Alpha Centauri is one of the records that caused me to fall in love with Tangerine Dream in the first place. Truly, what a magical performance of synth-work, one which I am sure I can do no justice. Phaedra is the early record that seems to get all the hype, but truly this is the god tier TD stuff. Hunt it down and have a goosey if you don’t believe me.

Interesting mid-career output from the legendary Voïvod. Not as harsh as their early 80s records, and not as bland / stonery as the 00s output, Outer Limits is a strong 90s offering from a band that is always unafraid to play about with its style and approach.

You can always count on Fluids to push the boundaries of what is acceptable. Not Dark Yet wheels out one of the most disturbing samples I’ve ever heard for its opening track, before collapsing headfirst into some intense downtuned death metal. Fluids are easily the Mortician of this generation, replacing horror movie samples with audible terror sourced from the real world. The instrumentation is sick as fuck, and there’s some super interesting flourishes in the…

Easily this has to be one of the most brutal things ever. Sure, there’s more offensive, more disgusting, probably even more technical stuff that has come since, but on None So Vile, Cryptopsy took a step up from what was happening in death metal at the time and really blew shit out of the water. Everything here is just damn crazy, yet the production is clear enough for you to make out every last brutal…

Lovely (if you can call it that) little EP from one of the most mental band names to come about recently. I’m not even gonna type it out, I’ll just fuck it up (and that my friends, is me being very, very lazy). Honestly, I don’t think I preferred this to the album they did recently, which just seemed way better and had a really good flow to it. That isn’t to say that Pornographic…

I wish all black metal would sound like this. But then, I would probably get bored of it. As a very well respected man (lol) once said, variety is the spice of live. Bestial Warlust, as you may be able to ascertain from the name, play intense war metal, or bestial black metal, the sub-genre of extreme intensity within an already extreme sub-genre of metal. I see war / bestial black as the grindcore of…

Frequent readers of the site may have noticed that I’ve started accumulating a few posts about Doom WADs. What became a nostalgic plan to replay the original Doom games in the recent version of Brutal Doom (Google it!) has now become a frequent past time for me. Its the perfect way for me to unwind from life, work, and the adult responsibilities of being a dad. For an hour or so every few nights, I…

Dog Beats is one of (if not the original?) ICP cassette EP back when they were known as the Inner City Posse. Actually, I think this came after Bass-ment Cuts, because it sounds a lot better, and I think even has some rudimentary Mike E Clarke production. All in all, this is a precursor to what would come with the Carnival Of Carnage record. The vibe (and some of the tracks) are the same, with…

Carnival Of Peculiarities is a new EP from the lovely people in Shpongle. Now that I stop and think about it, I’ve never come across a Shpongle EP before. The format seems almost as if it is not long-form enough for the group and the kind of trip/journey approach they take with their trance music. Nevertheless, here we are, and whilst this does end up feeling more like half an album rather than an EP,…

The sampling on the Kots Donor tracks is pure freakery; I wish I knew what the guy was saying! There definitely seems to be a whole lot of the Mortician thing going on (long sample, tiny track) but all in all this is quite enjoyable for mindless gory noisecore. VRV is, well, true to his sound, for lack of a better way of phrasing it. I love this shit; it is horrible, harsh and repetitive…

RxAxPxEx did this absurdly noisy split with Absurd God. I got given this years ago, so passed on the love and gave it away to a colleague who was collecting cassettes in my previous job. It had a lovely yellow colour to the cassette. Nowadays I’m back to collecting cassettes, so it sucks I gave this away, but what can you do? This is blocked on the Discogs website, which made me worry if someone…

Hossannas From The Basements Of Hell is the sound of latter-day Killing Joke pushed to the extreme. Everything about the band is pushed to 11 on this release, as the band explore meandering, deafening compositions which were recorded in some catacombs beneath the streets of Prague. As someone who has visited some of these interesting subterranean caverns, one can only imagine the intensity that unfurled as the band conjured their ungodly work. Killing Joke have…

Since I’ve started my foray into the world of horror and exploitation cinema, Herbert West the Re-Animator’s imagery has cropped up constantly. Before that, it was in the many reams of goregrind and death metal I listened to. I recently read the Lovecraft story on which this movie is based, which is actually a hundred thousand leagues away in tone and content. On the face of it, Re-Animator is a decent exploitation / B-movie flick,…

