D-Beat to the Roll (Review: Fredag Den 13:e, Tjugohundratretton 2013)

Terrible name, good premise. Friday the 13th has to be the most horribly cliched and resultantly bland name conceivable, the norse spin / vernacular take  on the name grabs as much attention to the perusing punk as an endorsement from the Smiths down at 24 Aviary Avenue. However if life has taught us anything we should never judge a book by its cover nor by its title, because these Swedish riffaholics have a great knack for intrigue, alloying classic Swedish D-beat with the more wieldy rock influences. Its not punk-rock though, or at-least not by my understanding, because its soul deep in Scandipunk territory, calling it punk rock would diminish too much of what it is in favour of too little of what it really defines it. By my calculations if you can bend your minds to think of something like Wolfbrigade by way of Poison Idea you shouldn't be too far off the margin. 

This exclusive supposition of punk and rock is an exotic marriage like to grab attention, and song writing delivers it in the strongest of terms, piecing together various kaleidoscopic shards that range from  full throttle scandipunk steamrolls, leading guitar sections in familiar faces of punk or rock, to more sensitive ethereal dithers and a special onus on those shout along sections; all choreographed into one climatic and kinetic mesh, each phase etched into the other making for each song one continuous arching thrust of majesty. It should be of little surprise in conformity to the Scandinavian modus operandi production values are  like to cause envy amplifying every resonation of string, drum-skin and vocal chord to a fine and distinct point, spaced far enough apart to make each part audible in its own right, but close enough for collusion. For a genre that is named after a drum beat (D-Beat), I generally tend to find drums fall into the backdrop and guitars dominating the foreground amongst the pristine and clean shaven D-Beat ventures, but in the instance of this release I found drums to have a more equal standing, more often than not the songs felt like a group undertaking rather than "I have just found an awesome progression of riffs, write a drum pattern to follow them" type of process.

If Swedish D-Beat / Scandipunk is your choice of poison, the added spice of rock and roll may just be the extra kick you have been looking for.

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EveryDayHate

Mongrel (Review: Facada, O Joio 2010)

Facada - OJOIO

Lets start todays review off with a bit of discovery channel nonsense, did you know that If you breed a lion with a tiger, you get not one, but two possible ultra cool big-cat hybrids; the Liger and the Tigon; both share the exact same gene pool, but its ultimately how you play the paternal pairing that effects the end result, yet I think we can extend this Mendelian metaphor to the bridging and relatively popular sub-genre of Deathgrind. At the one end we have technically inclined death metal bands who pinch a few how to's from grind to give it that extra bite, whilst at the other end we have grind bands who pick up a few tricks from the metal camp to give their music added flare. Of course the situation is not completely black and white, but in fact various shades of overlapping grey, yet it does explain why fans of Assucks - Misery Index wouldn't be keen on a band like Dying Fetus or vice versa, its all in the presentation. 

FACADA at heart are a fully fledged grind band, but frequently let those twitching fingers conjure up some death metal wizardry along the guitar neck and weave some punchy riffs and a nice array of meanders, giving their work a light flare of creativity whilst ultimately pursuing a tangible end game; ruthless sonic punishment, and in that regard they deliver wholesomely. Drums are crucially violent throughout, but once or twice hold a simple drum-beat across a too long for comfort (or more appropriately too long to maintain discomfort) threshold, which when coincided with those moments of absentee vocals deflates the tensity, something the band just moments ago were doing so well, fortunately the band jump back in to the flow and the hiccup can be easily forgiven. Vocals are a more fluid and vocalised tantrum not too far off Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses typeset, and feel positively rather "human" and even decipherable if I had any working knowledge of Brazilian/Portugese; no grunting, animalistic screams or exorcisms present. There is no doubt though that the centerpiece of it all is the guitar work, oft blurring where the punk ends and metal begins as it provides a barrage of satisfying riffs. Even when the string department teeters towards the more symphonically conscious corners of their auditory exploit the drums rarely follow suit, and the vocals reject it altogether, anchoring the sensibilities of the release and giving an organic ebb and flow that doesn't distort too much as the band give it cross-genre lashing after lashing. 

