Tomorrow’s Ashes #2
Kia ora, comrades.
Welcome to Tomorrow's Ashes #2. If you're a returning reader, thanks for making your way back to this obscure corner of the blogosphere. If this is your first visit to Six Noises, cheers for casting a curious eye this way. I know this blog looks pretty desolate right now. But my aim is to add a bunch of articles (both old and new) from the last couple of decades I’ve spent shouting about deafening music.
If you want to know what Tomorrow's Ashes is all about, you can find all of the in-depth intel in the introduction to Tomorrow's Ashes #1. However, the CliffsNotes version is this:
Tomorrow's Ashes is a monthly column featuring loud words about rowdy punk releases. It's just like one of those round-ups of hip new releases curated by a sharp-witted young tastemaker. Except for fact that I'm fucking old, thick as a plank, and I have appalling taste in music. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! FYI, I’m not proclaiming that every release below is a stone-cold classic. I’m just here to say, “yo, have you heard…”
I don’t know about you, but most days I feel like the horsemen of the apocalypse are about to come charging over the horizon. Geopolitical hostilities, rampant plagues, disinformation wars, inter-personal strife — it feels like fires are breaking out everywhere. Obviously, listening to the millionth Discharge or Totalitär clone isn't going to dampen any of those infernos. But I hope some of the frenzied noise below proves to be cathartic.
Here's to showing courage and kindness in challenging times. And here’s to ear-fucking music helping to ease our anxieties and bolster our resolve.
Fight war, not wars.
I'll see you soon.
xx
PS: To be honest, this particular column is way over the top. There are 20 bands to sample below, which is too many, right? I mean, they're all worth a listen. But I'm aiming to keep things more concise in the future. Ten bands max… maybe. Anyway, forgive me. I've been stuck in isolation, and I've had A LOT of time to kill.
Noisy Words to Check Out:
Terminal Sound Nuisance’s extremely tasty Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust series continues on with a great write-up of Napalm Raid’s storming Wheel of War LP.
Negative Insight digs deep, once again, with an interview with Pete Giles of Unseen Terror, Antichrist, Azag-Thoth, etc. See — Unseen Terror: The Early Years of Extreme UK Hardcore and Metal.
If you’re up for reading Pitchfork in this day and age, the site has an interesting piece on Sonic Youth and the Business of Keeping a Dead Band Alive.
Oliver Sheppard (re)fuels my neverending Fugazi fandom with a great interview with Ian MacKaye to talk about Steady Diet of Nothing at Thirty.
Kerry Cardoza’s monthly round-up of The Best Punk on Bandcamp.
Non-Noize Jams of the Month:
Screaming Trees: Buzz Factory (The band’s last album for SST is one of their best.)
Corrosion of Conformity: Deliverance (Cranking C.O.C’s dank metal is never a bad idea.)
Pavement: Westing (By Musket and Sextant) (Best indie rock band of the 90s? Yep!)
The Auteurs: Now I’m a Cowboy (Genius cuts from Britpop subversives.)
Loudness: The Law of Devil's Land (My obsession with 80s Japanese metal is eternal.)
The Wedding Present: Sea Monsters (Albini on the deck for this noisenik masterpiece.)
Apärä: Trágico Final
To my mind, the best international punk releases combine a sense of relatable tribulations with an evocative conjuring of time and place. For example, you can hear the lawlessness of Bogota in Muro's frenzied music. And you can hear all of Tokyo's social tensions in Life's fist-raising recordings. It's the same with Mexico City's Apärä. The sheer violence of the band's new Trágico Final EP evokes the struggles and endless chaos from living in the fifth-largest city in the world.
Trágico Final is the first vinyl release from Apärä. The 6-song 7" follows on from a couple of lively demos, and spoiler alert, Trágico Final is a fucking riot. Crasher crust is the template here, and, no surprise, the influence of noise-mongers like Collapse Society, Gloom (of course), and Defector ring loud throughout Apärä's new EP.
