[September 2004]

BODIES IN THE GEAR OF THE APPARATUS "Simian Hybrid Prototype" Mcd

(The Spew Records - TS06)
Release date: 2004
Running time: 19:12

Review: Here's a band that mixes metal(core) and grindcore influences pretty much equally, it's all very fast and aggressive but also quite technical with twisted song structures, constant tempo changes (Blasting grindy parts, alot of breakdowns, followed by thrashing riffs or some sludgier parts...) Vocals are some sort of high pitched shrieking with a little back-up from lower roaring voices at times. So, musicianship is solid, execution is precise... Sound quality is nice and diverse in a way (some songs seem to sound rawer than others which I think keeps things interesting)... it's all quite limpid and heavy sounding of course, but there's a chunky raw vibe I like. Songs are mixed in with movie samples injecting a good deal of dark atmosphere. I guess this is pretty close to stuff like Dillinger Escape Plan, Soylent Green, etc... Not my personal favorite genre, but this band is good at what they do. Also, cool cd layout, and the band's weird lyrics are printed too...

Tracks: 1) A lubricated rubber glove and pornographic photos of a decapitated chinese hooker 2) Of things to come 3) Love affair with a mannequin 4) Big bad mean and nasty 5) Hoist the black flag (and begin slitting throats) 6) Seventeen reasons to die wearing black 7) Fuck her like you paid for it 8) The ugliest smile in rock and roll 9) White trash whore 10) Fuck the Middle East (SOD cover) 11) Last words can be so clich?

Label:http://www.thespew.org/
info@thespew.org

Band: www.bodiesinthegears.com
grindandelvis@aol.com

ARIEL SHARON'S HEAD IN AN INDUSTRIAL PRESS "Nothing Gets My Dick Harder Than The Screams Of A Dying American" 7" Ep

(Noise Annihilation)
Release date: 2004

Review: Scary grindcore with an international line-up including that german guy from Noise Annihilation (murdergrind.de) on guitar and Kikanju (Lofi or Die Records) from UK on drums... Bad-ass, basic downtuned riffs, insanely fast and tight drumming and some very nasal screeching screamy vocals (also a couple of absurd growls here and there too). Sound quality is totally lofi, raw with a rehearsal vibe. This is just straightforward grind, plain and simple. It reminds me of Dead Infection (on their Split Ep's w/ Malignant Tumour & C.S.S.O.), only with much hyper vocals. Actually the vocals can get a bit annoying, but they're unlike anything I've heard before so I give it points for originality. If you can take lofi sound, this is just top notch grind pressed on red vinyl. And yeah, song titles and imagery are pretty radical, just judge by yourself...

M4a's: 36 dead and 79 injured / a nuclear warhead with Bush and every heinous fuck in DC's name scrawled into the fucking cone

Tracks: 1)lone nail bomber 2)anthrax aftermath 3)36 dead and 79 injured 4)large scale urban firefight 5)desperately trying to evacuate the masses before the blast ripped through Piccadilly Circus and beyond killing thousands
Side B: 1)contemporary Japan=yellow USA 2)a nuclear warhead with Bush and every heinous fuck in DC's name scrawled into the fucking cone 3)September 11th effervescents 4)Israel in ashes 5)violent clashes with government forces 6)uncle Sam or uncle Osama?

Lofi or Die Records: www.jigokuki.net - lofiordierex@hotmail.com
Noise Annihilation Distro: http://www.murdergrind.de - Email: destroyallmusic@murdergrind.de

THE SMEGMA LATENCY RESEARCH GROUP/PERRY WILLIAMS & THE SALTY DICKS Split Cdr

(Lemonlip Records)
Release date: 2004
Running time: 18:57

The Smegma Latency Research Group Review: Formerly known as Raging Retards, Smegma Latency Research Group is bizarre harshnoise experiment but with some structure to it... It sounds computer-generated, there's actually some rhythm to it but everything's totally oversaturated, definitely on the harsh and noisy end of things... Tons of effective movie/video game samples and inventive stings are incorporated into the songs making the noise assaults that much more destructive. I especially liked the last song where the Cannibal Holocaust main theme is mixed in... For insane noise freaks only.
Perry Williams & The Salty Dicks: Total harshnoise nonsense, reminds me of the last track off Exit 13 "Ethos Musick", with an additional piercing high-pitched ringing sound to it from time to time... Very irritating and guaranteed to damage your brain.

