Onryo/Muto/Everlasting Spew Records/2017 EP Review

 

  Onryo  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  mixture  of  mathcore  and  death/grind  and  this  is  a  review  of  their 2017  ep  "Muto"  which  will  be  released  in  June  by  Everlasting  Spew  Records.

  A  very  fast  and  brutal  sound  along  with  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  start  off  the  ep  along  with  some  mathcore  structures  and  death  metal  growls  a  few  seconds  later  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  a  very  technical  fashion  and  after  awhile  high  pitched  grindcore  screams  make  their  presence  known.

  Throughout  the  recording  you  can  hear  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and fast  parts  and  element s of  crust  can  also  be  heard  briefly  along  with  some  touches  of  hardcore  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the recording  and  at  times  the  music  gets  very  experimental.

  Onryo  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  mathcore,  grind,  experimental  and  technical  death  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  something  very  original,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  hateful  and  philosophical  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Onryo  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  mathcore  and  death/grind  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Pyromaniac  - Anarchogrind"  and  "Sickness  And  Aluminum  Foil  Helmets".  8  out  of  10.   

Grid Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Well, we are a two pice grindcore band from the north of Sweden. Started in 2014 by Me (fredrik), Andreas and Wilke (who left the band in 2016)
We started out as a kind of a fun partygrind band but over the years we have found our sound and have gotten allot more serious.
2015 we got signed with Discouraged Records.
We have released one demo, 2 EPs and one cassette.

2.How would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recordings?
Our music is dirty grind combined with raw d-beat. Influenced by bands like Nasum, Rotten Sound, Butal Truth, Skitsystem ect.
We want the to keep the music real and sounding like we do live so there is no super editing on the recordings.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
Misanthropical lyrics raising the topics about how sick our planet is and about the end of mankind (cus it's near)
We are against religion, racism, nationalism and that's also reflected in our lyrics.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Grid'?
Haha well I came up with the name after a few beer's. It sounded almost like grind and when I think about grid I associate it whit big fences keeping us in place.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Well Obscene Extreme Festival 2016 was of course epic for us but beside from that show our release show in our hometown, Umeå, for our first ep was crazy!
The performance is intense and I think people can find us a bit rude in a fun way.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
We are going on a Southeast Asia tour in July this summer.
And a few shows here in the north of Europe in the winter.

7.The new ep was released on 'Discouraged Records', are you happy with the support that they have given you so far?
Yeah, they are great and it's nice to work with, and support, a local label.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of grindcore?
We have only gotten positive feedback so far. Our focus with the music isn't mainly speed so I think it's easy to listen to, both for grind fans, punk's and metalheads.

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
I think we will polish the melodical parts more and also make at least one more slow song (so I have time to breath live)

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
As I said earlier we are influenced by Nasum, Rotten Sound, Brutal Truth, Skitsystem, Regurgitate, Infanticide.
I listen to allot of different genres. Right now I listen to allot of skatepunk and black metal but it's varies with genres from week to week.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?
I like to fix with my car and I love my Job as a welder at the Opera house in Umeå.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Well I can say that Me and Andreas have this band just cus we love the music and we like to play together.
We don't have any rockstar ambitions and we won't change anything about our music. We play what we want to play and if someone else likes it thats a +.
/ Fredrik 'Frongo' Larsson - Drums and Low Vocals.

Grind Of The Dead Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Grind Of The Dead initially began in 2005, when I was seventeen, as a joke bedroom project alongside my cousin. We put out two albums, both of which were recorded with a simple computer mic and none of them are anything spectacular, even by shitty grindcore standards. For many years we toyed with the idea of doing a third album but it never happened. In 2014 I decided I finally wanted to do that third album and began work on what would become "Pussy Jamz".

2.You have a new album coming out this month, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
It is much darker and faster than our last album. "Pussy Jamz" was basically an amalgamation of all these riffs and ideas I'd had brewing in my head for years. That album runs the gamut between grindcore, thrash, black metal, literally everything. "No Lives Matter" is much more cohesive, which was my intent. The album was recorded as one long track and then split up afterwards. It is one idea, told through 11 parts.

3.According to the bandcamp page this is a comeback album, what was the cause of the hiatus?
Well our previous album, "Pussy Jamz", was the comeback album. The reason for the hiatus was somewhat answered in the first question. Basically, just life happened for a long time until I was able to get back to this project.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you explore with the music?
"No Lives Matter" is pretty nihilistic, with songs on the album dealing with the meaning of life, or rather the fact that it essentially is meaningless, the debate of god and what the damage religion has on people, and the mundane of everyday life.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Grind Of The Dead'?
No real special meaning, just something my cousin and I came up with. Basically just a nod towards George Romero films.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
One of the best shows we've had so far was playing with Dysentery and Parasitic Ejaculation. Just a really good crowd that "got it". It's a little tough in our area because there isn't a massive grind scene, so oftentimes we are lumped onto shows with a bunch of deathcore bands and so we are the odd band out. We do our best to put on an energetic performance and just grind!

