Saturday, September 12, 2015

Back to school reviews: ROUND7, CARNERO, TEAR THEM DOWN, AUGUST BURNS RED, ANCHOR, YORKSHIRE RATS, OFF THE HOOK, BAD COP / BAD COP, SADIST, MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS, WHAT I WANT, TERROR, FAT MUSIC VOL.#8

ROUND7 No Excuse (CD)

by marcs77


Beginning of June I received the latest stuff from Indelirium records and again the Molina Aterno, L'Aquila, Italy based DIY label confirms itself to keep its standards high thanks to a ever growing roster of very good and passionate bands and an enviable bunch of cool releases; these include a 10-track split featuring My Distance and The Memory, two Italian modern hardcore bands, whose previous outings have been reviewed here on gotanerve-zine -since, this time around, I won't be reviewing “Bridges” I just warmly suggest fans of modern hardcore that mixes melody, energy, chuggy riffs and heavy breakdowns to check this record out (The Memory has always a Comeback Kid feel to them while My Distance dirtied their sound with some heavy grooves and rockish influences).
Indeed, in this review run, I'm gonna feature two other interesting releases from Indelirium; one being ROUND7's debut full-length “No Excuse” and the second YORKSHIRE RATS' new album “Sea Of Souls” -the Brits return after a 9 years hiatus.
Let's get down first with Vicenza's Round 7, who follow-up their “United Kids” EP, out in November 2013, with this lengthy 12-song record entitled “No Excuse”.

As soon as you dare to play “No Excuse”, the opening song, you immediately realize this record is gonna be a fuckin' NYCHC affair, yeah! and I'm talking about the more mean metallic and heavy blend of NYHC, truth be told.
I can't really find any fillers in this record and each of the tracks deliver the best of angry, fast, thrashy, heavy, break-downy, sing-alongy hardcore.
The track #11 “Always A Head High” is one of my personal favourite together with “Hell On Earth”, “Black Bloood” and “Heart Attack”. The ass-beating mid-tempo opening riff in “Always A Head High” just grabs you from the very first listen and it'll surely raise hell in the pit. The song changes pace, gets faster, a heavy breakdown is thrown in and before the end there's also a cool Crumbsuckers-esque fast lead for those who want lack nothing.
“United Kids” blasts out with a riffing reminiscing GBH to become a Oi! street-punk anthem. One of my favourite here though not as heavy and thrashy as the other numbers.
“Friends” the short fast closing track badly smells of Nuclear Assault and SOD.
Really, really a solid full-length debut for this band started out in 2009 as joke Pro-Pain tribute cover band -by the way “Round 6” was actually the title of Pro-Pain 2000's album and these Italians named themselves Round7, it's that just a case?
If this is your hardcore style you really have no excuses to miss this album out. C'mon!


Check: www.facebook.com/Round7hc


CARNERO s/t (EP)

by marcs77

This is gonna be the first of two reviews we're featuring of bands singing in their own language.
CARNERO is a proud DIY four-piece band formed in 2013 that comes from Forly, Italy.
I've got a short bio that doesn't cover where the name of this project (featuring members of LeTormenta, Abadon, Lambs and Dementia Senex -by the way both Abadon and Dementia Senex have a split out, the first with Viscera and the second with Sedna) has been drawn from but through some search on the net I got to learn it is Spanish for male-sheep; the roughly stenciled animal-head used for the black and white cover artwork.
Carnero plays some uncompromising coarse-grained hardcore that music-wise takes clues from both the legacy of 80's Italian punk hardcore and the more modern disturbing odd-tempos driven math-metal-hardcore sounds of the likes of Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan (to name just a few names everybody knows). The addition of the spoken-vocal breaks to the vitriolic-anger-soaked screams reminds me of bands like Genova's Kafka.
As far as recording goes, the first thought I had was “damn! there is some Kurt Ballou's Godcity studio quality to it”.
Carnero just blows your mind off when you get the first track kicking in and as the say in the bio “this stuff that is never gonna let you off since it sprung out off the frustration and suffocating feelings the daily life leaves them all trapped in”.
If you like hardcore sung in Italian and are accustomed to these sounds CARNERO, the band and this self-titled EP, are something you must check out.
They deserve your attention and support.
I've not understood whether they're gonna physically release this music however, head over at their bandcamp https://carnerohc.bandcamp.com/ where you can download the EP for free or pricing it yourself. Go!

