Evisorax/Goodbye To The Feast/Bones Brigade Records/2015 EP Review

  Evisorax  are  a  band  from  the  United  Kingdom  that  plays  a  very  fast,  aggressive  and  brutal  form  of  grindcore  with  elements  of  death  metal  and  crust  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  ep  "Goodbye  TO  The  Feast"  which  will  be  released  by  Bones  Brigade  Records.

  A  very  fast,  aggressive  and  brutal  grindcore  sound  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  a  great  amount  of  high  pitched  screams,  blast  beats  and  crust  style  shouts  as  well  as  a  small  amount  of  growls  and  you  can  hear  a  heavy  d  beat  influence  throughout  all  of  the  tracks  and  all  of  the  songs  are  very  short  in  length.

  On  some  of  the  tracks  the  music  starts  to  bring  in  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  along  with  a  small  amount  of  hardcore  breakdowns  being  utilized  at  times  along  with  a  heavy  dose  of  power  violence  elements  and  all  of  the  songs  stick  to  a  very  heavy  and  brutal  musical  direction  and  there  is  never  a  soft  or  weak  moment  to  be  heard  anywhere  on  the  recording  and  as  the  album  progresses  a  small  amount  of  melody  is  brought  onto  the  recording  along  with  a  small  amount  of  spoken  word  parts,  guitar  leads  and  melodic  vocals  before  returning  back  to  a  brutal  direction..

  Evisorax  plays  a  style  of  grindcore  that  is  very  heavy  and  brutal  sounding  as  well  as  adding  in  a  touch  of  crust,  d  beat  and  death  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sound s very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent  and  hateful  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Evisorax  are  a  very  great  sounding  fast,  aggressive  and  brutal  grindcore  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  ep.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS INCLUDE  "Welcome  To  The  Famine"  "Locust  breeders"  and  "All  the  Best  Bits,  They  Left  Out  Of  Your  Death".  8  out  of  10.

      

Glaukom Synod/Covered In Semen And Slime/Visceral Circuitry Records/2014 EP Review

  Glaukom  Synod  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  mixture  of  dark-electro  industrial  and  grindcore  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  ep  "Covered  In  Semen  And  Slime"  which  was  released  by  Visceral  Circuitry  Records.

  A  very  dark,  raw  and  primitive  industrial/noise  sound  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  a  great  amount  of  fast  programmed  beats  and  the  music  also  brings  in  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  the  music  also  brings  in  a  great  amount  of  ebm  and  dark  electro  elements  as  well  as  avoiding  any  use  of  traditional  instruments.

  As  the  ep  progresses  they  start  bringing  in  cover  tunes  with  the  first  one  being  Napalm  Death's  "Thrown  Away"  which  they  turn  more  into  a  dark  industrial  song  while  also  having  aggressive  vocals  and  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  and  fast  gabber  style  beats  take  the  place  of  blast  beats  before  doing  their  own  take  on  Led  Zeppelin's  "Dazed  And  Confused"  which  also  sounds  nothing  like  the  original  and  they  also  bring  in  2  more  Napalm  Death  songs,  Bollt  Thrower's  "World  Eater  and  one  of  their  original  tracks.

  Glaukom  Synod  plays  mostly  a  dark  style  of  electro  industrial  and  they  take  Naplam  Death,  led  Zeppelin  and  Bolt  Thrower  songs  and  strip  theme  off  the  guitars  and  vocals  to  add  their  own  musical  style  into  the  covers,  the production  has  a  very  dark  and  raw  sound  while  most  of  the  songs  contain  little  to  no  lyrics.

  In  my  opinion  Galaukom  Synod  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  electro-industrial  and  grindcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Iron  Tongue"  "Thrown  Away"  and  "World  Eater".  8  out  of  10.

    

Occult 45 Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Dean: We're just some dudes playing angry music. We all love grind and sludge and wanted to do our own thing with it.
John: The labels we've received over the years are endless. We do consider ourselves a grindcore band, but someone will always disagree. Make up your own mind. If music is good, it doesn't matter what fucking genre it is. I think if anyone likes "Enemy of the Music Business" by Napalm Death they should surely enjoy us.
Jay: I’m more than happy to commit to calling us a grindcore band, we also have a dirgy sludge element which comes from our love of bands like grief and noothgrush, over all I think our mix of extreme music and punk ethos set a foundation for alot of ground to be covered in our songs.