FACADA

Everydayhate (Reissue)

Fleeting Fatality (Review: Fatal Nunchaku / xKATExMOSHx 7", 2013)

(Take two, since it decided to eat all but the last word of my post and I made no back up eurrgh #firstworldbloggerproblems)

Hey kids do you like Powerviolence? Of course you do, why else would you be giving this bottom of the barrel blog your patronage? However the genre-idolatry of the likes of Fatal Nunchaku and xKATExMoshx would suggest the band are the types who would have I <3 Powerviolence bumper stickers and wear to court a No Comment t-shirt without the slightest hint of irony to address their numerous noise complaints. What I am trying to get at is that both bands know Powerviolence like the back of their hand, and have the musical twitch to prove it. 

First up is French underground powerviolence veterans and one half of a well documented euro tour with the now defunct Ocksen: Fatal Nunchaku. Fatal Nunchaku thrash around with the utmost tomfoolery, adjoining caustic riffs with curt tempo swaps and employing a completely irrational vocal attack, contrasting rabid yapping with Spazz like bellows; the yapping identical in form to what one might expect from a hyperactive choleric chihuahua - and I use that comparison as a term of endearment. Its a lively, absurd musically sarcastic splurge of adrenaline, sweat and laughs; somewhere in the vicinity of kinsmen Sylvester Staline, although which of the two is the more loony remains to be determined. 

As if made to measure the Charles Bronson-esque Lindsay Lohan/ white popstar burnout syndrome parody band xKATExMOSHx occupy the b-side. Continuing from their well received ST 7" , they continue to beat their extreme case of ADHD afflicted punk as if it were competing at the Grand National; who likes slow music anyway? Its the devils medium for old age pensioners and doom metal fans, and if you ain't hitting above the 180 bpm mark you are pretty much wasting everybody's time. The band are full tilt the moment the needle comes to contact with the wax, offering a 4 minute somersault of hit the ground running and don't look back type bpm therapy. It exemplifies that xKATExMOSHx need a full length, given there is no graceful let down only high octane shenanigans by the time the release ends you are mid stage dive, the bore of reality crashing in as you as your face collides with your chest of drawers 

Powerviolence on the whole is going wonderful if opposing directions, we have a new vanguared of cimmerian tinged powerviolence in balaclava types like Water Torture, Sex Prisoner, False Light (to whom Dead Chemists Records is gracing use with a long overdue physical medium) and Disciples of Christ tunneling into dark corners, whilst bands like Fatal Nunchaku and xKATExMOSHx showing us its still a dependable fun and lively genre. 

Fatal Nunchaku / xKATExMOSHx

EveryDayHate (Poland)

Aim Down Sight Records (Germany)
Bad Feeling Records (Italy)
Cimurro D.I.Y. (Italy)
Dead Chemists Records (UK)
Dickhead Records (Italy)
Eatshitbuydie Distro/Records (Netherlands)
Ebruitez Records (France)
Farce Attack Records (France)
Fondation Weinberg
Get Syro (Italy)
HYGIENE RECORDS (Usa)
No Bread! (Russia)
No Way Asso (France)
Wee Wee Records (France)
You’re Next Records (Israel)

Heavy // Fast (Review: Aberrant / D.E.R. 2012)

Regressing to a state of barbarism by way of thrashly atavism, Aberrant's rancarous death-grind galumph around is a potent dose of skull-cracking not be taken lightly, and probably best enjoyed in the confines of a padded cell. Spearheading their delve into a damp and drab back alleys of Glasgow kisses and smiles is their ever twitching guitar tone, jumping from one thrash riff to another with an intense air of unpredictability and danger, coaxed in a repugnant sense of squalor further begrimed by a slithering bass tone coaxed in scum and filth. The foundation to this bastion of filth; aesthetically not too far removed from something we might see in Hobo with a Shotgun, is mostly a string dominated affair, and the main selling point to their tried and tested grind formulation. Vocals and blast duties aggressively follow the marching order, neither exceeding expectation nor falling below it, just your standard straight out of the gutter vocal rasps and howls, alongside you thud-thud-thud blast ensemble. 