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
We have our album release show booked at RG's Pub in Haverhill, MA on June 3rd. Nothing else booked just yet, but hoping to do a weekend tour and play as much as we can. For the members of the live band, Grind Of The Dead is a side gig for them, so we don't get to play shows nearly as much as I'd like to.

8.On the album you had done a Nine Inch Nails cover, what was the decision behind doing one of their songs?
I just love Nine Inch Nails and this is probably my favorite song of theirs. I felt like the lyrics really matched the vibe and tone of this record and would be a cool addition to it. I'm excited to see what people think of a grind NIN cover.

9.The new album is coming out on 'Skeleton Sun Records', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?
It's a new label and we are basically the first big release on it. It's run by a cool dude named Chris who has been very supportive of us and the new album.

10.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of grindcore?
Great so far. I've sent merch orders out to places all over, which is a cool feeling. Just need to keep grinding away and getting the name out there.

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
I see us continuing and expanding on the sound of "No Lives Matter". I want to keep pushing into the darker and harsher territory and doing more experimental things while keeping rooted in grindcore traditions.

12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Napalm Death obviously. Wormrot and Full Of Hell were also huge influences, especially on this record. Lately I've been listening to the new Full Of Hell record, which is their best by far, A Pregnant Light, which is this awesome one man post black metal project, and our drummer's other band Iron Gag has a new full length coming out soon that I've been rocking a lot.

13.What are some of your non musical interests?
I love writing, reading, films, though lately I haven't had much time for any of those because aside from working full time I'm in HVAC school.

14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thanks for the interview. For anyone out there that hasn't heard us, check out t

Grind Of The Dead/No Lives Matter/Skeleton Sun Records/2017 CD Review

  Grind  Of  The  Dead  are  a  band  from  Haverhill,  Massachusetts  that  plays  a  mixture  of  grind  and  noisecore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2017  album  "No  Lives  Matter"  which  will  be  released  on  May  26th  by  Skeleton  Sun  Records.

  Spoken  word  samples  start  off  the  album along  with  some  distorted  noises  which  leads  up  to  a  very  fast  and  brutal  grindcore  direction  which  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  while the  vocals  are  a  mixture  of  high  pitched  noisecore  screams  and  crust  style  growls  and  d  beats  are  also  utilized.

  A  great portion  of  the  tracks  are  very  short  in  length  and  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  the  recording  and  deep  guttural  death  metal  growls  are  also utilized  at  times  while  some  of  the  riffs  also  utilize  a  small  amount  of  melody  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  very  heavy  and  brutal  style.

  Grind  Of  The  Dead  plays  a  musical  style  that  mixes  grind  and  noisecore  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent,  death,  and  existentialism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Grind  Of  The  Dead  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  grind  and  noisecore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Death  March"  "Existentially  Unsound"  'Wars  For  Invisible  Men"  and  "Suffer  Greatly".  8  out  of  10.   

Thrownness/The Passage And The Presence/Drown Within Records/2017 CD Review

  Thrownness  are  a  band  from  Italy  that  plays  a  mixture  of  hardcore,  grind,  and  crust  punk  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "The  Passage  And  The  Presence"  which  was  released  by  Drown  Within  Records.


  A  very  distorted  amp  sound  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  very  fast  and  brutal  grindcore  direction  which  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  while the  vocals  are  mostly  screams  on  the  heavier  side  of  hardcore  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording.

  A  great  amount  of  crust  and  d  beat  elements  can  be  heard  quite  a  bit  throughout the  recording  along  with  a  great  portion  of  the  tracks  being  very  short  in  length  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid paced  and fast  parts  while  some  of  the  riffing  also  brings  in  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  melodies  an d the  music  also  always  remains  very  heavy  and  the  album  closes  with  elements  of  harsh  noise.

  Thrownness  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  hardcore,  grind  and  crust  punk  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  hateful  and  realistic  themes. 

  In  my  opinion  Thrownness  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  hardcore,  grind  and  crust  punk  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Unclean  Lips"  "Olympus  Of  Appearance"  and  "Fragment  Of  Crucifixion".  8  out  of  10. 

 

Shivered Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Shivered is basically me writing the songs and hire session musicians to do their best on them,

2.How would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recordings?
When I formed Shivered I wanted to achieve a disturbing feel mixed up with depression and hopelessness, so I hope I achieved my goal, listeners should decide!

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you explore with the music?
“ Journey to Fade “ is mostly about mental illness, depression, suicide but on upcoming records I might come up with anything except happy type of subjects
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Shivered'? The idea was to find a name that was short and represents the style behind the songs, Shivered means shake slightly and uncontrollably as a result of being cold or frightened, which to me it represents the coldness behind the songs I make

5.On the albums you have used mostly session musicians, is it hard to found other musicians that are into the same style as you?
Yes as long as I live in Iran, because as you may know or not making metal music in Iran is like doing a crime due to the laws of our country unfortunately, so it’s indeed hard to find or trust a musician here.

