Skitsystem are one of the best-known purveyors of that Scando-crust sound that the kids are digging so much these days. I'm a big fan of their 1999 debut LP, which I can't be bothered to try and type out, it's this one:
So I have wanted to track down more of their stuff for a while now, and I figured I may as well get one while I was buying a bunch of records from one of my favourite distros, punkdistro.de.
Punkdistro are based out of Germany, and run by a very cool guy named Micha, who I think has taken more of my money than my own government in recent months. Go check out their selection, they have some great stuff.
So I picked up this Skitsystem/Cyness split, which is the last thing they released before going on indefinite hiatus, and again, it sat around in a pile of records for weeks before I finally got around to listening to it. If only I had all the time in the world to do nothing but spin records (hint: someone give me a job as the worst DJ in the world. Cheers.).
'Döden Ar Min Maskinist' crashes in with some colossal slabs of noise, before launching swiftly into their familiar brand of d-beat madness. It's pretty futile to try to decipher the vocals, because even if they weren't spat and snarled out, they're all in Swedish anyway. The track hurtles along for the epic running time of 1:41, and comes to an abrupt halt with a final RRRRUGH! Sweet.
'Pestbringaren' verges on downright catchy, and has some serious throat-shreddage going on. It's kind of hard to write about this stuff interestingly, despite it genuinely being interesting music, there's only so many times you can rehash the comments on fast-as-fuck d-beat, buzzsaw tone and harsh vocals. It's just good, so fucking listen to it for yourself.
Cyness are band I am completely unfamiliar with, but considering they have the word Grindcore incorporated into their logo, I kinda know what I'm getting myself into here.
Opener 'Patriotenidioten' (a title that, even with my very limited knowledge of German, is pretty easy to figure out what they're pissed off about) deafens me with a sampled shout of ARMAGEDDOOOOONNNNN! Before immediately launching into some relentless grind. The vocals bark monotonously for a few bars, before the pace relaxes into some pretty fucking great drumwork, some interesting fills going on in this part. More grind blasts by, and then the track slows to a dissonant mini-sludge section before grinding it's way back to the finish line. I dig this. Hope the rest of the side is so varied!
'Pogoslaughter' opens with some great rolling snare, all fills and noise. I really fucking like the drumming on this record, I'm actually taken aback by how above average this is. Hot on it's heels, snapping at 'em, is 'Maulhelden', a 26 second chug-chug sprint which is close to powerviolence in it's not-quite-grooving riff and forced out grunts.
'Bushkrieger', another oh-so-obvious title, starts off higher up the fretboard, announcing it's presence with some short sharp squealing notes, before crashing into an avalanche of aggression. The second half of the song slows down, but only for a couple of seconds at a time, not like I expected anything longer for a grind band.
Final track 'Kleines Licht' starts out with a series of repeating drumrolls, before erupting into a really fuzzed-out riff backed by good ol' blastbeat-age. The track climaxes, slows, and stretches out to breaking point before snapping with a final bang.
Fucking hell, I did not expect this band to be so good. Looks like I'm tracking down more Cyness records then!
If you fancy doing the same, remember to check out punkdistro.de, and pick up something from their great selection!
I've had this split kicking around for a couple of months now, but just haven't gotten around to listening to it yet. I bought it on impulse when I had a few spare quid in my paypal account, being only vaguely aware of Wolfbrigade as being exponents of that modern crust sound I love so much, yet knowing nothing of Audio Kollaps except that they hail from Germany. Expectations are non-existant for both sides, though I'm excited to hear a couple of bands that I haven't before!
I'm going for what I think is the Audio Kollaps side first, since, rather annoyingly, the label has decided to force you to participate in some sort of 'DIY or Die' confusion in regards to the labelling of the sides. What the fuck?
First track 'Schwadronen Des Todes' opens with frantic buzzsaw tone, then the definition of cookie monster vocals kick in, and it sounds like the vocalist is singing this way for the very first time. I dig into the band's history a little and find that yeah, this was actually their first release, so that might be why his voice sounds so strained. An unimaginative single-snare d-beat hammers in background, with no deviation 'til halfway through, when the whole thing breaks down into a riff-led backbeat, which is pretty cool.
