Endless Swarm - Imprisoned In Skin

Remember when bands like Charles Bronson, Despise You, and Extortion came out and crushed any preconceived notion of what a hardcore band could do? Me neither, unfortunatly I wasn't lucky enough to be around when powerviolence bands first started popping up. I am however lucky enough to have seen bands like Spine, Weekend Nachos, and Endless Swarm release records that have continued to push the boundaries of what people think metal and hardcore are about.

Imprisoned In Skin, the debut full length from Scotland's Endless Swarm is a fresh take on an old sound. Rather than building on the foundations their previous releases have showcased, they've pushed the boundaries of not only their own sound but of the genre itself creating one of the freshest sounding grind/powerviolence albums to be released in the last ten years and production wise this is a huge step forward not only for Endless Swarm but for powerviolence itself.

Right off the bat you're met with furious blasts and intense riffing this side of a Crossed Out record. Blasting continues to carry on straight through until track four (Interpolate) where we get a brief moment where the bass shines through and trudges along. One of my favorite parts of this album was how prominent the bass was especially on Corrosive Matter where it switches off twenty seconds into the song and drops a nasty bass line.

Throughout the short duration of this album, a mere twenty minutes, you'll find buzzsaw like guitar riffs, mosh inciting breakdowns, the thickest bass tone provided by any powerviolence band I've ever heard, vocals that opt between Full Of Hell styled death grunts and a beefy hardcore shout, and blastbeats that would make Dave Witte proud. Imprisoned In Skin isn't a super complicated album but I really don't think it was meant to be, I feel like this album was just years of anger and frustration with the world manifesting itself in an aural assault.

Imprisoned In Skin releases on October 1st preorder it HERE
Follow the band HERE and try to catch them at a show

Debridement - Drowning In A Cesspool Of Malform And Malady

Here's one for all the goregrind/brutal death metal sicko's out there. I absolutely love bands like this, everything from the ridiculously over the top heavy music to the gross artwork/imagery used to represent the band, I fucking love it.
I guess that brings us to today's post which is the newest release from Northern Ireland's own Debridement.
Formed in 2016 by Connor Brown, Debridement play a brand of brutal death metal all their own (all his own?). I've been following this band since Vomiting Forth From The Earth was released last February and have been waiting patiently for the first full length release pretty much since the moment Vomiting was released.

Here we have Drowning In A Cesspool of Malform And Malady (which from here on out I'll just refer to as DIACOMAM because it's too much work for a lazy prick like me to type that every time) which is 10 tracks of absolute filth. The first track Adrenochrome sets the pace for the album, opening up with a sample before bringing in one of the beefiest riffs I've heard in a long time. Adrenochrome slams hard before shifting into a groove riff then descends into absolute blastbeat chaos. Track 2 (Dank Mank Stankin Skank) carries on with the beef, opening with another sample (which are found all over the album) and then opts to switch off between dank slams and unrelenting blast beats.
The change in tempos keep the album sounding varied and fresh sounding all while maintaining the unrelenting brutality brought by the meaty riffs which are equally as spastic, but are intricate and tight enough to keep you going "holy fuck". The drums here are very heavy on the double bass and while programmed (I think? I could be wrong) they manage to tie everything together flawlessly and the bass itself is thick and cuts through the mix when needed. Vocally... well I mean, look at the cover art, you know you're getting some of the thickest gutturals in the game, the guest spots from Lukas and Pumpa (Stillbirth) on Reefer Addict and Marc (Colpoclesis) on Sputum are also well placed and add to the heaviness factor.

All in all this is easily one of my favorite death metal releases this year and without a doubt Debridements best release to date. The production is crisp without sounding overproduced, the songs are well crafted and keep you hooked and the artwork provides the perfect visual representation of the music. Sick, Heavy, and Depraved.

