Music for 12/22/22!!! SOM, Dischordia

@@@ SOM: The Shape of Everything (Pelagic, 2022) I got to this via a best of list and my first impression if you took the fuzzy, Dave Grohl vocals and put them into a heavier context it would sound a ton like these guys. They also sound a bunch like the band Torche I was into for a bit. This is slotted as gazecore on Youtube and I get that. Big wall of guitars but less squally than yer usual shoegaze, this is most definitely a ‘metal’ pick for NPR listeners as it’s not full on stuffed with desperation and hopelessness. And not molten it’s gauged. I usually don’t dig this formula but the vibes here are good. There are alot of reference points for this flavor, Smashing Pumpkins big guitar rock also comes to mind and I’m not a Pumpkins fan. While this wouldn’t make my best of year list it’s good shit and quite solid for normies who can only go so far in their listening.

@@@ Dischorida: Triptych (Transcending Obscurity Records, 2022) More metal you shittaz!!! This is some chaotic rocking business with overlapping guitar action and a sparying drummer. It’s doesn’t have stomping feel as much as it has a stumbling drunken bum fight feel, I dig it. The first two songs are hot nuggets for sure with surprising riff action, mathy explosions and an in the moment flavor. The ‘singing’ here is not particularly noteworthy but I’m finding the playing super engaging. These guys are very talented musicians and they’re showing off by segmenting their tunes with quiet sections, herk a jerk transitions and wild unexpected guitar madness. If you like metal and you appreciate heavy musicians playing their asses off check this record out, they’re killin’ it here.

Music for 12/20/22!!! Mizmor and Thou, Gaston De La Cruz Quinteto

@@@ Mizmor and Thou: Myopia (Myopia, 2022) I’ve come up a bit short on the heavy music this year which can always be remedied by hitting the interwebz and then hitting the streaming service. These guys are a no brainer from a blog called No Clean Singing and I got to that via a twat on the Twatter. Go Elon you dumb fuck! This record comes out of the gate swinging with both thrash and drama. Great drumming and impassioned singing — he sounds both very human and like an orc at the same time. Big melodies in places, this is pretty happening but let’s peep more. At 1 hour 14 minutes and eight tracks these are big bangers, epic metal bangers. I like everything about the record but it’s not making me jump up and down. It could be an of the moment thing where I could feel differently about it later. I’m going to circle back on this. As for execution they’re on it, great guitar sounds, great drummer, really impassioned singer.

@@@ Gaston De La Cruz Quinteto: Constelaciones (Self released, 2022) I’m closing in on being done with bandcamp’s best jazz of 2022. I can’t say I’ve been blown away or found a bunch of stuff but I keep digging. This is a medium sized outfit and it’s the very definition of shambolic. It’s not one of those superbly manicured jazz/post jazz records, it’s got some swing and jank to it. I wouldn’t say the playing is straight fire but they sound fully caffeinated. I’m checking the third tune before I tip out. This third tune is a sweeter ballad that I’m not super into, let me check track 4. Track 4 is another sweet potato and I think I liked the opening track the most of what I heard and I could have used a full record of janky bangers but hey it’s his thing and other folks may super like it.

Music for 11/4/22!!! Psychonaut, Ripped To Shreds

@@@ Psychonaut: Violate Consensus Reality (Pelagic, 2022) Day 2 of late 2022 metal fest. It’s a brighter metal sound with plenty of hard rock especially in the vocal areas, this is not super far from older Pearl Jam just with a lot less pretension. I like the guitar sounds and some of the playing and the drummer has a bee in his bonnet but I like the really anti-social, meltdown shit.

@@@ Ripped to Shreds: Reek of Burning Freedom (Relapse, 2022) Oh shit, this is some dome thwacking heavy on the riff metal that is most definitely coming for you. Talk about releasing the Kraken and then breeding it with a giant ass frog stomper. Oh what a cleansing bath of distortion, frenzied guitars and low impact frustrated grunting. I think this gent is somehow tied to Asia and I say well done regardless of location this is just banging. I fast forwarded to the second track, Split Apart by Five Chariots and it’s a touch more brutal than the opener/title track. What an absolutely blazing paper bag of dog shit, beautiful!!!

Music for 11/3/22!!! The Otolith, Dead Cross

@@@ The Otolish: Sing No Coda (Blues Funeral Recordings, 2022) I’ve been feeling for a bit a bit out of touch with the metal side of town and when I happened upon a best of October list for metal I leapt at the dark opportunity. This is not typical metal as it features two violins. It opens dark with some keyboard action and stringy bass. I like the blend of sounds but I was hoping for some drums. Lemme skip ahead with the hope that I can get the violins and the weird ass keyboards with some drumming. The first tune is a 13 minute banger and I hung for about 1/3 of it and when I clicked to the second tune I was greeted with the familiar crushing of heads. There’s still some violin stuck back in the mix and a female singer and I dig that but it’s horns up ya shittaz! I’m checking out the beginning of the third tune, Ekpyrotic, and it’s the same as the second track. The replacement of lead guitar melodies with violin doesn’t have enough impact on me to make this record stand out. It’s perfectly good metal and I like the singer but I’m not jumping up and down.

