Album Review Nervosa - Perpetual Chaos

I'd be a complete liar if I didn't admit that I had never heard of Nervosa before picking up Perpetual Chaos. This is hardly surprising and hardly the band's fault. Metal can still be a boys club, even while it claims to be an all-encompassing club for misfits of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, genders, and creeds. This means that it will always be the boys who take the leading roles while everyone else is relegated to the supporting cast. As an all-woman thrash band though, Nervosa was able to cut through the waves of beards, bullocks, and buttheads for over ten years, to great acclaim by pretty much everyone except for me (hey, I'll admit when I come up short). They held it together as long as they could... and then they couldn't. Due to a variety of circumstances, in 2020, original member and guitarist Prika Amaral found herself as the only remaining member of the once fearsome phalanx of feminine ferocity. When you're a three-member band, and two members quit, that's usually the end of the line. Either the band is done, or it continues as the conspicuous solo project of the one remaining member. Neither was to be the case for Nervosa. 

Not only did Nervosa persist as a full band, but it also dodged the easy trap of becoming a one-woman show under the eye-brow raiser banner of a royal "we." Through savvy recruiting efforts on Prika's part, she was able to reconstruct this ball-busting Bride of Frankenstein, and shock her monster back from the brink of oblivion, with the help of ex-Abbath bassist Mia Wallace, progressive metal drummer Eleni Nota of Lightfold, and Bloodhunter vocalist Diva Satanica. According to Prika, she deliberately recruited the band's new members from outside Brazil, with the new members coming from Greece, Italy, and Spain, respectively. The band's new international status made recording their fourth LP Perpetual Chaos, a logistical nightmare (especially during a global pandemic), but the results speak for themselves. Perpetual Chaos rules! 

The album opens with the vicious ripper "Venomous," followed closely by the Sodom raising "Guided By Evil," and the riff and drum fill avalanche "People of the Abyss." A three-punch volley that will prime you for the knock-out blow of the title track, "Perpetual Chaos," which springs forth from the rubble of man's folly, like a scythe-wielding wraith, fueled by vengeance, come to cull the corrupt and callous architects of the vanel temples of villainy that direct the devices that arrange our arrogant social orders. Capitalists, politicians, whathaveyou- the heads of our oppressors are about to roll, like ripe melons plopping off fruit cart with a wobbly wheel as it bumps and bucks down a cobblestone street (metaphorically, of course, this is art after all, they can say whatever you want!). 

The problems that power, domination and inequality present to self-described "free societies," are explored on the album with the urgency they deserve. Global agribusiness and the genocidal slaughter of domesticated and wild animals alike, is reproached with bloody rage on the excessive, Exodus-esque scourge "Kings of Domination." The repugnant response of national governments in the public health crisis caused by the in Carona virus pandemic is address with an appropriate level of rage on "Time to Fight." And the need to seize one's own freedom and work for other's liberation, as well as your own, is dramatically illustrated on the ruckus revolt primer "Rebel Soul," wherein guest vocalist Eric A.K. of Flotsam and Jetsam all but declares that, "There is no authority but yourself" (he does refer to himself as an anarchist though, which is pretty close).  

While Nervosa is a serious band with messages pertinent to our time, they make room on Perpetual Chaos for some good old-fashioned, bloody fun as well. Particularly on the impressively revolting "Blood Eagle" which spills a full-bucket of acid fermented Destruction disgorging riffs over your head. Then there is also the fatal flair of the alienation greeting, void embracing "Until the Very End," where the grooves kick like a mule and the rhythm whirls like the blades of a jet turbine that has just caught the sleeve of your jacket.  

Some commentators I've read have bemoaned the direction that Nervosa has taken on Perpetual Chaos, transforming themselves into a bombastic Kreator-styled death-thrash group, and letting slip from their repertoire some of the black metal elements that had previously found a home in their sound. As I said in the beginning, I'm not familiar with the band's past work, but Perpetual Chaos delivered most of everything I want from an extreme metal album, and on that basis alone, it earns a hearty recommendation. 

