CONCERT REVIEW: Chat Pile – Nerver – Empire State Bastard Live at Le Poisson Rouge


 

Le Poisson Rouge (LPR) is one of the great music venues in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Located on Bleeker Street, just a block and a half south of Washington Square Park, it plays host to a wide variety of musical acts ranging in style from Disco to Punk to Hip Hop and some Heavy Metal. Wikipedia notes that the room capacity is 700 but that likely includes a hallway bar and other spaces. In anticipation of a crowd heating the place, the air conditioning is always set on arctic and the room stays fairly comfortable. No food is served there but Bleeker is almost entirely made up of restaurants, so there will be something available for any taste. Something very interesting happened at LPR recently, and three bands rattled the windows of the entire neighborhood for a night.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Head Cleaner – The Extreme Sound Of Truth


 

For ten years, Head Cleaner stewed in the grindcore pot, leaving fans wondering what was in store next. The product of that decade of inactivity is an eleven-track, sub-twenty-five-minute onslaught that eloquently calls back to the origins of grindcore and the pioneers who paved the way for such an extreme sub-genre.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Undergang – De Syv Stadier Af Fordærv


 

Alright, all you sicko freaks – this rotting slab of stinking fetid metal is for you! Danish gore-hounds Undergang have been steadily churning out rotten meat since they formed back in 2008. Their latest offering, De Syv Stadier Af Fordærv (from the twin hit factories Me Saco Un Ojo / Dark Descent), has plenty more inhuman vocals, grinding rhythms and caveman riffs.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Brujeria – Esto Es Brujeria


Holy shit, it’s been thirty years since Brujeria’s seminal – or infamous – debut, Matando Güeros? Okay, I guess that aids in understanding why we’re getting latest LP Esto Es Brujeria (Nuclear Blast) in the year of our lord 2023. Literally just realized this.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Outergods – A Kingdom Built Upon the Wreckage of Heaven


 

Many bands over the years have incorporated H.P. Lovecraft’s work into their projects. Newcomers from Nottingham, England, Outergods, not only named themselves after the big baddies from the Cthulhu mythos, but even their overall sound instills fear and madness. A little over a half hour in length, A Kingdom Built Upon the Wreckage of Heaven (Prosthetic Records), debuts the haunting blend of black metal and grindcore this UK outfit has unleashed into the void for gods and mortals alike.

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Empire State Bastard Share New Sing and Video “Moi?” – Books Exclusive Saint Vitus Bar Headline Show


Empire State Bastard have shared “Moi?,” the fourth new song to be released from the band’s eagerly anticipated debut album Rivers of Heresy which is set to arrive worldwide on September 1st. Available on today on all streaming platforms, “The Looming” follows the band’s recent singles “Harvest,” “Stutter,” and “The Looming.”Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Disimperium – Grand Insurgence Upon Despotic Altars


 

If there was ever a time I could put the label of “abrasive” on an album, it would have to be for the debut full-length from Disimperium, Grand Insurgence Upon Despotic Altars (Sentient Ruin Laboratories). Take the mystical and obscure portions of black metal, lay them upon the bones of death metal, and crank up the intensity with grindcore and this makes up the uneasy feeling in your gut as you listen to the Oakland natives. Nine tracks at around half an hour is all you need to feel like you got hit by a truck filled with speakers turned up to eleven.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Burner – It All Returns to Nothing


 

It All Returns to Nothing (Church Road Records) is the debut album from London-based four-piece Burner, and has been highly anticipated by those in the know, who have been following the singles releases the band have been drip-feeding since the end of 2021. And Burner are the latest in a long line of artists who have found a suitable home on Church Road Records, one of the UKs thriving independent labels for heavy music.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Elder Devil – Everything Worth Loving


 

Hold on, let me clear my throat. Let me attempt my best Jonathan Frakes Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction voice. Do you remember Trap Them? Seminal Northeast Metallic Hardcore/Grind band? Oh, many good times were had. Crowd surfing as far as the eye could see in those glory days. Well, those days are unfortunately no more as that New Hampshire collective closed shop in 2017.

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ALBUM REVIEW: Suffering Quota – Collide


 

Grindcore is one of those subgenres in the heavy music world that is often overlooked and is also one of the most abrasive. To a point where sometimes it is difficult to differentiate bands at times as the typical criteria of what makes a grindcore band, are quite narrow. Sometimes, the borders are pushed outward, such as can be seen on the latest Suffering Quota album, Collide (Tartarus Records). Take traditional grindcore, toss in some death metal, and make the breakdowns count with powerviolence, and you are left with the audio recordings of a true beatdown.

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