Razor Sharp Death Blizzard are from the UK and play hardcore.
The UK seems to have such a knack for producing some of the angriest, filthiest, nastiest extreme music out there, and Razor Sharp Death Blizzard are a great addition to the wealth of talent that’s available from the country.
This is 36 minutes of hardcore punk and ugly sludge metal that recalls a good mix of Continue reading “Razor Sharp Death Blizzard – You Will Burn (Review)”
Colombian Necktie are from the US and this is their début album.
The band have a basis in Hardcore but build elements of Sludge and Metal on top of this to create something heavy, raw and nasty. I’ve been watching this band’s development over the last few splits and EPs that they have released and it seems that with this album they’ve taken everything they’ve learned and ramped it up to the maximum.
A suitably crushing sound heralds the start of the album and it immediately draws you in. The recording is arid, focused and everything sounds both tight and loose at the same time.
Colombian Necktie have a relatively varied sound that employs bits from many different Metal subgenres and puts them to work creating this monument to Hardcore Sludge. Sludgecore, if you will. And I’m glad they did as it sounds just great.
This belongs to the same stable of bands such as Charger, Eyehategod, Enabler, Mistress, Serpent Eater, Ilsa, etc. – bands that are doing their own thing by their own rules and make a virtue out of the heavy, filthy and unclean.
For the most part Colombian Necktie’s songs are tightly compressed balls of rage. Hardcore and Sludge sensibilities combine along with the odd Stoner Rock moment to create an album with a vicious swagger and an attitude that just won’t quit. Add to this the odd synth effect, some other interesting ideas and the emotional closing track Kevin’s Song, (which is by far the longest track here), and you have an engaging and diverse album.
The singer is impressively rabid the whole time and sounds like he would be great live, which of course can be extended to the entire band.
Considering their past releases I was hoping this would be a good album but they have more than exceeded my expectations in this. I knew it would be of a certain quality but wasn’t expecting an album of this depth and nuance.
A highly recommended listen for all connoisseurs of heaviness.
Secret Cutter are from the US and this is their début album. They play Sludge Metal with an added side of Hardcore/Punk.
The Secret Cutter sound is one of pure unbridled filth, fury and fucking heaviness. This is aggressive and nasty in only the way that Sludge and really pissed off Hardcore can be, and when combined like this it just sounds gloriously horrible!
Think of bands like Eyehategod, Serpent Eater, Ilsa, Corrupt Moral Altar, Wolvhammer, Enabler and the like; distil what makes these bands so interesting, nasty and individual and you’ll have a good idea of the murky swamp of urban decay that Secret Cutter dwell in.
I love albums like this – no messing around, just undiluted heaviness and aggression, whether that’s done at speed or slowly. It’s rough, raw and genuine.
The Sludge is strong and works well with the added Hardcore/Punk influence that the band have.
The songs have a good degree of variety in them for a short album, (only 26 minutes), and within the style they play. Each song is readily identifiable also, (no mean feat for any band), and show a creative force at the top of their game.
They have some great riffs on this release and the songs are surprisingly catchy for this type of band. Although catchy probably isn’t the right term. Infectious, maybe?
Special mention should go to the singer, who absolutely rages and tears his way through the songs as if it’s the last thing he’s ever going to do. His high pitched screams are the very incarnation of savagery.
This really is a top quality release that has so many plus points it’s silly. In many ways this is the best of heavy, nasty music, and this is one I’ll be listening to over and over again.
Play it loud and get it now.
Enabler are from the US and play aggressive Hardcore/Metal.
Songs, songs, songs! But I’m getting ahead of myself…
This has a good Hardcore coating with a solid Metallic core. The songs rip along at a aggressive pace and leave you struggling to keep up with their urgency and sense of life.
The music is very well written and the songs have a great sense of dynamics and raging melodics. The tuneful brutality and fast angry passages show an intuitive understanding of what makes a great song. The riffs are as impressive as the overall compositions are.
This is not merely an album but a collection of individual songs that raise the bar for any other band playing any vaguely similar style of music.
The vocals are mainly screamed but still largely legible and are the crowning achievement of a band that has already poured a lot of effort into the music. They are highly emotive and work very well with the music to complete Enabler’s snarly, rabid vision of musical heaviness.
The ultimate fate of any band playing in this genre is to be compared to the legendary Converge. The highest praise I can think of is to say that I can quite happily play Enabler alongside the masters and they more than hold their own.
This is a stunning release that the band should be very proud of. It’s sadly quite rare these days that a band produce an album where every song has its own identity and purpose within the a wider whole-album context. This is an achievement to be studied and poured over by lesser bands for years to come.
A strong contender for album of the year in my book.
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