Tracks: Smegma Latency Research Group: 1)Rohypnol Romance 2)Linn Grove By Night 3)A Contraceptive Kick 4)Into The Duct 5)Interrogation Subject Stressor 6)Psycho 7)Tyke And Dyke 8)That Burning Sensation 9)Do You Believe 10)Sermon 20010914 [Part II] 11)God 12)(I Am) David Crockett 13) 14)Rutting Season 15)I Am Da Bomb 16)Jimi Hendrix 17)What Horrors They Ponder 18)Sermon 20010914 19)Don't Cum On My Turf 20)The Ballad Of Lee 21)A long Way to Salvation 22)Whips And Things (A Tribute)
Perry Williams & The Salty Dicks: 23)230LBS Chunk O'Love 24)The Druid's Chasm 25)Wipe Out 26)Rufies 27)A Field Guide to Pre-Cum 28)Pipeline 29)Tranny Surprise 30)Kosh's Universe 31)Patagonian Winter 32)Digital Scourge 33)Hex Me 34)Bladdermouth 35)Spontaneous Combustion

Smegma Latency Reasearch Group: traumatogenic@hotmail.com - http://www.menacetosobrietyrecords.com/rr.htm

AGATHOCLES/STOMACHAL CORROSION Split Cd

(Grindmind Records - GRM002)
Release date: 2004
Running time: 75:40

Agathocles "Live in Stavenhagen 1998" Review: This Agathocles release is all live material from 1998 show, this set mostly contains fast grinding songs from the "Razor Sharp Daggers"/"Humarrogance" era, the sound is ok, pretty clear overall, but this is Agathocles recorded live after all so obviously there's a lot of rawness at work here... not the most essential Agathocles release of course, just one more addition to their never-ending discography but Agathocles completists might want this... And sound quality isn't too bad... A major flaw though is the whole live set is contained on only two different tracks, without separation between the songs... Most unpractical!
Stomachal Corrosion "Kaosa Turnigo" Review: Here's something pretty similar to Agathocles, with more of a hardcore edge perhaps, grumpy growling vocals, a prominent groovy slapping bass sound, thrashing riffs, mid-paced tempos and a few grind parts but nothing major... Listenable stuff, clear sound but quite unmemorable/bland song-writing... Not a spectacular split release, more of a Agathocles collectors item...

Tracks: Agathocles: 1)Live in Stavenhagen 1998 Part I: Intro - A Start at Least - Humarrogance - Razor Sharp Daggers - Media Creations - The Ancient - Thy Kingdom Won't Come - Insufferable Being - Reduced to an object - A for Arrogance - Ain't? - No Use (Hatred) - Trust? Not me!
2)Live in Stavenhagen 1998 Part II: Consuming Endoderme Pus - Thanks for the Hostility - Criminalisation of Strange Behaviour - Ice Brick - Labelisation - Mince Core - Theatric Symbolisation of Life - Is it Really Mine? - Birds (Poem) / Agarchy
Stomachal Corrosion: 3)This Again 4)Ruled 5)Hysteria 6)Shadows in theory 7)No war! 8)Breakdown 9)Human Degradation 1à)Inner Pain 11)Losers Game 12)The Wrong Time 15)Same Old Faces 16)Running 17)I Can See the Reality 18)Playboys as Fuck! 19)Sensations of Time are Lost (Jan AGx)

www.agathocles.com

AGATHOCLES "Gotcha" 7" Ep

Release date: 2004

Review: This ep is a pretty cool one... Agathocles doing what they do best: incisive grind. Most of the songs here are raging, fast with kick-ass riffs, straightforward and violent songs, blunt grinding drumming and very pissed off, roaring and screaming vocals. A couple of the tracks have some sludge and hardcore touches to 'em but that stuff is kept to a minimum, overall this is mindblowing fast grindcore is what you'll find here... Just great, catchy and dynamic stuff... Sound quality is pretty damn raw and muddy rehearsal type of stuff but clear enough to be able to enjoy the songs... Lyrics are unambiguous, virulent opinions and messages, as usual... A year-by-year band biography is included too. Overall, a nice ep showing my favorite side of Agathocles...

