Earlier this year, Norwegian hardcore band Shevils blew us and a great many others away with their single We Walk On Shattered Glass, a song which is deviously addictive with its flame of abrasive enthralling noise. The recent release of the band’s previous EP Necropolis in Indonesia, and it has to be said to a full flood of hunger and acclaim, gave us the excuse to take a look back at the four track confrontation and a wise move it turned out to be.
The Oslo quartet consists of vocalist Anders Voldrønning, guitarists Christoffer Gaarder and Andreas Myrvold also bass, and drummer Anders Emil Rønning, a group of musicians who seem to have an instinctive touch when making noise and abrasion seduce and invigorate whilst it scars and bleeds dry the senses. Formed in 2010 the band has entrenched their unique brand of sound in the psyche of their homeland through debut album The Year Of The Fly, the singles Is This To be (Our Lives)?, which also opens up Necropolis, and the aforementioned We Walk On Shattered Glass, the last we suggest the trigger to the widest recognition as the band works on their second full length release.
The EP tumbles onto the ear with a clutch of beats before unleashing the full burn of sonic enterprise within Is This To be (Our Lives)? The guitars scorch the flesh of the ear to raise the temperature and impact upon the senses with vocals equally abrasive with their intensive squalls. The band is tagged as hardcore but there is much more to their presence and invention, the song alone a tempest of punk, noise, and sonic discord weaved into a hardcore ferocity making bodies stagger back and thoughts grip to any sanity as they search for the eye of the battering storm which never comes.
It is a tremendous start immediately surpassed by the title track. Again the drums of Rønning open up the initial provocation but are soon joined and wrapped by the blaze of guitar fire and bass intimidation, as well as of course the vocal maelstrom of passion and energy from Voldrønning. The sinews of the track have a twisting flexibility to their intrusive incitement which entraps and cuts off any sign of escape, not that you will want to, whilst Myrvold and Gaarder rub and graze the psyche with their exhausting and rapacious riffs and sonic invention. The only thing wrong with the track is the too brief a presence it offers though that is soon forgotten once the rabid destructive breath of Sleep-Waking careers over the senses. As its consumes and aggressively launches it sonic tirade, the track provokes an emotive if violent narrative for thoughts to fall before though to be honest such the intensity of the vicious torrent of sonic spite they barely have time to spark into life before being numbed by the exhilarating assault.
Closing track is a remix of Necropolis by Tiikeri, a version which flirts intriguingly and impressively with noise and psyche rock, the result a mix which sounds like a cross between Pitchshifter, early Killing Joke, and The Gaa Gaas and almost rivals the stature of the original.
The Necropolis EP is sonic manna, which though their last single still holds the passions the tightest follows a mere breath away in its wake. Roll on the Shevils album is all we can impatiently say, it promises to be epic.
Punk has been treated to some exceptional albums so far this year and none any better than the new album from UK giants Goldblade. Their sixth album, The Terror Of Modern Life, is a masterful, openly diverse, and ferocious strike of irresistible and inciting riots of invention and enterprise. One of the most thrilling releases to unleash its triumph upon 2013 so far, the thirteen track brawl snarls and provokes thoughts and senses with pure imaginative craft. Seizing the opportunity to talk with band founder and vocalist, John Robb, we charged up our questions to ask one of the genre’s biggest creators about the album, punk itself, and his own history.
Hi John and welcome to the site, thank you for sharing time to chat with us.
Album six, The Terror Of Modern Life, has just unleashed its confrontation on the world; does the feel, thrill, and anticipation change from release to release?
Of course…and it gets to be a bigger thrill. It’s a mixture of thank fuck we are still doing this and surviving in the collapsing music business and still have enough inspiration to still want to make music!
With this album we felt really excited. We knew we were onto something good with this record a long time ago. We got the sound we wanted from the start and we worked hard to get the songs right. We wanted a variation of styles- from fast kinda hardcore rushes to anthemic punk to dark tribal stuff to droning post black metal apocalyptic pieces. It’s like a collection of all the various strands of punk and its off shoots – we wanted something people could dance to at gigs, something full of hooks but also fuck with things a bit as well. We wanted to make a record that reflected the underlying darkness and unease of these times, times where the word ‘terror’ is the key word like the word ‘clash’ was the key word in the punk times and caused the classic band to name themselves.
We immersed ourselves in the album and pushed ourselves to the brink. We then made the sound the way we wanted, in a way we never got close to before. We wanted something darker and heavier- we wanted the bass to sound right- I had reformed my old band The Membranes for a few gigs and played bass again and it reminded me of the fundamental power of that instrument if you stick it though a rat pedal and play it with a direct venom- this cross pollinated into Goldblade and infected the album and it really places us back into the place we wanted to be- that twisted end of punk occupied by Killing Joke, Dead Kennedys, Stranglers, Black Flag, whilst continuing the great quest of the Clash but updated to a 21st century feel because we have never stopped listening to new music.
The year has already seen the outstanding new UK Subs album XXIV provoke and impress and now your scintillating encounter, it feels like the ‘old brigade’ is still driving and leading UK punk, does it feel like that for you?
