Draize – s/t 7” – Bad Teeth Recordings

Watching the Boston Red Sox win their 8^th World Series back in October wasn’t easy; especially sitting here in Kansas City as the dust collects on our 1 World Series trophy.   A championship we won when I was 9.  Fortunately for me though, there is only one World Series that truly matters and that’s the World Series of Barbecue held every year at the American Royal, right here in the West Bottoms of Kansas City.  So, those small thud noises you keep hearing in the background are rib bones hitting the floor as they drop from my mouth while you read this.

It might be easy for some to hate on Boston, with all their championships and stuff, but it’s impossible for me with all the great bands it consistently churns out.  INTHESHIT, Tinnitus (Worcester), and Draize are a few that have new stuff out in early 2014.  This Draize s/t 7”, out on Bad Teeth Recordings, is a Marty McSorley assault to the ear drums.  Fast, Boston hardcore, nuanced with some subtle and not so subtle tempo changes that really set off this 6 song EP.  Flagship track “Thick” is as advertised.    It kicks off fast from the start then walks down into a sludged out groove of slow-mo violence that is as hard as it gets, "Take a hard look at yourself!"...so heavy.  “New Nightmares” starts off with a speedy riff, accelerates a bit when the hybrid bark/shout vocals come in, and keeps its relentless pace throughout.  Draize’s punk influences show on the intro to “Enemy”, which is sorta fun, sorta catchy, and then reality quickly sets in when things begin to blast from behind the kit and the vocals explode before they slow it way down and stomp out with a lyrical declaration for your ass.  It’s these doom-like moments in Draize’s sound that add to the aggressiveness of their brand of hardcore.  “To The Bone” spotlights this with fast hardcore, then doom diced up with some metal-ish riffs.  The only song on here over 2 minutes is “Tapped Wire” and that’s due to some really well done instrumental hardcore.

This Draize s/t 7" plays better each time I spin it.  They have a nice mix of fast hardcore, punk, and a pinch of powerviolence.  Lyrics are tough and vocalized as such.  This is everything you’d expect out of Boston, I mean, who needs testosterone replacement therapy when you can just pick up a Draize record instead.  I was fortunate enough to see these guys when they came through KC and they definitely pass the eye test.  So, pick up this record, go to their shows and support this shit.

INTHESHIT/Priapus – split 7” – Give Praise Records

Depending on what level of grade school you completed, it’s likely to take you longer to read this review than it will to actually listen to the record.  I normally wouldn’t review such a short split (like 7 minutes total), but I feel compelled by both bands; Boston’s INTHESHIT, and NC’s Priapus.  Let’s start with Boston grinders INTHESHIT.

“…dem King of the Grindcore Jungle vocals tho!”.  Yes, Mike Shea put down some of the most lobotomizing vocals ever on their 2011 EP King of the Grindcore Jungle before leaving the band, but in my opinion what set those vocals off were the powerviolence barks that accented them.  Fortunately, those barks return on INTHESHIT’s side of this record.  Not only do they return, but they have the same effect of adding contrast to Ian Dower’s vocals, which sound less frightening, but meaner than Shea’s.   Want to actually point your finger and bark along with grindcore?  You can do that here.  But for Christ's sake, enough about grindcore vocals.  For me, the INTHESHIT sound starts and ends with their drums.  Rapid, pummeling blasts lay the foundation with violent, legible, barks making up the front end.  Relentless speed, contrasted by some of that Boston sludge shown on the Born To Kill EP is what you get on this from INTHESHIT.  Solid, violent, drum worship grindcore. Nice to see something pressed to wax from these killers.

On the other side, I have three words for Priapus; On The Rise.  All you nerds need to scoop up their catalog because they’re making my “Most Likely To Release A Full Length cd on Willowtip” list.  Seriously though, Priapus' grindcore is so well balanced it’s scary:

Vocal variety, check. 

Technically sound, check.   

Speed/Groove ratio, check.   

Memorable moments, check.   

Makes you want to wrap your fists in hemp rope, coat them in resin, roll them in broken glass Kickboxer style, dip them in a vat of Magic Johnson’s blood and swing your way through the pit, check. 

  

This is pro grindcore that screams full length, but the 2 songs here will have to suffice.   Get familiar with these guys; I’d expect a world tour at some point, but I hoping for a stop in KCMO along the way.