Recorded by Yair López, Trágico Final's blistering tracks satisfy Apärä's desire to "vomit the hatred generated by a sick and violent reality from which we survive day-by-day like any other third world country". Clearly, Apärä have a lot to feel pissed about, and their venom-spitting songs sound aptly enraged.
Tracks like "Desgracia Y Porquería", "Extinción", and "Muerte" are just brutal blasts of uncompromising noise where max-distortion d-beat and hissing static are alchemized into a bass-heavy stew of crust-caked råpunk. If you're hungry for mind-grinding noise coupled with a complete and utter disregard for anything listener-friendly, look no further; Trágico Final is an ultra-abrasive cacophony.
Apärä set out to conjure up all the frustrations and the anguish of living in a city (and a world) awash with the failures of late-stage capitalism. No question, Trágico Final's boiling anger and obnoxiousness make that struggle manifest. Raw punk nerdz, trust me, Trágico Final is gonna be right up your stinkin' back alley.
[Fuzzed Atrocities, Squalor Records, Sore Mind]
Realm of Terror: Loss of Hope
Desertion: Humanity's Sorrow
I wrote about Realm of Terror's Accelerated Extinction demo in the last edition of Tomorrow's Ashes, and here they are all over again. The Michigan band's new Loss of Hope demo is released by hometown label Guttural Warfare Records, and Loss of Hope is just as much of a full-bore experience as Accelerated Extinction.
I've said it before, but Realm of Terror's primitive MO underscores raw punk's most visceral strengths. Loss of Hope tracks like "Surveillance State", "Social Media Trash", and "Deranged System" are nihilistic screeds where walls of distortion and stenchcore’s momentum are fused with corrosive effect. Loss of Hope comes HIGHLY recommended if you're a fan of the most bulldozing pursuits of Sore Throat, Doom, Abraham Cross, and Extreme Noise Terror.
Also out via Guttural Warfare Records is Desertion's Humanity's Sorrow demo. Desertion's output is even lower-fi than Realm of Terror's harsh oeuvre, but Humanity's Sorrow does tick a few similarly crude crust boxes. The major difference here is that Realm of Terror tip their hat to Ye Olde UK and Japan, while Desertion’s furious noise seems more inspired by the early years of the Finnish and Swedish underground. Humanity's Sorrow is achingly raw. Dig in if maximum abrasiveness sounds like a tasty treat.
[Guttural Warfare Records]
Erupt: Left To Rot
Erupt's raucous Left To Rot EP wantonly pilfers from the depths of punk and metal's respective armouries. Spikes, studs, and battle vests are on full display as tracks like "Shinin' Claymore" and "Floating Head" drop Hell-hammering riffs galore. Elsewhere, "Coward" and "Dragged through the Dirt" detonate with ear-slaughtering metalpunk shrapnel. Chaotic fretboard gymnastics are lashed by distortion as vocals are dunked in a vat of acid. However, while Left To Rot is 666% off-the-chain, there's no hiding the skilled performances here.
That's no surprise, given Erupt features members from Sheer Mag, Geld and Gutter Gods. Years of experience in the noisy music trenches is put to good use on Left To Rot. But as much as the EP is an unrestrained barrage throughout, I'd argue that Erupt aren't necessarily a grim-sounding band.
Sure, Erupt's music is an absolute blitzkrieg of boiling metalpunk. And yep, the bleeding-raw (but still punchy) production on Left To Rot amplifies the EP’s nastiest frequencies. But Left To Rot also celebrates all of those killer LPs we discovered (and have come to worship) after years of digging into the darkest corners of the underground. There are plenty of smile-on-ya-dial thrills here — albeit buried in a barbed wire cyclone. Ultimately, Left To Rot is pretty much pitch-perfect for anyone who loves early Venom, Celtic Frost, and Sodom as much as Motörhead and modern-day bruisers like Warthog or Scalple. (Honestly, I swear there are also Thin Lizzy-worthy leads embedded in all the mangling mayhem right here.)
