RIP: JOEY LaCAZE

Last night I was informed with great sadness that Joey LaCaze, drummer for Eyehategod and Outlaw Order, passed away. In the coming days details will undoubtedly be released, but none of it matters more than this: He was a massively talented performer whose contributions were crucial in making Eyehategod one of the most influential bands in the realm of heavy music.

I first purchased Take as Needed for Pain when I was a high school freshman, drawn to the bizarre album imagery of mangled dental work and fake limbs as well as sensational titles that made me feel like Eyehategod may be some of the most dangerous dudes in the world. I was a dirt-poor teen at the end of the 90s with shitty dial-up internet and the information I had about the band was marginal, which just added to their “wanted poster” mystique. Still, at that age I was definitely in the “fast is good, faster is better” mindset, so Eyehategod’s revolutionary sludge wasn’t greeted that warmly upon my first listen. I spent the next few years committing irreparable damage to my spine while headbanging to Slayer’s Undisputed Attitude and early Napalm Death.

When I boxed up my CDs for my first trek to college I found my lone Eyehategod album, dusted it off, and played it during the long drive through a gray smear of small towns in central New York. I was ashamed at how long it had taken me to discover just how god damn catchy they were, how brilliantly they disguised bluesy rock’n’roll with gutter grime, whiskey-shredded vocals, and a sharp sense of self-consciously transgressive humor I failed to recognize upon first listen.

Drummers are often the unheralded backbone of a band, the heard but mostly unseen force providing the momentum, but tucked back in the shadows. And while I never had the pleasure of saying more than “great show” to him to find out for sure, Joey LaCaze did not seem like a person who minded the shadows, as long as the music he helped make threatened to punch holes in the venue’s roof and walls. He was a band drummer through and through, and despite considerable skill he was never a distraction, never a guy who propped up his ego as a musician with flourishes and technical excess. He played outlaw doom with swagger and busted-lip punk energy that suited the song and filled it with life. He took great songs and helped make them legendary.

For all their supposed bleakness, the arrests and addiction and hometown tragedy, I’ve rarely seen guys have as much fun playing live. I’m thankful for finding that dusty CD in my old bedroom, I’m thankful for each time I saw Eyehategod play with Joey LaCaze reliably sitting behind that kit, and I’m thankful for every time I banged my head to one of his cymbal crashes. I plan on spending the day honoring him the same way I think most of us in the metal community will: Listening to the records he helped create at frightening volume levels.

R.I.P.

UPDATE: DECIBEL MAGAZINE ISSUE #105

Hey, little growlers. This is just a quick message to announce that the first issue of Decibel Magazine containing my writing has now been released. I’m humbled to not only be among many of the finest writers in the rock industry (I just started to type some of their names, and ended up naming 85% of them without looking), but to also have my first articles within a tribute issue to Slayer’s Jeff Hanneman. Justin M. Norton put together an amazing piece of Hanneman’s life and legacy, and there are quotes from dozens of musicians paying their respects. As for my own content, it breaks down like this:

Page 18-19: Obscene Extreme Festival 2013 preview - I reached out to Curby, the festival’s mastermind, and received a goldmine in DIY touring insanity, complete with machetes, punches, extortion, and just enough triumph to make it all worth it. He’s one of the most positive dudes you’ll meet in the metal community, and I also received much appreciated memories and contributions from Desecration’s Ollie Jones, Fleshless vocalist Vladimir Prokos, and Shane Embury from the mighty Napalm Death.

Page 34: Deeds of Flesh profile - Erik Lindmark took a Friday afternoon to shoot the shit with me on the phone, talking about death metal, science-fiction, and tendonitis. He was massively accommodating and a total interview pro, making it beautifully easy for me. Hopefully he couldn’t tell how nervous I was talking to a guy whose music first made me feel invincible back when I was 16, when I was wearing jeans embarrassingly large for my waist, which was something like 18 inches around at the time.

Page 102: Serpent Throne’s Brother Lucifer review - I won’t reprint the review here, but I gave this instrumental blast of dusty retro rock and harmonized guitars an 8 out of 10. It’s very good, and should totally be appreciated by anyone who likes rock music. No screaming, no growling, just killer riffs on this Vietnam-era concept album.

I also want to thank everyone who has frequented this site. We just hit 5,000 unique views recently, which is nothing more than a huge validation of the devoted metal fan base and of the talent of the bands I’m lucky enough to listen to. Writing these reviews has never once felt like work, and I thank the artists for sharing their talents with us all. More reviews to come soon, but I’m gonna take the day off and re-read issue #105. God damn is this magazine awesome.

