Thursday, April 26, 2012

What Makes A Time Bomb Tick/To The Ark/Plastic Skull Music/2011 CD Review


  What  Makes  A  Time  Bomb  Tick  are  a  one  band  from  California  that  plays  a  mcxture  of  noise  and  grindcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2011  album  "Which  was  released  by  Plastic  Skull  Music.

  Drums  range from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  a  great  amount  of  brutal  sounding  blast  beats  being  thrown  into  the  music,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  tone  with  riffs  that  dominate  throughout  the  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  riffs  that  combine  noisecore,  grindcore  and  math metal  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own  with  a  great  amount  of  really  short  songs  and  there  are  no  guitar  solos  or  leads  present  on  this recording.

  Vocals  range  from  deep  death  metal  growls  to  high  pitched  noise/grindcore  screams,  while  the  lyrics cover  hateful  and  everyday  themes,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  heavy,  raw  and  primitive  sound  to  it.

  In  my  opinion  What  Makes  A  Time  Bomb  Tick  are  a  very  great  sounding  hybrid  of  noisecore,  grindcore  and  math  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  style,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Impurity"  "Signal"  "Warning"  and  "Ark".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

PlasticBag FaceMask/Zombie/Plastic Skull And Recording/2011 CD Review


  PlasticBag  FaceMask  are  a  band  from  California  that  plays  a  mixture  of  noise,  grindcore,  deathcore and  post  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2011  album  "Zombie"  which  was  released  by  Plastic Skull  And  Recording.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  a  great  amount  of  brutal  sounding  blast  beats  being  thrown  into  the  music,  while  the  noise  effects  bring  a  very  dark  and  avante  garde  edge  to  the  music  along  with  some  dub  step  elements,  as  for  the  bass  playing  it  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  tone  with  riffs  that  dominate  throughout  the  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  riffs  that  combine  noise,  grindcore,  deathcore  and  post  hardcore  together  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own  with  a  great  amount  of  weird  distorted  parts  being  thrown  into  the  music  and  there  are  no  guitar  solos  or  leads  present  on  this  recording.

  Vocals  are  mostly  high  pitched  grindcore  screams  mixed  in  with  some  post  hardcore  style  yelling  as  well  as  some  deep  death  metal  growls  in  addition  there  is  a  brief  use  of  clean  singing  being  utilized  on  a  couple  of  songs,  while  the  lyrics  cover  hateful  and  humor  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  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  PlasticBag  FaceMask  are  a  very  great  sounding  hybrid  of  noise,  grindcore,  deathcore and  post  hardcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  style,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Stop,  Ur  Macking  Me  Mad"  "i'm  Gonna  Buy  An  Octopus"  and  "Patrick,  You  Are  So  Depressing".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.  

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Martyrdod/Paranoia/Southern Lord Records/2012 CD Review


  Martydod  are  a  band  from  Sweden that  plays  a  very  melodic  and  dark  form  of  crust/grind  mixed  in  with  some  punk  rock  and  this is  a  review  of  their  2012  album  "Paronoia"  which  was  released  by  Southern  Lord  Records.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  a  good  amount  of  brutal  sounding  blast  beats  being  thrown  into  the  music,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  dark  tone  with  riffs  that  follow  the  riffing  that  is  coming  out  of  the  guitars.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  riffs  that  combine  crust  punk  with  grindcore  along  with  some  dark  sounding  melody  being  thrown  into  the  riffing  in  addition  the  songs  are  very  long  for  this  genre  while  most  songs  of  this  type  are  usually  2  to  3  minutes  at  the  most,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  raw,  primitive  and  chaotic  sounding  crust  punk  guitar  solos  and  leads  that  utilize  some  melody  at  times.

  Vocals  range  from  deep  death  metal  growls  that  have  a  depressive  feeling  to  them  that  kind  of  reminds  me  of  black  metal  along  with  some  high  pitched  grindcore  screams  in  addition  there  is  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts,  while  the  lyrics  are  written  in  Swedish  and  cover  dark  and  hateful  themes,  as  for  the  production  it  has  a  very  dark,  powerful  and  heavy  sound  to  it.

