Propaghandi - Failed States (2012)

Propaghandi man! From skate punk to a more refined band that delves into a beefier sound with much more urgency and cause. They have always flown their own banner and remain to have a sound to call their own, it's impressive to see how they keep getting better with age, like a good red wine.

The cold Canadian winters have clearly hardened the fuck out of them, as their anger is shining through much faster and hostile tracks. I have to give a mention to the album art, righteous! They have a lot to say, and their saying it, loud and fucking clear!

Failed States (Zippyshare)
Failed States (Deluxe Edition)

Insane - Endless Execution

Fucking dude, this sounds like Gorilla Biscuits and Nuclear Assault from the good ol' 80's. They have been backed by Fenriz, which is the underground musical equivalent to winning the lottery. These dudes better take that momentum boost and bring us a fucking LP soon!

I'm going to contact the band to see if they are willing to give me a link of the demo to post up on here for you fine mongrels to enjoy. Of course they will…

Swans - Lunacy (Opening Track to The Seer)

Hard at work letting this album penetrate me with its dark hypnotizing power, I'll thank myself later. I'm already intrigued, the opening track "Lunacy" is quite fucking awesome. Link for the album was posted yesterday, let me know if you plan on embarking on the journey that is The Seer.

Swans - The Seer (2012)

If you don't mind I'm going to go and listen to this on repeat for the next six hours, all while staring deep into the eyes of a one-eyed cheshire cat with human teeth? So far it sounds like the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack snorted three pints of raw ether but this will take many spins for it to bury its hooks deep, and the sooner I can wrap my head around it the better. The hypnosis is real.

THE SEER

Muck: Interview

I got in touch with Ási, drummer of the Icelandic hardcore band Muck and pretty much just wasted his time with some questions! Check these dudes out, they are grimier than those Chinese squat toilets and hoist the energy of an atom bomb.

•  •  •

What's the fuck is up Ási, how is the weather fairing in Iceland? Thank you for putting up with my stupidity and taking the time to answer some questions like you are in school again. Let's have fun with it.

Hey man. The weather is pretty good at the moment. LETS DANCE!

1) "Here Comes The Man!" fucking rules, it has the atmosphere of an insane asylum and a schizophrenic structure with plenty of wonky discordance. I smile every time I hear 02:25 - 02:40, I don't know what it is exactly about that section, but I think it has something to do with that distant guitar twanging in the background… just sounds so fucking groovy.

I realized I still haven't asked you a question yet, so I'll ask this: Do you have a cowbell on your rig? If not, have you put any thought into getting one? 01:29 - 01:33 could have been cowbell city, takes a man to successfully pull off the cowbell.

Thanks for the pleasant words. That part at 02:25 always makes me think of Mastodon for some reason. As for the real question; No I don't use a cowbell on my rig although I do own one. I think I might just try that one out, thanks for the idea

2) If you had to get a lyrical fragment from a Muck song tattooed on your kneecap which would you use?

I actually already have old lyrical fragments from Muck on my arms. What I would get now is probably this one from the song "Island"
"I'm getting sick and tired of the same spots

The same stops

The same walks

the same small talk
 
I'm sick of you Iceland

I'm sick of you all"

3) Which aspect of your drumming do you feel needs the most improvement?

Well. I think every bit of my drumming could improve all of the time but I feel that's a natural feeling. You have to always strive to get better, to improve more and more.

4) You guys as a band seem to keep pretty fucking busy, so which description mostly fits this reason:

A) We are a very hard-working productive group.

B) It's all about the fans man!

C) Truthfully, we are just bored, so we fill our time with Muck

D) We love the music, we love the reaction we get, and we love to bang fucking heads… and get naked… a lot.

I guess it's a mixture of all of the above. Mostly D though, we fucking love to bang heads!

5) Do you guys really get naked that often? I mean, I've seen a video of you guys jamming naked… once. What gives?

We've done a lot of shit. We've played naked a bunch of times, we've played in dresses, we've played in our underwear after pouring fake blood into them so it looked like we were having our period. And we'll probably keep on doing stupid shit like that.