There are great younger bands around- Dirt Box Disco album is stuffed full of great songs- I think it’s a case of older bands not giving up in their dotage- with discipline and concentration you can make the best and most urgent history of your history. Punk, by its nature, doesn’t have leaders- we just operate in our own space! The UK Subs album is great and Charlie is an inspiration to anyone, there have also been great albums from Killing Joke, the Stranglers and other bands from that generation- it’s like those bands have found their teeth again- maybe they also feel the urgency of these times…
The Terror Of Modern Life is as with your previous albums a collection of songs which steer through, challenge, and stand eye to eye with injustices and social wrongs, but your most potent and venomous yet?
I think things are getting a bit helter skelter out there and it’s hard not to reflect this, the last ten years has seen things get very unsteady in the world and that’s bound to get into the music- we have no interest in lecturing people, we just reflect what’s happening- people can make their own minds up or just dance to the music- it does not concern us what people think of the words, the world seems to be in a fast forward towards several different conclusions and out album reflects this tension.
Do you feel the impact of politically fuelled songs whether on the personal, social, or world level is still as strong as it used to be within not only punk but music as a whole? Do people and especially the latest generation of young people listen to songs and music the same way as those before them?
To be honest the impact has lessened in some ways and yet in others it’s got stronger- music, the music discourse is no longer driven by the counter culture and there are many strands of thought out there, but that’s inevitable because people don’t have the time and the impact of being a political song is less than when it first came about in modern culture. I don’t think young people are less political than they were years ago- that’s a bit of a myth. Not all of punk was political and it didn’t have to be- punk was many things- it could be comic book like the Ramones or political like Crass and both were genius for me. I think people sometimes feel overawed by the world these days and feel detached from the political process and that’s creating dangerous vacuums. We don’t claim to have all the answers but we have definitely have all the questions.
You obviously grew up with and were inspired by the birth of punk and the bands sculpting its first mighty wave; do you still see and feel the same essences politically and musically in today’s punk bands outside of yourselves and the still provocative bands from back then?
First wave was important for me but I don’t wallow in there for ever- those records always sound magical and powerful but I love lots of new music as well even it affects me in a different kind of way. Modern punk bands are as varied musically and politically as any bands were back then, it has changed in many ways as well- even if it was a business then as well it seemed to be a bit more haphazard and suicidal- now it’s a long term operation and band’s gigs are very different. In some ways punk has become a tradition like jazz or blues and a way of making music or dressing- and that’s understandable – the music and the style are very attractive and create a cool- the only danger is getting trapped which is a contradiction of the punk spirit!
For those unaware of your intensive history within music could you give us the history of John Robb between say ’77 and the emergence of Goldblade?
Wow, that’s long and complex!
Born in Blackpool, formed The Membranes in the punk period and also started a fanzine called Rox. The Membranes became a big underground band with noisy records inspired by the dark zone in the middle of punk and post punk- we toured the world and were critic and John Peel faves. At the same time I started writing for Zig Zag and then Sounds and covered all the fallout of the punk generation from the goth to grunge scene to Madchester to baggy to punk itself- being the first person to interview Nirvana and also coining the phrase Britpop, formed Goldblade in the mid-nineties to fly the flag for rock n roll in the middle of the non-rock n roll decade! Wrote books on punk and the Stone Roses and the eighties underground scene as well as doing TV and radio stuff…and that all continues now with Goldblade playing all over the world etc…
As you mentioned your writing, something you are renowned, has that experience and aspect of your life impacted or brought a view upon your music lyrically and in regard to creating sounds which brings something different to Goldblade, something other bands might lack?
Of course, even for the simple reason that I hear lots of music and it also keeps me fully engaged in the culture and keeps me interested and investigating everything. I’m a compulsively creative person who keeps making, creating and writing stuff. Apart from hearing so much stuff I think the impact on Goldblade is more minimal as that is a very instinctive thing, we make the music that entertains us and the songs are kicked about in the rehearsal room till they sound and feel right to us and not to fit in with anybody, anywhere!
Listening to The Terror Of Modern Life alone, one has the sense inspirations are far wider than just the early days and sounds of punk. What does give you food for thought musically?
You got it- some people think we operate only within punk but we have a far wider listening base than that- even punk was originally about dub and other musics- it’s good to mess with things but keep the focus and the energy- sometimes it’s great to switch to fast and furious punk rushes just to get that adrenalin fix, sometimes it’s good to find a different rhythm or atmosphere- it could be from black metal or from dub reggae but it must always be put through the Goldblade mangle and made to sound like us.
Did you approach the new album any differently to your previous releases?
We wanted something a bit more extreme, more heavier, and rawer; we felt the last album had been too tame and too much click track and production- we wanted the record to sound live and if the songs speeded up towards the end then great! Because they speeded up with excitement- ‘rock n roll should speed up’ as Guy Stevens told the Clash during London Calling recordings…we had to record the album twice because of a fallout with the label but the second time we recorded it in two days flat and mixed it in 2 days- the urgency was vital to the album, it gives it an edge and we are addicted to the edge…
The songs on the album strike hard lyrically and deliver them with some of the most deviously addictive hooks and grooves, which comes first in your songs as a generalisation?
It can be either- we can have songs and bash them out in the rehearsal room and work out a vocal melody or it can be a phrase or some lyrics that come with a tune and we build the song around it- it’s a very varying process.
Is there any particular moment on The Terror Of Modern Life which gives you the strongest satisfaction?
