Lycanthrophy/F.U.B.A.R. split 7"

It's been a while since I've updated this blog, mostly because I now have job and little time to start reviewing, but I haven't bought that much new material, eventhough I now finally have the money for it hehe.

Anyways... What I didn't wait for to pick up was the new Lycanthrophy/F.U.B.A.R. split on Bones Brigade records. Two bands that have been around for a while and with the reputation of delivering top notch grindcore each and every time, can't go wrong with a split of those, now can you?!

Up first is Lycanthrophy, Czech female fronted grind/powerviolence that really started to get attention when the enlisted a (very nice looking) lady on vocals. But they deserve every attention they get because besides the lady-fact they also produce virgin-ass-tight music, and again so on this split. Five songs of stop'n go grindcore, not unlike Yacöpsae and Jesus Cröst. Excellent stuff.

F.U.B.A.R. is on the other side. I have to admit that on the last thing the released (the split with Sylvester Staline) they let me down a bit, it had some songs on it that weren't all up to the level they preformed on previous efforts, like the Splitter split or the full length LP. The bands side on this split however is back on the same level and maybe even topping it. F.U.B.A.R. 's grindcore has never sounded better in my opinion. Great production and - above all - great songs! I'm personally a huge fan of the 3 vocals, as they add only to the furiosity of the band and sound. Can't wait to see these guys live again!

Conclusion? A must have!

www.myspace.com/fubargrind
www.myspace.com/lycanthrophy
www.bonesbrigaderecords.com

Stino

Altar Of Plagues - Tides LP

Life's full of surprises. One day you're relaxing on your apartment, the next day Altar Of Plagues is staying over for a couple of nights because some volcano cancelled their trip to Finland on their European tour in support of their new album "Tides". That same album is now part of my collection and I'm happy to tell you that if you're into ambient "modern" blackmetal, it should be in yours as well! "Tides" is no copy of the band's opus magnus so far: "White Tomb". it is slower, (even) more melancholic and leans more to bands like Shining, Lifelover and Forgotten Tomb, whereas its predecessor was more Wolves In The Throne room alike, though the latter influence is still present in the faster bits of the 2 songs and the EP (yeah EP, eventhough it is in fact 36 minutes long) has the same trancelike effect as aforementioned Cascadian band. The production isn't as good as on "White Tomb" though, it's not as polished and sounds a bit dirtier, which isn't a bad thing, but the drumsound could've sounded better. That however is just a minor flaw. Altar Of Plagues deliver yet again with "Tides" and I'm pretty sure more awesome stuff will follow from these Irish prawns.

www.myspace.com/altarofplagues
www.burningworldrecords.com
Stino

Millions Of Them - Failures LP

Many bands claim to be influenced by Botch, Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Locust, Coalesce,... but few achieve the same level as these legends, escpecially not in a little shithole like Belgium. Though we have a new contestant, called Millions Of Them. The Antwerp based ex- Reply, Am I Dead Yet?, Minus45°, ... hard/mathcore band has recently released it's first offspring: "Failures", and it has to be said: it's pretty impressive!
Take Botch, add some "When Forever Comes Crashing"-era Converge and season with a little Trap Them and Millions Of Them is what you'll be cooking! And no, it's not a bland and uninspired wannabe rip-off. It's hard and raw, just like the production, which was in the hands of Kurt Ballou of Converge (I think that alone is a pretty good reference, no?) and - above all - it's high quality stuff. Maybe a bit more variation in the songwriting wouldn't be such a bad thing, as I sometimes have the feeling that I'm listening to the same song twice, but that might just be me. Other than that I can only say: Buy this LP (it was also released as a CDr by the band) and keep an eye on Millions Of Them, they have the potential to get to the same level as their influences!

