Lines In Wax

TWELVE YEARS OF UNWANTED OPINION

Month: March 2014

Archagathus / Maximum Thrash – Split 7″ (2012)
grindcore

Archagathus / Maximum Thrash – Split 7″ (2012)

I was expecting more from Maximum Thrash, I will be honest. I’ve seen the name around a lot over the last few years so I was rather excited about finally hearing them. I was a bit disappointed then, when I dropped the needle onto this wax and got some shitty live recording as my first impression of them. Don’t get me wrong, the band sound like they’d be great, but there’s nothing worse than shelling out money for a 7” and it turns out to be of a crappy live recording. As their side progresses we do get some studio material, which is really good, but…c’mon guys! Archagathus seem a lot more “guttural” here than in any other instance that I have encountered them.  Burping over the thrashy, punk-tinged mince sound is a heavy, almost pitchshifted-sounding gore/death metal low vocal. It’s a bit loud but it doesn’t detract from the overall sound. I guess it’s a kinda hails to Agathocles, who’ve often used the pitchshifted vocal over a punkier sound. The third track, “Nazi Smash” has the most insane groove, and it really makes me want to see Archagathus play live (do they even play shows?). All in all, this split is pretty good, but I get the sneaking suspicion that better material exists (from both bands) on other releases. This 7” was put out in a collaboration between Witch Bukkake Records, Mercy of Slumber, Stockroom Records and Grindfather Productions.

CKY – Infiltrate.Destroy.Rebuild. (2002)
rock

CKY – Infiltrate.Destroy.Rebuild. (2002)

Man, now this is a blast from my past! I’d pretty much forgotten CKY existed for the last half a decade or so, until I saw this CD for sale for next to nothing in a charity shop. I forgot just how much I loved this band’s first two records – I can’t really speak much for the rest of the discography (An Answer Can Be Found was OK I guess, but Carver City does nothing for me at all) but this CD is an absolute classic! After spinning this for the first time in probably 8 or 9 years, the first thing I notice is just how unique and odd CKY’s guitar tone is. It is almost synthetic sounding, yet amply fuzzy and satisfying. “Escape From Hellview”, “Flesh Into Gear” and “Sink Into The Underground” sound just as brilliant as I remembered them to. The rest of the album sails by really quickly, because CKY can’t seem to write anything that lasts longer than 3 minutes or so. Not that I’m complaining, there are some great blasts from the past here, with the only song on the entire record I’m not at all fussed on being the closing track “Close Yet Far”.  If your OK with your rock and metal having singy vocals and a sensibility to the songs, then I strongly recommend some CKY for you, if you’ve not heard them before, that is. This version of the CD comes with a bonus DVD directed by Bam Margera (he had to fucking worm his way in somewhere) filled with music videos for every single song on the album. Now that’s value for money.

Korn – Take A Look In The Mirror (2003)
metal

Korn – Take A Look In The Mirror (2003)

I had a little bit of a catch-up with Korn’s mid-to-late 2000s releases on Amazon recently. For some reason, the young-me never picked up 2003’s follow-up to Untouchables; Take A Look In The Mirror, which was unusual, especially considering that this was the last record the band did with the full original line-up. I really think Silveria’s drumming, whilst not incredibly technical, is extremely unique, and is noticeably missing from the later Korn stuff (as is Head’s guitar work). That’s not a diss on the drummers that came alongside / after him – it’s just it is hard to not notice an unique style, if you get what I mean. Unfortunately, the “original five”‘s last record together wasn’t the most inspired thing that they’ve ever done. It isn’t necessarily bad in the grand scheme of things, but it is completely Korn-by-numbers, through and through. The whole thing smacks of their tried and tested formula, made even more consumable by the Untouchables-grade polished production. There’s even a track (“Alive”) where the instrumentation in the chorus (not the vocal) is pretty much exactly the same as “Need To” from their debut album (I’ve posted comparison videos at the end of the blog). I did some research and found out that “Alive” was the original version of “Need To” from Korn’s first demo and it has been re-recorded for this record. On top of all that, sneak 30 seconds of bagpipes in somewhere along the way and hey fucking presto – another Korn record. Also, I get the sneaking suspicion that this record has a similar deal going on as that with Metallica’s Load and Reload; it came out suspiciously quickly after Untouchables (even more suspicious when you consider the gap between Issues and Untouchables) and has more or less the same vibe, minus the weird electronics shit that broke up the previous album. So is  this an album of tracks left over from the previous record? Maybe, maybe not. Does this CD sound like an album of tracks left over from the previous record? Yes. Yes it does. Despite this, things are still fairly heavy – I guess helping me to appreciate this is the full-band dynamic that would become absent on future records. There are some Korn klassics here as well; most metalheads know “Right Now”, “Did My Time” and “Y’All Want A Single”, but there are also some hidden gems in here, as well as some total fucking stinkers. If you love the klassic Korn template then pick this up because it’s cheap as fuck everywhere now. If you don’t, then, well, don’t bother.

