“First Music”, “First Noise”…what fitting titles as this 7” is my first Charred Remains, Bastard Noise and Man is the Bastard purchase, and my first proper experience with any of these projects. The whole switching of the names confuses the living fuck out of me but I think I’ve actually got my head around it; MITB is the powerviolence group, Bastard Noise is the noise spin-off? Amirite? Well, I would think so until I open up the fucking booklet and see that “Bastard Noise” is an EP titled to MTIB. Mang….what the fuck? Shoot me now! “First Music” is pretty damn awesome, regardless of who fecking made it; be it Charred Remains, MITB or even Bastard Noise (unlikely). It blasts and grinds through 4 songs in next to no time; the bass clanking menacingly and the low powerviolence vokills are out in force. “First Noise” on the other hand, is sadly underwhelming for me. I love a bit of harsh noise now and then, but whilst the “songs” on offer are interesting, they are a bit mundane. Never mind! If you are, like I was, looking for an in-road into the weird and wonderful world of the previously mentioned bands/projects I would recommend you this 7″. If you’re already in the know however, I assume there is much better material to hunt down. Out on Deep Six Records.
I Abhor are a weird mixture of sounds. Slow, dissonant riffs lead into unbelievably fast blasting grind; the drumming really is something you must all hear! The vocals are distorted and hellish a la the sound used on earlier Pig Destroyer records, only not as high; the singer utilizes mainly lows in his delivery. I Abhor are kinda similar to Wormrot in a way; they both peddle the same grinding mix of excellent riffing and flat out blasting. Wormrot on side B contribute 8 (yes!) tracks to the 7″. Opener “Twelve” is bloody hilarious, before “Critical Human Stupidity” blows your fucking head off like it was nobody’s business. The production here betrays to me that these songs are from the same sessions as the Abuse album, or at least that’s what it sounds like to me! For a grindcore band, Wormrot haven’t really done that many splits, which is odd (but great for me as I have literally everything they have released, barring the odd demo tape or two). Anyways this 7″ was put out by Fat Ass Records in Poland and is truly excellent as fuck. I recommend!
You just can’t fault Lividity for delivering on the sick, twisted death metal front. As I’m sure I’ve mentioned many a time before, my death metal listening is very limited, but when it is done right, it just cannot be ignored. The sheer number of death metal acts out there never ceases to baffle me. Thankfully, Lividity are one of the best from the huge American scene. Tits, gore, hilarious samples, gruesome vokills and blasting drums. A true list of the finer things in life, no doubt! To Desecrate And Defile opens with one of the funniest samples ever used in the history of music, before “Sword of Sodomy” hits you in the face like a ton of spiked bricks already dripping with the AIDS-infested blood of 10,000 dead hookers. And the pace is set from there! Ha ha! There are some brain-melting songs here; “Gut The Slut Before I Fuck”, “Engorged With Blood (To Fill You With My Semen)” and “Orgasmic Flesh Feed” are absolutely amazing. Production wise, this is the most clean and “modern” sounding out of all of Lividity’s albums. The drum sound is fat and dark as fuck, despite the clinical triggering. The guitars are very polished, giving a hefty metallic chug more reminiscent of mainstream metal genres than the usual distortion laden riffage of death metal. I would recommend this Lividity record to any fan of metal music, especially those lost in a world of shit deathcore. I think this might appeal to people like that. Then they can work their way backwards to the more dank sounding, gruesome as fuck Lividity albums. All in all, an excellent modern death metal record by one incarnation of a legendary band of the genre. You can’t fault Lividity and you can’t fault this type of metal, unless you’re a feminist or something. Hopefully I’ll be getting my paws on some more Lividity records soon. Remember kids: It’s not about Satan, it’s about pussy! Out on War Anthem Records and Epitomite Productions.
