REVIEW: NO FEALTY / KOLLAPSE - SPLIT 7"

Hello, growlers. It’s Decibel Magazine deadline week, so my attention has been (happily) kidnapped to focus on a few fun pieces for issue #112, but I was alerted that a band previously featured on Mister Growl is coming out with a new split 7” record.

If you recall, I reviewed No Fealty’s debut In the Shadow of the Monolith back in August, and said “there’s enough fury here to inspire god to eat his cherubs.” The Copenhagen band’s newest song, Side A’s “Ravished,” combines rabid noise and a crusty D-beat to create a chaotic take on hardcore punk that’s meaner than a retired executioner and heavier than his crippling guilt. They’re a socially conscious band that actually sounds dangerous.

Kollapse are from Aalborg, Denmark, and offer a bleak track called “Father,” which feels like sludgy post-hardcore covered in scabs, scars, and thorns. With tortured, throaty vocals and deliberate momentum, it feels like a march towards the edge of a cliff.

It’s about a 5 hour drive between these two Danish cities, and there’s also distance between their approaches to heavy music: Kollapse offer mood and atmosphere and structure, while No Fealty endeavors to tear every structure down into a pile of rubble. It’s worth your time, and acts as a solid introduction to both bands.

Check out Kollapse’s track for the split over here on Bandcamp: http://kollapse.bandcamp.com/

And while you’re at it, check out No Fealty’s In the Shadow of the Monolith over here. I expect it to be on my list of “Top 50 Albums of the 2013” and it’s still offered as a “Name Your Price” download: http://nofealty.bandcamp.com/

REVIEW: NO FEALTY - IN THE SHADOW OF THE MONOLITH

Some band names require no exploration. Death, or Grave, for instance. Standard death metal band names obsessed with mortality. For No Fealty, a political hardcore crust/grind band from Copenhagen, I admittedly had to do a little research. It turns out “fealty” has the following definition: The fidelity, or an oath of loyalty, of a vassal or feudal tenant to their lord. So it’s safe to say that in No Fealty’s world, if you’re one of the 1% you better watch your privileged ass. Combine that with the (awesomely) disturbing cover, and there’s enough fury here to inspire god to eat his cherubs.

Leaning a bit more on the grind side of the spectrum than traditional hardcore punk, No Fealty peel through twelve tracks in about 25+ minutes on In the Shadow of the Monolith. The album title would be perfect for a classic doom album by Candlemass, but it’s just as poignant here, referencing the nearly unfathomable amount of tyranny and oppression we face (and often ignore) daily. Well, this is one album that’s impossible to ignore. Beginning with the pissed-off stomp of “Deprivation,” the album slams ahead like the first furious charge of a rioting crowd. There are plenty of surprises and enlightened moments of texture here, with the thrashy groove of “Strict Seawater Diet” and the chilling, cold-blooded sludge of “Discomposure” being especially memorable. And of course there are the burners that rage forward at a thousand miles an hour, destroying everything casting a shadow; “Animalism” bares its teeth with prominent bass work, “Savior” takes a jab at D-beat punk with Ramming Speed’s intensity, and “Rabies God” closes the album like a smear of blood on a church’s front door.

There are a few choices that don’t work for me, like the momentum-killing audio clips and spacey atmospherics of “The Emperor is Laughing (While You are Making Plans),” and a queasy bridge riff (around 2:15) in “Feed the Leviathan,” but these are minor complaints compared to the overall unruly energy and DIY, buzzsaw-guitar aesthetic the album successfully captures. When No Fealty employs gang vocals (like in “Damnant Quod Non Intelligunt” and “Deprivation”), that manic approach translates even further to a unified voice of unrest and anger. In the Shadow of the Monolith may not be totally revolutionary in style and execution, but it’s definitely the soundtrack of a rebellion. Combining the blazing speed of Weekend Nachos with the political sludgy, hardcore punk of Ravage Ritual, there’s plenty to look forward to in No Fealty’s future, even if humanity’s future doesn’t seem quite as bright.

Listen to In the Shadow of the Monolith, available now as a “name your price” download over at Bandcamp:  http://nofealty.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-shadow-of-the-monolith

And check them out on Facebook for news, including their account of their recent record release show:  https://www.facebook.com/nofealty

GUEST REVIEW: NAILS - ABANDON ALL LIFE

Continuing our series of metal reviews by non-metal fans, Mister Growl welcomes back guest reviewer 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 Nails’ newest album Abandon All Life:

“Every now and then, I need a reminder that life isn't so boring. That something out there, maybe lurking in the shadows, is ready to kick my ass and give me a much needed wake up call. I think I may have found that special something with Nails’ album, Abandon All Life.