I think the playing by the band is amazing, brother Pete’s guitar is fantastic- every time I listen I hear something new, even on the songs I mainly wrote! And getting the bass sound the way I wanted it to be- as heavy and raw as it should be- that made a big difference- when we finished the album we were really happy with it, I listened to it over and over- normally you feel a bit down when it’s finished but this time I could actually listen to this as an album and felt really excited by the sound and the reaction we have got so far with all the great reviews has proved this.
And anything you would have changed or like to have evolved further in hindsight?
That’s for the next album!
I would change the way people consume music- I think it’s getting almost impossible for people to record and release music now unless they are rich- the download thing has killed it for small underground labels and studios and everyone is really struggling out there- this is our first release where most of the people listening will have not bought the record but downloaded it from the internet and from the pirates- it doesn’t make me angry as technology is part of music- but it may mean that making another album may be almost impossible for us and lots of other bands. We will have to think of other ways of making and releasing music in the future.
The late seventies and punk gave freedom and realisation to bands and people that they could make music as they wanted, on their own terms. Do you think that freedom or realisation is still as potent, has the internet and the digital world given back that belief?
In some ways yes- you can get heard more now and the consumer has the power which we love- cult bands can be heard now and don’t have to grovel to the mainstream media for attention- that’s been very important to the underground and made a real difference- this is coupled with the real problems that many studios, labels and shops are having because of the pirate thing- we felt that if you want to give your music away for free that’s up to you and not someone else but we realise that there is nothing we can do about it- the internet is young and its effect on culture cannot be measured yet- at the moment its chaos out there and like the wild west- and as punks we love that aspect of it but we are not so servile that we want people we don’t know to make money out of us!
There has always been a unity and kinship between punk bands, certainly in its origins, do you still think it exists, can you feel that unity now?
Yes we all know each other, some bands are more friendly than others but there is a unity- I think we all face the same problems!
You have just come off a tour with the Misfits, and a band we love and feature constantly on our podcasts The Bone Orchard and The Ringmaster Review, Dirt Box Disco who you mentioned earlier. How was the tour and did you have to put those punk n roll freaks from DBD in their place
DBD are good people and a great band and there songs are killer- I think they will be one of the biggest bands on the scene by the end of the year and we can then go and support them. It was great to tour with them and I had to chuckle when we played with them at the Manchester Ritz when their stomach problems were quite loud back stage.
You have toured all over the world it seems, any particular places other than the usual countries which you enjoyed and surprised you with their knowledge of your sounds?
Algeria was amazing- we were the first band to play there for 20 years and yet people knew our songs – that’s the power of YouTube for you- the songs that were on YouTube they were singing along- we have played all over- we have played Russia a few times and there is talk of going to China…
Once more a big thanks John for talking with us, anything you would like to add?
Despite forming in 1989, French band Supuration has only made its first introduction to the Ringmaster Review with new album Cube 3, the third of a trilogy of albums which began with the first instalment in 1993 and the second coming a decade later. It is an enthralling and magnetic release which even without being able to raise comparisons with its predecessors stands as an intriguing and intensely pleasing encounter.
Hailing from Valenciennes, the trio of Ludovic Loez (keyboards, bass, guitars, vocals), Fabrice Loez (sampler, guitars), and Thierry Berger (drums), has released numerous records alongside the trio of albums, not only as Supuration but also with their more progressive incarnation S.U.P. (Spherical Unit Provided). First album in the trilogy Cube as mentioned made its entrance two decades ago with the second Incubation following in 2003, both to strong acclaim, something the band is prone to receiving across their aural guises. More often than not tagged as progressive death metal, Supuration with the new album alone shows that the label is quite limiting to what is explored and ignited within their diverse and unique imagination. Released via Listenable Records, Cube 3 engages the brutality and black depths of death metal with the soaring expanses of progressive metal undoubtedly, but equally blossoms essences of post punk, groove metal, and avant-garde discord driven invention to their fullest potency within continually twisting and slightly twisted sonic alchemy.
Opening track Syngery Awakes grabs the ear like a bear, its muscular paws a predatory encounter with deep sinewy grooves carving the senses before unleashing scything sonic lashes around the growling vocal malevolence of Loez. The track proceeds to gnaw and brutalise whilst equally seducing with melodic veins of instinctive and tempting elegance musically and equally through clean vocal harmonies alongside malicious squalls for an explosive and enthralling confrontation. The track is like a blend of Sybreed, Livarkahil, and Opeth with whispers of a Karnivool or 6:33 making their quiet yet pungent contribution at times.
The following Introversion takes the mere thumping beats of Berger and taunting guitar provocation to strike a further intensity in focus and brewing passion for what is on offer, the song a stalk of rugged riffs and punchy rhythms speared with infectious guitar flames and persistent grooves which feel familiar yet unrecognisable. The clean vocals again add an extra scintillating texture to the tempest around them whilst the warmth of the melodic breeze wrapping the sturdier gait of the track, is a wonderful mystery to the rising intensity at the heart of the track.
