GET READY FOR THESE MARCH REVIEWS!

 I used to hate March.  I would, every year without fail, recall that Simpsons picture of Homer walking past the misprinted calendar that said 'Smarch' because it sounds ugly and that month was always ugly for me.  It was always like that last, slush-filled, one-last-blizzard, gross hurrah of Winter that refused to let go and it's such a long month as well.

Well, now I friggin' love this month because it's already springtime here in Oregon and it's where you really start experiencing some nice weather, longer days, and everything is in bloom.  It's great.

How does any of that at all relate to a bunch of reviews I have here?  Maybe it's that I felt this year had kind of a slow start for music, but all of a sudden there's a bunch of cool stuff happening out there, just like this season.  So here's some of it for you to chew on.  Dig it.

BLACK BLACK, THE, “Careful On Your Way Out”

The cover of this record makes me think it’s some Gainesville Fest emo/pop-punk sort of thing.  Instead, it’s kind of sassy rock n’ roll with synths and lyrics that speak to corrupt institutions from a pack of dudes in Brooklyn.  It’s not really my lane because I don’t really ‘get’ dance-y synth rock, but I will say that side B starts out on a strong note with “Enemies”.  That particular track has a powerful bass sound and the synth parts are a bit more interesting and have a, for lack of a better term, sinister feel to them.  It gives things more of a post-punk feel than anything else.  However, I can’t really get behind the rest as it’s just not the sort of thing I go for.  But if you do enjoy this sort of thing act quick- they made only like 100 of these records, which seems insane to me considering how much it must cost just to press up 100 total.  (EWEL Records)

 

EYEHATEGOD, “A History Of Nomadic Behavior”

Talk about a band that continues to take one beating after another and just channels it back into making ugly, spiteful music.  By all accounts, given how many times Mike IX Williams should have died I’m pretty sure he is the Highlander and ought to claim The Prize from Keith Richards.  There can only be one.  Eyehategod is pretty much it.  On their second record after a long hiatus the New Orleans lifers continue on the path I feel was laid out on their last (self-titled) record.  There is definitely a first half of Eyehategod, that being their initial run with the band, and a second half, being what they have done in the last 7 years or so.  It really has more to do with the engineering and production on their newer material versus their older material.  And stuff like that boils down to basically newer studio technology.  That’s really the only difference.  It certainly makes for a ‘cleaner’ sounding recording, which turns off many long time fans used to their raw and dirty approach (which certainly suits the band very well).  And while Eyehategod has had its share of member changes over the years most of those were a rotating cast of tight friends and musical accomplices so the sound remained consistent.  The current iteration on this record is the core of Williams on vocals and Jimmy Bowers laying down the riffs.  I’m not sure how the new(er) rhythm section fits in with their musical family tree but they do the job well.  In terms of what to expect- ya know, the perfected mix of Black Sabbath face-peeling sludge and later-era Black Flag noisy feedback hell.  Of course, Williams particular brand of potent, vicious poetry screamed with all the disdain of a man who has several lifetimes of fucked up experiences to unload is half the weight of this massive record.  There’s a little bit more on the clean guitar side of things on some leads, particularly on “The Trial Of Johnny Cancer” and the following, almost interlude, track “Smoker’s Piece”.  Those brief bits aside, the rest is the bottom-feeding sludge avalanche and damaged spite you’ve come to love/fear/feel filthier for having listened to that you expect from these degenerates (and I mean that in the most endearing way possible).  I dare Century Media to sell this record at a reasonable price.  (Century Media)

 

FALL SILENT, “You Knew I Was Poison”

Fall Silent were one of those 90’s bands that doesn’t really get the credit they deserve.  They released a handful of records that pushed the metalcore tag into some next-level playing, which (in my opinion) peaked with their incredible record “Superstructure”.  I still would put it in the top 5 late 90’s metalcore records, though the band probably doesn’t really dig that label.  They’re hardcore kids who love thrash, death metal, and unbelievable heavy breakdowns minus any semblance of growling cookie monster vocals.  It’s great.  After that record the band went on to create music that relied more on playing blindingly fast, but still kept the variety of elements that made them unique before splitting up in the early 2000’s.  And then in 2017 they rather inexplicably returned with a new 7”, pretty much picking up right where their last thrash-influenced record left off.  I never really figured on these dudes doing a reunion, but here we are and now they have an entire new full length (even though 2 of the songs are from that 2017 7” leaving 6 new tracks) and it’s a great addition to their already solid catalog.  The emphasis in these songs is still fast and thrashy with death metal-ish breakdowns and Levi Watson’s jabs at religion, garbage humans, and Reno with his high-pitched shout/scream, though I feel like there are more ripping guitar solos than before.  I think my favorite tracks here are the last two- “Destroyer Of Worlds” and “The South Virginia Street Death March”- as they both have the classic Fall Silent combination of shredding fast parts, quick transitions, and super heavy, but creatively played breakdown parts.  And that insert image of Jesus lighting a crackpipe with a sacred heart?  It’s just (kisses fingers) chef’s kiss.  But where’s the bonus 80’s hard rock cover song? (Revelation)

 

GREAT FALLS/ THROES  split7”