@@@ Dead Cross: Heart Reformer (Ipecac, 2022) @@@ Dead Cross: Heart Reformer (Ipecac, 2022) The participation of near legendary Faith No More vocalist Mike Patton automatically pushes this music above a lot of other music. I dig him but I never super understood the genius at work. This is a blend of old school hardcore/metal and a bit of No Wave punk. They are blurbed as a punk supergroup and in this second track I hear plenty of revved up punk feels. I’m on the second track and it’s pretty fiery, I’m feeling it. This feels like it could end up on my honorable mention for 2022 so some other folks who are more into hard music might shit their trousers over this. It’s rough, smartly put together, and conducts itself differently.

Music for 5/2/22!!! Putochinomaricon, Vanum

@@@ Putochinomaricon feat. GFOTy: Tamagotchi (Elefant, 2022) I have an email address for my podcast, The Magic Organ, and I saw this group tweeted out by bandcamp via the Twatter. The leader here, Putochiomaricon is Portugese and Taiwanese so that’s a cool combo platter and this is synth pop but more rhythmic and the lyrics aren’t in English so the vocals come across as an instrument. That works for me bigly, I don’t have to flow with stupid Katy Perry style roar bullshit. The vibe is upbeat, partly sci fi, and poppy. It’s interesting culturally to see the rhythmic vocals with an MC in the middle is done differently than here in the big empire. Pop is pop and it’s international.

@@@ Vanum: Legend (Profound Lore, 2022) I got to this the same way, the email address for my music podcast. I like this label as they put out some interesting heavy music. This record is just 5 pieces with four of them between 7 and 8 minutes and the closing banger weighing in at 14 minutes. Elements of doom metal with a bit of punk and even a taste of hard rock in a few spots. The singer is more at the end of his rope than caveman not even audible. You get the full distortion guitar show here, I like it all right, I guess I like the rat in the rusty cage metal more than the epic doom stuff. I like the singer, great guitar sounds as usual with today’s metal.

Music for 1/17/22!!! Emma Lee MC, Antichrist Siege Machine

@@@ Emma Lee MC: Campfire (Emilia A. Otto, 2022) I got to this MC via a hip hop/r&b music publicist email. There’s a siren like high tone, a pretty tom heavy drum machine beat with a bit of tambourine and a female MC that does a solid job. There is also a long tone distorted guitar tone that I think confuses the situation and there are a lot of voices in this track. I like parts of it but I would strip a whole bunch of stuff out of this mostly cluttered voices and the guitar.

@@@ Antichrist Siege Machine: Purifying Blade (Profound Lore, 2021) I got to this via a list of writers’ favorites of 2021. This is some battering caveman shit to be sure, the grunt of the caveman singer is barely audible in the staticky-slightly farting beatdown. This is quite intestinal and devolved on purpose and wowsa, they boiled this down to just the essential particles — smacking drums, a detuned wall of guitars and prehistoric grunt show. Zero fucks given here and I respect that.

Music for 1/3/22!!! Trivium, Beartooth

@@@ Trivium: In the Court of the Dragon (Roadrunner, 2021) I’m returning to the metalcore best of ’21 lists as the Pupil Slicer record (which I highly recommend) has reinvigorated my search for metal. This is the title track of the record and it’s less of a hit for me as it sports more of a classic metal flow and I’ve never cottoned to the co-mingling of midieval themes and metal, I think’s it’s mad cornball. Not this one, but the concept. When he gets to the sung vocal hook ‘In the Court of the Dragon’ I feel like I”m in a Dungeons and Dragons game which I’ve desperately avoided for my whole life. Let’s move on unless you dig these feels.

@@@ Beartooth: Below (Red Bull Records, 2021) Fucking Red Bull records everybody denounce Red Bull, it’s fucking poison. Outside of that this is the opening track and it opens chaotic and simultaneously riffy. A pube of cock rock to be sure mostly in the singer and the guitar riffage. The chorus is meh, a tad butter-ish before they return to the crunch of the verse. This is for the dudes for sure, leather pants, hoisting a Red Bull on stage then pissing it out all over the crowd. Go Red Bull, fuck Red Bull, somebody get me a Red Bull!!!!

Music for 5/27/21!!! The Hirs Collective, Midnight

@@@ The Hirs Collective: Affection and Care (Get Better Records, 2021) Herky jerk metal with an ‘at the end of a rope’ singer. Pounding and thrashing in a more desperate than angry way, I dig this. This is a somewhat normal length song off a record entitled the third 100 songs, which funny enough contains 100 fucking songs with irreverent titles like ‘Fuck you Dad’ and ‘Trans Woman Dies of Old Age’. I find this a bit exciting as I don’t get excited for much but 100 songs in 78 minutes is something to look forward to. One sentence from their charter statement is: We are a collective of freaks and faggots that will never stop existing. I’m a freak but not a homosexual or anything but a boring ass straight person (poor me) so I hope I can be a part of this just being just a hetero freak. I dig collectives and I look forward to hearing more of this music. More important than who these people are is the music, it’s quality and passion.