A Night Of Totes Broots Torture is probably the best example of the older lineup(s?) of BTK. It sounds like they have EZDrummer on the go, but asides from that, this is tight as absolute all shit. Sampling is used sparingly to set the tone, and the tracks themselves are dripping is bloodsoaked riffs and intense, disgusting vocals. Banging.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of Dissection, and have always brushed over them in my black metal listening. However, I’ve recently been filling some gaps in my history so Storm Of The Light’s Bane got another listen. You can’t argue that this isn’t iconic, and some of the riffs are pretty damn cold, but I genuinely can’t figure out what is supposed to be so great about this thing. What am I missing?

One of the most chilled out things in a while. Related somewhat to the vaporwave movement, Voyage Futur’s Secret Earth is a lush, celebral trip filled with all-encompassing compositions of dense electronic noises (which makes it sound like a power electronics record lol). I spent seemingly forever staring at the artwork as this washed over me. Great stuff.

For the longest time, I couldn’t abide King Diamond’s vocals. But, in the last year or so I’ve made a conscious effort to listen to metal that I have always overlooked or wouldn’t usually partake in, so I finally allowed myself to listen all the way through. I enjoyed the concept, and most of the music (the production is definitely of note), but as legendary as King Diamond’s vocals are, I just cannot get behind…

Asphyx are a weighty band. I’ve always appreciated their deathy doom approach, but after seeing them live in The Netherlands in (I think) early 2016 I really began to apprecaite their records more. Despite being self-titled, Asphyx was the band’s third (at least when canonically released) record.

Travels… is probably my favourite Future Of The Left album. Not only is it incredibly well produced (the rugged bass and guitar parts gelling beautifully with a fresh, organic drum sound), but its choc full of back to back bangers. My favourite tracks have to be “The House That Hope Built”. “You Need Satan More Than He Needs You” and the song which apparently is all about my youth, “Throwing Bricks At Trains”. Honestly, my…

There’s a special place in my heart for the early Wu Tang records, and the following solo albums that came after they blew up. GZA’s absolutely legendary Liquid Swords has gotta be up there as one of if not the best of the bunch, with absolutely dank as fuck and on point beats and production. All the usual suspects are out for the vocal contributions, and this is more like another classic Wu Tang album…

I first came across Kill The Client on their split with Agoraphobic Nosebleed. Checking out this 2010 full length then, has been a long, long time coming. Razor sharp grindcore is the order of the day, with a decent bit of polish to it, making it all very legible and presentable, despite the breakneck speeds and ferocity on show. The closing track has an almost black metal quality to the morose opening riff, but most…

No Life ‘Til Power is, I believe, some sort of bootleg or unofficial compilation of tracks taken from the early years of Metallica and shoe-horned into a fake full length album. I took a dive into this on the cover art alone, knowing next to nothing about pre-Kill ‘Em All Metallica. I guess some of these tracks are supposed to be on demos like Metal Up Your Ass and so on? (2021 edit: bro, it…

This is just how I like my black metal; chaotic, dissonant, and more towards the frostbitten, cold production style than the muddy and warmer styles attributed more to death metal. These two songs are over far too quickly, leaving me wanting to check out more Sort Sind almost immediately. I am not doing these tracks justice here. These are brilliant compositions, and some of the best black metal I’ve heard in some time.

Geek The Girl is a cool, somewhat twisted and impressively composed record from Lisa Germano. Granted it is the only Lisa Germano record that I have heard at the time of writing, as this was culled from some RYM greatest albums list (a good place for hipster dickheads like me to learn about new stuff). Lisa’s voice is fantastic and suits some of the slightly more unsettling subject matters addressed here. The instrumentation can sometimes…

God save me! I always considered myself an Ill Niño fan but somehow always passed up on this album when I was a nipper. Unfortunately, for me at least, Revolution hasn’t aged all that well, with the band’s smoothed-over nu metal sounding clumsy and over-produced. There’s a few stand out tracks, but for the most part, it’s an average listening experience. I bet these guys could still kill it live, mind you. (2021 edit: did…

A stunning, batshit-fast mid-career offering from the lunatics in Mayhem. I’m a sucker for anything Mayhem-related with Maniac on vocals, and Wolf’s Lair Abyss is absolutely no different. Expect carnage in the form of drums, intense, hyper-speed riffing and of course, fresh-from-the-asylum vocals from the man himself. Crackers!