The Disenthrall and Consumate both intrude upon the senses with startling invention and all-consuming mastery to only increase the now rampant ardour for the release. By the time the pair have ravaged and laid down their irresistible temptation, the album has secured a long-term persuasion no matter what is to come in the latter part of Cube 3. The first of the two is a brief but potent sonic frenzy with raging riffs and equally virulent rhythms which is as much part industrial as it is death or progressive metal, with the air of early Killing Joke and Fear Factory at mischievous play even if not a loud shout sound wise. The second stands over the listener like a hulking leviathan of ravenous riffs and intensity , the drums caging and cutting off any escape so the vocals can scowl and chant over the carcass of the exhausted senses. It is another outstanding violation of thoughts and synapses with the richest of rewards to exhilarate with.
The second half of the album is equally as impacting and aggressively spellbinding with both The Incongruents and The Delegation exploiting the now opened up rapture for the release with riveting imaginative endeavours, the second of the two a carnally invading provocation which is as diverse as it is unreasonably catchy. Though both songs slip slightly below the heights of earlier songs they still excel with tantalising breath before passing over to the excellent Data Dance, the song just one more electrifying pinnacle. Unpredictable and emphatically ingenious with a creative entrapment of epidemic proportions, the song leaves the listener wanting for nothing and bloated on primal intensity and glorious imagination.
With the closing duo of The Flight and The Climax doing no less than bringing a final collective triumph to the album, Code 3 is a stunning slab of progressive death metal or brutally hungry progressive metal, whichever way you look at it, the album is immense and the trigger to go explore the band past and present much deeper.
Fusing sonic manipulation, melodic discord, and compelling noise into an inventive and startling persuasion, UK band Hey Colossus has never stood still in stretching their and our boundaries, but with new album Cuckoo Live Life Like Cuckoo the band has created their finest hour for possibly our most rewardingly intrusive pleasure. Released via MIE, the eighth album from the London/Somerset octet has evolved their previously unrelenting and arguably sadistic sonic furnace into a sound which still offers nothing less than delicious abrasion but now takes its time to envelope, seduce, and corrode the senses.
Whether a coincidence or the spark to the shift in intent, the band has enlisted Part Chimp guitarist/vocalist Tim Cedar into their line-up on drums, his presence igniting a new and fresh energy within the existing potency. Opening track Hot Grave immediately sets the scene, its grazing guitar rub and shimmering sonics a rough dazzle marking the start of pulsating rhythmic enticement and rousing flames of guitar. With a heavy swagger and intensive gait to match, the track churns up the senses with a stoner groove and an exhausting repetitive slow rhythmic entrapment glazed in similarly sculpted riffing. The vocals of Tim Farthing also have a caustic sway to their presence, their individual rough aural scars a blistering inducement to the hypnotic repeating prowl of the song. The crystalline enterprise which reaps the fumes of the uncompromising heavy stance adds another incendiary breath to the encounter and induces intrigue and magnetic compulsion from thoughts and emotions.
The following Oktave Dokkter seamlessly steps into place with a carnally driven bass which recalls early Killing Joke, as does the serpentine effected vocal squalling which walks the stalking rhythmic provocation. There is also an early Birthday Party psyche enterprise to the prowling cause of the song, whilst the noir spiced shadows are teeming with seedy whispers and devious temptation. Again the repetitive mesmerism from guitar and rhythm is as infectious as it is debilitating whilst the caustic ambience pervading all is an ominous and intimidating coating to the exhausting and rigorous embrace.
The album plays like one whole journey, an overwhelming encounter split into individual and distinctly unique parts, a satanic sonic jigsaw which corrupts and thrills on every level. How To Tell Time With Jesus is the pinnacle of this, its psychedelic drizzling within a sunset of sonic heat a smouldering entrancement which ripples with acidic veins around the continuing to impress rhythmic entrapment of Cedar. As with all songs the additives open up further flourishes and imaginative flames within the ingenuity, the punk vocal squalls and dub induced shimmering distortions a glorious and scintillating pattern. The singular gaits of elements across the surface of songs often belies the depth of craft and honed thought which bloom within the hearts of the compositions but reap the reward of the invention to accentuate their own particular potency.
Leather Lake is an intense and threatening doomy scourge with darkly melodic blisters and rapacious sonics which crawls over the synapses with insidious breathe whilst the following English Flesh is a maliciously coarse attrition which overwhelms the ear with cavernous hunger and a greedy intent vocally and sonically to ignite the passions further. The heavy electro sweep guiding the song is as addictive as the compromising swing of the malevolent groove at duplicative play, and all combined makes for a systematically ravaging seduction.
After the closing Pit and Hope and its reserved ambience and psychedelia rinsed suggestive embrace, the knowledge of how impressive and powerful this album is rifles through thoughts and emotions. Though it is not exactly an easy listen throughout the album undoubtedly is a magnetising encounter which evokes and provokes the strongest reactions and passions. Hey Colossus continues to lead the way with invasive and dramatically appealing sonic alchemy in the UK with Cuckoo Live Life Like Cuckoo probably their finest conjuration yet.
Having just caught our breath after the outstanding recent release of XXIV from UK Subs, British punk has another explosive piece of inventive ferociousness to thrill us with in the formidable and exhilarating form of The Pride Of The ASBO Generation EP from Destroy D.C. The four track release is a stunning intense fire of energy and passion honed into a formidable compelling force, an irresistible inciting fusion of progressive punk and roots and dub.