6.If the opportunity came, would you be open to doing any live shows? Of course, I won’t do any gigs in Iran and I won’t promote my music here but anywhere expect Iran I’d gladly do gigs with passion.

7.Currently the band is signed to 'SenseSpirit;, can you tell us a little bit more about this label? It’s the label me and my brother founded, it’s a independent label,  before I find the name “ Shivered “ for the band I wanted to choose “ SesneSpirit “ but it didn’t worked out but I really liked the name so I thought it would be cool to use it for the record label’s name,

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of goth and doom metal? So far people from Portugal showed their love for Shivered, it is really hard nowadays to get people’s attention because most people don’t care about new bands, which is so sad!

9.Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician in the future?
I really want to make a concept record in future, and I’d like to change the style of the songs with each album but still maintain the same disturbing and hopelessness feel! Also I really want to form a Death Metal band too,

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays? Right now I’m listening to alot of “ Type O Negative “ and “ Down “ but Katatonia and Antimatter really influenced me to form “ Shivered “ from the beginning and they will influence me to the end!

11.What are some of your non musical interests?
I really love Technology and video games,

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
I really want people give the new bands a chance and listen to their music, it’s not the bands who keep music alive it’s the listeners, and thank you so much for this nice interview! Best wishes!

Necrot/Blood Offerings/Tankcrimes/2017 CD Review

  Necrot  are  a  band  from  Oakland,  California  that  has  been  featured  before  in this  zine  and  plays  an  old  school  form  of  death  metal  with  a  touch  of  crust  punk  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2017  album  "Blood  Offerings"  which  will  be  released  in  June  by  Tankcrimes.

  A  very  dark  yet  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  and  you  can  also h ear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  while t he  riffs also  use  a  decent  amount  of  morbid  sounding  melodies  and  the  music  is  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  and  when  the  music  speeds  up a   decent  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard.

  Vocals a re  mostly  death  metal  growls  while  the  music  also  mixes  in  elements  of  d  beat  and  crust  and  the  fast  riffs  also use a   decent amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  when  guitar  solos  and  leads  at e utilized  they  remain  true  to  an  old  school  death  metal  style  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  album  always remains  heavy.

  Necrot  remains  true  to  the  crust  punk  influenced  style  of  old school  death  metal  from  previous  recordings,  the production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness,  death  and  gore  themes.

  In  my  opinion this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Necrot  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  crust  and  old  school  death metal,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Rather  Be  Dead"  "Empty  Hands"  and  "Layers Of  Darkness".  8  out  of  10.  

Grid/Human Collapse Syndrome/Discouraged Records/2017 EP Review

  Grid  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  plays  a  mixture  of  d  beat  and  grindcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2017  ep  'Human  Collapse  Syndrome"  which  was  released  by  Discouraged Records.

  A  very  heavy  and  brutal  sound  starts  off  the  ep  before  going  into  a  very  fast  grindcore  direction  along  with  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  while  the  vocals  are  a  mixture  of  screams  and  death  metal  growls  and  there  is  also  a  great  amount  of  reverb  noises  and  most  of t he  tracks  are  short  in  length.

  Spoken  word  parts  can  be  heard  while  the  faster  sections  of  the  songs  also  utilized  a  great  amount  of  brutal  blast  beats  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid paced  and  fast  parts  and  guitar  leads  are  also  used  briefly  and  the  music  always  remains  very  heavy  and  the  riffs  also  add  in  a  small  amount  of  melody.

  Grid  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  grindcore  and  mixes  it  with  d  beat  to  create  a  very  heavy  recording,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent,  political  and  hateful  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Grid  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  d  beat  and  grindcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Shackled"  "Debt"  and  "Out  Of  Air'.  8  out  of  10. 

Shivered/Journey To Fade/SenseSpirit/2017 Full Length Review

  Shivered  are  a  band  from  Iran  that  plays  an  atmospheric  mixture  of  goth  and  doom  metal  with  a  touch  of  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2017  album  "Journey  To  Fade"  which  will  be  released  on  May  20th  by  SenseSpirit.

  Atmospheric  synths,  heavy  riffs  and  melodic  guitar  leads  start  off  the  album  and  the  riffing  also  utilizes  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to them  and  the  music  is  mostly  rooted  in  the  goth  metal  genre  and  clean  vocals  are  also  utilized  quite  a  bit  throughout  the  recording. 

  At  times  the  music  mixes  in  the  heaviness  of  doom  metal  and  death  metal  growls  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  spoken  word  parts  can  also  be  heard  briefly  and  some  tracks  also  add  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  guitars  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  either  to  a  slow  or  mid  paced  musical  direction.

  Shivered  plays  a  style  of  goth  metal  that  is  very  atmospheric  while  also  mixing  in  elements  of  doom  and  death  metal,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  depression,  death  and  suicide  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Shivered  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  goth  and  doom  metal  with  a  touch  of  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Eradicate"  "Red  Sky"  "The  Light  Tears  Apart"  and  "The  Hourglass".  8  out  of  10.