Review: MUTANT SUPREMACY - "Rotting Season" 7" (Blastbeat Mailmurder, 2012)

Genre: Old School Death Metal

Location: Brooklyn/NY, USA

Band Website: official

Label Website: Blastbeat Mailmurder

On any given day, I am up for some scorching and chaotic death metal brutality. It is a genre that just doesn't run out it terms of hate and violence; it just cannot die out, just like mankind's profound hatred cannot die out. Philosophies aside, Mutant Supremacy have just released a 7" of total ugliness through Blastbeat Mailmurder, which will take you back to the dirty and underground roots of death metal, giving you a demonstration of the "ugly side of town".

This Brooklyn, NYC band has already established its name in the underground scene and I dare to say that it can't that hard when you play like this. Throughout the 4 songs of this ep we are punished with all kinds of beautifully sloppy blastbeats, old school death metal pounding and relentless whirlwind riffs. The vocals are 100% brutal death metal, spat rhytmically and not letting up for any kind of melodic inclinations. All in all, tt is not that easy to draw specific comparisons, as Mutant Supremacy takes from the best in the DM genre to create its own beast of a sound. It would suffice to say that MS has one foot in barbarous death/thrash while lending inspiration from perhaps Leprosy era Death, and definitely some good old Morbid Angel and Malevolent Creation. That, by alll means, can only be a good thing! Finally, the murky but well crafted production seals the deal for every kvlt freak.

There is enough chaos going on in this ep, with all the noodly Slayeric solos, the extravagant drumming and the non-stop slaughtering joining forces to create the nightmare we all crave for. However, this record definitely needs a few listens before you can understand what's truly going on. I would like to believe that this is death metal for the learned and experienced listener, and not for the general metalhead (or clueless deathcore new jack) as it is complex, vicious and - yes! - hard to listen to. Don't expect any groovy slam parts to shake your ass to, or any metallic artistry. To approach bands like Mutant Supremacy you need a love for violence, and the ability to sit down and take brutality with a smile.

Song taken from Mutant Supremacy's Infinite Suffering album

In Clear Sight - "Fuck Fairytales, this is Reality"

Band: in Clear Sight

Country: Belgium 

Band Website: soundcloud

Label Website: Clenched Fist Records

Metalcore/Deathcore are genres generally viewed upon with much contempt, however, there will ALWAYS be the bands that make the exception to the rule. Personally, as a fan of all things brutal in metal and hardcore, can't find myself to resist bands such as In Clear Sight and their heavy as fuck metallic hardcore.

Withoutout deviating too much from the norms, ICS manage to avoid the ultra-boring cliches of the metalcore genre and go on to create some dark, powerful and devastating music. All you need is here: the pounding drums landing on your head like a ten-ton hammer, the mean NY-flavored riffs, and of course the state of the art brutal beatdowns. The vocalist spits the lyrics in a pretty guttural manner, but there are many other types of vocals (perhaps coming from other band members?) which keep a good balance between the guttural, the street, the death metal and a more hip hop style. In fact, there is quite a bit of dark hip hop imagery going on, not unlike Wu Tan and Jedi Mind Tricks. The production ties everything together in such a way that In Clear Sight is the aural equivalent of a rabid, fighting pitbul barking right in your poor face. Some more metal-oriented elements come to finish things off and put the last nail in the coffin... And if you didn't catch the above reference, this album is perfect for fans of Born From Pain, Walls of Jericho, old Hatebreed etc.

Not all music needs to generate introspection and beautiful feelings - not all music needs to display profoundly high technical abilities; music like In Clear Sight is specifically manufactured in order to do one thing: keep you angry as fuck. If you have a hard day in front of you or something pissed you off real bad, put this band on and you'll remember what I mean. This shit is also perfect for long and exhausting runs, pumping iron, relentless moshing with no reason, and general venting of frustration and hate. If you don't get it, the best thing about this band is that it is fucking frantic, and that is exactly the point most current bands miss these days.

If Clenched Fist Records puts out music like this, I'll make sure to check it again & again!

Black Coffee - 2012 Demo Tape Review (Self-Released)

Black Coffee! What a name fro this no-frills hardcore outfit from Australia, which has released a demo of nasty punk waiting to rip at your throat. BC follow the uber old school approach of 0% metal hardcore in the vein of other current hardcore bands like Noose and Another Mistake.

Usually at this point we'd say that even though these guys are loyal to the old school tradition, they have their own sound and they stand out because of this and that, but... there is no need to do that here. Black Coffee has a clear task at hand, and that is to recreate a much loved (but also kind of extinct), true sound that is generally known as the roots of hardcore. The closer thing I can think of is SSD with a bit more extra speed and spite (if the latter is actually possible). All early, snotty, thrashy early US hardcore is a reference here, like Jerry's Kids, Necro, and all that good stuff. Hell, there is even an Urban Waste cover to seal the deal.