Erupt shove ultra-harsh metalpunk up the ass of rotten-sounding thrash. If you're a fan of high-temperature fusions of the filthiest punk and metal, you're going to love Left To Rot.
[Cool Death Records, Static Shock]
Bipolar: The Great D-Beat Raw Punk Swindle
Another day, another release from prolific raw punks Biopolar. At least, that's what it feels like. I've written about Biopolar three times in as many months (including in the last edition of Tomorrow's Ashes), and they've dropped something like eight releases in a little over a year. That's the kind of goddamn work ethic that underscores a genuine raw punk band, right!?! Fire 'em out, kid, who gives a fuck, noise for noise's sake, until your mind melts and your ears start bleeding.
Biopolar's latest release, The Great D-Beat Raw Punk Swindle, is a 5-track limited edition cassette that’s out via Aotearoa New Zealand label Razored Raw (you can also grab a digital copy from the band’s Bandcamp page). Razored Raw is a fitting home for Bipolar, too, with the DIY Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) label having plenty of experience kicking shit about on the brutal noise punk turf.
Like all of Bipolar's work thus far, The Great D-Beat Raw Punk Swindle is about as caustic as battery acid, and it's sure to spark instant tinnitus at certain volumes. Obviously, the swindle in question is punk itself. The posturing, the shallowness, the exploitation, the theatrics... all that punker than thou bullshit. It's all one big fucking joke, right?
In any case, it requires a strong stomach to 'enjoy' this kind of shitnoise. That said, there's definitely a time and a place to hit play on paint-stripping punk like The Great D-Beat Raw Punk Swindle. The EP is only 5 minutes long, so think of it as a super-astringent palate cleanser (or something to soundtrack a cheeky huff or two). My advice: crank it when all else fails and only the most horrible-sounding raw punk will see you through.
Is The Great D-Beat Raw Punk Swindle recommended? Of course! Supporting small underground labels (like Razored Raw, and every other) is crucial. Plus, chucking a couple of dollars at DIY bands is always a very good idea. Obviously, that doesn't mean you'll enjoy a single thing about The Great D-Beat Raw Punk Swindle. But then, what could be more perfect, swindled by the swindle, once again. We've all been there, my friend.
[Razored Raw, Self-released]
Disclone: Harsh Raw Affront Vol. 1
Asocial Terror Fabrication: S/T
Austrian band Disclone's Harsh Raw Affront Vol. 1 cassette is released by stench-friendly label Doomed to Extinction (which are also home to a host of other recommended recordings). If you've not sampled Doomed to Extinction's catalogue before, hunt down releases from the likes of Deformed Existence, Ulcer, and Contagium. Even better, take a long hard look at Doomed to Extinction's run of excellent split releases: see Asocial Terror Fabrication and Exithippies' 7", Kaltbruching Acideath and Zygome's incredible 12", and two of Instinct of Survival's gnarliest 7" splits with Fatum and Asocial Terror Fabrication respectively.
Fun fact: I've never actually heard Disclone's Harsh Raw Affront Vol. 1. But that's not going to stop me from writing about the cassette. I saw it online and quickly realised I’d been wanting to mention Doomed to Extinction for some time. Plus, all of the songs on the tape have been previously released on four of Disclone's EPs, which I have heard: Realities of the Battlefield (2019), Once the Genocide Started (2018), 4 Trax Total Kontakt D-Takt Noise Raid (2019), and The Neverending Nightmare (2017).
The not-so-subtle clue about what to expect is in Disclone's name, obviously, as well as the 100% råpunk titles of those aforementioned releases. "D-Beat Raw Punk! Noise Not Music! Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Vienna!" is how Disclone describe their MO. In other words, expect a brain-buckling barrage of Disclose worship that explores the myriad horrors of war along with other bleak talking points. Harsh Raw Affront Vol. 1 features 21 radioactive tracks, and right there on the tape's cover is a handy guide to the contents therein: "28 minutes of shit-licking crasher mangel discore".