Check: www.facebook.com/CARNEROHC


TEAR THEM DOWN Ett Liv I Härlighet (7” EP)

by marcs77

Göteborg's punk rockers TEAR THEM DOWN follow-up to their last year debut full-length record with a 4-track EP containing songs sung all in Swedish.
Reading the press-sheet, for the foursome, the use of their home language has been taken kind of a new challenge and out of curiosity to see how the kids would receive their new material even if, like me and I'm sure many of you readers, the listener doesn't understand the lyrics. Sure enough without having the chance to grab on lyrical themes the listener will be definitely focusing more on the music itself. What the Swedes hope for. Anyway, it's nothing totally new, right?. Lotta people speak and understand little English either and this doesn't keep them away from loving their favs bands.
And in the punk hardcore, among many scenes around the world, singing in one own language has been a badge of honor and something that made the bands also stand out for this peculiarity of them. How many loves 80's Italian punk hardcore sung in the language of the Supreme Poet Dante Alighieri?
Tear Them Down doesn’t really have to worry about how the kids will receive their latest work. “Ett Liv I Härlighet” offers 4 bouncing straight forward and damn catchy punk rock tunes that will hook the listeners up from the very first time they get the EP playing or the TTD-dudes will be up on stage blasting out their music.
Mid of September they'll be hitting the road to visit Denmark and Germany so take your chance to check'em out live.

Check: www.facebook.com/tearthemdown


AUGUST BURNS RED Found In Far Away Places (CD)

by marcs77


One of most waited metalcore records of 2015 is finally out.
I've got to read a few reviews, even from Italian press, and random commentary on the internet about this latest opus released by metalcore stalwarts AUGUST BURNS RED and all these pretty much go like «thanks God the guys have written songs which kind of dabble in experimentation such as “Identity”, where ABR trows in a high-reverberated-60's-surf-guitar-rock break or “Separating Seas” here they deliver an interlude of pure Eastern Europe influenced folk, with violin and all the frills, growing madly up in pace like a tarantella or again the song “Blackwood” graced by a Hotel-California-Eagles sounding intro» You know what? Don't worry August Burns Red are a badass metalcore oufit and these digressions, which they're not new for (remember “Internal Cannon” and “Pangea” included in their previous effort “Leveller” dated 2011), sound just like time intervals where these talented musicians confront themselves with out of step sonorities I imagine it's hella fun for them to perform.
“Found In Far Away Places” stands up on its own legs without these digressions and addition to their sound-palette that anyhow don't affect even a little its primal urgency and sheer aggression; if you were afraid of this to happen.
The opening track “The Wake” shows pretty well they're still top notch when it comes to unleash the goods to get a pit going crazy.
If you have been following and supporting August Burns Red career you won't be bummed by this new record, indeed there's surely stuff for everybody's sensibilities.
It's their 7th album since band inception in 2003 and we have to be thankful the guys from Pennsylvania are always striving to take their game up a level but this without forgetting their roots as one of the staples among the second wave of US metalcore together Killswitch Engage, Swadows Fall, Darkest Hour, Unearth, Dead To Fall (the band recently reunited!), Still Remains, Haste The Day or even worse “selling out” leaning toward more mainstream genres like many of they peers did over the same career-span.
“Found In Far Away Places” is out on Fearless records.

Check: www.facebook.com/augustburnsred


ANCHOR Distant & Devotion (CD/LP)

by marcs77

How does the new ANCHOR record sounds like after a few month off its release last April? Did you get to listen to it, right? I know there are already lot of review up in the net, by large ranging from positive to really-positive-to-be-record-of-the-month, and I believe this is good for this long-running vegan hardcore straightedge band. You know? This bunch of songs was recorded in 2013 to see the light of the day in 2015 only via Gaphal records? -why did it take so long? Were the guys insecure as of the new guns will be shooting? I don't really think so!!!
Starting from the opening “Upstream” and that mood a la Foo Fighters-alternative-rock meets old school hardcore-punk you surely get the Swedes grown out their more xCatalistx's vegan sXe hardcore style you could hear in the previous efforts, especially the mini-CD debut “Captivity Songs” and the first LP “The Quite Dance” -I remember the very first time I got to see them live a friend was introducing them to me kind of the new Reaching Forward from Sweden.
Overall the beat of the new songs slowed down and there's more groove and subtle tension building-up to them you normally don't get with the more straight forward hardcore.
“Distance”, a short instrumental interlude, has this clean guitar with some kind of psychedelic-like background that I'm sure I've already heard on another record but which I can't really grab where about.
Well, it definitely manages to take you mind some places before the heavy hardcore number “Losing Faith” kicks off. One of my favourite of the record, together with the second instrumental number titled “Devotion”, and surely one-to-get-pit-moshing live.
But I wanna you try get this point: DISTANCE &DEVOTION is an album to listen to in all entirety to get it.
The songs and the moods blend in each other and there's definitely a continuum from start to finish. And if you guys are ready for this the new Anchor won't let you down.
Lyrical-wise, what they write it pretty personal drawing from their individual point of views and life experiences but you can bet these word manage to reach out to a lot of kids who can relate to them.
Sweden's punks growing to age but still fuckin living their lives against the grain.

