Turbocharged/Apocalyptic/Go Fuck Yourself Productions/2017 CD Review

  Turbocharged  are a band  from  Sweden  that  goes  for  more  of  a  mixture  of  death,  thrash  metal  and  punk  on  this  recording  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2017  album  "Apocalyptic"  which  was  released  by  Go  Fuck  Yourself  Productions.

  Aggressive  growls,  fast  riffs  and  blast  beats  start  off  the  album  along  with  the  riffs  also  bringing  in  a  decent  amount  of  melody  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  music  also  incorporates  a  great  amount  of  punk  and  thrash  metal  elements.

  Most  of  the  music  is  heavily  rooted  in  the  mid  80's  to  early  90's  while  also  mixing  in  a  more  modern  vibe  and  the  solos  and  leads  are  done  in  more  of  an  old  school  metal/punk  fashion  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  as  the  album  progresses  elements  of  first  wave  black  metal  can  be  heard  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  very  heavy  musical  style.

  On  this  recording  Turbocharged  expand  on  the  death/thrash  metal  style  which  they  mix  in  with  more  punk,  d  beat  and  crust  elements  this  time  around,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  anti  religion  themes.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Turbochgarged  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  death,  thrash  metal  and  punk,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Siamese  Sons  Of  God"  "Halo  Of  Thorns"  "Deathmarch"  and  "Scandinavian  Darkness".  8  out  of  10.

Facada/Nenhum Pluto De Attitude/EveryDayHate/2017 Compilation Review

  Facada  are  a  band  from  Brazil  that  plays  a  mixture  of  grindcore,  crust  and  death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2017  compilation  album  "Nenhum  Pluto  De  Attitude"  which  was  released  by  EveryDayHate.

  Acoustic  guitar  playing  starts  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  very  fast  and  brutal  grindcore  direction  which  also  uses  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats  and  high  pitched  screams  while  death  metal  growls  are  also  used  at  time  and  after  awhile  elements  of  crust  and  d  beat  are  added  onto  the  recording.

  Most  of  the  tracks  are  very  short  in  length  while  the  music  also  adds  in  the  energy  of  hardcore  punk  at  times  as  well  as  adding  in  a  covers  of  Bad  Brains's  "Sailin  On"  and  Misfits's  "Hybrid  Moments"  which  also  introduces  guitar  leads  and  melodic vocals  onto  the  recording  and  some  of  the  tracks  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  melody  at  times,  clean  playing  can  also  be  heard  briefly.

  Facada  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  grindcore,  crust  and  death  metal  and  mixes  them  together  to  create  a  very  heavy  recording,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  society  and  life  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Facada  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  grindcore,  crust  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Coraxo"  "War Command"  "Cause  And  Effect"  and  "Deathwish".  8  out  of  10.

Mutation Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?

Ginger: We’re all just getting into shape and mentally preparing to get this thing on tour. I’ve had a few personal problems that landed me in hospital, but that’s just made me more focused on what we want to achieve on tour. Mutation has become a personal mission for me.

Scott: I'm currently in Australia – We met up in May to shoot the 'Hate' video but everything is admin based until we begin our tour pre-production in early October.

2.Recently you have released a new album, 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?

Ginger: This is our third album. The first Mutation album was more like grindcore rock n roll, the second experimented with pushing extremes, exploring the heavier elements but mixing them with weird time signatures and general weirdness. This third one is more streamlined. This one is a more relentless experience that naturally suggests taking this into the world of live music.

Scott: Both the first (The Frankenstein Effect) and second (Error 500) were quite different sounding but seem to come from the same gene pool. Coming on board to write 'Dark Black' with Ginger, I wanted to bring a new flavour to the table and made sure it stood on it's own.

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

Ginger: The main themes of the album are mainly mental health related, which also touch on our frustration with society and the daily trials of keeping your head above water and not giving into the anger and aggression that comes with the stigma of suffering from mental health related issues.

Scott: As Ginger said, it's not a pleasant album lyrically. I did not try and make sense of what was going on in my head at the time and create something with metaphors. It was very abstract and nonsensical as that was where my mind was.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Mutation'?

Ginger: This was a sonic experiment that was designed to Mutate over the first three albums. There was no long term plan, I just knew that I’d need three albums to figure out what Mutation is meant to become.
Now the mission is to take this studio project out on the road, and allow it to mutate into a road animal.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?