Buy Perpetual Chaos from Naplam Records here. 

Album Review: KIM - Self-Titled

I did a write up for Oakland sludge rockers KIM and their self-titled album for New Noise. I'm not going to lie. I got a little distracted reading up on Nero and ancient Rome while writing about this album. It's a good album, if you're into slow, growly, guitar rock. 

Read write up for KIM's self-titled album. 

Buy it here. 

Album Review: Mark Redito - Natural Habitat

As I write about music everyday, I'm sure many of you have gathered that I'm terrible at taking care of myself (or, as a version of me would have said a decade ago, "adulting"). I usually work roughly fourteen-hour days, get about 4-6 hours of sleep, and mostly survive on coffee and beer. This is not a flex. I do not advocate this lifestyle. Sometimes it doesn't even feel like living. This year though, I'm dedicated to doing better for myself. To the extent that I have control over my life and schedule (rant on the market and the wheel of capital, aside), this means sleeping more, drinking more water, exercising regularly, and making time to straight chill. So far, I have made absolutely no progress towards any of these goals. However, I have found something that feels like a reasonable approximation for some of them: adopting plants. 

I've developed the impression that plants are advanced and wisened organisms. They have very specific needs that, once met, allow them to produce their own food. They have a strong grasp of what conditions they will find nourishing and are adept at tricking humans into creating said conditions - rewarding their caretakers by releasing oxygen and looking nice. Most of all, they're just really good at being chill, which, again, is something I am aspiring to this year. I'm hopeful that some of their wisdom will rub off on me while I tend to them. None of us are dead yet, so the plan appears to be working so far. 

Some people say you're supposed to play music for plants to help them grow. This seems like a bit of projection to me. Plants don't have ears. Humans are the ones who find music relaxing. What plants need are sunlight, water, and the right kind of soil. That's not to say that plants cant inspire music. This is one of the reasons I've been really enjoying Natural Habitat by LA electronic composer Mark Redito. Mark appears to feel a similar kinship with the plants that he invites into his home as I do. He expresses this appreciation with lively and warmly funky beats drawn from the world of dance music. While much of music about, or god forbid, for plants, feels like it is inspired by something other than a living thing, Mark's mixes are possessed of a genuine momentum that is surprisingly generative of both a sense of contentment and groundedness. I'm particularly partial towards the weightless city-funk of "Nowhere Left To Grow" with its splashing synths and the refreshing course of cooing melodies that passes through the composition like a cool breeze slipping over a window sill. I'm also rather taken with the pulsing sputter and liminal pounce of opener "Anne," which features some delightfully owl-like vocal percussion, an effect that is later developed and explored on the dial-up, modem churn mimicking and fusion jazz fizzle of "Anthurium."

Part of me hopes that in taking care of plants, I'll learn to take better care of myself. Whether or not I'm able to maintain my commitment to living better for myself this year, my life will have improved significantly due to the increased amount of photosynthesis that will be occurring in my apartment. The only other thing I'm certain of right now, is that Natural Habitat has earned its place in my new regiment of habitual listening. 

Buy Natural Habitat on vinyl here. 

Album Review: Valerie June - The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers

"Valerie June is a country singer. Native-born to Tennesse she currently resides in Brooklyn. Brooklyn might be better associated with Biggie Smalls than stars of Glen Campbell’s stripe, but I think that you’d be missing a beat if you assumed that Valerie June doesn’t bring a whole lot of soul with her where ever she goes." - This is the intro from my review of Valerie June's The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers. Read the whole thing over at New Noise. 

Read review of The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers. 

Get the album from Fantasy Records. 

Album Review: Liquid Pennies - Distant Dawn

"Liquid Pennies first started melting cooper in 2018, releasing their first EP Floods in late 2019. After which they recruited violinist and vocalist Zoë Turtle in order to make the group a quartet. Their latest release Distant Dawn is a four-track album with the length of most LPs with three times as many tracks." - Check out the full review of this fantastic album over on New Noise at the links below: 

Read review of Distant Dawn here. 