That's about as accurate as it gets. All the tracks on Harsh Raw Affront Vol. 1 are a blown-out affront to polite sensibilities where finesse, nuance, and subtly are smashed into dust. Mostly, Disclone's music feels like you’re hanging onto sanity by your fingertips. If sheer hell spelled out on repugnant 'songs' sounds like your jam, then by all means, dive into this pile of super-distorted sewage.
I’d also recommend the self-titled Asocial Terror Fabrication cassette that Doomed to Extinction released last year. The tape contains virtually every song the phenomenal Japanese crust band recorded from 2005 to 2021. If you're a fan of mucky Japanese heavyweights like Life, Abraham Cross, Death Dust Extractor, Ulcer, Asmodeus, etc, then you'll love Asocial Terror Fabrication. I'm doing the band a massive disservice by not further detailing just how good they are. But I'm currently writing a more extensive article on stonkin' Japanese punk, so there'll be more to come about Asocial Terror Fabrication in the future. In the meantime, hunt ‘em down. You'll not be disappointed.
[Doomed To Extinction]
Note: Harsh Raw Affront Vol. 1 isn't streaming online (nor is Asocial Terror Fabrication's cassette), so here are a couple of EPs to get you started.
Xero: Demo
Sørdïd: Demo
RoachLeg Records handled some of my favourite noisy releases in 2021 — see the head-splitting happenings of Tower 7, Sociedad Bastarda, and more. More recently, RoachLeg's had a hand in releasing a couple of riotous demos from NYC bands Xero and Sørdïd. Xero's demo features fast, crude, and ricocheting tracks propelled by barrelling bass. The band's piledriving approach takes a hefty bite out of crossover's gutter hardcore vibe, with Xero's thrashin' songs hitting warp speed on plenty of occasions. Top shelf rough-as-guts hardcore.
Sørdïd sound suitably off-the-chain on their self-titled demo. The band's bass-blasting sound sidesteps the razor-thin tone of many raw punk releases (and, FYI, that's no slight, I love mosquito-buzzing punk too). Point being, Sørdïd's demo is mastered by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air, and like everything Killingsworth touches, Sørdïd's tracks are aptly noisy and nasty — as per their raw punk taxonomy — but also feature enough girt and punch to knock your fucking socks off.
Chalk up another couple of RoachLeg Records rippers.
[RoachLeg Records]
Decade: S/T
I hope you heard that knockout 12" split from Ontario band Decade and Moscow crusties Fatum in 2021. Decade offer a taste of something different in the frequently indistinguishable world of d-beat, which is why I was stoked to hear Phobia Records (and others) were releasing a new self-titled 7" from the band. Decade's line of attack is a little more off-piste. Often drawing inspiration from Final Bombs and Discharge's less-celebrated years; i.e. there's more Grave New World and Massacre Divine than Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing to Decade's sound.
Decade's production is also drier than many of their more putrid-sounding peers. But Decade's sound isn't clean, as such. It’s just sharper round the edges. You can hear that crispness on the opening track of their 4-song EP, "The Impossible Scale of Increasing Slaughter", which frames thickset metallic passages with fuzzed-out d-beat. "Indifference" and "Existence Is Ignored" deliver more chugging riffs — backed, as always, by Decade's mix of Sprechgesang vocals and echoing howls.
Decade's latest 7" features plenty of heavyweight d-beat. But there's still evidence of the band's eccentricity to be found. "It Seems to Be" starts out with funk-like bass before a phat, stoner rock-worthy riff kicks into high gear. A whirlwind solo and more rough-shot guitar aerobics follow on, providing another exhilarating booster shot of Decade's off-kilter d-beat.
I've said it before, but Decade's aesthetic is super-specific and you have to admire their commitment to carving out a niche within a niche. Like all the band's previous releases, Decade's new 7" is a heap of fun and the sweet dark lord knows we need as much of that as we can get right now.