www.myspace.com/millionsofthem
adagio830.de

Stino

Aborted - Coronary Reconstruction EP

Aborted has evolved through the years. Not only did the line-up change more than Michael Jackson's looks, with frontman Svencho as the only consistant factor in the band, but also the music. More -core, more melody, less brutality, in-your-face-death(grind). Some liked it, some didn't. I for one lost my interest in the band these last couple of years, which is strange for a dude who had "Goremageddon" as the soundtrack of his late teenage years. However when Svencho told me that - after yet another line-up change - the band wanted to go back to the "Goremageddon", "Engeneering The Dead" and "The Archaic Abbatoir" albums the interest returned, especially after hearing the first few teasers from what would turn out to be "Coronary Reconstruction", the new Aborted EP.
And Svencho kept word. The new EP has the brutality, speed and power of aforementioned albums. Not too many solos, breakdowns or melodic jibba jabba, just full frontal deathgrind (yeah, the grind part is indeed back, thank you Eran/Whorecore?!). Hell, even the gory intros are back! It might not be as approachable as Strichnine.213, most of the The Black Dahlia fans probably wont like it, but I couldn't care less. It's the first Aborted release in 3 years that got me excited again and I can only hope that the upcoming album is somewhat similar to "Coronary Reconstruction"! Now if they only got rid of those horrible 1000-colour-shirts...

www.myspace.com/abortedmetal
www.centurymedia.com

Stino

The Muzzler - Common Sense CD

All the way from Chicago comes The Muzzler with their first CD, called "Common Sense". To be honest it was the first time I ever heard of The Muzzler and when I heard the name I thought of furry animals for some reason, but it's not. The Muzzler is some kind of crossover thrash/punk/core/whatever band, nothing furry about that. "Another crossover thrashcore band?" I hear you think. Well, not really. It's not the 667th "old school thrash" band that happens to sound quite a lot like a hardcore/punk band as well. The Muzzler isn't a copy of any band, to be honest. They take the best ingredients of (thrash)metal, hardcore/punk and grindcore, add some melody, mosh parts and circle pit fun and come out with a very cool mix. It's hard to compare them with other bands, because well... it's quite original. The 10 songs on "Common Sense" keep me interested from start to finish, not a dull moment in this CD and with my attention span being as short as Danny Filth that's quite the achievement! Definitely a nice CD and I wouldn't mind hearing more of these lads! Cool tunes!

www.myspace.com/themuzzler
www.myspace.com/cassettedeckmedia
Stino

Welkin - Traces CD

It's been a while that I really was looking forward to a release by a Belgian band, but the teasers that Welkin had put online last year tickled my interest quite a bit. So I picked up "Traces" at the release show and it turns out money well spent. An excellent slap of mid tempo, somewhat progressive deathmetal. Think the slower parts of Gojira, combined with the ever-headbang-ability of Bolt Thrower.
The previous Welkin album "The Origin" wasn't really what I expected from it; the songwritting was more than decent, but the sound lacked balls and gave me an overall "mèh" feeling. But it seems the band somewhat thought the same as I did, because on "Traces" the sound is huge! Bombastic, dynamic, call it whatever you want, it blows you out of your socks.
Something that might be a bit bothering is the fact that are too few tempo changes. It lacks a bit of speed now and then. But other than that this album is top notch and I find it a bit weird no label was found to release it, as I think that there's most definitely an audience for it nowadays!

www.myspace.com/sonicdeathmetal
Stino

Nesseria - S/T CD

Nesseria started in 2004, have played over a hundred shows all over the world and have 3 split releases under their belt and I just got to know them... it's a strange world! Their new album was just released on Trendkill Recordings and on the promotional heap of flyers, cards, stickers and whatnot that came with the CD they claim to be "chaotic grindcore with metal parts. A mixture between Nasum and Converge, with a personal and modern approach.". Well, part of that is right, part of it isn't. I wouldn't really call it grindcore to be honest. OK, it has blastbeats, but that alone doesn't really make a band "grind", does it? The Converge part is very true though, the vocalist seems to have listened a lot to Jacob Bannon and the music is very similar, be it without the melancholic songs Converge has on each album. "Choatic hardcore with blastbeats and metal parts" would make a better description in my opinion. Now just because it's not as "grind" as they claim it to be doesn't mean it's bad, of course. I quite enjoy this self titled album, really. It's well executed, with a decent production, fitting the music quite well. With all the promo made for this album and the album itself being more than decent, Nesseria could win many hearts I think, especially with openminded hard/grind/metal(core) kids!

www.myspace.com/nesseria
www.myspace.com/trendkillrecordings
Stino