Sect : "Plagues Upon Plagues"

 This band is comprised of who's who of post-millennial  Hard-core. At the mic former Cursed vocalist Chris Colohan, who is giving an impassioned performance, with a husky croon that winks in the direction of Neurosis. His approach gives the dark tension of the music, more depth and makes more of an impact when it does get time to scream and kick the riffs in.  Those riffs are driven by former Earth Crisis guitarist Scott Crouse. Andy Hurley from Fall Out Boy / Racetraitor beating the drums. Hurley shows restraint and keeps things at a more sludged-out pace rather than pouring on the punk mania.  The heft of the guitars is bolstered by Jimmy Change from Undying and bassist Steve Hart. The first song that finds things aggressively accelerated is 'Drowning in Sorrows" which is three songs into things. 

Their chemistry as a unit grants them the ability to shift from heavy grooves to more patrol rock wanderings with some great interplay of guitars along the way. "#foreverhome" is a scathing commentary on today's society, and I am surprised more bands are not fed up with the world around them like these guys are. While their press release seems to angle them in a more left-leaning direction, which is not surprising for punk rock, when you give the songs an actual listen things are not that black and white, as the bleak nature of things touching all in the western world seems to be what they are raging against here. As someone who is "apolitical", I can appreciate this as it never seems I am being preached the gospel of either side. 

"The Lovers of Life" works off the same stormy tension that has been driving this album. "Inventory" goes straight for the throat. They rein the song in to give the mood room to breathe. The last song is a more sludge-influenced take on a hard-core dirge. I like that it is as sonically heavy as it is metal-heavy. You can call this a metallic hardcore album if that definition includes something as dark and dense as this album. I will give this album a 9.5, as it's the kind of brooding shadowy hardcore I prefer. This comes out June 7th on Southern Lord, which makes sense for both the band and the label that they should be paired. 

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OKKULTOKRATI : "La Ilden Lyse"

This band from Norway has bounced back and forth from being punk to black metal throughout their career. This results in varied levels of black n roll or blackened punk. Does this make you think of Kvelertak? The difference here is more apparent on this album as these guys summon a sound that is  darker. It is also denser. This gives it more of a metal feel. This metal feel gets more of a rumble on the second song. While the rasp of the lead screamer is very feral, the lyrics do not cut through , judging from the song titles they are more than likely some kind of hodge podge occult references from people who get all of their knowledge from the lyrics of other metal songs. I can appreciate the icy mean teeth of "Loathe Forever" , but this is also when things begin to run together for me . I might just have to go back into this album with head phones in order to pick up whatever details I am missing here. At present it sounds like the wailing and gnashing of teeth accompanied by distortion. Though cranking it a little without head phones does help.

There is a more deliberate rock accent to "Freezing Vortex Death Dreamer". Think a black metal version of  AC/DC's "TNT". The rasp is not sung but easier to make out what it is trying to accomplish in terms of song structure. "Cold & Cruel" sets itself apart by being very straight forward and punk. Not my favorite of the album as it's too straight forward. The drumming is pretty boring. They throw in some interesting sounds that go beyond punk, but it's a sound not a song. There is like a new wave Motorhead feel to " Kiss of Death". The bass tone is pretty burly. The drums are better than the previous song , but not groove to them. "Mother Superior" is darker and more interesting . The vocals occupy a similar scowling place they have for the bulk of the album. The layered chaos here has more form and function. The snarling charge of "Lunatics" works better than the feral fuzz the album was in as it is more song minded .

"The Dying Grass Moon" works of one simple throb, but it is done in a more interesting manner than some of their more simplified concepts on this album. They layer it in a way that almost gives it more dynamic range. I will round this one down to an 8 as they have some interesting sounds that set them apart for you average black n roll band, but the songs are all pretty much what you hear is what you get with few surprises once they pull you into their pulsation. This album comes out on May 15th on Southern Lord.

Baptists : "Beacon of Faith"

Canadian sludge punks Baptists are back. The first two songs are more punk in form as they are under two minutes. The first more original in what they are trying to do though it doesn't feel like a fully fleshed out concept and the second song is more formed but sounds like feral distorted punk, which is what they are going for but begs the question...what are they doing that we have not already heard hundreds of other hardcore bands do ? Converge would be the first who comes to mind that fills this need for me personally and they do with more darkness and sonic intensity. So by the time I get to the title track I find myself asking what do I need this band for ?  There is not a resounding answer. There is a little more roar to the drive of "Gift Taker", but nothing that sets this apart from other bands doing similar, as from the aggressive density which they pursue this.

