Deviated Instinct / Summon The Crows split

Towards the end of the last decade the return of the likes of crust punk originators Amebix and Deviated Instinct was certainly unexpected, downright unthinkable to those who were there the first time around, but when you take into consideration the context for their respective reformations it makes perfect sense.

Their music first soundtracked the anger and frustrations of a generation over two decades earlier who were disillusioned with Tories, wars they didn't vote for, widespread unemployment among the youth... it's almost 2014 and look where we are. Nothing ever fucking changes.

Deviated Instinct's sole contribution to this split, the appropriately monickered 'End Times', is a ferocious four-minute exercise in filth. Founding members Leggo and Mid have definitely been keeping tabs on the genre they helped define, incorporating many of the contemporary characteristics of what crust has evolved into; the abrasive guitar and almost death-like vocals make this sound far more relevant than the endless young bands ripping off the Portland-via-Tennessee-circa-2000 sound.

They share this split with a band who clearly take influence from their forebears, Norway's Summon The Crows. Contributing two tracks of crust in a similar vein, they more than match Deviated Instinct for all-out aggression and raw tone.

Read the full review of this 7" over at The Sleeping Shaman...

Originally released by Nakkeskudd Plater, this vital split 7" has recently seen a re-press by Disiplin Media. Don't hesitate to pick it up, as it's putrid proof that crust is alive and well and just as angry as ever.

Deviated Instinct on Facebook | Bandcamp
Summon The Crows on Facebook | Bandcamp

Temples Nights: A New UK Festival Worthy Of Worship

With such a vast array of festivals catering to connoisseurs of all things slow, fast, noisey, experimental and just plain heavy running all through the year, and all over the world, it's a great time to be a music fan. There's a veritable embarrassment of riches on offer for those who like it heavy, from internationally-renowned event such as Maryland Death Fest and Roadburn, to consistently excellent UK events like Damnation and All Tomorrow's Parties.
But this year one event has stood out from the pack.

Temples is the name on everyone's lips when talking about the 2014 festival circuit. From the instant intrigue upon hearing of the pedigree of the promoter, to the rabid proclamations of devotion upon the announcement of that first headliner, there has been a near-constant buzz among music fans from all over the UK and beyond, with ticket sales reported from many far-flung corners of the world.

As creator, director, promoter... well, basically the man behind Temples, Bristol-based DIY promoter Francis Mace has thrown all his experience into this massive undertaking. His hard work and dedication have clearly paid off, as the festival boasts three of the biggest names in modern metal; psycho-delic doom miscreants Electric Wizard, post-metal pioneers Neurosis and Maryland groove machine Clutch, as well as a whole host of other top-shelf bands, covering everything from d-beat to doom. Don't just take my word for it, look at the list of already confirmed bands: 

With yet more acts to be announced, and the excitement over Temples Festival already building to a frenzy, I spoke to Francis about that incredible lineup, Bristol becoming the new home of heavy, and more...

Read the interview over at The Sleeping Shaman

The inaugural edition of Temples Festival is set to take place in Bristol's Motion venue between Friday the 2nd and Sunday the 4th of May next year.

Weekend Tickets are on sale now from www.templesfestival.co.uk while Day Tickets are available exclusively through www.bristolticketshop.co.uk & www.gigantic.com.

http://www.templesfestival.co.uk
http://www.facebook.com/TemplesFestival
http://twitter.com/templesfestival

Thou: A Beginner's Guide

With the forthcoming release of Heathen, the 4th full-length release from Baton Rouge's Thou, it has recently come to my attention that some people may not be as excited as they should be for this release.

Most people came to Thou through their critically-acclaimed album Summit in 2010, but anyone who digs a little deeper than that sprawling, experimental masterpiece will discover a multi-faceted band who deliver scathing commentary on a variety of modern socio-political issues, filtered through the vocabulary and imagery of the past, set to a horrifying soundtrack that uses sludge metal as it's base, but has ever-expanding tendrils into post-rock, hardcore, and more unusual sounds like wind instruments and spoken word.

This constant reinvention and consistently high quality have made them a band worthy of tracking down every release they've put out, which I have done my best to do. This is far from my full collection, it's just most of it has been in storage for the past couple of years:

 

  

As a primer on why I love this band so much, I've put together a short list of my favourite Thou tracks. There really is no excuse for not giving this band a shot, seeing as their ENTIRE discography is available for free download via their website: get right-click-save-as-ing over at http://noladiy.org/thou.html.