Destroy D.C. began when Spike T Smith, the drummer for Conflict, wanted a project to bring forth the songs he was writing and had created round the time the legendary punk band went on hiatus in late 2009. Enlisting guitarist Gav King who was also looking for a vehicle for his ideas, and bassist Si Turner, the trio squeezed in writing, rehearsal, and recording between their individual busy touring schedules, Smith on Steve Ignorant’s Last Supper shows, as well as festival appearances with Killing Joke and the New York Dolls, King with Fields of the Nephilim and both men more recently with the return of Conflict, as well as all three members being the backing band for HewhocannotBeNamed (The Dwarves) for his solo UK dates. Destroy D.C. was officially launched on 21st December 2012 with the March 26th released The Pride of The ASBO Generation through DIY label Revenance the first of a procession of EPs.
The release opens with the raucous and uncompromising Road To Redemption, a track which stares eye to eye with the listener whilst teasing and tempting them with brawling vocals, lethal hooks, and a contagious breath. The fiery groove which frequents the song throughout is the first encounter for the ear soon joined by punchy rhythms and a rich growling bassline. As eager as it is hungry, the song rampages through the ear without a much respite from its corrosive riffs and melodic sparks, yet still teases and taunts with a wonderful adventure to its gait and prowl. Within a restrained yet intimidating deep breath in aggression, the band also brings a sensational diversion sculpted by imagination and ingenuity which seduces and eats the passions with equal strength to the marauding sounds elsewhere. Ending as it began with a further hardcore scowl to the vocals and intensity to its punk rock abrasion, the song is an immense first confrontation to band and EP.
The following Those Days Are Gone also strikes its first blow through a magnetic almost insidious groove which captures the imagination before the song fully unleashes its physical and inventive might. A frantic inferno of attitude, passion, and ravenous agitated drums from start to finish, the song is potently veined with that addict making groove within an insatiable appetite to chew and incite thoughts and emotions. It is caustic rock n roll at its best, a fusion of hardcore and original punk which rewards as dramatically as it accosts the senses.
Whereas elements of the previous songs mildly suggest the roots and dub influences third song Tear It Down is a full on pleasure incorporating both aspects of their main influences for an impossibly compelling and thrilling ride. Like a blend of Dub War, Steel Pulse, and Ruts but with its own individual heart, the song is a simmering yet fiery piece of emotive and provocative majesty. A pulsating crawl through a reggae soaked reflection book ended by punk snarls, the track is a sensational creative declaration which rivals the aforementioned Ruts classic Love In Vain.
The band close up the EP with another striking slab of imagination in the erosive pop punk triumph of the title track. This is no glossy melodic piece of musical candy though but a caustic and raw stomp with loud dub whispers and old school punk aggression. The song shifts and evolves throughout to ignite further lustful ardour for the release especially with the drop into a slow melodic and shadowed prowl midway which recalls the Dirk Wears White Sox era of Adam and the Ants. It is a brilliant ending to an outstanding and invigorating slab of punk at its best.
Knowing that The Pride Of The ASBO Generation is just the opening assault of what creatively is to come ahead from Destroy D.C. it is safe to assume that the anticipation and wait for the next release is going to be very impatient.
From Norway, Shevils is a band which from a spine of hardcore draws in riotous fires of many other aspects of noise to create something wholly unique and irrepressibly tempting. Released today (March 8th) We Walk On Shattered Glass is the new deviously addictive single from the band, a forceful enterprising marker of a band destined to leave genre and extreme noise reeling.
Hailing from Oslo, the quintet of vocalist Anders Voldrønning, guitarists Andreas Myrvold and Christoffer Gaarder, bassist Arnbjørn Marklund, and drummer Anders Emil Rønning, create a brawling sound borne from the most seductive essences of hard rock, noise, punk, and metal. Formed in late October 2010, the band has continually marked their creative territory with attitude soaked incendiary invention unleashed through their 2011 debut album The Year Of The Fly, the single Is This To be (Our Lives)? and the Necropolis EP, both released last year, not forgetting their acclaimed live performances. We Walk On Shattered Glass is the first single taken from their forthcoming album and on the evidence of its inciting energy and imaginative persuasion, their full length release could be one of the biggest highlights of the year.
The single opens with massive beats massaging the ear with power and eagerness, their resonating touch accompanied by gravelly bass grinds to make first contact immediately infectious and hungry. As the excellent abrasive vocal squalls of Voldrønning lay their caustic tones and lyrical coaxing into the now stormy mix the track is captivatingly afire with intensity and controlled aggression. Into its corrosive stride elements of the likes of Killing Joke, Coilguns, and fellow Norwegians Man The Machetes make loud whispers from within the song but Shevils has created an encounter which stands impressively alone from all in sound and contagion.
Throughout its continually shifting stance the track scorches the air with exhausting sonic rubs, melodic acid teases, and thumping anthemic rhythms drafted into a soundscape of intrigue, bruising rock n roll, and breath taking metal ravaging. It ignites instant addiction so that to hear the song just once in every encounter is imaginable and the anticipation for their new album by its end emerges as a deep rooted impatient itch which will only be alleviated upon its arrival.
Shevils will undoubtedly make major inventive contributions to extreme music in the future just like they have with We Walk On Shattered Glass, a release which others will find very hard to rival over the coming months.
