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This Weeks Record Listens 6/10-6/17

I work from home so I spend all of my time listening to records. This weeks listens: Kate Bush - Hounds of Love Cave In - Heavy Pendulum Exploator - Avgrundens Brant Darkthrone - A Blaze In the Nortnern Sky Gefyr - S/T Toy Dolls - Dig That Groove Baby Weird Nightmare - S/T Metz - Live at the Opera House Compound Red - Always A Pleasure Championship / Her Breath On Glass - split Neurosis - Pain of Mind Code 13 - Discography Honor Role - Album Morrow - Fallow Sweep the Leg Johnny - Tomorrow We Will Run Faster From Ashes Rise - S/T Constantine Sankathi - Baby Unicorn... The Golden Dawn - My Secret World 7" The Wedding Present - George Best The Bats - Daddy's Highway Prince and the Revolution - Live Megadeth - Rust In Piece Her Space Holiday - Home Is Where You Hang Yourself His Hero Is Gone - The Plot Sickens His Hero Is Gone - Fifteen Counts of Arson Tragedy - Fury EP Wrong - Feel Great Helmet - Betty Left For Dead - Devoid of Everything Menace - G.L.C. Planning For Burial - Leaving Van Halen - VH 1 ISIS - Panopticon Unsane - Blood Run Boys Life / Christie Front Drive - split 10" Boys Life - Departures and Landfalls Boys Life - S/T The Holy Mountain - Entrails The 4 Skins - The Good, The Bad, The 4 Skins Combatwoundedveteran - What Flavor Is Your... 7" Anthrax - Among the Living Ottawa - The Third Age

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Ottawa - “The Third Age” 12″. Council Records / Capsule Records / Abiology Records. 2022. Originally released as part of a split with Jihad on Council Records / Abiology Records in 1994. Ottawa was a short-lived hardcore band from Detroit, Michigan. This 12″ contains their side of the classic out-of-print split 12″ with Kalamazoo, Michigan’s Jihad. You can get a copy of this while they last directly from Council Records. Click Here.

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This is probably one of the coolest things I have come across in quite some time. To say the Nation of Ulysses were an important band in the cannon that is my growth from adolescences in to adulthood, is an understatement. When I first heard them in high school it really changed everything that I believed punk rock was, could, or should be. 

At the time I heard them pop punk and the entire world of Lookout! Records was ruling the nations teen punk underground. I mean, there was more to the underground than just the pop punk thing, but the pop punk thing was just under the radar of what was considered mainstream “alternative” rock music, thanks largely in part to the popularity of bands like Green Day, Rancid, and Offspring. So for kids like myself and my core group of friends growing up in the culturally oppressive area of western Michigan, those bands were our entry point to a musical culture we latched on to. Naturally because of this we gravitated toward the Epi-fat-lookout records sound, but for some this as far as they dug, but for some of us true dorks we began digging deep. This deep digging led us to things like Dischord Records, SST Records, Alternative Tentacles, and bands like Fugazi, The Nation of Ulysses, Lungfish, Hoover, Black Flag, The Dead Kennedys, and zines like Maximum Rock n Roll, Heartattack, Flipside, Punk Planet, etc. I would say more than any of the pop punk bands, everything listed above radically changed our scope of what punk rock could be.

Also around this time in the United Kingdom a record label was shaping their nations popular sound, and that record label was Creation Records. Run by an enigmatic drug fueled maniac, Alan McGee brought the underground sound of a nation to the masses, there by reshaping not only popular music in the United Kingdom, but also the world over. Alan brought us the likes of My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Ride, Oasis, and for the importance of this piece of writing, Primal Scream. Primal Scream was massive in the early ‘90′s and had multiple number one records in the United Kingdom, but over here in America they were still small potatoes. So when they came over to record in Memphis, Tennessee, and play some shows, they just happened to have a serendipitous meeting with one of Americas greatest underground secrets, and as they say, the rest is history.

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HOAX ripping a practice spot in Chicago back in 2013. Definitely a favorite around here.

