Crowbar – Page 4 – Wonderbox Metal

Natanas – смертность (Review)

This is the fourth album from Natanas, a one-man Black Metal band from the US.

Another month, another Natanas album…

Okay so I exaggerate, but the man is Hellishly productive. And it’s good stuff too. He may have manufactured some form of Black Metal assembly line but his Quality Control department are clearly paying attention to the goods that are produced.

Having said that of course, this is clearly not for everyone, which is something I’ve mentioned before about the last two Natanas releases All Is Permitted and Treachery; the casual listener, the casual Black Metal listener, even, will probably find this a tad challenging.

If you like your Black Metal dark, challenging, atypical and in the vein of bands like Xasthur, Portal, Mitochondrion, Enbilulugugal, Ævangelist, etc. then Natanas is worth checking out.

Also, I’m sure his screeching vocals have gotten higher, raspier and wetter this time. It sounds like he’s rupturing himself every time he opens his mouth. This is not a complaint of course, rather the opposite. He takes time out from trying to turn himself inside out though, as other vocals are included from spoken word to deeper screams that almost remind of Neurosis/Crowbar in style.

смертность has a good amount of variety within its self-imposed framework, with the album retaining the tribal, hypnotic, pseudo-Industrial feel that Treachery did so well. As such this is a very holistic album; listening to a song in isolation is all well and good, but for the full effect it’s best to put on the entire album and just get lost in the murk.

Every time I listen to Natanas by the time I get to the second or third song I’m totally absorbed in the dark, unfriendly, bleak, rotten, urban sprawl that seems to be described. The low-key, lo-fi, production actually adds to the feeling of the album rather than detracting from it.

Natanas has always been a band that goes against the odds for me. If I had just flicked through one of these albums I’d probably think, “No, I don’t think so”, but against all expectations and prejudices смертность, and the previous albums…well, they just work. The various disparate elements and the raw, uncompromisingly lo-fi sound gel into something that just does it; it hits that hidden spot that you didn’t even know you had.

As such, I’m a big supporter of Natanas and heartily recommend that you give смертность a try. It may not do it for you, but who knows, maybe it really, really will…

Xibalba – Tierra Y Libertad (Review)

Xibalba are a Death Metal band from the US and this is their third album.

This is heavy, brutal Death Metal that takes Hardcore and Sludge influences to make a monster of an album.

Imagine a Metalcore band that played Death Metal…yes I know that this implies Deathcore, but Xibalba are not a Deathcore band. Xibalba don’t have an easy to categorise sound. Deathcore should cover it, but no; this is a merger of 90’s Hardcore and 90’s Death Metal where Morbid Angel and Madball meet.

Classic Metal songwriting merges with Hardcore fury and Death Metal aggression. These songs really hit the spot for me as they take me back to the mid/late 90’s but translated to the modern day with a crushingly heavy production.

The band’s sound is Hellishly aggressive and recalls lost greats like Merauder and Konkhra if they got their hands on some Obituary and Crowbar riffs.

The vocals are predominantly harsh shouts that straddle the line between Hardcore and Metal, successfully merging the two styles into a vitriolic whole.

Xibalba have a meaty, beefy guitar tone that can squash a tank at 1000 metres. The punishing music perfectly captures the feeling of rolling demolition and hate-fuelled terror. Little snatches of melody appear merely to offset the heavy rhythms so that when these moments of light disappear again the riffs sound even louder and heavier than ever before.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

Corecom – Crawling Under The Heavy Foot Of Addiction (Review)

Corecom are a Sludge Metal band from Bulgaria and this is their début album.

Lazy, lost, despondent…the woe and rejection…the struggles of life and everything within…Corecom are here to remind you that negativity can be a physical force.

But there’s more to just Corecom than mere misery and Sludgy Eyehategod worship; they’re also in touch with their inner Hardcore band and their brand of Sludge is infested with semi-upbeat Hardcore-esque sections that seem to be fashioned from the murk of the deepest Sludge. This is more No Anchor than Eyehategod.

Corecom also have groove. I mean big groove. The kind of groove that got people bouncing all over the shop before Nu-Metal made it distinctly uncool. Corecom are reclaiming it and drenching it in Sludge so that no-one else wants to touch it.

