Coming from the American Heartland, Alpha-o-MAGA is a grindcore band in the great tradition of reactionaries and outsiders such as grind pioneers such as Napalm Death, Terrorizer, and modern crust punk. Absurdist, furious but surgical, Alpha-o-MAGA is a fist the face of hypocrisy and sycophants. The band has dropped their new video for their new single ‘Americunt’, the latest screed in their prime directive to “Make America Grind Again”! Continue reading
While much of the press materials that came along with ColdClaw‘s Anti-Martyr: Decades to Suffer (Ritual Sound Records) drive the point home about this California act dealing in Black Metal and Crust, I found that description a bit lacking. Yes, there’s gnarly black metal guitar licks all over the album but I’m detecting trace bits of Melodic Death Metal, Hardcore and perhaps some Thrash as well.Continue reading
Cloud Rat has something to say, and if you’re not willing to lend an ear they’re just going to play louder and faster until they get your attention. No, there are rarely any moments that allow for you to catch your breath on Pollinator (Artoffact Records) so know from the rip that these Michiganders intend to keep your head submerged in gray waters for about thirty minutes. Continue reading
I remember hearing Fury for the first time way back when in the dark recesses of time, well 2016 to be exact, look I’m getting old and it all gets a bit blurry, ok!?! Anyway, their debut record Paramount (Triple B Records) was released to little fanfare but quickly grew in popularity in underground circles. Sophomore release Failed Entertainment (Run For Cover Records) is here and to say that it’s long-awaited would be an understatement. Way more outlets are now looking at Fury as a band to watch out for this year.Continue reading
For the better part of the past six years, Hull’s Mastiff has been slowly festering in the underbelly of the UK’s underground scene. A handful of demos and 2016’s Wrank set expectations for the band to become mainstays of any grotty pub or club gig you’d care to attend, and Plague (APF Records) continues their trend of spreading as much abject misery as musically possible.Continue reading
It may have taken thirteen years to follow-up their sole release, but with a cast that includes Misery Index, Cattle Decapitation and Scour alumni, the trials of time can be forgiven with Cast The Stone, and new EP release Empyrean Atrophy (Agonia) shows that this band has a lot more worth than simply being a side dabbling for them.Continue reading
Brooklyn, New York, based black metallers Mutilation Rites are a name that have been making somewhat of a buzz in some extreme metal and underground circles. Far from being a necessarily revolutionary band, Mutilation Rites’ sound has been predominantly old school based; being raw, frantic and evil sounding; but they have always felt genuine and backed up with quality.Continue reading
Neil Gaiman once wrote in Sandman: Season of Mists that “hell is something you carry around with you, not somewhere you go” and with Cinereous Incarnate (I, Voidhanger et al), Abstracter aim to ensure that the feeling of your own personal hell is something that stays with you throughout the remainder of the year.Continue reading
A sea change seems to be afoot in the heavy music game. Young bands like Code Orange, Knocked Loose and now Nequient’s approach to the genre is to craft albums that pull from as wide a net of influences as possible and spinning that yarn into functional songs. On Wolves at the Door (Nefarious Industries) Nequient uses d-beat-laden Crust Punk as a framework, and stacks on Thrash, Grindcore, Hardcore, Sludge and Black Metal to create a collage of brutality. Continue reading
For those who hold music as dear to their hearts and their being as much as I’m sure you, the reader do, there is nothing quite like that discovery of a new band, perhaps out of nowhere, that captures so much about what you love in music. That feeling of finding a band in their early stages that stays with you, that smashes it out of the park, perhaps on the first try, and that both excites you so much and that you feel may break out in time to come. Ladies and gentleman; Wolf King may just well be that band for you. Continue reading