Tracks: SIDE A: 1)Story Not Untold 2)Fed Up 3)Make Way 4)Starve the Nations 5)Bless the Sinners
SIDE B: Gotcha 2)Explore 3)Cattle

www.agathocles.com

AGATHOCLES/FAT ASS FUCKERS Split 7" Ep

Release date: 2004

Agathocles Review: This is the crusty hardcore side of Agathocles you'll find on this record... Just 2 tracks, typical straightforward crust riffs and pretty catchy midpaced drumming. Something unusual is some highlighting guitar riffs that gives the songs an almost rock n' roll vibe that I don't think I've ever heard from Agathocles before... Oversaturating and somewhat gurgling vocals... Strongly socio-political lyrics (anti-capitalism, etc...) as always... This is listenable hardcore stuff... But I'd say for die-hard Agathocles freaks only.

Fat Ass Fuckers Review: Raw, slightly crusty hardcore, really dirty, occasionally colorful, rocking guitar riffs, midtempo drumming, pretty dynamic rhythms, shouted vocals... I couldn't get into this stuff, but this band's ok, if you're in the mood for some punk stuff I guess...

Tracks: Agathocles side: 1)Violence and Pure Hate (I am) 2)cash and Traps
Fat Ass Fuckers side: 1)Fat Ass Drunk n Roll 2)Hunt You Down 3)Shut the Fuck Up 4)Ballade de la Tourette

www.agathocles.com

GRAVURUIT Demo Cdr

Release date: 2003
Running time: 4:31

Review: From the ever effervescing pits of japanese grindcore underground comes Gravuruit! The format of the release at hand is a short 4 song demo (kind of like the Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in the Dilapidation demo cdr's I reviewed recently)... Yeah it's quite short but it's just enough to already make me love this band... I put this stuff on repeat at the moment... Gravuruit has one of these totally old school vibes and one awesome, raw and abrasive sound... Straightforward song structures, buzzsaw guitars with a dark edge to em and a sort of really gritty texture, some basic and grinding drumming, a nice amount of groove, catchy tempo changes and grumpy low guttural growls laced with absurdly high-pitched hysterical screaming! Yes their style is comparable to some other japanese bands like Bathtub Shitter (especially them) or I.R.F. but maybe also stuff like Machetazo... One hell of a really cool grind band and that's about it! I really hope to hear more of this band in the future! Special thanks to Billy (Razorback) for hooking me up with this very cool band! Just watch out for em!

MP3: "Kuroi Me Ga"

Tracks: 1)White 2)Mieru Koto 3)Kuroi Me Ga 4)Ushinau

Contact: Eiki Aizawa
287-7-201 Hushiyama Akasaka
Yokote city Akita 013-0064
JAPAN
quarki_Code-47463@h.vodafone.ne.jp

NASUM "Shift" Cd

(Burning Heart Records)
Release date: October 11 2004: World edition: Burning Heart Records - Mid October 2004: US edition: Relapse Records - Japan edition: Ritual Records - Vinyl edition: No Tolerance Records
Running time: 37:29

