Lines In Wax

TWELVE YEARS OF UNWANTED OPINION

Month: June 2016

Conjurer – I (2016)
doom metal

Conjurer – I (2016)

I was asked to review this recently; jumping at the chance to do so (frankly, I’m just so happy to finally hear studio material by Conjurer). I can be quite wary of being asked to review things, or of bands that “farm out” reviews, because usually, if you have to ask for something to be written about, then it’s going to be shite, but this is something incredibly special. Conjurer have been gigging maniacally for a while now, and I think it’s safe to say this debut is hotly anticipated. We (Judas Cradle) shared a bill with these guys for our second ever gig, but we had to leave because some piece of shit power metal band were trying to fight us over broken equipment (the venue actually broke it, not us. Safe to say we never received an apology, so fuck that fucking piece of shit venue, fuck the promoter and fuck that cunty band). Luckily the same tour came to my “local” a few days later, sans tubbo power metal, so I was able to actually watch these guys, and I still stand by the statement that Conjurer are the best band to have ever played that venue. Ever. They totally blew me away, and every other band off the bill (no offence intended, of course). I is no different. Short version: Conjurer are fucking class. Long version: I simply floors the competition, and as far as decent debuts go, this is off the fucking chart. Conjurer have their own sound so it’s hard to break them down into a string of dropped names to fill out a review (a staple of my writing style hahaha) but if I had to (and I will!) try and piece a picture together outta existing artists I’d say they are like some mad-scientist mix between Converge, Gojira and Neurosis, with a very Anathema-esque over-arching melodic edge; weeping guitar leads meeting crushing heaviness and droning doomery. Raspy, tortured back up vocals act as a foil to the gravel-throated roars of frontman Dan Nightingale. Favourite track: The closing number, “Frail”. All four tracks are beyond strong, but the way this brooding epic culminates never fails to rip my head off; those blasts just coming from fucking nowhere, and the riff is just perfect. It feels like all the misery and torment from every second of each tune previous to this has been building up to this final explosion. Listen and love! (FYI There are some awesome Conjurer t-shirt designs on the go at the moment, and this fucker just dropped on CD and vinyl thanks to Holy Roar.)

Holocausto Canibal – Sublime Massacre Corpóreo (2002)
death metal grindcore

Holocausto Canibal – Sublime Massacre Corpóreo (2002)

I’ve been listening to Holocausto Canibal on and off for quite some time now, as well as that, Judas Cradle share a split with them and have played live with them, but one thing I’ve never done is looked backwards at the bands older stuff, until now, and I literally could not be happier that I did so. This shit leans more towards the late 80s / early 90s dirgy goregrind sound rather than the band’s later, more Exhumed-style (as a comparison) gory death metal. Which is fucking great, because I love this type of stuff. A variety of horror samples break up dirty downtuned metal, growling gurgles and a perfectly pitched snare drum. Expect horrifying sounds that are reminiscent of Haemorrhage, General Surgery, Gruesome Stuff Relish, even with hints of earlier Lividity recordings, and all slopped over with a heavy early Carcass vibe (it is impossible not to have this, in these circles, I think).

Benediction – Grind Bastard (1998)
death metal

Benediction – Grind Bastard (1998)

I’ve caught Benediction live a few times (with Dave Hunt on vocals) and they have always killed it, so in my recent hunt for new tunes I decided it was probably time that I check out a studio recording by the band. They’ve got a pretty long and eventful career, so I wasn’t sure where to start, but the name of this record just jumped right out at me (I wonder why…). I’m not entirely sure what any of this has to do with grindcore (edit: nothing at all) but break time rolled around at work, so I trekked over to the nearest Subway and sat there eating a rip-off elongated sandwich, whilst this fed my mind… On first listen I thought that Barney Greenway from Napalm Death was on this, but a swift Google search revealed that it is actually Dave Ingram, although Barney has provided vocals for this band in times past! Not a coincidence, no doubt. Benediction seem to bridge together thrash and death metal into a mix of their own, creating a mid-paced but interesting concoction that is downtuned and growly yet not boring and repetitive. The little things make this record; the songs are not mind-numbingly technical but the sneaky, gorgeous drum fills are fantastic, and the riffs float with nuance despite their chuggy heavyness. I’m a bit late to the party but I will be looking for my Benediction records in the future.