@@@ Midnight: Masked and Deadly (Metal Blade, 2021) Both of today’s listen’s are off Apple Music’s metal section and I’m shocked that something like the above listen by the Hirs Collective ever made it up there. This, on the other hand, is a blend of classic metal, thrash and even a bit of punk and classic hard rock which is pretty standard in its construction and its intent. It’s got a little AC/DC a little Iron Maiden and other ’80s old school bands in its DNA. The singer is pretty standard and you can hear him — in the heat of hell you will fry, that’s pretty clearly enunciated and seems to be a sensible statement about the actions of humans as well as climate change! I know it’s all hippie and shit to discuss the planet’s heating up but in the heat of hell we all gonna fry, motherfuckers!

Music for 1/27/21!!! Paysage d’Hiver, Gatecreeper, Mentira

@@@ Paysage d’Hiver: Im Wald (Kunsthall Produktien, 2021) Some heavy shit off Invisible Oranges’ editor’s choice section. It opens with a super buzzy wall of guitars, thwacky snare drum and a singer tucked in that huge nest of distortion somewhere. I couldn’t tell from the first track if there is even a bass player in the band. I do like some bass in my heavy metal, I’m not opposed to it. It’s a big biscuit weighing in at 2 hours so you’re gonna be a different person on the other side of this nest of hornets. I’m not even gonna start with the song titles, it’s not in English with my favorite title being Stimmen im wald which reminds me that I got my stimmy check yesterday, thanks for nothing you fuckers at the top of the food chain. Myself I would cut back the guitars a little bit, bring up the singer and let us know if there’s a bass player in the band.

@@@ Gatecreeper: An Unexpected Reality (Closed Casket Activities, 2021). Another Invisible Oranges choice. Speaking of getting your stimmy the first tune on this record is called Starved and it’s a fully fleshed out metal production sound we got going here. Spacious with big everything while it doesn’t rob the tunes of energy. Starved goes right into Sick of being Sober. I’ve been trying to drink more myself though I don’t suspect we’ll be seeing these guys in any upcoming liquor ads. These are all very short songs which I think is fantastic — they get in there, they whip a shitty and let all their bile out and move onto the next shot of hate. It’s pretty clear where they’re at. I dig the energy here, there’s a lot of it, I can’t hear a fucking word or make head nor tail of the grunting singer but the drummer most definitely does not require a Red Bull.

@@@ Mentira – Nada Es Sagrado (Iron Lung, 2020) Some underground punk sung in Spanish with some psychedelic raging components (delay on the vocals) but these guys are bringing it for sure in the herk a jerk not giving of a fuck punk spirit. Ooh these guys play really well when they play fast and it’s quite satisfying. A prehistoric fucked bass grizzle but the main thing here is the delay on the vocalist’s voice and the overall manic 5 cans of Red Bull energy of the band playing. They sound a bit like they’ve been set on fire which I find quite entertaining. If you’re up for some old school abrasive punk these gents will hook you up!

Music for 1/15/21!!! Taina Asili, Scalp, Bleeding Out

@@@ Taina Asili: Here We Come (Self-released, 2020) I got this political anthem type track via an email from the Media Sanctuary in upstate New York. It’s got a mellow boombaton feel to it, some lush vocals, hand percussion and uplifting vocals. I like a political anthem as much as the next idot but this is a bit too Disney in the chorus for my taste. The lyrics go all out name checking everything from female genital mutilation, gentrification, trans rights, it’s incredible she stuffed it all in here. I would like it more if it has a bit more muscle — it’s strong on rhythms but it comes across as a bit lightweight.

@@@ Scalp: Domestic Extremity (Creator-Destructor, 2020) Some brutal metal off this week’s CFUV playlist email. Big stomp, drippy thrash, and plenty of hardcore muscle up in this badboy. The singer bounces back and forth between a hardcore throat scrape and that weird caveman shit a lot of metal dudes do. I wouldn’t say these guys get into any sort of technical metal but they jump around between sections and it gives a sense of them being very focused and tightly delivering ‘tha goods’. These guys produce a muscular collection of tracks with only a tad of doom here and there. I really like the drummer most of all, he sounds wired up on 14 cans of Red Bull and somebody rocked a great snare sound for this record.

@@@ Bleeding Out – Lifelong Death Fantasy (Profound Lore, 2020) Not as loud and thugged out as the above recording this metal record is also from this week’s CFUV playlist email. It sports a more epic death metal feel with some big melodies in the opening track. I’m hearing some Motorhead feels with a churning punky guitar hornet’s nest and a shouting Lemmy-ish dude on the mic. I started this review yesterday but I’m back to finish the week and clicked on the title track and oy it’s like have somebody pour hot motor oil right onto your brain. Visceral, thrashy domination. This is some hot shit — I’m not a full time metalhead but I get and embrace the genre appreciating its honesty. Imma circle back on this record for sure.