Second track 'Wahnsinn' is much more frantic and fast-paced. It's pretty standard grind, but late on in the track, there's this little weird descending riff that catches my ear. I dig that one riff, but not much else.
The final track, '5 Vor 12' opens with a bizarre sample of... what sounds like circus music, or trumpet-y nonsense soundtracking a chase sequence. Whatever it's from, it seems to have fuck all to do with the actual subject of the song, not that the English translation of the lyrics acually means anything, maybe they work better in German, I don't know. The blast of music itself is okay, but the sample has thrown me too off guard to really pay attention.
I'd need to check out what this band are doing these days to see if they morphed into something a bit more inspiring, after all, they've had 11 years to do so since this split's late-2000 release.
Next up is the side that piqued my curiosity...
It opens like the thousands of other punk/hardcore/crust/d-beat/grind songs I've heard, abrasive riff for a couple of bars, with two-chord accompanying drumfill intro, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And considering I can't get enough of that turn-of-the-century sound, I am more than happy with this record for this first track ('High Tech Degradation') alone.
Second song 'Equality?' opens with the sort of fat bass rumble that, again, countless bands utilise (Stockholm's VICTIMS seem to do it for every second song, and I fuckin' love 'em for it), before kicking into some awesome barked out vocals about the hypocrisy in crying equality, yet judge those who don't share those same beliefs. Lyrics I actually read and relate to? Whoah, this doesn't happen often.
Final track 'Misery' is a short sharp shock, over so fast that I have to drop the needle back at the start to try and catch it. S'good.
This was released on a German label called Epistrophy, who should still have some copies I reckon, as well as a bunch of other German punk/crust goodness I'll get around to checking out sometime.
I can't seem to find an official site as such for Wolfbrigade, other than a myspace link, but I sure as fuck ain't clicking that. Hey bands? There's this thing called bandcamp. Get into it.
In the meantime, here's SOMETHING I found for Wolfbrigade.
Landmine Marathon's new album, Gallows, is one of the releases I've really been looking forward to, so with it's impending arrival in my mailbox, I figured I ought to revisit their back catalogue.
I picked up that little box of goodies from the awesome tape label Selfish Satan Recordings, which is run by an awesome dude named Ami. I've had it sitting around for months now, but I've never really given the first coupla albums (Wounded and Rusted Eyes Awake) a proper listen, since I was so enthralled to their third, Sovereign Descent. Gonna do this thing chronologically, starting with their debut, Wounded.
Side A hisses into life with '25th Hour', a slow starter riff which crawls along before the drums come in, and the pace picks up. So far, so good, but then Grace Perry's feral snarling vocals come in over the music, and I hear what makes me love this band so much.
Landmine Marathon might not play a style of music that hasn't been done to death (ha!) a million times over, but they do it with a genuine ferocity that comes through in the delivery. The catchy-as-fuck riffs meander their way into your skull before bludgeoning it from the inside (that was my millionth attempt at a terrible metaphor. That one was particularly shit. I'm proud of it's shitness.). The drums blast in all the right places, and descend to snail's pace crawls in others, giving the songs real dynamics, not just 'look how fast/complicated/show-offy we can be!'.
This bands writes SONGS.
But before I get too off track yet again, what I was getting at was that Grace's growls, shrieks, and demented howls are genuinely unsettling in parts. When I hear her voice, I get that feeling I've probably mentioned in so many other posts about why metal gives me a feeling no other genre does.
It sounds like there is no way in hell that these sounds can be made by a human being, and that Grace Perry is surely just the worldly name of some horrifying howling creature trapped in a woman's body.
As the first side of Wounded plays through, I can definitely tell that this is their first album. Since I started with their third album, I'm used to hearing a cohesive unit do what it does best, but on these initial songs, they sound like a band still finding their feet, at least in comparison, because they find them pretty fucking fast. All through the rest of side A, and all of the second too, tracks like 'Thunder Blasted Bodies' and 'White Widows' have enough variation, ideas, and are delivered with enough acid-thrown-in-your-face raw aggression that this never gets old even for a second.