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Suiciety - “S/T” 7′. Repercussion Records, 1993. Jacket: silkscreen and stamp on envelope. Lyric insert: photocopy on white paper. Printed center labels.

Suiciety was a short lived hardcore band from Fort Worth, Texas. This is their sole release, and there is not much information available about them. If anyone has information on this band please reach out. For now check out this awesome record right here.

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Palatka & The End of the Century Party - “A Tampa/Gainesville Do-It-Ourselves Split Seven Inch Record Project. Kurt & Jason Records, 1996. Jacket: Printed card stock. Lyric inserts: photocopy on white paper. Label insert: photocopy on white paper. Printed center labels. . . Palatka was a Gainesville, Florida based “emo-violence” band that existed from 1994 to 1999. They appeared on a few split seven-inch records, released a “full-length” in 1999 on No Idea Records, and appeared on a number of compilation records. When Palatka split up their members went on to bands, True North, Halo Perfecto, True Feedback Story, Bite Marks, Stressface, So Pastel, Deadaires, and Terror Management Band.

The End of the Century Party were another “emo-violence” based out of Tampa, Florida and existing from 1993-1999. They released two seven-inch records, one full-length LP in 1999 on Belladonna Records, this split release with Palatka you’re looking at now, and a discography CD in 2004 via Coaxt Records. Though relatively short lived, The End of the Century Party left an indelible mark upon the people that did hear and see them. Crucial.

Click the link to download this release: Palatka & The End of the Century Party split.

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With Arms Still Empty - “Watching Friends Fall” CD. Kill You For A Dollar Records, 1999. Jacket: printed card stock. Obi Strip: die-cut, typewriter, whiteout. Lyric insert: photocopy on gloss paper. Label insert: photocopy on white paper. CD: computer printed sticker on CDR.

With Arms Still Empty were a Grand Rapids, Michigan based emotional hardcore band formed in 1999. They released the “Watching Friends Fall” CDep in the fall of 1999, and followed that up with a string of compilation appearances. In 2000 they appeared on a split release with Milwaukee, Wisconsin based, Since By Man. With Arms Still Empty officially broke up in 2003. You can take a walk down memory lane on the bands old website, here.

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Christopher Robin - “S/T” 7″. Repercussion Records, 1994. First Pressing. Jacket: Silkscreen on paper bag. Lyric insert: photocopy on yellow paper. Label insert: photocopy on cream card stock. Hand stamped center label.

Christopher Robin were a Seattle based emotional hardcore band, active during the years 1993 - 1994. They issued a 4 song 7″ record via Oakland, California based Repercussion Records, and a track on the Universal Choking Sign compilation record issued via Seattle, Washington based Excursion Records.

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I Believe in Julio - “Been Around”

Vinyl Damage is proud to premiere the new single by Grand Rapids, Michigan punks, I Believe in Julio. “Been Around” is part introduction, part mission statement, and all fuck you attitude. I Believe in Julio is the brain child of one Julio Gomez who has been a fixture on the Grand Rapids music scene for well over ten years, and has been releasing infectious punk tunes under the I Believe in Julio banner for the last few years. “Been Around” is short, aggressive, and to the point. Hopefully, this is a preview of whats to come from this anything goes punk rock trio. Check out the video above, and head over to I Believe in Julio’s bandcamp page to download the single, and check out their other fantastic releases.

https://juliogomez.bandcamp.com/track/been-around

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Cadaver Dog - Dying Breed (Youth Attack!, 2018)

“Strength through hate. Thanks to no one.” These are the last two sentences of the LP insert for Cadaver Dog’s brutal 2018 LP Dying Breed, and no two sentences better capture the attitude of the LP. These fifteen songs are an eleven minute negativity filled gut punch that follow one right after the other. Cadaver Dog is the brain child of one James Trejo, who not only wrote the fifteen songs that make up Dying Breed, but also played every instrument on the recording. There are no moments of rest, no moments of understanding, no moments of quiet; every song bleeds into one another making Dying Breed a non-stop barrage of sheer aggression.