2.Over the years you have released a good amount of music, how would you describe the musical that is presented on the recordings?

Dean: We self record with our buddy Jeff so that's going to give it a certain quality and character. It's angry dissonant music. I really don't like too many people. I hope that comes across in the riffs.

CK: This isn't really about music but our artwork helps to present what a certain release may be about as well. I try to make the layouts for our mixtapes pretty whacky.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
John: The downfall of man. Human disgust. Horror movies.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Occult 45'?
Dean: Jay(drums) and I were sitting around smoking just coming up with play on word band names and Occult 45 came up. We remembered it when we finally started talking to John(vocals) about getting some jams going.

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

Dean: Lexington, KY or Binghamton, NY would be some of the best. Our boys down at Dis Haus in Baltimore have never treated us wrong. Our Stage Performance? I guess I'd describe it as you're very likely to get covered in beer.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
John: We'll be hitting the road for a couple long weekends starting in March. We're going to set out to do a longer tour around the end of August, around I the same time as last year’s tour.

CK: We're also playing one more rad show this year in Providence, it'll be on December 27th with Dropdead, Churchburn, Krieg and Sangus at DUSK and we're excited to end the year on such a high note.

7.Earlier this your you where part of a split with 'Drones For Queens', how would you compare their musical sound to yours?
Jay: I’d say they’re a much more technical band than we are, but I just seen them live and while they still have those real technical jams, they also know when to just do some punishing blast riffing, almost reminds me of misery index. they rule, we both sound vastly different while both representing grind in our own ways

8.Over the years you have worked with a good amount of different record labels on some of your releases, do you feel these labels have been very helpful when it comes to getting your music out there heard?

John: We've been really fortunate that we've worked with labels that were interested in the music, and shared some of the same background with us. Each label has a different audience, and different outlets.

CK: We're thankful to all the labels that have shown us support and helped get our music out there. At this point we feel pretty comfortable with knowing what release would work well on what kind of label. When we DIY our mixtapes they're made by us through Open Casket Cassettes and those tape releases have served us very well when we're on the road as both of our 2013 & 14 cassettes are now completely sold out. When we feel we've got something really special we see what else is out there for us.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of grindcore?
Dean: I don't really know how the world feels about us, but all of your girlfriends think we're great
Jay: if theres anyone out there on a worldwide level, pls connect

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
John: I feel like personally we have carved out our own niche for songwriting over the last year or so. I don't see much changing from what we enjoy doing right now. We have been experimenting with some noise in our recordings so maybe that will transpire to our live set one day.
Jay: every new batch of songs we write is in my opinion better than the last, so I’m guessing in the future you will be hearing more even better grindcore.

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?

Dean: I think collectively Napalm Death, Rotten Sound, Brutal Truth, EYEHATEGOD, Grief, Noothgrush, and The Melvins are all a huge influence for the band. These days? Dr. Dre is forever in rotation, I haven't went a day without listening to Chelsea Wolfe in about a year. I really liked Earth Primitive and Deadly and the new Blut Aus Nord record as far as 2014 releases.

CK: These days I'm more down with the slow and low musical styling's. I think it comes out in the stuff I end up writing for the band.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?
Jay: Moutain dew, Weed, Little ceasers

CK: Drugs and crazy art

Dean: Disassociating with the human race

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have ant final words or thoughts?
John: As mentioned earlier, we do have some out of town shows being lined up right now. If you're on the east coast, chances are we will be coming by a town near you soon. We have a 7" coming out on Broken Limbs Records titled "Human Abhorrence" sometime in early 2015, a split 7" with Intheshit on Dullest Records, and another cassette demo that we'll be making ourselves. Big thangs.

Jig-Ai 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?
Just after the release of ‘Rising Sun Carnage’ album we have spent some time outside of Europe playing in Japan and Australia.

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?

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

4.I know that the band name comes from a Japanese woman suicide ritual, what was the decision behind using it as a band name and also how does it fit in with your musical style?
It fits fine.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
I can speak just for myself man, I’m with the band for the fourth year now and there were many highlights. Obscene Extreme world tour for example, but I’m  enjoying every single show on 100%.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
I’m personally looking forward to upcoming Neurotic Deathfest.

7.The new album was released on Bizarre Leprous Production, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?
The relationship between band and Roman from BLP works on a friendly basis, and  gives us what we need for functioning the band.