Chunky, ridiculous gore and or porngrind is the order of the day, with swollen production and treacle-like back and forth riffs. There’s going to be no awards for originality won here, but if you know what you like and you like this brand of groovy heaviness (which is a million miles from any real grind lets be honest) then crack on, kid.

Arguably one of the most pointless splits in existence. Both bands are great, but this is so short and sweet it falls into novelty territory. Add to that the fact the ENT track here has already been released a bunch of times on other records and this little 7″ falls even further into pointlessness. A collectors item, most definitely.

Free Off Pain is a fairly polished affair which is a far cry from the Fleshless of old. Its a good record though, if a little too clear for my personal tastes (hey, there’s nothing inherently wrong with good production, folks!). I believe this was a split or something at one point, but digitally its tacked together with an earlier demo and released as a stand alone.

Its mad to think how far Sabbath had come, or better to say maybe, how much Sabbath had changed, over the course of the seventies. This isn’t a terrible record, but if you compare it to the bands earlier Ozzy-fronted output, there is a lot left lacking. As a side note, it contains the song “Dirty Women”, which has a wicked riff, and this album has a whole bunch of keyboard stuff on it too….

Warm, gorgeously produced analogue rock and or roll, from the glory days of the genre. There’s many reasons why Deep Purple’s Machine Head is such a well respected album, but I am not a musical scholar and won’t bore you to death which such facts. For the purposes of this submission, let’s just say that this classic is entirely deserving of your time. I absolutely love the sound of this thing, and should probably hunt…

Life Is Killing Me is the final Roadrunner-released Type O record, and brings the band back to focus on their original doomy riffery. Don’t get me wrong, World Coming Down was heavy as shit, but things seem a little more focused here. I’m unsure if I’m remembering things incorrectly, but this release seemed very low key, and aside from single “I Don’t Wanna Be Me”, the record more or less flew under the radar. I…

The Return… has the potential I think, to be better than the Bathory S/T. But, it falls at an important hurdle. Part of me can’t really believe that I’m going to raise this point, especially when discussing black metal, but the production on The Return is so bad, I find that a lot of the tracks are not giving us their full potential. I’m all for bad production, but The Return… is quiet, muddy and…

My good friend and recent LIW contributor Gareth turned me onto Volenté when we were scouting for new artists for our Tape Co. label. I’m reminded immediately of Portishead, what with the ticking beats and low key unsettling instrumentation adorned with breezy, unique vocals. Some tracks are more traditionally structured, where others are more experimental or out-there. In parts I can draw comparisons to Enya or even Bowie, but maybe I’ve had too many whiskies.

There was a time when I thought Necro’s The Sexorcist was big and clever, but there was also a time when I was an edgy 20-something that thought rapping about fucking girls in the ass was the pinnacle of hip hop entertainment. The Sexorcist may have aged like milk, but I still love the flows, the production and the endless venom that Necro brings, even to a record that is basically about porn and shagging….

Gorgeously messy, In For The Kill is an LP’s worth of distilled chaos from the lovely folk at Inhume. I first heard these guys on the Slimewave series that Relapse put out over ten years ago (shit, am old), but this album doubles down on the carnage. How amazing is that artwork, too? I think it accurately conveys the sounds presented here, and while the production is a bit muddy, everything falls into place after…

Short, sharp and to the point. A beast of a record from Code Error, who are on the chunkier, more well produced end of grindcore. Blasts a plenty, with everything else in savagery enough to match. 10/10

G-Sides is a collection of tracks from the Gorillaz self titled era, and asides from the (frankly, pointless) single version of “Rock The House”, is rammed to the gills with excellent content. I always loved the dub undercurrent to the group’s early work and there are plenty of odd tracks here catering in this regard, “Dracula” and “Left Hand Suzuki Method” spring to mind as favourites. G-Sides is not as good as the album that…

