Posts by SeanO)))

These guys must have one of the coolest band names ever. I mean cool in relative terms to the grindcore and goregrind worlds, of course. Nevertheless, Cutterclit is a brutal lesson in the world of Czech madness, where the goregrind and death metal scenes almost seem to blur into one. European goregrind can also often be utter trash, but ‘Anal Garland’ are consistence and a great listen.

After recently checking out Demonic Possession I wanted to get my head around another one of the bands albums and Desert Northern Hell. The main immediate difference is the production, which is a little drier, for lack of a better word, although there are flourishes to the song writing which are different too. It’s cool to listen sequentially like this so you can properly feel out developments in a band’s sound. All in all, a…

The first of four “related” releases from the Miles Davis Quintet that would span over several years in the late 50s and early 60s, Cookin’… is a surprisingly sparse and laid back recording, for what it is. The ticking percussion and fumbling bass backbone take us on a journey where the lead instruments add flavour and colour to the ongoing pieces, rather than “solo” out on their own. Either way, break out that enormous garlic…

1349 are fucking relentless. I’ve made the effort recently to go back and check out some of their earlier works, after consistently being impressed by most of the records that dropped since Hellfire caught my attention in 2006, or whenever it was. Beyond The Apocalypse is much like the band’s other releases in that it is an unstoppable weapon of a black metal war machine, but it possesses its own unique coldness and atmosphere.

I picked up a 27 single from Relapse about 12 or 13 years ago, and only now have I got around to checking out a full length from the band. Honestly, it’s rather pleasant, and recorded excellently. The production is to be heavily commended, and whilst I’m not the biggest fan of this kind of thing, I really enjoyed this album.

Many thanks to local guitar smithery legend Luke for turning me onto this Bossk record. Bossk are not a name that I have come across in sometime, in fact not since the I and II records from quite some time ago. Audio Noir builds on those sprawling compositions, but offers – in my opinion – a more metallic sound, and a tracklist that is consistent and flows well.

Cancerous Womb are (were) one of the more consistent and entertaining offerings of the British death metal scene, so it was fuckin’ great to hear that they dropped a full length back in 2014. The guitar work is razor sharp are the songs are quick of wit and don’t leave you feeling sluggish and tired when listened, which a lot of death metal is guilty of, I’ll be honest with you. All in all, most…

I made a point of going back and checking this out after spending a lot of time with later-career outputs from the group earlier this year. As cliche and as badly aged the title “Babykiller” may be, the opening track to this compilation of sorts absolutely blows your head off. Wayne Knupp (RIP breh) is absolutely sick as hell on the vocals and this track just totally fucking rips your head off and takes a…

Uhhhh what? This is a pickle of a black metal record. Admittedly I am not too familiar with the works of Dødsengel, but picked up on the name as a project to check out. On the surface of it, its black metal by numbers with wailing, screeching guitars and evil, shrieked vocals. But, underneath there is this element of dissonance, where things are thrown off kilter or even brazenly played out of tune or key…

I don’t know if I’m reading more into that I should be, but my 3 month old son seems to love Tangerine Dream. He just sits there in his rocker, a pensive look on his face as the layers of meandering synthesizers unfold endlessly. It’s an expression of deep thought and subtle awe, and it isnt too far from my own as I travel through the 70s era of Tangerine Dream recordings. Rubycon is quite…

I’ve been snoozing on the happenings of British madman The Atrocity Exhibit for quite some time, so I was beyond hyped when this little fucker dropped a few years ago. Man, does this album hit hard. Seriously grindy, but with some nice metallic riffage to keep it grounded. Just look at that cover art. You know you wanna listen to this.

I love the early Melvins records. They are dryer in production yet pull no punches with aggression. Its like grunge got a shot of adrenalin in the arm, only instead of making it really fast, it just made it really, really angry. Honestly, the grooves that these guys fall into is the best thing about the album. Songs are often hypnotic and repetitive, but have a similar effect to Swans and that kinda shit in…

All it takes is the opening chords of the first track to remind me how much I love this album. The guitar tone is so fuzzy and dirty its an absolute pleasure just to listen to that alone; its like a massage for your ears and your brain. With Born Too Late, Wino et al deliver a Sabbath-worshipping doom metal classic. Tales of drug addiction abound, cast out over a sludgy production and a pickled…

