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Mondo Cada - ST
Live Reviews...
Mondo Cada are an interesting proposition to behold. While confident enough to present their influences front and centre from the outset (previous comparisons to Mudhoney are more than apt), they are careful enough not to let those influences engulf them. This appears to be achieved mostly through sheer volume (an early request to the 'turn everything up to 11' is duly honoured). Tonight they ramp up the hardcore quotient of their set, screeching and squalling through a lightening fast riposte to all the(..)titans that have gone before.
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..a variety of tripped out stoner rock..recalling the cataclysmic power of Part Chimp, or Hey Collosus, or to place it more historically, Black Sabbath, or Black Flag, they're impressively intense and rock out some seriously bizzare melodies and sounds... |
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Gorse - The Slumber of Artemis
Imagine, if you will, a scuzzy Chicago/San Francisco dive with bits of wee on the walls and piles of sick on the floor. Steve Albini's at the bar, haggling over his Cinzano and soda; Cows' set just ended and you're waiting for Hammerhead to finish setting up. Yup, this is scuzz in a good, old fashioned, scabby AmRep (Amphetamine Reptile Records) style. Having heard frontman James' previous band's treacle thick sludge onslaught, this was not what I was expecting to hear at all.
This sandpaper rough sense of twisted melody permeates the length of the record and serves to puntuate juggernaut riffs and compliments James' angry-pissed-bloke bellow (He seriously sounds like the bloke from X at times). When not being sensitive and whimsical (ok, ok, the quieter, less shouty, more sinister bits), and they hit their jagged, lurching groove, Gorse sound fucking HUGE. Shards of open-string sparkle serve only to make the listener feel lacerated, as well as the subject of an unwanted stepchild style beating. Certainly not nice. In fact, nothing about this release is nice. It's fucking ugly sounding. If amps had a custom "unpleasant" dial, Gorse would have maxxed it out, naturally. |
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UFO Gestapo - ST
Hailing from Marseille, South of France this Hardcore / Sludge outfit have got a massive sound and songs to match. check out the media player on myspace for a sample.
reviews to follow soon |
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Tiger Warsaw - 7 Track EP
Lincoln's own Tiger Warsaw are incredible, for all of their hard work gigging constantly and their history as part of Stabbed In Autumn, a band more famous for drunkenness than music at times, Dean, Tev and Lurch have shown with this band what they can really do.
Gloomy and introspective but at the same time uplifting and life-affirming, this, their first release on Calculon Records, is nothing short of brilliant.
From the opening delayed notes of 'Totoro' they launch into a post-rock inspired take on the 90s screamo blueprint, in a way that belies that description. The occasional vocals are something rarely seen in this genre, with only a few mumbled phrases and punctuating the end of the song with long screams they build an atmosphere like no other band.
The live shows often see the band playing right through their sets with no pause and the album feels the same, songs linked by split-second gaps or feedback, the production lets the songs shine for themselves.
On 'Endowed Divorce' Dean's vocals come across as though he has been possessed by some wandering savant, grumbling lines into the microphone with a half-detached air that makes him a unique prospect.
The delayed guitar intros are a theme here, starting several songs, building up songs from the foundations, like 'Priests In September' the song takes a quiet, calm introduction and springs a raging riff on the listener when least expected, and the overall epic nature of the band shows its colours, a comatose fug of sound envelopes the release that shows perfectly what you can do with a repetitive theme and an attitude.
The minute-long 'Bars' shows a burst of speed from the three-piece before the general strut is resumed again for closer 'Portugal'.
The band won't thank me for all this praise, their modesty is something they are famed for, but Tiger Warsaw are one of the best UK bands I know, and this release simply shows that. |
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Spleen Vs Ideal - Souvenirs
Produced by Billy Anderson A two-piece, a bassist/vocalist and a drummer, playing a mixture of Queens of the Stone Age, Man is the Bastard, Fantomas and Melvins!!! |
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A horse Called War - Stumble At Every Hurdle
Debut EP from A Horse Called War.
SOLD OUT
Another sludge band that sound like Iron Monkey and Eyehategod? Do we need anymore of these bands? Well, when they sound as good as A Horse Called War, then yes, we bloody do. The blueprint is familiar, thick dirty riffs ranging from feedback drenched funeral dirges to foot-stomping fist in the air stuff, vocals full of bile and an overall feel that makes you want to cause serious damage to someone, or something. However, rather than sounded like a band treading over common ground, they deliver something that sounds fresh in a genre that can get bogged down in its own swamp.
The most obvious musical comparison would be Charger, as suggested on the review to their previous EP on this very website, as they have that same knack of knowing how far to push a riff or a passage before it gets mind-numbingly repetitive, and some of the doomier moments bring to mind another fine UK band, Lazarus Blackstar. The 5 tracks on offer weigh in at around 35 minutes, which is just right for this style of music, otherwise you find your attention starts to drift. A special mention must go to the final track 'Bodil Joensen' , in honour of the leading lady who featured in a notoroius underground porn film from the 80s called Animal Farm. The track also features the vocal talents of Martin Ives from Charger, and a feedback ridden ending, where the drums and bass carry on the main riff. Textbook stuff. Highly recommended to all fans of sludge.
Includes Mpeg Video |
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Slomatics - Kalceanna
BACK IN STOCK
Slomatics new full length 'Kalceanna' has much in common with its Irish title. 'Kalceanna', which is Irish for 'storm', serves as a fitting point of reference for the thick dense music that Slomatics create.