Smoke Pigs (taken from Thrive And Decay / various labels / 2008)

Beginning with a sample taken from the Mark Wahlberg movie Shooter (in itself an excellent popcorn commentary on some of America's fundamental flaws, don't be turned off by the words 'Mark Wahlberg movie'), with the crack of a gunshot through the head of greed and injustice the track kicks off. It's an absolutely apoplectic exploration of the dichotomy that not All Cops Are Bastards, but that the idea of policing others in itself is flawed and dangerous.

Any track that contains the lyrics "I don't want to hear about  racial profiling, broken bones, or prison rape; or another unarmed kid filled from head to toe with fifty government-issued bullets" has got to be worth a listen over the endless 'weed and satan' bollocks this genre is better known for.

Burning Black Coals And Dark Memories (taken from Peasant / Level Plane Records / 2008)

With plaintive post-rock chimes, this track lulls you into a false sense of security before screeching vocals and howling feedback drag it into darker territory. Pretty bleak stuff considering it takes it's title from an Eddie Vedder lyric from the Into The Wild soundtrack.

This live clip from a couple of years ago also best demonstrates the sheer fucking intensity of vocalist Brian Funck, roaring wild-eyed into the mic like a politically-aware goblin. When I saw them play this track in the 007 in Prague last summer, I was actually scared. No other song inspires chills up my spine like this does...

 

I Was Ignored And Judged And Cast Down (taken from Tyrant / One Eye Records (reissue via Southern Lord / 2007)

The halfway point of this song, when the absolutely heart-aching melodies intertwine with the foul vocals and distortion, is one of my favourite moments in music ever, I sometimes play through this whole album just to make the payoff of this moment even more worthwhile. When it comes, I hope you'll hear why.

 

The Work Ethic Myth (taken from Peasant / Level Plane Records / 2008)

Musically this is one of their less adventurous songs, but the lyrics alone speak for this themselves, and should resonate with anyone who feels trapped in this broken society:

We have paved the roads that have led to our own oppression. Fear of the unknown, of rejection, has put brutes and villains in power.

The fetters that restrict our arms and throats were cast by our own hands, just as we have set our own guards at the door.

We drag boulders a thousand leagues to erect their palaces. We have established a system of education that celebrates sacrifice and creates generations of slaves.

Hold hands in a ritual of deception.

Hold hands in a ritual of desolation.

Hold hands in a ritual of self destruction.

We are the accomplice class: footstools for our masters, spineless bastards all.

Into The Void (taken from Through The Empires Of Eternal Void / Vendetta Records / 2009)

This heavy as absolute fucking fuck version of one of Sabbath's best tracks is dragged howling into the 21st century, proving that both their words and their tones are as relevant as ever.

This may not be one of their own compositions, but the sound of the bass alone completely transforms this track; I guarantee that with headphones on and the volume up, you will actually begin to feel your teeth dislodge when it gets to that bit. You'll hear what I mean soon enough...

There are dozens of other tracks I could share and gush about, I could genuinely discuss this band for hours if given the chance, but hopefully this selection will justify the hype, and convert a few others to a band who put most of the unimaginative low-n-slow crowd to shame.

Coltsblood / Crypt Lurker split tape

I don't know what it is about Liverpool at the moment, but between the bastard sludge of Iron Witch, Corrupt Moral Altar's strain of absolutely apoplectic grind, and the breakout success of caveman battle doomers Conan, there must be something foul polluting the Mersey. In addition to the aforementioned bands, Liverpool has recently spat forth two more of the nastiest groups currently going in UK Doom; Coltsblood and Crypt Lurker.

These two heathen clans have convened to record a limited-edition split cassette which was first available on their Winter MMXIII tour, and any remaining copies will be available from each band afterwards.

Coltsblood open their side with 'Consumption', a continuation on the ideas heard on their Beyond The Lake Of Madness demo. While the tracks on the demo had a tendency to wander aimlessly, if still threateningly, the (relatively) concise 9 minute running time of this track flays away any excess down to the bare bones. Opening with the discordant clanging of strings, soon joined by the cacophonous clatter of drums, they ensnare the listener in the murkiest of aural mires before proceeding to drown them in guitarist Jemma's painfully overdriven tones. When vocalist/bassist John Paul McNulty's subhuman rumble of a voice joins the fray, the feeling of total, inescapable despair is complete.

The other track on their side is a cover of my favourite Celtic Frost track, 'Procreation (Of the Wicked)'. Thankfully they choose not to just record a note-for-note rendering, instead imbuing their take on the track with a bristling malevolence that Tom G Warrior himself might cower in fear of. The raw recording quality distorts everything to the point of being almost unlistenable; it's so loud that it's a wonder any of them were able to tell what the other was playing at all. Befitting a cover of the band who started this whole thing, it sounds appropriately primal, and more cavernous and terrifying than 99% of black metal bands.

