Meatshield - Gouge The Eyes EP

Few words need to be said about Hamilton, Ontario's Meatshield. It's heavy, it unrelenting, and it's one of the best local releases to be pumped out of Ontario this year.

My band has crossed paths with these guys a couple times this past year and between playing a ton with them in Hamilton and having them out to the yearly festival my band organizes in our hometown (where I actually filled in on bass for them) I can without a doubt say that I've listened to this EP more than probably any other release from a local band.

 Gouge The Eyes opens with the title track (a rerecording from last years demo) and it rips though in just under a minute with blistering speed. The first time I listened to this EP I actually didn't realize that it was over and thought that track 2 was still the first one. Bastard in a Basket carries on the unrelenting speed and heaviness brought in by Gouge The Eyes although there's some slower groovy sections that help break up the chaos. Tracks 3 and 4 (She Must Be Sick and Eat Your Friends) carry on with the fast/slow sections that came out in Bastard In A Basket  but that's not to say it's all the same. Eat Your Friends has a sludgey breakdown section towards the end of the song that I get excited for everytime the song come on. Finally we have the last track Winds Of Shit. This is probably my favorite track, there's some rediculously heavy dissonant parts and sections that sound heavily influenced by The Dillinger Escape Plan, especially in the drumming.

Overall this is a solid outing and I'm truly excited for whatever they do next.
FFO: Maranatha, Cursed, Homewrecker

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Dodlage - Ritual Slaughter

Portland crust kings Dodlage are back with their debut LP "Ritual Slaughter". 16 songs of nonstop d-beat/crust punk that'll bludgeon you back into the hole you crawled out of. Everything on this LP is an improvement on the foundations laid down on their previous EP and 7". Don't sleep on this one, don't fuck up.

Theriac - Self Titled

Blackened sludge, grind, crust from Toronto. Theriac are comparable to bands like Full Of Hell, Harm Done, and maybe early YAITW. Their self titled debut is 7 tracks of chaotic crust punk that hammer's you in until the final notes of Confortable Decay. Don't miss out on this.

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Dark Circles - Split w/Abstracter

Dark Circles are a blackened crust/d-beat band from Montreal. Their most recent release is a split with Abstracter, which contains 3 new songs from Dark Circles and 2 new songs from Abstracter who are equally as dark and heavy.

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Witchhunt - Void Hymns

Blackened crust from Toronto, if you don't already know Witchhunt then you're fucking up. Void Hymns was released this past January and is 5 tracks of noisey unrelenting filth.
FFO: Young And In The Way, Ancst, and Hexis.

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*they also released a split with Goth Girl (Andrew Cleveland of Mad Trapper & Please Drown's side project) this past March which is definatly worth checking out.

Erosion

I did a write up on these guys back when the previous site was up so I'll keep it short and sweet.
Erosion are a crust/d-beat/hardcore band from Vancouver who play some of the dirtiest punk jams you'll ever hear, so stop reading and check this shit out ASAP.

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