Nicumo/Storms Arise/Inverse Records/2017 CD Review

  Nicumo  are  a  band  from  Finland  that  plays  a  musical  style  they  describe  as  melancholic  metal  which  is  a  mixture  of  goth  rock  and  doom  metal  with  some  death  metal  touches  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2017  album  "Storms  Arise"  which  will  be  released  in  July  by  Inverse  Records.

  Nature  soundscapes  start  off  the  album  along  with  some  acoustic  guitars  a  few  seconds  later  and  after  the  intro  the  music  starts  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  and  melodic  direction  along  with  some  clean  vocals  and  a  few  growls  and  you  can  hear  a  lot  of  classic  metal  influences  in  the  singing.

  Elements  of  goth  metal  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording  and  when  guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  and  the  songs  also  mix  in  a decent  amount  of  clean  playing  while  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  and  the  music  does  speed  up  briefly  while  the  main  focus  is  either  on  a  slow  or  mid  paced  direction  and  a  brief  use  of  acoustic  guitars  can  also  be  heard  and  the  last  track  is  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Nicumo  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  goth  rock,  melodic  metal a nd  mixes  it  in  with  a  touch  of  death  and  groove  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark a nd  melancholic  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Nicumo  are  a  very  great  sounding  melodic  goth  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Old  World Burning"  "Death,  Let  Go"  "Poltergeist'  and  "Dream  Too  Real".   8  out  of  10.

   

Ape Unit/Horsebastard/Dead Heroes Grindcore/I FeelGood Records/EveryDayHate/Volmer Industries/Grey Water Collective/2017 Split Ep Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  ep  between  Italy's  Ape  unit  and  United  Kingdom's  Horsebastard  which  will  be  released  as  a  joint  effort  between  Dead  Heroes  Grindcore,  I  Feel  Good Records,  EveryDayHate,  Volmer  Industries  and  Grey Water  Collective  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Ape  unit  a  band  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a    mixture  of  grindcore,  power  violence  and  noise  rock.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  a very  heavy  noise  rock  influenced  sound  which  also  uses  a  decent  amount  of  melody  before  going  into a   very  fast  and  brutal  grindcore  direction  which  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  while t he  vocals  are  a  mixture  of  high  pitched  screams  and  death  metal  growls.

  Elements  of  crust  and  power  violence  can  be  heard  in  the  bands  musical  style  along  with  most  of  the  tracks  being  very  short  in  length  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  along  with  the  songs  also  bringing  in a  great mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  there  is  also  a  brief  use of  spoken  word  samples,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent  and  angry  themes         

      In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording f rom  Ape  Unit  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  grindcore,  power  violence  and noise  rock,  you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Electro  Music  Full  Of  Champions"  and  "Between  The  Burger  And  Me".

  Next  up  is  Horsebastard  another  band  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  blastcore.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  distorted  amp  noises  along  with  some  spoken  word  parts  a  few  seconds  later  before  going  into  a  very  fast  noisecore  direction  which  also utilizes  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  high  pitched  screams  as  well  as  some  growls a nd  crust  style  shouts.

  Most  of  the  songs  are  very  short  in  length  along  with  the  music  also  bringing  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on t heir side  of  the  recording  and  the  music  always  remains  brutal,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent  and  angry  themes. 

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Horsebastard  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  blastcore,  you  should  check  out  their side of the split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Rabbit  Denier"  and  "Goose  Canyons".

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  I  would  recommend  it  to  all fans  of  power  violence,  crust,  grind  and  noisecore.  8  out  of  10.

Syndromes/Self Titled/Halo Of Flies/2017 EP Review

  Syndromes  are  a  band  from  New  York  that  plays  a  mixture  of  crust,  grind  and  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  2017  ep  which  was  released  by  Halo  Of  Flies.

  Clean  yet  distorted  guitar  playing  starts  off  the  ep  before  going  into  a  more  heavier  hardcore  direction  and  guitar  leads  are  also  used  at  times  and  also  gives  the  songs  a  darker  edge  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  growling  vocals  can  be  heard.

  A  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking  can  be  heard  during  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  while  the  music  also  mixes  in  a  great  amount  of  crust  and  d  beat  influences  and  throughout  the  recording  you  can  also  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  at  times  you  can  also  hear  touches of  post  hardcore.