6) Which would you rather get into a bare knuckle fist fight with a mid-sized great white shark or a crazed mother grizzly bear?

I'd definitely take on the grizzly bear since it made me think of Tekken. Man…I always used to play as the bear in Tekken.

7) I am going to list off songs that are all under a minute in length. Each song is devastatingly pissed off in its own way. Which song for most angry sounding? If Muck had to cover one of these songs live, which would it be? Lastly, which song will be looping on repeat during your fight with the Shark or Bear?

A) Living Hell

B) Eaten Alive

C) Erased Existence

D) Deluded

E) Flood

F) Maggots

G) Skeleton

H) Street Sweeper

I) Old Friends Don't Mean Shit

J) Rotten

K) Use of Weapons

L) Phoenix in Flames


The Ceremony song is definitely an old favorite and I'd put it on loop for my fight with the grizzly bear. I think the Low Places one is the angriest one. I'd love to cover Vile Gash for Muck. That'd be the shit!

8) Do you have a broad musical palette within more extreme music yourself?

I have a real open mind and I'm accepting of all types of music, be it extreme or not. I try not to think of genres but more to what intrigues me. That being said I've been getting a lot into old Icelandic disco stuff.

9) Mercyful Fate or Bad Religion?

Bad Religion

10) Which musical direction do you see Muck moving towards in the early future?

Our music is constantly evolving. I feel like we're always learning more and more what we like and where we want to go. Our new songs are pretty rock and roll.

11) Why the name Muck? Is it because you guys are scummy dudes who play some mucky tunes? Or was it more of a "It sounds rad!" type decision?

It was definitely more of a "it sounds rad" kind of thing. Kalli and Indriði (our guitarists) had been thinking about starting a band for a long time and they wanted it to be the heaviest band ever. Muck sounds fucking heavy ergo the name.

12) So you guys are playing Iceland Airwaves and Eistnaflug 2012. Which are you more pumped for? Do you feel a tad out of place playing Airwaves, or is this an open-minded crowd in a festival filled with a more "top the radio charts" type sound?

Eistnaflug was this past weekend and it was fucking awesome. I was definitely way more pumped for that. The atmosphere was awesome and we played so fucking good. Regarding Airwaves I don't really feel out of place there. The festival is definitely open minded although they don't really cater that much to the extreme music crowd. It's a shame because Iceland has one of the most exciting extreme music in the world in my opinion.

13) How confident are you in your blast beat abilities? Could you and Ragnar Sverrisson of Beneath ever switch roles?

I'm pretty confident in my blasts. I might not be as fast as Ragnar but I'm definitely tight. I'd love to drum for Beneath.

Although I think the main question is; Could Ragnar drum for Muck???

14) There are 4 of you guys in Muck and there are 4 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, according to Ási who is Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michael Angelo?

FUCK. This is definitely the hardest question here.

Kalli is definitely Michael Angelo. He's the party dude

Loftur is Donatello 'cause he knows a bunch of shit.

Indriði he's probably Raphael

Which leaves me with Leonardo because he's the coolest.

15) When I first heard Muck, I thought of bands like Khann, Alpinist, and Botch. Though it doesn't fit in with any in particular, it rather hoists a variety of different influences. So, what are Muck's driving influences?

I think it's funny to hear Alpinist. We played with them when we went to Europe in 2009. That was a pretty fundamental year in Muck's evolution, it got me thinking of how much the Alpinist guys might have influenced our sound to date.
In my opinion Muck has so many influences. Right now I think we're all listening to Frank Ocean's new album…Oh, and Loftur is listening a lot to Castevet.

16) How big is your music collection?

I have an alright music collection. I'm kind of a vinyl nut so I have probably 200+ records in my catalogue right now. iTunes is pretty huge as well.

17) How was Muck's experience at the Eistnaflug festival? Any funny stories? In your opinion who put on the best show?

We had a lovely experience at this beautiful festival. We played on Saturday at a pretty decent slot and like I said earlier we put on a pretty stellar show. The reunion of I Adapt was a high point for me for sure. This festival is so nice and it's so amazing to see all these people come together in perfect harmony. I was wasted for three days and it was so awesome.

