Gridfailure is the brainchild of David Brenner, who provides vocals and plays myriad instruments. Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery III (Nefarious Industries) is the third in a series of five albums that form a dystopian telling of humanity’s downfall in the face of an ever-worsening situation of wars and climate crisis on planet Earth. The album features a host of guest performers providing everything from beat programming to Trumpet to Ukulele.Continue reading
Guck are a new band from Los Angeles, and their style is described as “loud, deranged, jazz-damaged noise rock.” Gucked Up (Three One G Records) is their debut record.
King Yosef has always leaned into the more abrasive end of their music, and Spire of Fear (Bleak House Records) has pushed it even further into that direction with an increasingly confrontational aggression. Sonically harrowing with the genre-defining mechanical stomp. That is not to say the entire album just grinds with a robotic pulse, as there are moments like “Glimmer” to provide a more melodic contrast. It’s a darker song with a very reverb-drenched mix that sets the vocals at the end of a dark tunnel. It tapestry of cool sounds that don’t hook into years but serves stark monument of sound.Continue reading
Post-Mr Bungle’s dissolution in the early 2000s, Clinton “Bär” McKinnon relocated to Melbourne, Australia with stacks of material he’d written originally for the Eureka, California eccentrics. Thereafter, the formation of Umlaut followed, and a line-up that currently reads as the aforementioned McKinnon – Tenor Sax/Flute/ Clarinet/Keyboards/Guitar/Lead Vocals, Angus Leslie – Guitar/Backing Vocals/Keyboards, Bassist Shane Lieber, and recent addition Danny Heifetz (ex-Bungle) on Drums.
It’s anniversary time for New York Mathcore mob Car Bomb. Formed in Rockville Centre all the way back in 2000, it doesn’t take an advanced mathematician to work out the band is twenty-five years old this year. Their first studio release since Mordial back in 2019, independently released three-track EP Tiles Whisper Dreams is a much-anticipated short, sharp, and extremely brutal shock to the system.
On Submerus (Sentient Ruin Laboratories/Lower Your Head for digital), his fifth full-length from Hell, the sludge project leans into a nasty wall of downtuned rumbling. This wall of rumble is set behind the tortured screams of someone who’s more intent on losing their mind than adhering to the bounds of songwriting. It feels more like someone who create art from a dense heavy sound, that is impressive due to it’s sheer heaviness, but in consuming an album the goal would be for the music to hook you in rather than a test of endurance as to what you ears can stand at high volumes, though not to kink shame anyone who is into sonic masochism.Continue reading
Hypomanic Daydream is the brainchild of an artist who goes by the name Manic Dream Girl. The Yearning (The Fiadh / self-release) is Hypomanic Daydream’s first full-length, following a split album and two EPs. Almost everything on the record, including the mixing and artwork was done by MDG herself, with some bass clarinet solos by Quetzal Tirado and additional drum production by Garry Brents (Gonemage, Sallow Moth, many other projects). Mastering was handled by Breandan Sloan (Convulsing).Continue reading
Cheer-Accident has been around since 1981, which equates to the same length of time as Metallica. Unlike the Thrash Metal legends however, the Chicago outfit (named after a Hallmark shopping display) have released a fantastic amount of albums, nearly 30 at last count, as well as several compilations, EPs and seven inches, some of which have been released by the legendary Skin Graft Records (home to Squid Pisser, U.S. Maple, The Flying Luttenbachers, Dazzling Killmen and other such wonderful artists). Continue reading
Puppe Magnetik has existed since 2022 as the brainchild of Finnish musician Aina Virtanen. Laudans Deum (Rune Serpent Europa) is the project’s debut record, and it promises to blend elements of Neofolk, Dark Ambient, Death-Industrial, and Avant-Garde music.Continue reading
Opening today are Tilburg locals Autarkh, whom I first discovered playing the 2021 Roadburn Redux show. Eclectic and heavy, the band mix electronics with metal elements, so much that Encyclopedia Metalum (a.k.a Metal Archives) doesn’t even consider them metal enough. Tonight, though, the band have a live drummer with them, who plays the angular beats with relish. Frontman and guitarist Michel Nienhuis (formerly Dodecahedron) is clearly very much in the groove. A groove expertly set by their temping bassist, who learned the complex material in only a week. It’s very hard to stick a genre on what Autarkh make, but I’d call them Avant-Garde Math Metal.Continue reading