"Capsule" is the first song that breaks the two minute mark. The first minute is pretty much build. There is a more powerful almost Jesus Lizard that rumble to the stomp they finally settle on. There is a more musical quality to the tension created here that makes it the first song to really grip me. "Outbreeding" finds them rushing back into a more furious hard core take on punk that comes fully equipped with gang vocals. They pursue this further in a more Converge like direction with "Vicarious Trauma". The guitars are more interesting the anger in the assault unleashed here is something I have already heard Converge do better. They do implement some interesting elements of atmosphere on this one which is an improvement.

The angular jerk of riff to " Victim Services" keeps their momentum, but the vocal really begin to feel like a one trick pony here. "Indigo Child" keeps the rabid attack going for the throat. But this kind of single minded offense is one your ears are quick to throw up a defense against. The more melodic passage this evolves carries over into "Eulogy Template" that follows. This gives them more breathing room to prove what their guitars are truly capable of. The vocals can't really do much more than what you have already heard from them.The last couple songs are just marginally more refined versions of the same kinda mad dog metallic hardcore these guys are normally banging out this time the production is just better on this album. They can polish this sound they have and are good at what they do so I will give them a 7 as they accomplished what they set out to do , I just already own albums that meet that need. This album comes out May 26th on Southern Lord.

MARTYRDÖD : " List"

The Swedes are back with their 6th album. It kicks the door down and starts biting you like a rabid dog. There is more of a punk feel to the title track. A folk tinged guitar melody surfaces over the other wise ranging storm as they charge in head first once again.  The guitar solos over the straight ahead attack are really the only thing that is different when we get to "Wipeout" . It all becomes a blur until I realize that we are on the 5th song. The vocals stay in the same static bark and the tempo thrashes with unrelenting gusto, but this eventually begins to make the album sound a little one dimensional. Guitar melodies that at one time might have gotten my attention, begin to all sound the same.

"Harmagedon" gives a little more breathing room, but this is pretty marginal. Many of these songs begin to feel like they are place holders for the guitar solo. Without question the guitars are the focal point of this album. The drums come in at second place with bass and vocals almost obligatory. The one melodic guitar break is really just an interlude. The tempo doesn't change until "Transmission, which is the last song and then it's only in sections they can restrain themselves to muster for ten to twenty seconds here and there.

Overall lack of dynamics is what hampers this album. it feels like while adding a more melodic range of guitar melodies they have taken a step forward and two steps back by not supplementing these with a more diverse range of tempos. Sure I get the fact that this is d-beat, but if you are so stuck in your punk roots that you can't switch things up it's a problem. I review all kinds of music here, so fast doesn't phase me if it is done in the proper context. I like my share of punk bands, but the ones I am into know at the end of the day it's songs that matter. I'll give this album a 5 as the band has stepped it up in terms of guitar playing,so that is there is that is all you are looking for fast mean riffs, for me a need a little more.

Okkultokrati : "Raspberry Dawn"

The ragged lo-fi punk this band from Norway dives into is somewhat darker, with the more growled vocals of the first song it sounds like something from Darkthrone's black n roll period, which is a comment I also made about a song on the new King Dude, so maybe old black metal is seeing a spike in it's influence on the darker corners of garage punk. The title track makes more sense out of the jagged chaos and packages into a neater punk presentation. This keyboardist that they added to the line-up can't be heard until you get to "We Love You" and then it's not like they have suddenly turned into a dark wave band, it's still raw punk just with more textures to the wall of noise they slam themselves up against. The more murky dark wave like moments don't come until "Suspension", which is certainly dark enough, but to the point that it wanders in the dark with little direction. There is more direction on the more black metal like "Hard to Please".This song lashes out with the atmosphere dripping behind it in an an impressive manner.