In  my  opinion  Martydod  are  a  very  great  sounding  crust  punk,  grindcore  hybrid  with  a  melodic  edge and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  style,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Overkom  Er  Radsla"  "Ett  Hjarta  Av  Eld"  "Paranoia"   and  "Avbon".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

  

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Equal Minds Theory/Self Titled/Octopus Management/2011 CD Review


  Equal  Minds  Theory  are  a  band  from  Russia  that  plays  a  mixture  of  noise,  grindcore  math  metal  and  post  hardcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  titled  2011  album  which  was  released  by   Octupus Management.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  a  good  amount  of  brutal  sounding  blast  beats  being  thrown  into  the  music,  while  the  noise  effects  bring  a  very  dark  and  avant  garde  sound  to  the  music,  as  for  the  bass  playing  it  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  tone  with  heavy  riffing  that  dominates  throughout  the  recording.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  riffs  that  combine  noise  and  grindcore  with  post  hardcore  and  math  metal  with  alot  of  many  different  time  changes  being  thrown  into  the  riffing  and  there  are  little  to  no  guitar  solos  or  leads  present  on this  recording  except  for  the  last  song  and  it  haves  a  blues  rock  feeling  to  it.,  as  for  the  acoustic  which  are  only  utilized  briefly  they  use  full  chords  to  bring  a  very  experimental  avant  garde  edge  to  the  music.

  Vocals  range  from  high  pitched  noise/grindcore  screams  to  hardcore  style  yelling,  deep  death  metal  growls  and  melodic  post  hardcore  parts,  while  the  lyrics  cover  philosophical  and  everyday  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  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  Equal  Minds  Theory  are  a  very  great  sounding  noise,  grindcore,  math  metal,  post  hardcore  hybrid  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  style,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Oceanbound"  "The  Nomads"  "Grindiac"  and  "Hollows  Earth".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.  

Antigama/Stop The Chaos/Selfmadegod Records/2012 CD Review


  Antigama  are  a  band  from  Poland  that  plays  a  mixture  of  crust  and  grindcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2012  album  "Stop  The  Chaos"  which  was  released  by  Selfmadegod  Records.

  Drums  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  drumming  with  a  great  amount  of  brutal  sounding  blast  beats  being  thrown  into  the  music,  while  the  bass  playing  has  a  very  strong  and  powerful  tone  with  riffs  that  dominate  throughout  the  recording,  as  for  the  sound  effects  they  are  only  used  briefly  on  a  couple  of  songs  and  add  a  feeling  of  darkness  as  well  as  an  experimental/ambient  edge  to  the  music.

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  riffs  that  combine  crust  punk  and  grindcore  together  with  a  Polish  death  metal  feeling  along  with  some  more  modern  day  elements  as  well  as  a  great  amount  of  weird  sounding  distorted  parts  and  there  are  no  guitar  solos  or  leads  present  on  this  recording.

  Vocals  are  a  mixture  of  deep  death  metal/crust  growls  and  high  pitched  grindcore  screams,  along  with  some  samples  in  addition  there  is  a  brief  use  of  clean  singing,  while  the  lyrics  cover  hateful  and  everyday  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 t his  recording.

  In  my  opinion  Antigama  are  a  very  great  and  original  sounding  crust/grindcore  hybrid  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  style,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Law"  and  "Inticrate  Trap".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Usurpress/In Permanent Twilight/Selfmadegod/2012 CD Review


  Usurpress  are  a  band  from  Sweden  that  mixes  Swedish  style  death  metal  with  crust/punk  and  this  is  a  review  of  their 2012  album "In  Permanent  Twilight"  which  was  released  by  Selfmadegod.

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

  Rhythm  guitars  range  from  slow,  mid  paced  to  fast  riffs  that  combine  Swedish  style  death  metal  with crustcore  along  with  some  dark  sounding  melodies ,  while  the  lead  guitars  are  very  raw  and  primitive  sounding  crust  punk  guitar  solos  and  leads.