Order the issue over here as part of a 4-issue Slayer bundle: http://store.decibelmagazine.com/collections/bundles/products/slayer-bundle

Or subscribe already, you huge dildo. At $29.95 for a whole year this is one of the biggest bargains out there:  http://store.decibelmagazine.com/collections/subscriptions-renewals

REVIEW: WRAITHS - EP 2012

So Wraiths call themselves “hell metal,” and despite the unreliable nature of most self-applied monikers this is actually pretty god damn apt. I would be tempted to substitute “hardcore” for metal, but when it’s this heavy and bruising that’s me just mincing words and being a genre-humping elitist douche. While they’re from the UK, Wraiths’ sound exists somewhere in the combined headspace of Travis Bickle and Richard Ramirez, mixing the horrors of urban isolation and suicidal Satanism in a bucket of bleach, ammonia, and goat blood, resulting in lethal fumes and grotesque hallucinations.

Their 5 song EP is completely dedicated to creating a mood of total hopelessness. These songs are the sounds of life hitting a dead end. If you’re looking for music that soars across the whole kingdom of emotion you’re in the wrong neighborhood, pal. There’s no triumph or love or positivity here, just riffs that are down-tuned, punishing, and blackened with gutter grime. A lot of the credit for the convincing unpleasantness can be attributed to Rae Robinson’s chilling roar, which seems genuinely tortured and resembles Sammy Duet’s supporting vocal work from Acid Bath/Goatwhore when he reaches into the higher registers.

Outside of crust punk bursts in “Black Vultures” and “Monolith,” most of the EP lurches forward at a mid-tempo stomp, a pace matching the somber tone crafted throughout. Despite the overwhelming bleakness there’s still a lot of texture here, from the gang-shouting on “Pyramid Head” to an audio clip from Devil’s Rejects that confirms that Wraiths’ music is here to do the devil’s work. Oh, I should also mention that this may qualify as a concept album, as it seems to follow the same character’s descent into violent vengeance as he pursues a future, following his likely suicide, as a demon in Satan’s horde. Maybe I’m incorrectly analyzing the lyrics, but I have a feeling when the words “I can’t wait to fucking die” are screamed over a sledgehammer of distortion it’s entirely literal. I guess it’s possible he means “die” in the Shakespearean way, as in having a totally killer orgasm, but this EP seems to enjoy shouting fuck more than actually fucking. What can I say, depression sucks.

But these songs, despite their themes, will push depression aside and invigorate fans of loud, ugly music. Nothing makes you want to punch God right in his/her/its face more than Wraiths’ bludgeoning attack. This is another raw, uncompromising release from Witch Hunter Records for any fan of music with a black heart and a mean streak. Also, it looks like they borrowed Slayer’s logo for a little while, with promises to return it as good as new. But after hearing this EP I know that when they give it back it will be burnt like a Norwegian church, slick with new blood, and stink like an unearthed prostitute. Such is the danger when making logo-swap deals with Wraiths.

Listen to this nasty slab of hell metal over yonder:  http://witchhunterrecords.bandcamp.com/album/wraiths-ep-2012

And “Join the Pre-Order” by grabbing one of these bad ass T-Shirt/Tape bundles:  http://witchhunterrecords.bigcartel.com/product/wraiths-ep-2012-tape-t-shirt-pre-order

GUEST REVIEW: COFFINS - MARCH OF DESPAIR

Continuing our series of metal reviews by non-metal fans, Mister Growl welcomes another guest reviewer into our unholy flock: Shane Frasier, Acquired Taste Booking owner and creator of the Behemoth Music Festival, a series of concerts in Upstate New York that recently reached down into Brooklyn. He has also been a member of roughly seven thousand bands, ranging from hardcore punk (Daytime Soiree) to electronic/dance music (Mr. Owl) to eccentric insanity (The Lanky Mofos and The Bumblebees). He was nice enough to accept our invitation and review one of the several 2012 releases from Coffins, their March of Despair EP:

“Full disclosure: I know nothing about metal.

Well, that's not entirely true. I like metal, but there's no way I'd proclaim myself an aficionado of the genre. It was, for lack of a better word, forced on me at a young age by my older brother. Bands like Cradle of Filth and Slayer paved the way to others like Emperor and Skinless. Not that I minded, but it was quite a culture shock to me when bands like The Clash were my main musical staple. Bearing that in mind, my understanding of the genre has blossomed into something more appreciative now, but I’m not entirely convinced. I say this so I don't come across as a complete idiot whilst I review a EP from a Japanese band called Coffins.

The five song album titled March of Despair, opens up with the track “Till Dawn of the Doomsday,” which, honestly, didn't quench the punch in the face opening track thirst I needed to really get into this album. It's a solid track, full of enough trudging guitar riffs and breakdowns to make me throw down at my desk chair, but it stalls in the beginning, which, in my humble musical opinion, is not the beginning of a great song. I know metal is about momentum, but when it’s forced on you early in the track, it can create an incomplete feeling to the rest of the track.