I knew that Dead Infection had death metal influences (World Full Of Remains will testify that for you) but until playing Start Human Slaughter I was entirely unaware how far into the genre they actually went at one point. Don’t be fooled by the grotesque goregrind cover art, Start Human Slaughter is 100% old school death metal sickness; growly vocals, subterranean tunings, guitars solos and all! Fortunately, this type of music belongs on vinyl so ultra-props to Underground Front Records for reissuing this Polish classic on 12″ wax. There’s no fucking around here, just straight and to the point, not to mention metal as fuck! Those who need a bit more variety in their tunes will probably find this a bit boring, but I think that the mid-paced death metal (for once) suits the low-quality production style that isn’t a million miles away from a more muddy-sounding Symphonies of Sickness. The most surprising thing for me though is the length of the songs, most of which contain ripping solos in the middle eight. I wish I could say that this early Dead Infection record could appeal to the wider death metal audience but alas the production and the cover art will more than likely hinder it to forever remain as a cult classic. Well worth getting if you’re into this shit, though.
Another record that I have been meaning to buy for years and years and years. I finally got it cheap at Obscene Extreme (like, Obscenely cheap ;D) and whilst I was chuffed to pieces to pick up a split 12″ for roundabouts the price of a split 7″ I was gutted as fuck to find out that the material here is all live! Maaaaan, why can’t I ever research these things properly? The amount of surprises I’ve had just by spinning a fucking vinyl is bloody unbelievable! I know it’s my fault but I cannot shake the disappointment. I am not familiar with the works of Swarrrm so less than ten seconds into the horrendously recorded live set I’ve turned the bastard thing off. Embalming Theatre on the other hand have bizarrely placed a 7″ worth of original material before their live tracks, which is a proper strange move but one that I applaud them for as it totally saves this 12″ for me. The band never fail in their blast and gurgle approach, and kick things off with the oddball track “Tsunami Pt I: Survived to be Gangraped”. Well, isn’t that an unfortunate set of circumstances? The live set that follows the studio tracks isn’t that bad either; the quality is very acceptable and is probably a sound desk recording or something similar. There’s a few Embalming Theatre classics here as well so that’s more reason to be happy; “Someone Else in my Coffin” and “Get High on a Dead Dog” still sound amazing live. This 12″ was put out by the possibly Pig Destroyer-obsessed Jennifer Grind Records, and is limited to 500 copies.
It was recently the 20th anniversary of this record so I pulled it off the shelf, dusted it off and give it a spin for good measure. I’m a good way into collecting a bunch of Burzum vinyl, and Det Som Engang Var has to be one of the best in his release history. I feel this album lives up to the whole “spell” thing that Varg originally intended with Burzum and it has a great variety of not just viciously lo-fi black metal, but a whole bunch of excellent atmospheric noise tracks, really bringing in those creepy keyboard sounds that would become so prominent on his later works. I love the opening track but the first black metal song, “Key To The Gate”, doesn’t rank that high for me. “En Ring Til A Herske” is absolute brilliance, as all of side B – opener “Han Som Reiste” is a fantastic, eery keyboard piece and “Snu Mikrokosmos Tegn” is an enormous black metal classic that will never be forgotten until the end of time itself. This is – you guessed it – a Back on Black repressing, which explains it’s lovely shiny exterior. The cheap penciled artwork has never looked so good; and if you look carefully you can even see the little man and the tree from the first album down in the bottom by the gates; I never knew until I bought this that the artwork was something of an extension to that on Burzum. I guess you learn something everyday, eh?