[Phobia Records, Rotten Head, Audacious Madness, Black Against Night]
Dispose: Violence Rule
Forget: Once the Nightmare Started
I doubt Disclose's Hideki Kawakami could ever have imagined how influential his legacy would turn out to be. Sure, Disclose weren't the first dis-clone band to up the fuzz and ferocity. And sure, groups like Confuse, G.I.S.M and Lip Cream have their fair share of disciples too. But Disclose's oeuvre is pretty much the aesthetic bullseye for primitive punks the world over.
Case in point, prolific Swedish noise-makers Dispose, and Swedish/German duo Forget. (FYI: Forget features members of Dispose, Kasjajuntti, and S.N.O.A.). Dispose and Forget maintain a staunch adherence to Disclose's approach — i.e. grabbing hold of Discharge’s intensity and dragging it into even harsher and more chaotic realms. More the point, Dispose's Violence Rule EP and Forget's Once the Nightmare Started CS feature all the obligatory warfare images on their covers and all the de rigueur acidic guitars, crashing percussion, and incomprehensible barks within.
Of the two releases, Once the Nightmare Started is a little punchier with its red-lining instrumentation situated higher in the mix. That isn't to diminish Dispose's Violence Rule EP, which embeds plenty of chainsawing noise in its crust-slathered d-beat. I could easily fill this monthly column with raw punk releases alone. But not every release evokes the raw energy of the greats. Dispose and Forget take a good run at hitting the mark, and both their releases show real promise. Take your pick, either work, but why not nab both!
[Dispose; self-released, Forget; Disarmy Records]
Sorrow: Black Crow
Polish trio Sorrow self-released their first full-length, Black Crow, digitally in 2021. The thundering album clearly caught the ear of label Sanctus Propaganda, who are releasing Black Crow on ("green galaxy 180-gram audiofuckingphile vinyl!") very soon. As the latticework on Black Crow's cover suggests, Sorrow's interests lie in the Ye Olde world of stenchcrust. More specifically, somewhere in the Deviated Instinct meets Bolt Thrower meets Axegrinder realm, where gruff-toned death metal coalesces with sewage-caked punk.
If you need a few more reference points, Sorrow mix European and North American stenchcore traditions, with the band's sound tipping its hat to groups like Last Legion Alive or Filth of Mankind as much as Morne or Stormcrow. Sorrow's sound is heavy on the 'In Crust We Stench' odour like all good ominous crust. It's dark and desolate, and the end times beckon as the eternal void opens its maw. Black Crow tracks like "Uroboros", "Storm of Swords", and "Suffer with Smile" are shrouded in doomsday-cometh vibes. But, of course, a combination of bleak emotionality and heavyweight musicality isn't unique in the stenchcore realm.
Where Sorrow offer a point of difference is that every member of the band takes a punt at yelling, growling, and barking, meaning there's a triple vocal dimension here. A couple of Black Crow's tracks up the tempo — see "To Name Your God" and "Forces of Nature" — but in the main Sorrow set a steady pace as they drop ten-tonne slabs of rotting albeit often melodic stenchcore in your lap. Honestly, Black Crow doesn't add anything new to the canon. But then, innovation isn't the point here. Conjuring wretched scenes out of the bleakest heavyweight crust is Sorrow's game plan, and in that sense, Black Crow is a grim triumph.
[Sanctus Propaganda]
Öppen Grav: S/T
Öppen Grav is a pretty on-the-nose moniker given the current state of the world. The Swedish band's d-takt/råpunk/mangel-style racket is also pretty much a slam-dunk when it comes to calling to mind the grinding tension and brutal realities that unbridled warfare brings to the table. Obviously, I'm not suggesting hitting play on Öppen Grav's self-titled EP is the same as desperately seeking shelter from falling bombs. But in so much as a track like "Klusterbomb" seeks to mirror Öppen Grav's EP's cover image, then sure, this barrage of anti-war noise is right on target, so to speak. Straight up, there's nothing novel to be found right here. But if you're looking for a few minutes of harsh, heavy, and hard-bitten punk to get you over the hump without losing your shit, then Öppen Grav have got you covered.
