UKrust

Solid British mid-90's lo-fi crust from an era where hardcore was having a much-welcome resurgence after too many years of grunge, death metal and godawful hair bands. Never released or repackaged on CD, this a shitty mp3 rip straight from the 2nd pressing vinyl. What I dig the most about Incubation is the genre-crossing - one second they are playing powerviolence (there are some definite Man Is The Bastard influences) before crushing into some fucking awesome Dystopia-esque breakdowns. Awesome shit. If you dig the band, check out the blog written by the bassist - some fucking cool reminiscing of his old HxCx days as well as a link or two...

Let It Die

The Last Will

Recorded back in late 2013, the mighty Argentinian sludge quartet Asilo destroy on this three-way split with fellow countrymen Uroboros (death metal) and El Caos Reptante (Electric Wizard-ish doom). While these five songs showed up on the band's respectable full-length Comunión last year, this live studio recording absolutely blows each of them away. Totally raw as fuck, lead singer Gabriel sounds absolutely fucking insane, screaming like a coked-up banshee against Platino's muted Otesanek-ish background growls. I've probably heard six different versions of "Geografías" and this is my favorite - the rambling dirge at the end is both hilarious and heavy. Enjoy some of the best double-bass guitar sludge I've heard in a long while...

No Nacho

Razor blade included...

I don't if this technically qualifies me as weird but there have been like 3 or 4 albums I've bought in my lifetime that came with a razor blade. This 7" is one of those exalted (offhand, others include GG Allin's Illegitimate Kids cassette and one of the Abruptum albums) and is probably my favorite. As usual, this was one of the "alternatives" in a Relapse Records order that fucking blew away the token grindcore tripe I had intended to order (sorry Dead Infection). While "Sleep" is a good but not great Dystopia track; "Lifeless" and especially "Fucked Upstairs" are easily my favorite Grief songs. I like Grief but their albums tend to get a bit looooong at times (yeah, yeah I know it's doom metal...) but these songs are amazing. I played the downtuned power chords to "Fucked Upstairs" half of my senior year in college so I could bang gothy art school sluts by pretending it was my own miserable song. I guess the joke is on you bitches! Except for that HPV. Enjoy.

Dismal

Crust O' Christian

Don't get me wrong, I love Disrupt but they are somewhat guilty of sameness... as in every song sounding the exact same. While their full-length Unrest is really an amazing accomplishment, at 50 minutes it wears thin around song #10 or #11. So let's just say I like 'em in small doses - and a 3-song 7" is ideal. Like many other bands on the ol' blog, I first heard Disrupt on Ax/ction's seminal Apocalyptic Convulsions compilation (see here) and promptly grabbed the first record of theirs I stumbled upon. Well wouldn't ya know, this split actually has the song from Convulsions (the epic "Crock-O-Christian," albeit an alternate recording) so I knew I'd at least like a third of it. Little did I have to worry, the other two tracks are amazing slabs of furious as fuck New England crust. The opener, "Equalize," is a three-minute slow-paced breakdown - a refreshing change of pace to their manic riff-frenzies while "Trying My Trust" is Disrupt doing what they do best, packing a dozen grooves into 90 seconds. My favorite release by this sadly defunct band, enjoy. Oh by the way, I didn't bother including the other guilty party on this split, Finland's Tuomiopäivän Lapset. They suck.

Doomsday Children

Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh!

WARNING!

While listening to this record, do not

attempt to operate heavy machinery,

use firearms, eat glass, drink Mop N

Glo, tell Ian MacKaye that you think

Poison Idea is "hella funny", consume

brandied fruitcake, taunt a yak, become

obsessed with Buddy Ebsen, get any

sort of tattoo depicting livestock, or get

some idiotic idea about putting together

a 7-inch compilation with 41 bands!

If you are tempted to pursue any of the

aforementioned activities, please

consider an alternative, such as

sending money to this cute guy so he

can put on some clothes (or take them

off if the price is right).

41 Bands! 64 Songs!

They're here...

Not much info out there on Carol Ann. A sludgy crust three-piece from Phoenix, they'll probably be most remembered for sharing a split with fellow Arizonians Noothgrush. They actually released another 7" and while it's nothing you've never heard before it's some fucking solid hardcore and well worth a listen. According to Discogs there's a self-released cassette (demo?) floating around out there which I'd love to hear - until then check out their sadly limited discography below...

2 x 7"

Wardance

Just got word from Buenos Aires sludgelords (and perennial 'Genocide faves) Asilo that they have a couple new songs up on their Bandcamp page. Two tunes from their upcoming debut as well as some compilation contributions recorded over the past few months. Fucking awesome double bass player infused sludge/doom/miserycore to slit your wrists to. So head on over to their little nook of the internet and drop 'em some of your hard-earned dinero. And they've got a Killing Joke cover to boot!

Currently watching: Blue Sunshine

Currently listening to: Victims Family White Bread Blues

Hard Drive Deadbeats: CRUST

Hi Raw Noise. When it comes down to it, sometimes it's not really your fault. My uncle flew A4 bombers for several years in 'Nam. I once asked how he psychologically made it through the long days during which people whose sole job it is to kill you are firing endless SAMs into the air, he simply answered "I told myself when your number's up, your number's up." Yeah, your production is sloppy, music is kinda derivative, and Photoshop cover rather cheesy, but there are hundreds of other crust bands out there who do it way worse. Unfortunately, I happened to click on your folder. Take care.

