Ramlord - Crippled Minds, Sundered Wisdom (2013)

Crippled Minds, Sundered Wisdom is an album I have been reveling in quietly for a while now, and it's high fucking time I spread the good word about Ramlord. Blackened crust is something that has reared its ugly head like a goddamn contagion, and I'm not complaining, but in a sea of "heard this before" you should probably stand out. Ramlord DO standout. Fusing elements of blackened crust, powerviolence, grimy punk, doom and D-beat into a cohesive and formidable beast. The production is tight and gritty, retaining the raw and dissonant nature while omitting that plasticky bullshit.

This release really should reap a little more credit. It's released on a small, forward thinking, DIY type label and offered up for pay what you want. These are the types of things SHOM is (mostly) about. I know some of you reading this have your own music blogs (some far better than my own), if you like this please do throw it up on your own blog as well. If not, well… It at least feels good to try man.

(Released by Hypaethral Records, which is an upcoming label just down the street from me in Toronto)

Crippled Minds, Sundered Wisdom

Lycus - Tempest (2013)

Immensely crawling funeral doom with tempos slower than the short bus. I would get this and listen to it if I were you, but I'm not, so the decision is still yours. Doom on.

Tempest (Zippyshare)
Bandcamp

Label: 20 Buck Spin

A.M.S.G. - Anti Cosmic Tyranny (2013)

A.M.S.G. stands for "Ad Majorem Satanae Gloriam" which is Latin and means "For the Greater Glory of Satan", the only member is Angelfukk Witchhammer and he considers the music to fall under the appellation of “Holocaustik Canadian Terrorist Black Metal” and “Black Magik Terrorism”…

What the fvkk? I have my ears to the ground with anything put forth by Profound Lore Records, being a record label I trust to consistently release forward thinking metal, and A.M.S.G. are hardly an exception to this. 'Anti Cosmic Tyranny' is unique if not hard to digest, with its unabashed nature to satanism, the occult, and all that is true fucking darkness. It is to my understanding that this album was conceived when Mr. Angelfukk was serving a prison sentence for the possession and selling of guns and drugs. Black metal throughout its history was spawned from crime, so I suppose this should earn a respected head nod from within the genres puritans? Whatever, fuck all that.

I'm not even fully through this album yet as I post this, and I'm not fully certain what I've made out of it all, like I said, lots to take in and digest from this, but I can't deny the allure of the dark journey it seems to take you through… Dragging the listener into the yearning aphotic chasm of all that is unhallowed and bleak.

Anti Cosmic Tyranny
(Alternate Download Link)

Coltsblood - Beyond The Lake of Madness demo (2013)

Crushingly sluggish doom that drags on between two lo-fi tracks rife with feedback, crunchy tones and a vocal delivery that strikes me as unique to the particular genre, sometimes sounding more like powerviolence played at half speed inside a distant hollow. Unfortunately I can't get my hands on the demo, cassettes are sold out and I haven't a download link… So it goes, though if any member of Coltsblood stumbles upon this, get in touch, I'd like to give this a proper review.

If the band wishes it, I'll provide a download link for you scoundrels!

Coltsblood (bandcamp)

Stomach Earth - Stomach Earth (2013)

Funeral doom and death metal hold hands on this yawning morass from The Red Chord's founder and guitarist, Mike "Gunface" McKenzie. The album plays like a blood curdling hymn to the fetid, the vocal delivery sounds like it's coming from the throat of a phlegm infested, gurgling overseer belching out commands to the peons in the chasms of hell. Everything sounds thick and immensely heavy, which is only further demonstrated when played loud, like past the point of comfortable loud. The debut album has some shining moments, and earns credit for its exploration into the genre(s) further than down-tuning and guttural secretion… But both of those are still highly present.

Stomach Earth (Zippyshare)

Sielunvihollinen - Ruttokieli (2013) [demo]

 

I know what you're thinking, "Man, I really should have went to illustration school so I could draw infanticide and other various phallic imagery for black metal bands…" and you're right, you should have because the world sure as fuck doesn't need anymore nubby fingered, grease-ball accountants.

Raw black metal from Finland that showcases some evil riffing and cold, stripped to the bone sound.