Crypt Lurker's side also contains one original and one cover: their own 'Behold! A Black Pestilence Dwells Within This Cyclopean Tomb' and a cover of Beherit's 'The Gate Of Nanna'. Their own track follows on perfectly from their tourmates' side, another 10 minute solid slab of raw blackened doom that will drag you down further into the endless chasm that Coltsblood cracked open. Whichever of the Lurkers it is who abuses the microphone has the kind of feral roar that reverberates around your skull, an entirely unpleasant sound that nonetheless gets stuck in your head even more than the intracranial fragmentation of a hollowpoint bullet.

I'm not kvlt enough to have heard the original by Beherit, but Crypt Lurker deliver an absolutely scum-ridden recording of 'Gates Of Nanna', all ultra-distortion and clipped blastbeats. To those that know the track, it's probably marginally more recognisable than Coltsblood's Celtic Frost cover, but no less terrifying or crushing.

Coltsblood on Facebook | Bandcamp
Crypt Lurker on Facebook | Bandcamp

Gnaw - Horrible Chamber

New York extreme noise terrorists Gnaw feature such disparate luminaries as Khanate's Alan Dubin and acclaimed sound designer Jun Mizumachi, so when their debut recording This Face stuck sharp aural objects into everyone's ears a few years back, no-one was really too surprised at how unpleasant an experience it was. With their follow up album Horrible Chamber, released via Seventh Rule, they're back like a recurring nightmare.

Even if you think you know what to expect, nothing can prepare you for what lurks within...

Opener 'Humming' is comprised of some of the most unpleasant sounds imaginable; atonal piano, monolithic mechanical crashes, harsh industrial noise, and Alan Dubin's voice. Yes, that's the sort of company his piercing shriek deserves. His vocal style could loosely be described as the midnight rantings of an entire psychiatric ward filtered through a single acid-gargling larynx. It is not an enjoyable sound.

Even when they take things into more 'traditional' territory on 'Of Embers', there is still an abrasiveness that almost all modern heavy bands lack. Well, it's not that they lack it, it's just that Gnaw sound genuinely dangerous compared to the endless parade of staid metal bands fucking around in forests with makeup, or mistaking 'slow and unimaginative' for 'atmospheric'. When was the last time you feared for your life on a nature hike, or felt threatened by some stoner showing off how loud his Orange cabs are?

Gnaw are the sound of urban decay and the horrors wrought by humanity.

'Worm' writhes just as slimily as it's namesake, while 'Widowkeeper' is even more unsettling for the fact it is mostly whispers and noises so faint you'd swear they were audio hallucinations. Not for the first time you may question the toll this album is taking on your mental state. When almost halfway through the colossal cymbal crashes and buzz of distortion arrives, you'll be thankful just to be hearing anything you can define as 'definitely not my slowly crumbling psyche'.

The remainder of the track lurches wildly around like the heroin slaves on the 3am bus out of whatever dark city you live in. A pretty apt analogy, as just like in that scenario, you'll be drawing your knees up and cringing into your seat praying that the track doesn't notice that you're there.

When the sparse guitar introduces 'This Horrible Chamber', the fact it has something approaching tuneful quality is suspicious. Gnaw are lulling you into a final false sense of security, so you have time to brace yourself for whatever lurks within the chamber. The sense of unease builds and builds until it's almost unbearable. You'll beg before the end, to be put out of your misery, however, over the 12-minute running time, it feels like that misery is destined to be interminable. Howls and moans, dissonant creaks, ghostly echoes, feral feedback, all expelled with the intensity of grindcore, but far more punishing than that genre could ever hope to be.

Horrible Chamber is an experience I have no desire to repeat any time soon. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't.

Stalk these maniacs on Facebook, and visit Seventh Rule to pick up a copy of the album.

This review originally appeared at Echoes And Dust, head over there to read the full unedited version...

Malthusian interview

My first band interview, conducted with Ireland's black/death heathens Malthusian, is up now over at Echoes and Dust. An excert follows, but you should read the full unedited version at the original site. Thoughtful responses from a thought-provoking band.

(((o))): The idea of Malthusian catastrophes being a catch-all term for the destruction of vast swathes of the human race via war, famine and disease is fertile material for subject matter within extreme music, and it has obviously inspired your choice of band name. In the two centuries since it's publication, the original ideas put forth by Malthus in An Essay On The Principles Of Population have been misinterpreted, co-opted, and disparaged by many.

