Bleach Eater – Night Work – Supercoven Records

This review is a long time coming as I am making a concerted effort to step my Death Metal game up and what better way to dive back in than with New York’s Bleach Eater. Night Work is a full length that came out last year but is most certainly worth the review. I heard about Bleach Eater while doing the Mother Brain interview for the zine and immediately started checking them out.

Bleach Eater play a style of Death Metal that reminds me a lot of early 2000’s era Razorback Records, which is legitimately one of my favorite eras of metal. Night Work kicks off with a short psychedelic type intro on “Pit of Kings” and transitions into a fit of rapid drumming and clever guitar work before dropping down into a thrashing death metal groove. The vocals come in with a pit of hell growl that then range from scathing to straight up vomit vox. The song clocks in at 4 minutes, which is about 3 minutes longer than when I usually check out, but they’ve constructed the song so well that it flows without ever getting redundant.  The rest of the album ranges from fast to mid-paced death metal around the 2 minute mark. “Horse Girl” is a prime example. Sound bite intro explodes into fast DM which chugs down heavy as fuck then ramps back up into a fast groove full of lung cookie gurgle vox.  “Nukekubi” comes in with a chunky riff before splattering into blasting drums to vomit vox before digging down into a mid-pace death groove and going on a long death metal all instrumental that gives way to more psychedelic noise that is present throughout Night Work; absolutely killer song. For a 2 piece (now a 3 piece), Bleach Eater bring precision riffs and tight drum work. More highlights from the album include the grooved outro on “Algor Mortis”, the vocal work on the intro to “Den of the Lummox”, and the death grooves on “La Bruja”.

My Death Metal intake is on a Terri Schiavo level of vegetative state, but this Bleach Eater full length is a rotted breath of pungent air for my atrophied lungs. Night Work is available on cd and limited edition vinyl. If you're like me and feeling stagnant in the Death Metal game, or are tired of having to get up to flip the vinyl every 4 minutes, do yourself a favor and check out this Bleach Eater full length. Its plus musicianship and heavy as fuck.

Water Torture – Pillbox – Nerve Altar

All Hail The Full Length.

As an exercise, while reading this review, I want you to create a list in your mind of bands you believe can do no wrong. I’m talking about bands that when ISIS has a sword to your neck, you remain steadfast in never uttering a bad word about them regardless of if they broke edge with a bottle of passion fruit MD 20/20 or if they say the rosary with the poor on the weekends while their Satan gear is being dry cleaned. I’ll start, P.L.F.  P.L.F. could put out an acoustic K-Pop album and I’d write a review right here on my site proclaiming it as the most bone chilling and crushing release of the year. I’ll give you another one…Water Torture.

Fortunately for me and everyone else, I don’t need to blindly proclaim the brilliance of Water Torture’s first full length, Pillbox, it does it all on its own.  The dual bass and drum trio have always leaned towards the experimental side of grindcore/powerviolence and they have taken it to a new level on Pillbox. Tuned way low, Pillbox sounds like the first black Sabbath after super power nations have fired upon one another. Post apocalyptic sludge, littered with spurts of blast and chock full of urban decayed noise. Rust Belt grooves behind a rain storm of metal shard vocals and steel factory drumming. The brilliance of Pillbox is not just that it’s a full length, but the way it flows as a true linear listen. Short, fast, menacing tracks linked together by ominous noise create a sonic premonition of a bleak future.  

Pillbox opens with a 30 second noise intro that gives way to familiar Water Torture low tuned grindviolence. They grind out 5 tracks before coming to the first mechanical-like noise intermission. It almost serves as a breather for the punishment you just took. The noise gives way to my favorite track, "Fourth Stage", which builds into fierce powerviolence before dropping down into thick, down tuned, doom licks littered with spurts of drum blast. "Boxcars" is a unique track in that it’s almost 3 minutes of solid doom; with long, drawn out, tormented chugs behind strained shouts; very dark. Post nuclear fallout, Godfather-esque, instrumental track "Creature of Repetition" is another agonizing interlude to break up the grinding pummel and stretch out the overall despair of this album. "Rat" comes in with another fuzzed out doom intro that maintains a mid-pace groove before slowing even further before fading out.  The Water Torture speed is still here as well. Title track, "Pillbox", starts fast and maintains a nice speed to groove combination before giving way to noise which is a formula followed throughout.

Overall, Pillbox is a true genre crippler. It’s a grindcore/powerviolence/noise record overcast with doom making it a truly tormenting listen.  The low end tune and production on Pillbox capture how heavy the Water Torture sound can be.  Tip of the cap to whoever is responsible for conceptualizing this record and the brilliant use of the noise interludes that tie what could easily be a couple of 7”s into a masterful large vinyl. The packaging from Nerve Altar is suited perfectly and can be purchased from their site. You already know this is good, but do you really know how good?

Fissure/Gets Worse – split 7”

You already know about Fissure; fastcore front runners from the OC/LA, purveyors of powerviolence infused punk, and undisputed West Coast house show champs. Boasting a s/t 7” out earlier this year, a recently released cassette, and a West Coast Summer mini tour; they were cool enough to let ShatteredKnee preview their side of their upcoming monster split with UK’s Gets Worse.

