Category: Crust

Human Cull - Stillborn Nation

30/4/2015

Grindcore has managed to charm me a lot throughout the years. I know, 'charm' is not really a good word for this kind of musical brutality but I'll try to explain. Over the past decades grindcore bands have always managed to surprise me with their intense tempo and downright punishing guitars. While many people see this as uncontrollable chaotic noise, I see this genre as an extreme outing of that which is present in every art form. These are the b-horror movies and the gory, abstract paintings of the music industry. Most of all, these are groundbreaking bands and both the music industry and our society need them.

Human Cull is a band from Exeter, England. This trio is uncompromising and unforgiving. This album, Stillborn Nation, is a brilliant piece of extreme metal and punk, comparable to bands like Nasum or Agoraphobic Nosebleed. Downtuned, dissonant, amain and audacious music blasts through the speakers impressively fast. In mere 25 minutes (and 23 songs), Human Cull unleashes an assault on your sanity and conscience.

My favourite track is actually the final one, 'Echoing Silence', probably because I'm a little more into doom metal than grindcore and this is a tremendous powerhouse of a song. However, concerning power, none of the other songs are inferior. From the painful shrieks that open 'Teeth For Revenge', over the immense blastbeats in 'Jackals', to the sickening gutteral vocals in, well, all of the songs, this album breathes intensity and fortitude.

Grindcore and crust fans all over the world, may I present one of your new favourite bands. If you have the chance, check them out live. You'll be in for an unbelievable ride, filled with moshpits, stagedivers, crowdsurfers and walls-of-death. At least, if you survive the gig...

Serge

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Macerie - Macerie

6/4/2015

Sentient Ruin (digital)
Yamabushi Recordings (tape)

Once upon a time, some cunt uttered the words 'soul sucking black hole'. It was meant as an insult but until now I had no idea what a soul sucking black hole actually was. To me, it was pretty similar (and infantile) as telling someone to go 'suck a bag of dicks'. However, here I am, empty, confused and devastated. Not because of that earlierly mentioned cunt, but because of a little e.p. that reached my inbox.

'Macerie' translates to 'rubble' or 'ruins' and that is exactly where you will be in after listening to this sixteen minutes lasting monster. Macerie is also a quartet from Florence, one of the most beautiful and peaceful cities in the world. However, there's nothing beautiful or peacefull on this e.p. Instead, we're dealing with a blackened sludge act that spews an impressive amount of hatred-fueledd sonic violence through the speakers.

There are four tracks on this album, each of them being a crushing blast of hostility. At times they remind me of bands like Celeste or Altar Of Plagues but somehow Macerie sounds even more vile, destructive and cold as their predecessors. However, I have to say, the production quality might be a big part of this raw, unforgiving sound.

What we get from Macerie is simple: brutal blackened metal, influenced by both sludge and hardcore punk. The band uses the typical elements like wall-of-sound distortion, blast beats and gutteral growls and screams. Yet, unlike some of the bands I've heard, Macerie makes all this mischief sound easy and excells in sheer brutality. Vocals are completely out of this world, almost inhuman. Drums sound like machine guns, blasting everything in sight.

Damn, this is an intense piece of extreme music, truly only for the brave. So to the brave ones: check it out. Macerie will be available on tape and as a digital download. However, don't come complaining about the loss of your hearing, soul or sanity afterwards. We warned you...

Serge

Simbiose - Trapped

14/3/2015

website

So, they're saying we live in a multiverse, with alternate universes side by side, each with their own set of natural and geographical rules. At least that's what some people say, we'll probably never know for sure. However, there is a perfect example for a multiverse in our own sonic world. The metal genre has been divided in countless genres and subgenres. From hard rock and heavy metal, over punk and hardcore to black, speed, thrash and even beyond the so-called boundaries of the genre.

Somewhere between punk, hardcore, thrash and death metal lies a small but very active universe, named 'Crust'. It borrows the intension of hardcore punk with the riffing of thrash and the vocals of death metal. Doom was one of the forefathers, quickly followed by a number of groundbreaking acts. Simbiose, from Portugal, is clearly one of them. However, they, too, take the genre a bit further and nudge intensly toward death metal.

Their ferocious and brutal crust is played with an almost unmatched intensity that resembles the first efforts by Sepultura in the late eighties. With lyrics both in English and Portuguese, this similarity is reinforced but Simbiose takes it a bit further than that. All thirteen songs (after the impending intro) are high-speed assaults on the listener.