Fear Factory’s debut (well, the ‘debut’ that actually got released lol) is a perfect distillation of death metal meeting industrial. Coming on like a mix of Harmony Corruption era Napalm Death and Selfless era Godflesh, Soul Of A New Machine is much different from a lot of the band’s more well known stuff. Honestly, the mix is great, and as someone who has always enjoyed Fear Factory, and who loves ND / Godflesh, going back…

I recently did a run through all the original Carcass records, ending with the rather perplexing Swansong. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of Heartwork either so this one has always stood out like a sore thumb to me. My recent re-listen hasn’t changed that, but its probably the first time I’ve ever sat through the whole thing in one sitting. Swansong was an interesting time for Carcass. They had split by the time it…

The Rise Of Brutality was the first Hatebreed album I ever had. I had a dodgy copy of it and it only played the first half of the CD or so before cutting off and dying, so for many years I never ever heard the ending third of the record. Which is fine, because it is more of the same, in the nicest way possible. That’s not to say that there aren’t some good tracks…

This little blast of mixed vibes really hit me off my chair. Expect intense hyperblasting noisecore coupled with stankin’, twisted hip hop beats. This latest release from Bristol-based Meth Camp is only 5 minutes long, but makes every second count. Tape version due to come soon via Two Man Tape Co!

The Wrath Of Code is a pulsing journey through a world of synthwave and big, dense production. The colourful and perplexing cover art drew me in, but I stayed for the tunes, which is what you want, I suppose! LOL If you like music such as Perturbator or Carpenter Brut then its worth checking out Dan Terminus. None of this stuff is spectacularly my cup of tea but its all gloriously well made electronic music.

Now that the intense hype around this thing has died down I feel like I can safely stick my head above the parapet without being called a hipster or a dinosaur or (sharp intake) a boomer. I’m clearly missing something because I just don’t understand what it is that sounds so good about this album. Permission to speak freely, but for me this is just variations on a theme from the usual output of latter…

Gimme dat cheese! Haha! Nah, despite the band name, album title and cover art harking to the hormonal-nerd-focused approach of old (and with eyes firmly back in skull), Eternal Champion have given us a solid trad record with an excellent production sound. All in all, a tidy listen.

What’s This For…! is the weirder younger brother to the Killing Joke self-titled. And yes, whilst Geordie’s peircing guitar sounds rang out even in the opening moments of the debut, here they really come into their own, finding their own unique brand of maddening dissonance. It reminds me of Voivod in some regards, whilst of course also being completely different. Admidettely there aren’t as many bangers here track wise (compared to the debut) but this…

Vinnie Paz and his wicked taunting laughs are almost as much of a household name (to me) as DMX and his dog barks. God Of The Serengeti is a long fucking album, and whilst it does falter in some places (some of the songs tend to overstay their welcome), this record contains as much genius and phenomenal rhymes as any Jedi Mind Tricks full length.

Artificial Intelligence is a stunning compilation by the wonderful people at Warp Records. All the greats of the electronic music scene at the time are here, but honestly, I don’t really pay much mind to the individual track credits per se, I just let this wonderful series of compilations wash over me. Even now, in 2021, this is the perfect ambience music for working, driving, or even for music being piped into a trendy bottleshop…

Blood are one of my favourite low key bands. They’ve been plugging away for donkeys years, releasing a slew of grinding death metal. I was lucky to catch them at OEF with Witchskinner on vocals. Anyways I digress. Gas – Flame – Bones is a haunting take on the death grind template. The production is drenched in reverb, almost in a black metal style, and the album art lends a morbid edge to proceedings, more…

Vaporwave Aesthetic is probably the most uninspiring name for a vaporwave project that I have ever come across. Neon Love is a… compilation? Regular full length album? Who the fuck knows. Good friend and LIW contributor Gareth linked me this on Spotify, but with such a generic name I can’t find out anything about it at all. Its not bad per se, but its not for me, and I love this kind of shit. This…

I’ve put off listening to this for about 15 years as when I was in high school, me and my mates – with our immense new found love for metal – burned this one to death with its constant rotation. I’ve been trying to imagine what it was like at the time, after the sheer heaviness of …And Justice For All, to be a metal fan eagerly anticipating the release of the next Metallica record,…