They flirt with industrial a little on "Future War" , but it sounds more like Venom jamming to old Ministry. They are so raw that you barely notice the synths in the background as they coming charging out.  I like the sung vocals that come in at the two and a half minute mark. At minutes they really pound at you with this one ,while adding varied layers that shows maturity on their part. "Ocular Violence" touches a little on new wave, if set in a crusty cave. The lead vocals still sound like Cronos, there is a ghostly whispered vocal in the mix. The song finds them touching on goth as   it moves at more of dance pacing.  They drag you back to the gutter with the more battering punk of "Magic People". They are partying at the cross roads of where metal and punk once met.

I'll go ahead and round this one up to a 9 for now, I am not sure how it will grow on me as production wise it''s so rough around the edges. The Venom thing it has going sometimes makes me want to just go ahead and go listen to Venom if we are going to go there. Overall if you like punk and metal then this album is worth your time as long as you don't mind getting your ears a little dirty when it comes to lo -fi rumbling. Southern Lord is releasing this Sept 23rd.

Iskra : "Ruins"

I'm going to try and listen to this objectively , is what I told myself after taking a sip of my coffee and and pressing play on the new album by a band who is often credited with birthing "anarchist" black metal. Anarchism and black metal really don't mix when you think about the fact that Jesus was the first anarchist, so go put that in your pipe and smoke it. But Iskra is not really black metal, they are a hyper-crust punk. Their is some black metal influence, but thrash is just as big of an influence. Lyrically you can't make out a word of what is being screamed so their propaganda falls on deaf ears. The first two songs sound like they are both one song and the third really doesn't have much to set it apart from those two.The snarling continues on "Traume". Lead screamer Danielle, stays in a similar mid range for her ranting.

The guitar gets a little more metal to create an almost Immortal like sound at time and blast beats come and go. But this is more driven by anger than darkness, which is one of the leading reasons these guys are more speed-crust. By the time I get to "Nihil" it's all beginning to run together in it's single minded aggression, until things slow a little for more of a break down to get a little heavier. To me throwing things at you really fast is not heavy it's just fast. So a lot hinges on the moments where they are more intentionally with their riffing. "Illegal" proves this point by being a sloppy blur that has way more in common with punk. "Aegis the Victor" and "Illegal" continue with the monochrome sound that is further exacerbated by the one dimensional vocal style. There are a few commanding chugs here and there, but the rule around here is "cool riffs alone don't make a good song." Good thing most of these are quick and to the point.The more annoying grind core like blasts, don't really feel like they are followed up with enough of a pay off for me and at times this becomes noise.

The breaks on this album are broken as it hurdles off course. The drummer has chops and the rest of the band for better or for worse can keep up with him, but 9 songs it I find this band becomes a test of endurance to see how much of the same thing can I keep having my ears abused with. Regular readers of the blog known I am a huge fan of black metal, so I have no problem with fast, I have a problem with lack of dynamics. Three songs later and it sounds like I am on the same song, sure there are some Slayer like punches here and there that catch my ear, but as a whole pretty bland. I really don't care what kind of message you think you have if you are writing very one dimensional music.I'll give this a 4. Souther Lord is putting this out July 1st.

Black Breath : Slaves From Beyond Death"

Didn't get to catch these guys when they came through town with Goatwhore. From Seattle the blur the genre lines falling closest to death metal, though healthy doses of thrash stain some of the riffs. It tool me until the second song which is also the title track to figure out the band they are most influenced by is Entombed. They begin tripping over themselves when they try racing through the song and lose the sense of groove that makes them stand out from everyone else. They do possess a keen sense of riffing and come up with some nasty and tasty ones , but cool riffs alone don't make a good song is the rule around here. By "Reaping Flesh" what they do is very clear to the point that the songs begin to sound the same to me. So the melodic intro to "Seed of Cain " is much needed. Though it speeds up into a rather formless thrashing that reminds me a little of Unleashed's less viking moments. This is reigned into a pretty skull crushing riff that commands head banging as they chant the song's title.

