Ooooooo baby! Tonight, an hour before the Zegema Beach Records Zampler #9 compilation is released (linked here), I am delighted to share LYED's new track "Velvet Nightfall" with you. This track can be found on Zampler #9 and will appear on LYED's upcoming 'The Immolated Earth' 12"LP via Zegema Beach Records, Middle Man Records and Contrition Records this July. The 9 songs on the LP follow the line drawn by "Velvet Nightfall", with some songs straying from the norm and wandering either towards the heavier or melodic side.
LYED - Velvet Nightfall
For fans of: The Bled, Versus The Mirror and Since By Man Bandcamp Facebook
"Velvet Nightfall" draws from a myriad of influences but the primary would likely be chaotic, metallic hardcore in the vein of The Bled. It opens with a cool riff but after 10 seconds the drums switch up and that amazingness is all I seem to be able to hear. By 23 seconds the vocals kick in, screaming with a slightly gruff edge, making them screamy without being high pitched. At 1:30 the song reaches its first summit and takes a few, brief seconds to take in the view before plummeting downward at 2:17 with a slow, eerie, dark and crushing fall that explodes on impact at 2:51 and goes ballistic for the remainder of the track. Oooo baby. Wait till you hear the other 8 songs! Wowza!!! You can stream "Velvet Nightfall" above or by opening a new tab here.
Label(s): Self Released / Yetagain / SweetOhm Recordings / Body Blows Records This post's artist is from the May 2017 Mix. This is track #4.
You can download: the May 2017 Mix#5 right hereor get the new June 2017 Mix#6 here.
MINERVA SUPERDUTY sent me their 2016 LP to review late last year and I was instantly hooked. Over the last six months I've probably listened to it about 10 times and I also downloaded their debut, self titled album from 2014 that is quite a bit different from their latest.
The band's self titled debut 'Minerva Superduty' was released in 2014 and is a solid outing. The instrumentals are thick and powerful, but it wasn't until I was halfway through "Corvie" that I realized there were no vocals. There are massive songs on here, most notably "Gargantua", "Sklenos pt.2" which has some great, quick riffs and more crushing breakdowns while "Tsakonas Emperor" reminds me a lot of Knut's 'Terraformer'. All in all I'd say these six songs sound more like Omega Massif and Carved Up than the subsequent outing and will be quite enjoyable for anyone who likes instru-metal of the Pelican variety with a heavier emphasis on the heavy.
It was their 2016 LP 'Gorod Zero' that was my first introduction to the band and it didn't take me all that long (by my standards) to get their review up here. Right from the get-go things are awesome, as opener "First as Tragedy" is a whirlwind of chaotic hardcore with strong nods to Lentic Waters, Storm{o} and Trainwreck. This song, along with all of the rest, include excellent hoarse/screamy vocals that remind me most of Lentic Waters, Remote, Callow and Crowning. It clocks in at 3:49 and has little-to-no slowdowns, with one exception that leads to the track's midsection and transitions to more pummeling metallic hardcore and bass-heavy breakdowns as well as another with that post-hardcore outro. "Bright Colors" and "Νιόβης 4" are two other excellent songs that bend metal further towards chaotic hardcore and are must-listens for fans of newer hardcore such as Remote and Past. "Με ζούνε" in addition to the closing/title track "Gorod Zero" are the heaviest hitters here, with the latter beginning from the 9th circle of hell, making its way upwards and quickly attacking heaven by the two-minute mark. Ooooo weeee that's a good fucking album.
Well damn. I'll likely never play in Hamilton again. It's a weird feeling that crept up a few times while we were playing and made me teary-eyed. Even now this seems so surreal, moving to New Zealand, after spending the last five years trying to cultivate something of a scene here in Hamilton. If you'd have asked me a few days ago if I succeeded, I'd have said no.
Now, after this last show, I'm not so sure. Near the tailend of this labour of love I think some seeds may have taken root that may perpetuate and prolong the screamo/post-hardcore/post-metal scene that I tried to nurture. Many other shows were poorly attended, some so much so that I thought I'd stop trying (shows 5, 7, 9 in particular). Luckily that was not the case.
I've counted and it looks like I was able to put on about 24 Zegema Beach Records shows here in Hamilton, which includes a mini-fest and a joint show in Mississauga. I have linked each show below in the order they happened, including the bands that played. Each link provides bandcamp and facebook links as well as (generally) every video that I captured by the band that particular evening.
And the final Canadian ZBR Show #25 is June 1st, 2nd and 3rd Zegema Beach Records Fest in Toronto, Ontario featuring 19 bands from Canada and the USA!!! (linked here)
Wow, that's a lot of shows. Well, here's my take on ZBR Show #24 aka Dave's Farewell Hamilton show at Louis' house in Hamilton. Thanks again for putting on the show, Louis!!!