Ginger: Would you believe we haven’t even played a show. The only live performance that the band has ever undertaken is on the latest video for Hate, below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LvySwEwbXU

Scott: Yeah – The 'Hate' video is the band, at our first rehearsal, live in the room. We put a lot of faith into the fact this would work – and the video above cemented that fact.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

Ginger: After the Oct/Nov tours of UK, Ireland and Japan we want to take this band everywhere that has electricity. I feel that the next step in our evolution is as a live band, and I’d like to play every day of the week for all of 2018.

Scott: It truly feels like a brand new band – We have to prove ourselves so this tour is our chance to introduce this project to the world. There's been fans popping up from all over the globe, so as far as I'm concerned, I'd go anywhere with these guys.

7.The new album was released on 'Undergroove', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

Ginger: Undergroove is the mastermind of Darren Sadler, who I’ve known for a long time as a friend but never got to actually work with. They say don’t work with children or animals, or mates…but I couldn’t be happier with the way that Darren has taken Mutation and genuinely worked his bollocks off to get our music out there in peoples faces. Together we’ve become a deadly team and I can only imagine what we’re going to achieve together in 2018.

Scott: I had worked with Darren on Exit_International's debut EP / Album and singles. He is such a pleasure to work with and was personally made up knowing someone as hardworking and dedicated was in our corner. He's done an incredible job so far during this campaign, and hopefully this means when the time comes for a new record Darren will be with us too.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of extreme metal?

Ginger: Insane!! The response to this album really has blown us all away.First of all, we did;t know if anyone would actually like this music. It’s not exactly traditional metal. But it seems like the world of extreme metal is ready for whatever you’d call this call this brand of noise. I think that because the world is in such a fucked up place right now, politically, that it has created a hole for music as aggressive and bleak as ours. For this we have Mr Trump, Mrs May, Kim Jong-un and the rest of the global team of political piss-wanks to thank.

Scott: To me, 'Dark Black' is the runt of the three Mutation records,  and doesn't sound like anything in heavy music at the moment. The sum of our parts, knowing whet makes us tick was never going to create a straightforward version of what people see as metal. To me it is a violent, experimental punk album with splashes of melody. It is always amazing to hear the great feedback the record has gathered so far.


9.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?

Right now Mutation is our main concern, we are 100% focussed on this and all other bands and projects have to take a back seat. This is going too well for us to even consider our other options. We believe in riding the horse of fortune until the fucker is bleeding out from exhaustion.

Scott: This is our number one concern at the moment, and turning this loose as a live band is where the test comes – Hopefully the live arena will spread the word further. I'm still with my best pals in Exit_International and we are releasing a live album we recorded on our tour in May, as well as my Jaws Of Deaf project which is just a case of when I record a set of 5 songs, I put them online. I also play guitar for a rock band in Geelong (Australia) called Social Haunts. Denzil our drummer has a load on – He's always in at least ¾ bands at anyone time, most recently seen giging with Horsefight. For the rest of the guests on the album....Here's the roll call: Prog metal superstar Devin Townsend, Phil Campbell from Motörhead, Arthur Shepherd of Primitive Weapons, ex-Cardiacs fruitloop Random Jon Poole, Jamie Oliver of UK Subs, Mauro Pawlowski (ex-dEUS) and the mighty Paul Catten (Barrabas, Bed Wetter, Stuntcock, The Sontaran Experiment, ex-Medulla Nocte etc etc). With backing vocals from long-time Ginger comrade Givvi Flynn and host of friends and fellow weirdos also contributing.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Ginger: This is arguably the most exciting thing about what’s happening to us. We will develop this into a live monster and then record that version of the band. None of us have an idea what we’ll sound like after a year on the road, but I guess we’ll all find out on the next album.

Scott: Ideally I'd love not to repeat a vibe of anything we've done before, but has to be extreme. This project allows us to push boundaries, and would love to experiment further with the next album. Maybe even going further into the electronic realm might be worth pursuing, but recorded in a live setting.

11.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?

Ginger: I’m not sure that any direct musical styles or influences apply to Mutation. We all listen to a host of different music but when we get together for Mutation then the natural sound is something miles away from what we listen to back home. I think we’re just trying to choke as much noise out from this band as is humanly possible.

Scott: When we wrote 'Dark Black', we spent an evening listening to music, talking about films and book that we both love – The thing that became apparent was a shared 'vibe' we both like, and that always is a nod in the extreme direction. It was an exploration of all things fucked-up which opened the door for this album.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

Ginger: We are all big fans of the kind of chemically enhanced bonding sessions that involve laying down brain cells in sacrifice to the darker forces of equilibrium in chaos. Baphometal, if you like.

Scott: We both are hardcore horror fans, and that informed the album and our direction. Exploring extremes, chasing the hit.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Ginger: We intend for the Mutation live experience to be something that lives between catharsis and sacrifice. This will be unlike anything else that you will experience. Trust us on this and join us. Together let’s make this something very intense and very special indeed.

