Helpless are a UK hardcore/grindcore band and this is their debut album.
Here we have 22 minutes of intense grinding mayhem. It’s feral and violent, but not without a dangerous intelligence. Continue reading
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Tag Archives: Botch
The Hirsch Effekt – Eskapist (Review)
The Hirsch Effekt are a German progressive metal band and this is their fourth album.
Here we have 61 minutes of progressive metal/hardcore, the likes of which you rarely encounter among the faceless hordes of most nearly-interchangeable bands. Continue reading
Gnarwolf – II (Review)
Gnarwolf are a US hardcore band and this is their latest EP.
You’ve gotta like this kind of thing; less than 14 minutes of angular, chaotic hardcore. The band play it well and make one Hell of a noise. What’s not to like? Continue reading
Dying Whale – Last Moments of Misery (Review)
Dying Whale are a US hardcore band and this is their latest release.
Last Moments of Misery is a 34 minute mix of hardcore, punk, metal and sludge.
Starting with a firm punk/hardcore base to their music, metal and sludge influences are liberally thrown over the top of it to get the end result that they want. Continue reading
Coma Cluster Void – Mind Cemeteries (Review)
Coma Cluster Void are a death metal band, (of sorts), and this is their debut album. They have an international lineup, with members from Canada, Germany and the US.
This album features not one, but two ex-Cryptopsy singers. You heard that right. To be fair, one of them, (Lord Worm), is only a guest vocalist on a couple of tracks, but still. The other, (Mike DiSalvo), is only one half of the vocal attack, the other half being provided by Continue reading
Remote – Resilient (Review)
Remote are a French hardcore band and this is their second album.
You’ve gotta love dark, violent music that creates oppressive, negative atmospheres. Yes? Oh come on, of course you do.
Combing chaotic hardcore, crushing sludge, dark metal and inventive post-hardcore, Remote present us with 33 minutes of angst-ridden darkness that aims to cause damage. Continue reading
Snake Tongue – Raptor’s Breath (Review)
This is the début album from Swedish hardcore band Snake Tongue.
Snake Tongue play modern chaotic hardcore with a violent punk edge to it, recalling a cross between Converge, All Pigs Must Die and Botch.
Heavy, rhythmic hardcore merges together with Continue reading
Cut the Architect’s Hand – We Dig No Graves (Review)
Cut the Architect’s Hand are a Metal/Hardcore band from the US, this is their latest album.
Featuring a Hardcore base, Cut the Architect’s Hand layer Metal trappings on top of this, building an album that has depth and longevity due to its commitment to creating involving and engaging underground heavy music.
This reminds me of the extremely fertile cutting edge/violent Hardcore scene about 15 years ago, when it seemed that almost every band that came out from the US on labels like Trustkill Records were doing something new and interesting.
Cut the Architect’s Hand are torn from the same cloth as this era. Imagine the atypical wanderings of Botch mixed with the primal aggression of something like For the Bleeders by Vision of Disorder; this should give you a good idea of what you’re in store for should you delve into this record. And delve you should.
The songs are gritty and well-worn, like they’ve been harshly sanded down prior to being unleashed on the world. It’s quite a savage, unpolished sound, but it fits the band’s aggressive music and this is 34 minutes that you won’t regret spending.
It’s all very well-written and structured, with fast brutality and interesting riffs around every corner. Moments of introspective Post-Hardcore are dotted around here and there, adding further texture to already textured music. I like that each track has a distinct personality and something of its own to offer the listener.
Absolute top quality. Makes me quite nostalgic for the early 00s too, while also showing that although it’s not as commonplace these days, this kind of inventive and individual heavy music is still alive and well in 2016.
For fans of forward-thinking, Hardcore-based aggressive Metal.
Intensive Square – Anything That Moves (Review)
Intensive Square are a Technical Metal band from the UK. This is their début album.
This is Technical Metal played with a love of both complexity and crushing rhythms. There’s a Hardcore side to the band that’s combined with a firm Metal base, resulting an album that combines elements of such diverse bands as Botch, Converge, Johnny Truant, Meshuggah, Circle Takes the Square, Pyrrhon, Today Is the Day, Scarlet, Frontierer, Sikth, Periphery and many others.
Featuring a splenetic vocalist who has a vicious screamed shout, these songs provide a satisfying ear-bashing while also catering to those who like a bit of technicality and complexity with their beatings. It doesn’t go too far down the complexity route though, as there’s plenty of big rhythms and grooves provided to get the listener moving and jerking around the place in strange movements.
The album lasts 45 minutes and provides a meaty feast for anyone into this kind of thing.
Give them a listen.
Sealclubber – Stoical (Review)
Sealclubber are a UK Sludge band and this is their début album.
Sealclubber play abrasive Progressive/Post-Sludge Metal that takes in elements of Crust and Hardcore to produce a lively and gritty 44 minutes of music.
The sharp Hardcore energy of some of the riffs is also alive in the harsh shouted vocals, which are full of both threat and feeling.
This is juxtaposed against the slower, more atmospheric parts that have a dirty Post-Metal sheen to them, like something struggling to be born whole out of a world of filth.
Add to this the emotive Sludge elements that the band seem to pull out of nowhere when they need to and you have a very well-rounded release that shows Sealclubber to be an uncompromising and multifaceted band who are capable of many moods throughout these six songs.
This puts me in mind of the old Cave-In and Botch releases where both bands really pushed what it meant to be a Hardcore band. Sealclubber have similar ambitions it seems, only coming from a Sludge angle and delving deeper into both, (quite divergent), Hardcore and Post-Metal routes at the same time. This split focus shouldn’t work, but it really does, marrying what little common ground there is between the two styles with a murky Sludge Metal coverall.
With divergent influences, comes great risk, but with great talent, comes great reward.
Loved it.