Coming off the heels of Cadaver Dog’s 2016 release Blunt Force Trauma, Dying Breed follows in the same footsteps, but somehow manages to pack even more of a wallop than its predecessor. Musically the songs on Dying Breed seem like basic hardcore; chord changes happen in a blur, manically growled vocals loom over you, and drums that pummel you to the floor. But with Dying Breed it’s more than just a typical hardcore record. Trejo is letting us hear what hardcore is and what hardcore should always be, pure unrefined anger. Even through all the negativity there is an excitement that flows through out the record. It’s an energizing listen, and dare I say it, kind of a fun one too. Every instrument on the recording is pushed well past the red, and the vocals follow suit. Combine that sound with some of the most evil and angry lyrics I have ever read, and you’ve got yourself the perfect way to excise your inner demons. “Enjoyment of life / Makes me want death / There’s no fucking pleasure, in feeling happiness.” I mean, honestly, that is about as angry as you can get, but somehow Trejo finds a way to go beyond that, “Fucking repulsed by everyone around me / Blood thirsty visions of the enemy / Jaded, empty, there’s nothing left / I’ll see all of your faces at the end of a bat.” Trejo is definitely finding his strength through hate and somewhere beyond that.

The eleven minute journey through James Trejo’s mind leaves you as shaken to the core as a four hour snuff film. It’s a record of pure negative emotion that you will find yourself drifting back to often without even being sure of why. When you think of hardcore music you always think of energy, anger, and aggression, but most of hardcore feels like it’s just posturing after you listen to Cadaver Dog. James Trejo’s version, and vision of hardcore, is exactly what hardcore should be. Pure fucking anger.

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Hot Snakes - Jericho Sirens (Sub Pop, 2018)

When I hear about a band I love doing the whole reunion thing my first thought is, “please don’t record a new record.” This is because ninety percent of the time the record turns out to be a real stinker. That is why when I heard the Hot Snakes were back I was simultaneously stoked, and nervous; that reunion record was looming over head like a little black rain cloud that could give way at any moment. It’s been a few years now since the lads reformed, and aside from one stinker of a reunion track on Swami’s Hardcore Matinee compilation, the band is back with one hell of a record in Jericho Sirens.

Jericho Sirens is the fourth full-length in the Hot Snakes anthology and first for new label home, Sub Pop Records. Jericho Sirens is filled with the unmistakably remarkable guitar riffs of John Reis, the urgently strained vocals of Rick Froberg, the rock solid low end of Gar Wood, and the bombastic nature of both drumming impresarios, Mario Rubalcaba and Jason Kourkounis. Right from the opening track “I Need A Doctor”, you can tell that this isn’t going to be like other reunion records; it’s going to be good, and actually worthy of your time. The guitar riff of “I Need A Doctor” is a John Reis signature. Reminiscent of the Hot Snakes classic “No Hands”, but definitely not a rehash. Rick Froberg’s one of a kind voice is anchored above the guitar, straining to get his plea out “I need a doctor, baby/What am I gonna do?!?” The rhythm section is rock solid and driving, giving an adequate nest for Reis and Froberg’s duel guitar attack. From there the tone is set and each track seems to be better than the last. “Candid Cameras” has some of the most exciting rhythmic work happening on any Hot Snakes song ever, and “Why Don’t It Sink In” is the band at its most pissed and as close to hardcore they have ever come. The record may pull back the reins in spots, but the aggression is still palpable. The Hot Snakes may have been absent from a record release schedule for the past fourteen years, but in no way has their attack diminished.

Jericho Sirens is the record the Hot Snakes needed to make; scratch that, HAD to make. Regardless of how I or others feel about reunion records, Jericho Sirens is the exception to the rule. Should I have ever doubted the lads’ capabilities of writing incredible rock ‘n roll songs? No, not in the slightest. But it is hard not to when some of your favorite bands’ reunion records are pisspoor efforts at money grabbing nostalgia. Hot Snakes are the exception to this and will forever be. Honestly, they could’ve put a record out of white noise and it would still be incredible because it would still have that rock ‘n roll swagger that only these lads can bring. It’s great having the Hot Snakes back, and even greater to have them putting out a record filled an aggression that their peers can’t even come close to achieving. Vive La Hot Snakes in 2018!!