Ruttokieli

Bandcamp

A Halifax Collect review: All Pigs Must Die - Nothing Violates This Nature (2013)

     Open up your heart and let All Pigs Must Die take a big greasy shit into your soul with their second full length 'Nothing Violates This Nature.' All Pigs Must Die are a supergroup hailing from Boston and basically share the same name as Virginia's Pig Destroyer… Think about it (but not for too long you'll strain yourself.)

… Continue Reading

Every once in a while my glacial riding Icelandic buddy Birkir pesters the fuck out of me to write review after review for his music blog Halifax Collect, sometimes I acquiesce the mans request and he proudly puts it up on his music blog (which is assuredly more up to date and informative than SHOM).

If you haven't yet heard this album, take a leave from the rock you've been living under and give it a go, It's far from groundbreaking, but if you want to stupidly bang around your head and hate people 'Nothing Violates This Nature' is a suitable vessel to do so.

Harm's Way - Blinded (2013)

Harm's Way seem eager to put forth tunes that are still filled with vitriol and barbarity with their lowbrow, heavier than thou take on hardcore, and they do… But time has seen Harm's Way explore uncharted territory, allowing songs to breathe and swell over lengthier tracks, further exaggerated tension with doomy and brooding sections that sometimes lend itself for experimentation. Well shit, pretty much every track on this EP harbors an example of this whether it be subtle or blatant; Towards the end of the opening track 'Frontal Lobe' sounds like one of those chieftain war cries that you would hear on a sludge record, 'Blinded' is an all instrumental half intro and buildup that results in the track ending with a subtle whirring example of a little sound experimentation, but the best example is on the closing track 'Live to Loathe' when the drums morph into an 8-bit drum beat.

 (Thanks to the blog "I Would Have Stolen You A Whole Orchestra" for letting me steal the Zippyshare link)

BLINDED

Mumakil - Flies Will Starve (2013)

Mumakil (moom-a-keel) consider their music "blastcore", which is as fitting as it is fucking stupid. Gravity blasts and blast beats don't cause for pioneering another genre, so fucking what. "Nintendo-core" was stupid then and is sure as shit stupid now. Anal Cunt didn't profile their music under the moniker of "banging out heroine, getting blowies and stealing riffs - core", even though they were fucking qualified… Come to think of it, "Anal Cunt - core" is probably fairly accurate anyway.

I digress, besides genre inventing I have nothing but good things to say about Flies Will Starve, just as I did about Behold The Failure. The formula is simple, fast fucking tunes surrounded by a barrage of blasts, buzz-saw guitar work and vocals that your dad would fucking hate.

Pick this up. I have a pretty hefty queue of new and exciting tunes to bring to this blog so stick around, or not, but stick around because this blog will be fresher than your grandma's freshly douched… Just stick around fellas.

Eat shit.

Sincerely,


Chris D'Alessandro

PS; Flies Will Starve (Zippyshare)

Take Over And Destroy - Endless Night (2013)

Here's what's going on – I downed a quarter bottle of this Jack Daniel's honey whiskey with a couple cups of coffee in record time, this was my only breakfast and now I'm starting to feel the affects of this creative lubricant… "It's high-time I cleaned out those fucking cobwebs on my music blog so the tens of thousands (?) of my followers (Or do you guys prefer disciples?) can revel in the excitement of tunes that I certify as good." said myself somewhere in the beguiled brain-space of mine. It was either that or make a couple batches of freshly baked Rice Krispie squares… This time, the guilt of abandoning my followers (disciples?) outweighed my hunger.


So here I sit, cup of whiskey sweating, teeth unbrushed, hair uncombed, still beautiful, cracking my knuckles in eager preparation to start the writing process I was once all too accustomed with (fuck, just spilled my cup of whiskey on my desk soaking the bottom half of my "Listen To This" book while at the same time receiving a text from my pal in the band Oxtongue saying "Tell me you can sing." – I can't sing.

Take Over And Destroy sound like sewage encrusted blackened church bells. No they don't, I was just trying to be clever in my description like those dudes over at Cvlt Nation, and immediately felt stupid for what I had wrote. What they really sound like is a well mixed blend of black n' roll, sludge, and doom with a healthy dose of some organ shit.

Endless Night (320, Zippyshare)
TOAD Bandcamp