The crushing arrogance and sheer brutaly in this album make it almost sound like old-school grindcore. Even vintage black metal isn't that far away at times, making the album both frenzied and varied, a rare but very welcome combination in the extreme genres.

So yes, Trapped is a growling, clawing and mordacious beast, setting your bed on fire during your worst nightmares and leaving you motionless and in absolute terror. On the other hand, when you're not sleeping, this music definitely has the power to kick off an extented moshpit because that's what stuff like this is made for. Damn, this sh*t is intense....

Serge

p.s. you can listen to the album on Invisible Oranges by clicking here

Augurs & Deathgrave - Split

13/3/2015

https://augurs.bandcamp.com
https://deathgrave.bandcamp.com

Ever wondered what the Big Bang might have sounded like? Well, definitely not like this but probably just as brutal and devastating. We're back in the Bay Area where two of the most extreme grind and crust bands have teamed up to unleash a crushing blitzkrieg on our asses.

Let's start with Augurs, the band who delivered the longest song. 'From Maggots To Flies' is a four minutes lasting rollercoaster of violence and brutality. Augurs blends several genres, yet the focus is mainly on hard- and grindcore. The tempo switches several times but the intensity does not. Starting out with chaotic riffing, blastbeats and haunting screams, they really set the tone for this split.

Deathgrave continues the assault and has no intension to leave any survivors. Their highspeed and fierce grindcore is not for the faint-hearted. The blast-beats continue and the screams nudge towards old black metal. These three songs are short, powerful and completely over the top. But that's the fun part about it, it really is. Deathgrave also wins the songtitle contest with the hilarious title'Hugged In Half'.

This split is to be released on March 17th 2015 as digital product through Sentient Ruin and as 500 vinyl 7"'s as a co-release between Sentient Ruin, Trill Kommand (US), Shove Records (IT/EU) and The Path Less Traveled Records (US). Fans of raw, punishing extreme metal might want to check this one out, it rarely gets deadlier than this...

Serge

Sangus - Saevitia

9/3/2015

bandcamp eternal death

Usually I tend to give all 'blackened' stuff to Björn, but I wanted to keep this one for myself. Why? Well, this release is pretty different from a lot of black metal releases I've heard in a while. In stead of referring to the Scandinavian wave or the most recent 'post-metal' variation of the genre, Sangus has spawn something extremely old-school and disturbing. By incorporating a mix of punk, thrash and crust, these Americans take us back to the furious days of Marduk, Sacrophago or Satanic Warmaster.

Saevitia is an e.p., constisting of five songs. Only one of them, 'Ossos: SSS', is longer than three minutes. However, this is a harsh noise track, resembling a loathsome vision of battlefield after a short but intense war. The rest of the songs are short outbreaks of nihilism, misantrophy and disgust, played with an overdose of energy and intensity. Fast riffing, blast-beats and screams create one of the most vile things I've heard in a while. It's this mix between black metal and punk that makes it interesting to me, short and powerfull, perfect for a blitzkrieg.

This e.p. is the follow-up for their 2013 tape-release "Vengeful Brutality". It is available on 7" and as a digital download. I can only recommend every fan of old-school black metal to check this one out. This stuff has the same level of discordance and malice as the inventors of this notorious genre portrayed. Personally, I can't really get enough of this. Awesome stuff...

Serge

Ramlord - Ramlord

8/3/2015

Broken Limbs

Here's a perfect 7" to create an appetite for unholy activites. Broken Limb records treats us to two bleak and agressive songs from Ramlord (USA). This trio combines the coldest sounds of crust, black metal and doom and adds an intense feeling of misantropy. The result is a foul and dismal form of extreme metal.

Opener 'The Breached Sanctum' actually starts out nice, almost like a post-rock composition. Yet, very quickly after you're sucked into this putrid, punk-driven world of Ramlord. 'The Fog Of Neglect' mainly sounds like a vintage underground black metal song with a huge punk attitude and the same vile atmosphere. Both songs are filled with brutal, screaming and growling vocals to enhance the aggressive nature.

After a bit over eight minutes you're set free but completely disorientated and horrified. This is extreme art from the dingy underbelly of the metal world. A true recommendation for everyone who's into loud, agressive crust and intensly bleak metal. If you are, hurry because it's limited to 300 7" copies: 200 black and 100 yellow with blue splatter.

Serge

Forward>>

Human Cull - Stillborn Nation

Macerie - Macerie

Simbiose - Trapped

Augurs & Deathgrave - Split

Sangus - Saevitia

Ramlord - Ramlord

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