18) Finally, the most important question of all, and one I asked Ophidian I and Beneath; I'm trying really hard to visit Iceland again this September or October, where would I most likely find members of Muck hanging out on a Friday or Saturday? Who is likely to be the most drunk? Who is most likely to come stumbling to the hotdog vendor with me?

You'll probably find MUCK at Bakkus. We all stumble there at one point or another during the weekend. Our bassist Loftur he will be dead drunk trying to convince you about the pointlessness of life while you guys walk to the hot dog vendor. I might come to if I'm not too busy dancing.

END.

Cowards - Shooting Blanks And Pills (2012)

Matthias over at Throatruiner Records and vocals behind Calvaiire basically wants to be my best friend, he's always sending me emails with links to some righteous upcoming albums and sometimes the occasional haiku professing his love for old Poison The Well.

35% of the above paragraph is fictitious, but I count him among my loyal bannermen when it comes to giving me the heads up on some fresh meat. His last shipment of auditory meatus pounding came in the form of Cowards…

•  •  •

“Gathering Parisians with an already strong pedigree in dark and heavy music, COWARDS regurgitates gutter hardcore, unhealthy sludge/doom and nauseous black metal in “Shooting Blanks And Pills”, their deeply raw and anxiogenic debut release. Only six months were needed to give birth to this full-length, monstrosity with a desperate urban feeling, bridge between the knife-in-the-heart crudeness of Eyehategod or Kickback and the majestic darkness of bands like Deathspell Omega or Thou. With a sound carrying smells of pissy streets and the dry blood you get for a sidelong glance, producer Francis Caste has perfectly caught the gist of these 38 minutes, recreating this forced apnea in a bile tank with a no frills approach.”

Shooting Blanks And Pills (Mediafire)
Shooting Blanks And Pills (Bandcamp)

(I don't always want to harp on it, just keep in mind that tossing these dudes a dollar (or anything) really helps out, and gives them download credit)

Dephosphorus - Night Sky Transform (2012)

Dephosphorus' Night Sky Transform has been unleashed to all of you unworthy mortals, fresh off the leak list! This galactic annihilation comes in the shape of pulverizing blackened grind fusing elements of crust, death, and cosmic slam. I have yet to let this seep into my brain before I even post this up, I thought SHOM should get word of it before all the other internet sewer rats out there, enjoy! It runs a bit short... but so does your penis.

Grab if you like: Mumakil, Defeatist, Plague Widow

Night Sky Transform

Open Tomb - Open Tomb ST (2012)

A sludgy sewage of funeral doom-esque drenched in reverb from New Zealand. I found out about these dudes when I heard of the upcoming split with fellow scum and countrymen, Meth Drinker. Nothing sounds polished here, at all. It's heavy, but most importantly it's down right filthy. I think I hear some Sabbath riffs played at 10x slower speed.

Open Tomb split with Meth Drinker that is to be out tomorrow!

Here's a preview:


Here's the download

Moloch - Possession (2011)

I just purchased this bad mother fucker for a couple bucks on the Moloch bandcamp, if you are having a good day and care to have it muddied with Moloch's slow and grueling blend of sludge… then this should do the trick. It has that dirty vibe to it, I think of bands like Vile Gash, Meth Drinker, Impetuous Ritual, among many others, that cloak you in filth and leave you feeling like you need a good shower after a listen.

Grab if you like: Battilus, Meth Drinker, Thou

Possession (name your price)
Posession (Zippyshare)

Antediluvian / Adversarial split: Initiated In Impiety As Mysteries (2012)

Thanks to Orcus for letting me know I was a little behind schedule in posting this abyssal offering by Canada's forward thinking death metal bands Antediluvian and Adversarial. It's everything you would expect out of these two, so I'll forfeit the idea of using all those cute little adjectives we all like to throw around so much. It fucks.