Bill Laswell has his fingers up in all sorts of pies. Baselines is something of a solo effort and something of a collaboration with others (as per always I suppose), but is something of a mixed bag. The vibe is a bit unusual and I wasn’t sure whether the music is intended to be chilled out or rather perplexing. There didn’t really seem to be much of a line between the two things. IDK, maybe…

I can see why people hated this when it came out. True, hate is a strong word, and expecting the unexpected should be taken somewhat on board when dealing with the legendary Miles Davis, but even the freestyle nature of these streetwise tunes seems a million miles away from the gorgeous experimental jazz that preceded it. Instead funk and groove are heaped on in piles, and whilst the tracks meander in their own way, On…

This was an interesting listen. I’m just going to throw it out there now so its out of the way: I absolutely prefer the original versions. Now I can get to the music recorded for this album without constantly harking back. There are two new ingredients here – pomp and percussion. LOL. Some of these previously dreamy compositions are now bombastic stompers, with marching drums and fuller instrumentation. Honestly though, Spirit Of Rebellion sounds absolutely…

In the early 2010s I went through a phase of collecting all the old Mortiis dungeon synth records. Due to their insane resale value, I never ended up buying most of them, and Blood And Thunder was included on that list. Its recently been repressed, so I figured at the very least I should hunt this down and give it a listen. This is the perfect entry-level release for anyone who wants to try their…

What is the perfect soundtrack for painting a skirting board I hear you all ask at once? Why of course, I answer, it is head-scraping harsh noise from Japanese Torture Comedy Hour and Muzumuzu Suru! I can’t claim to own this tape, but some kind soul has uploaded this to YouTube so I am finally able to enjoy this long-lost relic of power electronics. I can’t seem to find much info on Muzumuzu Suru, but…

You gotta laugh at Minch. It’s been years since I’ve heard them, but I’m thrown straight back into thier crazy world. I’m not sure what the intention or vibe is, but this is ridiculous and I can’t help but love it. Gore Beyond Necropsy should, of course, be called Gore Beyond Reproach. Tons of grinders crawl up the ass of this band and honestly it is so easy to see why. Brutal, lightening fast grind…

This is an absolute beauty of a hip hop album. Ever since Immortal Technique spat “just like my nigga Vast Aire from Cann Ox said, if you don’t like the smell of burning meat then get the fuck off the planet” I’ve had this group listed down to check out. In true LIW fashion of course, that ended up taking me a considerable amount of time but it was worth the wait. The beats on…

This took me by surprise. Recently decided to investigate some “proto” metal, as in, who came up alongside Sabbath in the formation of the heavy metal sound? I was recommended Blue Cheer, who sit a bit more on the bluesy end of the spectrum (hey, I guess the clue is in the name). I love the crunch and the muddy sound of the guitars. It fills me with complete joy. Something so simple yet all…

Ah yes, the original Emperor Of Dimensions Unknown! The recent Spirit Of Rebellion sessions had me going back to these stunning early Mortiis long-form compositions (Ok, Ok, its just several songs glued together, I get it!) and I even shared a few with LIW contributor Burra, who will hopefully be joining me to see Mortiis along with Mayhem in Bristol, providing this COVID situation improves drastically. Anyways, about the record. If you are even remotely…

Deterioration are fucking savage. I could have sworn that they had more of a mince thing going on in the past, but it’s been a while since I’ve spent some time with their material. The Unnatural Mind is all grind; balls out riffs and fucking mental blastbeats. I’m reminded of Insect Warfare if I could make such a comparison, especially in the vocal department. Truly, this is a fantastic grindcore album.

Prurient is fuckin’ great, JK Flesh is fuckin’ great. Then, of course, naturally, this split is fucking great. It’s a match made in heaven, where the more pulsing, driven body music of the Flesh meets the sheets of noisy experimentation of the ‘rient. Truly, madly, a good ‘un.

The first time I heard this I found it rather irritating. Maybe I’ve developed a penchant for samples shoe-horned and glitched into freaktastic breakcore musicals? It’s a possibility. I suppose that when life throws you a chocolate wheelchair, all you can do is get up and do a little dance, or something like that.