  Vocals  are  mostly  deep  death  metal growls  with  a  brief  use  of  clean  singing  being  utilized  on  one  song,  while  the  lyrics  cover  hateful  and  everyday  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  this  recording.

  In  my  opinion  Usurpress  are  a  very  great  sounding  Swedish  death  metal/crustcore  hybrid  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  style,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Unpunished"  "The  Iniated(Will  Fall)"  "Primitive  Majesty"  and  "Permanent  Twilight".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

EYETOFUK Interview

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?

I'll put this briefly, for the more extended story read our bio on our Myspace site. I started
the project back in 2004, did a demo "Wankfest 2666" using only the samples, tried to be as over the top as possible, because I was excited to rediscover my love for Goregrind and also then emerging cybergrind with bands LIBIDO AIRBAG. AMOEBIC DYSENTERY and INTENSE SOAKED CLOTH being prime influences.
After a couple years I decided to involve real instruments, so the first full EYETOFUK line up was born and recorded "Drufuked & Pornified" split CD with PUTRID WHORE released by Grindhead Records in 2007. Since other guys had their main bands this line up dissolved and I went back to DJ'ing. Couple years later I assembled another line up and we recorded "Orgazmik Holofukout". Both guitar and bass players come from the best Lithuanian Death Metal band DISSECTION which will be familiar to old Death Metal fans who were involved in tapetrading scene in 1990's. Those two guys may have become older and changed their names, but they rip at their instruments with the same energy and zeal as 20 years ago. So we are experienced perverts, hahaha!


2. How would you describe your musical sound?

Interesting question and my answer may be different to the listeners' perception. The drum beats are mainly rooted in classic Drum'n'Bass patterns, but speeded up and broken down. This is mixed with psychelelic/noisy/experimental interludes. After the rhythm tracks are laid down we work on adding insane energy, so El Zoth (guitars) comes up with burning riffs and he's heavily influenced by SLAYER and OBITUARY. So some of that definitely reflects in the tracks. Then we record dark basslines with Don Peezo and I do the vocals. I like to see vocals as another instrument, so they're heavily processed to invoke alien sounding primitive beast called Xlip! So this would be goregrind element maybe, I love heavily pitchshifted vocals, but many of those bands don't use the full possibilities to fuck them up, haha! And I try to do that! But the main thing for me is energy - the song has to tear your roof off, make you wanna stomp around and kick shit up or just bang your head like crazy! But we did 3 tracks on the album with Baron Blakk on guitars who also played/growled in CONSCIOUS ROT back in 90's and they've turned out more darker/creepier and slower than the rest of them.

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

OK, simply put all the fun things we love to do or watch, but not always admit to! Porno, gore, drugs, crime, horror, aliens. But with a dark sarcastic twist. This is very important! It is basically a reflection on what mainstream "alternative" media feeds the people. It is that shit that we take in, turn around and throw back in the form of this musickal insanity. In my work I get to watch lots of movies and can get some unusual samples, so many tracks took lyrical ideas from them. 
For example "Orgasm Killed Bill" is our little tribute to David Carradine , "Godsperm" was influenced by the movie "Chemical Wedding", "Breakass Sacrifice" directly influenced by... "Bad Santa", hahaha! One of the funniest movies and Bill Bob Thornton is a bad motherfucker!


4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?

It's a play on words and my tribute to short-lived project EAT MY FUK by guys from AUTOPSY - the best Death Metal band ever! Also it sounds harsh, so this reflects the music as well. Not many would like to be fukked in the eye, right? But figuratively speaking, we'are all being fucked through our eyes constantly, if you get my drift. Just turn on the TV and the mindfucking begins!

5. Has the band ever done any live shows, if so what are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?

Not... yet. I have a very distinct vision of the live show though, we did couple rehearsals recently, basically played a few tracks from the album live in the studio, they were filmed and maybe some day I'll post them on Internet. Since both guys play with other bands, it's not a problem to rehearse for a show, but we have many other things going on and EYETOFUK will play live only if the offer is seriously generous, haha! The main problem is that all 3 members live/move around different countries and logistical issues ensue. But look at ULVER, they played their first show after... what, 19 years of existence, so we have time, haha!