HUGE COSMIC
This three-piece is an awesome mix of so many different genres I don't know where to begin. There's rock, punk, post-hardcore, emo, pop and science knows what else. The energy and obvious joy the band has is infectious. Here are a few fun facts...
1) Guitarist/vocalist Jacob used to play in Sarin
2) Drummer/vocalist Dean played in Terry Green for this show and it was also his birthday
3) Bassist Adrian does vocals for Terry Green and has never seen Aliens
Even without their drummer TERRY GREEN tore it up and had the crowd moving more than any other band. Dean filled in wonderfully and the band sounded incredibly tight. They blasted through songs "1", "2", "3" and "4" aka "Instant Relief" from their upcoming 'LP' 12"LP that will be released on Zegema Beach Records in late July or early August. It was mastered by Will Killingsworth and is fucking amazing. Oh, they also played "Yard Sard" from their 'Demo' tape/cd. Halfway through "Instant Relief" you'll see everyone go fucking apeshit and it's fantastic. If you haven't heard them yet (which seems unlikely as I post about them all the fucking time) then you need to check them out pronto, and to help you out here is a song from their forthcoming 'LP'. Another new song will be premiered on June 1st via the Zampler #9 compilation. It has been an honour sharing the stage with them so many times. I love you guys. I'm going to miss you. 💖💖💖
Watching SARIN lay waste to an audience in such a small space was something to behold. They opened with "Amber Guide" from their forthcoming 12"LP 'Darker Lakes' that will come out on Zegema Beach Records and Arkan Records, RIP In Peace Records, Dead Punx Records as well as Dingleberry Records on July 25th. They followed up with the epic instrumental "Embers Circling Downward" and closed with the always prodigious "As Well As the Body". It was an excellent performance but goddamn I wished they had played one more song! Be on the lookout for premieres galore in the next few weeks, as well as at least one music video!
I'm not going to go into a big story or anything here. My true friends made it out and said goodbye. The crowd was awesome. I think we played very well. I'm going to miss playing shows here, but the Hamilton scene is not for David Norman and I'm pretty sure that goes both ways. My wife was amazing as always and filmed three of our songs, one from our 8-way split 2x12", one from our split 10" and a yet-to-be recorded song. We will be playing second last at the Toronto ZBR Fest Day #2 on Saturday June 3rd so please come out and say hi! Excessive amounts of love go out to my friends that I've made here, the show supporters, my bandmates, Tyler/Caleb @Doors as well as all of the bands that have played and tried to make this scene a safer, more positive space. Later, Hamilton.
Label(s): Middle Man Records / No Direction Records / Sass Bologna Records / React With Protest Records / Really Rad Records / Contrition Recordings This post's artist is from the May 2017 Mix. This is track #7.
You can download: the May 2017 Mix#5 right hereor get the new June 2017 Mix#6 here.
I was first introduced to the faaaantastic EUTH via email from drummer Adam inquiring about an exclusive premiere back in July of 2016. The song "Blind Rotters" blew me right the fuck outta the water and I was instantly smitten. After premiering said track (linked here) I was lucky enough to catch them at Swamp Fest II 2016 in Richmond last summer and was blown away. Check out my favourite below but I have them both linked here and here. I also was able to speak with Adam in person and that was a bit of trip, as he was crazy nice and reminded me of Colin May in his positive attitude.
EUTH's abrasive and unpredictable take or experimental, mathy hardcore/metal is one not unlike Cassilis, Psyopus and Enkephalin. That basically means there are scathing vocals that're somewhere between shouting and screaming with the occasional low, gutteral growl. The guitars are dissonant, discordant, mathy, and mix with the amazingly timed drums, booming bass and just plain fucked up instrumentals all around. It's seriously a bit of a mindfuck listening to EUTH, but a very enjoyable one, at that.
"Marks of the Flail" is an obvious demonstration of the band's take on controlled chaos, and the opening track of their 'Demo' release. This is followed by my favourite song of the release, "A Knife Revealed", which is a clusterfuck of riffs, parts and sections all with times as short a most band's transitions. In a similar fashion to Vein, they may use a riff for only a handful or two of seconds but the intensity and awesomeness of each step is extremely rewarding if you can do away with all back ground noise and focus solely on the song. "Mercy Killing" is great and goes ballistic at 2:28, with the entire song bearing definite similarities to early Cassilis work in the instrumental department with early, bordering somewhere between sludgy, mathy metal and screamo. Closer "A Central Scar" further illustrates my comparison and includes very intriguing and awkward guitars in its midsection.