If you put the memes aside, Lana Del Rey is actually a fantastic artist. I’ve been guilty of shitting on her myself (2021 edit: read that out loud mate, Jesus Christ) here on the site but off the back of surprisingly enjoying the “bonus” album Paradise (which I listened to first), I decided it would probably be best to check out the incredibly well received Born To Die. Born To Die is best listened to…

Remixed is a cool and calm release for the most part. I suppose there is not much of a temptation to turn a winding Shpongle trip into a club banger or a hardcore 909 stomper, but I’d be onboard to hear that either way. Haha! So if mostly ethereal or, sadly, typical trance re-workings of Shpongle big tunes is your idea of a party, get in on this. Otherwise I wouldn’t bother.

Walk is one of, if not entirely, Pantera’s most well known song. The reason I’ve included this single is because when it was released on CD and vinyl in the 90s, it came with a series of “Biomechanical” and “Cervical” remixes and dubs. So what, I hear you cry, loads of bands did crappy dance remixes of their stuff in the 90s. But, in this case, the Biomechanical remixes were made by Justin Broadrick, and…

Sometimes its the random buys that end up being the most fun. Boasting a veritable buffet of jazz styles (the running theme being the use of the tenor sax, it seems), this Yugoslavian compilation on Chrome tape brings about 40 minutes of fantastic listening pleasure (although tbh it sounds like complete garbage for Chrome tape haha).

Came across this record when scouting for stuff to release with the new Two Man Tape Co. that I have running with my ol’ mucka and LIW contributor Gareth, and whilst this is well polished and nicely assembled dubstep, there is very little to the release at all. That is part and parcel with the genre I suppose; single track drops to Soundcloud profiles is more common than a good ol’ fashioned record or EP.

Another plinky ploinky weirdo addition to the legendary AFX series, Analord. I’ve listened to this whole or in part so many times I’ve kinda forgotten what goes where. All I know, is that my brain loves this stuff. It instantly puts me in “get busy” mode (no, not THAT get busy, ya dirty fuckers) and has me inspired to do pretty much anything. I’m glad to be alive and to be able to hear stuff…

For as much as loved Pale Folklore, other records by Agolloch fail to wow me. I suffered through The Mantle, but was heavily and highly recommended Ashes Against The Grain, which just sounds like black metal for people who like Coldplay. I’m joking, of course, but this fails to press any of my buttons as it were, at least not to the degree that Pale Folklore does. I think at this point I may have…

Chunky, well-produced grindcore is the order of the day. My one complaint (sorry, because this is otherwise so awesome) is that the snare is a little too quiet, especially in the blast sections, but otherwise this is a well made and savage grindcore album. It’s a good runner too, sometimes feeling like its a fairly lengthy affair. I love the deep, throaty vocal approach used here, incredible stuff.

Mumakil are in the Nasum / Rotten Sound camp of grindcore, where records are polished and fully audible, yet the band are still savage as fuck. There’s a creeping melody to the way some of the riffs come across, and the drumming is absolutely insanely fast. The vocals are intense roars of furious intent. Behold The Failure was the first record I heard by the band (after I think discovering them through a split). If…

I got shot! Beverly Kills is more of that wicked early ICP output where the band hadn’t long transitioned from Inner City to Insane Clowns. The production is actually a downgrade from the Carnage album, with Esham as the producer on some tracks, bringing that distorted KKKill The Fetus / Closed Casket vibes. Other than that though, its a great listen with some great tracks. “17 Dead” and “The Stalker” are probably my favourites.

Would you like some extra fuzz with your riffs? Then look no further than Weedeater’s Jason The Dragon, which is so heavy, its actually come full circle and is actually a pleasure to listen to, rather than a disgusting, uncomfortable experience. Let Jason fly you away on a pillow of enormous riffs, drifting off to cosmic lands unknown. Only, when you finally land, you’re outside a dive bar that only serves whiskey. Yeah.