•  •  •

Taken from NWN: This split LP is much more than merely two bands each taking up a side of a record. It reflects the arduous process of uniting and focusing two distinct forces into a single syncretic expression. The bands collaborated thematically to produce a masterpiece, the whole of which is greater than the sum of its parts. Conceptually, the album synthesizes and contrasts the symbol of Leviathan with that of Lucifer. Side “Leviathan,” featuring the work of Adversarial, is an exploration of abyssic realms–both internal/microcosmic as well as external/macrocosmic. The serpentine coil of DNA. The world serpent consuming itself. Side “Lucifer,” performed by Antediluvian focuses upon Promethean flame. Solar illumination threaded into synaptic transmission. Charged fields. The ionic path joining that which is above to that which is below.

I'll provide the high quality download link below, but don't be a dickhead, take a look at the beautifully packaged LP with all the extras HERE, if you have the money to support, of course do so, if not, make sure you go see these dudes the next time they play near you. Enjoy the chaotic swirl.

Leviathan/Lucifer 320

Spelljammer - Vol. II (2012)

 Stoner doom basking in voodoo sorcery and soothsaying, whatever the fuck that is. Grab a staff, read a tome, practice alchemy, climb a mountain and smoke a bowl, whatever the fuck floats your boat dude. Here, I'll let you listen to it all through the power of sorcery!


I cast level 4 lyrics of Aun's Mountain:

Servants of black skies
turn away the sacrifice
Tall waves of the sea
from his hands of sorcery

Tower of guiding light
rising through eternal night
Sing to winter sun
what we had and what we’ve done

Bloodline, last of man
rests beneath the burning sand
Shine on winter sun
A final sign, it will be done

Grab if you like: Electric Wizard, Ice Dragon, Huata

Doom on brothers!

Vol. II

Ignivomous - Contragenesis (2012)

Going back to the beginning of 2012, I remember thinking "I'll be happy if death metal holds a candle to what was unleashed in 2011" by bands like Antediluvuan, Mitochondrion, Encoffination, Disma, and so on and so on... Contragenesis was/is a step in the right direction. Proclamation already had me convinced we were off to a very good start.

•  •  •

Death metal that is part of the alliance in keeping the underground lit, grimy and full of sewer scum. I couldn't say that it offers any fresh breath into the belly of cavernous death metal but it does succeed in its simplicity and old-school approach.

Grab if you like: Vasaeleth, Contaigeon, Sonne Adam

(I hope you can handle all the name-dropping done in this post, if not fuck you, if so, download them.)

Contragenesis

Wende - The Third And The Noble (2012)

Atmospheric black metal paying homage to that dank fisher-price sound. This is good incense music. Also, where have I seen a very similar album cover before?

Grab if you like: Burzum, Fen, Woods of Desolation

(Save for a rainy day) * fixed link… again

Barlow - Vol. 1 EP (2012)

It's always exciting when I'm contacted by a band for some reason or another, and it's even better when they toss me some download links and ask me to give it a listen/hoist it on the blog, and it's even better when the shit they send you is rad!  

Barlow a four piece hailing from Halifax, Nova Scotia play a blend of thrashy crust with a darkened hardcore foundation that remind me of a grittier (in sound) Everything Went Black. It has a tad of that Kurt Ballou effect glittering throughout the noisiness.

Grab if you like: Black Haven, Everything Went Black, Full of Hell 

Vol. 1 

Bandcamp (Name your price, I put a measly 2$ in for the 320)

Cellador - Enter Deception (2006)

I've received a lot of hate mail lately scrutinizing the lack of neck-beard metal I have been posting on this here blog. (So far no anthrax in the mail though, thank you.) I still love neck-beard metal, though as any music lover my musical preference bounces around a lot, and the blog sometimes reflects that.

I digress, Cellador's Enter Deception is the knight clad in golden armour riding the winds on the back of a gryphon. I hold this album in high regard as it hoists the very essence of power metal in its formula. Soaring arpeggio solos and riffs, galloping drums, and vocal work and harmonies that traditionally respect the genre.