  Syndromes  plays  a  musical  style  that  mixes  crust,  grind,  d  beat  and  hardcore  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  philosophical  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Syndromes  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  crust,  grind,  d  beat  and  hardcore  and  if  you a re  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Vessel"  and  "Death  Games".  8  out  of  10.

Grog Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new album?
Well after the recordings, mixing and mastering we finished the details upon the art work and sent them all to the factory. The cd was released almost a month ago,
March 20th, so right now we are preparing the upcoming shows, making new merch and probably will begun to work on new songs.

2.You have a new album coming out this month, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff
you have released in the past?
There are a lot of differences considering composition, tuning and production. When we started the creation of this record we decided to separate more the guitar  compositions from the bass lines. So with time we managed to make two different musical lines that complement each other instead of having one copying every single  note of the other most of its time. On the new album you can hear them very well and both Ivo and Alex made a outstanding work on this matter. Also after our previous  album we decided to change the tuning we always played from D to A since we added one more string to the guitar to achieve more heaviness. We already use A in our  live performances since maybe 2013 but this is our first album composed and recorded with this tuning. As result our music has grown in heaviness but at the same time  we're able to keep the balance between our crushing new weight and the so called "melody" increasing a lot more the musicality of our songs as a whole. Concerning  production we worked with better professionals and better studios so we were waiting for a very different outcome in the new album and at the end I think we  accomplished that.

3.This is the first album in 6 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during the time span?
For those that follow us everybody knows we aren't a band that works against time to put something new every 2 or 3 years. We try to make things different every time  we create and that's something very motivating since we are always trying to surpass our own musical limits. The downside of this is that we are very demanding and  critical about our own ideas and many times we quit songs, riffs and musical structures just because they sound alike something previously done by us or other band or
because simply it hasn't nothing in common with the band musical path. The new album has 14 new songs but we recorded 18 so we still have some unused material to  release in the future. Never the less every time we start to work on new material we say we have to be faster to have the work done though life manages to turn our expectations and everything becomes more difficult than we could ever guess. This time we were able to write the whole album in 4 years but we had some studio
problems that unfortunately prevented us from having "Ablutionary Rituals" on the expected time.
Since the previous album we played a lot in Portugal but also performed in Spain, France, Germany, England, Holland and Czech Republic. Let me tell you that we don't live from the music we make so for us we to find the right balance between our professional, family and personal lives is really quiet something that we are very proud after almost 26 years of existence.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?
We always focused on the dark side of the mind theme and our lyrics deal with fictional behavior deviations, serial killers and monsters until our previous album.
With this new one we came across with new inner questions that lead us to change the normal approach we were used to do. So we left the external world of human  malignancy and tried to understand the intrinsic human motives that origin the shadow self, why does it exist, what's its propose, what does it teach us, what can we  learn from it...It's more personal, more human, more real right know and less global, external and fictional so we have tighten up the musical and lyrics on this new  effort to evolve as band and therefore to create a more solid release.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Grog'?
When we decided to form the band we wanted a short, easy and strong name to be remembered. Grog it was and it fits very well!

6.The band has been around for 25 years, what is it that keeps you motivated to keep the band going for more than 2 decades?
Honestly we never planed that but as time passed things begun to grow and after many years of several difficulties we were able to finally stabilize our line-up. From  that point till today we still aim to do our music and approach it differently every time we make new one. The creative process has to offer us challenges or else we  would be doing the same thing over and over again. That should be the death of the artist but to be able to surpass our own musical limits in creativeness and  musicianship has worked out as our grinding fuel to keep us going. We still have ideas to explore so all I wanna think is for us to be able to get there and create  them.

7.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
As you can imagine we have played a lot in this last 25 almost 26 years. I consider that our time in the Obscene Extreme was awesome, also in Brutologos - Palencia we  always have a great amount of fun, in Steel Warrions Rebellion - Barroselas, Butchery At Christmas Time - Covilhã, XXXapada na Tromba - Lisboa are great Portuguese  fests among others. Our stage performance is very energic and powerful and we try to create a wall of sound capable of crushing the audience and squashing their ears  towards madness levels. Check our videos on you tube because it's better for you to have a clue about what I am saying.