Death Grips – Exmilitary (2011)
hip hop

Death Grips – Exmilitary (2011)

Exmilitary is the debut mixtape/record/whatever from seminal noise-meets-rap maniacs Death Grips. I can’t believe this thing is five years old, especially considering I’ve been planning on reviewing it since I started this website! But yeah – I don’t think the hip hop world was prepared for Death Grips, and neither were the legions of fans from outside of that sphere; would-be converts sidling on over due to this group, and this mixtape. I first came across this on Jay Randall’s Grindcore Karaoke website as a free download, and was instantly hooked on the super-weird, trashy mash up of noise electronics and hip hop music. To me it sounded like ODB meets Merzbow at a Scorn show, and this was before the gimmicks and the controversy; all you had in regards to Death Grips was this puzzling record sleeve, and bangers like “Guillotine”, “Takyon (Death Yon)”, “5d” leading to “Through the Walls” and “Blood Creepin”. An iconic and essential piece of modern hip hop, if you’ve not already heard it.

Grunt – Codex Bizarre (2015)
grindcore

Grunt – Codex Bizarre (2015)

Grunt (the Portugese gore/porn/whatever/grind band, not the power electronics project of the same name) have been causing quite a stir lately for various reasons, and the main response among “haters” online is that the music made by Grunt is for neanderthals. So I listened. Ha! I’m not exactly a stranger to the seedier sub-genres of grind (shhh though, don’t tell the real trve grinders I called this grind) but I was very much blown away by how on-point this record is. I was expecting some mediocre tupa tupa bollocks but this is fresh, interesting, and put together with a strong studio production job. (edit: I have seen Grunt live before, a long time before listening to this, but the sound was so fucking bad at that venue they literally had no chance). Just by looking at the artwork one would instantly draw comparisons to Cock And Ball Torture, and whilst the band do draw elements from that mucky pool of inspiration, Grunt have their own unique sound, mashing together cleverly-assembled metal with elements of goregrind, dark and twisted electronica, and a not-too-imposing usage of source material and sampling. I mean, sometimes it’s hard to bang on some pornogrind at top volume when there’s a crap sample of somebody having an orgasm over the top of it every five minutes. You can stream the whole album on YouTube or Bandcamp or get the real thing from the legendary Bizarre Leprous. Codɘx Bizarrɘ (Deluxe Edition) by GRUNT

Gore Beyond Necropsy – I Recommend You… Amputation! (1992)
grindcore

Gore Beyond Necropsy – I Recommend You… Amputation! (1992)

Gore Beyond Necropsy are nothing short of legendary on the noise/grind underground for a multitude of reasons (the hilariously titled split/collab with Merzbow springs to mind). They have long since changed their name and disappeared into total obscurity, but for a short while they kinda flew the flag for this kinda noisy shit, and this 12 minute EP showcases a slightly different side to the band’s infamous noisy grindcore. It all starts off with horror samples and down-tuned, dirty guitar playing, but then the drums kick in after the slow intro with this over-arching industrial feel, it’s like the drums are purposefully programmed in a machine-like way – as they blast away there’s a ticking mechanical heart to the proceedings; a clanking abdominal creation keeping the beating heart of this shit alive inside it’s exposed chest and eviscerated gore. Imagine Godflesh and Carcass melding as one in the mid/late 80s, for a ridiculous ballpark idea!  