We’ve all heard “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”, possibly hundreds of times in bars, pubs and on shitty “best-of” 3 disc rock music compilations. I’m pretty sure that “THE BEST Driving Album In The World, EVER no. 198234” even has it on there twice for good measure. But despite my over-exposure to their biggest hit, I had absolutely no knowledge of Blue Öyster Cult at all. Well, when I was in sixth form my teacher used to insist that Blue Öyster Cult secretly invented the heavy metal genre, but other than that, I knew nothing of them. It was a random fluke then when my parents bought me this record as a present on their recent trip up to Birmingham. I don’t really know why, but I guess they saw a record shop and thought of me, which is nice. Being entirely unfamiliar with the Blue Öyster I immediately threw it on the deck and gave it a spin. And you know what, it ain’t half bad. I got a lot of spacey Hawkwind vibes from the cover, but the overall feel is a lot more rock and/or roll than Hawkwind. It holds that unique production sound of the early 80s, where the feeling and natural tone of most 70s records met awkwardly with the digital studio production of the future. The production is very clinical, and each instrument stands out perfectly, but at the same time it doesn’t lose much of the “olde-y worlde-y” charm. It’s quite the paradox! None of the songs are anywhere near as good as the previously mentioned tune about the reaper, but the opening track “Black Blade” is a stormer, and track 3 “Divine Wind” is my second favourite. Side B is definitely weaker than side A, but “Deadline” is by far the worst song here. All in all, a nice experience but not something I’d run out and buy.
This CD is by far the best Mixomatosis stuff that I have heard so far! I’m not that familiar with them; everything I own by them has a different sound, but Neurofibroma Mixoide has a solid and well-rounded sound that is consistent from start to finish. Ladies and gentlemen, this is some good-ass grindcore! Typically it was released on the equally as awesome label, Rotten Roll Rex back in 2007. The whole thing kicks off with the title track, a growly number of intense fury which moves back and forth between blasting grind and flat-out punk style riffing, with hilarious yelped vocals. After that the songs blast by at a ferocious pace; “El Carnicero De Africa” (which the band contributed a live version of to my old label’s first 7″ compilation) is a favourite of mine, as is the Carnal Diafragma cover at track 12; “Stench Vaginalis”. Unfortunately the entire thing is over far too quickly and I am left wanting more sick Spanish goregrind, but it is not to be! Onward to buying more Mixomatosis shits! I think my next step will be the Mixomatosis / 2 Minuta Dreka split 7″, as that will also bring me a step closer to getting all the 2MD stuff as well.
I’ve been meaning to finish my 2 Minuta Dreka collection off for a while, so I was well happy when I caught this in Sete Star Sept’s distro at OEF. Now I’m one step further to my goal! 2 Minuta Dreka have some great songs here; “Fecal Raptus” is off the full length I know, but it’s cool to own it on 7″ as well as it’s such a good song. I’m not sure if it is the exact same recording as the album version, but it’s very similar. Besides, the other tracks aren’t on the full length so all is well and good. Also, bonus points for hilarious artwork! I couldn’t get into Anal Massaker on the first listen. The grind is all good, but I found the vocals to be a bit lacklustre, although eventually they grew on me and now I have another grindcore/noisecore band that I want to hunt down a discography for! Cool / not cool at the same time! I love the warm and fuzzy sound the band has here, it’s just great. What the fascination is with Sesame Street characters is though, I’m not quite sure. Sesamegrind? Anyways this was put out as a collaboration between Nihulus and Raw Noise, and is limited to 500 copies, of which I have number 161. Tops!
This is one of my favourite things so far in my never-ending adventure into the discography of Belgium’s Agathocles. I’ve seen it about for years, probably since it’s release, but have just never got around to buying it. I finally picked it up (dirt cheap) at some stall at Obscene Extreme festival in the Czech Republic. I don’t think the stall had a name but it was a gazebo being shared by two guys selling different records. One of them was the vocalist from Entrails Massacre, I remember that much. If you are familiar with Agathocles then you already know what to expect from a full length such as this; fast and to-the-point “mince”core with gut-addling bass and shrieked or yelped vocals, dusted off with the odd helping of pitch-shifted lows to complete the grinding cocktail! Opening track “Dethrone The Tyrant” is an Agathocles instant classic, and even spawned an EP of the same name. “Yuppie Career Freak” and “Diary Of White Trash” are two more examples of Agathocles at their blasting brilliance, as are the title track “Mincer” and the hilarious “Pricks At Gigs”. “Goredom – Boredom” again shows the band’s endless disdain for goregrind, porngrind and the related imagery and lyrical themes present therein. My copy is a fantastic deep transparent blue, which is great because I was expecting it to be black for some reason or other. This was released on Power It Up in Germany in 200? and is still really easy to find, so get a copy already!