All in all, this is a short but sweet spilt from Give Praise Records with 2 bands that contrast each other very well.  It’s definitely worth the pickup.

 

DIY Pastrami

The only thing more punk than being a vegetarian is curing meat in your basement.  Waking up every morning in the best BBQ city in the world definitely has it's perks.  I mean, I drive by a half dozen world class BBQ joints on my commute to work every morning, and the one thing KC does better than anyone else is brisket (Texas can eat a rack of baby back Aids).  However, there is one area where KC struggles and that's with pastrami, which is surprising because pastrami is just a different way to prepare brisket.  Don't get it twisted though, there are several quality delis in KC, but they are few and far between.  Just a simple Internet search with the word "deli" and my KCMO zip code brings up Jimmy John's and Mr. Goodscents, that should never happen in a food city.

My mom (RIP) was from NE Kansas and to this day my dad still goes in on a cow from that area every year.  So when he brought me up a brisket for Christmas (cuz that's how we do it), I knew I had to make pastrami.  What's more DIY than a bucket, salt, sugar, water, and some random shit you have in your spice cabinet?

Once I had everything together, I dropped my brisket into the curing brine in a FOOD GRADE bucket.  Please use food grade plastic, the worst party foul you can commit is exposing your loved ones to cancer causing toxins, so don't do that.

I put the bucket in a beer fridge in my basement, I made room for it by going on a beer hiatus to drop some lbs, you should do the same.  Overall, I left it down there for a month, you really only need about a week though, depending on the thickness of your brisket.  Fast forward 30 days, I pulled it out of the curing brine, rinsed it, patted it dry with paper towel and rubbed it while I got my smoker ready.  FYI, the brisket is considered corned beef at this point and is ready to eat, smoking it converts it to pastrami. 

I smoked it at 225 degrees to an internal temp of 190. The pastrami should have a deep pink hue from the pink curing salts used in the brine.

Ok, he's where it gets a little cra.  This is ready to eat, now.  However, I refrigerate mine overnight and steam it up to temp the following day.  That's how the pros like Carnegie in NYC do it.  I also pro cut mine with a slicer, simply because you can never have too many saws in your house, especially in the kitchen.

Finally, I like mine with on rye with mustard, pickle, and Swiss, but that's just a personal preference.  What is required is pairing it with a beer that is worthy of the time you spent doing this.  I chose Rye on Rye from KC's own Boulevard Brewing Co.

So there you have it.  Tired of searching Yelp for a decent pastrami sandwich?  Me too.  Get your priorities straight in life, put down that foot long of processed diabeetus, and start making your own sandwich.

Musically, I paired this with Philly doom riders, Dridge

Genocide Pact - Interview 2/04/14 - Metal Through and Through

I remember reading an advertisement in Metal Maniacs magazine around '89 for Obituary's "Slowly We Rot".  The add was a simple one liner that read something like, "...the heaviest album ever recorded...".  As a 13 year old kid, that made it a must own, so I picked it up on cassette the next time my parents took me to the mall.  God bless my parents, they were trying to take an interest in what I was into, and asked if I wanted to listen to it on the way home.  I unwrapped it, handed it to my dad, and sat in the back seat absolutely shitting my pants to the Obituary sound on the way home with my folks.

My listening habits between metal and punk/hardcore are very much cyclical.  For the past couple years, I've been pretty punk/hardcore exclusive.  However, when DC metallers, Genocide Pact dropped their demo in Fall of 2013, their stripped down style rekindled my one love, Death Metal.  Tim Mullaney from G-Pact was cool enough to answer a few questions...

You guys have a strong pedigree with other bands you play in.  Tell us who’s in Genocide Pact, what other bands you play in, and how Genocide Pact came together.

 Nolan and I are also in a grindcore band called Disciples of Christ. Connor also plays in Protestor, Abuse., and Red Death. I met Connor when he lived in North Carolina through our other bands. We hit it off through shared interests in Chaos A.D. era Sepultura and Morbid Angel. He moved up to DC last summer and we started jamming and writing the demo pretty much immediately. I asked Nolan to play bass because he's the man.

You put out a 4 song demo in the Fall of 2013, it was available on cassette and you later pressed it for a tour.  Is Genocide Pact a full time project or is this more of a Harmony Corruption one off?  What are your plans for the band in 2014?