Bad Brains – Bad Brains (1982)
punk & hardcore

Bad Brains – Bad Brains (1982)

Bad Brains are nothing short of legendary so it’s kinda hard to sum this up in two paragraphs or so. I have to admit that I am a recent convert to this group. I’ve always been a fan of dub reggae and the like but not so much hardcore punk, but as time is quickly ticking away the hours of my life I have grown something of an appreciation for the genre, and Bad Brains meld the two together almost perfectly on their 1982 self-titled debut. A stand out track in the punk style would have to be “Attitude”, or maybe “Fearless Vampire Killers”, and for the reggae style stuff you literally cannot top “Leaving Babylon”; which for me is easily the best track on the entire record with it’s woeful lyrics set to a strangely upbeat bass line. If you are as late to the party as I am I implore you to give this a spin. 

Bowel Stew – Debridement (2015)
death metal

Bowel Stew – Debridement (2015)

Debridement is (I believe) the third album by Italian goregrind / death metal squad Bowel Stew. Whilst Debridement owes more to brutal death metal than any goregrind record, it manages to maintain that authentic air of dodgy pathological madness that is often lost in the ‘brutalism’ of much death metal. Bowel Stew is a nasty band, and whilst the cover art might not be a real picture of disgusting gore, you know they mean business with this sound. Debridement contains 9 tracks, most around the 2 minute mark, although due to the composition style they actually sound a lot longer to me, but perhaps my brain is just geared this way when it comes to death metal. Unfortunately, a lot of underground brutal death ends up sounding like complete mush, but Debridement retains some semblance of clarity in the production job despite the usual murky furore of blasting gore madness. Probably the best sounding Bowel Stew recording I’ve come across so far, and well worth a look for fans of both brutal death metal and goregrind.

Consumer Electronics – Estuary English (2014)
noise & power electronics

Consumer Electronics – Estuary English (2014)

I love power electronics and noise but when this came out I completely lost it….what the fuck is actually going on? Estuary English is one of those rare records that I completely fail to understand, so I wrote it off for a while, completely unable to comprehend what I was listening to. It just sounded like Vyvyan from the Young Ones screaming over sub par bits and blips of electronic mush. If that’s what you want from your music then by all means Consumer Electronics are the band for you, but I had to duck out and then back into with an extremely open mind. On the second run through I kinda started to get it; it almost sounds like Ramleh if you replace the walls of analogue noise with blippy digital crap (edit: the vocalist here, Philip Best, did have a stint in Ramleh). But y’know, it still kinda sounds like somebody just shouting over crap digital noise rather than anything that offers some kind of substance. I hate giving bad reviews, but this just isn’t for me.

Carcass – Surgical Steel (2013)
death metal

Carcass – Surgical Steel (2013)

Surgical Steel is Carcass’ big comeback record, 18 years after their original death rattle – Swansong – in 1995. This was a big noise when it first came out, due to the high profile of the comeback, but my ears were elsewhere, as being an elitist goregrind-loving asshat I had written anything post-Necroticism off as widdly death metal shite. To be fair, I’m still completely 100% right, but I’ve stopped being such a dick about it; Carcass are a fantastically talented band and one of the best in metal – I just need to accept I don’t particularly love the majority of their back catalogue. It is with great surprise then, that I find 2013’s Surgical Steel incredibly listenable. As soon as I stop mentally comparing it to Symphonies Of Sickness, it becomes something so much more. Don’t get me wrong, the production is a bit too close to Arch Enemy for me (even now with the absence of Amott), but Surgical Steel hits hard. “Thrasher’s Abattoir” is the first track proper, a 1:50 blast through top quality Jeff Walker squawks and cheeky blastbeats, and I cannot fucking argue with that. Other standout tracks for me are the ridiculously titled “The Master Butcher’s Apron”, with it’s flurry of blasting madness, and the equally silly “The Granulating Dark Satanic Mills”, with it’s bizarre chorus of chanted numbers, which according to fans on YouTube, is an ID code for “extracellular solute-binding protein”. So yeah, that explains that. Carcass may not be the same band that made some of my all time favourite records anymore, but this is an incredibly solid metal record and I would recommend it heartily to mainstream fans looking to explore into the dark side of metal a bit….

