Archive for January 2015

I picked this up because a few of my mates really like Exit_International, and swear by their unusual bass guitar driven sleazy rock swagger. It was also nice to see a 7″ for sale locally, of a local band, so that swayed me. I love bass guitar focussed stuff, and I’ve heard a fair amount of it over the years, but this, well, it just bores the guts outta me. Exit_International have got their sound,…

For me, the blow of Strapping Young Lad’s dissolution was softened somewhat with the release of this album shortly afterward. The recent release of Z2 (the sequel to this record for those catching up) reminded me that I haven’t written a little bit about the original Ziltoid, which is a modern metal classic, in my opinion. If you’ve not heard of Ziltoid The Omniscient I suspect you may have been living under some sort of…

Welcome to the album that got me banned from the Vinyl Junkies group on Facebook! Haha! There was some spat happening on there over the use of the nude female form as album artwork. The usual pros and cons were discussed, where the line between pornography and art lies etc. etc., and I argued (quite sensibly, I would like to think) that no matter what the image may be, if the band or artist has…

Two grind legends head to head on one split – that’s all it takes for me! I’m sold! Rotten Sound’s polished uber-super-grind has gotten more and more streamlined and refined as albums have come and gone, so it’s refreshing to hear some old stuff from them now and then and remember what sounds they used to make ‘back in the day’. Mixing Napalm Death-brand grindcore ferocity with tinges of death metal, Rotten Sound plough through…

If you’ve been following this site since the beginning then you’re probably somewhat aware that I have had mostly nothing but praise for all the Embalming Theatre stuff that I’ve reviewed. This 2005 full-length record is going to be no exception, as it showcases everything that I love about these Swiss grindcore maniacs. What I have here the 2007 pressing on vinyl by Power It Up from Germany (the original 2005 release was just on…

This is one of my all time favourite albums. In fact, there’s a few Streets records in my all time favourites, but this one has got to be the best, IMO. In my youth I found The Streets’ quirky raps about everyday life rather amusing, and in my maturity (err… LOL) I have discovered whole new deeper social commentaries within them, as well as a greater, more profound love for the instrumentation itself. Mike Skinner…

Now here’s a band I don’t listen to enough. Lord Gore are (or were) (2020 edit: are) a goregrind-tinged death metal band from the US of A. I can never remember where I got this album from but it’s a corker. The first thing you’ll most likely notice about Lord Gore is the extremely watery and disgusting vocals; a welcome break from the endless cookie monsterisms of the death metal genre. Despite their bowel-churning watery…

AUN are another band that I picked up on thanks to Roadburn Festival. I missed them on the day (2012 edition I believe) but in a ritual that my friends call Pre-Roadburn Listening I got listening to their Black Pyramid record. Multigone is an earlier recording of theirs, and is a bit harshier than the meandering ambience present on Black Pyramid. AUN’s approach to noise is droning, unfolding soundscapes that almost have some tangible tune…

This album should be called In Disgust We Crust! I’ve never been into Mistress really; I always got my superfast metal fix in Anaal Nathrakh and my crusty d-beat headbangery fix in Fukpig, both projects relating to members of this band. For these reasons I always tended to look over Mistress’ existence – that was until I caught their farewell show at Damnation Festival a few years ago, and bloody shitting heck, son – that…

I dunno the last time I listened to a Gwar record all the way through. In fact, I dunno the last time I even attempted to listen to a Gwar record in the first place! Ever since Oderus’ untimely death last year I’ve been meaning to check out more Gwar stuff – simply because they are one of my favourite live bands ever, and I feel like I haven’t given them a proper chance. Dave…

Weedeater’s Sixteen Tons is a beer and whiskey soaked southern-tinged romp in sludgey doom metal. The guitar tone is literally the audible equivalent of a Louisiana swamp; a thick bog of rumbling riffs and plodding rhythms. I first got into Weedeater when I saw them at Hellfest nearly five years ago (bloody heck) and they were so heavy that I fell asleep. Granted, it was probably the monumental amount of people within the tent who…

Sunn O))) are a bunch of folks who love their arsty fartsy, hipster-baiting collaborations. The split with Ulver, the featuring of Julian Cope on earlier drones, the covering of “Che” on a 10″ shared with Alan Vega, that art installation thingy that Oracle was based around, and I’m sure there’s more but those are the ones that spring to mind. So I’m not surprised then, to see this collab with Scott Walker come along at…