M.O.R.A. - S/T (full length, self-released)

Genre: Thraschore/Crust/NYHC

Location: Helsinki, Finland

Band Websites: Sterokiller, Bandcamp

Label: -

Finland's M.O.R.A. deliver the fucking fear with the 9 songs of their incendiary debut album which lasts a grinding 16 minutes! There is a lot of interesting stuff about this band, and I will lay it down here for ya: judging from the cover artwork and layout, you'd be expecting something along the lines of Finnish hardcore (namely barbaric crust). But to great surprise, what you get instead is some no-compromise metallic hardcore with dual female vox, sounding like a mix between thunderous thrash and pitbull-style, old school NYHC.

What M.O.R.A busts out is a tight blend of some rarely mixed styles, like having the Cro-Mags team up with Hoods in a fight against Totalitar and Skitsystem. Metal riffs of all types come and go and give way to the more punk stuff, while the exchange of fast and groovy parts keeps the edge tight throughout the whole recording. The two female vocalists have each locked down their vocal style and manage to create a no-BS blend of two totally punishing vocal deliveries. Their approaches are kinda similar since they both have a hoarse screech that will haunt your thoughts, but a description could be as such: one vocalist sounds more adolescent and punky, while the other has a characteristically evil and mean growl.

Since I don't know a word in Finnish, I can't really explain anything about the lyrical themes M.O.R.A sings about, but I wouldn't expect that they sing about no happy stuff. I'd guess something along the lines of modern socio-political punk? Hate against society and normality? Something like that. Last but not least, this Finnish hardcore powerhouse packs an awesome and very tight production that puts many professional recordings to shame. The guitars are nice and heavy, but I want to point out how good the rhythm section is; it showcases a gurgling bass, and drums that have a sharp and metallic but also organic feel.

To sum it up, this band is not a bunch of crusty punx just doing the dbeat  rehash; they have their sights set forward, they know their influences, and have created something new and modern out of the basic elements of the music we adore. Thus, they are oldschool and progressive at the same time. We need more bands like this!

Featured Band: Holodomor

Holodomor was a man-made famine that violently took the lives of  millions of people in Ukrainia back in 1932. Also known as the "terror famine", Holodomor has often been compared to the Holocaust in terms of its violent extent and severity.

Based on the above concept, one can easily imagine that a band which goes with the name Holodomor won't be singing about no happy stuff. This extreme death/thrash/crust outfit from the UK puts its name on the map with its EP Temoignages de la Gnose Terrestre. What you'll get by listening to this recording is 5 tracks of unholy, heretical deathly modern thrash with some subtle post crustcore touches. Clearly going out like an extreme metal band, but with the extra modernity and straighforwardness that fans of metallic hardcore will surely appreciate, this is a band to keep an eye out for. Their songs need a bit of getting used to, but in our book this is a good thing, and Holodomor will reward you by wanting to listen to this self-released EP again and again.

Listen to the song below if you feel like being treated with some vile thrash riffs, harsh death/crust vox and unholy oldschool blastbeats that will crush your head like it ain't no thing! Negative metallic mayhem, here we go!

www.facebook.com/Holodomor

www.holodomor.co.uk

Record Review: Čad - “Ťažký Kov” (My Sleeping Cat Records)

Genre: Progressive Crust/Metal

Country: Slovakia

Label: My Sleeping Cat website facebook

Band website: facebook bandzone

Metallic crustcore is not known to be the most innovative of genres. However, there is always the exception to the rule, like CAD, who are at least a few years ahead of their game. These Slovakian crust maniacs have been at it for a while, having released a number of eps with well known crust and grind/death bands like Unholy Grave, Entrails Massacre and Ripcord. However, Cad has the cleverness to avoid all crust cliches and go on to create heavy music that isn't necessarily blackened and can go down well with any fan of brutal sounds. The name of the game here is progressive crustcore, but don't ever think that it is not brutal enough cause you will be in for a surpirse. A big one. The band actually calls its style 'ripcore' which is fine by me, cause this hardcore hybrid does in fact truly rip!

You can understand what I mean by the above from looking at the record cover. Grim and mysterious though it may be, it doesn't stick to the black/white colors and skull/war imagery that is so fucking commonplace in crust. The same happens with the music and lyrics. This devastating mix of crust and extreme metal does destroy our ears, but it also packs a dose of white light; technical proficiency and a touch of upbeat rock and roll-ness do the trick. The lyrics (which come in a translated sheet of paper as Cad sing in their native language) are rooted in the hardcore tradition of looking at the world through eyes of contempt, but also with a positive mind.  More things that differentiate this not-so-ordinary crustcore outfit is the fact that they are straight edge (or at least drug-free) and that they have a female in their ranks. The more you learn about this band, the more interesting stuff you discover.

Now we should mention some things about the album title Heavy Metal in our Chestrs. It may sound funny to some, but I for one am totally down with it. Heavy metal here is the term which depicts differentiation, our culture, the underground, the flame in your heart -- whatever you want to call it. One lyric reads "we're the worms from the underground and we're eating everything, we have bloody jaws and bite the heavy metal". This is exactly what I'm talking about. This is what makes us alive... Metal, hardcore, punk, whatever it is you identify with is the thing that saved your life and Cad are here to represent this notion. The rest of the lyrics are expressions of hatred towards society, or slightly humorous poems about death on golf courses and zombie massacres.

OK, and of course I shall also provide some record info for us nerdy freaks. Ťažký Kov has been released as a 12" by My Sleeping Cat Records. It is printed on plain black vinyl and I have to say that the album art does indeed look rad on this edition, because you can see all the fine detail and try to figure out what the fuck it is you're watching exactly. As mentioned above the lyrics are included in the package with their english traslantion. Support this awesome DIY effort and own a record that will stand out in your tried n true vinyl collection!

- Fotis.TYS