D.E.R ever true to form just go in all guns blazing in their musically inclined attempt to break the sound barrier; and I use the term music lightly, any semblance of rhythm or form just blurs in rip of vehement blasts, prickly riffs and animalistic screeches - the last thrown in for good measure just to  give an air of humanity to a band that could easily be mistaken for these guys set on turbo. I dread to think of the Physiotherapy these guys might start needing in the near future from all that blasting and riffing, packing more riffs and drum hits in a one minute jaunt than some bands can muster in half a dozen full bodied tracks, little wonder they took a few years time out in between writing material, it probably would take me a few years to think of 24^10 possible riff permutations and blasts, not to mention the recovery time required having just played them in one compact 14 minute bullet. If D.E.R. have managed to pack any new tricks its hard to notice, its just grind performed at terminal velocity with no inherent complexity, just a continuous barrage of aural devastation. 

A solid excursion by the America's, what little remains standing from Aberrant's two handed sledgehammer swing, is sure as hell not going to outrun D.E.R's Usain Bolt armed with an uzi, consider your fate sealed. 

Aberrant / D.E.R.

EveryDayHate

Unholy Alliance (Review: Unholy grave / Nak'ay, 2012)

 The popularity of the 5" format is starting to get quite a bit of a pain in the ass and on the wallet too (I am looking at you specifically Suffering Mind!) , by the time you have put the material on and sat yourself down its time to turn it over and lets not even get started on its cost to effect ratio, in short the novelty value of being a 5" wears out thin and you either have to offer some extra dimensional incentive (that Noothgrush / Supression 5" that comes with a puzzle is the sort of out the box creativity I like) or have to be sure as hell that the ~2 minute run time available is enough for the bands to induce traumatic injury on the listener. Thankfully the Unholy Grave Nak'ay split is one positive example where this scaled down format of operation isn't of detriment by its lack of available length, to both bands concepts such as progression and rhythmic development are words used by people whose skulls they crack open with their stone axes. 

First up is Unholy Grave who grace us with an exclusive track; Intolerance to which it should come as no surprise its delivery is nothing short of their trademark erratic thrash tinged mincecore , mad hatter Takaho does his usual deployment of lunatic/animalistic screams in accompany with their standard set of  booming blast beats and catchy as hell bouncing stringwork. Production values are in their natural habitat of DIY recordings, but have substantially more rigor and density to them compared to their last record I checked out. However the best feature of this track has to be the chorus, its lyrics solely consisting of the word No said repetitively about a dozen times in a sort of rythmic fashion, its strangely addictive and I can't really justify why, yet I find myself singing along to it with much joy and often put the needle back to the beginning rather than turn over the split just to have another cheeky listen. A seriously addictive tune. 

There will be a point in time when it will likely be easier to list the bands which haven't done a split with Unholy Grave than the ones which have, at such a time bands will simply be referred to by a number denoting their place in the Unholy Grave split chronology; to which todays review features number 81: Nak'ay (that's right, I manually counted every prior split release Unholy Grave have listed on discogs). If the name Nak'ay is a reference to something (thinking something Japanese, maybe even Unholy Grave related) the reference has got past me; either as a result of the obscurity of the name or the fact that Nak'ay's 2 minutes of mayhem is like receiving a series of blows to the head from a tire iron from a rather unsavory set of gentlemen. I don't want to paint them as a legacy band, but if you believe in reincarnation then Nak'ay are the second coming of the recently deceased Cellgraft, the timelines don't quite match up, but I am ashamed to say that this is the first time I have heard them and they occupy that exact same niche of barbaric hostility once occupied by Cellgraft. They manage to squeeze no less than 5 tracks into their armoury including one savage cover of Assucks Feasts of War. Their 2 minute curb-stomping tantrum is a crash course into urban warfare, as a blitz of concrete tearing thuds, agonizing screams and piercing screeches all mangle against one another and induce irreversible psychological trauma, and dare I say it that Nak'ay just thrive off this bloodshed and carnage as if caught in some all consuming desire to destroy.

Everydayhate

Unholy Grave / Nak'ay