Clearly when it comes to the focus of the songs the guitar players are running the show around here. "Arc of Violence" things slow down and allow them to hit a vicious groove. They stay on this course for  " A Place of Insane Cruelty" , perhaps even more so as the syncopation becomes more prominent.  It starts with a marching snare beat that guitar  harmonies begin to slither around before the big 80s like riff kicks in that recalls S.O.D in a mosh pit with Celtic Frost. After some impressive build up "Burning Hate" in contrast feels rather rushed and that attention to detail was thrown out the window. The very straight punk attack on the snare dumbs the song down. They close out the album on a much needed more melodic note with a guitar intro to " Chains of the Afterlife" that sounds like it could have come right off "Master of Puppets". That is a Metallic influence worth having. By the three minute mark I am beginning to think that this is an instrumental. It keeps building up to the big chords of what could be a verse if the guitar solos were replaced by vocals that never come.

Overall these guys are good at what they with riffs that have plenty of teeth. Not only to they have bit but they know how to use it. I think the more thrashing grooves are where they really hit their sweet spot and hopefully they move more in that direction in the future, but this album is enjoyable, if you like Goatwhore more thrash moments or just simply miss big nasty rifs from bands like Meliah Rage, then you won't want to miss these guys , I'll give it an 8.5 , when I was in middle school I would have given it closer to a 10. This album comes out Sept. 25th on Southern Lord.

Big Brave: "Au De La"

After being impressed by what  I  have previously heard from this Montreal based band, I went into this with high expectations. They are brings a more hypnotic and dense element to this album in the first song this is done with  an industrial clang set against her almost post-punk vocals, to create an energetic layer over what would other wise be droning. The song fakes you out stopping before they wind back into the sonic throb. The throw down a heavier hammering to drive the point on on the songs climax. "Look At How the World Has Made a Change" starts with a very spiritual atmosphere with a meditative quality enhanced by the chant of the vocals. This drone does however make me lose sit of where on song begins and the other ends. This does make the album an engaging listen and of those you can just leave on, however in the iPod generation where you are consuming your music more often than no on shuffle mode, how each song stands on its own becomes increasingly important. It takes them til the seven minute mark for the song really to start taking form as her vocals begin to take on a more indie rock exclamation.

"Do no harm do no wrong..." is birthed from ebbs of feedback and distortion that could have radiated off the previous song. Her vocals remain at the more powerful emotive place they ended on the previous which further makes this seem like  an extension of it. It climaxes in the final few seconds of the song, but for some reason this song doesn't feel like it is as fully formed as the other. It is like it's story was never told with a proper resolution. There is a teasing hesitance to " And the Waters Go" that makes it  more challenging list to those of not familiar with the more droning elements of bands like Swans. It is darker and more doomy which is a direction that works for me.



The pulse of "Re Collection 2" drags with a post-apocalyptic drone her vocals float over. At thirteen minutes they take their time bringing it to a boil and coloring it with tons of atmosphere along the way. The song breaks down into feed back and static buzz at the five minute mark until male vocals begin to call out from the distance. She joins in with them. Before it swells into noise and dies back down. One point of interest is that Jessica Moss from Thee Sliver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra lends her violin to a few of the songs on this album, but not in the  conventional manner so doesn't expect to be able to pick out strings from the crazy din going on. Overall this album has much more drone than there previous work so that can be an acquired taste at point on the album I'll give it an 8.5.

This album will be released on Southern Lord September 15th.


BIG | BRAVE - AU DE LA ( LP Trailer / Southern Lord Records ) from MB on Vimeo.

Goatsnake: "Black Age Blues"

Goatsnake is back for their first full length in 15 years. Featuring Greg Anderson from Sunn O ))) and members of the Obsessed you know it's going to be classic doom drenched  blues rock. The first song is heavier than expected, not that these guys were ever slouches. The guitar sound is thick as all hell. "Elevated Man" has a very Sabbath chug. Peter Stahl's vocals have a soulful croon that this go around is similar to Ian Astbury. Tonally the harmonica doesn't work with the low end wavelengths these guys are sailing and sounds like it was over dubbed as an after thought.

"Coffee & Whiskey" reminds me of the Badlands album when cock rock collided with grunge. There is a dirtier fuzz to this one and it rips up out of a tempo that boogies much faster than anything doomish. Leaving no question these guys are good at what they do the song writing on the title track doesn't break any new ground. They do however hit a sweet spot on "House of the Moon" the gospel tinged backing vocals help with this. The signer's lead vocals sound like he is just improvising for the most part through out the album. "Jimi's Gone" sounds like a heavy version of a Cult song mixed with Coverdale era Whitesnake.  The gospel backing vocals return to save the day when the song slows down into a sludge ridden pace.