8.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?
We already have some shows planned for Portugal and one in Austria this year. Since the new album is freshly released we don't any confirmed dates so far but we are working on that.

9.Currently the band is signed to 'Murder Records', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?
Murder Records is based in Holland and is a part of the major Helldprod Records. As a division of the main label it's dedicated to the most extreme music inside the label and that's why we are working with them since 2011 when we released "Scooping the Cranial Insides" album. Also being a label with its headquarters in the middle  of Europe it's easier for us to promote the band since the dominating metal countries are closer and we can enter their markets with other background since being a  Portuguese band it's still not very easy around our pears around the world. Not because we ain't got great bands, because we really do but since we are far away from  everything sometimes we have to duplicate our efforts to achieve the same recognition that other bands have.

10.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of grindcore and death metal?
We are a small hardworking band as you can figure it out for yourself but hey it's the underground way to dictate its laws. Never the less we have been connected to a lot of worldwide people in the past 26 years and overall the majority of the feedback is quiet positive. We also had negative reviews and people that don't like us but it's all part of the big picture fortunately we have very dedicated fans that support us and we are always reaching new ones which I think it's not bad at all

11.Where's the band heading into musically during the future?
Quiet sincerely I don't no. I mean we are Grog and we play death grind never the less we aren't afraid to do other experimentations in our music since we have nothing to prove and we are free to do it as we wish but no matter what happens we will always be Grog so the need for speed will be always there no matter what.

12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Currently we don't get inspired by other bands since we do our music considering our natural ability and taste within the genre. Of course you might say but I can feel the presence of 10 bands that play the same shit, which is perfectly natural since we know that originality is something very hard to find these days. Sometimes even I don't know the bands that are related to our sound so here's the thing 20 years ago it was possible to relate bands because we had 100 serving as a referential but nowadays forget it's totally impossible since that number has risen to up 100000 more. But of course we have our own preferences within the extreme music and not only so take note of the following bands that still keep on pushing the old school flame forward. Immolation, Suffocation, Malevolant Creation, Napalm Death, Obituary, Pestilence, Sinister, Avulsed, Carcass for example.

13.What are some of non musical interests?
We all have families, we like cinema, to read, to party...basically we are normal persons eh eh eh eh...

14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final word or thoughts?
Thanks a lot for promoting and supporting us. Everyone is free to contact us at our sites grogpt.bandcamp.com/ and facebook.com/grogpt/. Grind Up!

Taphos Nomos/Urdun/R.I.P/Caligari Records/2017 Split Cassette Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  cassette  between  Pennsylvania's  Taphos  Nomos  and  Iceland's  Urdun  called  "R.I.P"  which  was  released  by  Caligari  Records  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Taphos  Nomos  a  band  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  an  atmospheric  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  atmospheric  soundscapes  and  drum  beats  as  well  as  some  female  vocals  and  reverb  in  the  background  and  after  awhile  the  music  goes  into  a  very  fast  and  brutal  direction  which  also  utilizes  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  death  metal  growls.

  Melodies  can  be  heard  in  some  of  the  riffing  along  with  a  great  amount  of  90's  influences  while  the  songs  also  bring  in a   great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  their  side  of  the  recording  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  stick  to  a  very  old  school  style  and  melodic  vocals  can  also  be  heard  briefly  and  acoustic  guitars  are  added  onto  the  closing  track.

  Taphos  Nomos  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to  the  atmospheric  and  old  school  mixture  of  doom  and  death  metal  from  previous  releases,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  geology,  taphonomy  and  death  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Taphos  Nomos  and  if  you  are  a fan  of  atmospheric  and  old  school  doom/death  metal,  you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Lightning  Strike Obliteration".

  Next  up  is  Urdun  a  band  that  plays  a  very  old  school  form  of  death  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  melodic  guitar  leads  along  with  some  screams  and  death  metal  growls  a  few  seconds  later  while  their  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  mid  80's  to  early  90's  day  of  the  genre  and  blast  beats  can  also  be  heard  during  the  faster  sections  of  their  songs.