P.S. If you honestly don’t like this record you don’t know the meaning of the word good. You also wouldn’t know what good music was if it slapped you in the face. You, in fact, are lame and no one likes you!

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Aksumite - Vinegar Perimeter (2018, Colloquial Sound Recordings)

Michigan winters are harsh. The cold is relentless and unforgiving, it cuts you to the bone and then cuts even deeper. Sunlight is a rarity for five long merciless months, and this ever-evading darkness plagues most of the state’s citizens with a depression that weighs heavy. There are others though, that thrive in these cold, dark, and savage months. Creating art that reflects the desperation and hopelessness of those around them. Giving a voice to those who can’t muster the energy to do so themselves. This is the world in which Aksumite resides and thrives in. Aksumite’s fifth, and most recent full-length, Vinegar Perimeter is the closest sonic representation of despair and anger that the band has ever committed to tape. It is a raw, jagged journey through a bleak frozen Michigan wilderness, where nothing survives unscathed.

Though Vinegar Perimeter is Aksumite’s fifth full-length record, it’s their fourteenth release since their inception in 2011. A very impressive body of work for a band that has only been together half the amount of years as they have releases. Formed by A Pregnant Light mastermind, Damian Master, and multi-instrumentalist Tim Lenger, Aksumite wear their influences proudly on their sleeves; the rawness of the Norwegian black metal scene of the early 1990’s; the youth crew hardcore attack of New York from the mid to late 1980’s; and the early U.K. D-beat scene are the bands prime inspirations. Combining all of these influences and then funneling it through their own Midwestern punk rock approach, Aksumite have created new genre of extreme music which they’ve dubbed, BLOODCULTMETALPUNK. Even if you knew nothing about the musical styles I listed above, but merely read the name BLOODCULTMETALPUNK, you would understand how accurately it describes their music.

Vinegar Perimeter was recorded live to two tracks in front man Damian Master’s basement, keeping true to the old black metal credo of the importance of rawness. The album opens with a scream from Master and distorted cymbal crashes from Lenger, leading into the track “Castration Trophy.” “There is no reasoning/There is no kind of resolve/There is no heart still beating,” these are the intensely fierce first lines of “Castration Trophy”, and Vinegar Perimeter only gets darker and heavier from there. Master’s vocals are buried beneath a wall of distorted guitars and blown out drums, making him sound like he’s screaming inside a steel coffin at the bottom of a blackened pit. The instrumentation is basic, but undeniably crushing as guitar, bass, and drums drive in distorted unison to the edge of destruction. The third track on Vinegar Perimeter, “Spit at the Sun” is Norwegian black metal personified in a one-and-a-half-minute hardcore assault. The lyrics are grim, and the music follows suit, painting an image of a man who has given up on a world that was once good, and now wants its complete and utter destruction. The album’s middle three tracks, “Poison Arrow Straight and Narrow”, “Electrical Tape Scream”, and “Scabbed Knee” are open handed hardcore attacks that break up the biting cold black metal tracks that bookend them. The album closes with the four minute atmospherically heavy and rhythmically plodding track “A Red Thing Happened to Me Today”. A perfect capstone to an album chock full of nail biting ferocity and chilling cold bleakness.

Aksumite may not be forging any new paths with their fast-dark music, but they are unapologetically shining a much-needed light upon the genres they inhabit. Vinegar Perimeter trims the fat off the elven minute black metal jams that you love and gets them down to their essentials, a cue the band has taken from the hardcore and d-beat bands they grew up loving; it’s not so much, “don’t bore us, get to the chorus” as it is “don’t fuck around, get to the breakdown.” With fourteen releases under their belt Aksumite continues to release stronger and more exciting material. If Vinegar Perimeter is any indication as to where the members plan to take, their future Michigan winters may look brighter than their blackened souls could ever hope for.