Southern riffs, Hardcore-vibes, Doom-workouts and Stoner sections abound, as well as some pseudo-Grunge and Pantera/Crowbar influences. Corecom sound stuck in a timewarp in some ways, as Crawling Under The Heavy Foot Of Addiction sounds like it should have been released around 1999. This is not a bad thing at all, as this was a time when there were lots of innovative and interesting bands rearing their bruised, ugly heads.

Varied and catchy songs are Corecom’s speciality and this release is a very complete one; songs are just that, and each track has a part to play holistically in the overall makeup of the album.

Pain-inflicted vocals with no small amount of variety and character run through the songs like rodents infesting the ruins. The singer has a distinctly non-standard voice and this goes for the music too; it might take a song or two to acclimbatize but once you do Corecom have a lot of character and personality to offer.

This album makes me feel both impressed and nostalgic. It’s definitely one you should have a listen to.

Funerals – Human Ruin (Review)

Funerals are from the US and play Hardcore. This is their début EP.

This is caustic, aggressive Hardcore which is heavy and full of contempt. Their sound is thick and syrupy and the guitars hit like hammers.

Fusing Crust Punk and Metallic Hardcore with even a hint of a Blackened influence here and there, these are three songs you wouldn’t want to mess with.

Veins of Black starts with a kick-ass Blackened Doom riff that slowly builds and builds until the vocals start and the chugging begins. The singer shows himself to have a charismatic snarl that fits well with the dark nature of the music. The riffs are catchy and there’s a good amount of 90’s Hardcore vibe lurking behind the contemporary sheen.

Human Ruin has an almost Dillinger Escape Plan feel to it before relaxing and sounding more like Gurd with just drums and bass with less angry vocals taking the stage. The guitars and shouting resumes once more though and the feeling of 90’s Metallic Hardcore asserts itself again.

The final song Sick of Sun continues in the same vein, with Sludge-tinged guitars laying a foundation of heavy riffs and catchy vocals. It’s the longest of the songs and twists and winds to its apotheosis.

Think elements of bands like Vision of Disorder, Earth Crisis, Sick Of It All, Sworn Enemy, etc. all mixed together; then give the resulting concoction a Crusty makeover and add a guitar tone that Crowbar would be proud of. Some Blackened Doom influences round off the package and Funerals have a heady list of weapons in their arsenal to utilise.

This is a decent EP that’s made me quite nostalgic for my younger days, whilst at the same time enjoying the fact that there are a raft of talented new Hardcore bands around these days like Funerals who are taking the template and running with it.

Support this up and coming band and check out their EP.

71TONMAN – 71TONMAN (Review)

This is the début album from Polish Sludgers 71TONMAN, and they’re as heavy as their name suggests.

Drenched in feedback with rhythmic pounding drums and samples – this is how it starts and I already know it’s going to be good. Then the guitars kick in and the tortured, anguished vocals and you remember why Sludge is just such a damn good genre.

If you cross bands like Eyehategod, Crowbar, Charger and Humanfly then you’d end up with something similar to 71TONMAN. In other words, pure class.

The songs are imbued with a sense of the post-apocalyptic. They weave tales of other worlds and places in with the chunky guitars. It’s all very, very invigorating; take a couple of these songs three times a day and call me in the morning.

The vocals are quite varied, with deeper, higher and almost-cleans all in the mix. It all sounds great.

This is an excellent release from a band with much talent. Make sure you support them and visit their world.

Drawers – Drawers (Review)

French Sludge/Stoner Metallers Drawers release their self-titled second album, and as soon as you press play it’s party time at the dive bar for everyone!

Coming across as a mix of Crowbar, Baroness and Mastodon, this is an enjoyable romp through France’s underbelly of Southern-tinged bars. Moving from scrape to scrape all night long and out into the crisp morning dawn to reflect on what’s been lost; the songs are largely high-energy but have a forlorn air of lost-innocence which is somehow endearing.

It’s this aura of fragility coating the otherwise burly riffing and coarse vocals that adds a layer of depth to the band; that lets you know there’s more to this drunken bruiser than meets the eye. The riffs may be heavy and scuzzy but the melodies hidden underneath the obvious give the band a secret ingredient; the same could be said of the vocals also.

Drawers have an undefined edge to their sound that is as apparent as it is hard to grasp. A wonderful combination.

If you enjoy rocked-out Metal of this variety but are also looking for something a little different with it’s own individuality then I’d suggest this album be on your list of wants.