Haircuts For Men are one of the most consistent projects that operate in the vaporwave style. Their records are more than that though, truly. Even so, I would go on to say, that they are often more than the sum of their parts, and 必要 is of no exception.  The music here invokes heavy nostalgia, a morose longing and a sense of the unknown. I’m reminded in part of Evanescence era Scorn with the slight…

Seemingly considered one of the fusion-era Davis classics, with the group well and truly into the post-bop phase. I had to admit that I found Miles In The Sky laid back and almost restrained. The tracks are under-stated and move along subtly, but there’s always that feeling that things could become unhinged at any moment. Despite there only being four tracks, I find it difficult to pick a stand out track or even a movement…

I’d always put off listening to earlier Gorgoroth because I saw them live with Pest about a decade ago and found them to be pretty awful. Little did I realise however that the vocals on this record are done by yet another madman called Hat (yes), so I finally spun this up. Of course, I’m an idiot, and this does not disappoint. Antichrist is black metal of the savage and punishing variety. It’s not quite…

Brutal gory grindcore! Imagine, I dunno, Exhumed but on crack. Slower, groovy passages mingle with disgusting blasts and rabid vocals to provide you, the listener, with a wondrous concerto of diseased malpractice glorification.

In your poonani! My So Called Life is classic Venetian Snares, marring the frenetic mentalist approach of the early daze with the wanted or not calculated genius and finesse of the more recent experimentations released by Mr. Funk. Some quality sampling, some incredible beat programming / mashing, and some menacing electronics. A must-listen, IMO.

Cover thy ears and lock up thyne missis, for Tsjuder are in town! Possessing a devilishly metallic and surprisingly clear production, Demonic Possession is the perfect showcase of Tsjuder’s razor sharp black metal. The record is almost a lesson in making kvlt and unforgiving black metal without having to plug guitars into beehives instead of amplifiers.

The strangest thing about The Satanist is that I have listened to it a whole bunch of times but I keep forgetting that I have. Like, the whole thing blurs into one track, asides from the first, and I attribute this to listening either whilst playing games, doing house work or at the gym. Either way, The Satanist is a solid record and cemented the long-running Behemoth project as a household name in black metal….

I’ve witnessed Cardiff’s Thorun in the live environment but have not until had the pleasure of hearing studio material. Expect seismic, glacial doom in the instrumental veins of Bongripper, but coupled with the power-tinged riffs of bands more grounded in the riff rather than out there in the ether; think more trad-doom enthusiasts such as Pentagram, or even Sabbath. Chorus Of Giants reminds me in parts of the band Slabdragger, and I don’t feel that…

The Bad Seed EP was one of the final offerings from the volatile Birthday Party group. The tracks positively crackle with chaotic energy, firing this awkward, bizarre mix of punk and indie pop (yeah) up to a whole new level. There are times where it seems the whole song will fall apart, but that just seems like a part of the deal here. Worth going back to, especially for Nick Cave fans.

This is sick as fuck. Dr. Octagon’s (Kool Keith) self titled record from 1996 is a lesson in how to produce sublime hip hop beats, and then provide a stunning flow to go with it. Comparisons with MF Doom are perhaps too easy, but it’s easy to see where MF took a lot of inspiration from. Some of the lyrics about being a gynacologyst are a bit clumsy and haven’t aged too well, but all…

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t initially underwhelmed by Swans’ 90s output, especially coming in as a fan of the sonic destruction that was Filth, Cop, Greed etc. – Omniscience however, the live album I believe for the Love Of Life album, showcases those rigid and dark folk songs in the stretched out sprawling live incarnations one would expect from Swans. Even the morose electronic-laden and acoustic guitar driven rock melodies that the…

I’ve never properly taken the time to sit and listen to Dream Theater before so decided it would probably best to start right at the beginning. I understand that a different vocalist is at work here, but honestly, When Dream And Day Unite is pretty much as I expected it to be, discounting a roughness around the edges. This has 80s to the max vibes; snippets of hair metal breach through, and that snare is…

Hey Frankenstein! You want some metal infused horrorpunk? What do you mean “no”? Haha I played the absolute death out of this record when I was a teenager. Admittedly, I only really bought it because it had Joey from Slipknot on guitars, but it opened up the world of horrorpunk for me. An obsession with the Misfits developed in the years coming which would allow me to snake into the punk genre too – so…

Can you believe this has been the longest gap between Napalm records? It doesn’t feel that long since Apex Predator dropped. I guess that means that I’m getting old as fuck. Either way, here she blows, coming in from the horizon like a steamboat with a deceased crew and smashing head on into the dock with “Fuck the Factoid”, before pulling out all the usual tricks (and I’m sorry, but that same goddamn Russ Russell…

Greed Killing – as a single – is probably the lowest point in Napalm’s career, if I had to pick one. The band were pursuing an industrial or “groove metal” (says the press) direction at the time, but Greed Killing is a shameful commercial grab that is hideously out of place even with the album it’s from, let alone the band’s output in general.

