Here it is, the last batch of reviews I'll be unloading for the year (minus an upcoming, socially-compelled, year end list), so drink it in in all my curmudgeonly, grumpy criticism. What can I say, my blunt honesty will be the death of me.
CELL PRESS, s/t EP
Well I’ll be goddamned if these Canadians, who are just fucking around with a project band, don’t know how to lay out some killer jams. This is the sort of music that will make you grow a beard (regardless of X or Y chromosomes) just by listening to it and obscure band patches will begin to sprout from whatever clothes you’re wearing. Pairing up some burly barbarian riffs, courtesy of membership of The Great Sabatini, and then letting drummer Mark McGee (Architect, The Chariot) go all Keelhaul-berserk over it results in four tracks of peak riff mountain scaled via hitching a ride with Master Blaster that lives somewhere between the aforementioned Keelhaul and Harkonen. There’s a fifth track as well, but it’s really just 11 minutes of feedback/improvisation and I’d much rather they just played one riff for that whole time if they were having trouble coming up with more material. It’s really the only setback here. The rest is golden and I’d love to see them come up with more. (self-released)
COFFIN APARTMENT, “Full Torso Apparition”
Aside from these chaps being local I want to give this a nod simply for the fact that I think the cover art is so bad ass. It’s really simple, but looks super cool. However, it really wouldn’t lead one to think that the actual music contained behind that cover is raging, gnarled math-y metal, the likes of which bands such as Voivod, early Mastodon, Today Is the Day, and contemporaries such as Sulaco would share hivemind likeness and shred together as an army. I can definitely get down with music like this, but I prefer it to be on the shorter end because there’s already a lot to take in so the two tracks in the middle- “A Quagmire Of Filth and Shame” and “Hyperphagic Blues”- work best for my attention span as they run below four minutes each and also express some of the most interesting songwriting the band conjures forth. The rest of the tracks err on the longer side, a few of which stretch out their length via somewhat melodic mid-passages that are actually cool to listen to (sometimes it feels like bands who do this are just adding filler) and you get the added bonus of really metal-sounding song titles, like “Scavenger Of Regurgitation”! Who goes around dumpster diving for puke? I know I’ve come across it before in my adventures, but to be in search of it? C’mon, that’s just gross. (Silver Stature Sounds)
COWER, “Boys”
I feel like there have been a bunch of bands that have used this name, but this one is a project between members of USA Nails and Petbrick, based out of the UK. On this release they are picking from dark post-punk, with bits of what could maybe pass for slightly industrial music, akin to maybe Killing Joke, but also mixed with some noisy swagger and occasional lighter moments. The two singles they released prior to the record’s release- “Enough” and “Midnight Sauce” are the most directly engaging songs and have eclectic energy about them with their somewhat more straightforward approach as filtered through rather unconventional methods. Although it’s “Proto-Lion Tamer” mixing synths with a dirty, noisy blast to propel it that makes for the most aggressive song and leans a bit more towards the USA Nails membership present. However, they dial it back into morose and somber territory with the downright spooky songs “For the Boys” and “Saxophone By the Water”. On closing song, “Park Jogger” it sounds as if they’re going to go out on some noise-sample-heavy Neurosis “Through Silver In Blood”-style apocalypse-bringer, but conclude the track instead with a huge, shimmering Jesu-like ascent into bliss. It’s quite excellent really. So yeah, this release is a kind of mixed bag of different styles, but it strangely works out pretty well and it’s an overall engaging listen from beginning to end. (HumanWorth)
ILSA, “Preyer”
