Better Tomorrow

Yay! Another 15 minutes of wicked fast Northern border grindcore. Reminding me of a poor man's RGTE (Jesus, is that a compliment or a wicked diss? - uh, sorry to both either way), Montreal's Saturation did little more than record one short album to promptly lay in wait for an eager record company to press and promote it. Only took nearly half a decade... the initial release was a scarce vinyl of the analog 8-track recording released and sold by the band itself (welcome to.... NOW!) Eventually the guys got with a label who took 3 years to release the shit on CD with a different album cover, etc. I gotta love the weird breakdowns that only last 8 seconds but there is still some definite groovecore in there that slays the fuck out of anything else out ether. Good sludgy grind to make you want to punch your ex in the face... repeatedly. Enjoy!

Hit A Friend

Back From The Dead (again...)

What better way to belatedly ring in the New Year two months late than with twelve blistering minutes of British Colombian lo-fi powerviolence grindcore. This mini-album had been sitting forgotten on my iPod for who knows how long but it seemed every time a song from it would pop up on shuffle I felt the need to pause and see "who the fuck is this?" Sound is terrifically muddy - primarily due to the cassette format the band staunchly keeps alive - there is a satisfactorily skull-crushing warmth to the throbbing drums that bring to mind some of Loinen's early demos. Moshable groovecore mixed with the wicked fast blastbeats we all know, expect and love. The only letdown is the untitled throwaway final track - more akin to the noisecore dregs of the heavy music subgenre. The boys have a pretty diverse catalog for your perusal here - check 'em out and enjoy.

You're A Fucking Victim

Straight Outta Drummondville

Wow, give it up to fucking Québec people. The best French screamo nonsense from Canada since Despised Icon decided they wanted to quit and "raise families". Good for them. Back here on planet Earth I was happy to stumble upon the first LP from fellow countrymen Politess. Way less harmonic-heavy deathcore and much more screaming hardcore this record reminds me a lot more of what Eighteen Visions was trying to do back in the day. It drags at times but it's still the best heavy shit I've heard this week. Gotta love the saxophone overdubs as well - shades of Siege. Check 'em on bandcamp and enjoy.

Never Going Back To Wawa

Perfect Is The Life Of King

One of my favorite crossover albums of all time - a weird thrash metal hybrid from the mid-80's by an obscure Canadian band that never really managed to go anywhere. I'm sure I wasn't the only kid in north Jersey sporting a DBC t-shirt but I am sure I was one of the three. Interestingly, I ended up with this classic while down at a record shop in in Palm Springs, FL visiting my well-tanned grandparents. I had purchased some random LP by a forgettable Thompson Twins-knockoff called Secret Society solely on the appeal of the album cover (and the fact they had a song called "69" - heyooo!) that was so terribly unlistenable that I forced my poor grandmother to drive my 13-year old ass back to the record store. Well, just like today, you were banned from returning audio merchandise that was already open but my German-scowling grandmother threatened the poor register jockey to the point that he offered this album as a trade. And there ya go. The album easily holds up to this day - especially my favorites "Monument," "Power And Corruption" and "Terrorist Mind".  Cool political vibe as the Reagan-era drew to a close, there's nary a bad song on this one. Unfortunately I never could quite get into the band's sophomore LP Universe, but this eponymous debut will always have a special place in my heart.

Good trade, brah

Into My Hypercube

One of the better shows of my lifetime was nearly 24 years ago to the date - dragged down to the ol' defunct City Gardens in Trenton, NJ by a punk rock friend to see some depressing sludge band of whom he'd just grabbed their major label debut CD. That band was Soundgarden, opening for some weird Canadian prog rock (sound familiar?) four-piece called Voivod. Oh, by the way, the middle band on the bill was some unknown San Francisco alternative outfit called Faith No More. Needless to say, I stood with 6 other people to watch the two openers and was absolutely awestruck. I was also so drunk that by the time Voivod came on we were already out the door and heading home up Rt. 202. Post-show I actually felt bad I had missed the headliner, especially with such incredible opening acts (Soundgarden was especially awesome - Louder Than Love is just an epic album, hands down, and Chris Cornell was on fucking point that night), they had to be the absolute shit, right? I ran out the next day to grab the first Voivod album I could find (it happened to be Nothingface) and was instantly turned off by an overambitious quasi-concept album performed by musicians more interested in technicality than listenability. And gee, who went down in the annals of rock history over the next 5 years? Guess what, it wasn't Voivod. I foolishly pulled this one out of the dusty CD collection a few weeks ago with fleeting hopes that a more mature ear would hear something my drug-addled brain missed so long ago. Nope, it is still is as agonizing to listen to as it was 24 years ago. And I fucking hate Rush too.

The Unknown Blows