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

No Bounds

Here's another piece of the huge stack of releases that Sidetracked has gotten released this year. A tidy and short cassette EP called "Perpetual Dissent", released by Alternatives Label. Probably in a run of 100 or so on pro-tapes.

This is definitely one of the strongest releases that Sidetracked has done this year, and will most likely be on my favorites of 2018 list.First off, the recording is fantastic, the guitars and bass sound heavy and hard as fuck! Great, catchy, warpy, angular riffs too, some of the best I've heard from them in a while. It's also a very focused EP, the songwriting in particular makes the whole thing flow very well. Repetitive yet always hard hitting. To me another example of the band's fantastic blending of noisecore and blasting hardcore genres. 

Every song starts with Jay saying the title of the track (referencing Seven Minutes of Nausea no doubt), then going in to super aggressive and powerful riffs, blasting, and vocals. For real, the recording/production and sound of the band is so on point on here. Every song also features a break of live recorded bass and drums, with a much more lo-fi recording fidelity. Every track is punctuated by a returning blast of riffs with the title screamed out again, drenched in echo and eventually dissolving into pure noise. Every song is written this way; which does get a little monotonous at just a few points. Some songs like "Never Change" would probably be even more insane is if was just blasting all the way through. But I appreciate the direct decision to sequence the EP this way. Besides, it rips so hard it could go on twice as long for me anyway.  

The tape looks and sounds great. It's loud and crisp and has a very nice layout. Brutally short as always. Probably just shy of 3 minutes, in and out. Fucking brilliant. 

This is the release that has been my go-to when I'm showing people Sidetracked for the first time these days. And pretty consistently they've all been impressed. Buy this!!!

~VII

Lupara Bianca

Here's just a quick post about the cassette version of the recent Deterioration EP, "Lupara Bianca". I'm not gonna go into much detail with this one, since most of my opinions will mirror Tylers from his earlier post about this release. This is the cassette version, self released on Deterioration's own label, Shattered Dreams Productions in a run of a think 50.

This thing sold out almost as soon as it went up. I got mine from Acid Redux Productions, who were thankfully stocking a few copies. This definitely ranks as one of my favorite Deterioration releases so far. Great, heavy recording, super tight and catchy riffs and drum syncopation, good flow from track to track, and a good chunk of song writing variety. The ending to the last song, "I'm Actually Wearing A Lot Of Explosives Right Now" is one of the most intense bits of grindcore this year, totally unrelenting. I definitely have found myself returning to this tape a lot out of all the Deterioration releases I own, and will probably be on my favorites of 2018 list. These guys just can't stop!

Got a nice, to the point layout without anything flashy in the packaging. The jcard feels like its made of photocopy paper. Great sounding cassette though, undoubtably a professional dub job.

Maybe one of the best/dumbest spine fonts I've seen. You don't see many bands fuck with all lower case Times New Roman. The only thing that would have made it more extreme is Comic Sans.

Great EP from one of the best American grindcore bands. I hear that this is supposed to come out on a 7" too at some point, so if you missed out on the CD, cassette, or 8-track, keep an eye out for that.

~VII

Suh Dude

HOT FIRE TAPE ALERT! Fuck, I really really wish I had picked up this cassette sooner. This thing was recorded in 2016 and I only just caught on thanks to some friendly hype from some trusted peers. I picked up this Suh Minutes of Dude tape from a recent order from Acid Redux Productions, who also released it. Released on a pro tape, my copy is obviously on a green cassette, limited to 60 copies.

So, great band name right?? Meme status aside, it's a brilliantly humorous take on the classic 7MON name. The name is honestly probably what kept me away from buying it for so long, cause on the surface this looks like it would be an enjoyable, but overall standard, stupid as hell noisecore tape. Boy oh boy is that not the case here. Noisecore; absolutely, but this is some of the most pulverizing shit I've heard in a minute. An international quartet/supergroup of heads in the scene, though I'm not exactly sure who. The only name I recognize in the credits is Rado, who I'm just gonna assume is the same Rado from 7M$.