Grab if you like: Spellblast, Dreamtale, Fairyland

Enter Deception (One of the few download links left on the net, Mediafire)

Gaza - No Absolutes In Human Suffering (2012)

 

Gaza shit all over your chest with the release of No Absolutes In Human Suffering. I was expecting good things, and great things is what came forth in typical Gaza fashion. But alas, there is a slight difference here, a more refined album, a cohesive whole instead of single tracked songs. What's even more impressive is the shifts and segues that tunnel and swirl through the entirety, a diverse clash of atmospheric emotions ranging from dizzying doom and gloom to melodic passages that get cut down by furious intensity.

Grab if you like: Nostromo, Nails, Bone Dance

No Absolute

Guidelines - S/T EP (2012)

A 4 track EP that has me enamored, I've had this album in my collection for a little while collecting dust, quietly waiting for me to pay some attention to it. Now that I know how good it is, it's safe too say I'm a fucking idiot for not jamming into it right away.

Dark brooding hardcore that teeters on haunting and beautifully melodic with its discordant chords and melodic bridges being pierced by the shrilling vocals. Heavily drenched in the screamo vibe, it bears resemblance to bands like Loma Prieta, Alpinist, Vestiges. But this is no copy cat as many unique approaches take hold on this EP, offering something entirely captivating with shear emotion.

Spanning 16 minutes, you're left battered and beaten albeit wanting more. The repeat button, use it.

Grab if you like: Alpinist, Vestiges, Loma Prieta

The EP is offered for free or 'Name your price' on the bands Bandcamp, if you can, toss a couple bucks their way, I'm sure it would be heavily appreciated.

Severed Heads Open Minds: The Future

 Recently, the activity on this blog has greatly diminished, both by myself, the more loyal readers, and even the occasional scavengers looking for new tunes have been a shadow of what they once were. This is my fault.

Let's fix this shall we? Here's an ingredient list of what we'll need:

- Good content
- Activity (By both myself and you fucking people, talk and contribute)

•  •  •

Recently I have been getting some emails asking me why I have slowed down the blog. Simple answer is this, a reverse influx lack of free time. 

Some people have been a little dissapointed in the lack of power metal, folk metal and any other cheesy variation in-between. Sorry dudes, I suppose I mainly post the music I am currently hitting hard at that point in time. Don't worry, I still enjoy the cheesy shit as much as ever… I even listen to Turisas' "The Varangian Guard" today while grocery shopping. From now on, I'll try to focus on all the that is good whether it is grimy death metal or dragon punching power metal.

And to the bands who have emailed me letting me know of a new EP, Demo or release I have gotten them, and very much appreciate it. I'll get to all of them very soon, and be sure to post all the goodies. 

With all that being said, there will be a lot more to come. It is known.

Desecration - I.A.I. (Original)

Child of eight, bound and beaten, foreskin sliced, precise incision. Infantile screams bring uncontrollable arousal. With a kitchen knife I perform castration. Rampant fellatio, it's dissected meat in my mouth. 

The salty taste of bloody smegma slipping down my throat, flaccid mutilated penis. The scalpel inserted through the urethra, working the blade in and out. An infliction of pain beyond human comprehension. 

Sodomized by a broken bottle, ripping the delicate anal tissue. Paralyzed by fatal kick to the spine, repetitive punches to the face, features swollen, beyond recognition, screams reduced to a whimper, sickening repugnant acts. Infantile anal intercourse, I force myself up it's blood drenched rectum and fondle it's hairless groin. 

Gouge out the eyes, roll them over my tongue, I plunge my manhood into the shrivelled sockets. The catamites demise is near. Vegetated child, mute and beyond pain. Cannibalizing flesh. Wank over the dying infant. With iron bar I smash it's pathetic fucking skull. The youth lies white and still.

•  •  •

Eloquent words. Singer Ollie Jones is a fully-qualified practicing mortician, it's good to see he is putting his passion to good use. Dick in a baby's skull, hmmm, where have I seen this before? Oh right, Syphilic.

If I had a download link I would post one, can't find one though. If any of you find one let me know in the comments. Cheers cunts!