G-Pact is definitely a full time project. I just moved into Connor’s house so we can finish writing for a full length that will be out later this year. We probably won’t tour super heavily before the record is out besides a few weekends here and there. 

How has the response been to Genocide Pact?  Where did your tour take you and who did you get to play with?

I think the response has exceeded our expectations.  DC is a very punk oriented city, so it has been cool that people are into it at home. Our first tour was amazing and we were fortunate enough to play with sick bands like Act of Impalement, Dridge, Sex Prisoner, Mellow Harsher, Weekend Nachos, Rectal Hygienics, Atomik, Living Void, Traitor Crucifix, Pizza Hi Five, and Callous.

As someone who grew up on Death Metal, I appreciate your banal approach to the genre.  Besides the obvious, where to do draw some of your influence?  Is the classic Death Metal sound something we can expect in future Genocide Pact releases?

Our main influences are Sepultura, Obituary, Bolt Thrower, Carcass and other classic death metal stuff. Aside from the obvious stuff, we are influenced by a lot of hardcore punk and thrash. But we won’t be throwing any curveballs on the LP.

For me, straight up Death Metal was/is more about the full length album and punk/hardcore, despite having a gazillion classic full lengths of their own, was more live show centric.  With your ties to grindcore/powerviolence, are you bringing more of a punk mindset to Death Metal (DIY, small vinyl releases, live shows)?

The punk mindset is definitely there in that we are a DIY band. I recorded the demo, Nolan put it out on his label, we book our own tours, etc.  Other than that our ties to grind/powerviolence are no more than ties, we have other bands for that. G-Pact is a metal band through and through. As far as releases go we are probably more metal in that sense. Our songs are a lot longer than our other bands, so I feel like it makes more sense to write for us to write an LP rather than a bunch of 7 inches.

Grindcore seems to be in an innovation period, however Death Metal seems to have become a bit stagnant, in my opinion of course.  What’s your take on the current state of Death Metal?  Is there anything happening in Death Metal that has you excited?

I just tend to think that anything considered “innovative” in modern death metal kind of sucks because it is usually associated with wanky technical stuff. However, there are definitely some death metal bands out now that rip like Ilsa, Innumerable Forms, and Mammoth Grinder.  

There have always been aspects of Death Metal in Grindcore.  Playing a straight style of Death Metal, have you encountered any philosophical/idealist differences between kids who are strictly into Death Metal and kids who are into Grindcore/Powerviolence?

It seems like the two groups aren’t mutually exclusive. A lot of punks are into metal and vice versa.

There’s a eugenic reference in your gatefold, a particular creepy belief/practice.  Is that where you guys come from lyrically, unsettling subject matters, or do your lyrics come from a more personal place?

The lyrics deal with social issues and have a generally bleak outlook on society. I didn’t want to write some cheesy gore or satanic shit. I’ve always been into bands like Sepultura or Terrorizer that wrote about fucked up things that take place in reality. Those particular lyrics are about the history of eugenics in the U.S. and the implications it has on modern society.

You just played a show with Thrash gods Morbid Saint.  How was that experience and how did the show come about?

That show was cool as fuck, probably my favorite show we’ve played at home. A friend of ours got them to play at a spiritual center on her school’s campus and asked us if we wanted to play. It was cool that Ilsa and Noisem both played because they are two of the bigger metal bands from the area and the Ilsa dudes are old friends of ours. 

There seems to be a lot of strong bands coming out of the Northeast.  This zine is out of Kansas City, Missouri.  Are there any bands/labels/zines/venues in your area that we need to know about down here?

Some of the bands around that really bring it are Ilsa, Coke Bust, Triac, Drugs of Faith, and Midnight Eye. There are a ton of young bands coming out of DC that all rip, including Public Suicide, Pure Disgust, Misled Youth, Vile Faith, and Zoom. As far as labels go, Nolan has a sick one called Malokul.

Where can people go to listen to your stuff?  Who can people contact for tour/release/merch inquiries?

Our demo is up free at genocidepact.bandcamp.com. We have merch up at disciplesofchrist.storenvy.com. For booking you can email me at timothyhmullaney@gmail.com.

I appreciate you taking the time to do this interview.  In a blast filled world, I found your demo super refreshing.  Feel free to say or plug anything else that hasn’t been covered that you would like people know.

Thanks for doing the interview!