Metal Riot

A lot of people know Brutal Truth, perhaps the heaviest grind band that ever snarled and raged beneath a mushroom cloud of bong smoke, for their Sounds of the Animal Kingdom album the best. It simply comes down to the cover art being so fucking bad ass (though Need To Control has a killer front cover as well) and the fact that Relapse seemed to really give it a good push, arguably one of the records that helped kick start the post-early days ascendancy of the label along with some other classics like Neurosis’ Through Silver In Blood or DEP’s Calculating Infinity, for example. As extreme and interesting as those bands were, Brutal Truth are simply not palatable in basically any way for most people, even open minded ones. You have to be all about the grind, sludge and chaos with a smear of politics and loathing for the inanity of humanity.

For me, this was the first album that really made me ‘get’ grindcore and was a huge mental puzzle piece in moving me towards the most extreme stuff in my collection being Fear Factory and some Death or Sepultura to fully embracing Napalm Death, checking out Repulsion, yadda yadda. I still think Kevin Sharp has the most fearsome bellow and it does more for me than a lot of even lower gurgle death metal vocals like, say, Nile or Pathology (not to take anything away from them). Cannibal Corpse may have had the extreme record art and some fierce growls, but Kevin Sharp always sounded like he had just half eaten someone and was yelling at them DURING the cannibalistic act.

Animal Kingdom is a perfect storm capturing in desperation in our collective, obsessive and narcissistic society. It shoves reality in your face and laughs at the idea of civilization, laying bare our cruelty as the most destructive force in the food chain.

The band had done some great stuff in the past with Colin Richardson or Steve McAllister who had credits with Crisis and Corrosion Of Conformity, among others. Animal Kingdom found the group getting one of their most vivid and intense sounds yet with the help of Billy Anderson. This record was able to match some of the social commentary of an early track like “Anti-Homophobe” that was so promising with some of the crushing heaviness of Need To Control, refining all sides of the band’s strengths into a magnificent onslaught on “Jemenez Cricket” or “Postulate Then Liberate.” And there is hardly even much you can say about the Lilker and Hoak rhythm section insanity besides ,“Holy fuck!”

For guitarist Brent McCarthy, this was his swan song with the group, as high point of an exit as you are likely to find in metal (though BT made great albums after him in the years to come as well). I can remember staring at the graves and skyline montage on the back artwork and getting freaked out at the push of mortality and the oppressive stupidity of my fellow man, something all too prominent in the news again these days like almost never before. Sept. 23rd marks twenty years of this smashterpiece and everything else is STILL not loud or fast enough. Light one up and give the old girl a spin if you haven’t in awhile (or even if you have).

Casting Ships are a Kingston, NY based nautical folk punk band who grew up on hardcore and cut their teeth on a deep love for the scene. The band is now a duo made up of Rob Samps on vocals and guitar and Nikki Mayone on cello. They are about to drop one of the gems of the Summer with new release From The State Of New York on Burning Capital Collective. The five song EP was recorded Nada Studios by the great John Naclerio (My Chemical Romance, I Am The Pilot) and will likely turn the head of anyone unfamiliar with the group who hears it as well as please older fans.

I caught up with Samps and had a lengthy chat about the record, the country and a LOT more. Casting Ships are about to open for famed ex-Faith No More and Bad Brains vocalist Chuck Mosley and will have cds available at the show. They have a lot of other stuff on their plate as well.

We don’t really pander to people with short attention spans like a lot of sites these days. If a conversation is interesting but long, chances are we will go way above other sites word counts here. If that offends you, don’t be the daft twit who writes tl;dr on our Fbook page. If it wasn’t for you, go back to twiddling your thumbs liking 800 random Instagram photos and speaking in emojis as you post your 800th Snapchat dog ears/nose selfie.

For those of you who can handle a nuanced hour long conversation, by all means come aboard BELOW.