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SECT - No Cure for Death (Southern Lord, 2017)

In the 90’s I was not a fan of Earth Crisis. Their vegan straight edge stance really didn’t speak to a sixteen-year-old kid that loved drinking and eating cheeseburgers. Their music was also a bit too metallic-tough-guy for my nerdy hardcore, and pop-punk tastes; I liked bands like The Get Up Kids, Charles Bronson, Jawbreaker, and Reversal of Man. As I’ve gotten older and less jaded (if that’s possible), I’ve come to appreciate a lot of music that I had initially written off in my youth. I still don’t care for Earth Crisis, but a lot of metal and other hardcore bands I’ve dismissed have made their way around again. SECT is the band that blends all aspects of hardcore, punk, and metal I’ve come to love throughout my life. If you would have told my teenage self that at the age of thirty-seven I’d be listening to a band that has members of The Swarm, Catharsis, Earth Crisis, and a future super cheeseball pop-punk band (Fall Out Boy), I would’ve told you to fuck off. But here we are, the future, and I’m very much into SECT and their second full-length, No Cure for Death.

No Cure for Death is a ten song seventeen-minute exercise in musical-and lyrical-brutality. If you were a fan of any of the members other projects, except maybe Fall Out Boy, No Cure for Death is screaming your name. The lyrics Chris Colohan has penned for the ten tracks deal with everything from big pharma’s grip on North America, religion, political discontent, systematic racism, and the band’s vegan straight edge beliefs; this is something that would’ve turned me off in the past, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve begun to care a lot about my physical and mental health. That’s not to say if you don’t hold strong beliefs in straight edge or veganism you’ll hate the record. In fact, anyone that is a fan of relentless, punishing hardcore will love No Cure for Death.

SECT is a group that spans two states and two countries so when they come together to create music, there is no time to fuck around. Recorded by Kurt Ballou at his God City Studios, the album sounds like a freight train hitting you in the face, over and over again. The feedback from the guitars fills every empty second of the record, and their sheer heaviness is enough to bring down walls. The rhythm section of Steve Hart and Andrew Hurley, is tough as nails and keeps things hard and focused. The never stray from the task at hand, which is to crush all that stand in the way. James Chang’s and Scott Crouse’s guitar playing is reminiscent of both guitarists previous bands, but when put together with the brutal rhythm section, it takes on a new form. The band is tight and determined to give a solid platform for the caustically growled vocals of Chris Colohan.

Every song on No Cure for Death is an urgent plea to the world at large. The time for change is now, and it’s time for humanity to start owning up to it’s own shit. SECT want you to pay attention to the world around you, and they want you to take action. SECT wants us to join them in the fight against oppression not just for humans, but animals as well. No Cure for Death is more than just a rad hardcore record, it is a call to arms. It would be hard to only casually listen to No Cure for Death, you have to sit down with the lyrics and read along with Colohan’s pissed off declarations. This is hardcore for the hardcore, and No Cure for Death is for those who are sick and tired of watching the world around them slowly crumble to dust.

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No Age - Snares Like A Haircut (Drag City, 2018)

Growing up in Michigan, California always seemed a mythical place. My only exposure to the golden state was through the VHS tapes my mom rented for me from the local video store. Thrashin’, Rad, and License to Drive were my window into a world that seemed to be too good to be true. Every aspect of it made it seem like there was no way that California could actually exist on Earth, let alone the United States. It wasn’t until much later that I finally made it out to California, and everything I felt as a kid watching those VHS tapes came rushing back: the way the sunlight looked and felt different than in Michigan; the sense the people were the most beautiful people on the face of the planet; the feeling that anything was possible. I spent most of that first trip out to California in a state of bewilderment. I was taking as much of my surroundings in as I possibly could and trying to process it all at the same time. I wanted California to live up to what I had been building it up to be since the age of six, and truthfully it was far more exotic. I’ve been back to California a number of times since the summer of 2003, and nothing has brought back that feeling I had on that first trip; the magic has begun to wear off. That is until I heard No Age’s brilliant new record, Snares Like A Haircut.

