The Governor's Ball/The Governor's Bash/2013 7 Inch Review

  this  is  a  review  of  a  7  inch  that  has  a  little  bit  of  comedy  as  well  as  songs  from  Fuck  The  Facts,  Godstomper  and  Slyde  and  the  7  inch  is  called  "The  Governor's  Ball"  and  was  released  in  2013  by  The  Governor's  Bash.

  "The  Governor  Vs.  Goatwhore"  opens  up  the  7  inch  with  a  comedy  sketch  involving  the  band  Goatwhore  and  politics.

  Next  up  is  Fuck  The  Facts  with  "L' Enclume  Et  Le  Marteau"  a  very  heavy  and  brutal  power  violence/grindcore  song  from t his  legendary  band  and  the  song  also  utilizes  a  great  amount  of  melody.

  Godstomper  brings  us  "Don't  Walk  Home"  a  very  heavy  song  that  mixes  sludge,  grindcore  and  power  violence  together  with  the  bass  guitars  being  the  lead  instrument  and  the  vocals  are  mostly  clean singing  and  melodic.

  Slyde"  is  introduced  with  "New  World  Sympathy"  a  song  that  is  more  in  a  mainstream  and  melodic  progressive  metal  and  pop  punk  direction  and  not  as  heavy  as  the  other  bands  that  are  present  on  this  7  inch.

  "The  Governor  Vs.  Glen  Benton"  as  another  comedy  sketch.

  "Fuck  The  Facts   returns  with  "Loss  Upon  Loss"  a  very  heavy  and  brutal  power  violence/grindcore  song  that  utilizes  a  great  amount  of  diverse  and  original  elements  to  stand  out  on  its  own.

   Godstomer  returns  wit h  "Temples"  another  very  heavy  bass  orientated  song  from  these  power  violence  legends  and  the  song  continues  with  the  same  style  sound  that  was  utilized  on  their  previous  song.

  Slyde  returns  with  "Lies"  another  mainstream  orientated  song  from t he  band.

  In  conclusion  this  is  an  interesting  7  inch  and  it  is  worth  checking  out.  RECOMMENDED>    

Bent Sea Interview

interview questions

answers by Dirk Verbeuren (drums, guitar) 

1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the musical project these days?

Sure thing! We have a new split release coming out in December with a Swedish death/crust band called Usurpress. Our side is called “Animalist” and has eight new tracks which were completed over the past two years or so. It’s our second release with the current line-up of Sven, Shane and myself. My good friend Sylvain Coudret of Scarve and Soilwork contributed a guitar lead to the song “Fashion Victims” which is also the first promo track of the split. Selfmadegod Records is releasing the CD version and a 10” vinyl is due out on Doomentia Records, I’m guessing early next year.
 

2.How would you describe the musical sound of the newer material and also how does it differ from past releases?

“Animalist” combines punk and death metal riffing with a lot of blastbeats, d-beats and some darker and groovier sections. The songs are spontaneous and mostly short with opinionated and sometimes humorous lyrics. I’d call it grindcore. When comparing it to our debut EP “Noistalgia”, one difference is that I produced this new one myself. I spent a lot more time working on it. I think it sounds heavier and punchier. Every instrument can be clearly heard without losing the rawness of the performances. If you enjoy bands like Napalm Death, Terrorizer, Rotten Sound and Brutal Truth, you should like “Animalist”. But it’s rather hard for me to analyze it. I just know I enjoy listening to it.
 

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the newer music explores?

“Double Standards” talks about injustice against women. In many countries, men get away with rape while their victims are accused of adultery and mutilated or stoned to death. “I Am Become Lust” addresses the sexual facet of man’s deep-rooted animalist nature. “Fashion Victims” is about the fur industry’s barbaric acts against innocent creatures. “At Any Cost” talks about eating meat. I tend to believe that a few hours spent at a factory farm would change most people’s food habits. The title track addresses how the human race is irreparably degrading the earth and, as a result, destroying itself. “Nature Of The Blast” and “Relentless” are more light-hearted, commenting on grindcore and credit card debt respectively. “See-Through” talks about how extremists, in this case religious ones, fail to make any kind of sense. 

4.The band members are all from different parts of the world, how did you get the recording process started?

I usually start with the drums, just playing and recording whatever I feel that day, usually with some sort of song structure or guitar idea in mind. Later, whenever I have some time, I write and record guitar tracks and rough bass tracks. It’s often a spontaneous process; I avoid over-thinking things when it comes to Bent Sea. Once I have a bunch of songs that sound decent to my ears, I send them to Sven and Shane. For “Animalist”, Shane actually came to my home studio to record. We also tracked bass for a couple of songs on the “Barge To Hell” cruise which Napalm Death, Brujeria, Lock Up and Soilwork were all playing. Sven recorded his vocals in The Netherlands while working on a new album with System Divide. 
 

5.Does the band ever plan on touring or is this strictly a studio project?

I’d love for Bent Sea to hit the road one day, but it’s not a priority as of right now. All I want is to record and release music whenever I feel inspired, without pressure. If and when things fall into place, and our busy schedules match up, I’ll be more than stoked to play some shows though. Hopefully by then we’ll have a few hundred songs to choose from! 
 