Poison Blood

Some albums are simply better as a less is more statement. It doesn’t mean the music is bad, rather that the record goes for maximum impact. Hardcore is usually pretty traditionally on point about this but metal is not always adept at reeling back on the grandiose enough to actually trim enough fat to make some records all killer. I doubt half as many people would have hated Load by Metallica for example if it wasn’t so B-load-ted at over an hour of music. “Bleeding Me” is a kick ass song and over eight minutes long by itself. Does anyone even really remember how “Poor Twisted Me” goes other than that it had a so so blues intro? “Wasting My Hate” is not exactly up there with the band’s classics either. Only die hards can sing along to that or “The House That Jack Built” despite a few cool riff progressions in each, but everyone knows the damn words and every note of “Sad But True”, get me?

Below are a handful (list kept intentionally short on purpose in lieu of the topic at hand) of 2017 albums that are short, sweet and leave you wanting more.

See more BELOW.

Insatia‘s energetic, melodic and sophisticated Phoenix Aflame is turning heads in the power metal scene. This is a band on the rise. From the soaring declaration of guilt in “Act Of Mercy” to the formidable march of “We Are The Grey”, this band show that symphonic metal can be all-embracing to different facets of life while still keeping in line with the love for the dramatic that is a key to the genre.

Today we are happy to welcome vocalist Zoë Marie Federoff to this edition of our new Formative Years column with her selections of five albums that changed her life. But first you should also see the band’s video for “Memory Of A Sapphire”!

Now that you have been rocked, for Zoe’s album picks see BELOW.

The first time I heard Drug Honkey was almost a decade ago now! It stuck out from a pile of boring emo-goth promo cds like a cancerous growth – Death Dub. ‘WTF is this?’, I thought. I took the cdr home from my then editor’s apartment and soon was lost in a swirl of cacophony and acidic rage amidst a Scorn-like clatter of urban blight and very cool, weird atmosphere. The vocals sounded like they were sung by a demon punching up through concrete but the music was both smothering and spacious. Fuck yeah!

I remember thinking how cool it was that there were still some underground bands who took the lessons of Godflesh to heart that you can do something outside the template of what is standard metal and add some punk freedom into the recipe to create a unique experience. This was a nightmarish but addictive sound and perfect with a spliff for those already halfway into an existential crisis who figure, ‘Fuck it, let’s go full bore.’

Cue 2017 and the band are still around and getting better reviews, and deservedly so, than ever for new album Cloak Of Skies on the label Transcending Obscurity. Cloak of Skies boasts seven tracks, including a remix by the legendary Justin K. Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu) and a guest saxophone feature from Bruce Lamont (Yakuza, Corrections House, Brain Tentacles). Cover art was hand-painted by renowned artist Paulo Girardi (Inquisition, Power Trip).

Let’s catch up with Paul Gillis and learn more about this current era of a long running project who do things their own way! Read it BELOW.

Everyone has records that first got them into rock n roll, metal, rap, smooth jazz or whatever. Formative Years is our new feature delving into the brains of various people in the scene to see what made them choose the realm of music as a focus. Jason from IKILLYA did one HERE and I also kicked it off HERE, and we have more cool artists to come in the future. Really this seed was planted by me interviewing Kayla from Witch Mountain awhile ago about her vocal influences, one of the posts that we sadly lost when we were hacked and lost almost a year of content recently. But in memory of that awesomeness we have made a whole ongoing thing out of influences in general, so thanks Kayla!

Anyhow, this round we have the one and only Mr. Cole Jacobsen of Arizona death metallers Lago. They’ve been one of my very favorite up and coming extreme metal bands ever since I first heard them, just nailing all the right components that makes death metal unkillable.  Peep their recent split with mighty Calm Hatchery HERE (you will fucking thank me later if you aren’t throttled to a pulp).

Check out Cole’s choices for albums that inspired him as a young rager BELOW and stay tuned for big things from this band in the future.