Scott: The plans we have for this tour, when executed will seriously challenge and push how extreme an experience live music can be.

King Parrot/Ugly Produce/Housecore Records/2017 CD Review

  Australia's  King  parrot  have  returned  with  a  new  recording  that  continues  their  mixture  of  death,  thrash  metal,  punk  and  grindcore  and  this is  a  review  of t heir  2017  album  "Ugly  Produce"  which  will  be  released  in  September  by  Housecore  Records.

  A  very  heavy  and  brutal  sound  starts  off  the  album a long  with  all  of t he  musical  instruments  sounding  very  powerful  and w hen  the  music  speeds  up  a  great  amount  of  blast  beats,  crust  and  grindcore  elements  can  be  heard  while  the  vocals  are  a  mixture  of  hardcore  style  screams  and  death metal  growls.

  When  guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  remain  true  to  an  extreme  metal  style  while  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  some  of  the  tracks  being  very  short  in  length  and  the  music  also  mixes  in  a  great  amount  of  thrash  metal  influences  along  with  the  raw  energy  of  punk  and  as  the  album  progresses  the  riffs  start  utilizing  more  melody  and  the music  always  remains  heavy  and  brutal.

  King  Parrot  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to  the  thrash,  death  metal,  punk  and  grindcore  mixture  of  previous  releases,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  murder,  shit,  violence  and  disgusting  stories.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  King  Parrot  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  enjoy  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Entrapment"  "All  Hail  The  Grub"  "Numb  Skill"  and  "Spooki  The  Animals".  8  out  of  10.     

Old Night/Pale Cold Irrelevance/Rain Without End Records/2017 CD Review

 

  Old  Night  are  a  band  from  Croatia  that  plays  an  atmospheric  form  of  doom  metal  with  some  elements  of  progressive  rock  and  blues  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2017  album  "Pale  Cold  Irrelevance"  which  will  be  released  on  August  26th  by  Rain  Without  End  Records.

  Drum  beats  start  off the  album  along  with  some  clean  playing  a  few  seconds  later  which  also  adds  in  touches  of  post  and  progressive  rock  while  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  the  vocals  are  done  in  more  of  a  melodic  fashion  and  the  solos  and  leads  also  use  a  great  amount  of  melody.

  When  the  music  gets  heavy  it  brings  in  more  of  a  traditional  doom  metal  style  while  the  riffing  also  brings  in  a  great  amount  of  melody and  death  metal  growls  are  also  utilized  at  times  and  when  keyboards  are  added  into  the  music  they  give  the  songs  more  of  an  atmospheric  feeling  along  with  all  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length and  as  the  album  progresses  acoustic  guitars  and  elements  of  blues  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  very  slow  musical  direction.

  Old Night  plays  a  style  of  doom  metal t hat  is  very  atmospheric  while  also  mixing  in  elements  of  death  metal,  progressive  rock  and  blues  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while the  lyrics  cover  dark and depressive  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Old  Night  are  a  very  great  sounding  atmospheric  doom  metal  band  with  elements  of  death  metal,  progressive  rock  and  blues  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of   those musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Mother  Of  All  Sorrows"  and  "Something  Is  Broken".  8  out  of  10.

Born For Slaughter/Self Titled/WOOAAARGH/2017 EP Review

  Born  For  Slaughter  are  a  band  from  Macedonia  that  plays  a mixture  of  death  metal,  thrash  and  crust  punk  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2017  ep  which  was  released  by  WOOAAARGH.

    Clean  playing  starts  off  the  ep  before  going  into  more  of  a  heavier  and  melodic  musical  direction  along with  some  death  metal  growls  and  crust  style  screams  a  few  seconds  later  while  the  music  also  mixes  in  a  great  amount  of  d  beats  along  with  the  solos  and  leads  being  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion.

  A  great  amount  of  90's  influences  can  be  heard  in  the  bands  musical  style  but  also  mixing  it  in  with  a  more  modern  style  while  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  elements  of  thrash  are  also  utilized  at  times  and  the  vocals  also  add  in  a  touch  of  hardcore.

  Born  For  Slaughter  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  death  and  thrash  metal  and  mixes  it  in  with  a  more melodic form  of  crust  punk  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  angry  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Born  For  Slaughter  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  death,  thrash  metal  and  crust  punk  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Downfall"  and  "P.T.S.D".  8  out  of  10.