6.In the last few months you have put out splits with both Usurpress and Torture  Division, what are your thoughts on the other bands that have participated?

Usurpress kick major ass. I really enjoy their music and in my opinion, they contributed some of their best material yet to this split. I discovered them through their producer and ex-bass player Lawrence Mackrory, who also sings in my other band Scarve and who mastered “Animalist”. As for Torture Division, to me they’re the epitome of Swedish death metal. I love everything they’ve done and also the innovative way in which they release their music. They absolutely rule. If you don’t know these bands, you should definitely check them out! www.usurpress.comwww.torturedivision.net   
 

7.On a worldwide level, how has the feedback been to the newer music by fans of grindcore?

It’s a bit early to tell since the promos for “Animalist” have only just been sent out. But those who heard it really seemed to enjoy the split with Torture Division. Some grindcore purists might dislike the “all-star” nature of Bent Sea, but I don’t see the band that way. It’s my personal take on a style of music I grew up with and love. I just happen to play it with friends who are in estalished bands, which helps to spread the word, of course. But we don’t have any sort of master plan or intentions to get rich or anything like that. Bent Sea is 100% from the heart.
 

8.What is going on with the other bands these days that the band members are involved with?

I’ve been touring since March with Soilwork in support of our latest double album “The Living Infinite”. When I’m not on the road, I’m doing session work for various bands, teaching drums, recording for the Swedish music software company Toontrack and writing for a Dutch drum magazine called Slagwerkkrant. Sven has been touring with Aborted and will be opening for Soilwork in 2014 with System Divide, together with Darkane, Lawrence Mackrory’s other band. As for Shane, he’s been touring with Napalm Death and working on various other releases, like the Mutation album and new Brujeria and Venomous Concept records. And that’s probably just the tip of the iceberg. He beats us all when it comes to being in several bands, haha! As a matter of fact, Shane and I also play in a new project called Tronos with producer Russ Russell and contributions by Billy Gould (Faith No More), Troy Sanders (Mastodon) and Silke of The Gathering.
 

9.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

I recently started working on a full-length and if I succeed, the result will have to be diverse. It will definitely still be grindcore but not the monotonous kind. My attention tends to wane very quickly when an album repeats the same tempos and riffs over and over. My goal for the first proper Bent Sea LP is to create something extremely intense and heavy, yet with enough different ideas for people to enjoy listening all the way through. I’ve been super busy but the ideas keep popping up in my head and I’ll continue writing and recording as soon as I can. 

10.What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Recently I’ve been listening to Portal, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, F.K.Ü., Autechre, Scorn, Brutal Truth, Public Enemy, Devin Townsend. It fluctuates between times when my head feels too saturated for music and others where I can’t stop devouring it. As for the music that influences Bent Sea, I’d say it’s the sum of all the stuff I listened to as a teenager: grindcore, death metal, thrash, black metal and bands like Godflesh, Cathedral and Endvra.
 

11.Outside of music what are some of your interests?

I love being around my wife, dog and cats. There’s no place like home. Besides music, I’ve been very interested in animals ever since I was a little kid. They’re absolutely fascinating to me. I can spend hours sitting in my yard watching birds and insects doing their thing while my dog is running around and hanging out. I also like good food, movies, video games, traveling and hanging out with friends. 
 

12.,Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

Thanks for supporting Bent Sea! Check us out at www.bentsea.com and follow me on Facebook for frequent updates: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dirk-Verbeuren/130681981708 Cheers!

 

Chestburster/The Ultimate Experience In Grueling Terror/Nailjar Records/2013 CD Review

  Chestburster  are  a  band  from  the  United  Kingdom  that  plays  a  mixture  of  grind,  thrash  and  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  album  "The  ultimate Experience  In  Grueling  Terror"  which  was  released  by  Nailjar  Records.

  Drums  range  from  slow,   mid  paced  to  fast  playing  with  a  good  amount  of  blast  beats  that dominate  throughout  the  recording,  while  the  bass  guitars  have  a  very  dark  tone  with  riffs  that  follow  the riffing  that  are  coming  out  of  the  guitars.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to fast  riffs  that  combine  grindcore,  punk,  crust,  thrash  and  hardcore  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own  and  there  are  no  guitar  solos  or  leads  present  on  this  recording.

  Vocals  are  mostly  high  pitched  grindcore  screams  and  punk  rock  style  yelling  along  with  some  spoken  word  and  horror  movie  samples,  while  the  lyrics  cover  horror  and  science  fiction  themes,  as  for  the  production  it h as  a  very  strong,  powerful  and  heavy  sound  to  it.

