TWELVE YEARS OF UNWANTED OPINION
I’m not super fussed on the production of this record but there is no denying its place in the history of brutal death metal and of course the finding of its feet in the slam world. The riffs are brutal and hardcore-tinged, the drums are glorious and the vocals are sick as fuck. Shame the production is a touch dry, but there’s no harm and no fowl (foul? Ha!)
It would be wrong to say that Internal Rot’s Mental Hygiene flew under the radar, as it did receive a high amount of hype from impressed grinders, but personally I believe Internal Rot should be up there alongside Magrudergrind, Wormrot, Insect Warfare, Nasum etc. – what we could possibly conceive as the “grindcore mainstream”. Mental Hygiene is such a great fucking album, and one that I heavily recommend.
This is one of those things where I cannot remember for the life of me where I picked the recommendation up from. Musically, its not something that I would usually listen to, but I found myself falling in love with Black Magick SS’ occult rock swagger. Hey, maybe its just everything I ever wanted Ghost to be, except not shit, and with a black metal influence. Whichever way you cut it, this shit fucking rocks. However… It wasn’t until I had listened to it a few times however, and decided to check out Discogs to suss if its ever been put on cassette, that I noticed that the release was banned from sale in the marketplace. It was then that I noticed the sheer amount of swastikas in the cover painting! Like, what the fuck haha (inb4 there’s SS in the name, there’s a ton of bands with SS in the name)! Can anyone shed any light on whether this is a fascist or white supremacist band? I’m not one to knee-jerk react, nor to condemn perhaps risky flirtation with controversial imagery, but if these guys are Neo Dickheads then I’ll be refrained from listening to any more of their stuff.
Another few days or weeks, another Miles Davis record. Since the beginning of lockdown I’ve made a good effort (considering how much other stuff there is to listen to) to go back and work through a fair chunk of this man’s discography. Truly, it can be intimidating in scope, so I’m glad I finally got to grips with it. Blue Haze is a record from the classic era (I mean, isn’t it all classic? But still!) before Davis became engrossed in the wild experimentation and progression sides of jazz, he (and his band) performed fantastic little numbers like those present on this record. I’m no jazz expert, don’t get me wrong, but I have no complaints at all with this release.
I love Cradle Of Filth. I love classical music. I love hammy keyboards and the dungeon synth genre. Why then, if you smush all of these things together, as is the case with this record, are the results so resoundingly poor? This two disc set is so categorically the very definition of disappointment. Its the same tracks on both discs 1 and 2, the only difference is that on disc 1, the songs have new vocal interpretations added too, by Dani Filth and long-time Cradle session vocalist Sara Jezebel Deva (with the exception of “Goetia”, which exists with vocals only). Both are excellent vocal performers in their own right, but do nothing to save the record at all here. Midnight… is so genuinely boring that it makes me sad to my very core. For Cradle super-fans and collectors only, I would say.
I love Immortal Technique. I have a lot of respect for his contributions to hip hop and his constant “revolutionary” attitude. No doubt it has caused many rap and hip hop fans to think outside the box on a lot of different issues. The 3rd World is no different in that regard, Tech is on point with his flows and his deliveries (as are the majority of the folks doing guesties), but the same issue that plagues the Martyr also plagues The 3rd World. I guess they are both produced by Green Lantern, but that doesn’t really matter. The songs, samples and general vibes of the tracks aren”t all that great. Tech is great, but the songs and their structures are fairly poor, especially when stacked against Vol. 1 and 2, which is a shame.
Stunning, hypnotic electronic synthesiser soundscapes in the vaporwave aesthetic, however you could say this kind of thing borrows just as heavily from Berlin School and more traditional forms of electronic experimentation. Misty Eyes in the story of a man reflecting on the past 100 years (unless I have misunderstood that) and brings up all those powerful feelings of nostalgia and loss that reflection can touch upon, whether sad, bittersweet or even in a heartwarming way. I love this record. It’s the second Cryosauna album I’ve listened to, and its really struck a chord with me.