6.You have put out some music on Torn Flesh Records, how did you get in contact with this label and how would you describe the support that they have given you so far?

Yeah, Torn Flesh are fucking great! This is how it must be done in this Internet age. We wrote to the guy and he agreed to distribute the album through their channels. For me the main priority is to let as many people freely hear "Orgazmik Holofukout" as possible. We're are using computer as another instrument but instead of making purely electronic music, we mix it up with Death and Thrash Metal riffs and gory alien vocals. Torn Flesh is up for putting as much insane music on the Internet for free as humanly possible and we'll see where it goes. I'm just excited to see what will happen and it's important that this label puts out releases consistently. I don't know any other net label which specializes in such diverse extreme underground music, so for me it is very cool thing to be part of. Every week your can hear a couple new albums, some might be good, some crap, 
but people make that music because it's fun and they want to, not for any other reasons. This is the real underground of 2012. 


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

In this age of "free-for-all" mentality and the whole world of music couple mouse clicks away not many things stick into people's minds for long time, but I've read some very varying and mixed responses/reviews. Some seem to like it very much, others hate it, there seems not to be middle ground, so this means that we pluck at some deep strings, haha! You can Google all reviews if you like, but I don't think fans of pure grindcore like us very much. Anyway, it's fun to read some reviews where people go totally off the mark of what EYETOFUK is all about, but before you make an opinion, you must listen to the album fucking loud and on a decent powerful speakers. Then it will suck you into another universe! The bass will bulldoze you into the ground! The vocals will eat your face!


8. Are there any other projects besides this band or is this a full time line up?

At this time Don Peezo plays with new Death/Thrash act STORMGREY and El Zoth is hidden somewhere in Portugal mountains. I'm working on electronic/ambient songs for yet unnamed project. Also I just put some EYETOFUK lyric videos on YouTube to sing along in karaoke style (www.yutube.com/eyetofuk) and there are 3 new tracks in the working stages right now, missing only bass and vocals. The line up will probably stay the same or maybe won't, we will see, it's hard to tell, it's not that we're bound by any contracts or shit to keep this project together, but it was very cool to rehearse those tracks, so I'd like to do a live show when opportunity comes along... in 10 years or so, haha!

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

I can tell you that new tracks are turning out quite slower and more punchy, more industrial sounding, but I don't know how they will turn out in the end. Still there will be insane, over the top energy, otherwise it won't be EYETOFUK. We've two completely finished tracks from 2011 - "Kosmik Swamp" and "Fuk Goes Round", but I'm in no hurry to release them. I don't want to put out stuff just for the sake of it, but they sound a bit slower and catchier than tracks on "Orgazmik Holofukout" album. 

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

Man, I could go on forever on this, I'm listening to lots of different music, you can find quite a long list of the bands which influenced EYETOFUK on our site (www.myspace.com/eyetofuk). Nowadays I listen to stuff raging from Death, Grind, Thrash to Downtempo, Dub, Reggae, Stoner, IDM, Ambient even some country like Hank 3 or Johnny Cash. For example this week I'm really ejoying new OVERKILL album "The Electric Age ", TORMENTED's "Rotten Death", HIGH ON FIRE's "De Vermis Mysteriis", TOSCA's "No Hassle", CHINESE MAN's "Racing With The Sun" and many many more. First and foremost I'm the music fan, so I like to listen to different music depending on the mood, it's the best drug! 


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

The biggest interest outside music is shotokan karate, I also love riding my mountainbike, travelling, reading and generally chilling around, although there's less and less time for that unfortunately, haha!


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

First of all thanx for interest and interview! I just want to add that EYETOFUK is sort of on-off project, sometimes we lay dormant, sometimes there are bursts of creativity, so be sure to check our Myspace page from time to time! I'm also interested in collaborations with other people, so you can always email me at <eyetofuk@gmail.com> There are still a few copies of the original "Orgazmik Holofukout" CD-R available with proper covers and lyrics for 8 USD or 6 Euro. Or download it by visiting our Myspace page and share it with your friends and enemies, haha!!

Cheeerzzz!
Xlip