Gruesome Stuff Relish – Horror Rises From The Tomb (2006)
death metal grindcore

Gruesome Stuff Relish – Horror Rises From The Tomb (2006)

(2016 edit: this review was written about 7 years ago for my old blog Even Shakespeare Fed The Worms. I’ve rejigged it so I don’t sound like so much of an immature ass, but please keep this in mind whilst reading. Enjoy!) As I start this compact disc I am unaware entirely of what to expect, but I am met with a fairly typical sample, but it is followed by a very interesting and refreshing groove. From there on in, the album reveals itself to be a mix of mid-paced blasts and chugging grooves in the goregrind style of Haemorrhage et al. The sound of this particular production job is a little murky, but I feel it compliments the grindcore / death metal cross over that this band is trying to achieve. When the vocals kick in with a series of lows and raspy shouts, I am reminded somewhat of Jeff Walker. It is at that precise moment that a great realisation hits me; Gruesome Stuff Relish has managed to replicate an unique blend between mid-career Carcass music, spliced with the early-career Carcass sound. If this session actually turned out to be a lost Carcass record, made in between “Symphonies” and “Necroticism”, it would not at all surprise me one bit. However, despite this, for me I find the music is very similar throughout the whole disc and there are no stand out tracks. The sleeve art is an interesting piece of work by Jeffrey Zornow, which was either done cleverly with powder paints, or drawn digitally. In today’s Photoshop society, it is very hard to tell for certain which method has been used. The piece centres on a strikingly blue, nude woman. Zombies, cannibal tribes, and headless counts surround her. The conclusion I have drawn from this disc is that it is a worthy addition to any death metal collection, as it is not entirely bad. It is just not something I would rush out and buy if I was aware beforehand of the contents.

Glowering – Demo 2012 (2012)
black metal noise & power electronics

Glowering – Demo 2012 (2012)

Glowering is a side project ov the tr00 and totes brutes invokator of gore noise havoc, Bobby Maggard. This time however, Bobby puts aside his hacksaw and bloodstained apron in favour of a pentagram-topped staff and a severed goat’s head hollowed out to make a snug little mask, as black metal is the theme of the day. But this ain’t no ordinary romp through black metal, no sir. It’s quite annoying actually, because a few months ago I was looking for something just like this, and turns out it had been sitting on my CD shelf all along. Glowering’s 2012 demo mixes the dissonance of harsh noise (in a gorenoise style, if I can be so ridiculous to try and point that out) with the ambience and imagery of black metal, creating a truly hellish listening experience that is sonically abrasive, but rather unfortunately, quite irritating by duration’s end. Black metal often sounds like it was recorded in a wind tunnel. This is the wind tunnel.

Gwen Stefani – This Is What The Truth Feels Like (2016)
pop

Gwen Stefani – This Is What The Truth Feels Like (2016)

It’s been a while since the last Gwen Stefani solo album, and being a No Doubt fan and enjoying the bands last release (Push and Shove), I was interested to hear how this new solo effort would sound, and mainly the vibe it’d have this time around. Opening track “Misery” is a great introduction to the album; and in regards to the route the album goes down, this album is an awful lot less R’n’B/hip hop-influenced than any previous Gwen Stefani solo releases (which may or may not be of preference for some listeners). However, I’d say this is a lot more closer to No Doubt’s latest sounds than that of the pop and R’n’B sounds Gwen has been known for as a solo artist. There’s a really good sound to this album overall; a bold production filled with strong tracks, and very little – if any – filler. You can actually hear the reggae/ska vibes coming through in parts too; the sounds that have so obviously influenced the No Doubt sound and there is one track that shows this absolutely perfectly – “Where Would I Be”, which has a very chilled out and laid back ska-influenced groove. Aside from that, there is a nice mix of great pop songs. I personally think this is the strongest record as a whole that Gwen has put out solo; her vocals shine throughout and we are presented with a very enjoyable solo comeback.