The Body - All the Waters of the Earth Shall Turn to Blood (in-depth)

Haunting [adj]; Remaining in the consciousness; not quickly forgotten. Why the  definition to the word 'haunting'? I'll explain, gather around the hearth children for I will tell the tale of how "All The Waters of the Earth Shall Turn to Blood".

The year is 2010, a robust duo hailing from Rhode Island set out to create the soundtrack of nihilism. An album that is both harrowing and grim in all of its facets; sonically, atmospherically, lyrically, structurally, and yes even visually.

Lyrically outlining the failures of science, humankind, deities and just about everything else negative tinged and forlorn through shrieks that barely pierce through the ensuing chaos, as if the words are being swallowed up and buried under its own instrumentation.

The atmosphere is a swirling wind carrying negative vibes your way, causing an uneasiness through its entirety. The Body doesn't give a fuck about your fragile feelings, in fact, they intend to smash them along with your rather whimsical take on life. Structurally scattered adding to the foreboding nature of the beast, with riffs weaving in and out of the labyrinth of molasses paced drone/doom. The guitars are thick and glacial as the drums beat on in hypnotizing fashion, both seemingly recorded louder than the recording equipment could handle.

What you hear is entirely unique (as unique as something can be while still being influenced), which can be a rarity in todays day and age, but these two burly dudes deliver bizarre soundscapes through a bounty of interesting ways; The Body collaborated with "Assembly of Light" choir group to add their ethereal gospel like chant into a few songs, most notably the opener track  "A Body" where it is used brilliantly to create immense tension for a solid 7 minutes (Demanding patience) until a wall of noise comes crashing in.

There are a number of other oddities that take shape on "All The Waters of the Earth Shall Turn to Blood", in the song "Empty Hearth" which features unusual throat singing and a ongoing nonsensical chant by a religious separatist movement woven throughout the dense sound of guitars and droning drums where its use is edited quite intriguingly. "Song of Sarin, The Brave"  has fragmented quotes from Charles Manson, a man who often goes on these (sometimes brilliant)nonsensical tangents that have manipulating power, it's a suitable voice for misanthropy.

I'll quickly dabble into the visual element, an album cover that only conjures up impenetrably eerie vibes and peculiar intrigue. The two members are shown standing in a barren scenery brandishing guns,… but here's the odd part, they are wearing outlandish garments (I read somewhere that it had something to do with traditional ceremonial wedding garb) that fester up an uneasiness that was surely intended.

Behold, an album that succeeds in just about every way it means to; Create the misanthropic funeral dirge of nihilism, buried in a devastatingly heavy sea of mid-tempo riffing, hypnotic drumming, and unsettling atmosphere through careful layering. The Body will reward patient listeners with fresh frissons of palpable tension and sonic vertigo. This is how all the waters of the earth will turn to blood.

Get it. (thanks to The Elementary Revolt for the download link)

Planks - Funeral Mouth (2012)

I'm seeing this being labelled as death/black metal everywhere, I'm not one to meticulously genre nit-pick, but that doesn't fit what's going on here, I'll fly my own banner and say it has the aforementioned blended in to its sound, but I'm hearing a more down-tempo sludge with a crusty… ugh, fuck this. I'm nit-picking again.

I'm only 7 tracks in as I post this, and I'll be honest, I'm not even sure I like it yet, so far it has had its moments that had my attention and moments where it was just background noise. I can't give this my stamp of approval yet, but since I liked what they offered in 2010 with The Darkest of Grays I will give them the benefit of the doubt and also give you guys the chance to decide for yourselves… much earlier than it's release date which is set in mid October, whoops.

Funeral Mouth (Zippyshare)

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