Full of Hell - Roots of Earth are Consuming My Home

UHHH 9.6/10 SERIOUSLY OLD NEWS I KNO GUYS BUT OMG I'VE BEEN LISTENING TO IT ON REPEAT FOR ALMOST A MONTH NOW AND IT'S BASICALLY THE BEST SO GO BUY IT DOWNLOAD IT GET SOME MERCH SEE THEM ON TOUR I DON'T CARE JUST FUCKING APPRECIATE THIS SHIT BECAUSE IT COMES ONCE IN A BLUE MOON GOD LORD WILL SOMEONE LET ME JOIN THIS BAND IS IT TOO SOON FOR A COVER BAND I DON'T KNOW SO MANY QUESTIONS IS THAT A CATERPILLAR NOPE JUST A CIGARETTE I LEFT IN MY WINDOW SILL WHOOPS.

eff this crowd, srsly. i'd be murdering everyone >>>

Coffinworm - When All Became None

...and from the bowels of hell (aka Indianapolis), COFFINWORM has arisen. probably the most exciting new act the midwest has to offer.

they play a blackened-yet-stoner-friendly style of mid-tempo sludge. metallic, grim, and satanic. "my insurrection versus your ressurection". death obsession. "putrid breath of life, how i hate you". elements of grindcore set them apart from a lot of what's going on in sludge and black-whatever right now (i.e. the whole post-rock craze). specifically, they utilize the high/low vocalization; the former being very scratchy and audible, and the latter being deep, guttural and muddy. similarly, the employ a fair amount of thrashing on the drums during certain riffs, but this is usually in accordance with the tremelo (read: blackened) guitar riffs. uniqueness aside, the attention paid to this record is mostly due to the fact that these guys just do what they're doing extremely well.

a mere 6 song LP with tracks spanning from six to eight minutes in length, When All Became None is not by any means an extensive work, but similar to SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP, it may be the perfect duration for a band that's just beginning to make their mark on the scene and heading out on tour in the near future. with no obligatory intro(s)/outro(s)/interludes, swelling feedback, or long droning bridges/soundscapes - at least none lasting for more than 20 seconds - COFFINWORM hits the ground running and doesn't let up until the last deafening note. again, i would liken it to grind in this aspect, or at least a more "punk" side of sludge.

one of the coolest things about this release is how transparent it is. what i mean is that nothing is lost or overpowered in the mixing. nothing is notably driving anything else (aside from the tightness of the rhythm section), nothing is drowned out or made indistinguishable. i would anticipate that seeing them live (which i plan on doing August 20th @ Bottom Lounge!) would either match the sound of the record or exceed it. there is no studio magic holding this album together, and there won't be a box full of pedals necessary to replicate the pervasive gloom and doom. COFFINWORM is just simply a really good band, as a band.

personal favs: Blood Born Doom, Spitting in Infinity's Asshole, *The Sadistic Rites of Count Tabernacula.
*rager.

dudes are all over: myspace, bloggin', world-renowned facebook, and a link to their own website has been included in this post's title. kablaam.

SONS AND DAUGHTERS [AND GENDER VARIANTS] OF SATAN, COME TO ME.

Drainland - And So Our Troubles Began

once again, i will attempt to describe an irreducible band in one simple post. i apologize in advance. Drainland are, for starters, "5 angry people that live in Ireland who keep getting compared to crust and metalcore bands [they] don’t listen to" - last.fm. i would say it's more along the lines of dark hardcore, sludge, noisy doom metal, and a pinch of post-rock thrown into a blender. but who's to say that's objectively any more accurate or helpful? i've only very recently been turned on to this band, and i regret having not immediately checked them out. (i've gotten over the habit of completely neglecting bands with what i feel to be terrible names, but that in turn has made bands with names that aren't great but don't outright suck be able to fall by the proverbial wayside. (longest parenthetical ever.)). to be honest, i came for the cover art, but i stayed for the substantially unique jams.