Consisting of a mere two guitarists and a drummer, Slomatics have wilfully augmented the classic 'power trio' formation, choosing to do away with bass entirely. You'd be forgiven for assuming Slomatics were at least a four piece. Furthermore, you'd also be forgiven for assuming they had a bassist, because the sheer low end saturation they achieve is impressive to say the very least.
Slomatics construct lumbering, towering riffs, built on a solid foundation of simple yet effective rhythmic patterns. Vocals are used sparingly, delivered in a half sung, half shouted style that is well pitched in relation to the music. Joe's defiant delay soaked howl serves to punctuate and enhance the songs leaving the rest of the band with ample sonic headroom.
Throughout this album, the emphasis remains on the beautifully textured low end and crushing cyclical grooves. The band indulge in fuzz saturated, glacially paced riffs but never loose sight of the need for a good hook. Slomatics strike a healthy balance between low end drone and straight up stoner rock groove, wisely retaining a song based approach throughout.
Their sound isn't a million miles away from the now defunct US band Floor. However, Slomatics clearly have their own take on sludge and doom and it's one that will likely take them far in years to come. If the band continue to develop on their current trajectory and perhaps manage to secure a slightly slicker production job on their next record, they'll be set to destroy.
As it stands, 'Kalceanna' is a superb offering, one very worthy of your attention should you have any interest in good underground music.
New slomatics stuff comming Autumn 2007 on Calculon Records |
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Castor Troy - This City Will Destroy Us - CD
"We don't all wear bowler hats, or hire servants, more like 24-hour surveillance and dogshit on the pavements" - 'My London' by Lady Sovereign.
We are in a state of honesty in this country, 'rock and roll' is a propagated myth and people are actually telling the truth; now Lady Sovereign may well be the quintessential brat that garners hate from the general public, but at least she is speaking her mind...
Now why start a review by Coventry grind/fast/hardcore mixed bags Castor Troy, with a quote from what is essentially the opposite end of the musical scale? The reason is Castor Troy are peddling the same message entirely, living in the city or indeed the country is no bed of roses, and the claustrophobic architecture and blitz-smeared history of their hometown has obviously rubbed off on them.
With a good few years under their collective belts as a live band, this all-too-brief ten minutes shows what they can do, packing in frankly more riffs than the average band do in an hour, from the opening firework display of 'Love... I'm So Tired' with its accusing pointing-finger raison-d'etre "I've got nothing to show you" hinting at what is to come, which is ten minutes that will scare most.
'We Are As Birds' comes into play before you know what you are doing, and the soaring, almost epic second half is uplifting, bringing to mind a rushed Isis or Converge at a slow point. Before you can really start to feel anything else, they segue into blastbeat-ridden 'The One About The Dead Girl', packing in lines like "we've become everything we hate" showing the general self-loathing that this band exhibit a scary amount (their myspace title reads "Probably the worst live band you'll ever see...").
Next follows the longest track on offer, 'Fourth. First. Sixth.' which is slower paced than the rest but lets go none of the brooding, gravelly loathing that this band are really fucking good at. A swift kick to the balls starts the title track next, with tech-sounding finer tapping on offer, showing the immense production you can really hear everything through, especially the stabbing chorus (if such things exist here).
Personal and live favourite 'Wake Up... Its Starting' follows with its stop/start staccato awesomeness and is gone before you know it. Closer and lyrical summing up of this chaotic and frenzied release - "When people want to say/ Something truthful/ They tend to lie to avoid people thinking/ Different of them just because they are being honest" - now if that is not a statement of intent, I don't know what is. |
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Bumsnogger - Alcohol and swine
SOLD OUT... SOLD OUT...
Kicking of with the scuzzy up-tempo bluster of 'Big In Germany (Still Shit)' the first thing that strikes you about the new material is a certain groove that isn't present in a lot of Stoner/Sludge type stuff. Don't get me wrong it's not like they've diluted the sound, the filthy riffs and screamed/growled vokills are still all present and correct but by the time track two 'Cockfight' rolls around you'll find yourself tapping your toe along with some well handled and just plain rocking riffery. 'Darklord' slows things down a bit starting off with a crawling bass riff and then when the rest of the band kicks in there's still that undeniable sense of dynamics and actual songwriting, rather than the noise for noise sake approach that many Sludge bands adopt to mask a lack of originality. Hell, 'Darklord' even has a chorus that's almost (dare I say it?) sing along, in a 'put on your best Metal face throw the horns and scream yourself hoarse' sort of way. 'How I Became The Town Slut' is next out of the blocks and starts with a subtle melodic progression, into a slow groove, before exploding into a speedy mid section that settles down again for the finale, great stuff. 'Alabama Snakebite' has an undeniable punky edge to it, with it's initial race to the finish pacing that drops to a nice slow grind at the mid point and doesn't let up until the last riffs have been wrenched from the instruments. Closing track 'Whitney's Crack Den' (great title) is 10 seconds shy of 8 minutes and approaches more familiar Sludge territory
if you're after a slab of well recorded, superbly structured Sludge that isn't afraid to throw in a truckload of groove, dynamics and (whisper it) melody into the melting pot then you couldn't go far wrong with picking up a copy of 'Alcohol & Swine'. A fitting epitaph for a UK band unafraid to mess with the sometimes tedious restrictions of genre.
SOLD OUT... SOLD OUT... |
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