Tactical Module is a band which holds no fears in challenging and imposing its confrontation upon the listener musically and the world lyrically, but rewards its sonic intrusion with an aggressive symphony of electro enterprise, punk attitude, and industrial intensity. New album World Through My Sight is a brawl of ideas and sounds which with magnetic and compelling abrasion leaves no doubt that there is a formidable force dawning within UK dark electro/ rock.
Founded in the summer of 2010, Tactical Module is the solo project of Poole college student Michael Davis, the venture seeded by his need to find a vehicle and freedom for his creative imagination. Fusing industrial metal, EBM, digital hardcore and harsh electro, Davis has built a steadily growing reputation with his uncompromising and startling sounds. Using influences such as Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, KMFDM, Godflesh, Gary Numan, Skinny Puppy, Killing Joke, and Depeche Mode to name a few, to sculpt his invention Davis has released numerous EPs and remixes as well as being involved with some impressive collaborations each marking his territory of provocative sounds. It was with the 2012 release of the Dead Zone EP though, which featured the intimidating vocals of Osmar Diaz from Mexican industrial act Acrophilic Project that a new fire of attention turned his way and strong anticipation brewed for this release. The latter part of the year also saw Davis sign with US dark electro/industrial label Engraved Ritual and release the track Where Angels Rise from his impending album, a song which lit up the ears and appetite of new and old fans alike.
The brief awakening of sound in opener The Lining of Sights is really an intro to the feast of sound and intent ahead but in its brief presence is the irresistible first step into album and its startling title track. An immediate resonating probe upon the senses, the track opens up its stance with great punk rap vocals from Davis heading a controlled charge of intimidating rhythms and intensive sonic rubs. Melodic warmth is grown and employed in the following infectious chorus and the ever present caressing ambience, though even that has a threat which is not to be ignored. At times the track reminds of a mesh of Killing Joke around the time of their Turn To Red EP and also Conformist with a certain punk simplicity at its heart.
The strong opening is continued through Where Angels Rise, the song a blistered acidic kiss upon the senses with scarring vocals and treacherous whispers as well as an equally caustic caress to the predatory pulse and hunger of the stark melodic breath. The song is pop at its darkest and most malicious, a seductive scourge with the darkest siren shadows matched in blackness by Dead Zone featuring the insidious rabid tones of Acrophilic Project. The track is a nasty devour of the emotions, its bestial ravage coated in bewitching sonics and melodic lime which mesmerises whilst corroding the senses.
After the stunning instrumental Skyline, its soundscape an irresistible merger of flaming melodics and ravenous guitar conjured energy combined to forge an encounter which seduces and gnaws away at the listener with impressive craft and invention, the album gradually evolves into a harsher and darker proposition. As Erase the Defect soon shows, the warmth which penetrated the earlier intrusive confrontations begins its slow dissipation song by song, this track an excellent defiance with unreserved aggression. Melodically the tracks still offer a balance and melodic whisper but it is a colder and less giving embrace which changes and enhances the album further.
Fragility is a low point on the release due to the clean vocals Davis brings to its compelling sounds and striking stature. Initially the song with its Spizz Energi reminding sonic tease and soon joining predatory bass sounds, hits the passions with unerring accuracy but once Davis sings it is all lost. As the song goes on to show he can growl, snarl and rap with impressive style and strength but sing sadly not, the song title ironically apt unless that is inspiring the display, and for personal tastes it ruins a deeply promising track. It is a passing issue though as further songs like the incendiary and evocative Cypher and the invidious Zeroed whip the fervour back to its earlier heights.
The album also includes remixes of album tracks from the likes of Project Rotten and Nahtaivel, with the two by Cease2Xist and Enfermo 666 especially dramatically impressive. World Through My Sight is an excellent album which arguably is not one of the more immediately engaging releases but certainly one of the most rewarding within its genre.
Raedon Kong is a pair of musicians who on the evidence of their self-titled EP, strives to create apocalyptic sonic soundscapes which work on the listener on as many levels as there are rich dramatic layers within the incendiary expanses. Their latest release gnaws on the senses whilst challenging and eroding emotions but all the while unleashes sounds and an impacting imagination which is impossible not to be impressed by. The release is drenched in excellent corrosive discord but also creates melodic flames which though as acidic as the sonic storm around them is destructive, rewards with an enterprise which is deeply satisfying and inspiring.
The Lafayette, Louisiana duo of Stephen Sheppert (guitars/synth/vocals) and David Leonard (drums/vocals), former members of Collapsar, Hooves, and Icepick Revival, going by the EP experiment with styles, sounds, and influences to create their own tempests of noise, passion, and intensity. The likes of Zeni Geva, Neurosis, Mastodon, Isis, and King Crimson have been mentioned as suggested comparisons but Raedon Kong holds its own singular presence within such flavours. The EP creates a bruising and enveloping furnace of psychedelic and progressive sounds which are toweringly heavy, melodically burning, and driven by a doom metal gait. Lyrically and musically it is also stark and brooding, an apocalyptical landscape as jolting atmospherically as it is sonically turbulent.
The release opens with Heavy Lite, a track which emerges from a deeply resonating and intrusive pungent grasp of noise to unleash a maelstrom of bedlamic invention and energy. The song at this early point is an avalanche of tumbling rhythms, incisive melodic flames, and an ever twisting surge of ideas which are defined yet manically unleashed. Soon the listener finds themselves within the eye of the storm as the track nestles within a shimmering heat and slow soft vocals wash gently upon the ambience. It is short lived though as thumping predatory drums stalk the now ignited air and riffs plunder the instilled warmth with malice and searing craft. It is an immense track and start, basically an instrumental and a piece which has thoughts and emotions, let alone senses riled up and unreservedly intrigued.