There are 8 songs in this demo, and every instrument is played in an abrupt and unforgiving manner, while hints of Aussie accent arise here and there as the cherry on the cake. It's good that we live in times modern enough to allow a good production sound even for demos. Here the production is not perfect but it doesn't need to be, as long as everything sounds kind of clear -- which does. Also, I personally I have to note that demos often have some of the best and most original artwork out of all extreme music releases. That's before the opinionated labels come in to influence and change everything (a sad fact of life). This is also the case with Black Coffee. Their whole demo - physically released only on tape - has a super neat layout, as their black & white artwork is simply irresistible and perfectly matches their dry, pissed off, tornado hardcore style.

What is there to not like about a band which plays fast-paced hardcore like the good ol' times? This is the real deal for every hardcore bum who hasn't mellowed out, or the skater kid who is ready to step out and find the original spirit of this music.

P.S. Black Coffee is a side project of other Aussie HC/punk acts (Hard Luck, Faux Hawks + others) and I can't seem to find any band pages on the net, aside from this post at Rest Assured Zine. The demo can be downloaded for free from the abovementioned link. Enjoy!

Review: Gacy's Threads - "The Ignorance of Purity" (Savour Your Scene Records)

Genre: Technical Metal/Hardcore

Location: Belfast, N. Ireland

Band Website: Official, Facebook

Label Website: click

 

John Wayne Gacy was a convicted serial killer and rapist, who has long ago been executed by the state of Illinois. I don't know if Belfast, Ireland's Gacy's Threads have taken their name from this creepy and fucked up character, but what I do know is that they play an awesome brand of technical, heavy as fuck metallic hardcore. I won't go as far as to term Gacy's Threads mathcore, because they have a pretty solid metallic base where their aural havoc stands, but they sure have a characteristically technical and complex sound!

I surely dig the bands who can more than play their instruments but don't forget to encapsulate the raw feeling that all heavy music should have. Gacy's Threads manage just the above by packing many elements into their sound, from shoe-gaze, discordant clean intros to slow, melancholic mosh parts, to straight on blastbeats and prototype all go no slow hardcore assaults. All this is blended nicely with off wall, off with their heads mechanical riffs that set the pace for a much more technical feel. The best thing about this album is that the band doesn't stick to one specific formula, but tends to a constant shuffling of cards - without, nevertheless, going overboard. This is the way shit should be done, period. The production sound is solid and much closer to a beastly, metallic hardcore sound as compared to the clean-metal, overproduced (and overused) mathcore/techinical deathcore sound prevailing these days.

It takes guts and knowledge to be able to belong in more than one territory, but Gacy's Threads do it very well and rather unapologetically. If we forget the specifics, we discover that this is just a very good dark/heavy hardcore band, the members of which happen to know how to use its instruments more than well. I have been playing this on repeat and all it seems to do is grown on me more and more. The solidified rhythm section attack, the discordant, angular painting of the guitars and the tainted hardcore vocals really won me over. An extra point goes out for the bleak song titles and the overall negative feeling! I am looking forward to see more from Ireland's Savour Your Scene records and Ireland's hardcore scene in general.

Record Review: Forever Young Victoria - "The Hardest Part of Ending is Starting Again"

Genre: Post Hardcore/Other

Country: Ruhrarea Gelsenkirchen, Germany

Band Website: bandcamp

Label: -

I'll be 100% honest with you: FYV's cover didn't exactly motivate me to listen to their album, at first. I find it a bit outdated, maybe too simple, if there is such a thing. But as the saying goes, we should never judge a book by its cover and, dear lord, was it the case with this German post hardcore band. As soon as I hit the play button, I was immersed in a world of beautiful discordance and artful dissonance that really struck a nerve with my already damaged nervous system.

FYV jump around with ease between the post hardcore, screamo and post rock genres, painting a mid-paced but pretty harsh and chaotic sonic landscape. The band has paid meticulous attention to its sound, with a warm 'n' fuzzy guitar tone, a treble-absorbing bass, as well as unpredictable and offbeat drum patterns to accompany the general chaos. Things are topped off with a crazy vocalist whose tortured wail balances between Bad Brains' HR and general screamo insanity.

Throughout the 9 songs of this recording, FYV keeps it fresh and manages to come off as a pretty underground band. There is nothing polished, pretentious or premeditated about FYV's harsh post  hardcore, even though the general outcome is cleverly coated with an overall, basic rock feeling. What you essentially get is the archetype rock band going for something different, and using the basic instruments in an interesting albeit not excessively technical manner. You wont find any sung choruses here, but if you are up for some Refused action going backwards to meet some Bad Brains rock, you won't be disappointed.

P.S. An extra thumbs up goes to the final track, which is a slow, ambient, instrumental rock anthem with beautiful post touches. I will be looking to hear more of that in intertwined with FYV's heavy riffs in the future.