Now this is how you do a Napalm Death record. Order Of The Leech is fucking ferocious, and was a phenomenal return to form after a patch of slower albums. Following on from Enemy Of The Music Business, Order… keeps the pace up, with flesh-ripping metallic grindcore carnage. Literally that’s all I can say. This started a trend in how Napalm records would appear and even sound. Favourite track: “Narcoleptic”.

The original Napalm Death Peel Sessions have to be some of the most brutal sounds put to tape. I cannot fathom the sheer energy, speed and ferocity that is going down on this recording. It is the polar opposite to Swans’ Public Castration Is A Good Idea, but on the same chart in regards to pushing the extremities of music. Truly essential noise. (This review covers the first two Peel Sessions released in 1988 and…

Too Experienced is a chilled out journey through some tight, head-nodding variety of reggae. I’ll be honest, I’m more well versed in the spaced out, dubby strains of the genre, so this is a refreshing change. And what great tunes there are, from the bigger hits to the lesser known entries. Either way, a solid record.

I hate it when shit like this happens to bands. I guess something similar happened with Gorgoroth, where several instances of the band existed (also with Von if I recall). I tried to give this a fair go, but CKY without Deron Miller is not something I think I can get my head around. Sure, there are plenty of bands that can shed vocalists and reinvent themselves in the process, but personally I think Deron…

A beautiful, morose journey through ambient, acoustic folk tunes. The guitars sparkle with life and the vocals, whilst admittedly I cannot understand, are gruff and powerful. I feel as though I am being transported to a distant land.

Having being slightly disappointed by Miles’ early 90s attempts at bridging into a more electronic music / hiphop direction (hey, just imagine what that could have done for popular music), I was a little anxious going in to this. As much as I would trust Bill Laswell with any band (except maybe Swans hahaha) I was indeed skeptical. But of course, my worries were quickly put to rest. What we have here is a gorgeous…

Did someone say proto-thrash? You can literally smell the BO when listening to this record. I conjure images of a band of spotty teenagers or twentysomethings playing Flying Vs and wearing cut off shirts; performing before a crowd of greasy-haired, denim jacket wearing beer drinkers bumping into each other in time to the music. Metal is a beautiful thing, isn’t it? A lot of the “bigger” bands either seem to come out blazing; defining their…

I don’t what it is about my relationship with Friday The 13th, but my patience for this series is much lower than others. 3 carries on pretty much where 2 left off, but I cannot bring myself to even care what happens. Jason recovers from his wounds and the bloodbath continues. All in all, bias aside, Friday The 13th Part 3 is a fairly average slasher, and I won’t be rushing out to enjoy the…

Cool, calm, relaxing vapor. Ah, its the musical equivalent of valium. †Nematophy has been in my online playlist for about a year, and I must have played it through now a number of times. Its time to delete it and let some other stuff shine instead, so here I am committing it to the site and filing it away. †Nematophy is another fantastic Windows 96 album, further cementing this project as one of my favourites…

You wouldn’t think it would be easy to top Loss, but Wodensthrone seem to do it with little to no effort. Curse seems like a natural progression; the meandering, thoughtful, blackened metal going further down the rabbit hole, further down the path less trodden. Glorious.

Old Star marks a nice, subtle progression for Darkthrone’s sound. We meander back to the longer songs of old, and are treated to a morose, almost melodic set of black metal riffs. The production is also noticeably cleaner than some of the recent punk metal stuff. All in all, Old Star is a decent entry into the Darkthrone discography, of which there have been many peaks and troughs.