i can't honestly say that the record is cohesive, or that Drainland has developed a new sound that is all-their-own, but it's kind of interesting in that sense. it's more of a challenging listen than a lot of bands who have a very well set and defined brand of music and simply follow that script. and while there is an "atmospheric" (for lack of a better term) presence throughout, no two tracks bleed together/become indistinguishable. maybe it's because i'm not up on my Irish punk/crust/sludge, but there's something about this band that strikes me as different. while trying to sum up their sound for my pal Brendan (new KRANG 12" coming soon, whaaat?), i could only manage to say "it's kinda like CURSED, but...not at all...".

vocals consist of decipherable yells which can, depending on the song, have a screamo-ish wave to them or reach bellowing depths. it's pretty neat. the drums are all quite punchy, with the exception of the popping metallic snare. cymbals - particularly the ride - are very well balanced and bright, of which the latter is typically unusual when it comes to heavy stuff. also neat. the bass is also hella metallic but has that crusty-distorted factor. fuzzy, but not sloppy. guitars have almost a black metal quality about them, in that it sounds like many of the riffs were recorded in barren caves and abandoned alleyways. in addition to the constant riffing, the guitars also create a lot of indiscernible noise, which serves both hi and lo end purposes. it's all just very, very neat.

favorite tracks: Jellyfish, Sominal Hex, Weakness, Luxophage.

i'm really tired, so i apologize once again for this half-ass review. but i do sincerely suggest you people check these guys out either on myspace, facebook, tumblr, or bandcamp (linked in post title). these dudes know how to utilize the web.

GIMME GIMME MELATONIN.

Young and In the Way - Amen

Young and In the Way are, surprisingly, a mere four-piece band who are giving a whole new rise to the North Carolina punk scene. i say "surprisingly" because of the amount of noise they create. the sheer intensity of each song/release is simply undeniable. their last.fm entry describes YAITW as, "fast blasts and destructive crust with ties to unrelenting hardcore and black metal", which is not wholly inaccurate. too hardcore to be blackened crust, too blackened to be hardcore. if i were to describe them in a word, which is admittedly not a simple task, it would be "evil dark hardcore". (okay, that's three words, but whose blog is this, i ask you?)

Amen is my personal favorite of their albums thus far, though their newest LP entitled I Am Not What I Am is also pretty ruthless. and sold out on vinyl. damn.

the record kicks off with an instrumental track, which begins with some dreary noise, quickly followed by a bone-crushing wave of distortion and dissonance. awesome, right? without hesitation they begin blasting through "Dark Seed". with the snare smashing through the downbeats and the tempo-change-to-(yes i'm about to use this word)-breakdown, head-banging is imminent. roaring through the record, YAITW puts to use everything from blasts to half-time to d-beat while maintaining an overall gloomy/cold atmosphere. thus, this record not only has the ability to command your undivided attention, but also keeps that attention. in other words, you become involved with the record as opposed to being subjected to - and eventually lost in - the noise.

standout tracks for me include "Worrier" and the final track "The Becoming". the former exhibits a fucking awesome bottoming out of the guitar and drums during the hook line, which will ensure pile-ons for as long as they perform. the latter, however, is truly a masterpiece in and of itself. a fourteen-minute-long epic, "The Becoming" is surrounded on both sides (intro/outro) by an eerily serene arrangement of instruments, and the song - even after kicking in - has a momentum to it that you can feel building and building. the "climax" of the song, if you will, arrives right around the 9:10 mark, and honestly i think it might have the almighty FALL OF EFRAFA beat, at least in terms of rage. debatable as that may be, this track is still fucking incredible in its own right, and from what i can tell the band at large deserves much more attention.

a bandcamp link is provided in this post's title. you can listen to/purchase the digital albums and splits/EPs there. if you'd like to get a hard copy or vinyl (good luck) of any of their releases, keep checking out their official website: here. oh, also, their logo and artwork is badass. just thought i'd mention that as a final word.

GO FORTH AND WREAK HAVOC.