Put crackly old goregrind on crackly old vinyl and you have a combination that is always going to win out, in my opinion. Somehow, with wanton disregard for sound quality (I need to check my goregrind privilege), Dead Infection cram 8 minutes onto their side of the 7″ record. Some of these tracks I’m sure I’ve heard elsewhere, but they are extra grimey and disgusting here. I sometimes forget just how stunningly horrible (in the…

HM2 worship out the ass! Buzzsaw dark hardcore all up in this motherfucker. There is something artificial and even derivative about this particular guitar sound but you can’t argue with the immediate impact that it has. Trap Them snare this sound in a stranglehold, squeezing out pure savagery and anger. At 25 mins, Seizures… doesn’t overstay its welcome. It gets in, fucks you up, and gets out.

Shpongle’s debut album is a heady trip through pulsing electronic beats and samples. Whilst not as “far out” or as rich in its palette of colours as some of the later Shpongle offerings (this is a band that has really has gone all-out in some cases), there is something of a trippy and mesmerising quality in the more beat-focussed songs. It almost sounds binaural in some places, and with a good set on your head,…

I needed to wash out my brain after listening to some horrendously bad hip hop, so I (rightly it seems) turned to a Danny Brown record that I hadn’t heard yet. Atrocity Exhibit is fantastic, and whilst this record has an entirely different vibe, uknowhatimsaying¿ is just as good, but in different ways. I love how the beats are so abstract and interesting. The delivery from Danny and his guest peers is also, of course,…

This was an absolute beauty of a listen, and surprisingly it didn’t drag, considering it contains both a 12 and 17 minute track. Funeral-paced death doom is the order of the day, with weepy guitars and devastating lows. Despite this, there is a lot of melody. Brilliant stuff. I’ll be giving these guys a further listen in the future.

Haraam can always be relied upon to bring the dense and horrible atmospheric noise. The electronics pummel you, yet almost fall into a rhythm here or there, which I find really exciting – where does techno end and noise begin? Where indeed! This effort from Haraam toes the line expertly, for a noisy head-scraping experience.

Lost Episodes was my first unofficial yet commercially released WAD. It starts off really strong, and whilst I don’t own the actual book that came with it, I was able to navigate and enjoy most of the earlier levels. The problems begin however, when towards the end of episode 2, a second designer takes over. The maps all of a sudden become sprawling, enormous and mostly empty. This is proper amateur hour here, with the…

Hellraiser is a tough act to follow, and admittedly during watching there was a lot to Hellbound that I really didn’t like. However, in hindsight, the plot and the trippy hellscape elements, whilst not super entertaining at the time, have stuck with me and remain with me, purely for their unusual and bizarre imagery, and for their disturbing dreamlike feel. Freddie’s boiler room can do one, the maze of Hellraiser’s hell is a true nightmare.

The Cloverfield Paradox is the third entry into the uhh, Cloverfield universe. Going far beyond the previous two entries into the series, at least in terms of lore and general sci-fi vibes, the Paradox entry further muddies and complicates the end of the world setting that was introduced in the Marmite-like first movie. Honestly, this was a nice addition, but it wasn’t that great. Where are we now? Where do we stand? Was the earth…

Moon is great. A paranoid, twisty-turny sci-fi that plays up the protagonist’s isolation as he continues to uncover a mystery about his career, his moon base, and his entire existence. Can’t really say more than that without ruining it, but this was a great sci-fi movie.

The name of this movie amply describes the reaction I had about 45 minutes in, and therefore sustained throughout the remaining runtime. Dear God No! showcases the danger of having fucking amazing cover art on your DVD or BluRay. This steaming pile of shit does nothing to justify how awesome its cover art is, which is what lured me in.

Day Of The Dead is another classic entry in the classic horror series. Set underground, the story once again plays with the isolation that breeds in the setting of a world-wide apocalypse of sorts. The increase in domestic violence in the real world Coronavirus lockdown spookily and worryingly echoes that of the madness that transpires in the pocket-communities of humanity shown by the …Of The Dead series. Art imitates life, so they say. But there…

How is it that a cartoon about a talking horse is able to be the most realistic in its portrayal of depression, anxiety and the human condition in general? Its even more impressive when said horse is a washed up Hollywood superstar, which isn’t exactly relatable for most people. Its a strange one, but in one of the boldest and most original shows to ever come out of Netflix, Rafael Bob-Waksburg’s anthropomorphic comedy hits in…