8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal and grindcore?,
Good.

9.What is going on with some of the other musical projects or bands these days that some of the band members are a part of?
Buraak’s Destructive Explosion of Anal Garland just released a badass album and he is finishing his concerts with Brutally Deceased which he is about to leave because of his lack of time. He needs more time for Jerking of to porn and to care of his garden on the country side. Brain has at the moment no other musical projects as far as I’m concerned and same goes for me.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
I think we want to do more grindcore, full of blastbeats and energetic stage presence.

11.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?
Our ears are open wide when it comes to our personal tastes, but when it goes to Jig-Ai, we all know what we should do.

When it comes to my personal taste I’m lately listening to Coroner, Neurosis, Dead Infection, Blondie...you can check out my last.fm profile Kaspy_drummer, it’s all there.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

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

Archagathus Interview

Archagathus interview!
1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

Right now we are all trying to get rid of the weird skin rashes we acquired on our recent 6 week European tour. I am still very itchy and we have been home for almost a month! Aside from that, taking a short break from playing live to focus on our other bands.  This winter we will record for some new records and splits, the next two that will be released are a split 7" with Self Deconstruction from Japan on Agromosh Records (USA) and a split 7" with Sram from Russia that will be released by Grindfather (UK) and Mono Cannibal (Spain).

2.In the last couple of years you have released a great amount of material, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recordings?

Well it is all grindcore, for one.  I guess in recent years we have started tuning lower and using more pitch shifted vocals...also playing faster, which makes it sound a little more death metal or goregrind than before.

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

Our latest LP "Dehumanizer" has a variety of topics.  "Gaybasher" is a song against the kind of people that perpetrate homophobic violence, and the institutions and leaders that enable this kind of activity to go on.  For example, Putin and the laws passed in Russia that make it illegal to express any sort of pro-gay message in public.  As well, various religious institutions and right wing extremists.  They can all fuck right off. Oh we also have a song called "Drunk as Fuck" and it's about how we are drunk as fuck.  "Coconut Bonk" is about the danger of coconuts conspiring with gravity to crush your skull...etc...

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

Archagathus was a descendent of the Greek tyrant of Syracuse, Agathocles. Even though Agathocles has been dead for over two thousand years, he is still releasing an incredible amount of grindcore split 7"s.  I admire his persistence and as such chose the name Archacatush to honor his legacy.

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

Oh, we have played so many amazing shows in so many amazing cities that it would be very difficult to chose! We have played absolutely great shows in Los Angeles, Lima, Baltimore, Chicago, Athens, Kragujevac, St Petersburg, Moscow, Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Nagoya and many more! Stage performance? Well, sometimes we are pretty good and play our songs decently and are in tune and have good sound....but other times we do not. We just try to be drunk and have fun!!

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

Not the immediate future...hopefully we will tour Brazil in 2015!!

7.So far this year there has been a good amount of material released, does the band put a lot of effort into writing and creating songs?

No, not really.

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

Grindcore enthusiasts all over the world have given us a lot of support and respect and this makes us very happy.  We love the international DIY grindcore community and hope to tour all over the world to meet and play grindcore with our friends! And keep pumping out the records of course.

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

Grindcore!!

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?

Old Scandinavian hardcore punk, early 90's grindcore and death metal, crust!!



11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Physics, skateboarding, drinking, kitty cats, marijuana, unemployment!!

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

Thanks for the interview, anyone can feel to contact us at archagathus@hotmail.com . Peace!!

Sick/Tired 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?

We recorded the album on the day of my grandfather's wake. His last year on this Earth and his battle with Parkinsons Disease is what motivated by lyrical content and the atmosphere of the LP. After it was recorded we spent quite some time mixing and mastering the album, which at this time we had the great opportunity of playing Maryland Deathfest, and playing some great shows in town with bands like Test, Triac, Despise You, Bongripper..Our LP came out right when we went over to Europe for our tour with Corrupt Moral Altar. We are back home now and planning our next few shows to support this LP.

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?

I think this album contains some of our most darkest lyrical content. It is also our tightest sounding and most varied. Reviews already have said its a melting pot of musical styles which I agree with. We are mixing all of our influences of punk, thrash, doom, sludge, hardcore and incorporating it all into our sound without sacrificing our style of writing tight, 40 second songs. Its a nod to the older style of grind and the bands that came before us, while also trying to do something new.