I am a total sucker for a catchy pop song. I guess you can’t deny a well written song when you hear one, and Daft Punk, despite being awfully boring, have a rather large canon of well written songs. I think this might actually top “Aerodynamic” as my favourite Daft Punk tune, which has held the record for a very long time now; something like 13 years? Jesus fucking Christ I’m getting old (I really need to stop saying that; I’m only 24 for fuck sake). I normally detest Pharrell Williams. I hate The Neptunes and their awful remixes, and I totally fucking detest N.E.R.D. with their try-hard bad boy rap shit. I gotta admit though I didn’t know it was Pharrell singing on this track until it was too late; the plant was seeded and the tune was being hummed before I knew what the fuck had hit me! Ha ha! But here, there’s a certain soulfulness to his vocal performance that I can’t really put my finger on. It might be the huge disco vibes giving this track a retro edge that’s doing it; I’m not sure. Anyway, the best thing about this song has to be the bass line, by a country mile! That bass rhythm is one of the best (not to mention funkiest) things that I have ever heard, so when I saw this (slightly over-priced) 12″ in Spillers Records I couldn’t resist purchasing this bastard. I’m gonna round this off now ‘cos there’s only so much I can really say about Daft Punk; I’ll just let the music do the talking for me. Make sure you got the bass cranked all the way up on yer system for this one! Out on some crappy major label.
The first thing that I notice about this Warp repressing of Aphex Twin’s classic record is that it is not a double album. That’s not a problem, I just assumed that it would be on double wax. The vinyl is heavy, though! I don’t know how heavy exactly, but it weighs a fecking ton (slight over-statement) and is very difficult to get out of the sleeve. When the needle slides onto the wax though, the perfect clarity and depth can be appreciated. Does heavy vinyl really make that difference? Bloody heck! Most folks have seen the videos for “Come To Daddy” and “Windowlicker” but there is so much more to Aphex Twin that those two songs, and this album does a fantastic job of proving that; showcasing a smorgasbord of electronic sounds and puzzling samples assorted into ticking beats and lush synths. Whatever the vibe of a particular track, the electronics remain endlessly busy and ensure that there is always something interesting going on. Every time I listen to this I pick out something else that I missed the time before. The amount of time that went into making these “songs” must have been absolutely staggering. This album has been considered a classic a thousand times over by now, so anything I can say will really do it any justice; ya’ll need to load up on some mind-altering substances and appreciate the madness/genius for yourselves. And the best way to do that is get the poxy thing on vinyl, right? Reissued by Warp Records in 2012, but you can still get your hands on the original if you’re that way inclined, just expect to pay a lot more for a copy.