Check: www.facebook.com/anchorofficial


YORKSHIRE RATS Sea Of Souls (CD)

by marcs77

Leeds, UK's YORKSHIRE RATS, one of the more recent acquaintance in the Indelirium records family, play that blend of punk rock with street, garage, rock 'n' roll influences to it.
“Sea Of Souls”, their new full-length after the hyatus they took in 2008, opens up with the track “Hurry Up and Wait” that's based on basic beat and a stripped down dry vintage Orange-or-Wox-amp-sounding guitar riff with the voice of singer that reminded me from the very first listen a mix of Iggy Pop, Loo reed and Julian Casablancas (okay, I know Julian sounds quite LooReed-esque himself) as well as other NewWave-ish vocalists I cannot right now grab their names. This song is a pretty solid mid tempo that gains energy in the chorus.
The other songs go pretty much on the same lines some being more folkish and bucolic like the title track or more rocking and “hardcore” like the songs titled “Everyday”, “Struck Down” and “Only The Rich Men”. But generally the punk grit is well balanced with the rockish side of this band.
Soon after you start listening to this record you have the feel these folks know their chops. Add to this a fittingly production and Don Mercy's laid back voice that fire marks their delivery.
The record ends with three acoustic takes of the songs “Mary Comes First”, “Only The Rich Men” and “Sea Of Souls” (all played in electric version as well); the first of the three comes out as somehow Green Day at their folkest.
Fans of Gas Light Anthem, Rancid, Chuck Reagan and Social Distortion will probably find this interesting enough to buy.

Check: www.facebook.com/yorkshirerats


OFF THE HOOK The Mess Inside (7” EP)

by marcs77

OFF THE HOOK is a hardcore band based in Berlin that formed in 2008 and is now following up their previous 12" LP, dated 2013 and entitled “The Walk”, with this new 4-track 7” out through Anchored Records, Acuity.Music and Mustard Mustache.
In their short-worded bio up on facebook they state to a band that plays aggressive hardcore but without that “we'll beat you up” tough-guy attitude, that I'd add some want to ascribe to the genre. And that's really fine in my book since the worst bit in hardcore has always been the violence, well described and perhaps endorsed in some of the contributions included in the acclaimed book “American Hardcore” by Steven Blush.
Musically “THE MESS INSIDE” offers up four slabs hungry, furious, heavy and energetic hardcore. There are uncompromising riffs, crushing breakdowns, furious barking vocals and gang-backups for everybody to sing along. Well, all this definitely matches with aggressive tag they put to their music delivery. Right? And what about the non-tough-guy attitude? Well, I don't personally know the dudes but the band pic doesn't show any shit-scaring gang of tugs you wouldn't bump into in dark alley so this too pretty much fits their own words.
If I had to pick one song song my favourite here is would be the short title track: is kinda by the number fast shit turning into a pounding 2-step but what a huge bass opens this up!
To be checked out together with their 12” LP, if you haven't yet.

Check: www.facebook.com/offthehookhc


BAD COP / BAD COP Not Sorry (CD)