UUUGGGHUHHUGGGHUHGGHHHHH! Panzerfaust sees Darkthrone applying the breaks a little after searing through a trilogy of some of the grimmest and most frostbitten fucking metal in the history of music. Yes, the shoddy production and insaaaaanely cold riffs are still front and centre, but one cannot shake the absolutely atrocious vocal performance on display here. It’s easy to forgive bad vocals in something like black metal, but this is Darkthrone’s Nocturno Culto we’re talking about here;…

Power Trip has been on my to do list for fucking years. I have no shame in saying that it was the grisly reminder of Ryan Gale’s untimely death that led me to finally taking this record and listening to it. I can only offer my condolences to his friends and family; he seemed well liked and of course loved, and after listening to this record I can attest that he was a brilliant front…

Head Cage is a solid (yet decidedly not grindcore) offering from all-round good eggs and metallic riff kings, Pig Destroyer. Immediately, I’m taken aback by how “compressed” and artificial this album sounds; it’s like everything is fighting for competition and the drums sound treated and false. I’m sure this is some technical engineer’s wet dream but honestly it sounds like complete shit. Thankfully, after the initial adjustment to this production style, it gets a bit…

So this is it, the grand daddy of jazz fusion. Now over 50 years old, it was the perfect time to return to this record and give it another run through. I first heard this in I think 2008, a friend gave me some high-end mp3 rips of it, and on the recommendation of my uncle to check it out, I tried my damnedest to get into it and understand what was going on, but…

Anticapital is my favourite out of the two main Assuck releases. I love the sound, not just in terms of the incredible production but also in terms of the blend between death metal styles and incredibly fast grindcore speed and precision. It is a match made in heaven, and whilst Assuck haven’t always been “up there” on my list of favourite grindcore bands I have a lot of respect for them, and for this record.

How does one critique an album like Reign In Blood? I often ask that of myself when I start to write about something that is often considered legendary, timeless or even just historically important in regards to the genre at hand. This time, the genre is thrash metal, or arguably even just metal as a whole, and the impossible album to analyse is Slayer’s magnum opus. I’ve never really been that big a fan of…

What surprised me the most about this split is how great both Rectal Smegma and Cliteater sound. I’ve not really been feeling the output by either band recently for a number of years now, but on this split they both sound like bands which have been energised; in the boggy world of “groovy” “goregrind” there are acidic oceans of absolute drooling shit, but both sessions here sound incredible. The shame however is that the same…

Thangorodrim is amongst the more well known dungeon synth artists of modern day, and rightly so; the project took Mortiis worship to a whole new level on the first debut album (not a bad thing in these circles) but on Prologue, Thangorodrim strikes out into territory I would comfortably call entirely it’s own. To my knowledge, Prologue combines a few of the older tape releases together onto one collection. Prologue is not a short record…

There’s a whole bunch of bass n drums two piece grindcore bands these days, but Reeking Cross have to be amongst the best, if not taking the crown entirely. As 2015’s short, sharp and fucking chonky Cloaked In Vermin shows us, Reeking Cross’s frenetic, batshit crazy powerviolence is not to be scoffed at. CLOAKED IN VERMIN (Septik Brain 2015) by Reeking Cross

Children, for my lack of any understanding of the noise scene, appears to be a project between Genetic Noose and a fellae named Gaeme Baillie. I had a chuckle to myself thinking the Children material here sounds a bit like Arab Strap recorded an album whilst in the middle of a severe bout of alcohol-fuelled manic depression. Either way, it’s miserable as sin and fucking angry as fuck. What more do you want from your…

Yob is all kinds of heavy. I’ve never been the biggest of fans, but there has been that understanding, that appreciation; the musical equivalent of giving someone “the nod” across the room. I see you Yob, I see that you’re heavy, meandering out there in the crushing cosmos of the unknown. I appreciate you. Atma is a perfect example of what Yob are all about. Atma by YOB

I knew about Lord Gore’s debut for a long time before I actually heard it. That shocking cover art, even as a cartoon, was often splattered across death metal MySpace pages and internet forums, so when I finally got a hold of this during a trade with Razorback Records, it felt like I had reached some sort of holy grail of underground death metal. Lord Gore are a fantastic band. On the surface of it,…

This is the record that angered the Nigerian government so much that the army stormed Kuti’s compound and threw his mother out of a third story window, resulting in severe injuries which led to her death. The title and overall theme to proceedings seems to call out those blindly following orders before they went and did just that as the result of such a calling out. Like, what the fuck Nigeria? Way to prove the…