End Of Days walks into place next with inviting guitar caresses under sonic flames which glow above their beauty. It is an inviting start which explodes into a muscular hunger and intensity to further captivate if equally intimidate. The track has a definite Killing Joke feel to it in places with the vocals reminiscent of Jaz Coleman, and the longer it wraps its sinews around the ear the more compelling and potent it becomes. It ends as it began with a mild wind upon the ear to bookend the wonderful havoc between, and emerges by its end as a track which is hard to shake off emotionally and physically.
As potent in rich diversity as it is in intensive confrontation, the release offers a squall of progressive imagination next within Forgotten Son, a psychedelic flamed piece which enchants and brands the listener from start to finish. Across its protrusive journey the track scars and slices through the senses, its acerbic melodic invention and sabre sharp guitar slashes as damaging and invigorating as the rugged energy. Like each song and the release as a whole, the track reveals more with each burdensome engagement but the rewards leave the extended effort undeniably worthwhile, not that listening to Raedon Kong or their release is a trial in any sense of the word.
Closing with the masterful Ash Is The Omen, a song as delicate as morning dew and as fearsome as an avalanche, the EP from Raedon Kong is an impactful treat for all lovers of extreme, inventively embolden, and imaginatively creative music. The release is like a four headed hydra, each mazard an inciting antagonism for which only a full welcome is offered.
Termed as dark progressive avant-garde metal, the sounds of San Francisco band Trillion Red is a startling and evocative swarm of sound and atmospheres to lose yourself, and at times lose your way within. It is an enveloping and perpetually shifting journey of striking and questioning soundscapes, an expressive experience which is as accomplished at unsettling the nerves and senses as it is at sending them into rapture.
Following the well received Two Tongues EP of last year the one man project has elevated the stakes and creativity with debut album Metaphere. A fire of ideas and invention borne from the imagination of Patrick Brown, it is a release to engage and rile up senses and thoughts, an album which stands alone from most others in fresh vision and accomplished diversity. Themed by the struggle between darkness and light, it is a conflict played out through shuddering malevolent intrusions and shimmering mesmeric ambiences. Metaphere is destined to connect in different ways and on varied levels with metal and rock fans, but an unforgettable and rewarding bond it will make with most.
Like many artists now, Brown has unleashed an album which transcends genres but is different in that it is not always noticeable without focused attention, the blend instinctive and fluid like the warmth of the sun or the chill of shadows. Metaphere has to be allowed to slowly persuade and immerse the listener into its challenging charms and realms but it gives so much in return. Arguably it is not always the most natural companion but is never one to leave disappointment either, the sounds it intimidates and enchants with an ever compulsive presence.
The release opens with the dramatic and inciteful instrumental Blood Bravado, a piece which clouds the mind and unsettles the senses wonderfully, elements of Killing Joke toning the barbed breath and melodic discord. It is an instant contagion which ensures a full and attentive absorption leading into the four parts of Trichroic starting with Prelude Mira Lore. The sinister whispers within resonating shadowed sounds feel like they spawn from a disentangled reality, sent to ignite chilled thoughts and feelings. The track never delves into the blackest of areas but diminishes light to slight expulsions of crystal droplets within the piece as it opens the way for Part 1: In Ever Loving Shadows.
Carnivorous riffs open the song before again slipping back into the previous atmosphere. They then entwine and wrap the ear in a perpetually evolving hazardous caress of blackened metal and scathing sonics, the vocals of Brown holding desperation to match the sounds. Part II: In Darkness We Cannot Be and Part III: Ephemeral Light continues the twisting bruising and burning, both distinct but organic in the cradling corruption given.
Trichroic is a testing whole in its expansive presence and emotive travel, provocative and rewarding but arguably a challenge. The likes of the following Cuts Come In 3’s, Bug-Id, and Parables And Levitation could be called the same, but in their at times brief violation are a more compact incendiary device to blow synapses and disorientate thoughts. The first is a pulsating thrust of venomous sonic probing and jabbing rhythms, its melodic swipes sharp as knives whilst the second of the three is more of a predator, its feverish aural hunger stalking and eroding the defences of the senses to send them into a further mesmeric provocation. The excellent Parables And Levitation explores more crystalline melodic expulsions within sludge like atmospheres, vocals and sounds adrift from its core like uncertain emotions and devilish prompts.
The hellish Sin Forecasting and the soothing respite to the torment of For Pain wind down the undulating ride leaving the hypnotic Dawn State to close with as many uncertainties as resolutions emotionally. Metaphere is an impressive album once given the chance to fully unveil its dark corners and invention warm heart, a release ensuring a full and satisfying listening experience for not only the ear.
Never has being viciously brutalised been so satisfying as from the debut album from US metalers Abstracter. Tomb of Feathers, their three track forty minute betrayal of sonic sanity, is an unrelenting corruption of heart stopping, senses blowing malevolence. It crushes and melts synapses through its trio of mesmeric yet corrosive scarring soundscapes, its legacy provoked thoughts and eager submissive allegiance.