In 2016 EUTH dropped two fantastic splits. The first was the Closet Witch split cassette that came out right around the Swamp Fest in the summer of 2016. It begins with "Violent Reprieve", perhaps the most off-kilter and chaotic song, with an absolute slap in the face to conventional song structure and melodies. "Blind Rotters", the track I premiered, is still my top EUTH track as in encapsulates everything that makes the band great, plus from 2:20 onward kills me every time with those dual vocals. In December, I believe, of 2016 EUTH released another two songs on their split with Ankou. These tracks continue the pummeling, unrelenting and murderous style showcased on earlier releases. "No Procession" starts things off and is my favourite of the two, as the ending takes the squeals and peculiar ping of the guitars from The Paper Chase but makes takes the sound from murder to massacre. "No Cataflaques" is a lengthy number, clocking in at over five minutes with a noticeable slowdown in pace, but not in heaviness.
EUTH appeared on our Best Of 2016 list as #5 due to their two aforementioned splits that same year. If they release anything in 2017 I'm gonna be all the fuck over that.
A few years back I kept hearing about this band called Flowers
Taped To Pens. Apparently they were young and screamy, that's pretty much
all I knew. They disbanded right around the time I checked them out and about a
year later I saw RENÉ DESCARTES' name pop up on a few message boards citing
members of Flowers Taped To Pens. I thoroughly enjoyed the 'Demo'
tape and was ecstatic when Connie (vocals) asked me to help release their
final, self titled cassette which I received in the mail earlier this week.
The 2016 'Demo' is four songs of loose, screamy hardcore.
"You Had Me At 'Noam Chomsky'..." is a 3:30 romp of wailing, loose
and shrieky screamo with strong stylistic ties to Innards and Deers! with
an intro that is likely the best thing the band ever did. "Dance DanceQueer Revolution" boasts some fantastic guitar work that reminds me
of Polina and perhaps even Hot Cross just
before the 20-second mark amidst the excellent use of multiple screamers.
"Solace//Despair (nothing is concrete) employs very engaging and almost
spacey guitars from 1:00 to 1:35 in addition to the vocal insanity that is
typical RENÉ DESCARTES. Closer "...Just the Kids Who Built Community"
really gets going at 50 seconds with driving guitar work that explodes at 1:05
with the crunchiest, thickest and catchiest instrumental work of the release
which is then accentuated with the perfect amount of screeching. At 1:55 the
song sounds like it gets a slight remix with lo-fi, bass heavy breakdowns that
permeates as much noise as hardcore.
The 2017 release of 'René Descartes' showed a heavier emphasis on
spoken, sassy vocals and even more piercing screams, with the instrumentals
more or less following the same path as the debut EP. "Those Lives FoundIn That Time" is the essential song from this posthumous cassette that encapsulates everything the band was about at
the time of their dissolution. "Subjugation of Physical Validation"
is a slow jam with very basic framework and execution, but it holds up well as
an interlude between the two heavier tracks. Closer "Repressed LifeLessons" is the most unstable of the three songs, as the first 22 seconds
are utter chaos and you know the batshit crazy screaming doesn't stop after
that.
Now that RENÉ DESCARTES is dead we have been graced with the birth of SeeYouSpaceCowboy, and for that we can all be thankful. Check out the premiere of their new song here. The following interview excerpt is taken from an upcoming SeeYouSpaceCowboy interview with Connie and will be posted in full next month.
An Interview with CONNIE SGARBOSSA of
RENÉ DESCARTES:
Tell us about your time in Rene Descartes. Do you look back on it fondly?
I do look back fondly on that band, it was really refreshing after being
in San Francisco for over a year and not playing in any bands during that time.
It was really cool to work with Ethan again and Jay from
allmywisheswerethrowndownawellandshoulddiethere, and also meeting Jonathan was
really cool and he is a really awesome person.
Did it dissolve at what may seem like the right time, in hindsight?
Well not really it kinda ended abruptly when our living situation ended
and me and Ethan left the Bay Area, we had plans that we didn't really come to
fruition because of that and I really wish we had more time to flesh out
everything we wanted to do.
What bands would you compare Rene to? What were your influences during that time?
Hmm I am not sure, I asked Ethan to take influence from bands like
Matsuri, Adobe Homes, and The Kodan Armada but I am not sure if he listened to
me haha. Some sass influence definitely started to creep in there as well
towards the end.
When did the band start? What other bands have the members of Rene been in?