Impetigo – Giallo / Antefatto (1989/2000)
death metal grindcore

Impetigo – Giallo / Antefatto (1989/2000)

I gotta come clean here…I know that Impetigo are regarded as legends in the grindcore/noisecore scenes, but I just cannot get into them! I’ve had this CD for yonks but I rarely, if ever, listen to it. Perhaps I need to investigate more of their material, but with the crazy scope of music out there, I always find myself forgetting to do so. Giallo / Antefatto is a collection of the bands first two demos with an extra unreleased track thrown in for good measure. This is my only experience with the sounds of Impetigo. Half-Life Records (who I think have taken a trip to Belize, to paraphrase Saul Goodman) released this CD compilation all the way back in 2006. It must have been a big noise because it’s got incredibly extensive linear notes contributed by Impetigo’s Stevo, who goes into the history of the band and each track on the CD with relentless detail. I think for die-hard Impetigo fans this CD is totally worth hunting down if just for the previously unreleased track and the endless info-spewing by Stevo. To round it off, this CD is a bit so/so for me, but it was a fairly enjoyable listen (and an informative read) nonetheless.

Fury 161 – Armageddon’s Maw (2014)
noise & power electronics

Fury 161 – Armageddon’s Maw (2014)

Fury 161 are a noise / death industrial based project with members hailing from Wales, Ireland and originally, South Africa. They came together in 2013 to produce misanthropic, hateful atmospheres about futility and anger towards all of mankind. Opener ‘Thanatos’ builds a dark, clanking atmosphere without getting too harsh. It is the audible equivalent of an incomprehensible mechanical world gearing up. ‘Spirits’ follows, which almost sounds like the distorted offspring of a Public Castration-era Swans track, that is until the vocals kick in. The vocal attack is reminiscent of the styles used heavily in black and death metal, with feral growls and throat-shredding howls barking across the surface of the searing, depthless and machine-like compositions and noisescapes. Harsh noise enthusiasts shouldn’t be too quick to pass them off here – Fury 161 might not be as harsh or brutally uncompromising as some of their noise and industrial peers, but this is still some disturbing, twisted shit. Fury 161 aren’t afraid to use cerebrally crippling waves of distortion, but instead of blasting us with these audible cannons for entire tracks, Fury 161 play the soundscape game, building dissonant and creepy atmospheres using synths and ambient sounds (and often incorporating some kind of electronic beat) before melting your head off with some good ol’ fashion noise. The track “Black Heart Attack” is my favourite example of this approach, with its haunting synth melody and pulsing distorted beat, meandering in and out between the beautiful and downright fuck ugly. This is a fairly long album, clocking in at 56 minutes with most of the tracks averaging around the 5 minute mark. Closing off the ceremonies is the 7-minute epic “Tears”, which matches rasping howls over a warbled drone and eery, clanking percussion. All in all, I would definitely recommend you giving Armageddon’s Maw a listen to. You can stream the entire thing at the Bugs Crawling Out Of People Bandcamp page (linked below), where you can also pick up the record on CD, and a bunch of t-shirts. As you can see from the pictures, the CD comes in a really fancy card DVD case, which looks absolutely awesome.

Small Fortunes – Say What You See (2014)
electronic hip hop

Small Fortunes – Say What You See (2014)

Ho ho! Now this is something that I have watched grow from a silly one-minute-something demo into a full-blown project of epic proportions. Introducing my good ol’ pal Gareth B, whom is a fellow band-mate with me in Merthyr Tydfilian based rap metal (yes!) group Start! Start!. Mr. B is always grooving our tunes up with his mad bass skills, but he doesn’t get much chance to shine on the mic. That’s where Small Fortunes comes in; Gareth B shows us his unique view on the world with this swanky and professional-as-fuck four track EP. Lamenting us through the medium of auto-tune like some bastard lovechild of Ke$ha and Nate Dogg, Small Fortunes takes us into four real life scenarios told through the exciting method of songwriting. “Baldman Beatdown” tells us how Mr. B mashed up a cider-swilling lout at his local bar, “Mr. Sunday Night” is the hilarious tale of a bloke that he met in the local chippy who didn’t know what day it was, “Crows Nest” is a backlash reaction to some over-enthusiastic music critic, and “A Birthday To Remember” shares the toilet-rattling tale of getting the shits after his birthday meal. I was present for that one, and boy it was ugly! Despite the enormously sexy artwork, this EP is burned onto CDr, although you’d never guess because Gareth B has put so much love into this little package. The CDrs are styled like lil’ 5″ vinyls, which is right up my street, and the production on the songs by Downtown Studios’ Uncle Richard is very polished and modern. The cartoony artwork by Lauren Orrells is the finishing touch here. These motherfuckers are limited to 50 copies, so act fast and get one from Small Fortunes whilst the going is good! I also have the first Small Fortunes promo single “Caution! Wet Floor!” download card free with every Pointless Records order, so get in!