Hardcore

Lifes – Treading Water Review

By Kenstrosity on June 29, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Grind, Hardcore, Here and Now! Records, Knochen Tapes, Middleman Records, Noise, Powerviolence, Reviews, Triple Eye Industries, Grind, Hardcore, Noise, Powerviolence, 14 comments

“Instead of focusing on a general trend of social injustice and political bullshittery that all too many grind bands pursue, Lifes are all about stumbling throughout the various lives in which we involve ourselves on a daily basis, failing at most of it, and doing whatever we can to keep our shit together. According to their bandcamp bio, “Music can’t save us, but it can help us cope.” I’ve heard music described this way countless times before, but for whatever reason in this instance it resonated.” Life is a grind.

This Gift Is a Curse – A Throne of Ash Review

By Doom_et_Al on June 14, 2019 in 2019, Black Metal, Hardcore, Reviews, Season of Mist, Sludge Metal, Swedish Metal, Black Metal, Hardcore, Sludge Metal, 51 comments

“If you’re not challenging yourself, if you’re not occasionally exposing yourself to uncomfortable feelings and emotions, especially with a genre as extreme as metal, then why bother? Good art is discomforting and sometimes painful, and Swedish metallers This Gift Is a Curse are strong adherents of this view.” Suspicious packages.

Full of Hell – Weeping Choir Review

By Cherd on May 18, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Death Metal, Grind, Hardcore, Noise, Powerviolence, Relapse, Reviews, Sludge, Death Metal, Grind, Noise, Powerviolence, Sludge, 30 comments

“Trumpeting Ecstasy’s untempered viciousness and surprising experimentation was a breath of putrid air amongst the usual Cherd-bait of 2017. Had I been employed by this hallowed site at the time, I would have seriously considered slapping a 4.5 on it and endured the cries of ‘Overrating bastard!’ hurled at me from my superiors. So when I saw follow-up Weeping Choir pop into our promo bin, I jumped on it faster than Game of Thrones’ quality tanked once it outstripped the books.” Hallowed grind.

Call of the Void – Buried in Light Review

By Mark Z. on May 16, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Hardcore, Reviews, Translation Loss, Hardcore, 34 comments

“Metal ebbs and flows. Genres get popular, fall out of favor, and then go through extended periods of dormancy before once again experiencing sudden and violent upheavals in popularity. Perhaps the most notable recent example was the metallic hardcore boom of the early 2010s. Back then “Entombedcore” bands like Black Breath and metallized powerviolence groups like Weekend Nachos were the cool kids on the block that every blog was posting about. Yet today, while some of these bands are still going strong (Full of Hell and Nails), many have either disbanded (Enabler and Trap Them) or become largely inactive (Black Breath). For a while, Colorado’s Call of the Void fell into this last category.” Out of the void, into your ears.

Eye of the Destroyer – Baptized in Pain Review

By Diabolus in Muzaka on May 14, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Hardcore, High Potency Records, Reviews, 32 comments

“Some people spend their weekend running errands, and I’m no different. This weekend, as I write this review, I’ll be running a fool’s errand and disagreeing with the genre tag of a “deathcore” album. Genre fans and detractors will have the same reaction: “who cares, it’s all about the chugs anyway.” You chug water for different reasons than you chug beer (unless it’s Coors Light, which is both). The Rack chugs and Eternal Nightmare chugs. Disma chugs and Carnifex chugs. All of this is to say, Eye of the Destroyer’s second LP is beatdown, not deathcore.” Advanced pigeonholing.

Through the Noise – Dualism Review

By Master of Muppets on April 29, 2019 in 2019, Eclipse Records, Hardcore, Metalcore, Nu-metal, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Hardcore, Metalcore, Nu Metal, 34 comments

“This is sure to come as a surprise, what with the kvlt as fvck album art and all, but Through the Noise are about as trve as Santa. With their accessible angst and envelope-friendly chuggatry, these Swedes crabwalk the thick, downtuned line between nü-metal and metalcore, and by all rights, Dualism should have been inflicted upon a n00b. However, there have been far too many 4.0’s awarded as ov late, and I would be remiss to turn down an opportunity to bring you bastards crashing back down to reality, so we are here.” Punishment is due.

CLEARxCUT – For the Wild at Heart Kept in Cages Review

By Master of Muppets on April 21, 2019 in 2019, Catalyst Records, German Metal, Hardcore, Lifeforce Records, Punk, Reviews, 55 comments

“It’s not exactly a secret that I hate you humanity and love King Apathy, so when I was presented with the opportunity to review the debut act of a band featuring Matthias S of King Apathy and ascribing to the same neo Cattle Decapitation lyrical teachings, it should come to roughly no one’s surprise that I squealed like a mildly surprised Kenword jumped at the chance to do so. This was a wish come true.” Wish or curse?

Tempel – Tempel Review

By Mark Z. on March 20, 2019 in 2019, Hard Rock, Hardcore, Heavy Metal, Jansen Records, Norwegian Metal, Reviews, Hard Rock, Hardcore, Heavy Metal, 29 comments

“Tempel originally caught my eye because I thought they were Tempel, the instrumental Arizona metal band whose sophomore album I reviewed back in 2015. But no, it turns out this Tempel is actually a new band formed by Kvelertak drummer Kjetil Gjermundrød, who recruited his brothers Epsen and Inge as well as longtime friend Andreas Johnson for the project. Tempel is the group’s debut album and it promises a melding of hard rock and metal in the vein of Mastodon, Kylesa, and Kvelertak themselves.” TempelARS.

Mastiff – Plague Review

By Cherd on February 24, 2019 in 2019, APF Records, British Metal, Doom Metal, Grind, Hardcore, Sludge, Doom Metal, Hardcore, Sludge, 34 comments

“My first review under my own moniker here at AMG LLC Sole Proprietorship & Sons was for an unholy mix of plodding sludge doom and breakneck hardcore. If you can remember lo those many weeks ago, I concluded that however much you enjoyed each individual component, the combination never truly gelled. Well, if there’s one thing I’ve learned about metal, it’s that if a hybrid style exists at all, someone out there is doing that shit right. I submit to you now Plague, the second full length from misery making monsters Mastiff (Muppet, meet thy match) who play just such a mix.” Dog bites metal.

Down to the Bunker – Misery Review

By Lokasenna on February 23, 2019 in 2019, Alt-Metal, Hardcore, Reviews, Swiss Metal, Tenacity Music, Alt-Metal, Hardcore, 75 comments

“There are a few genres that tend to be whipping boys in reviewer circles, hard as we might try to weed out such partisanship. Alt-metal in particular tends to be somewhat divisive, with kvlt types eschewing it as mainstream hackery, and more refined types likewise eschewing it as lowbrow idiocy. Yet others like myself, due to the diffuse nature of the subgenre and its near-universal tendency to approach metal from outside rather than from preexisting archetypes, find it difficult to frame both aesthetically and critically; it also doesn’t help that like with its distant cousins, nu metal and post-grunge, the quality control is often poor at best.” Misery seeks company.