I was sold on Priest when I checked out “The Pit” single. Admittedly it was the art that got me, promising dark and sadistic techno, and whilst its not as sleazy as I would have expected from a single with a studded gimp mask on the front, it did deliver the stunning, dark techno pop I was looking for. Thankfully, the band is not a one hit wonder, there are tons of stunning tracks here,…

I was Re-ally surprised to Re-alise, on a Re-cent Re-listen to Metallica’s Re-Load (I’m sorry), just how much I enjoyed the listen. I used to be all elitist about this thing because it represented everything about Metallica that I didn’t like; the whiskey drankin’ mainstream normie metal verses the blistering thrash of old. However, in my old age, and for the purposes of cataloging my thoughts on it here once and for all, I can…

I don’t want to shit on any musician who puts their own thing out there for the world to hear, and doubly so I don’t want to shit on any Psychopathic Records / juggalo stuff because I feel like its an easy target and “music” “journalists” have often had a field day stroking their beards and shitting all over this stuff. But, I’m afraid that is exactly what I have to do here. South Of…

Draugen is a mostly disappointing collection of really old dusty Burzum demos. That sentence alone mostly sells this release to me (lol), but in reality I don’t find Draugen to be even remotely enjoyable or stimulating. At this point I would usually say this is for the more full-on fans only, but apparently that’s me and I don’t really like it. Either way, I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that enjoy this,…

Another chunky, well produced offering from Killing Joke in what I like to call their “second wind” period. The band did absolutely not fuck around during this time and MMXII, which is followed by Pylon and preceded by Absolute Dissent, is a meaty chunk of industrial rock. Tracks like “FEMA Camp” and “Premobile” exist to remind you that Killing Joke are one of the best bands on the planet. Geordie’s guitar is absolutely huge and…

5 Inch Graves is one of my favourite Phyllomedusa releases, not that I claim to have heard them all (I even have a 5IG t-shirt!). The project’s bizarre mix of everything from gorenoise to sludgy doom metal is astounding, packaging all these styles up in a gloomy, dense atmosphere. 5 Inch Graves is cataclysmic in its heaviness, and this extended edition is a good a place as any to start with this band.

Rad Jackson is a collection of tracks from splits that Hemdale did with various bands over the years. Personally, I’d rather get out there and listen to the splits, but as time goes on and life goes on I find that task more and more impossible. There’s just too many good bands! Luckily, Rad Jackson is a fucking great compilation and showcases the strength of Hemdale as a grindcore band. The flow, as with most…

Music For Being is a lengthy, intense trip that I checked out off the back of the fantastic Sweetface EP, Mighty Atom. Ranging from atmospheric ambient tracks, beatwork akin to the more spaced-out Scorn output, and harsh explosions of power electronics, Music For Being is a mixed bag. I suppose its part of the fun, not knowing where its going to turn next, but I also can’t help but shake the feeling that the record…

One of the longest running stalwarts of the traditional goregrind sound, Spain’s Haemorrhage have been mostly consistent over the years. Its funny, tons of modern bands are now channelling this intense level of Carcass worship, but Haemorrhage have long ago made this sickness their own. Hospital Carnage, despite its cartoonish artwork, is a serious goregrind record, drawing from the school of bands like Exhumed and delivering a sound and production more on par with the…

Incredible, dense, brooding ambient soundscapes in the vaporwave style. Reminiscent in ways of Towers but without that ominous oppressive feel. The project name conjures stunning visuals as these three soundscapes unfold. Glorious stuff.

I’ve always know that Atomck’s Linus created his own electronic music, but I never knew just how good that it was. Clear The Level is so good in fact, that I immediately shared the record with my good friend and LIW contributor Burra and we released it on cassette under our Two Man Tape Co. label (there’s one or two left at the time of writing, if you want one!). Expect fantastic synthesiser pop music,…

I can’t decide if this is genius or just downright awful. Either way, I respect the guts to pull off this kind of experiment, even though listening now in 2021, there is nothing futuristic about this album. If anything, it sounds like a relic from the past, from the days of proto electronic music, suffering the same fate as some of Miles Davis’ records from this era.