Review: I had no idea there was a new cd coming out so soon, I wasn't really keeping up with any kind of Nasum news... So this "Shift" cd showing up in my mailbox was like an album coming from out of nowhere! The gap between Nasum's full-length inputs usually is a lot longer than that (between 2 or 3 years) so I just really wasn't expecting getting something like this now... I won't lie to you it's a really cool feeling, and it made me enjoy this cd much more than I normally would have... Anyway, this band needs no introduction, this album is just another step in the band's musical evolution, I know it contains some re-recorded old songs but overall it's in direct continuity of the previous albums... Just like in "Helvete" grindcore is only here as the basis, the band continues to go for a more subtle approach to song-writing, intricately arranged songs, much more furnished riffage, highlighted with very metallic melodies... I can't say I'm totally into like this musical direction, always straying away further from the very straightforward grind of their beginning and injecting more and more metal into it... I mean some of this stuff almost sounds like At the Gates now... But alright you gotta admit the band still sounds fucking furious: incredible blasting speed, crushing heaviness, ripping riffs, truly versatile and catchy song-writing... All you have to do with this album is press play and get blown away... Like all the last few album, all the songs seem to bleed into each others, with very few downtime to catch your breath between songs... You know the deal: slick, bombastic grind with a huge sound production... It's all really fine... Ok, I guess it's a love it or hate it affair for most grindfreaks, personally I enjoyed it alot... Though I'll continue to point out my regret about the now almost total abandon of the more guttural lower vocals, I thought dual vocal tradeoffs were always one of the band's greatest strengths in the past... Midrange high screams are the lead vocals on this album, they're almost the only vocal style here, I'm not sure why, maybe for an overall more coherent feel... Still I miss those nasty low growls! The band now has a fourth member/second guitar, and he's a familiar face... it's Urban from Regurgitate... It's funny noticing how Nasum and Regurgitate are going through the same changes: retaining their trademark brutality but delivering something of a more refined/polished brand of grindcore... I still feel conflicted about this compromised style but anyway... of course this cd is extremely enjoyable, what did you think?!

MP3: " Particles"

Tracks: 1)Particles 2)The Engine of Death 3)Twinkle, Twinkle Little Scar 4)No Paradise for The Damned 5)Wrath 6)Fear is your Weapon 7)The Deepest Hole 8)High on Hate 9)Pathetic 10)Circle of Defeat 11)Like Cattle 12)Ros 13)The Smallest Man 14)Cornered 15)Strife 16)The Clash 17)Hets 18)Closer to The End 19)Fury 20)Fight Terror with Terror 21)Ett Inflammerat Sår 22)Deleted Scenes 23)Creature 24)Darkness Falls

Burning Heart Records: www.burningheart.com
Nasum: www.nasum.com

LINCOLN LOVE LOG/A.F.M/DIONONESISTE "BBQ of Brutality"

(Torture Music Records)
Release date: 2004
Running time: 34:14

Lincoln Love Log Review: ...L.L.L. plays some obnoxious, weird, gory, sludgy grind... They juggle with a pretty lofi sound in an effective fashion that actually works in their music's favor... In my mind anyway... They remind me of Sloth in their inventive approach of making sludge sound catchy... The band's got that almost surreal vibe and really seems to experiment with different kinds of bizarre harsh sound qualities... Musically: very distorted guitars, with every now and then some haunting, raw melodies, quite basic but still very groovy drumming, midrange tortuous, prickly vocals and even some gurgling or pitch shifted gory backing voices... It vaguely reminds me of Today is the Day, Impetigo and maybe even Cephalic Carnage to some extent... Honestly very refreshing stuff to listen to!
A.F.M Review: Pretty odd death metal, with some very thrashy riffs, song structures kept simple, catchy midtempos, some cool drumming, a lot of double bass kicking, chorus-like dual growled and shouted vocals with a lot of anger to them (and apparently a lot of lyrics too)... Sound is consistent but still quite raw, it's the heaviest sounding band on this split cd though... I must say it slightly made me think of Sepultura on "Chaos A.D." only a lot more twisted and with a definitely rougher edge to it...
Diononesiste Review: This is really fucked up and noisy and messy stuff but also with a very moody quality from time to time... Some really chaotic song structures, obsessive repetitive guitar riffs, blurry sound quality, raw blasting beats... all of that also alternated with some really calming moments with clear guitar parts and eerie atmospheric samples. Just some very twisted violent metal getting mingly with some pretty scary emotional stuff... One of the weirdest and most interesting split release I've had the pleasure to hear in a long time, just 3 quite singular, non-conventional bands definitely worth checking out...