Basically what you get here is 20 tracks in almost 10 minutes of some of the most legit and hard slapping Fear of God worship I've probably ever heard. Right down to the unchanging "Peeeaoohhhhh" growl vocals. The recording is perfect. Hard panned, dual bass assault with avalanche heavy drumming. Everything is basically low end, but with a nice amount of trebly crunch on the basses. There is some semblance of riffs that pop up occasionally, but mostly it's just noise. This is just crazy, chaotic, knuckle dragging noisecore to the max, it's incredibly aggressive and honestly makes me wanna throw objects at walls.. There's even a burp or two that they keep in. This session could go on for 3 times as long and I would enjoy every second of it. My roommate said a funny thing in regards to this. I'm paraphrasing but it was like, "You have that kind of life where you say things like "Dude, Suh Minutes of Dude is an awesome band."

Pro tape means pro volume levels, and this tape sounds destructive! Very smart to have the full recording on both sides too. With my new auto-reverse cassette deck I can just let this shit play over and over.

There are still copies of this available from the label, so you know what to do. This gets an incredibly high recommendation. 

~VII

Bathing In The Excrement That Is Your Contrarian Opinion

This is a nice and rowdy split from a couple of super sick bands that always bring a walloping amount of pure grind fury. Indiana's own Flvx Capacitor and one of Lima, OH's nastiest bands, Landfill. Released on these sick orange tapes by Riotous Outburst Records, limited to something like 200 I think!

Flvx Capacitor are up first, serving up 9 new tracks of warp speed grindcore, plus a cover of Extreme Noise Terror's "Deceived". This side is awesome, and some of the shortest and most urgent sounding songs the Flvx has made so far. I think Chris told me that the riffs were written over improvised blasting that was recorded earlier in time. This band has riffs for days, both familiar and more modern sounding, but without sounding techy. Basically these three just know what the fuck their doing when it comes to grindcore. The very high quality recording is also top notch, everything sounds powerful and clear, though their is a noticeable drop in volume and umf on the "Deceived" cover. Great side overall though, just vicious!!

If you haven't heard Landfill yet, you're most definitely fucking up hard. Spearheaded by Will Otler (Methlab Explosion/Faction Disaster/Hot Babes/etc.), Landfill has been one of my favorite projects of his yet. Their side is completely disgusting, brutal grindcore with all the fixings you would need. Deep, gurgled vocals, thick down tuned guitars, a pingy snare, and head-to-concrete riffs. Like the Flvx side though, after track 3 it sounds like a totally different recording, way more raw. Landfill is a somewhat swirling ensemble of members, so this is nothing really new or problematic. No matter what Landfill is always brutal and I dig all of this.

This is a nice looking DIY tape, I adore the orange cassette shell. My copy got just the taddest bit fuzzy in the dubbing I think. The cymbals kinda have that washed out sound. However when you're doing 200 tapes on your own it's pretty dang forgivable.

This is a sick little split, you should definitely give it some ear time. Both these bands are definitely putting out stuff you should own , what are you even doing??

~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

Clap Crap

Gonna kick back on a harsh and frosty Upstate NY day and talk about another lil'ol Facepalm Death tape that Colton sent me a while back. This time it's a split with the almighty Napalm Death Is Dead! Another Japanese noise/shitcore band featuring the legend himself, Ucchy. But you, who reads this blog, should know that by now. Discogs says that this tape was released in a run of 125 by the Hotel Broslin label, however this looks pretty obviously like a redub/self bootleg. I'm fine with it regardless.

THANKFULLY Colton has decided to put both bands sides over this probably 45+ minute per side long Pavarotti tape (could you imagine rewinding this to the end just to hear the flip side?). NDID open this greasy trash up with a large chunk of hand clapping noises. A nice little nod to their fellow split mates. Also ingeniously, the claps also serve as the count in to the blow out bursts of bass noise. Hyper repetitive and not the least bit musical, but the recording still has different "movements" if you will, in classic NDID tradition. I always like to see how the band uses the microsong/noise burst formula, but manage to create wholly engaging and hypnotic pieces with the subtlest of changes. Enjoyably crappy in the best way, as I expect and adore.