The penultimate track stomps out of the speakers at a funeral march pace, a string-bending rotting note lurching along until it explodes into 'Time Movement', the albums closer. This contrast of tempos and delivery are what I like about the death-ier end of the metal spectrum when it's done well, it's not just relentless rythm at a million bpm, it's the dynamics, the contrast, the shock of the velocity, the ferocity.
I can't believe I haven't listened to this tape before now! What a fucking idiot. I wish I still had my old '90s walkman so I could blast this as I walk to work tomorrow.
I am a little more familiar with Rusted Eyes Awake, but it's still not deeply ingrained enough in my brain for me to remember off by heart what I thought of it, which is why I'm having this marathon (no pun intended, honestly!) tape listening session.
Using the phrase 'more of the same' is not intended as an insult by any stretch, because when the same has been tightened up, refined, yet lost none of the impetus and scathing energy, then that is a very fucking good thing. Opening with 'BILE TOWERS', a title so awesome I had to capitalise it, this album announces that yes, this is indeed more of the same. They didn't turn around and drop in rapping, EBM beats, and start wearing pvc legware, like some bands are known to do these days. Landmine Marathon still play death fucking metal.
I spent most of my day today trying to drown out the radio by deafening myself with plenty of Death, Entombed and Bolt Thrower, and listening to LM now, hours later, I'm struck by how well these songs stack up against the greats, how this band wouldn't have sounded out of place if they were putting out albums on Earache in the golden years of that label.
Admittedly, that's not a conclusion I am alone in, I've seen plenty of 'proper music writers' describe them as pure Bolt Thrower worship, and though this isn't unaccurate, it's far from a bad thing.
'Bled To Oblivion' is by far my favourite track from the first side, Grace's voice being joined in what probably passes for the chorus by Antony Hämäläinen from some band I've never heard of. Though judging by the way his voice works alongside the main vocals, providing a deeper bellow to counterpoint the snarl, I should probably give 'em a shot. The twin guitar work in the final minute is seriously 'bang-worthy.
Side B opens with another caps-worthy song title, HEROIN SWINE. This is just straight out blastbeat nastiness, never relenting for even a second to let you catch your breath. Or whatever metaphor you want to come up with meaning respite for your ears. Oh wait, there's a breakdown (NO! not that kind, there is nothing remotely -core about this song) with some widdly guitarwork. Then it's back into double-kick mayhem until the end.
The rest of the tracks blur past in a red-misted haze of frantic blastbeats, corrosive guitar tone and venomous vocals, with the final, and title track winding things down in a much more mid-paced fashion, with a swaggering rythm and the harshest, most throat-shredding fade-out ending I've ever heard.
The tape hisses and clicks and ends. Whew. Next up...
A fade-in on the first track, Exist, excellent! I am a little biased towards this album because I've played the fuck out of it for a year now, but it still sounds fresh and exciting to me every time. It still makes me want to go out and run until my lungs burst. Which I'm sure isn't a very mentally stable reaction to music...
When I first encountered Landmine Marathon, the first thing that caught my eye, literally, was the album artwork by the awesome Dan Seagrave, and if you don't know who that is then just go fucking kill yourself.
I won't list every amazing record artwork he's responsible for, because it would take me forever, but safe to say he's pretty damn legendary among death metal artwork nerds (an admittedly niche section of society). I would link to his website, but it seems to be a flash monstrosity, and I can't even get it to display, so stop reading this shite and go research him yourself already...
Anyway, I checked the band out based on the artwork, and fell in morbid musical love. Especially when I saw the video for the next track, Shadows Fed To Tyrants. Check it out, tell me that doesn't look like the most fun ever?
It confirmed everything I thought when I heard their music, that they'd be a no bullshit, built-to-destroy-things-to live spectacle. I really hope they cross the Atlantic sometime, I need to get bloodied up to this song. The breakdown (again, I have to stress that it's not THAT sort of breakdown) in the middle of the song is worth headbanging to until your eyes fall out.
Flood The Earth is my favourite track on the whole album. It's... pulverising perfection. Not much more to say about it than that.
I can't think of original things to say that properly convey just how fucking good this album is. Just buy it, get into it, then get at me about it so I have someone to talk to about this fucking awesome band.