No Age formed in 2005 and nabbed their name from an SST records compilation. They began playing shows in the LA punk scene and found their home at the all ages DIY venue, The Smell. They began to hone their craft and they put out multiple EPs before signing with Sub Pop Records in 2008. It has been five years since we last heard from the dreamy fuzzed-out punk duo, and it has been well worth the wait. No Age’s last record An Object, was a bit of a left turn from the duo’s previous efforts, 2010’s Everything In Between, and their excellent debut, 2008’s Nouns. Snares Like A Haircut finds Dean Spunt and Randy Randall returning to their Jesus and Mary Chain meets Husker Du approach, but with a more focused vision. In 2009 Both Spunt and Randall joined Husker Du guitarist Bob Mould on stage to perform two classic Husker songs, and some of that magic seemed to have rubbed off on the duo.

From the opening track “Cruise Control” the mood is set, and your journey begins; the sun falls behind the San Gabriel Mountains, you climb into your car, roll down the windows and turn the stereo up as loud as you can. Then you begin your drive into the oncoming night, where the destination is not important, only the journey itself. Though most of the lyrics on Snares… seem to deal directly or indirectly with the new-found fatherhood of both members, there is also a sense of spontaneity around every corner. Tracks like “Send Me” and “Squashed” break up the fever dreaming noise punk attack and show an almost softer side of the band. The instrumental tracks, “Snares Like A Haircut” and “Third Grade Rave” not only tie into the records’ overall sound, but bring you into the band’s creative process. The duo is as much about rocking out as they are about creating mood and atmosphere, which is something that a majority of bands lack these days. Randy Randall’s guitar tone creates a sonic cloud that feels like a dream state where colors are sound, and sound is color. Dean Spunt lays the foundation with drumming that is both fluid and tight, but also gives you the sense that the songs could go in any direction. Once a serene hook filled pop punk gem, now becomes a chaotic wasteland of noise and decibel shattering volume, all at the flick of Dean’s wrist.

Snares Like A Haircut may just be the definitive No Age release. It is certainly the No Age record that has everything a fan of the band loves in one tight cohesive package. Sometimes taking a step back from your art and looking at life’s big picture is just what you need to get your focus clear. The five years off for No Age have seemed to make the duo not only more focused in their approach to their art, but also a force to be reckoned with. Snares Like A Haircut is by far my favorite record of the year, so far. I know we are only in the second month of 2018, but believe me when I tell you it is going to take one incredible record to top this one. The twelve songs on Snares Like A Haircut are that mythical California I have been dreaming of since the age of six.

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Easy Prey - Teeth (2018, self-released)

Before the word grunge was used to describe music that was darker, dirtier, and heavier, the term that was widely used was pigfuck. This described bands that didn’t fit into the traditional architype of what hardcore, metal, or punk had laid out. Bands like Big Black, Unsane, Cows, and The Jesus Lizard, were rearranging punk and hardcore, and pissing all over the tracks. The result was a form of extremely confrontational music, that turned out to become a highly influential genre. The term pigfuck is no longer used to describe bands that fit into this sound paradigm. Now, the words often used to describe a band that fits this modus operandi are, the AmRep sound. All one has to do is mention the label Amphetamine Reptile records, and most people will know where a band is coming from. Amphetamine Reptile was called home by most of the bands that had this punishingly jarring style, and in the ‘90’s were they were riding high. As time passed and music genre lines began to blur, you began to hear less of a straight forward AmRep sound; that is until the past few years. Recently there has been a resurgence of bands that fit that description. And why not? It seems like every other beloved musical movement of the 90’s underground is having its time in the sun again. Unlike the emo revival that is currently happening, the AmRep revival is still able to polarize audiences, and weed out the faint of heart.