Get a copy of Distant Dawn here. 

Album Review: Zero Trust - S/T EP

"Zero Trust is made up of a bunch of guys who know what they’re doing. The band channels the collected talents of Full Scal Rot vocalist BJ Allen and drummer Evan Rossiter, diesel-powered guitarists Zack Thorne and Mike Milewski, bass slinger Travis Stever of Coheed and Cambria. What may come as a surprise to some, is that Zero Trust actually sounds like none of its member’s other bands, nor all of them combined. They’re really not like anything we’ve heard in hardcore in decades actually." - That's just a taste of my review of Zero Trust's self-titled EP published over on New Noise. Check out the full review at the links below:  

Read review of Zero Trust's S/T EP here. 

Get a copy from Equal Vision Records here. 

Interview: Public Universal Friend

Image courtesy of the artist

I had a great conversation with the marvelous and thoughtful Jody Friend of the Indianapolis punk and folk group Public Universal Friend for the release of her debut album Perennials. Our conversation is over on New Noise now and you can check it out at the links below: 

Read my interview with Jody of Public Universal Friend. 

Get Perennials here. 

Interview: Kota Kira

Photo by Kota Kira

I had an awesome interview with electronic dance producer and heavy metal witch Kota Kira about her music and the world of underground techno for New Noise today. I really love what she is doing. Check it out our conversation at the links below: 

Read interview with Kota Kira on New Noise. 

Buy her stuff over on RE:Mission Entertaintment here. 

Album Review: Los Males Del Mundo - Descent Towards Death

"Los Males Del Mundo (“The Evils of the World” in English) is an Argentine depressive black metal band, who cut around the more primitive aspects of atmospheric black metal’s South American forebearers such as Mystifier, turning instead for inspiration to doom metal and post-rock, in order to give their music the texture and quality of divine neglect." - This is an excerpt of my review of Argentine depressive black metal band Los Males Del Mundo's new album Descent Towards Death. You can read the whole thing over on New Noise. Links below: 

Read review of Descent Towards Death on New Noise. 

Get a copy of Descent Towards Death here. 

Interview: Crawl Below

Photo by Charlie Sad Eyes

Had a conversation with Charlie Sad Eyes about his one-man, experimental metal project Crawl Below. This year he released a post-doom album about his home town in Connecticut called 9 Mile Square. Lots of fun tidbits in this one about local folklore. Check it out at the links below: 

Read the full interview with Charlie Sad Eyes of Crawl Below at New Noise here. 

Buy Crawl Below's latest album 9 Mile Square here. 

Album Review: Tribulation - Where the Gloom Becomes Sound

"Where the Gloom Becomes Sound is Tribulation's follow up to their summit surpassing performance on Down Below, and takes the band's sound in a logical, if regrettable, direction." - This is an excerpt of my review of Tribulation's Gloom Becomes Sound. It may be the most negative review I've ever written about a band. I don't write about stuff I don't like though, so I'm still pretty nice about it. It's not a bad album, it's just not the right direction for the band in my opinion. If you want to know more you can check out the full review at the link below: 

Review of Tribulation's Where the Gloom Becomes Sound on Scene Point Blank. 

Get a copy of Where the Gloom Becomes Sound via Century Media Records. 

Album Review: Anjimile - Giver Taker

I wrote a review for Anjimile's Giver Taker for New Noise. His label really liked it. I know I shouldn't brag about that, but I'm going to. Don't try to stop me. See what all the buzz about at the links below: 

Read review Anjimile's Giver Taker here. 

Get Giver Taker from Father / Daughter Records. 

