Intact are a 3 piece mostly-instrumental progressive grind band from San Francisco. If that doesn’t pique your interest then you must be a sucker for conventions. This album is far from conventional. In fact, it is grind flipped on its head. This album captures the frantic nature of grind, but insists on having intention, different from the usual minute of insanity that you typically get per song. Intact draw out the progressive aspects of grindcore in a way where it becomes difficult to draw the line anymore.
Before I start I wanted to take a moment to formally introduce myself. I am Tentaclesworth, a Canadian metal hipster who likes all kinds of music. We can be buds if you don’t like Cannibal Corpse. I look forward to writing for you guys.
So I have this running list of things I want to see certain bands and musicians do. I try and think of all the unconventional collaborations, songs stylings and covers that would be really interesting (or at least interesting to me.), and I’m interested to hear if anyone has anything to add?
I mean, the possibilities are endless. I have always wanted to see a cover of Led Zeppelin‘s “Black Dog” by Jack White. I think Jack White would kill that song, and although this subject is about subjective as it gets, you can really dabble in this kind of thinking and perhaps it will lead you to something quite like what you had in mind.
For example, I was playing bass one day and I had it all cool sounding and distorted. I then realized how capable the bass was at making catchy melodies and sounding very awesome with distortion. I wanted to hear bass as a lead instrument. After some research I discovered a two-piece dance/punk outfit called Death From Above 1979. They have a bassist/ keyboard player and a drummer/vocalist. Safe to say, I was quite satisfied. It was exactly what I was looking for.
Singapore based grindcore band Wormrot will be hitting up the studio in January to release a follow up to 2009′s heavy hitter Abuse with a new album titled Dirge. Dirge is expected to come out in the Spring of 2011. According to vocalist Arif they are working “extra fucking hard on this one.” which leads the sensible person that has heard the sheer awesomeness of Abuse to believe Dirge will be on a whole new level. Get pumped.
Here’s the track Exterminate for your listening pleasure.
Especially when the band gets their name from the same person I got my HBIH name from: Ed Gein!
While looking up documentaries on the notorious Ed Gein I ran into the band Ed Gein (who I had heard of before but expected to suck ass) and decided I’d check it out. And to my surprise, it’s actually pretty fucking good! Its got a lot of mathcore influence (key word) so that might be why I like it, but the overall batshit insanity these dudes bring to the table makes for an enjoyable listen:
That guitar tone is sinister as fuck. If anyone knows of bands who sound like this please link me in the comments! I could get into this.
Grindcore pioneers Napalm Death released their new video for the title track from this year’s album Time Waits For No Slave. The video is pretty kickass. Vocalist Mark “Barney” Greenway had this to say:
“[The video] encompasses all the features of a dour, sterile, product-driven world and the sheer joy of freeing up your mind and appreciating the simplicity of the world evolving around you rather than flogging yourself to death all the time to get ahead. [It was] done in Norwich (Eastern U.K.) with Tom Blyth, who you might not have heard of. But he was in a really old U.K. hardcore band called Goober Patrol. We saw his work and he really seems to understand the art of protest without the cheesiness or cliché.”
The album was released in the U.S. on February 10 on Century Media Records. Watch the video above and rock the fuck out.
This is “Broken Halo” from this year’s Odd Senses. Apparently I’ve been under a rock.
In other Psyopus news, drummer Jason Bauers is now accepting private students for drum set and percussion instruction. Areas of instruction include, but are not limited to, metal, funk, jazz, fusion, concert percussion, snare drum technique, and keyboard percussion. So whether you are looking to develop speed, technical knowledge, build you snare chops, or learn four mallet marimba solos, you will find help here. All ages and skill levels are welcome.
If interested, contact Jason at jason.bauers.lessons@gmail.com for details.
I wish I loved in New York so I could hit this up. If you’re in the area DO THIS.
