Not sure how many copies were made, but there are a few different variants over the three labels that put it out; Thoracopagus Records, Grindfather Productions, and Shattered Dreams Productions.

I finally got to witness Deterioration for the first time last year and it was probably the best grindcore set I've ever seen. It was a pure, angry grind barrage and they stopped maybe twice their whole set. I was floored from beginning to end. This is one of the new recordings to have a bassist on it and as usual the band delivers. Brutal riffs and screams, constant blast beats, in your face genuine grindcore. With the bands usual presence of charm of course. The opening of "Beat That Nerd To Death" is pure genius, you have to hear it for yourself. Theirs also an excruciatingly long field recording of all of them eating into a microphone, which almost makes me gag. Killer stuff as always, y'all already know!

Some of you may or may not know Cystoblastosis; a brutal mince/goregrind band from Russia that has been really kicking ass the past couple of years. Their releases perfectly blend the line of having quite good recordings, but still managing to have a pretty vicious and raw sound. Playing to their strengths and delivering quality gore! You'll find all the mince riffs you could want, with the frantic and spontaneous energy to match. It's simple and familiar, but very strong. This stuff is genuine as hell, and definitely checks all the marks I look for in this kind of grind. Everyone should definitely check out Cystoblastosis, snare drum ring on!!

I'm not sure if this is the Shattered Dreams version or the Grindfather one. It's definitely not the Thoracopagus edition, that one has slightly different cover art. The packaging is crispy as hell, with a nice multiple panel J-card printed on very sturdy card stock. The dub is pretty good, not great. The snare drum is really buried on my copy, which is a pity because both bands have quite favorable snare sounds. I can live with it though, it's still good.

There will probably be quite a lot more Deterioration posts this year, and hopefully some more Cystoblastosis ones. If we all aren't blown up that is. Welcome to planet Earth everyone!

~VII

Found In The Mud

Real quick post about another devestating goregrind/noise tape released by some very quality labels. The Arizonian, 1-man, goretank project that is Gastroptosis, and Japan's Oniku. Another excellent 1-man band. This sweet little split tape was released in a total run of 75 copies by Ill Faith Records, Fermented Bile Vomit Records, and Craniophagius Parasiticus Records. I got my copy from Ben of CPR when I was in Toronto last month, it is a single sided tape.

Gastroptosis is yet another stupidly good goregrind/noise project created by Chris Tapo (most notably of Oozing Pus fame), and I love pretty much every new band he starts. Gastroptosis has been one of the more active projects in his roster and one of my personal favorites as well. We get 5 new tracks on here, featuring the usual traits of what makes great goregrind; hard hitting, to the point riffs, thundering drums, horror movie samples and absolutely monstrous, wet vocals. Chris is a master at programming good drums, and while the drums here are a bit buried under the gunky guitars and vocals, their power is undeniable. Great, raw, angry and savage goregrind, so good.

Oniku is a band that I really have not given many listens to (outside of this tape), but every time I do I realize I need to get more of their releases. Five tracks of very solid goregrind, also featuring programmed drums. These songs actually sound very well developed, like some real time was spent writing these riffs and compositions. Strong obvious influences are bands like Active Stenosis, Blue Holocaust and Regurgitate, very chunky groovy riffs with a lot more variety than Gastroptosis's side previously. The recording is a heck of a lot cleaner than the average 1-man goregrind band, it has a real 90's sound to it. There isn't any noise influence at all. While this recording may lack the savage, blown out fidelity I usually like, the quality of this material is undeniable.

Very loud and crisp sounding dub, both bands are one one side as previously mentioned. I'm not sure if the other label's releases are also single sided. 

~VII