Ripping a new acne scar on the scene, Fissure’s brand of fury is everything you’d expect from SoCal fastcore; fast, explosive, and well executed. However, what sets Fissure apart for me is how efficient they are with their song composition. I like 40 seconds of blast as much as the next recluse, but Fissure will actually give you an intro, some blast, a crusty breakdown, some Nigel Tufnel-esque guitar parts, and a furious close out; all within a minute. For a fast hardcore band, they do all the little things well that make for a complete song. 

Their side of this split kicks off with some excellent drum work that transitions into Oscar’s mid-range, hysterics bordering shouts that moves at a quick pace and then grinds down to a slow, pounding breakdown behind lower end barks only to speed back up on the way out with some clever guitar work. Track 2 shows the attention to detail that I spoke of earlier. A quick hardcore intro into a blistering pace that shifts down into a subtle groove that is so minute you could almost miss it…the little things. The song breakdowns around the 20 second mark with some thick bass and wanky guitar work before chugging back up into a nice hardcore-ish groove. I don’t have the lyrics to the Fissure side of this split so I can only assume that At Least It Wasn’t Barbed Wire is a song about an armband tattoo. The high energy breakdown on Don’t Tell Me Secrets Because You Have Bad Breath is a standout on the Fissure side of this. The highlight though, is the intro to final track 30 Miles (Of Diarrhea).  They may have perfected the powerviolence ballad with that intro; nice guitar work to feedback to chugga chug to “BUUUURRRP!” to fastcore explosion. Just a great and memorable song to close out their side.

I thought Fissure’s s/t was pretty straight up fastcore and I thought their cassette had a more hardcore feel to it, and their portion of this split seems to have blended the two nicely.  Well put together, high energy, SoCal fast hardcore from some dudes who put in work up and down the West Coast and in their own communities with their live show. Don’t wait to support these guys.

On the flipside, Leeds, UK curmudgeons Gets Worse bring a more traditional, low tuned, powerviolence sound. With the obvious nod to 90’s powerviolence given, what separates Gets Worse for me is their 3 prong vocal attack. They write the song then add in the vocals to fit each guy’s style which melds into an unmatched layered vocal assault. The irony in writing a Gets Worse review is saying so many positive things about something soooooo negative. I mean, on the rare occasion I wake up in the afternoon with a hint of optimism, I like to throw on a Gets Worse record to bully myself back into hopelessness so I’m never disappointed. I heard Robin Williams (RIP) may have listened to a Gets Worse record on his last day.

If you didn’t hear “Negative”, please hurt someone you care about as penance. If you did hear “Negative” then you know about that intro to Negative PV…Too Much Talk. I’ve never been able to dead lift as much weight as I was able to while listening to that intro. That whole record is like sonic human growth hormone. Well, Gets Worse come very close to that again with the intro to Boring Legend to kick off this split. Feedback gives way to drums to a low tuned creepy crawl groove which stalls then explodes into some grindcore-ish blast drumming before finally settling in with some caveman barking in front of that same low and slow Gets Worse PV groove. The mean streak continues on No Remorse; shout intro to blast spurt to guitar windup to beatdown chug; everything you expect from a Gets Worse track. They set up the groove with the blast and vice versa; using they’re vocal variety to tie it all in. Part grind, part powerviolence, part hardcore, 100% pissed. Another highlight for me is the classic PV, all vocal barking kick off to Push Past the Trash. Also, the drum work by Rich (The Afternoon Gentlemen) is ferocious, but especially on No Shep.  If I had any complaints about the Gets Worse side of this split it’s that none of the lyrics are about physically assaulting someone, but they more than make for that by using the line “Fuck this!” in 2 of their 4 songs on here.

I realize that this is an absurdly long review for a split 7” but this isn’t just any split, this is a step backward in the right direction and deserves the commentary.Two bands on the rise with two different adaptations of powerviolence infused punk. The only thing that could make this better is if it were a split 12”. The UK release for this is sometime in September on Dead Heroes and the US release will be later this year on Obscene Records/Murdernoise. Steal or find or borrow the cash.

 

ACxDC – Antichrist Demoncore – Melotov Records

I just want to start this review off by saying that I am NOT the guy trying to sell the limited edition version of this on Discogs for $80. Now that that’s out of the way…clears throat…to go along with their wildly popular EPs, splits with other great bands, cult-like merch, a European tour, and now a full length going for 80 bones on the Internet; ACxDC gets to hold the honor of being the first band to be reviewed more than once on my site, as I reviewed their split with To The Point back in January which can be read here. So congrats all around.