I can honestly say I’m not that big of a grindcore fan, unless you count Genghis Tron, although you probably shouldn’t. I do however like some Pig Destroyer, but I wouldn’t call myself a fan of them. It was just out of sure curiosity that I decided to check out Agoraphobic Nosebleed‘s new effort, (and in my opinion, their opus) Agorapocalypse. My first thought upon finishing the record the first time went something like, “HOLY SHIT WHAT IS THIS I DON’T EVEN”. The title of the album hits the nail on the head. This is the sonic equivalent of an apocalypse through the eyes of ANb mastermind Scott Hull. It’s nothing short of chaos fucking you in the ear. Lyrically, the album is all about drugs, fucked up sex, and violence. But this is a grindcore album. You knew what you were getting into.
There are a number of different things that sets this album apart from other ANb albums. The biggest one to me is that the songs are actually cohesive pieces. Every song but one lasts longer than a minute. If you’re pissed over this, then get the fuck out. I’d rather have a 13 track album with complete songs than a 50 track album with songs lasting a whole 5 seconds. The other thing that certainly stands out is the utilization of three different vocalists: Katherine Katz, Jay Randall, and Richard Johnson, each bringing in a different and discernible flavor and style to the table. Vocals are all harsh, you wont catch any clean singing here. At the most, you’ll get some talking, but it’s all snarls, blood curdling screams, and grunts.
The production on Agorapocalypse is perfect. It’s so tight, you could bounce a quarter off of it. You can pick out every little detail. You can clearly hear the bass laying a crunchy foundation, which is something you don’t hear all that often in a grindcore record. The guitar goes all over the place here. You get thrash tremolo picking, crushing riffs, grooves, general noise and feedback, and the occasional melodic guitar line, which are few and far between. I’m impressed by how great these drums sound. Hull used Drumkit From Hell software, which I’ve experimented with before. I have no idea how he makes it sound so good. You can tell Hull put everything into this album. He didn’t rush through this; He took his time and wrote, programmed, performed, and mastered this perfectly. His hard work definitely pays off. This album is a masterpiece.
Thanks to MetalSucks, I’ll be getting the longbox edition here soon. It’ll definitely be a prized possession. Listen to my personal favorite track Question of Integrity below. It features one of the most badass drum solos ever. Impressive, even if it was programmed.
Slaughterbox are a deathgrind/techdeath band hailing from Red Bluff, California. Their sound is indescribable. It has spastic, technical, sometimes dissonant and sometimes melodic and sometimes brutal guitars. Ranging from technical tapping and sweeping to crushing riffs, their drummer pounds away as he growls and squeals this band to obscurity. The strange, Patton esque schizophrenic vocals contribute to the already technical and spastic guitar work which is mind numbingly fast. They currently only have two small releases, a split with fellow band Killgasm titled “The Loss of Human Dignity” featuring two tracks: 1. Judas Kiss
2. The Loss of Human Dignity
and an ep titled “The Ubiquity of Subjugation” with just three tracks: 1. Fit For Human Consumption
2. The Head Table
3. The Ubiquity of Subjugation
The band are rising in ranks everyday, and are semi-working on new material as they tour to gain an audience. I want you to peep their stuff over at their myspace.
This is the tracklist for the upcoming Gaza release “He Is Never Coming Back.” The album has been mixed and is awaiting mastering, according to the band’s blog. If you’re not familiar with Gaza, they’re a metalcore band that take influences from sludge and mathcore and several other genres. Their last release “I Don’t Care Where I Go When I Die” contained a bleak, terrifying, and abysmal atmosphere that was shockingly good, which explains why this new album is rather enticing. Check them out.
Intact
4.5/5
Slaughterbox are a deathgrind/techdeath band hailing from Red Bluff, California. Their sound is indescribable. It has spastic, technical, sometimes dissonant and sometimes melodic and sometimes brutal guitars. Ranging from technical tapping and sweeping to crushing riffs, their drummer pounds away as he growls and squeals this band to obscurity. The strange, Patton esque schizophrenic vocals contribute to the already technical and spastic guitar work which is mind numbingly fast. They currently only have two small releases, a split with fellow band Killgasm titled “The Loss of Human Dignity” featuring two tracks:
2. The Kicking Legs