If you dig crazy, chaotic metallic hardcore/noisecore here’s a split that will easily appeal to the dust off-huffing reprobate in you (and who doesn’t have that side to them?).  Great Falls are peak in their little corner of extreme music and offer a track that errs on the more emotionally-wrenching end of their catalog with a slow bass-and-vocals dominated first half of the song and an explosive second half that sounds like the part of Neurosis songs where they decide to wreck the universe.  I tell ya, Demian has that voice that can just slice you in half.  He could be yelling a breakfast recipe and it would sound like he’s getting his friggin’ heart ripped out each and every time.  Throes is a semi-new band formed by members of the sonically similar Bone Dance.  They give us two songs of crazy metallic absurdity that has an Engineer sort of quality to the vocals where they remain a single-style blast throughout while the music gets a little too riff salad at times.  Yet when the band hones in on a repeating riff they get all Mjolnir and the thunder is delivered. (DroppingBombs)

 

GROUPIE, “Ephemeral”

Imagine, if you will:  it’s a sunny day out and you decide to skip work because it’s the first time in a few weeks where it hasn’t been raining.  It’s not hot out, but you can get away with not wearing a jacket, so you go for the Heart ¾ sleeve you inherited from your parents closet.  Sunglasses go on, you grab the dog leash, and you and your best pal (AKA, the dog) go for a walk down to the riverfront park.  What are you listening to?  This band Groupie makes music suitable for such an occasion.  The press photo makes it look as if they’re blazing solos straight from an Ex-Hex show, but they are considerably more chill for the most part.  It’s fairly straightforward power pop/rock that goes low key because the members are secretly part of a bike gang or something.  (HandstandRecords)

 

NO ESCAPE, “Selective Punches” EP

Here’s an unexpected one.  No Escape were a blip on the hardcore radar back in the early 90’s and didn’t have a huge output.  27 years later they decide ‘let’s make some music’.  Why not right?  What I enjoyed about No Escape was they were a bit of an anomaly back in the early 90’s with their hardcore that, to me, felt like it wasn’t afraid to add heavy, grungy groove as a base with the hardcore placed on top.  It made it all sound more menacing and dirty.  Given that most hardcore of the time was either stuck in fast, youth crew leftovers or moving towards mosh-y metallic Slayer worship No Escape probably made more than a few East Coast heads scratch their bleached hair in bewilderment.  So how do they sound as men (likely) in, or approaching, their 50s?  Pretty much exactly the same, just with a much better recording on these 6 new songs.  It’s really great stuff, with Tim Singer’s patented regular-guy-whose-lost-his-marbles barking and ranting over it all.  I’d say his vocal style back in the original No Escape was a little more straightforward (his style really emerged full-fledged in Deadguy), but this plays to the method he’s most known for.  Those chunky riffs are still all over this thing, as is the mean-spirited groove, but you will certainly find plenty of hardcore as well (particularly on the faster-paced “Everything You Need”).  Even now it’s not as if the world finally caught up and now easily understands No Escape.  They still seem to be in their own bubble, but it sounds really good to me.  (Hellminded)

 

PORCUPINE, “The Sybil” EP

In their relatively short time Chicago’s Porcupine have released a bevy of demos, EPs, and splits and in the mix of all their noise they have managed to cover Deadguy, Swans, and Suicide while they’re at it so right away I’m on board.  And on this new recording you get six more furious beatings of chaotic hardcore, fast and unrelenting, where it sounds as if part of the studio experience involved throwing their instruments at the mixing board while the tape was rolling.  I imagine there may have been some blood shed in the process.  It certainly sounds that way.  The influences of the band are clear, but not in a way that apes other groups sounds.  It’s the same way that Deadguy was often lumped into metalcore, but is indebted far more to the reckless- yet calculated- chaos of Black Flag.  The influence is more in spirit and I can appreciate that about this band.  The first half of the EP races by with one dirge after another and then takes a brief turn with the short (but chunky) sample-laden lurking riff of “Beyond the Pale” before exploding into the blast beat-riddled “Unauthorized” that soon bursts into a wild, bouncing groove section that suddenly collapses upon itself in the best possible example of the extremes this band takes to achieve beautiful sonic violence.  Quite an impressive recording I must say!  (NewMorality)

 

RITUAL ATROPHY demo

Promising smorgasbord of punch-you-in-the-face-then-road-haul-you-through-shrapnel medley of metal, crust, and grind.  Growled cave-monster vocals dole out screeds against police, bigots, racists, and other societal cancers as they’re backed up by grinding, almost black metal-ish blasts with the occasional slower part and a hint of stadium crust, a la Tragedy.  It all blends together well though and the track “Inherited Hatred” shows off this blend of styles best.  But be warmed basement dwellers- there’s not a dread-mullet among them and a couple of these guys even have male-pattern baldness!  Quick, someone cry out ‘false!’(self-released)

 

THIRDFACE, “Do It With a Smile”

This may be one of the most illegible-looking records I’ve ever seen and you’d never know that they’re a ripping hardcore band from Tennessee by the cover and not either a) a Crom-Tech tribute, or b) an artifact from an alien civilization.  I will say, though, their vicious take on hardcore is otherworldly (see what I did there).  Their power lies in the gnarled, dominating bass sound, which is only equaled by the primal and ferocious scream of vocalist Kathryn Edwards.  Yet, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that while the aforementioned qualities make for an energized sound it’s the wild song structures that separate Thirdface from the pack.  Perhaps similar in terms of the curveballs thrown by the likes of Punch, but minus as much of the fastcore blitz, Thirdface don’t rely on just fast part-mosh part- bridge- fast part, color-by-numbers hardcore.  They switch it up as much as they want and their songs are short enough to keep the various twists and turns from becoming too overburdened.  Their original approach to hardcore is very welcome as it is a genre that can easily become formulaic and boring through lack of creativity.  Thirdface is adept at laying down the elements of hardcore that make it fun and aggressive for any fan of this style to enjoy, but adding enough outside-the-box ideas to push it forward to the next level.  (Exploding In Sound)