I’ll admit, first impressions of this were not amazing. It sounded almost lazy, but I was listening to it in a car park in the rain. Recently, I have returned to this record to give it a second chance, and whilst I must admit that Douglas P sounds a bit tired, there are some beautiful tracks here. Whether its worth making new Death In June records at this point is not up to me to…

I’ve been coming at Miles Davis from both ends recently (oo er), eager to broaden my horizons in both his discography and in forms of jazz. Fusion was my way in, and from there I shall worm my way through all of these records like a dirty little badger! Yeah. Doo-Bop unfortunately, is not a particularly great record. Miles’ final offering, it saw the legend once more trying to branch off into something new and…

My introduction to the world of plunderphonics happened the best part of 20 years ago, when The Avalanches’ ridiculously catchy “Frontier Psychiatrist” was all over the TV and radio. I didn’t really understand back then exactly what it was that was going on, but The Avalanches stood out to me as whacky and different, even alongside other big electronic acts dominating at the time, like Daft Punk and The Chemical Brothers. Unfortunately, that lead single…

What happens when you cross Godflesh’s Justin Broadrick, The Bug’s Kevin Martin and ATR’s Alec Empire? Well, you get Curse Of The Golden Vampire of course, and I assure you, this project is not the punchline to a shit joke. This self titled record is not a million miles away from some of the sounds and textures experienced on Techno Animal records, or even on Godflesh’s Us & Them record. Its an interesting, and rather…

Oh shit fam, Mike Patton, that guy from Faith No More? Yeah, he’s done a suuuuuper weird record on the side! It sounds nothing like FNM LOL he’s bonkers! Adult Themes For Voice was recorded on tour by Patton in a series of hotels rooms or whatever, and is a record built entirely out of vocal samples. Yeah, it sounds like complete shit at first but yknow, maybe I’m growing my Covid19 hipster lockdown beard…

Aura is a suite of “songs” written as a tribute to Davis by a Danish composer called Palle Mikkelborg. Legend has it that Miles loved the songs so much, he offered to collaborate and make it a canonical Miles Davis record. It would eventually get released several years after recording, in 1989, and would be the last Miles Davis studio album to be released when he was alive. Aura is all over the place, but…

ColdWorld is not a project I know much about. Intentionally or not, that fog of secrecy shrouding the project only helps heap on the atmosphere and drive home the miserable point, for ColdWorld not only plays black metal; ColdWorld is another one of those depressive one man black metal projects. On the surface of it, the DSBM tag brings up all sorts of cringe, neckbeardy associations, but ColdWorld is guilty only of conjuring up genuinely…

For All Tid is the sprawling, cold, blacker than black debut record from Dimmu Borgir. A long, long wintery journey away from their later records and incarnations, For All Tid is a plodding, slow burn of a black metal record, where the keyboards and atmospheric elements take centre stage, followed by a very muddy and densely produced full band. Expect reverb.

This ancient relic of 90s dungeon synth has quite a sad story, as its composer is no longer with us. This does add some morbid weight to the already sombre atmospheres, but let’s not define this artist’s life by his untimely death. Secret Stairways is, for me, an incredibly introspective record. It had a much more suspended, ambient vibe to its morose, glacial compositions than your average dungeon synth record; possessing instead of bombast or…

The battle rages on and on! The battle being, of course, Dimmu’s thrashing black metal and all of its symphonic bombast. Death Cult Armageddon was not my first taste of Dimmu but it was the first full length album that I ever bought by them, I think randomly staring out at me in Poole’s HMV (alongside Impaled Nazarene’s Death Comes In 26 Carefully Selected Pieces). I remember always been shocked by how polished this album…

Another witchy/satan/black magic exploitation movie thats very thin on plot and acting but very stacked on nubile young beauties and gobbledygook. I mean, what does one expect going into this? The imagery is fantastic even if the cinematography is somewhat lacklustre and the lighting is appalling. The acting? Well, surely you know what you are getting yourself in for if you are interested in this kind of thing.

Pissgrave’s first record was a disturbing slab of relentless death metal, and Posthumous Humiliation seeks to continue in much the same way. Bludgeoning, ugly, disgusting music is the order of the day; music, which even I, after two decades of listening to this shit, find almost impossible to penetrate. Gaseous, livid, and catastrophic, Pissgrave are one of metal’s genuinely terrifying bands.