  Throughout  their  side  of  the  split you  can  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  all  of  the  songs  sound  like  they  could  of  easily  been  recorded  and  released  more  than  20  years  ago  and  spoken  word  parts  are  also  used  briefly  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  they  close  their  side  of  the  split  with  a  cover  of  Autopsy's  "Charred  Remains".

  Urdun  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  mid  80's  and  early  90's,  the  production  sounds  very  old  school  yet  powerful  at  the  same  time  while  the  lyrics  cover  horror  and  gore   themes.   

  In  my  opinion  Urdun  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Tortured  To  The  Grave"  and  "Wrath  Of  The  Zombies".

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  I  would  recommend  it  to  all  fans  of  death  and  doom  metal,  8  out  of  10.

 

Cloud Rat/Crevasse/Halo Of Flies/2017 Split Album Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  album  between  Michigan's  Cloud  Rat  and  Netherlands/Germany's  Crevasse  which  will  be  released  on  April  20th  by  Halo  OF  Flies  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Cloud  Rat  a  band  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  grindcore  and  punk.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  distorted  and  harsh  noises  before  going  into  a  very  fast  and  brutal  grindcore  direction  that  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  screaming  vocals  while  elements  of  crust  are  also  used  at  times  and  most  of  their  tracks  are  very  short  in  length.

  Throughout  their  side  of  the  recording  you  can  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  a  small  amount  of  melody  can  also  be  heard  in  some  of  the  guitar  riffing  and  clean  guitars  along  with  melodic  vocals  are  added  on  the  last  track,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  feminism,  woman  rights  and  self  empowerment  themes,

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Cloud  Rat  and  if  you a re  a  fan  of  punk,  noise  and  grindcore  you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Drain  Pipe"  and  "Fish  In  A  Hole".

  Next  up  is  Crevasse  a  band  that  plays  a  mixture  of  power  violence,  and  hardcore  punk.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  drum  beats  along  with  some  heavy  riffs  a  few  seconds  later  as  well  as  a  brief  use  of  clean  singing  which  evolve  into  more  of  a  hardcore  style  while  the  riffs  also  mix  in  elements  of  crust  and  power  violence  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  sound  very  powerful.  

  Throughout  their  side  of t he  recording  there  is  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  while  both  the  riffs  and  guitar  leads  also  use  a  decent  amount  if  melody,   along  with  a  touch  of  grindcore,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  hateful  themes.

  In   my  opinion  Crevasse  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  power  violence  and  hardcore  punk  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Dead  Body".

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  would  recommend  it  to  all  fans  of  power  violence,  grind  and  hardcore  punk.  8  out  of  10  

Neuntoter/Stench To Stench/Xtreem Music/2017 Compilation Review

  Neuntoter  where  a  band  from  from  Spain  that  played  a  mixture  of  death  metal,  grind,  and  noisecore  and  this  is  a  review  of t heir  2017  compilation  album  "Stench  To  Stench"  which  was  released  by  Xtreem  Music.

  Horror  movie  samples  start  off  the  compilation  before  going  into a  heavier  direction  along  with  some  deep  yet  guttural  death  metal  growls  a  few  seconds  later  and  when  the  music  speeds  up a   great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  grindcore  elements  can  be  heard  and  the  riffs  also  use  a  great  amount  of  tremolo  picking.


  Throughout  the  compilation  you  can  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  songs  also  mix  in  a  decent  amount  of  noisecore  elements  along  with  a  great  portion  of  the  tracks  being  short  in  length and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them and  their  is  also  a  brief  use  of  ritualistic  sounds  before  returning  back  to  a  heavier  direction  and  the  also  bring  in  a  covers  of  Naplam  Death's  "Scum"  and  Obituary's  "Slowly  We  Rot"  as  well  as  a  great  amount  of  live  tracks  and  there  is  also a   brief  use  of  melodic  guitar  leads.  and  clean  playing  and  one  of  the  tracks  is  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Neuntoter  played  a  musical  style  that  mixes  death  metal, g rind  and  noisecore  to  create  something  very  extreme  for  their  time,  the  production  sound s very  raw  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  gore,  Subnormal  Words  and  Satanism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Neuntoter  where  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of death  metal,  grind  and  noisecore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Satan's  Prayer"  "Blasphemed  The  Beast"  "The  Day  Of  the  Deeds"  and  "Scum".  8  out  of  10.