As good as any a subject to base a record around, Songs About My Cats – one of Aaron Funk’s first full lengths with Venetian Snares – is partly a homage to our whiskered friends and partly a breakcore mindfuck of the highest order. If I had the power to give out those little seals like the Queen does, I’d appoint Aaron Funk one for “purveyors of exceptional and finest Breakcore” or something. Cracking stuff.

Gorgeously composed, proggy music with just the right production balance between that rough around the edges retro / analogue sound and that clarity and polish required to make prog work. I know absolutely nothing about classic rock or the prog scenes, give or take a few of the bigger band names, but I went out on a whim with this one and fully enjoyed it. Cracking!

Riley Gale from Power Trip, another one gone too soon! RIP my friend. I will take this brief moment however to remind everyone just how fucking great Power Trip are, and in particular their 2nd album Nightmare Logic, a dark, chunky production taking the template of crossover thrash to exciting new places.

What I’ve dug out here is the two disc version of Hole In The Heart, a haunting masterpiece of early Ramleh. Whilst not as aurally punishing as some of their works, Hole In The Heart instead focuses on how power electronics can create intense atmospheric soundscapes. There is a mournful aspect to the record that I can’t really do justice with words.

Well this is just absolutely absurd. I gotta be honest, I only listened because of the title of the album – none of this is even remotely in the ballpark of what I usually enjoy. Nevertheless, it served as a decent background soundtrack to my blasting through of The Lost Episodes of Doom lol. Question is – would I ever listen to it again? The answer is, a firm no.

Anal Barbeque is a perfect continuation of the sessions the band brought to the split with XXX Maniak. The songs are pure nonsense, and sometimes verge on noisecore, but I have a softspot for this band and their gutteral, squealing goregrind. Granted, I probably don’t sell it all too well with that description, but this is really great, noisy stuff. Right up my alley.

I got this CD years ago (2006?) when Divine Noise Entertainment stock was swallowed up by a then-new Rotten Roll Rex. Both bands are great, but I think CxMxPx take the prize here. Their grind is absolutely savage. Everything hits hard but the vocals in particular are super intense. D.H.I.B.A.C. have a warmer, more rounded sound and more of a powerviolence vibe, with chuggier riffing and a dual vocal attack that includes that PV low…

Well then, what a disappointing shower of shit. Its like they took everything that was fun about the first record and purposefully decided to remove it all from the next record. Honestly, there are some good songs here or there, sure, but this just reeks of a cash-in. There was no good reason to return to this project, at least without a good portion of the original line-up.

I decided to go way back, waaay back to the nasty cult stuff, to get my Gut hit; a hit that can only be got from the sleazy pits of the spawning vats of pornogrind. This live tape has been on the to-do list for a while now, especially since some maniac uploaded the impossible to find relic to YouTube for everybody’s listening displeasure. Unfortunately, the cassette contains a fairly weak live set with far…

I’ve been coming back to this one on and off for a few months now. I’m unsure why it failed to grab me, I love this treacle-paced darker side to the vaporwave movement. Anyways, I finally got through the whole length of Nostalgi Gaius in one sitting and I have to say that I’m glad I committed and in the end I thoroughly enjoyed the record. I bet it would sound fantastic on cassette.

I’ve always liked Exhumed, but going back I didn’t realise how much I loved this album. What a disgusting mess! Bringing the aural vibes of early Carcass (particularly with the vocals) and mixing it with elements of thrash and death metal, Exhumed’s Gore Metal is a standout release in an often dismissed subgenre (in the grand scheme of things, at least). As stinking as the album cover or your money back!

Terror Wheel is absolutely prime rib classic era ICP, falling somewhere between The Ringmaster and The Riddlebox records. It calls forward to The Riddlebox with the inclusion of a slightly-less polished “Dead Body Man”, and contains such insane classics as “Skitzofrantic” and the hilarious “I Stuck Her With My Wang”. ICP have a lot of hit or miss stuff but honestly they have a bad reputation that they absolutely do not deserve. This is a…

Jeez, did they get enough different covers for this fucking thing out over the years, or what? Ha! Love or hate pornogrind (I’m looking at you Metalsucks, with your “lets attack grind but actually I’ve mislabelled some misogynistic slam” hipster think pieces), CBT do what they do and they do it well. Everything about this is just stinking; the art, the production, the riffs, the vocals. And this isn’t so much of a review but…