Nails combine their love for death metal and grindcore to make a sound I'd liken to a bunch of cannons going off. A bunch of really angry cannons being fired off by a really angry singer. With "Tyrant" and "Abandon All Life,” these guys are able to express everything and anything they need to in only a minute’s time, creating just enough havoc to ensure we don't die from its brutality. "No Surrender" continues this trend of ear-numbing madness, double bass-pedaling itself into your heart with a relentless barrage of metal and fear.

“Wide Open Wound,” which plays more like a traditional death metal song, never succumbs to its similarities, giving me a deeper sense of appreciation of Nails. It's easy to get lost among all the similarities bands possess today, although I believe it is less prevalent in the metal world, but it's nice to know these guys don't play to be like everyone else.

“Suum Cuique,” which clocks in at over 5 minutes (Whhhhhaaaatttt?), proves these guys could become an epic doom metal band at any moment. That's a testament to how much work these guys put into their sound, which, for some, may not be as noticeable as it was to me.

When I told Mr. Growl that I'd like to review something 'brutal' he sent me this. And, uh, yeah, I'd say that's an understatement. Nails are quick and relentless, like a tornado of fists to the face. The album is over before you know it, even with a song like "Suum Cuique" to end the album. If you feel the need to have your bland world rocked, I'd recommend listening to Abandon All Life today.

(Editor’s note: I would have opted for a “sharknado” of fists and dorsal fins.)

Many thanks to Shane for covering this release, and we seem to have some momentum with TWO positive guest reviews in a row. Note to self: Send Shane all crusty grind/d-beat releases we need reviewed.

Stream Abandon All Life over here at Bandcamp and buy it for a well-spent $7.99:  http://nailssl.bandcamp.com/releases

REVIEW: SPLIT - TEETHING / RAVAGE RITUAL

This nasty little 12 inch split shares the meanest cuts from two bands prepared to kick the religion right out of your keister. Teething and Ravage Ritual team up for a record that stinks like an unwashed political prisoner and bites like a cannibalistic hermit.

Teething are somewhere between the buzzsaw death grind of Napalm Death and P.O.O.R. and the growling d-beat blasts of Skitsystem. Formed in Madrid, Spain, their music is loud, fast, and storms into brawls prepared to fight dirty, taping glass and chunks of brick to its knuckles. Teething’s songs are a violent call to action that takes Tool’s passive “fuck all the [insert item(s) here]” mantra from Ænima and takes it the next rebellious step forward, like the brutal blur of anger in “Starting Fires.” This is music that fights lies with pyromania and oppression with razors. From the thundering, familiar bass drum gallop to the toxic gang-shouts of “How To Kill A Child,” Teething know how to bring a mosh pit to a boil and bust eardrums with crusty hooks and immediately recognizable hostility.

Ravage Ritual have a more varied approach, introducing elements of death metal into their charging hardcore grind that only occasionally resembles fellow Finnish band Rotten Sound. “Deadbeat” slams a Disfear-styled attack into a sludgy breakdown that feels like dragging your body across a slaughterhouse floor sticky with blackened, moldy meat and old blood. “Drown Beyond Insane” introduces metallic riffs over blastbeats before switching gears into an acidic groove tailored for possessed headbanging. Then there’s “Hymn II,” a grimy slab of street-gutter doom that sounds like it was cooked up in a basement meth lab, ending with ambient guitar work like a snarling cloud of flies descending on the masses. It’s an eerie, foreboding conclusion to the split album, and I appreciated the tempo shift as it crawled to a stop.

This is a great split from Nooirax Productions that should be sought out by fans of extreme music everywhere. Maybe you don’t share the anti-cop sentiments of Teething, maybe the slower moments in Ravage Ritual’s songs aren’t your poisoned cup of tea, but there’s no denying the passion and aggression in these songs. You get the idea that these guys mean exactly what they’re shouting, and that sort of sincerity amplifies the music even louder for me.

Check out the split album for FREE over at Bandcamp, and donate what you can if you like this album as much as I did:  http://nooirax.bandcamp.com/album/split-12

Then check out Teething over on their Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/teethingband

And do the same for Ravage Ritual:  https://www.facebook.com/ravageritual

REVIEW: OKUS - S/T

I don’t know what Okus means, but the first acronym my brain came up with was Only Kill Ugly Saints. The problem is, that omits all the photogenic saints that Okus could behead just with the sharp blade of their music. This Irish four-piece hails from Drogheda, a city that publically displays the severed head of Saint Oliver Plunkett. History says he was executed in London in 1681, but I think he dreamed of Okus’ music centuries before and it incinerated his faith so quickly that he decapitated himself. Their seven song self-titled long EP/short album is mean as hell and feels like it’s putting cigarettes out on your eardrums.