Are the ideas put forth in the original text something that you all have a similar viewpoint of as a collective, or does it inspire debate and dissent among the ranks? How does Malthusianism, free of any modern political agenda, inform your lyrical content, if at all?

Malthusian: We are more concerned with artistic expression than presenting any sort of formal political agenda. Malthus's theory of human population being regulated through epidemic, war, natural disasters, crop failure and such struck a chord with us and gave us a starting point in terms of lyrical inspiration. That said, we have not and will not be restricting ourselves to such matters. The name simply captured the feeling that we were developing with the music, it sounded intriguing and a little bit different to the normal Death Metal band names you see everywhere. We are not interested in toeing the line or worrying about other people's notions of what a DM band should conform to.

(((o))): Coming from diverse acts such as On Pain Of Death, Altar Of Plagues, Wreck Of The Hesperus and Mourning Beloveth, what led you all to get together to create an arguably even more sickening noise than all your other bands?

Malthusian: The constant need to express ourselves through dark, unpleasant music was all the motivation we needed.



Malthusian's MMXIII demo tape (limited to 300 copies) is available to order now from Invictus Productions.

Harm Wülf - There's Honey In The Soil So We Wait For The Till

In recent years there has been a glut of material released by members of various heavy music scenes who venture forth as solo artists, taking things back to basics with intimate acoustic material. The likes of Mike Scheidt, Scott Kelly, Steve Von Till, Nate Hall and even the mighty Wino have released albums of acoustic tracks that hold just as much weight and gravitas as the genre they're better known for.

While Harm Wülf, the alter-ego of Blacklisted frontman George Hirsch, may come from a completely different scene, his contribution with There's Honey In The Soil So We Wait For The Till is just as heavy and just as haunting as the long list of doomed troubadours. That this album doesn't contain the seemingly obligatory Townes Van Zandt cover is evidence enough that Harm Wülf is a vastly different proposition than most releases of this ilk.

Opening with the stripped-back strum of 'Oldfur', it's clear that Hirsch is writing from within a vastly different sphere of influence than most of his acoustic contemporaries. The cadence and flow of the music has an almost neofolk quality, while Hirsch's voice is slightly buried in the mix. This may be a more intimate recording than his work as a hardcore frontman, but he's still keeping his cards close to his chest here, his words just indecipherable enough to retain an air of mystery.

Closing with the album's title track, which begins with finger-picked guitar and the keening wail of a singing saw, it reminds me of The Black Heart Procession's sparser output; it has that same mournful quality. The martial drums used sporadically throughout serve to both unsettle the listener and to hold them rapt, and when the track erupts in the driving rhythm of pounding drums, you'll be utterly swept away by the drama of it all. When it all comes crashing down before returning to the opening guitar motif, and ending with a sample from Where The Wild Things Are, there's a sense that you've just been told a story, that there's an underlying theme to this album. With a few more listens, you may just put together all the pieces of the tale.

As Harm Wülf, George Hirsch has cast himself as the protagonist in a fascinating musical story, and in doing so has created an intimate record full of haunting moments that you'll find yourself returning to again and again in an effort to reap what he has so beautifully sown.

Read my full review at The Sleeping Shaman...

Noothgrush / Coffins split LP

This review originally appeared on Echoes And Dust.

When I caught both Noothgrush and Coffins at the inaugural Heavy Days In Doom Town fest in Copenhagen last year, I almost couldn't believe what I was witnessing. Given that Oakland's Noothgrush had been split up for more than a decade, and that Tokyo's Coffins were from, well, Tokyo, I felt especially lucky just to have gotten the chance to see each of them. I never thought it would happen. That both bands completely decimated the crowd with their respective sets was tantamount to their sheer crushing weight; the power of the riff is constrained by neither time nor distance.

When I got talking to Noothgrush guitarist Russ Kent a few days later before their show in Hamburg, he mentioned that Uchino from Coffins had suggested the idea of both bands embarking on a Japanese tour together.

That was 18 months ago, and only now are both that tour and the resultant split record happening. I guess taking things agonisingly slow isn't something that only applies to their music.

Noothgrush don't fuck around on their side, their first track 'Humandemic' immediately capturing the sound of Sabbath's Paranoid record, with Russ' SG-through-a-Laney tone complimenting Chiyo Nukaga's trademark gigantic cymbal crashes perfectly. So well do they emulate the doomed vibe of their musical forefathers, that when Dino Sommese (you know, of Dystopia, Asunder, Ghoul, every other fucking band) spews his bile-scorched vocals over everything, it almost seems like a shame to pollute the pure '70s atmosphere. That is until you remember that this is the return of Noothgrush, one of the most disgusting, and disgusted, sludge bands to have been dragged into existence in the '90s. They were just as angry about the era they were living in then, and Dino's hateful howl reminds you that rage has not dimmed one iota; this is miserable music for miserable times.