Album Review: San Leo - Mantracore

Artists like San Leo lend strength to the conclusion that there may actually be a few hidden senses and capabilities, available to humans, but only become known under the proper conditions. The way musicians work in general leads me think that humans have a sixth sense of some kind. A powerful invisible organ that only coordinated action with others may unlock. And I will take the sonic codex of San Leo's Mantracore as certifiable proof of my hypothesis. Mantracore is the band's fourth LP and it's built out of a fascination with less impelling aspects of '70s krautrock. The astonishing aural ambiance that it could muster and the passage that it would appear to open, cutting through time and space, to explore eternity in the time it would take to suck down an HB cigarette. Although San Leo's drag doesn't need a filter. The album is comprised of two astonishingly ambitious, slow-burning psychedelics instrumentals, designed to realign your chakras. "MM" begins unhurriedly, moving with the utmost deliberation before erupting into a rumbling and burst of stochastic chords, like a giant suddenly emerging from under a mountainside after restorative thousand-year slumber. The kineticism of "Core" begins as soon as the smoke clears from its predecessor's passage, erupting like a hurricane of pyrokinetic energy, purging the mind of its bramble of psychic-underbrush. Clear your head and prepare to be transported. 

Get Manrtacore from Bronson Recordings. 

Album Review: Kidi Band – So Good

 "LA’s Kidi Band is an experimental pop group formed through the collective interests and efforts of Steven Kai van Betten, Linnea Sablosky, Cari Stevens, and Cooper Wolken. They all met during a class the took on African music while attending the California Institute of the Arts. As they learned about various African traditions they began to play around with the sounds that they had recently gained an appreciation for to see if they were compatible with the tropes of pop music." - Read my full review of Kidi Band's So Good over on New Noise. Links below: 

Read my review of Kidi Band's So Good.

Buy So Good. 

Album Review: Pretty / Normal

"As far as emo goes, the band’s sound is on the louder side, with a spacy quality that sets them to orbit in an adjacent galaxy to the one that Hum circulates in. You can trace the lineage of the band’s sound from the post-hardcore of the late ’90s to the current resurgence of big guitar-hook heaving, heart-string plucking, and tear-jerking rock of the underground. From Rival Schools to Spielbergs, with a pit stop at Silversun Pickups along the way." - Just a snippet of my review for the Pretty / Normal's self-titled album. You can read the whole thing at the links below: 

Read review of Pretty / Normal's EP over on New Noise. 

Buy Pretty / Normal's EP here. 

Album Review: Child's Pose - Eyes to the Right

 
"London group Child’s Pose is a sincerely engineered take on the nervey, British post-punk of the late ’70s and the knife’s edge cat-walk of early ’80s new wave. Despite its nostalgic touch-backs, Child’s Pose’s sound is refreshingly nimble and moves without a hint of pretense." - That's just a snippet of my write up of the new Child's Pose EP. You can read the whole thing over on New Noise. Links below: 

Read review of Child's Pose's Eyes to the Right here. 

Get a copy of it on vinyl from Thrilling Living Records here. 

Album Review: World Peace - Come and See

Wrote a review of World Peace's debut LP Come and See. Skull perforating power-violence out of Oakland. They're from Spazz's neck of the woods but they're not that kind of power-violence. Think Vaccine, but not recorded in a dumpster ie THEY SOUND FUCKING GOOD! Full review up New Noise. Links below: 

Read review of World Peace's Come and See here. 

Get a copy of Come and See on vinyl from Twelve Gauge Records here. 

Album Review: Thirdface - Do It With A Smile

Nashville isn't known for its hardcore, but I think that's why it's all that much more interesting when a great hardcore band emerges from that part of the country, Tennesse, or otherwise. With the stellar visibility that bands like Knocked Loose from Louisville and Enforced from Richmond have garnered for themselves in the past few years, it's clear that hardcore is not, and never was, exclusively the expressive terrain of raging debauchees squatting on the coasts. What I want to pull and pluck here, is the fact that Nashville is not just roughly in the same orbit as the aforementioned petite urban centers of the rural, South-East, but one that already has an established musical identity. 

Nashville, if you hadn't heard, is "Music City"! A place where music and live performance thrive. Both kinds! Country and western! I'm doing an old bit, but it's to help get to my point. That is that, as far as, the music industry at large is concerned, certain genres simply do not exist in certain parts of the country. And this brings me to what I love about Nashville hardcore band Thirdface, their sound and message are aggressively counterposed to the very idea that you have an ascribed place and role in society, and that these social fetters should go unchallenged. Thirdface seeks to test the chains that bind us and break them at their strongest link. 