The band started sometime around December 2015 and ended like June 2016,
so it was really short lived. Well Jay was in AMWWTDAWASDT like i
mentioned earlier, me and Ethan were in Flowers Taped To Pens together and I
had also played in Meryl Streaker as well, I am completely drawing a blank on
the name but Jonathan played in a twinkly indie rockish band before.
Label(s): Static Circuit Records / Pissfork Anticulture / Skeletal Lightning / Middle Man Records / The Ghost Is Clear Records This post's artist is from the May 2017 Mix. This is track #8.
You can download: the May 2017 Mix#5 right hereor get the new June 2017 Mix#6 here.
Review by JESSE MOWERY:
I’m going to just start this off by saying I loooooooove ANODES. Maybe I’m biased because I love them equally as people, but from the
first time I saw them on Halloween in 2012, when they were dressed as Adventure
Time characters, I immediately became a fan because their music is so good.
Super melodic guitars, quiet/loud dynamics, constant harsh vocals, groovy
rhythm section, bleak lyrics…. Pretty much everything I want in a band. I guess
the best way to describe it is mid era Envy+Love Lost But Not Forgotten. Their
sound is pretty consistent, yet each song is unique. Just give their
discography a listen, and continue reading to see and interview I did with
guitarist/vocalist AJ Hofstetter.
Exclusive Interview w/AJ Hofstetter
Hey A.J.! Thanks for doing this interview! Anodes has a been
around for a bit now, how did you start playing with each other?
Well Casey and I were in Orion Pax together and that project
had come to a bit of a standstill so we decided to start another band. We knew
Sean because we had been playing shows with his old band Iron Hills and we
thought he was a cool guy and asked him to jam with us. While we were trying to
get a couple different people to play bass for us it seemed no one wanted to
and Katie, who was Sean’s girlfriend at the time, told me we should just let
her play. I asked her if she was being serious and she said yes and that was
that.
Awesome. You just put out a new 7", it looks gorgeous!
Was the writing process for this any different from the past? It seems a bit
more consistently heavy and frantic than some of your previous releases to me.
There’s sort of a concept that ties it together with our
first ep and the lp that is going to follow it. Our intent was for it to be
more abrasive than we have been in the past.
Sweet! I noticed you released this yourselves, and you all
and Laika did the same with your split together. Were there any reasons you
didn't work with a label?
Well we asked a couple labels if they'd be down to help and
there was some interest, but they said it was going to have to wait awhile
before they'd do it, and we honestly didn't wanna wait around because it
already takes awhile to get records pressed. If I remember correctly both of
those releases took a year or more to come out from the first day of recording
all the way up to the day the record came out.
Damn, yeah I don't blame you for not wanting to wait any
longer than possible. I know that you have been in the "screamo/emotional
hardcore/whatever you want to call it" scene for a while now, how did you
get into it, and what keeps you driven to keep making music like this?
Well I saw Love Lost But Not Forgotten when I was 19 and
I've been kinda hooked ever since. There are so many bands to get lumped into
it. So many different styles. I guess I just love how so many bands involved in
it stretch the box they are supposed to be fitting in.
How's the scene in St. Louis right now? What are some of
your favorite current local bands?
I might be the wrong person to ask about this one. I don't
make it out to many shows these days. I recently saw Handsaw for the first time
and thought they were awesome.
I gotcha. Are there any plans for Anodes in the near future,
like recording or touring?
We have been working on an lp for awhile now that we are
hoping to record this year. There's still a lot up in the air with it. There
are no plans to tour currently.
Cool, well I can't wait to hear the new stuff. I guess I'll
just have to try and come through STL if I want to see you play again 😉 Any last thoughts or anything like that you want to
say?
I'm definitely excited to share it with you. Thanks for
hitting me up to do this.
Label(s): Takehold Records / Happy Couples Never Last This post's artist is from the May 2017 Mix. This is track #2.
You can download: the May 2017 Mix#5 right hereor get the new June 2017 Mix#6 here.
The only reason I know about FABLE is because I love, absolutely loveMara'akate, so I tracked down all of their original releases back in the mid-2000s and therefore came across this lovely hidden gem. Releasing a 4-song 7" in 1998, the aforementioned split in 2000 and a comp song in 2001 I've found almost nothing online about them.
FABLE's demo is the 'Give Us the Night' 7" resembles Oktober Skyline, Usurp Synapse and very early Curl Up And Die. "Mirrored Memories" mixes grindcore/powerviolence vocals with raw, poison-tipped, metallic riffs that almost ends up sound like The Spirit Of Versailles meets Systral by the end. "Untitled" is an awesome song that ops for an In Loving Memory-esque introduction with distant screams and clean European screamo guitars before the song goes apeshit. There is some additional melody using slow and not-so-subtle guitars at 1:30 and 2:30 which is probably the reason I find that thing song stands out so much. "The Clarity of Blindness" brings the Curl Up And Die sound back to the forefront, especially with the pukey vocals. "Of This Confusion" is similar in approach but has a cool, screamy slowdown emo midsection that sets it apart from the previous track. The 7"EP is decent but pales in comparison to the single song released on that fantastic Mara'akate split 7".