The songs “Carpet of Bones” and “In Bloody Sewage” remain my favorites, maybe because I myself own an actual carpet of bones and I have a fixation towards bloody sewage. These two tracks feel more refined than the others, if maybe not altogether more free form. While I liked these two songs, they created a bigger problem for me overall as I found all the songs on the album to have different production values. I could be going deaf, the end result of the hundred or more shows I've gone to in the last couple years where I haven't worn ear plugs, but I got the distinct notion these songs were all leveled differently, which can create a problematic listening experience if you’re a fan of audio consistency.

The other two tracks, “Grotesque Messiah” and “Corpsegrinder,” didn't hit me the way I wanted them to. “Grotesque Messiah” feels sloppy, and yeah, I know, I'm listening to a death metal band, sloppiness is appreciated in this genre, right? But considering the other songs on the album felt tight, this song in particular bugged me in a way no other song since “Mambo Number 5” has (THE TRUMPET!). And “Corpsegrinder” just doesn't feel like much of a song to me. That's a very vague review of it, but if you listen to it, maybe you'll agree.

Overall, I'm a bit torn. Like the 80's song, but in reverse, Japan is big with me, and I often go out of my way to either listen to music from Japan or at least appreciate their take on the punk and metal genres. But I couldn't help feeling this was more of a faux version of what death metal is supposed to be, the culmination of one band’s attempt to replicate bands that they've loved, but couldn't fully execute musically. If you have a half hour to spare, and just feel like giving something a try, March of Despair is as least worth a listen, if not completely unforgettable.”

- Shane Frasier

(Editor’s Note: “Corpsegrinder” is a cover of a song off Death’s second demo tape. Just a little pop-up trivia for the diehards. - MG)

Many thanks to Shane for sharing his thoughts! He introduced himself with modesty but he did actually suggest Black Cobra and Withered when deciding what album to review. That’s pretty obscure knowledge for someone who knows “nothing about metal.” Check out Coffins on Spotify, they have several albums available, and their upcoming album The Fleshland is due out July 9th.

Pre-order The Fleshland here: http://coffins.bandcamp.com/album/the-fleshland

REVIEW: SPLIT - PARASITIC SKIES / LOSING SKIN

North Carolina’s Headfirst! Records were one of my first ten followers on Twitter (@MisterGrowl). My followership has since DOUBLED, as Mister Growl prepares to challenge Ashton for the Twitter throne. (Update: 1 follower left this morning. Back down to 19. OH GAWD LIFE IS MEANINGLESS.) I checked out a few of their releases and wanted to cover this split release from Parasitic Skies and Losing Skin, two formidably quarrelsome hardcore bands who have never met a mosh pit that was too rowdy.

Formed in Seattle, WA, Parasitic Skies launch into a metallic hardcore attack in “The Void” before closing with swampy sludge riffs. The vocals are reminiscent of Dwid Hellion’s work with Integrity, if they were dipped in tar and raised in the wild by black bears. “The Throat of the Sleeping Sun” is a meaty slab of chugging hardcore punk with crusty flourishes and a groovy bass line that knows there is a voice inside your brain whispering “headbang headbang headbang” and amplifies that voice to the point you can’t ignore it. Also, if you didn’t think spelling mattered, just think if the last word in that song title was “son.”

Losing Skin are basically Parasitic Skies’ neighbors, both in proximity (hailing from Spokane, WA) and sound. You could picture them both sharing a civil, vegan family meal before they put this split album on a record player and the whole feast is immediately obliterated in a vicious circle pit. “Depressor” starts with a mean-spirited riff that plows through Seasons in the Abyss territory before falling off a cliff into an ocean of bass feedback and droning room tones. “Time Crawling By Me” feels like crust punk on tranquilizers, lumbering a bit before some really nasty blackened guitar licks close out the song. The bonus track for digital downloads is “Destroyer’s Crown,” a song with attitude and swagger that tricks you into thinking it’s metalcore before going for your nearest major artery with thrash-by-way-of-Darkthrone riffs that demand the sacrifice of your favorite relative.

Go check out Headfirst! Records and listen to their releases, all available for free downloads. Find out more information on upcoming releases and keep an eye on their roster of talent, there’s some seriously aggressive music hatching over there.

Listen to the Parasitic Skies / Losing Skin split album here: http://headfirstrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hf-09-parasitic-skies-losing-skin-split-7in-2

And check out Headfirst! records over here: http://www.page63.com/

Oh yeah, and follow Headfirst! over on Twitter @HeadfirstRecs