I’m not going to tell you about ACxDC , hopefully you already know, if not, there’s a metric fuck ton of shit on them in the Googleverse. Getting straight to the LP, despite the incredible packaging and sound on Antichrist Demoncore, this entire LP comes down to memorable moments for me. I’ll likely get crushed for this admission, but most of what I remember about The Second Coming is the Ron Burgundy sound bite to open it up, despite having jammed it sporadically the last couple years.  Antichrist Demoncore though, is chock full of memorable moments and I feel that they are a direct result of vocal variety and a relative, to them, higher speed to groove ratio. Make no mistake, Sergio’s brand of stab wound style vocals are here, but he throws in some more traditional hardcore yells and my favorite are the death type growls that come in over the top of him.  And it works, especially for a full length. Don’t get it twisted on the speed either. This thing blasts just as fast as anything they’ve put out, but they put their full range on display here, which again translates well for a full length. You want to grind, let’s grind. You want to thrash, here’s a 20 second groove. You want to point your finger, here’s some hardcore.  Antichrist Demoncore is a full showcase of styles that should Buk missile its place into history.

Let’s get into some songs. This thing comes in strong as fuck, no intro, no build up, just a straight up vocal assault with a combo of Sergio’s splatter vox in front of demonic growls all carried by blistereing fast hardcore to kick off “Destroy//Create”.  They break it down around the 40 second mark and keep the pace at a slow mosh before jackhammering it out. Memorable track right from the get go. “Vegangelical” is another standout, with choppy hardcore riffing and a sing along breakdown that explodes into some of the most violent sounding vocals on the LP to end the track. The chug groove in the middle of “Hipler Youth” is god damned perfection. I’m nearly positive that’s a melodic guitar riff on “Endless Failure”. “Dead Cops” is just plain catchy as fuck…”I hope that Dorner’s ghost comes back to seek revenge”…has been humming through my head for 2 days now. The slow churn on nearly 2 minute “Filicide” is that balance to the speed I was talking about up above and very well done. The Weekend Nachos style, slow instrumental work on “Give Up” is the fucking mic drop on this masterpiece. Given a 100 more chances, I’m not sure ACxDC could come up with a better way to close out this record than they did with that song.

To close this out, if you’ve been waiting for an ACxDC record that you didn’t have to get up to flip as soon as you sat down, here it is. If you liked the range they teased you with on their side of the To The Point split, well here’s the whole burrito. The reality is that I like grindcore, and outside of a few, it doesn’t always translate to full lengths all that great and honestly, I’m not sure I want to hear a 12” of The Second Coming (I like that record, I promise). However, what ACxDC have done on Antichrist Demoncore is nuked the barriers of grindcore from orbit and given us a full length album with legitimate staying power. Look, I’m not saying I wouldn’t love to see Antichrist Demoncore followed up with an EP or split of some sound barrier breaking, Wookie type shit packed with some 30 second sound bites of explosive diarrhea because that’s exactly what I hope they do. In the meantime though, I going to enjoy the hell out of Antichrist Demoncore and respect it as ACxDC’s hands down, best effort.  Chuck Billy sized props to ACxDC and Melotov Records for putting this out.

Sleep Walk/Impulse – California Violence split 7”– Trends Die/Ghost Friend Records

Short end vs. long end; the eternal debate and likely the most important decision you may ever face in your life.  The short end being the narrower end of a slab of ribs and the long end being the wider end of a slab of ribs, as offered up in BBQ joints around Kansas City.  Short ends are going to give you a meatier flavor, but are chewier and slightly more difficult to eat.  Long ends are going to give you that clean bite off the bone making it much friendlier to eat.  This distinction is taught at a pre-K level here in Grilla City, however, there is no right or wrong answer, both are great, that’s why when in doubt you should just order the full slab.  Just like this split between Chula Vista natives Sleep Walk and Impulse.  Both are similar in that they share members, but they both satisfy in different ways.

Sleep Walk kicks this split off with a throwback 80’s Black Flag meets Dick Dale surfed out intro. California as fuck.  Ultimately, they break it fucking down with laid back fury to end the title track.  Sleep Walk continues that throwback 80’s Cali hardcore throughout their 4 songs.  Stringy guitars behind legible shouts about lifes hardships make for some headnodable jams.  The yell intro into When Things Get Rough is classic.  Lost At Sea comes in at a fast stringy pace, stops, takes off again before building back up with some minor shit talk and breaks it the fuck down Chula Vista style on you.  No bullshit, no faux angry posing, just some dudes from Southern California going all out on some hardcore that’s easy to get behind.

On the other side, Impulse creates their own brand of Burrito Violence.  Sped up Youth of Today energy behind spazzed out “waa wa waa!” vox.  They kick it off with a peacock chest strutting intro that releases into fast hardcore/powerviolence that you'd expect from Southern Cal.  Standout track Ice Control is 43 seconds of fast hardcore with a Youth Crew-ish feel…”You’re Not The Same!”  Turning Point brings that slow powerviolence tension that leaves you hanging by never quite giving way to the fury.  They finish out with 3 songs, each under 22 seconds of hyper fast hardcore that hits like Seau.  This is their Coldstart stuff finally pressed and with their Chula Violence 7" repressed by TLAL earlier this year, this has become the year of Impulse.

Both Sleep Walk's California Violence and Impulse's Coldstart desperately needed to see the light of day. Huge ups to Trends Die and Ghost Friend for putting out this full slab.  You need to get with this shit, now.