“If you don’t know ACxDC, then what are you doing with your life? Like listening to actually good metal? Too bad for your sorry ass. The LA natives are back in black for their own highway to hell, and it’s too good to be true. For the woefully uninformed and uncultured, don’t even think alternate or direct current and Brian Johnson, you swine. It’s Antichrist Demoncore, and the peanut butter cup moniker of divine apathy is so sweet and gummy.” Vote for G.O.A.T..
“There’s disgusting death metal, there’s brutal death metal, then there’s death metal that walks into a room and makes you wonder if anyone else in that room has a restraining order against it. Autopsy may have pioneered this brand of whiplash, burner phone grooves against parole-violating subject matter, but Jarhead Fertilizer—featuring mostly current or former members of grinders Full of Hell—has taken the campy idea of that putrid stance and added to it a real-world violence.” Feel the Fertilizer.
“Grindcore, powerviolence, noise, all modes of expression which, unless your name is Beaten to Death, toss aside any resolution or melody in favor of speed, loudness, and sonic expulsion. But guess what? Constant Hell does all three.” The power and the fury.
“Where to start with Nuclear Dudes? The brainchild of Jon Weisnewski—of Sandrider—the project spans a collection of kooky and noisy genres from powerviolence to synthwave. Even the artist Bandcamp page refers to it tongue-in-cheekily as ‘”music”‘ (scare quotes included). Each release—of which Boss Blades is the third in about a year—features a charming fluorescent figure scrawled upon a white background, courtesy of a Cooper Weisnewski I presume is Jon’s brother. This kind of consistency in self-branding certainly makes them stand out, and it’s fun.” More Fat Man or Little Boy?
“A drum kit, a bass guitar, two throats, and an unflinching look at life. Such components make up Greber, the unapologetically unhinged grind/sludge two-piece responsible for Fright Without. In their near-15 years of existence, the pair have constructed a fair number of audial slaps in the face, both alone and in numerous splits with the likes of Minors and Anthesis. With one half (Steve Vargas) coming from sludge act The Great Sabatini, and the other (Marc Bourgon) from grind group Fuck The Facts, Greber have always blended these two unfriendly styles.” Greber, baby.
“Sludge is a versatile genre. Sure, there are bands that play it straight, taking the shit I spray out of my gutters in the spring, putting a sprig of parsley on it and saying “$7 digital, $35 plus shipping vinyl.” There are also bands who use it as one disgusting ingredient in their extreme metal soufflé, or like a condiment on their br00tal burger. Death doom not nasty enough? Put a little sludge on it. Prog too weenie? Sludge it up! Philadelphia’s Backslider fall into the latter category, combining filthy fucking dirty sludge with grindcore and knuckle-dragging hardcore.” Sludge grinding, pit minding.
“Depleted Uranium scrape together the contrasting textures of the Dillinger Escape Plan and cut them with nastier shots of powerviolence. Pivoting between tense builds and haywire blasts of aggression, they try to make the best of Origins’ sixteen minutes and change, never dropping the pace for too long.” Half live.
““First to betray / First to disobey / First to stand up / Against tyranny,” screams Sergio Amalfitano on the title track of ACxDC’s second full-length Satan Is King. Delivered in one breath and against a grindcore wall of seesawing guitars and hammering drum blasts, these first few verses are a distillation of the Los Angeles-based powerviolence quartet.” I’m gonna get you, Satan get you!
“Cherd hides his immense adoration for my skills when he mocks the way I lob pun grenades into the middle of serious conversations in our backchannel communications, but that’s only because he hopes his dad joke skill is up to the challenge of his avatar ascending into toddlerhood. When I saw Rank and Vile in the bin, I couldn’t resist the beautiful play on words in the name. Just look at how ‘Rank’ is doubly punned — genius!” Thinning the ranks.
“Ledge is not a clever band and All I Hope For is not a clever album. Nuance and erudition have no place in this music, and there’s no shame in that; whom among us does not count lunkheaded and reductionist music among their passions? Whether it’s deathcore, slam, war metal, stoner rock, or today’s subject (lurching hardcore), most metalheads have a weakness for dumb fun of some variety. We want something stupid and heavy to complement our drinking, gym routine, vegetable chopping, etc.” Heavy shit, brah!