The album is built around a foundation of death-doom but often blasts into ferocious d-beat punk and noisy hardcore. While their bursts of blackened crust remind me of Young And In The Way, they’re more similar to bands like The Secret or Full of Hell who change tempos more drastically song to song, avoiding easy characterization. Okus’ music is so ugly (HOW UGLY IS IT?) I wouldn’t kiss it with my worst enemy’s bloody asshole. If you read this blog you know right now this is pretty much my way of writing a love poem to a band: Bloody assholes. And I typed that up before even noticing one of the members was in a band once called Bleeding Rectum. This really could be love.

My favorite moments on the album were the gut-churning and intimidating as fuck-all “Bodies” and the rabid grinder “Burn It To the Ground,” though “Light Obscene” also features a tasty metallic groove. Every sound on this album feels blackened, like the songs are heretics splashed with tar, covered in asp scales and ash, then burned alive in front of an audience of cheering children. My only concern is that a couple of the songs linger a bit long, like the two minute intro to “Light Obscene” that delays us from getting to the bone marrow of the song, and “Born In Chains” which seems to lumber forward after the third minute. Apart from these choices this is still a focused, vicious release that treats brutality like the art form it truly is. Also, just to save you a weird visit to eBay, you don’t need to live within spitting distance of a severed saint head to appreciate this music. Those heads are dumb expensive, spend the money on this album instead.

Listen to Okus over on Bandcamp, where this album is available as a “name your price” download:  http://okus.bandcamp.com/album/okus

And check them out on Facebook over here:  https://www.facebook.com/Okusband

REVIEW: FULL OF HELL - RUDIMENTS OF MUTILATION

Don’t be afraid, be very afraid. Full of Hell’s new album, Rudiments of Mutilation, is what all those fairy tales were warning you about. All the ugly, cruel, dangerous elements of the world have packed their bindles and trekked across broken glass and glowing embers to join the sonic fray in this release. While quotes from the band suggest that the album is simply about “meaningless suffering” I created an entire narrative of a tortured soul recounting violent deeds and troubling experiences post-mortem, waiting for the revelation of what exists when our pulse ceases, and finding nothing. In the street-wise words of Blood for Blood, “What have we got? We got nihilism.”

Full of Hell blast pitch-black, grinding crust’n’doom at their audiences like they have a lifelong grudge against anyone in shouting distance. After “Dichotomy” lures the listener in with howls from a bottomless pit and eerie scattershot drumming, “Vessel Deserted” taps into the hardest core of crust punk before slipping into the abyss for one of several funeral sludge passages, where Dylan Walker’s vocals trail away like smoke from bodies burnt to destroy evidence. Full of Hell rip through a few grinders before pounding out “Indigence and Guilt,” a vicious hardcore song with stop-and-start riffage over a grimy wall of tremolo noise. When Full of Hell muscle up and aim to maim there is no place safe to hide. You don’t want to have an arm wrestling contest with Rudiments of Mutilation. Remember Jeff Goldblum in The Fly? Compound fracture just waiting for you, son.

The middle of the album opens up into a gaping pit of despair as “Embrace” features lifeless, droning musing over feedback and a swampy, groovy bass line. The song bleeds over into the doom track “The Lord Is My Light,” whose dissonant opening chords dive cranium-first into a pool of coagulated blood. This portion of the album is the harshest, scraping along on its belly like a dying snake trying to swallow its last rat-meal before it stops breathing. Then it’s back to the daily grind, with “Bone Coral and Brine” and the title track cranking out crusty, savage hardcore punk with barbed-wire texture. The album closes with “In Contempt of Life” marching bleakly to a halt, with barked vocals reverberating restlessly through a purgatory of ash and bone dust that I assume looks frighteningly like Wyoming. In Full of Hell’s nasty reality there’s never a moment of silence, just the shrill ringing in your ears after a speaker explodes or a gun goes off.

This release is exactly what makes A389 Recordings one of the most important labels in aggressive music. Full of Hell has a versatile and downright scary sound that needs to be celebrated and appreciated by fans of sonic extremity. The Dude was totally accurate, even in jest, when he suggested being a nihilist is exhausting. So even the most dedicated nihilists should take a break and seek out Rudiments of Mutilation, because this album will make you believe in nothing except the lasting power of a musician with a bad mood. Full of Hell are also touring extensively through June, so support these bad mofos on the road. Can’t wait to catch them in Brooklyn with Trap Them and Seven Sisters of Sleep, that sounds like the best excuse for a concussion I’ve ever heard.