Pain & Gain

Currently watching: Feast

Currently listening to: Stevie Wonder Innervisions

Mechanisms Of Modern Life

Thank you Sebaxxxtian for getting me out of my month-long post vacuum - the vocalist/bassist from Argentina's incredible 3-piece Asilo kindly dropped me a link to their new release, a split CD with Chilean noisecore freaks Fracción George Best. Another slab of pounding sludge crust, Asilo simply destroys everything in front of them, a few pics from their last gig:

The guys are currently looking for some U.S. label support (check out their Bandcamp page for more info) so if anyone out there can help 'em out, please do so. I for one am definitely looking forward to future stuff from what is fast becoming one of my favorite bands.

Esto es Asilo

 
Currently watching: Hellraiser: Bloodline
Currently listening to: 311 Grassroots

Asylum

Just a quick one for the three lonely people interested in my Loinen post last year, please welcome Asilo; Argentina's latest entry into the double bassist / screamo / sludge genre. Absolutely minimalist and completely fucking insane, their most recent release is a split CD with fellow countrymen Tzara and it is an amazing eleven minutes of pounding, miserable, depressing sludge. They've got a few more recordings out there on the web, go check 'em out then kill yourself.

Bandcamp                                                      Download

Currently watching: Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
Currently listening to: Ice-T The Classic Collection

September 11, 1649

After looking over the 43 bands playing this year's Central Illinois Metalfest (July 22-24) and whining to myself over how I won't make it out there, I dug up this relatively lost "best of" CD by Doylestown, OH grinders Drogheda. Released in 1998 after a few successful albums on the now-defunct Wild Rags Records, Celebrating Five Years Of Violence features their incredible A Celebration Of Violence demo, tracks from their 1998 split with Dismembered Fetus, re-recorded versions of choice songs from their Drogheda and Pogromist albums, several previously unreleased studio tracks and a brand new song. It's a great introduction to an underrated band that I was happy to discover have kept playing (albeit sporadically) throughout the last twenty years and are on the bill of the 2011 CMI. Check 'em out if you can.

Rage On

 
Currently watching: Super 8

Currently listening to: Kwest Tha Madd Lad This Is My First Album

Out Of Band Experience

Happy New Year Everyone! Thought I'd start 2011 off right, an amazing compilation by Boston producer extraordinaire, Bill T. Miller. The guy behind the board on such legendary albums as Disrupt's Unrest and Anal Cunt's It Just Gets Worse, Miller also fronts a multitude of his own (mostly noise) music projects. Among them are Out Of Band Experience (OBE), the industrio-metal Kings Of Feedback (KOF), King Of Slack and Orgy Of Noise. His 1995 Heavy Hardcore Headroom D.I.Y. comp showcases the best of the bands he's worked with; among them New England hardcore faves Dropdead and Disfuse as well as Bah-stun sludge gods Grief. What a fantastic bunch of bands shitting out 37 tracks of crust, blur, hardcore and noise. As for Miller, he's still running a million projects, including BTM Television, blogs, record labels - the list is endless. The guy's got a huge website that seems to link on and on forever - definitely check it out!

Kill BOB

 
Currently watching: Attack Of The Giant Leeches
Currently listening to: Masta Ace SlaughtaHouse

Grindcore Gods

 

Dan Lilker is the Puff Daddy of the heavy music genre. Not only is he an incredibly versatile musician (bass guitar, guitar, drums, piano, upright bass) but he has also played in (and founded) some of the most influential metal acts in history. The list goes on and on... Nuclear Assault (thrash), Anthrax (thrash), Stormtroopers Of Death (crossover), Exit-13 (grindcore), Malformed Earthborn (industrial sludge techno weirdcore), The Ravenous (death metal), Hemlock (metal), Venomous Concept (punk), Crucifist (black metal), Overlord Exterminator (black metal) and, my favorite, Brutal Truth. The NYC legends started out with more of a death metal flavor with 1990's Birth Of Ignorance but by 1997 had blown conventional grind out of the water with their schizophrenic death/crust/grind assault. Sounds Of The Animal Kingdom sounds as good today as it did over a decade ago. Recently reformed (and with a new album out), Lilker and the BT gang continue to redefine the genre they helped create. Graaaaaaaawwwwwwwwlllllll!!!!

Prey

dystopia [disˈtōpēə] NOUN An imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.

 

Without a doubt, Dystopia is one of my favorite bands. Maybe it's because I have a subconscious kinship with any band that has a drummer/vocalist. Or maybe it's just because they play incredibly heavy sociological sludgey crust. The Aftermath is a compilation CD of their various splits and 7-inches, a great introduction to a band who is interested in actually writing songs instead of gurgling passages out of a medical manual. And for once, the many movie samples add to the songs instead of acting as boring album padding. What an amazing slab of misanthropic despair screaming for sympathy, "Socialized Death Sentence" and "Diary Of A Battered Child" are real standouts.

Backstab