Abstracter is a quartet from Oakland, California, friends with the same musical intent and view on the world which drives and stalks their sound. They create a destructive mix of sludge, hardcore punk, crust, and doom metal with much more adding to the black heart of the results. The tracks which make up Tomb of Feathers are enveloping consumptions which mesmerise and destroy simultaneously, their far reaching touch provoking and evoking. Influenced by the likes of Amebix, Swans, Bathory, Godflesh, and Disembowelment, the band vent their anger and hate, disgust and venom through the three massive landscapes of noise and aggression which evolve without ever showing mercy and enthral whilst stripping the senses of safety.
The album is a concept album with the single theme of madness and mental disease resulting from ‘the extreme and cynical individualism that permeates the world, and humanity’s cowardly tendency to constantly leave the weak behind.’From the opening Walls That Breathe through to the closing track the release wears its anger openly and permeates every note and syllable with its loathing. The first track opens with the beginning sounds of a raging storm but it is merely the lull, the emerging guitars leading one into the oncoming ferocity with heated skill. Once inside the oppressive presence of the track, it bears down heavily with spiteful guitar intrusions and firm rhythms whilst vocal harmonies spark the shadows. Soon guttural growls spear the raised intensity and predator like grooves whilst the track overall explores and rages within the head, its intent challenging and testing ones resolve and thoughts wonderfully. It is not an easy listen, as with the following pair, but certainly is one of the most rewarding.
The following To Vomit Crows is the pinnacle of the album, a mightily stunning track and one of the best to emerge within extreme metal for quite a while. Immediately churning riffs cast their abrasive strokes across the ear, soon multiplying as the raptorial bass joining the fray. There is an early Killing Joke bruising to the sound which soon turns into a fire of primal ravenous energy as the song seeks out and brands every inch of the senses and mind. It is magnificent, its hungry sonic energised crawl driven by ear rapping beats, a caustic lashing to smart and drool from. Thirteen minutes long it never outstays its welcome, though neither do the other pair, and through its distorted breath, sonic savagery, and twisting malicious ambience makes every second the richest.
The final track Ashes is no less impactful, the slowly building and lumbering intensity a perpetual drain on ones energy and emotion, its ignited flaming rub annihilatory. The song completes what is a formidable and staggering release which surely marks the beginning of towering things for Abstracter.
Self produced and funded, Tomb of Feathers released digitally via The Path Less Traveled Records with a physical release to follow, is a giant of an album and though arguably it offers nothing widely new in sound, it creates a fresh and explosive new fissure within extreme metal.
Lives)? The guitars scorch the flesh of the ear to raise the temperature and impact upon the senses with vocals equally abrasive with their intensive squalls. The band is tagged as hardcore but there is much more to their presence and invention, the song alone a tempest of punk, noise, and sonic discord weaved into a hardcore ferocity making bodies stagger back and thoughts grip to any sanity as they search for the eye of the battering storm which never comes.
eye with injustices and social wrongs, but your most potent and venomous yet?
Did you approach the new album any differently to your previous releases?
unity now?
carving the senses before unleashing scything sonic lashes around the growling vocal malevolence of Loez. The track proceeds to gnaw and brutalise whilst equally seducing with melodic veins of instinctive and tempting elegance musically and equally through clean vocal harmonies alongside malicious squalls for an explosive and enthralling confrontation. The track is like a blend of Sybreed, Livarkahil, and Opeth with whispers of a Karnivool or 6:33 making their quiet yet pungent contribution at times.
Fusing sonic manipulation, melodic discord, and compelling noise into an inventive and startling persuasion, UK band Hey Colossus has never stood still in stretching their and our boundaries, but with new album Cuckoo Live Life Like Cuckoo the band has created their finest hour for possibly our most rewardingly intrusive pleasure. Released via MIE, the eighth album from the London/Somerset octet has evolved their previously unrelenting and arguably sadistic sonic furnace into a sound which still offers nothing less than delicious abrasion but now takes its time to envelope, seduce, and corrode the senses.
whilst teasing and tempting them with brawling vocals, lethal hooks, and a contagious breath. The fiery groove which frequents the song throughout is the first encounter for the ear soon joined by punchy rhythms and a rich growling bassline. As eager as it is hungry, the song rampages through the ear without a much respite from its corrosive riffs and melodic sparks, yet still teases and taunts with a wonderful adventure to its gait and prowl. Within a restrained yet intimidating deep breath in aggression, the band also brings a sensational diversion sculpted by imagination and ingenuity which seduces and eats the passions with equal strength to the marauding sounds elsewhere. Ending as it began with a further hardcore scowl to the vocals and intensity to its punk rock abrasion, the song is an immense first confrontation to band and EP.
unleash a maelstrom of bedlamic invention and energy. The song at this early point is an avalanche of tumbling rhythms, incisive melodic flames, and an ever twisting surge of ideas which are defined yet manically unleashed. Soon the listener finds themselves within the eye of the storm as the track nestles within a shimmering heat and slow soft vocals wash gently upon the ambience. It is short lived though as thumping predatory drums stalk the now ignited air and riffs plunder the instilled warmth with malice and searing craft. It is an immense track and start, basically an instrumental and a piece which has thoughts and emotions, let alone senses riled up and unreservedly intrigued.