DEBRIDEMENT ON FACEBOOK
PHYSICAL COPIES AVAILABLE VIA THE BAND
DIGITAL COPY AVAILABLE THROUGH ROTTEN ROLL REX

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

Gouge The Eyes on Bandcamp
FOLLOW MEATSHIELD ON FACEBOOK

Imperial Triumphant - Vile Luxury

I'm going to preface this by saying if you're looking for something uplifting and happy then you are definitely in the wrong place. What Imperial Triumphant have created here is truly a bleak and desolate piece of art. Vile Luxury came out back in July and while this blog wasn't running at that point I feel it was necessary to review one of the albums I've listened to the most this year.
Hailing from New York, Imperial Triumphant play a brand of blackened death metal unlike anything you'll ever hear but to just call this a blackened death metal album would truly not do it justice. Album opener Swarming Opulence starts off with a horn section before jumping down a well of dissonance and blastbeats creating a swelling of sounds and textures that I've only heard bands such as Gorguts and Artificial Brain successfully pull off. There's sections of this album such as on Lower World an Chernobyl Blues where you think it's going to relent (and it does briefly) but there's always an underlying sense of manic chaos in the background and when they choose to bring the heaviness and chaos down to a minimum it brings almost a film score feel to it and you can almost feel the New York art scene wrapping itself around the album.
The instrumentation on this album is top notch on this outing which is not to say that previous releases were lacking but that this one has definitely set a new bar. The guitars are heavily dissonant and create a sense of dread, the drums blast throughout while stopping just enough to create new textures in the less chaotic sections, and the bass thumps and shines all over.

Overall I'd recommend this album heavily to the bands mentioned earlier (Gorguts/Artificial Brain) but I'd also recommend this album to anyone looking to explore new sounds and territories in the metal scene. Where many bands try to experiment and it comes off as sounding derivative and like a watered down version of their influences Imperial Triumphant have created something truly unique and desolate sounding.

Buy Vile Luxury direct from the band here
IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT ON FACEBOOK
Vile Luxury VIA Gilead Media
Vile Luxury VIA Throatruiner Records (EUROPE)

Pilcrow - Fever Dreams

First post back on the site and I'm more than happy with the fact that the first band up here since the return is Toronto's own Pilcrow.

Fever Dreams is their sophomore EP following up 2016's "Never Better" and comes across as a far more mature release. Opening track "Doves" opens with a bombardment of guitar wizardry and doesn't relent for the duration of the three minute run time. There's a section that comes in around the two minute mark where you find yourself  questioning whether or not you yourself could ever be a musician and top what they're pulling off. Second track "Lungs" opens with some heavy chords patterns before lunging into a frenzy of cymbal crashes and Dillinger-esque off-time riffs all while maintaining the skronky heavy riffs that opened the song tying it together into a controlled chaos of sorts. Shapeshifter seems to continue the trend of guitar madness and keeps up with the hefty vocals that remind me of recent Loma Prieta which I absolutely love. "Crash The Bus" and closing track "Hackenfraud" continue on the trend of skronky guitar riffs and maybe it's just me but you can almost hear some of influence from the later Black Flag material where its almost jazzy and progressive for lack of better terms. It's worth noting the section in "Hackenfraud" at the two minute mark where everything stops and the bass takes control briefly before it decends into riff city and the chaos once again ensues.

Overall I would highly recommend this EP to anyone who's into bands like Loma Prieta, Circle Takes The Square, and Tera Melos and while it's hard to pick a stand out track on this EP I think my favorite is Shapeshifter although that'll probably change as everytime I listen to this I find new things to love about it.
I've been lucky enough that my band has crossed paths with them a few times now and am very much looking forward to what the future brings for Pilcrow. Make sure to buy the EP off bandcamp or catch them at a show and pick up a physical copy. No Funeral Records is doing a pre-order for the cassette release which is linked below.

Fever Dreams On Bandcamp
Facebook
Cassette Pre-order VIA No Funeral Records

BACK FROM BEYOND

Alright folks, lately I've been tossing around the idea of bringing back this blog because a part of me has missed doing this and after some nudging from a handful of people I've decided to say fuck it and bring this thing back. Our current facebook page has been used for booking shows in our area since the blog went down so I'll have a new one up momentarily where any requests for reviews/streams can be sent. I'm looking forward to getting this site back up on its feet and sharing new music with everyone.

This time around I'll be posting music from all genres that I listen to instead of just the usual HM-2 hardcore stuff I used to keep this site based around so expect far more death metal (which is 90% of what I listen to) and heavier grind/screamo/crust.

And again as always, thank you for taking the time to read this.


EDIT: Here's our new facebook page, all submissions MUST be sent there because I don't check my email and sending it to my email would get you nowhere (send submissions here)

RIP

Unfortunatly all good things come to an end. This blog has kind of been on it's last legs for awhile with posting becoming more and more infrequent and as a result it's now time to lay it to rest.

One of us will be starting a new blog focusing solely on the Canadian hardcore and metal scene called Passing Out In Canada (check it out here)

Thank you to everyone who checked out the blog, or found a band through the blog. 

We will still be booking shows through our facebook page (right here) so if you're looking for shows in the Owen Sound area feel free to hit us up on there.