While Thirdface's debut album Do It With A Smile certainly poses a challenge to the hierarchy of money and connections both at home, across the nation, and around the globe, they also pose specific criticisms of the liberal culture that presents itself as ally and friend to the underserved and underfoot. The literal midpoint of the album is occupied by song titled "Ally," which lashes out with a purposeful, power-violence push and shin-slicing undercut, that peels off the lambskin facade that covers much of the predatory paternalism, exoticism, and mystification projected onto non-white community members by self-appointed saviors. There is a preoccupation on Do It With A Smile with forcing people to show their true face to you, not surprising, given the substance of the phrase from which the band presumably draw their name.* Songs like the serrated tongue lap of "Local" cutaway at the cozy exterior clout-chasers in midst of communities of color, constructor their toolset for this necessary exorcism out of oscillating tempos, dive-bombing guitar curvatures, and the teeth-bearing bark of Kathryn Edwards's righteously aggrieved vocal performance. 

The inherent immorality of having to submit to exploitation and alienation in order to earn the mere opportunity to survive in this world prompts a shuddering cry and heave of emotion on "Buck," while the accumulated trauma of living in a world where you are not wanted finds a cathartic moment of relief on the chop-chord, fry and simmer of "Legendary Suffering," which then transitions into the human-juice splashed, killing-floor foment and break-away groove funk of "No Requiem For The Wicked." The album enters its final act in two parts, beginning with the death-rattle rumble and metallic hardcore super-crush of "No Hope," and closing with the precipitous, chasm-fodder tumble of "No Relief," which with an abrupt, terra firma smearing stop. 

Thirdface's fight is against the remorseless political proponents of white supremacy and brute-force accumulation, as well as those shallow, self-serving allies whose thin gruel of flattering social media posts and luke-warm, HR-coached empathy are meant to sustain the segregated underclasses when they are faced with real questions of survival. In putting the talons to these deserving foes, Thirdface finds the strength to bolster their resolve from some very relatable sources. On the brick-breaking thrash of "Chosen" the band envisions themselves as the inheritors of Buffy Summers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's brawn. Later, on the flexing grind of "Villians!" they take up the moral certainty and clarity of intent that defines the character of Kenshiro of Fist of the Northstar. In enbibing the wisdom and fortitude of these archetypal characters, Thridface has tapped into an ancient secret of art and storytelling, passed down between generations for millennia, but which has been needlessly marred by the reactive criticism of post-modernity. Some truths are self-evident, but somethings it doesn't hurt to spell things out. When it comes to the nourishing quality of a narrative, the particulars of a hero's story, the plausibility of their circumstances, and motivations for their quest are ancillary to their ability to inspire us with their resilience, cleverness, and sense of purpose. 

Whether you realize it or not, you are the hero of your own story as well as its author. To accept the call to adventure, is to accept the invitation to life itself. However, you will need a guide. One who will teach you their skills so that you can deploy them as required in the battles that lie ahead. You bring the values and set the destination, and if you learn the right lessons, take them to heart, and move with confidence, you might one day find yourself succeeding in your battle against the forces of evil, and once more, doing so with a smile on your face.  

*The term is attributed to a Japanese proverb: "You have three faces. The first face, you show to the world. The second face, you show to your close friends, and your family. The third face, you never show anyone. It is the truest reflection of who you are."

Get a copy of Do It With A Smile on Exploding In Sound Records here. 

Interview: Carbonized Records

I did something I've been meaning to for close to a year back in January. What was this thing I had a compulsion to do? Talk to Chad Gailey of Carbonized Records. What else? Seriously, that's it. That's the extent of my impulsive behavior. That and eating chocolate after midnight. You can check out our conversation over at New Noise through the links below: 

Interview with Chad Gailey of Carbonized Records. 

Visit Carbonized Records here. 