A band like Austin’s Easy Prey is a prime example of just how important this very niche underground music movement was. They’re new eight song LP Teeth, is the band’s first with new vocalist, and ex- OK Pilot member Chris Moynan. Teeth is a record that wears it’s influences on its sleeve proudly and combines them all flawlessly. From the album’s first track “Teeth”, to its last track “Non-Traditional”, it’s as much mid-tempo Converge as it is Unsane. Easy Prey are able to take the music they grew up listening to as kids in the ‘90’s and combining it into something that acts more than the sum of its parts. They are able to pick up where their forefathers left off, and breath fresh air back to a genre that has been gasping to find new life.

The lyrics on Teeth deal with as much of the personal as they do the political. The thing that made the AmRep style bands of the 90’s so great was not only the brutal take on music, but the way they were able to write personal or political lyrics without being blatantly obvious, or to abstract for the sake of art. This is something that Chris Moynan seems to have paid attention to through all the years of listening to his favorite bands. His lyrics have just enough ambiguity for you to get his points on Christians, the current political state, and the importance of self-care, while also making them able to fit your own thoughts and feelings.

Behind Chris’s gutturally shouted vocals is one of the tightest bands currently functioning. The rhythm section is as solid as concrete, and just as unforgiving. They keep a lock on a groove so tight it would be hard to tear them apart. The guitar is complimented by the brutal rhythm section and has enough room to blaze its own path, never needing to fear it will fall astray from the mission to destroy. The band’s sound is elevated by the production and engineering of Dustin Gaudet, who was able to keep Easy Prey from falling a victim to what most bands of the AmRep fell; muddy, distorted production that made the records hard to listen to.

From start to finish Teeth is a release that feels as much a flashback to the mid ‘90’s as it does a document of now. You could sit down and pick apart each song to see where the band got their ideas, or you could just take a drive and let the record take you on its own journey. Teeth, while not carving any new ground in a genre that is reliving its glory days all over again, still manages to grab the listener and keep their attention. There are a slew of bands that are currently trying to capture that AmRep sound but are falling short. It’s hard to capture lightning in a bottle once, let alone twice, but its even harder to do when there are bands like Easy Prey currently making the rounds crushing all that stand in their way.

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Meatwound - Largo (Magic Bullet, 2017)

It should come as no surprise that Florida is synonymous with heavy music. For the past thirty years some of the most brutal music has come from Florida’s murky swampy landscape. Bands like Cannibal Corpse and Death reinvented the musical genres they inhabited; young energetic punk rock kids formed bands like Palatka, Combatwoundedveteran and Reversal of Man, and took hardcore into a new more chaotic territory. Tampa’s Meatwound continues in this tradition of redefining the extreme musical landscape. Their aural assault is deafening, and will turn your guts inside out; and on their second full-length Largo, they go for your throat and never ease up.

Meatwound is comprised of 4 individuals that have all been involved in other bands through the years, but their past efforts have no bearing on what they bring to the table. They say they started as a result of failing to give up the dream of playing music, but I like to think they started to scare the living shit out of people. Their mission in my mind, has been accomplished. The opening track “Séance”, is anything but a peaceful gathering of the minds. The feedback from Ari’s guitar initially makes you want to put your fingers in your ears, but just as you’re about to do so a snare hit ushers in the band. The rhythm reminds me of a slightly faster Unsane-like groove. This is something that speaks to me directly as I love that style of that sick, dirty punk sound.

Though out the 7 song 26-minute assault it is impressive how seamlessly the band is able to blend all aspects of hardcore, punk rock, and metal. Many bands have tried to do this over the years, and while some have achieved this many have failed. That’s what makes it so hard to place Meatwound into one specific category. There is something on this LP for everyone that is a fan of any style of extreme music. I gather that the band members collectively have a love and deep admiration for the Amphetamine Reptile catalog, and early 80’s New York Hardcore.

After you’re kicked in the face by the opening track, Meatwound takes you to the floor with the next track “Pigs.” The lyrics are dark and deal with what the world is currently settling for as a normal existence. Vocalist / Lyricist Dan Shook is able to express through his lyrics and vocal style all the pain, anger, and distrust we as a society feel toward those in power. He gives all hardcore vocalists a run for their money. The musical beatings continue through tracks “Jungle Heart”, “Reproduction Blues”, and “Fleshtags.” The band never fucking lets up, and that’s what makes this such a great listen. “The Killer, The Princess, and The King” digs deep into that 90’s AmRep feel with a thick gloomy bass driven stomp, that is equal parts Unsane and God Bullies.