[Self-released]
Bombardement: Le Futur Est Là
Much like Öppen Grav above, it's a hell of a time to be in a band called Bombardement. But then, the very real horrors of war aside, bombarding is a fitting description for Bombardement's music. I've written about every one of the French band's releases thus far, and honestly, I've pretty much said the exact same thing every time. That doesn't signal it's the 'same old story' with the band, every single time. Sometimes steadfast consistency is a key attribute, right?. I mean, No one's complaining about our Lord and Saviour Lemmy having recorded the same Motörhead album time and again.
In any case, Bombardement do one thing exceptionally well – which is, deliver A-grade, in-your-face d-beat. Le Futur Est Là was written and recorded during lockdowns, but there's no sign of fatigue of disjointed creativity here. If anything, the 8-song release is Bombardement's best yet. Some d-beat bands sound as grim as a funeral pyre, while others are more interested in gutter-dwelling pursuits. Some call for political action, others hold fast to nihilistic ideals. But Bombardement fall somewhere in the Tourment de la Réalité nexus — as one of Le Futur Est Là's best songs, "Dyssomnie", makes clear.
Le Futur Est Là sees high-speed, earth-quaking tracks like "L'Oeil Electrique" and "Prédateur" sitting alongside high-spirited, wall-shaking numbers like "Immondice" and "Poison". As per, everything here is a full-scale riot from the very first second to the last. Big fat hooks are strewn all over the place, with Bombardement unleashing throttling riffs and rocketing solos as vocalist Oriane's scorching howls seal the deal. (FYI: French is the vernacular here, so fire up Google translate if needs be, but Oriane's passionate singing will see you through otherwise.)
Bombardement sound riled-up on Le Futur Est Là, but they also sound like they're having an absolute fucking blast. There's fretboard and percussive athleticism here that'll slap a great big dirty smile on your face, and Le Futur Est Là's fleet-footed songs are catchy as hell and all sorts of fun. Sure, Le Futur Est Là was recorded in the depths of a pandemic, but rather than sounding cowed or scared, Bombardement's latest tracks are bursting with exhilarating punk that'll recharge your batteries and get you back on the beer-soaked dancefloor in record time.
[Symphony of Destruction, Destructure]
Mongrel: Life Unlived
Scavengers Circle: In futility
Socialstyrelsen: I Krossade Speglars Skärvor
It's good to see Irish label Distro-y Records back in action after co-releasing that goddamn all-fire split from Fatum and Decade in 2021. Distro-y's first release for 2022 is also a co-release — with Phobia Records and Solemn Records — featuring the latest recordings from Galway, Ireland band Mongrel. The band's Life Unlived EP features 5 blunt force tracks from the raw rather than the roid-rage end of the hardcore spectrum. Mastered by Jack Control at Enormous Door, Life Unlived sounds suitably beefy, with Mongrel's bruising approach focused on hammering their primitive songs home with relentless albeit rough-hewn glee. Life Unlived is a sturdy second release from an increasingly solid-sounding band.
Swedish crusties Scavengers Circle's new LP, In Futility, is a worthy follow-up to their promising debut, Beyond Repair. Jagged-edged riffs and über-guttural growls are fed through a käng punk grinder (and Scavengers Circle wrap the result in steel-plated metalpunk). Tracks like "Dehumanize", "Blind to Facts", and "Normalization" are unvarnished and unadorned blasts of time-honoured, anvil-heavy crust. Admittedly, there's nothing innovative at play here. But to be fair, that's not really the point of pummelling metalpunk like this. Scavengers Circle do a great job of delivering one rock-solid track after another. Tune in if no-nonsense, chest-pounding punk is your thing.