Check out the album streaming NOW at:  http://www.terrorizer.com/2013/04/23/full-of-hell-rudiments-of-mutilation-stream/

And though vinyl pre-orders are sold out, get a CD/Shirt combo over at A389:

http://www.a389records.com/site/

INTERVIEW: ANCIENT SHORES

After describing their ferocious sound in a review last week, guitarist BJ Rochinich and bassist Joel Wadsworth of Ancient Shores were both kind enough to answer some questions. Keep reading to learn more about one of the loudest bands on the loudest label, A389 Records. Wilderness, jazz, and busted heads; we’ve got it all:

Mister Growl: How did you decide on the name Ancient Shores and what does it mean to you?

Joel: The name to me means that we are able to try different sounds and not stick to one specific niche. From the beginning, the band has always been trying to be a little "off" and non-conventional sounding. I know I personally enjoy the fact that we don't have to stick to one specific sound to keep listeners engaged. It's very liberating to be able to walk into practice with an idea that is drastically different from the last idea presented and it be able to get fleshed out.

Mister Growl: Outside of music, what else has influenced your sound or approach to music?

BJ: I can not really substantiate anything other than "each other".  I can bounce any idea off of anyone else in the band in person at practice, or by sending ideas through the internet, or by simply talking about parts whenever I see one of my bandmates in public. The amount of feedback and rate of response has helped me develop as a songwriter; I appreciate everyone for that. Having earned the trust of other musicians has been essential for me.

Joel: When we were writing for the 12" split I was spending a lot of time on a job out in the woods in the middle of nowhere. I was walking along hillsides for days and to help pass the time I'd constantly be humming chord progressions in my head. Due to nothing but repetition I was able to remember a good portion of progressions that wound up on the record.  I'm sure a lot of great riffs didn't make it out of the woods though.

Mister Growl: How did your relationship with A389 develop?

BJ: Basically we sent them some music we had, and it went from there. Dom is great about listening to music; he loves music. If you watch the documentary piece about A389, you will see what I mean.

http://www.decibelmagazine.com/uncategorized/chances-are-behind-the-scenes-at-a389-records/

(Editor’s Note: This is ABSOLUTELY worth your time. - MG) 

Mister Growl: What's the local music scene like in Morgantown, WV? How has your city/geography impacted the band?

BJ: It is a great scene. A variety of music styles and bands exist in the area, and surrounding areas as well. Members of bands in Morgantown moved elsewhere but still play in their respective 'Morgantown' bands. It is really a good place to be to play and see music. It is also in proximity to a lot of cities that get good tour packages. I can not really provide evidence where the geography has impacted the band's music, but being close to cities where music is a significant part of their culture is pretty, pretty great. Driving in a region dense with mountains worsens our fuel efficiency. I do like West Virginia very much, though.

Joel: I live about two hours south of Morgantown and Greg lives around an hour northwest. Being separated makes for very efficient practices when we all get together. They're more focused and there's a lot less bullshitting while we have our amps on since we don't get four practices in a week. For me it makes for shows mean a little more too. I don't get to see the guys that often so it's cool that when I do it pretty much always involves loud, awesome music.

Mister Growl: Most surprising album you love?

BJ: John Coltrane's Meditations is an album that I really enjoy that may surprise some. I think it has things that Coltrane did carefully, but at the same time it can not be diagnosed by just musical experts or just people who skim or skip around through a records content. It is polarizing in that people at both end of the spectrums of appreciation think its aimed right at them. Meditations should be experienced.

Joel: I don't really have any that would be surprising to me. Everyone's got their thing and music that's theirs. In terms of an album that caught me off guard and actually surprised me I'd probably have to go with Isis - Oceanic. That record completely changed the way I thought about music and the creation of music. At that moment it surprised me because I wasn't listening to longer drawn out pieces of music. In the overall context of time it's not surprising I love that album because it's perfect.   

 Mister Growl: How receptive have listeners from outside the heavy music community been to your band?

BJ: I personally can not even tell. We have great friends with eclectic tastes that support us no matter what. It's possible they hate the tunes, but they would not tell us. I think our friends and anyone that does listen to us sense that we love writing music and at least work at it. Our friends and relatives are amazing supporters.