Largo closes with its title track, a fitting ode to the state the band loves to hate. It is the longest track on the LP clocking in at almost 6 minutes. In those 6 minutes Meatwound are able to put to tape what every other band from Florida has thought at some point in their lives, “Why the fuck are we still here?!” The music feels how an August in Florida would feel: sticky, grimy, and sick. The music is so thick and dirty that you can almost physically grab it as it blasts out of your speakers.

Largo may feel like despair wrapped in a cheap Publix $3.00 blanket, but underneath all of it there is a slight amount of hope, and I mean the slightest amount. You have to search hard to find it, but it is there. That’s the only way music that is this fierce and immediate can exist. There is a ying to a yang. If you’re looking for a record to soundtrack your sheer animalistic rage while baking underneath a brutal summer sun, Largo is your record. Meatwound are the greatest 90’s AmRep band that exists today. If they don’t grab your heart and get your blood pumping furiously through your veins, you may be dead.

[vinyldamage]

Charles the Osprey - To Capture (self released)

The last time we heard from Grand Rapids, Michigan’s math-rock duo Charles the Osprey, was in 2011 when the band released its collaborative split twelve-inch with slowcore champions Shores. A lot has changed in the seven years since Charles the Osprey’s last release: Nazis are no longer hiding in the shadows, the American people willingly elected a crazed bigot into the highest possible political office, all of the entertainment industry’s long hidden (but not truly secretive) sexual misconduct issues are finally coming out publicly, and the threat of nuclear war has never felt more real. So just what could an instrumental math-rock group have to say about all of this? Quite a lot.

The eleven songs on To Capture find Charles the Osprey wrestling with the current state of the world through their instruments, and somehow trying to make sense of it all. To Capture is the result of guitarist Rafael Ohli and drummer Derek Lancioni reworking songs the duo had been working on for the past seven years, but because of personal obligations the songs sat stagnant until recently. When you listen to To Capture, you don’t feel that these songs are the product of music that’s been past written; the songs feel fresh, new, and even without a single vocal, relevant to the emotional state of the world. The songs bring out an emotional side of the instrumental duo which we haven’t yet seen.

Math-rock has always been plagued as a musician’s music; something that only other people in bands could truly appreciate. Not to say that the genre doesn’t have its supporters among the instrumentally challenged, but it’s generally not an easy pill to swallow. Charles the Osprey’s releases have been plagued by this symptom, until now. Their previous records, while nothing short of spectacular from a musician’s standpoint, left little for the average listener. Once the shock and awe of their talent wore off, you found yourself spinning the records less and less. This is not the case with To Capture.

 On To Capture, Charles the Osprey have finally found that delicate balance between beauty and chaos. They are able to give heart and soul to a mostly mechanical musical genre, that often feels rusted shut after a few listens. The dramatic shifts in tempo don’t jar you, or feel placed there for the sake of art. They feel necessary, and warranted. They have taken the often-abused math-rock rule book, and thrown it out the window in defiance. Instead, the duo focuses more on the craft of songwriting, and garnering an emotional response from the listener. Songs that bring the listener into a hypnotic trance, rather than solely focusing on the technical accuracy of the band. Charles the Osprey is saying so much without saying anything at all, and they want you to listen. Quite hard to do when there are no vocals to fall back upon. The album flows seamlessly from one transition to the next, and from track to track.

To Capture is not only an achievement for the duo, but also for the math-rock genre as well. Charles the Osprey gives a beating heart, and soul to something that often feels rigid. In these eleven songs, they find themselves not only wrestling with the world they reside in, but also the genera they inhabit. No longer are they trying to impress us with what they are capable of behind their respective instruments. They are showing us finally what they are capable of as a songwriting team. To Capture is the strongest effort of this impressive duo to date, and also of the math-rock genre in general.