Album Review: Culted - Nous

"A band is like a family. They work together as a unit. They know all of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. They are the foundational social body that makes the workings of larger institutions possible. And when they come together, in trust and harmony, they can accomplish remarkable things. Also, like a family, sometimes a band’s members are best off living in different cities (different countries even!). Now, while I have you all nodding in agreement, allow me to segue into an introduction of our Bandcamp of the Day, Culted’s Nous." - This is the intro to my write up of international blackened doom band Culted's new album Nous. You can read the whole thing on New Noise at the links below: 

Read review of Culted’s Nous.

Get a copy of Nous from Season of Mist here. 

Album Review: GG King - Remain Intact

"Atlanta garage punk Greg King aka GG King went back in the studio this past year and is now back in your ears with his latest LP, Remain Intact. For this latest endeavor he’s assembled his pales and oft accomplices, ax-men Josh Feigert and Mike Koechlin, bassist brandisher Ryan Bell, and skin-thumper Tyler Kinney, to recapture the slightly sour, darkly toned rollick and roll that we’ve come to rely on King for. And yes, the band still sounds like they should be opening for the Wipers in an LA club whose ceiling is always leaking, even days after it last rained." - Just a little morsel of my review of GG King's new album Remain Intact. You can read the whole write up over at New Noise. Links below: 

Read review of GG King's Remain Intact here. 

Get a copy of Remain Intact from Total Punk Records. 

Album Review: Black Funeral - Scourge of Lamashtu

Sometimes I'm not sure if I listen to black metal more for the music or the folklore attached to it. Thankfully, with the Black Funeral's Scourge of Lamashtu it's not a contest. The music is as weird and twisted as the demons evoked by the album and song titles. This should be expected from old masters of the insidious arts like Black Funeral. As one of the US's longest-running raw black metal bands, they've had a few moons to whet their trades and collect enough ingredients for a baneful repast, at which they offer us a seat about every two to four years. 

Scourge of Lamashtu follows the Black Funeral's Ankou and the Death Fire, an album that introduced a more distressed melodic quality to the group's increasingly atmospheric compositions. Scourge of Lamashtu continues in the same discordant stride as its predecessor, a direction that I think works for the band, even as it tests the boundaries of their sound in ways that demonstrate its limited carrying capacity. 

The album does an admirable job of staying on brand, imparting upon the listener the details of Lamashtu's infanticidal transgressions. The demon is unique in Mesopotamian folklore as not only being a god in her own right, but self-directed in her actions. Unlike other malevolent forces who were active in Mesopotamian society, Lamashtu is depicted as acting outside the decrees of the Anu, the sky god. She chooses to steal infants from their cribs to dine on their blood and to maim nursing mothers as an autonomous and willful actor. The reasons for her vengeful zeal against children and their mothers are as multitudinous as the stars. So numerous in fact, as to feel almost arbitrary in the aggregate. Although, her association with the Hebrew demon Lilith may give some clue as to the root causes of her scorn. How ever you frame her hostility in terms of motivation, it's incredibly compelling to hear her retribution put to song. 

Most of the tracks on Scourge of Lamashtu begin with a mood-setting inauguration passage. Usually a combination of drum machines, low-register frequencies, and incantations- spoken in hushed, tortured tones. Opener "Kassaptu Lemuttu (Incantations of Zaqiqu-Demons of the Underworld)" is no different, beginning deep in the pits of forbidden mythic noise before landing on your back from an unseen perch and subduing you with a submission grip made of cold, barbed grooves. "The Vampyric Rabisu at the Threshold" sucks you through the threshold of a zoological crypt into the icy hail of a Emperor-esque, primitive orchestral squawl. "Nergal, Lord Who Prowls by Night" embraces an almost tribal beat along with a claustrophobic affray of jutting guitar lashes and antithetical synth snarls. "Seven Udug-hul" has a breath-robbing, cyclical guitar-line that is merciless paired with an ore-beating rhythm, a conflagration that parts as if at the mouth of the strait into a bay of clear, black, reflective sound. "Scourge of Lamashtu (She Who Strangles the Lamb)" appropriately feels like the combination of its antecedents and features some of the most genuinely lugubrious guitar work on the entire album. From there, the album reaches a climax with the liminal, melodic grandeur of "Gidim-hul, Blood Thirst of the Dead," and finally concluds with the chaos winds of "Pazuzu, King of the Lilu-Demons," which calls upon the protective spirit to perform his ascribed role in shielding the mothers and their fledglings from the scourge of Lamashtu's appetite. 