  

Sledgehammer Nosejob Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
SLEDGEHAMMER NOSEJOB was formed in Hoogeveen/Netherlands by Carl Assault and Fredde Kaddeth (me). Carl and I also play in the death metal band MASSIVE ASSAULT. Marco Prij (also in Distillator) is our drummer and Casper le Gras our bassplayer. With Sledgehammer Nosejob we released our debut full length album called Stop! Hammertime! on CD and LP this year.
Some little history that goes from a studio project to a live band: Sledgehammer Nosejob started in 2013 as studio project, we recorded all songs in my studio. we offered our demo songs for free downloads online. We also got attention from organizers who wanted us to play at their events. So this so called studio project was rolling into gigs in 2014. People from different areas where asking from the beginning if we would bring out CD's and vinyl. Together with DDR (Defying Danger Records) we realised the music carriers this year with our debut album "Stop! Hammertime!".


2.In January you had released your first album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
The music we play is Death Metal, but some songs are pure rock & roll, and some songs we play are crust also some thrash.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
Some songs have a lyrics about war and tragedy and conflicts, other songs are about dark thoughts and inner conflicts from a person’s view and some songs have a more amusing theme, the dark themes in our music is nothing new but a funny lyrics for example from Chainsaw Hank is about a person living the dream and being the best in TIMBERSPORTS / Lumberjack Competition sport. So the lyrics vary from dark themes to positive vibes.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Sledgehammer Nosejob'?
In your face! That’s the music from Sledgehammer Nosejob.
Inspiration comes from 80s WWF intro theme songs, Chuck Berry, d-beat and (Death) metal in general


5.On the albums there are only 2 members, are you open to expanding your line up or do you prefer to remain a duo?
On this moment Sledgehammer Nosejob is reduced to 1 member and all other members are session musicians.
Explanation!

Carl Assault is stepping back with Sledgehammer Nosejob, because he's also very active in most weekends with lyric videos and video shoots for a record label right now. To plan shows is getting more complex when a member has less time to play. We got shows offered we weren't able to do. This also means that Sledgehammer Nosejob is looking for a vocalist now. The album is released this year and doing live shows will also help promoting the release. That’s also fair to our record label, who invested time and money in Sledgehammer Nosejob. The idea for a expanding line up is not there yet. It worked for me to keep things simple where I had to compromise with Carl only. I must say that Carl and I had projects in the past and I always felt that we complement each other. It feels weird when Carl leaves Sledgehammer Nosejob. But I also wish him luck with this video job!
Carl and I are still in MASSIVE ASSAULT, so we will have our music and time in that band together.


6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Protsen open air in Germany was great, from a long drive with traffic jams, we arrived 5 minutes before our ShowTime, there was no time for warming up. Marco our Drummer needs it normally but all went good.  We played a great show and I think many people where entertained. We were!
And another great show was on a birthday party in Berlin, It was full packed with more than 200 people, played with awesome bands and the atmosphere was awesome. For that show we travelled by train the day before. A little strange way to tour, but all was smooth. In our performance people can see that we enjoy to play. Energy and drive!

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
With the line-up change and auditions there is less visibility on long term plans.
But we have some shows on the short term on Berlin Swamp Fest 2017 on 15th September and on 14th October
Defying Danger Records Label Night

8.The album was released on 'Defying Danger Records', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?
It's a small underground label, and the good people behind it have good connections in the underground metal and grind scene.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal, thrash and crust?
From many countries people were impressed with our music.
A lot of people where interested and asking for physical music carriers like CDs and LPs after we put our fist demo song online.

10.What is going on with Massive Assault these days?
Massive Assault released a third album on vinyl last July, and it will be released on CD in autumn.
We had a video shoot some weeks ago, and Carl is making a video clip now.
So expect some Massive Assault madness soon on YouTube also!

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
I can't answer, with all this turbulence in this line-up now.

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?
With our album "Stop! Hammertime!" there is a rock, death metal, crust, thrash variety. Think of Obituary, Motorhead, Carnivore, Chuck Berry, Discharge
Nowadays i listen a lot of W.A.S.P. but also some old death metal albums, old Metallica, Pantera, Prong also Wolfbrigade. Sometimes New Wave.

13.What are some of your non musical interests?
Documentaries films from history to politics or science, carpentry, my girlfriend, I also love hanging out with my cats and dog and social time with friends.


14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Yes, I want to thank you for your interest in Sledgehammer Nosejob and this interview. For the people who don't know Sledgehammer Nosejob and our music. Check our BandCamp and Facebook and my recording studio Dirty Bird Productions. Cheers! https://www.facebook.com/SledgehammerNosejob/  https://sledgehammer-nosejob.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Dirty.Bird.Recording.Studio