  In  my  opinion  Chestburster  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  grindcore,  punk,  thrash  and  hardcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check out  this   band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Prowler"  "Fuel  Infected  Suicide  Machine"  "See  The  Dancing  Freeak"  and  "Horror  Hag".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Usurpress/Bent Sea/Selfmadegod Records/2013 Split Album Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  album  between  Sweden's  Usurpress  and  international  band  Bent  Sea  which  was  released  by  Selfmadegod  Records  in  the  year  of  2013  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Usurpress  a  band  that h as  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  musical  style  I  would  describe  as  being  death  crust.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast drumming  along  with  some  blast  beats,  while  the  bass  guitars  have  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  that  dominates  throughout  their  side  of  the  split.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  riffs  that  combine  Swedish  style  death  metal  with  crust  and  grindcore  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own  along  with  some  melodic  guitar  riffing  as  well  as   a  brief  use  of  clean  playing,  while  the  lead  guitars  which  are  only  utilized  briefly  are  very  dark  and  melodic  sounding  guitar  solos  and  leads.

  Vocals  range  from  deep  death  metal  growls  to  high  pitched  screams  along  with  a  brief  use  of  dark  melodic  clean  singing,  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes,  as  for  the  production  it  has   a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  their  side  of  the  recording.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Usurpress  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "City  Of  The  Nomads".  RECOMMENDED.

  Next  up  is  Bent  Sea  a  band  that  plays  a  mixture  of  grindcore  and  noise.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  along  with  a  great  amount  of  brutal  sounding  blast  beats  being  thrown  into  the  music,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  sound  with  heavy  riffing  that  dominates  throughout  their  side  of  the  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  riffs  that  combine  brutal  grindcore,  crust  and  noise  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own  along  with  a  small  amount  of  melodic  riffing,  while  the  lead  guitars  which  are  only  used  briefly  are  very  chaotic  sounding  grindcore  guitar  solos  and  leads

  Vocals  range  from  crust  style  shouts,  deep  death  metal  growls  and  high  pitched  grind/noise  screams,  while  the  lyrics  cover  everyday  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  their  side  of  the  recording.

  In  my  opinion  Bent  Sea  are  a  very  great  sounding  grindcore  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "At  Any  Cost"  and  "Nature  Of  The  Beast".  RECOMMENDED.

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  death  metal,  grindcore  and  crust,  you  should  add  this  album  to  your  collection>  RECOMMENDED  BUY.              

Bones/Sons Of Sleaze/Planet Metal/2013 CD Review

  Bones  are  a  band  from  Chicago, Illinois  that h as  been  featured before  in  this  zine  with  s  musical  style  that  combines  death  metal, thrash  and  crust  punk together  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  album  "Sons  Of  Sleaze"  which  was  released  by  Planet  Metal.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  along  with  a  great  amount  of  brutal  sounding  blast  beats  being  thrown  into  the  album,  while  the  bass  guitars  have  a very  strong  and  powerful  sound  with  heavy  riffing  that  dominates  throughout  the  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  old  school  and  primitive  riffs  that  combine  death  metal,  thrash  and  crust  punk  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own  along  with  some  black metal  influences  as  well  as  a  small  amount  of  dark  and  morbid  sounding  melodies,  while  the  guitar  leads  when  they  are  utilized  are  very  old  school  sounding  metal/punk  rock  guitar  leads  and  solos.

  Vocals  range  from  deep  death  metal  growls  to  high  pitched s creams,  while  the  lyrics  cover  hateful,  dark,  violent  and  gore  themes,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy,  dark  and  old  school  sound to  it  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Bones  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  old  school  death  thrash  mixed  with  crust  punk,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS INCLUDE  "13"  "Suicide"  "Maggots"  and  "Fear  Of  Napalm".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Elizabeth/Insomnia/Lost Pilgrim Records/2013 7 Inch Review

  Elizabeth  are  a  band  from  Switzerland  that  has been  featured  before  in  this zine  that  plays  a  mixture  of  crust and  hardcore and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2013  7  inch  "Insomnia"  which  was  released  by  Lost  Pilgrim Records.

  "Ravens" which  is  the  first song  on  the ep  starts  up  with  distorted  sounds  before  the  heavy guitar  and  bass  riffs  come  in  along  with  some  drums  and  high  pitched  screams  and  after  awhile  the  music  gets faster  along  with  some  blast  beats  along  with  some  hardcore style  shouts  and  growls.

  "Danger"  begins  with  heavy  and  distorted  guitar  riffs  and  drums  along  with  some  screams  and  then  speeding  up  with  some  blast  beats  and  towards  the  end  there  is  a  brief  use  of  growls  and  melodic  leads  and  you  can  hear  the  bass.

  "Created Enemies"  opens  up  with  heavy  guitar  and  bass  riffs  along  with  some  drums  before  going  into  a  more  fast  and  crusty  direction  along  with  some  screams  and  blast  beats  which  also  leads  up  to  some  back  up  shouts.

  'Cemetary  Fading"  which  is  also  the  last  song  on  the  ep  starts  off  with  powerful  bass  and  guitar  riffs  along  with  some  drums  and  screams  which  also  lead  up  to  some  blast  beats  and  melodic  guitar  riffing  as  will  as  some  guitar  leads.

  Song  lyrics  cover  dark  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  dark  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  present  on  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Elizabeth  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  crust  mixed  with  hardcore, you  should  enjoy  this  7  inch.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS INCLUDE  "Ravens"  and  "Cemetary  Fading".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.