Tracks: Lincoln Love Log: 1)Too Penetrate 2)BBQ Lust 3)Dark Basement 4)In my Sewer
A.F.M: 5)New Violence 6)Backbone 7)One Minute War
Diononesiste: 8)Madre Surrogato 9)Vocineiri 10)Inane 11)Poena Damani

Torture Music Records: www.torturemusic.com
Lincoln Love Log: lincolnlovelog.home.insightbb.com/
A.F.M: www.afmmetal.com/
Diononesiste: www.danielebrusaschetto.com/

DISCORDIA "Cryptas" Cd

(Endless Brutality of Men Records - EBM001)
Release date: 2004
Running time: 71:40

Review: Nice Crust/Grind from Mexico... This cd is actually a discography cd, and it's filled to the brim with some 29 tracks... It's all quite well played, intense and aggressive stuff, tight crust-hardcore drumming, typical raw guitar riffs (in the vein of old Extreme Noise Terror) with a whole bunch of thrashing parts thrown in too, rhythms can also get pretty fast and grinding on occasion. The vocals are low roaring growls (kind of a mix of old Discharge and Sepultura era "Bestial Devastation")... Obviously sound is not perfect, but it's clear and sufficiently heavy for me, I think the catchy drumming is what comes across best... Bands like Doom or Disrupt are the most obvious influences here... Maybe I can drop other names some Rot & Ratos de Porao too. Cd layout and packaging is pretty generic but still contains lyrics and stuff... It's just good stuff for the genre and again, just a cool cd packed with a lot of material...

Tracks: 1)Contagio 2)Life in chains 3)Segregacion 4)Aberracion 5)I.R.A. 6)Manipulado 7)N.S.M. (Nace, Sufre, Muere) De miseria a muerte 8)Seguimos de pie 9)N.S.M. 2 Contra cultura = Contradiccion 10)Dogmatizacion 11)Ignorar 12)Atake terrorista 13)Evacuacion 14)M.U.D.O. (Mucho uso di odio) 15)LOKO TRACK!! ? 16)causa o conviccion 17)Nuestra opinion 18)El hambre inculca 19)Otra vision 20)Deterioarse 21)Discordia 23)R4.OT.T. (Repudio, odio y traucion) 24)Supremo 25)Sugestionados 26)Supremo 27)Contagio 28)Degradante 29)Life in chains

Endless Brutality of Men Records: www.ebmrecords.com

GENOCIDE "Blood Spilled" Cd

(Endless Brutality of Men Records - EBM001)
Release date: 2004
Running time: 15:42

Review: This is some brutal grind from Mexico in the vein of Cripple Bastards, Agathocles or Rot with in addition to that, some very strong thrashing death metal influences; sound quality is good enough, musicianship is quite tight overall too... Songs are actually pretty elaborate in an almost thrash metal way, unfortunately they lack something gripping/memorable about them, still, it's obvious a ton of anger is going through this music... Unrelenting aggression, thrashing guitars, highly energic and blasting drumming, bestial growling, raging screaming... This stuff comes out really fast and expeditious too... 14 songs in 15 minutes. All in all I think this short cd is a pretty fucking decent effort! Lyrics are in spanish, and even though my spanish is crap I could guess what the lyrics were about... Very straightforward socio-political messages, there's even some drawings and sketches describing what each song is about! Not the tightest band ever obviously, but still some fun grindcore; if you wanna check out some bands from Mexico, I think it's definitely a cool one!

Tracks: 1)genocide 2)misery 3)Anti-Xenophobic 4)Stop 5)No war 6)bastard slave 7)Mundial defeat 8)nazi bastard 9)No depression 10)Tender venom 11)Mc Donald's death 12)Destruction 13)Blood spilled 14)Kay and rottenes

Endless Brutality of Men Records: www.ebmrecords.com