Crust Punk

Fuming Mouth – Last Day of Sun Review

Fuming Mouth – Last Day of Sun Review

By Dear Hollow on November 7, 2023 in Reviews, Crust Punk, Death Metal, Hardcore, 16 comments

“A concept album is risky when you’re as meatheaded as Massachusetts’ Fuming Mouth. Don’t get me wrong, Last Day of Sun’s concept is unique and powerful, an apocalyptic vision of a world destined for darkness in twenty-four hours (hence the title) – a story further fueled by the act’s mastermind, vocalist, and guitarist Mark Whelan’s triumphant battle over cancer. For an act that has rarely been called the “thinking man’s” anything, it’s pretty high-brow to fuse an approach of death metal and hardcore with such heart-wrenching emotion.” Sun’s out, HM-2 out.

Calligram – Position | Momentum Review

Calligram – Position | Momentum Review

By Dear Hollow on July 24, 2023 in Reviews, Black Metal, Crust Punk, Punk, Sludge Metal, 28 comments

“While The Eye featured as many ideas as the many heads of a hydra, Position | Momentum streamlines them into a more focused beast. Expect second-wave tropes in tremolo, blastbeats, and vocalist Matteo Rizzardo’s ferocious shrieks (in his native Italian), but like Calligram’s catalog, the sophomore effort ascends beyond the Darkthrone and Mayhem worshipers of the cold dead world.” Calligram calling….

Systemik Viølence – Negative Mangel Attitude Review

Systemik Viølence – Negative Mangel Attitude Review

By Dolphin Whisperer on June 30, 2023 in Reviews, Crust Punk, Hardcore, Thrash Metal, 19 comments

“Punk and metal have a complicated relationship, or at least we treat them like they do. As fans, we like to be something—a metalhead, a punk, a dissobro. As music seekers, we like to have genre guides—punk-born tags like crust, mathcore, grindcore, metal-born tags like doom, death, black, kissing cousins like sludge, thrash, deathcore. And the bands we value tend to play to or play with these expectations. Others eschew the norms of where they’re placed or even fight the idea of being the guitar music we’ve all come to love—but not Systemik Viølence. These Portuguese knuckleheads just wanna play screeching chords, overdriven bass, and venomous vocal lashings loud, fast, and loud.” Feel the wiølence.

Wind in His Hair – Future Primitives Review

Wind in His Hair – Future Primitives Review

By Dear Hollow on April 10, 2023 in Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, Black Metal, Crust Punk, Hardcore, 11 comments

“When we think crust punk and in particular its blackened interpretations, it wouldn’t be remiss to think of acts like Young and In the Way, Ancst, or Trap Them – acts defined by violence. Berlin’s Wind in His Hair, named after Rodney A. Grant’s Lakota character in the 1990 movie Dances with Wolves, settles in violence’s wake rather than any assault of its own. Debut Future Primitives is undeniably blackened crust punk, focusing on the earth’s destruction and the marginalization of indigenous peoples throughout.” And the wind whispers… wiolence.

Downfall of Gaia – Silhouettes of Disgust Review

Downfall of Gaia – Silhouettes of Disgust Review

By Carcharodon on March 15, 2023 in Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, Crust Punk, Post-Hardcore, Post-Metal, 47 comments

“Now into their fifteenth year, German four-piece Downfall of Gaia need little introduction, particularly for longer-standing readers of this venerable blog. We didn’t cover their first two records, Epos (2010) and Suffocating in the Swarm of Cranes (2012) but since then, Downfall of Gaia has had a very good run in the hands of the normally-highly-critical Mark Z., with each of their next three albums swanning off with a coveted 4.0.” Worst downfall ever.

Dryad – The Abyssal Plain Review

Dryad – The Abyssal Plain Review

By Cherd on January 23, 2023 in Reviews, Black Metal, Crust Punk, Dungeon Synth, 12 comments

“When one considers the state of Iowa, one is unlikely to think of black metal. Be-masked hard rock radio metal? Yes. Black metal, no. Likewise, Iowa conjures images of corn fields, wind turbines, college football Saturdays and James Tiberius Kirk. But the ocean? Not unless you’re a paleontologist. You see, the verdant rolling hills of all those Grant Wood paintings were once covered by an enormous prehistoric inland sea. As a result, the place is absolutely lousy with fossils of trilobites and giant sea scorpions. I wonder if this was at least part of the inspiration for Iowa City, Iowa’s very own crusty black metal quartet Dryad as they were writing their debut full-length, the marine-themed The Abyssal Plain.” Flyover seas.

Cruz – Confines de la Cordura Review

Cruz – Confines de la Cordura Review

By Dolphin Whisperer on October 16, 2022 in Reviews, Crust Punk, Death Metal, 22 comments

“Much like the original mission of a young Bloodbath—a self-proclaimed worship band whose first offering is now 20 years old—Cruz fuses the punky, death ‘n’ roll leanings of punchy Swedeath with the bottom-end brutality of the early Florida scene. And, as you might assume, bands like Autopsy and Entombed already wrote many of the chunky riffs, grimy tempo shifts, and wah-abused leads that define the flow of Confines. That’s not to say that Cruz exists entirely without merit or passion.” Cruz missle.