This is probably not a term used to describe goregrind very often, but this delicious little record is simply divine. I only played it because the artwork / theme reminded me of Dead Infection’s Corpses Of The Universe, but I got more than I bargained for. The mix here is near perfect; the sickness of the instruments dance together in some sort of gracefully macabre unison – like, you could say, an exploded cadaver floating…

Selfless was the big, shiny offering that Godflesh dropped for Columbia, when Earache proffered up a bunch of bands to the mainstream. Ultimately, the gamble failed, but this move no doubt gained Godflesh a whole world of new fans from the industrial metal world, especially in America. Selfless is noticeably much cleaner than what came before it. Even against the precision of Pure, Selfless soars, with melodic riffs, uplifting synthesisers, and the largest amount of…

I have a lot of respect for most Psychopathic Records artists but this EP is utter dog shit. Imagine the Dark Lotus staff taking on the subject matter of Necro’s The Sexorcist. And yes, there is an aspect of cringe to any hip hop that deals entirely with sex, but when ICP – under aliases of course – are rapping about fucking bitches in they booty holes, we reach a whole new realm of uncomfortable…

Floral Shoppe is the oddity that defined the genre (or shall I say movement?) of vaporwave, which is still passed off as a meme by some. But hey, it’s their loss. Floral Shoppe hosts – or birthed? – many tropes of the style; pitchshifted beats and vocals, fluttering synths, a treacle-like atmospheric consistency, and a distorted window into the realms of either the past or the future. Am I dreaming about a past that I…

Going in to a record named Vaginator, you have to expect certain things – there is a checklist of items that are often present on records in a genre such as this. Most are accounted for on Namek’s debut (and I believe only) album, but what I did not expect was the incredibly high end production job, which allows this muddy full band pornogrind romp to breathe and to be delivered with all of its…

Space Is Only Noise is one of my favourite chilled out, down tempo, ambient kinda records. I’ve heard this described as deep house, and whilst I see where the bridges are built, I wouldn’t have ever classed it as such.  Being a genre Nazi aside, this is such a relaxing record. The sampling is on point, and with headphones the stereo stage is massively utilised to its full capacity. It is at once all encompassing,…

I firmly believe that Type O did something incredibly unique with their music, even if it touched on many of metal’s tropes in the process. Steele et al clearly didn’t take themselves too seriously, but the musical chops are there all the same. This record is surely timeless now, especially in the annals of doom or gothic rock, even if somewhat falling into the category of ‘parody’. The mammoth opening track is a work of…

Another year (or thereabouts), another stage in Caretaker’s magnum opus. Stage 3 is where the changes are not so subtle. At this point I’ve kinda figured that the old, jaunty 30s-style tunes from parts one and two are supposed to be memories, and as we descent through each stage, the memories become more and more fractured and broken. Stage 2 introduced minute differences; small fractures and unsettling off-colour compositional changes. Stage 3 is a bit…

One of those awkward, weird things that sits between noisecore and just kids fucking around. Then again, FWTKM has always had an unusual streak. I traded away this tape many, many moons ago (it was the Sludgesicle Records re-issue).

This dual-EP (its like the band has done a split with itself!) was one of the only early Gut pieces that I ever got around to owning on vinyl. It has now gone to a better home, but I do miss it. This is classic Gut; dirgy, barely audible snails pace “grindcore” with disgusting vocals and harrowing horror movie samples. This may not win any awards for recording quality, but makes it up for it…

Seriously poor fucking effort from LDOH – this live set is fucking useless. Like, this level of bad live recording thrown half arsed into a 7” split would put even Agathocles to shame (lol). Absolutely pointless in every sense. 2 Minuta Dreka on the other hand are killing it here, expanding on that funky, groovy sound that came with Porno Bizarro. 2MD have never sounded so alive. LDOH though, fucking sort it out guys. I’m…

I’ll admit, Tutu was a shock when I first heard it. I’m not an expert on the 80s fusion scene, but not totally blind to it either. Its not so much the marriage with synthesizers and drum machines that puts me off here, but the restrictive and muted nature of the tracks in general. Most of the time, Davis is in the background, while his more-80s-than-thou band are doing all of the work, fantastic musicians…