Their second contribution to the record is a re-recording of their classic track 'Jundland Wastes', which has been floating around in various recorded forms ever since their 1995 Kashyyyk demo. The quality of this recording, even the clarity of the sample playing throughout the intro, is sure to cement this as the definitive version. The mid-track lull allows Gary Niederhoff's malevolently crawling bass to detach from the main riff for a couple of bars, before everything coalesces again and the band drag themselves through the eponymous wastes towards the end of the track. Never mind Tusken Raiders; Noothgrush are the scariest thing to ever inhabit the deserts of Tattooine.

They close out their side with the 9-minute 'Thoth', a tribute to beloved Bay Area DJ Cy Thoth, who passed away this year. Beginning with looped samples of Thoth himself before Chiyo's drums herald the arrival of a monstrous riff, it's classic Noothgrush, even down to Russ' full-fretboard pickscrapes.

The track meanders madly, with further samples of Cy Thoth thrown in throughout, Dino's absolutely ferocious vocals providing sharp contrast to his spoken word psychedelic ramblings.

When the track, and Noothgrush's side, ends with a recording of a laughing Thoth warning everyone to "watch out for cannibal attacks! Everyone is suspect!", it's clear even to those unaware of his work that he was a true original who will be much missed by his community. Thankfully, the heavy music community can welcome one of it's own true originals back to the fold.

It's good to have you back, Noothgrush.

I'll admit it, compared to new Noothgrush material, anything else was going to pale in comparison, but thankfully they share this split with one of my favourite bands of recent years. Given that Coffins have actually covered Noothgrush in the past, on their excellent tribute EP Sewage Sludgecore Treatment, they know exactly how much grime they need to apply to their already putrid death-doom. The first track of their side, 'Drown In Revelation', is able to match the other side for both filth and fury.

Slowly fading in, the ominous approach of the drums soon joined by prowling bass, while the feedback builds and builds, until with an "UGH!" they launch into one of those deadly riffs that Uchino seems to have an endless supply of in his arsenal. Given that this is something like their eighth release in just the last couple of years, they manage to maintain a ridiculously high quality level with all their recordings, with their recent full-length The Fleshland already being one of my favourite releases this year. Around two-thirds of the way through the track, the band kick things up a gear into full-on death-doom mode, the lurching, stuttering riff backed up with punishing double-kick drums, before slowing everything down to a doomed crawl. When they return to that monstrous main riff again, if you're not in full-on headbanging-and-invisible-oranges mode, there's something wrong with you.

'The Wretched Path' continues in that same vile vein, with the influence of Celtic Frost clearly heard in the faster passages of this track. I never though I'd say this, but this track near enough fucking bounces along at points, it's so uptempo. However, don't mistake that for upbeat, I'm sure that whatever Uchino is growling here, the words themselves are foul enough to offset any remotely 'good time' vibe.

I may be biased as I have been eagerly awaiting the release of this record ever since I learned that it might one day become even a possibility, but the half hour of misanthropic sludge and deadly doom on offer across both sides of this LP confirm that it's one of the heaviest releases to be unleashed this year. Ignore at your peril, and prepare to abandon all hope.

You can stream, and buy both digital and vinyl versions of this split via Southern Lord.

Vastum - Patricidal Lust

With Patricidal Lust, San Francisco's Vastum eschew the done-to-death (if you'll pardon the pun) tropes that so many modern death metal bands are content to endlessly recycle, in favour of delivering a far more horrifying, disquieting record than any other band has dared to release. The subject matter on offer here will perturb even the most hardened fan of a genre that often seems stale and exhausted.

Featuring members of Bay Area heretics Acephalix, as well as the prolific, seemingly ubiquitous Leila Abdul-Rauf of Amber Asylum and Hammers Of Misfortune, Vastum have come to pollute your consciousness with six sickening tales of sexual abuse, abominable deviance, and mental anguish. A far more perverse proposition than its predecessor Carnal Law, it's sure to be the most uncomfortable listening experience you'll have this year.

Read my full review of this excellent slab of filth over at Echoes And Dust...

Patricidal Lust is available now on CD and LP via 20 Buck Spin. Head over to their site and pick one up! You can also stream the album and read an excellent interview with the band at Invisible Oranges.