Joel: Yeah, that's tough. I don't know how many people who listen to music outside of heavier styles would be actively reaching to listen to us. In a live setting, people can be swayed with the visual part just as much as the audio. Greg busted his head open during our last set and people really got into his intensity. We didn't play with any other bands that were "heavy" in a traditional sense so it's hard to say.

Mister Growl: If Ancient Shores had to have a mascot what would it be?

BJ: An empty field.

Mister Growl: What's been the most insane moment at one of your live shows?

BJ: Playing on a stage that Black Flag also played.

Mister Growl: What projects are you currently working on?

Joel: Starting the writing process over. Some of the guys are in other bands too. Check out Sweet Life, Sleepwalker, Karma to Burn, and Pat Pat.

Many thanks to BJ and Joel for their time! Follow the links below to support the band and the label, it’s well worth your beer money. Also, thanks to Andy Pickens for the band photo.

http://www.a389records.com/site/

http://www.facebook.com/ancientshores

http://www.stereokiller.com/ancientshores

REVIEW: ANCIENT SHORES / CYNARAE - SPLIT

A389 Recordings, the label out of Baltimore, has gift-wrapped another lethal offering that should have hazard warnings attached. Eventually A389 LPs will require waivers to be signed, because they release some serious spine-snapping material. Every fan of heavy music owes it to themselves to study the A389 roster and salivate over the talent. This split album featuring Ancient Shores and Cynarae is a great representation of the A389 approach to music making: Songs you break faces to.

When I first heard the band name Ancient Shores, especially matched with the album’s artwork, I was prepared for blackened music that would accompany fog rolling off a black ocean onto the majestic banks of a snowy Norwegian beach. But these shores aren’t majestic, they’re littered with shattered whiskey bottles, discarded switchblades, and the splintered bones of rats caught in food processors. Ancient Shores, a downright dangerous crew from Morgantown, WV, fuse crust, sludge, doom, and heavy slabs of hardcore with punk rock energy that spits on your attempt to classify by genre They share strands of the same DNA as The Secret and the Dazzling Killmen, bands that demand to be separated by how much viciousness they pack into a track as opposed to some forum-created sub-genre. Album opener “SSDD” laces hardcore punk with classic rock licks to create perfect driving music for road-rage enthusiasts. The melancholy, slouched melodies of “The Omen” throws off its sheep disguise and reveals a predatory d-beat wolf beneath. From the dissonant, harrowing doom of “Not on the Ground” to the metallic burst closing “Destroyer,” this is abrasive, mean-spirited music proud of its scarred, ugly mug. Ancient Shores carve their initials into this album with a rusted scalpel deeply enough that the impression is guaranteed to last.

Cynarae rampage through the second half of the album with a murkier, meatier production that reminds me of a meaner, snaggle-toothed cousin of Skitsystem, Earth Crisis, and early-Napalm Death. This nasty Seattle band plays songs that feel like they escaped their cages, running free at last and hungry for whatever bleeds and breathes. They seem unconcerned with polish, relying on ferocious, reckless energy that greatly hints at the mayhem that must occur when these miscreants take a stage. I’ve never seen them perform but I’m going to guess right now that concussions in their pits are not rare and Roger Goodell will approach them about helmet regulations. “An Elegy” is the type of song a band dreams of closing an album on. It thrashes and bangs heads with a massive, confident mid-song riff before leading into the following track “Harbinger,” a grinding assault that pounds skulls into dust and skulldust into nothingness. Unfortunately the album ends on “Attrition,” which just didn’t have the same craft or energy to keep my interest and just faded into memory. Still, there’s plenty of raw promise to convince me that Cynarae is an uncaged animal you need to keep track of, if only to make sure they don’t eviscerate you in the wild.

I strongly encourage you, dear, deranged reader, to check out A389 if you are not familiar with their venomous releases. I’ve read an alarming number of reviews of split albums that pit the bands against each other like it’s some sort of death match. What’s really important is that these bands would share the same bill, they both have blood on their knuckles, and they are perfectly willing to knock your ear drums the fuck out. Bottom line: They are intense bands that know how to inspire a frenzy and are well worth your time. Leave “picking favorites” to those creeps on The Bachelor, this is extreme music and all true ambassadors are welcome.

Listen to the split album here:  http://a389recordings.bandcamp.com/album/a389-121-ancient-shores-cynarae-split-12

You can track down Ancient Shores over on Facebook here:  https://www.facebook.com/ancientshores

And learn the pronunciation of Cynarae here:  https://www.facebook.com/cynaraekittenmachine

And don’t forget to check out 389 Recordings for all their sinister releases:  http://www.a389records.com/site/