Did anyone say Carcass worship? Anatomical Amusements is medical goregrind turned up to 11, with insane drumming, gorgeous production, and sickening riffs n’ vocals. A short EP, but every second is enjoyable. Anatomical Amusements by Crash Syndrom

What in the sweet holy fuck did I just watch? I’m not a film writer so my language and terminology is not developed enough to really do this film justice, but Midsommar was a twisted, genuinely disturbing journey into the world of off-grid cults. I’m not entirely sure of every message that the creators were trying to convey, but its very interesting watching how things transpire, if not a little (a lot lol) terrifying doing…

Pulmonary’s session is a little thing aurally, but musically its on point. Rehearsal room grind with that dirty shifted bubble vocal sound! Cakewet are a bit louder, and a bit more precise, mixing sloppy grindcore with elements of death metal. Raspy low vocals and lightening quick blasts throughout. Vomitrocity have a bit more of an old school death metal vibe (demo tape vibe of course), but Flesh Disgorged and Copremesis kinda just blur into one….

If you read my ongoing reviews of this series you will no doubt surely be able to tell that I have something of a love/hate relationship with the Leprechaun movies. They are just so atrociously bad in every conceivable way. The funny thing about the original Leprechaun is that I managed to convince my girlfriend to watch it with me, off the back of Jennifer Aniston being cast as the lead. Let me tell from…

What Mega seemingly has over 0 and 1 is the instant glossy hit of electronic shine. Out of nowhere the record is in your face, all colours flashing, and from then on out you are enraptured in the world of the Blank Banshee, and have no choice but to go on the ride. Is it possible to improve on the cult status and legendary electronic work of the first two records? The answer, of course,…

Blank Banshee is another one of those projects that gets lumped in with vaporwave when in reality the sound reaches across several styles of electronic music. I’ll admit that 1 often gets overlooked by me, either by the sheer gloss of Mega or the instant classic status of 0. The compositions are glorious however, ranging from banging 80s pop to drawn out ambient soundscapes and synths. Lush. Blank Banshee 1 by Blank Banshee

The material on display here is quite possibly the definitive NxVx sound. It is a shame really then, that the limited nature of lathe cut releasing (both a pro and a con) allows only a small number of people to hear this properly. Thankfully, it’s on YouTube, which isn’t quite the same, but it gives the rest of us a chance at experiencing the noize. Apologies for the mega lo-fi art on this entry, I…

My mother is a big Pink Floyd fan. Naturally, once I got my first “car” when I was 20 (a pre-Defender-era Land Rover 90, of all vehicles!) I “borrowed” a bunch of their cassettes, and this beaten copy of Meddle was one of the ones that got the most plays. I’m no expert in the world of the Floyd, but the early 70s were of course the main portion of their astronomical rise to fame….

I initially mistook this for a new studio release from Clams Casino. After shitting the bed and hitting play one morning at 5am as I watched the sun rise over the sea (it was fuckin’ great), I quickly realised that this was a compilation of older works, as well as the latest 7″ he dropped which sold out instantly. Maybe there is more to what is going on here, but I’m not a Clams expert….

Mucopus play thick, chunky and unwieldy death metal. There is a slam tinge to proceedings, even dare I say a smidgen of deathcore stylings in the vocals in particular, which isn’t really my thing at all. That aside, Undimensional is a well put together record that is played and produced to a high standard. I’m just a bit unsure if the original material is inspiring enough to warrant further exploration of their work.

I see Hacked Up For BBQ and Chainsaw Dismemberment as two parts of the same death metal masterpiece. Hacked Up however, recorded a whopping three years earlier, is the original Mortician full-length, released after several years of establishing themselves as one of the most brutal bands on the planet. The open guitar and bass on “Bloodcraving” are absolutely nothing short of legendary, and no-doubt introduced Mortician’s nasty down tuned vibes to a whole new world…

Denzel Curry has been recommended to me many times lately, so I decided to get into Ta13oo, which has the most interesting cover art of his records. I can’t deny that the man has talent, his flows are fantastic, and the production is solid overall, its just that the whole thing is a little ‘trappy’ for me. Perhaps I am out of touch with modern hip hop (a very real possibility), but I couldn’t fully…