I have no idea if Scourge of Lamashtu is the best raw black metal about a plague god to drop in the year of an actual plague, but for what it's worth, I enjoyed it and it gave me an excuse to do a fair amount of myth spelunking. And that's worth an awful lot in my book, if I'm being honest with you (which I usually am). 

Get a copy of Black Funeral's Scourge of Lamashtu here.

Album Review: Sunburned Hand of the Man - Pick A Day To Die

I did a write up of Sunburned Hand of the Man's return album Pick A Day To Die. The description of the album on there Bandcamp page is so perfect I almost didn't want to do a review of this one becuase it LITERALLY covers all of the bases and says just about everything I wanted to about it... however, I can't listen to an album I like this much and NOT use my platform to say anything about it. Read my write up over at New Noise at the links below and then check out their write up of themselves here. If you never read another thing I write afterward I won't blame you!

Read my review of Pick A Day To Die here. 

Buy Pick A Day To Die on vinyl here. 

Album Review: Penetrode - Penetrode

"What’s your favorite Office Space quote? Take a second to think about it. Get it at the top of your mind. Got it? Good. Now forget it. We’re not doing that shit here. One of these days you’re going to have to develop a personality beyond the film quotes you memorized in your twenties. Consider yourself on notice." - ... and there you have it. The introduction to my review of the debut LP from Philly's Penetrode over on New Noise. If you want to know what I actually had to say about the record, you'll have to click one of the links below. One of them will allegedly take you there. 

Read review of Penetrode's self-titled. 

Buy Penetrode's self-titled.

Album Review: Terminal Bliss - Brute Err/atta

How many bands get signed after releasing just one or two tracks these days? I mean, it does happen. But this isn't the '60s anymore. You don't drop a hot single and then get carried to national acclaim on the back of a surge of call-ins to local radio stations. Labels don't sign you because you're the slick young band with a regional heat seeker in your back pocket, they... Now that I've written the previous sentence, I've realized that I have no idea how people actually get signed to a lable these days. I assume it involves email... although a lot of record labels are on Twitter and Instagram now. I guess you could just DM who ever you want to sign you. They'll probably listen to your stuff while they sort their emails at night to empty their inbox (which is a thing people do because they hate themselves and can't stop working, even while in bed). People DM me their stuff all the time and I listen to it (yes, while I sort emails at night, I'm as bad as the rest of you). I'm not signing anyone to a label, though. I Thought I Heard A Sound is not in that kind of a business, friends (I have to sleep eventually). 

Regardless of how record deals actually get inked in the Twenty-first century, Terminal Bliss's signing to Relapse seemed almost inevitable. The band released two tracks via Bandcamp and it landed them a deal within a week. Given who is in Terminal Bliss though, I'm surprised it took that long. The group is comprised of members from Pg. 99, City of Caterpillars, Iron Reagan, and Darkest Hour, and the fact that they released anything as an unsigned band makes me think that they didn't initially take the project that seriously. Lots of bands start out that way, ie as sort of a lark. That seems to have been a miscalculation on their part. People are very interested in this band and they needed to put together an EP right quick if they wanted to maintain the momentum generated by those early tracks. 