For something like 10 years now Baltimore’s Ilsa have been bringing horror-tinged macabre sludge metal like a blood and guts-soaked machete to the ears of basement crust lords. They certainly owe a chunk of their sound to acts from another beaten-down city, namely Clevo’s Integrity and Ringworm, just imagine slower and a bit more crust-sludge. And wouldn’t you know it, the current Integrity lineup includes members of Ilsa. How about that? Regardless, Ilsa excel at this downtrodden, evil, and mean-spirited sound. However, I gotta admit, it kind of moves at one pace and doesn’t really change up all that much from song to song. It’s like one pretty good song, repeated over an entire album (6 albums if we’re going through the whole discography), and it gets kind of dull after awhile. But hey, murder confession samples, chunky riffs, mid-paced double kick, long hair, black shirts that refuse to have sleeves, cult 70’s pulp horror movies, and black jean jackets that were blue when they were shoplifted. If that’s your thing you could do a lot worse. (Relapse)
MOON PUSSY, s/t
The award for best band name is now claimed so don’t try anymore. And as much as this group is lacking any conceivable amount of fucks to be given regarding their name their music equally yields little to no remorse for it’s minimalist clatter and abundant chaos. All they need is drums, a guitar, and aggressively drunken howling to get their point across. Sometimes it manifests as the perfect beer glass-smashing rocker of a simple riff played as if a swarm of bees were operating a chainsaw (“Hurt Wrist”, “Criff and Moths”), and other times it’s the sound of people drunk off their ass after a night of fighting, fucking around, and forgetting that the ‘record’ button was on (“Duo”, “Pillow Talk”). I understand having some variety on a record is good to keep interest, but having ass-beaters like “Fail Better”, or the swaggering unease of “Peanut Butter”, is really enough to keep my attention. The couple improvisational tracks seem like filler tacked on to an otherwise good record. It sounds a bit lo-fi, but they make the most of it with them just beating the shit out of their instruments. (The Ghost Is Clear)
SCIENCE MAN, “II”
Science Man is the solo project from John Toohill, guitarist of Alpha Hopper. Science Man takes a bit of a different tack. It’s wild, unhinged garage punk powered with a drum machine. On the first LP (we’re on “II” here, keep up) the drum machine was a bit more obvious as the drums really sounded like a drum machine. On “II” I think John figured things out a bit more and a lot of the drums here sound a little more organic, although tracks like “Brazilian Napkins” definitely have that Big Black industrial feel. Musically it’s still wild and zany, like I’m listening to Jon Spencer Blues Explosion mixed with Lords and Hot Snakes. It’s music for people with a screw loose to get vile and weird. This record also comes with a flexi with an extra track on it, which is a little weird why it wasn’t just added to the LP since the whole thing clocks in with 9 songs at around 20 minutes. (Big Neck Records)
SOUL GLO, “Songs To Yeet At the Sun” EP
Soul Glo might be the perfect example of me being too old to fully grasp the hype around them. I’ve really made an effort to grasp what they’re doing in the past and I think this new EP actually makes some strides in honing in their songwriting, creating some clarity in their swirl of chaos. I get that it’s completely insane punk rock music presented in a way out of the norm for most hardcore adherents. I’m just not fully along for the ride. The first two tracks here- “(Quietly) Do the Right Thing” and “29” go for a bit more straightforward super fast and manic hardcore with enough twists and turns that will force repeated listens until you unlock the lightning round puzzle going on, but not so ridiculous that it simply results in confusion. The third track is a straight up hip-hop piece to break things up. The last couple tracks err in a more metallic hardcore direction with Converge-ish moments and some chunky breakdowns. Amongst it all, and this is the part that is hardest for me to latch on to, is the vocals. Lyrically, it’s bold, stream-of-conscious style stories and situations that appear suited for a hip-hop beat, but instead are screamed, sounding out of place. When you’re trying to cram an entire page of thoughtfully conceived lyrics into a minute-long shredder, sounding like the dude from Saetia (whom I could never get into), it comes off as jumbled and unpleasant. It makes the music sound that much more chaotic and perhaps that’s the appeal for others. For me it’s like the music and lyrics exists as two polar opposite entities that are both good on their own, but when combined do not mix in a way that feels coherent to my ears. (Secret Voice)
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