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

Self hatred, emotional castration, suicide, disease, government spying, mental anguish, fear of aging, what happens after death..those are some of the topics we have covered on the new album and what we are working on now.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Sick/Tired'?

That I can't answer..the boys in ST came up with the name and had been a band for several years before I joined..However I think the name fits perfectly with the lyrical content of the music.

5.On one of the tracks you had the guy behind Merzbow doing the harsh noise sounds, can you tell us a little bit more about his contribution to the recording?

It was pretty painless. I emailed him to see if he would be interested, and his response of yes came with the intro haha. I have spent the past ten years in an experimental noise project called Winters in Osaka, so I have had the opportunity to work with some of the finest noise musicians in the world. It was a complete honor to have him on this LP, as I have been a fan for over 15 years.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

Some of the shows that come to mind would be our set at Go!Fest in Rome, Bloodshed Fest, opening for Nasum/Brutal Truth, opening for Despise You, and Maryland DeathFest. All those shows had incredible energy and I think we played very well. I have been told our stage show is full of energy. We usually play for 20-25 minutes with no stops, and try to cram in about 15-20 songs in that time frame. After the shows I feel like I have been hit by a semi truck, which means I gave it my all.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?

If we were young bucks, we could tour relentlessly behind this album. However we all have ful ltime jobs, so a proper tour is hard for us to commit to. We will play local shows, and if possible try to play out of town ion weekends as much as we can. Obviously, I would love to be on the road behind this LP for six months if given the chance.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to the newer music by fans of grindcore and power violence?

It's been great. We hear a wide range of compliments and enthusiasm from people all over the globe. Gullio from Cripple Bastards recently told me that he thinks our new album sounds like a 90s grindcore album, with its intensity and song writing and that meant the world to me. I will always remember being 13 years old and discovering them through tape trading. But yeah, the feedback from our fans has been very humbling.

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

Not sure...our newest batch of songs have a 90s grindcore feel which bring Disrupt and Warsore to mind, but who knows what will happen after that. All I can say though is that what we write comes from a very honest and sincere place.

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?

Unseen Terror, Heresy, Napalm Death, SOB, Warsore, Cripple Bastards, Ulcerrhoea, Rot, Agathocles..those bands continue to be my source of inspiration.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

True crime books, 90s Japanese wrestling, Russian philosophy, traveling

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

Thank you for the interview and thanks to everyone who continues to support us, and to all our new fans and to Dom and A389 for believing in us. Cheers!

Occult 45/Drones For Queens/2013 Split EP Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  ep  from  Occult  45  and  Drones  For  Queens  which  was  released  at  the  end  of  2013  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Pennsylvania/Jew  Jersey's  Occult  45  which  play  a  brutal  mixture  of  crust  and  grindcore.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  a  very  brutal  sound  that  combines  crust  and  grindcore  together  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  aggressive  growling  vocals  and  the  music  is  very  heavily  rooted  in  the  90's  and  also  brings  in  elements  of  d  beat  along  with  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  In  the  slower  sections  you  can  hear  traces  of  hardcore  and  power  violence  along  with  a  small  amount  of  melody  and  the  songs  always  utilize  a  great  amount  of  raw  energy  along  with  a  very  old  school  yet  heavy  production  and  lyrics  that  cover  dark  and  anti  christian  themes  as  well  as  always  remaining  heavy  and  brutal.

  In  my  opinion  Occult  45  are  a  very  great  sounding  old  school  mixture  of  crust  and  grindcore  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Priest  Feast".  

  Next  up  is  Pennsylvania's  Drones  For  Queens  a  band  that  plays  a  mixture  of  hardcore  punk,  metal  and  grind.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out  with  a  very  heavy,  melodic  and  old  school  crust/grindcore  sound  and  a  few  seconds  alter  aggressive  vocals  are  added  into  the  music  bringing  in  a  thrash  and  crust  feeling  while  the  melodies  have a  post  hardcore  feeling  at  times  along  with  guitar  solos  and  leads  being  utilized,  their  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent  and  hateful  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Drones  For  Queens  are  a  very  decent  sounding  mixture  of  hardcore  punk  and  grind  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Whitewashed  Afterlife".

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  punk,  hardcore,  crust  and  grind,  you  should  check  out  this  split.  8  out  of  10.