Speaking of no-nonsense Swedish punk, Socialstyrelsen's second LP, I Krossade Speglars Skärvor, sees vocalist Hanna howling over a template of crusty hardcore slathered with dirty d-beat and råpunk. Fans of Totalitär, M:40, and Skitsystem will dig all the strident guitars and thundering drums here. Much like Scavengers Circle, there's nothing groundbreaking happening here. But Socialstyrelsen go all-in (all the fucking time) and it's impossible not to get swept up by the 14 heavyweight tracks on the band's new LP. It's easy to hear why a stack of labels got involved in releasing I Krossade Speglars Skärvor. The LP is a stampeding free-for-all, through and through. Great stuff.
[Mongrel: Distro-y Records, Phobia Records and Solemn Records. Scavengers Circle: NIC Records, DIY Kolo Records, Infected Sounds Productions. Socialstyrelsen: Halvfabrikat Records, Phobia Records, Acclaim Collective, Wargame Records, Anomie Records].
Disentry: Another Fairytale
Flesh Crusher: Bastardized
If you made it this far, congratulations. I've been writing monthly round-ups like Tomorrow's Ashes for untold years, and I always feel bad for the last few bands on the list. I want to assure you their placement isn't a reflection of their quality. I just slot the blurbs in as I write 'em. No thought is ever given to ranking who's better or who's the best. In this case, I want to underscore that fact. Because the following two releases are absolute belters.
Disentry is a solo crustcore venture helmed by Birmingham, UK, musician Duncan Wilkins; you might recognise Wilkins' name from his roles in bands like Mistress, Fukpig, Make Them Die Slowly and Anaal Nathrakh. Wilkins wrote, performed, and recorded everything on Disentry's Another Fairytale debut. The 8-song release is both a respectful nod to dis-core's originators and another chapter in the ongoing tale of rampaging dis-everything noise. Wilkins' history in extreme metal is readily apparent in the strength of Another Fairytale's armour. But in the main, the album concentrates on delivering powerhouse d-beat and crust.
There are A-grade hard-hitting tracks right here: see "World War III", "The Death of Mankind?", "Nuclear Rain", "Armageddon". I've no idea why some lively DIY label hasn't snaffled Disentry up; Another Fairytale would make for a damn tasty 7". Realistically, solo ventures are pretty much vanity projects and they’re often a let-down in one important aspect or another — be that performance-wise or production-wise. However, Another Fairytale is a great release in all senses. It sounds fully armed and ready for battle, but not so much that its professionalism supersedes any of the abundant filth or the fury therein. Mark this one down as recommended for fans of crushing crust and dis-beaten mayhem.
Speaking of crushing, Swedish band Flesh Crusher's Bastardized Demo features 4 mind-mangling tracks dragged from the cesspits of death metal. Tomorrow's Ashes isn't a death metal column — although, it's not not a death metal column either. I love rancid old school death metal as well as plenty of contemporary death metal bands who fuck around with vile and maggoty vintage tropes. As far as I'm concerned, if a death metal band is 'punk' enough, then they're up for inclusion around here, and with Bastardized drawing a stack of influence from the worlds of raw punk and d-beat, Flesh Crusher definitely fall into that category.
Look, I'm a total sucker for death metal demos like this. It's that rotten stench that grabs me, those bloody raw riffs that hold me down, and it's those catacomb vibes that bludgeon me into submission. Bastardized's production is fucking sweet — and by sweet, I mean Bastardized's decomposing riffs and gurgling vocals are as bleeding-raw and as gruesome as a ragged-edged evisceration. Even better, for all the acrid noise and pungent decay dripping off every second of every song, Flesh Crusher ensure that Bastardized sounds hefty enough to give you a solid traumatic brain injury.
The obvious death metal comparisons here are to be found in the grottiest alcoves of the Entombed > Nihilist > Dismember arc. But much like Bolt Thrower (who also get a look in here), there's a heap of obnoxious old school punk injected into the rotting heart of Flesh Crusher's sound. Highly recommended!
[Self-released]