 Another way for me to almost immediately get on board with a release is to put a picture of Godzilla on it. I love me some Kaiju. Anyway, Facepalm Death's side starts up as soon as Napalm Death Is Dead are finished. They do everything just so right by me, it's like the looked at all my personal check marks for what I want in a noisecore band. Ridiculous and mysterious samples from assuredly fucked up films only the deepest of freaks would watch, harsh cut-up tape edits, tough vocals, and an angry as fuck but still down to earth vibe about them. The editing and composing of this side is vicious; warp 2 drum machine blasts, going into harsh techno drums, gym whistles, electronics flipping out, toilet sound bass guitar. It's all there and it all flashes by in the blink of a ripped-off eyelid. I love it all!

Nice little insert here giving you all the info you would or would not want. The dub job is also crisp and fantastic, so big shouts to Colton for the nice work.

Buy this, obviously.

~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

Obsessed With Cruelty

Here's a split that I'm sure most people in the noisecore world are pretty hip to already. Obviously, I just got around to getting it in my grubby mitts. The incredibly mysterious and aesthetically pleasing group, Facepalm Death, have been floating around for the past couple years. I always see friends posting tapes that they've released. Actually, FpDth mastermind Colton Pickles assembled maybe the most impressive noisecore compilation from last year, simply called "Pieces". Still haven't gotten that either. This is the split with Mental Abortion, released on Perverse Taste Tapes and Breathing Problem Productions last year.

Mental Abortion is a band that I actually really like a lot. They're definitely one of the more impressive and focused noisecore bands (yes, a full band) that has come out in the last several years. Hyper sexual, titillating, and extreme in their subject matter and imagery. Basically what you would get if a bunch of serious power electronics/harsh noise people started making grind, which is what Mental Abortion is. Their side is all recorded from a live show, and it plays out how a standard noisecore set does. Short bursts of blasting and screaming with pauses in between, sometimes so they can say the tracks title, recorded super lo-fi of course. By far the least exciting stuff I've heard from Mental Abortion, but it's serviceable.

The Facepalm Death side fucking rules! I heavily dug this side a lot; tons of variation in "song" structure and lots of different sounds and tones. Like a mix of Ops-Psf, Traci Lords Loves Noise and Nihilist Commando. Sometimes there's lyrics, mostly for the shorter songs, samples from exploitation movies, and impossibly fast programmed drums that are simple but effective. Noisecore that sort of play's like a mixtape made by someone who lives in a warehouse full of fucked up instruments. Definitely the winning side on this split for me.

The aesthetic of this tape is on point too. Mental Abortion's sexually obscene imagery takes up a little too much space, but the lay-out and look of everything is super nice. Really good sounding tape too, crispy as hell.

~VII

Slowly Melting Away

A beautiful, large haul of great tapes landed in my mailbox today. Finally got my hands on some pieces I've been after for a while. This split in particular is one I was looking forward to getting the most. My appreciation for both of these brutal bands has been written on this site in the past. Here is the Deterioration/Gastroptosis split cassette, released on yellow tapes by Shattered Dreams Productions in 2016. Probably in a run of 100, give or take.

This is some of my favorite Deterioration material, all killer no filler. Kind of "duh obviously" description for their side, but the 4 songs they contribute are a smidge more ear-wormy than most of their split material. Brutal, hyper blasts with tons of catchy cymbal accents. It sounds ruthless and rageful, like someone threw an extra bit of pepper in the sauce. I love the riff at the end of "Fucked Up Device" that progressively gets slower and chuggier. Great stuff all around, Deterioration always keeps it crispy. I'm pretty happy that they did a split with one of Chris Tapo's endless amounts of goregrind bands.

Speaking of which, lets move on to Gastroptosis. One of my very favorite projects from Arizona gore master Chris Tapo. Anything involving Gastroptosis, I'm instantly on board. Genuinely angry sounding and gargantuan goregrind. No one can program some brutal drums or roar into a pitch shifted microphone like this guy. These tracks were made pretty shortly after this project started releasing stuff if I remember correctly. Nothing but quality sounds on their side too. One of the best crafters of goregrind/gorenoise doing stuff right now.

As can be expected with all Shattered Dreams Production releases, this tape is all pro. A wonderfully vibrant yellow cassette with padded logo's on each side. The J-card is full color and sturdy, and the cassette case is even in a nice, seafoam blue color.  

This also was released as a 3" CD-r, but good luck finding that one. I think there was only 28 copies made. I'm definitely keen on snagging that too, haha. It's a sickness what can I say. Anyway, this is a great split and I recommend it, duh.

~VII