Why do I love "Foreshadowing the Reincarnate" so much? Cuz they figured out their vocals and ditched the puke-scream thing for the most part and adopted a throat-shredding scream not unlike Anger Is Beautiful, Love Lost But Not Forgotten and Dispensing Of False Halos. The poisonous and screamy early 2000s metalcore really lends itself more towards the emo/hardcore and screamo releases of the late 1990s and early 2000s and makes me really bummed that they don't have more material. That being said, FABLE also released a song called "Hank's Return" on a comp cd in 2001 which I have been unable to obtain. I assume this was recorded in the same session as "Foreshadowing the Reincarnate" and is probably really fucking good. If you have this song please share it in the comments for everyone! <3
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DISCOGRAPHY Click )==>here<==( to download the band's (almost) complete discography in mp3 form.
Label(s): ? This post's artist is from the May 2017 Mix. This is track #3.
You can download: the May 2017 Mix#5 right hereor get the new June 2017 Mix#6 here.
MALEVICH sent me their debut LP in late 2016 and it wasn't until early 2017 that I really got around to listening to it. It's good. It's really fucking good. It's super abrasive metalcore with some of the rawest, fiercest and varied screaming I've heard in some time. They hail from Georgia, which is where Under A Sky So Blue are from. The two bands share a similar sound (and a vocalist!), although MALEVICH ditch most screamo/emo-violence connotations and fall more or less directly into the metalcore category.
Their debut cassette is 10 tracks of intense and focused noise. 'Only the Flies' opens with the stellar "Solus" that lets you know exactly what you are in for. And holy hot damn that closing 20 seconds is phenomenal as the bass jumps to some higher notes while the vocals cross back and forth between wailing screams and gutteral growls. "A Light in the Darkness that Faded as I Approached" reminds me of Loftus and Black Nail at 42 seconds. When listening to the first 40 seconds or so of "Always, Loss", I unintentionally picture a winged bat-like creature reigning fireballs upon a burning city. Yep, it sounds pretty much like that. "Le Tout Bas" strays from the "norm" of the opening three songs and does more than just top two minutes (it's five and a half, actually) as it takes a slow, noisy and doomy turn with restrained notes and vocals that sound like the pits of hell, only to make a surprising left after 3:30 as it ascends out unscathed with beautiful instruments...that are dashed at 4:40 and left dead in the street. "Perennial Self" takes it easy for a little until it refuses to be contained any longer, so by 34 seconds shit goes bananas and by 1:17 there is nothing left but dust. "Drought" is a mere 32 seconds, but it packs one hell of a punch with amazing vocals and a punishing midsection from about 12 to 22 seconds. "Moult" is a slow and brooding number that tops six minutes, but opens with an epic, almost Deafheaven sounding first 30 seconds, followed by another 20 seconds of metallic hardcore that sounds like it's straight outta Germany. "Disassociated" is the perfect balance between the fast, batshit, insane stuff and the slower, darker and epic parts. This makes track 8 one of my favourites and an excellent starting point in case you'd like a mean, median or average...hooray for elementary school math, David. "Represented in Bondage" might be my favourite on this LP, with more amazing vocal work and sinister instrumentals that builds continually and hits home at 52 seconds with blackened hardcore that borders on emo-violence. 'Only the Flies' wraps things up with the very ominous and plodding "Death Will Never Be Enough" that seems to disintegrate by 4:30 but continues on until 6:48.
Wow, what a debut. I need to see this band. So, so good. Be sure to check out the band on their remaining US tour:
"Velvet Nightfall" draws from a myriad of influences but the primary would likely be chaotic, metallic hardcore in the vein of The Bled. It opens with a cool riff but after 10 seconds the drums switch up and that amazingness is all I seem to be able to hear. By 23 seconds the vocals kick in, screaming with a slightly gruff edge, making them screamy without being high pitched. At 1:30 the song reaches its first summit and takes a few, brief seconds to take in the view before plummeting downward at 2:17 with a slow, eerie, dark and crushing fall that explodes on impact at 2:51 and goes ballistic for the remainder of the track. Oooo baby. Wait till you hear the other 8 songs! Wowza!!! You can stream "Velvet Nightfall" above or by opening a new tab here.
