God Mother : "Vilseledd"

This Swedish Hard core band is yet another modern extreme band that blends a little bit of every heavy sub-genre into their attack. It's song like "Tar Mirror" where they do this most effectively. The problems this album returns into are balanced out by the moments that work. "No Return" shows how effective they are when in a deliberate chug while "Acrid Teeth" shows how speed makes for sloppy and things that played in their favor on the previous song are turned on their heads. The songs are very compact with the five minute close to serve as the albums longest, the is twice the length as most of the songs sometimes almost three times as long. There are in a similar vein as bands like Converge and Nails, though  less metal than Nails. Some of the more grind-core moments sound like rowdy temper tantrums, which might be the point, but it's not the band at their most musical and since this is an album then that is the point.

The death metal touches are sparse and it's a fine line trying to hear where the death metal begins and the hardcore ends. The songs begin to become a bit of a blur and while the angular riffing is pretty cool, the rule here is cool riffs alone do not make a good song. It is the fact that a dynamic flatness begins to set in that hampers me from wanting to really give this one repeat listens. It's not until "Caved In" that this is broken up enough to produce a strong song. That is what we are listening for here , strong songs. They have a pretty killer guitar sound and this album is well produced , but at the end of the day it' songs that stand the test of time. "Charlatan" could be one of any thousand of hard-core songs. The blast beats give it a little more color but otherwise it's faceless and those alone can't make or break a song . It's the Slayer like drumming on the breakdown that goes further.

The heavy blandness carries over into "Carve Them". The closing song benefits from a burly bass line and a darker stomp.The main groove of the song is the slower more powerful riff, with the faster more blasting sections booking marking these. These guys a good metallic hardcore, nothing new, yet it's a solid album I'll give it a 7.

No Omega : "Culture"

This hard-core band is no stranger to this blog as we love them here because just like any other form of music I want my hard core dark and tortured. This is the Swedish band's third full length and even in the opener they drop down into the shadows to let things breathe with some atmosphere as the chords rings out midway into things. There is also a more metallic power, that is sonically similar to black metal in some ways. Despite some of the more heady guitar tones "Phobia" embraces the more punk tendencies. While I can't fault them for being who they are or where they come from in this regard, it's not my favorite side of the band. "Misgiving" falls out of the fade from the previous song into something more brooding that carries greater appeal to my personal tastes. Though when the song kicks in it goes into a more straight forward punk thing that has the rather stiff snare beat I'm not a fan of.

 At times though the ride the line between hardcore and screamo when they go into a more indie rock guitar jangle. As the album progress we continue to hear more of these melodic clean intonations. "Autoimmune" finds such lighter notes used as the calm before the explosion. They do get pretty brutal and battering on songs like "Cogs". This almost feels neanderthal in comparison to some of the moments they have already shown us. "Agora"finds them darkening back into the place that I prefer them to be in. Their lead screamer asks the listener if they know what its like to be treated like a stranger. So there is a very emotional current to these songs. They have an interesting trade of of dynamics on " Unsociable". This may or may not been embraced by the hardcore crowd who is trying to keep their scene underground as this song could appeal to a larger punk audience in the same way as early stuff from the Refused.

They get rowdier on "Within, Without". This has more of the punk recklessness and abrasion. There are some punches that get my attention. It's the moments that just don't sound like temper tantrums that get my ears peaked. "Contortion" is a more straight forward punk fueled song. The vocals on "Safe" are more barked despite the guitar at times providing room for more. The builds on this one are pretty powerful. They return to a cleaner strum at the onset of "Feral Houses". This one finds an angular groove in the syncopation they employ here. I like they more screamo juxtaposition of melodic guitar being screamed over, as they guys do it with a little more class,  The album closes with the angry pleas of "Resignation". This one works off more piss and vinegar than thoughtful song writing.  I'll give this album an 8.5 it's pretty solid the more punk side of this band typically just has me waiting for more of the dark brooding stuff, but fans of hardcore might have more of an appreciation for them.