I like the vocal melody on "Graves" , though I can't help but think the vocals are way too forward in the might and might have benefitted if  this was mixed more like a Kyuss record with the vocals pushed back some. the sheer fact that they not capable of passing through.  The lurching mammoth wall of Sabbath crunch crunches powerfully into "Grandpa Jones". The blues lays heavy on the backing vocals that are really making this album.There is even a lower vocal that sounds like Mark Lanegan. The "gonna wash my soul to the ground" chant in "Killing Blues" is the song's strongest moment. This album sounds great and the gospel vibe they inject into the genre is original, the song writing is a little haphazard, but this still should be rounded up to an 8.5.

Lest We Forget...Big/Brave : "Feral Verdure"

Here is a blast from the most recent past as this album came out last September on Southern Lord and really slipped through the cracks. This is a damn shame because there is some pretty good stuff here. At full length their is thirty three minutes of music is varied interpretations of the word. This counts as an album since it's longer than  the twenty eight minutes of Reign in Blood" There is more gloom than doom and noise than sludge like qualities, but feels more like if PJ Harvey got depressed and began jamming with Jucifer. Tempo wise there is an angular lingering not unlike that of True Widow. Things here much rougher around the edges and are not draped in that western re-verb.The vocals also have more enthusiasm , The singer flexes the dynamic muscles of her vocal chords on "A song for foxes" she drops down into more a Hope Sandoval register. The album's heaviness lies in it's emotional bleakness.

The tension of the guitars to " Let Us Rest Our Dead..."  unfolds into a noise slathered clamor which rocks out to much  the call them slow core. They become more aggressive on " Bigot" pounding the chords like a Swans song.  The instrumentation takes on a drugged hesitation and could work on the sound track of a David Lynch movie, despite the vocals being very straight forward not only on this song , but through out the album leaving her voice to at times anchor the songs to the only part that is retaining it's sanity. The apocalyptic blues title might apply to a song like "There are No Victories". "A Song For Marie" is just a wall of feedback and noise serving as ore of an interlude and providing a storm for the gentler vocals of " Feral Verdure" to come out of. The guitar and drums tumble into the song behind her vocals. Leaving her voice naked for the bulk of the song. She has some emotive moments , but the deliberate disjointed nature of the song after the wall of noise preceding feels like the album ends with more of a fizzle. This is still balance out by the fact that this really defies jumping on any of the current band wagons ,making this band very unique. I'll give this a 9 and look forward to hearing what the future brings from them.

Halshug: "Blodets Band"

All the good punk these days is coming from bands north of France. These guys are from Denmark , so of course they are going to be punk as fuck. The first song they are still a little more musical than the scathing outburst they make on "Afmagt". The vocals are raw screams. The guitars are way denser than say Anti-flag, but these guys are going for a much crustier beast. The production is iffy, but what do you expect. The one to three go blast ahead in a blur sort of thing occurs, with guitar solos screaming out from the edges. This is more punk than I thought Southern Lord dipped into , but sludge punk must have seen it's day.

All of the songs jack hammer your anus within two minutes. The temper tantrums that make punk what it is are in full effect. There is a hard core aggression to this and an almost metal punch. Some times with the bulk of punk the songwriting suffers, the title track strikes a better balance. Sure many of the songs bang it out in a straight forward manner and in doing so many sound similar. The kick up a pretty good racing rumble on "Total Destruktion". They have abandoned most of the rock n roll elements of punk in favor of hard core. The following song however falls into most of the pitfalls that come with punk.

The drummer defaults to many of typical punk beats, though can throw in some good punchy parts when the mood strikes him. At times I hear old 'Age of Quarrel' era Cro-mags in this. The coarse vocals are blurted out, they might be in English they might not it really doesn't matter. It does sound like this whole album was recorded through a blown p/a , which of course brings more a live sound. They close out the album with a similar temper tantrum that they roared into right from the first squeals of feedback. I'll round this album up to a 5.5. These guys are legit as it gets, but with that comes a pretty one dimensional sonic scope and this pony only does one trick which encompasses on emotion.

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