So what's the verdict on Brute Err/ata, the band's aforementioned, debut EP? Well, it's pretty good. Good enough to drop 500 or so words on it at least. The album really doesn't sound like any of its members' other projects. It's more of a revival of the loose, fun, and audaciously outspoken, political hardcore of the early '80s, with odd nods to power electronics and a punishing stratum of feedback ground into its DNA. "Clean Bill of Wealth" starts out with an industrial sputter before slipping into an SSD aping groove, "Dystopian Buffet" is a bouncy thrash and mash, and "Small One Time Fee" will whip you around like a dead cat in the hands of guerrilla with the Venomous Concept logo tattooed on its chest before grotesquely transitioning into a Street Sects-esque slither. Brute Err/ata has definitely gotten my attention and I'm looking forward to seeing what Terminal Bliss does next now that they have the dedication of my eye, ears, and whatever is left of my slightly damaged sense of hearing. I'd wish them luck, but that's probably bad luck... break a collar bone, guys (no, not literally). 

Get a copy of Brute Err/ata on CD and vinyl here. 

Album Review: Claud - Super Monster

"Claud is currently based in Brooklyn but is originally from the North Shore area of Chicago. There are few references to their Chicago-metro area roots on this album (see, “Jordan”), but this album really finds its home in quiet bedrooms and earphones held tightly against one’s ears. Small, private places where the vulnerability that inspires their sound can be exposed and the muscles of their grooves can relax and find their flow." - Just a little bite of my review of Claud's Super Monster over New Noise. Read the whole deal below:

Read my review of Claud's Super Monster.

Buy the thing here.  

Interview: ERRA

Image courtesy of ERRA

Had a great conversation with Jesse Cash of ERRA about his band's new album and the band's visual rebrand. You can now listen to our chat over on CHIRP Radio! 

As an aside, my producer cut the part of the tape where I asked Jesse (tongue in cheek, of course) if anyone had blamed ERRA for the global pandemic (Erra is the name of a plague god) and he said that it hadn't come up and he hadn't thought about it. It's good that this bit got cut but I still think it's hilarious that I'm the first person to inquire about it. 

You can either listen to our conversation below, or over on CHIRP Radio's website. 

CHIRP Radio · ERRA Interview

Album Review: Grog / Namek - Monsters

"There is a lot of heavy, unwholesome records dropping in the month of March. Enforced has a new record out today, as do EYEHATEGOD, Regional Justice Center, and God’s Hate. But before you totally ruin your hearing with any of those releases, might I recommend a way to irrevocably violate your sense of decency as well? You may think I’m asking permission, but I’m not. This is more of a warning than anything." - This is the first gouge of my review of the new Grog / Namek split Monsters. You can read the whole thing over on New Noise. Links below: 

Review of Grog / Namek's split EP Monsters. 

Out now via Helldprod Record. 

Album Review: 7-11 Jesus - Tree Dream

"What happens when a bunch of Boston folks relocate to San Francisco? Well, if they don’t end up working at a convenience store, they’ll probably start a band. Oh, who am I kidding? Probably both!" - There's your first bite of my review of 7-11 Jesus's Tree Dream. You can read the whole thing over on New Noise. Links below: 

Read my review of 7-11 Jesus's Tree Dream here. 

Get a copy of Tree Dream on CD and Cassett here.  

Interview: EYEHATEGOD

Image courtesy of the artist

I had a conversation with Mike IX Williams of EYEHATEGOD for New Noise. Their album A History of Nomadic Behavior is out via Century Media. We talked about his new record, the increased blues influence of their sound, his thoughts on EYEHATEGOD parody bands, and the two-year-long tour that was cut short by the pandemic. They'd probably still be on tour if it weren't for the pandemic, but at least we get a savage new record from these boys. Links below: 

Read my interview with Mike IX Williams here. 

Get a copy of A History of Nomadic Behavior on Century Media here. 

Album Review: Gravesend - Methods of Human Disposal

"With the colonizing project of urban spaces ground to a halt at present, the legacy of empty offices and a restless police state has never been more apparent. The real terror, though, is not what is left behind but what will be done to protect it. Gravesend's Methods of Human Disposal is a presaging of the ways in which the powers at be will converge to preserve their investments and make sure that everyone stays right where they belong in the food chain." - Excerpt from my review of the new Gravesend album Methods of Human Disposal published by No Echo. Links below:

Read review of Gravesend's Methods of Human Disposal here.

Buy Methods of Human Disposal on 20 Buck Spin.