For me, I find that Judgement is the perfect sound for Anathema. If you’ve read a few of these posts, by now you should notice that I like to find a balancing point between the sound a band starts with and then eventually works their way towards. I like to lay out albums in my mind and try and see how groups get from one stage to the other; what changes and why. Judgement, in my mind at least, is the middle ground in the Anathema journey from miserably slow and heavy doom metal to the post-rock influenced alternative rock outfit they are today. With Anathema’s current range of sounds and influences, it is probably unfair to dismiss their current output as such, but there are only so many words you can use to describe a certain sound without coming across like a pretentious dick. The cover to this record is deceiving; by looking at it one would expect something altogether more doomy, and whilst some of the songs do have a fairly heavy clout, you will find that most of the fuzz is toned back in lieu of softer textures and more subtle song structures. “Deep” sets things off with a fairly balanced approach to what I am talking about here: the drums are heavy and you keep expecting it to kick in but it doesn’t, it stays a soft, clean guitar-led track. The songs continue in this vein for a while, including my favourite of this album, “One Last Goodbye”, which is a terrifically sad and moving song about the death of a loved one. This at least, gets a bit of clout building behind it. “Parisienne Moonlight” which follows it is one of my least favourite Anathema songs, but the scores of songs that follow afterward soon put this little hiccup to bed. My digipak version of this album finishes with the bonus track “Transacoustic”, which whilst not really offering anything more to the album as a whole, is quite a nice piece of music. Like I said at the start, Judgement is the definitive Anathema sound, but probably won’t ever rank too high on my personal scale. Still, it’s well worth a listen, if just to check it out. Be sure to have some tissues at the ready!
Hello and welcome to the Lines In Wax 250th post extravaganza! It’s taken just over two years (and just under 20k hits), but we got there in the end, eh? It only seems like yesterday that I was doing the 100th post special; I can’t believe how fast time goes. Anyway, here’s to the next 250 posts…it’s safe to say I already know what I’m gonna do for the big 500th – now that’s thinking ahead. Cheers all! (2021 Edit: you can see the original 250th post on the old Blogspot here) Holy mother, look at the size of this package! (That’s what she definitely did not say). Whilst I question the point in splitting an entire album over a series of 7″s (didn’t Botch do something like this once?) I gotta admit that it looks absolutely fucking cool as fuck. Granted, it is a massive potch changing the disc over after every single song, but I did play them all through once just for the sheer fuck of it. The Prodigy seem to release all their own stuff these days through the oddly-named Take Me To The Hospital label, which is a sub-label of the UK independent Cooking Vinyl. This box is a walloper of a collector’s item as you can probably tell from the photos, and it includes 5 orange 7″s, a CD/DVD version of the album, a bonus CD entitled Lost Beats, a poster and a bunch of graffiti stencils in case you love The Prodigy a little bit too much and have to tag that shit all up over the neighbourhood. Invaders Must Die is a strong record. I’m not sure if it really is the logical progression for Liam Howlett and co., but there are plenty of absolute facking bangers in this little box. “Omen” I’m sure you’ve all heard a hundred thousand times on the tele; on music channels, as background music on TV programs from 2009 and as the theme song for every single fucking cage fighter this side of the fucking Atlantic ocean. “Thunder” brings massive dub wup wups and ragga-man talky-talking to the table, whilst “Colours” is catchy and fast enough to still be played to the sweat-drenched, ecstasy-guzzling rave crowd. My favourite song on this album though would have to be “Warrior’s Dance”, which opens up all epic and grandiose as fuck, before breaking into a filthy beat led by a squeaky-voiced female that seems to have fallen out of a crappy hardsytle mp3 mix and onto this record. As a rule I normally hate the squeaky-voiced shite that is slathered all over bedroom-grade dance music, but we all know that this vocal style was stolen from the rave scene and guess who were big leaders back then….The fuckin’ Prodigy! So it’s ok for them to use squeaky voices in songs. That’s logical right? My second favourite song is actually the mostly-instrumental “Omen Reprise”, that for a bit, almost sounds like latter-day Gary Numan. Unfortunately for purists, this short track is excluded from the orange 7″s for some pointless fucking reason. Just as unfortunately, Lost Beats isn’t up to much, but it does make for some half-decent background music. I think that the beats should have stayed just that; lost. Despite that, this package is absolutely awesome as piss, but I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone unless they were a ginormous Prodigy fan. But, if that were the case, they’d probably own this anyway. I would severely recommend picking up the simple CD version though; if you love a bit of electronic music, that is. Right then, time to wrap this up. I’ve got an evening of snorting charlie and driving my Kappa-wearing girlfriend around the Gurnos estate in my Vauxhall Nova to attend to.