by marcs77
It's really not that difficult to fall in love with this band and dig their music if you're into bouncing sugary punk rock in the vein of 90's female bands like Tilt, Fabulous Disaster, Dance All Crashers (minus the ska influences) or Elastica blended to the more poppy and slick sounding vocals from Paramore, We In The Crowd and Avril Lavigne. Okay, I hope I haven't led you to the wrong lane dishing these references. BAD COP / BAD COP are pretty punk as fuck!
The follow-up to their previous 7"s record “Bad Cop/Bad Cop” and “Boss Lady” lives up to the expectations press and kids alike may have had for this quartet from San Pedro, CA.
The boss ladies, who since the release of their debut on Fat Wreck Chords has had their fair share of touring down, are here to wrestle you, like the cool artwork may suggest, and hook you up with the amazing three-part-harmonies and hear catching vocals.
But it's really not about great vocals only. “NOT SORRY” is a very varied album that follows the content and feelings the lyrics bring out and the goal not to sound one-dimensional-punk.
You get numbers like “Like, Seriously?” that's that Gilman street punk rock that draws from Ramones, Screeching Weasel and goes out with a power-pounding-beat and some of the most catching lines I happen to listen to off a punk rock record as of late. With lotta humor the gals reclaim their rights to do what they love and do best and so to be taken seriously; well, as they sing they're “hardcore as fuck”, “already part of punk history” and without selling any sex “make your eardrums wet”. Do I need to add more???
Songs like the electro-acoustic laid back street punk of “Here's To You”, the reggae-dub-punk “I'm Alright” or the sugary pop punk of “Old Dogs”.
“Support” the closing track is pure adrenaline driven So Cal melodic punk rock utterly fitting the Fat Wreck Chords' punk style the label spread successfully all around the globe.
So now give me a reason not to check this record out and support Bad Cop / Bad Cop.

Check: www.facebook.com/badcopbadcopband


SADIST Hyaena (CD)

by marcs77

As you may have noticed we here at gotanerve-zine don't review straight up heavy metal and and if you're not into the genre but restrict your listens to all metal with the “core” appendix to it I'm rather sure you've never got to hear of this Italian, Genova based progressive technical death metal ensemble named SADIST.
Yet the band isn't what you would call a newbie since you have to go back in history to 1991 to find the year when Sadist formed and released their very first music that mad up their EP “Black Screams”.
Reading music magazines and talking with other kids not much after the release of their 1993's debut “Above The Light” (out for underground label Nosferatu records) I got to hear of this combo and went on to check out that album -they played a blend of technical death metal with some marked classical music influences to it, Hammer movie horror atmospheres and enriched by Malmsteen's school lead guitars solos and arpeggios.
The 1996's follow-up “Tribe” laid down the definitive basis for their progressive ethnic tribal world music influenced technical death metal they have been playing until today (not considering an unfortunate stint in the direction of those new metal sounds and grooves that were getting so much hype at the end 90's and early 2000; a turn that led the band to put out the record entitled “Lego” not well receipt by press and fans alike).
“HYAENA” their latest work out on 16th October through Scarlet records sees the combo progressing with their grow as musicians and experimenting with their art still somehow staying true to the sounds they have been shooting for since band's origin.
Their musical offering takes definitely cues from the likes of Cynic (this band has been really influential to the Italians), Death, Pestilence, Atheist, Nocturnus, Sadus, Meshuggah, Soilwork (“Natural Born Chaos” era), Believer, King Crimson, Weather Report, Steve Vai and you can hear that if you're familiar with these bands yet Sadist simply does a huge, not easily paralleled, work putting everything together taking care to use the right ingredients in correct measures with the finest gusto an Italian master-chef has.
The writing behind this material is extremely creative, fueled by some sort of combination of musical genius and extensive talent.
Think of frantic aggressive double-bass and dynamically creative poly-rhythmic drumming, technical fusion lead guitars and heavy death/thrash bone-crushing guitar riffs, mind-bogglingly jazzy Latin fusion infused bass lines and a wash of keyboards / synthesizer used for creating atmospheres ranging from symphonic, Hammer horror/creepy, cyber-frozen-apocalyptic, out-of-space and out-of-time, trip hop, tribal and world music (this instrument is played by Tommy Talamanca that also plays guitar and produced/recorded the album at his own Nadir Music Studio).
There's really a lot going on during the whole album and in each track to offer great reward those open-minded and patient enough to give “Hyaena” songs the time to grow and show their beauty and top notch value.
SADIST proudly stands among the biggest Italian metal acts like Lacuna Coil, Extrema, Rhapsody, Labyrinth and deserves uncoditioned support from its fans and all fans of awesome music.
"Hyaena" is great addition to their discography.
Broaden your musical tastes and add this band to your daily death-core listens.
I'm glad Scarlet records sent me the promo gaving me the chance to reconnect with a band I wasn't following anymore.

Check: www.facebook.com/pages/Sadist


MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS Jamat-Al-Maut (CD-tape)

by marcs77

What the heck! A grindcore outfit from Lahore, Pakistan??? Well, you could correctly say, why not?
Surely grindcore feeds itself with all the fucked up shit that goes on in life and a troubled country as Pakistan, like is the case with different countries scattered all over the world, has a lot going there to satisfy the hunger of the voracious belly of the grindcore that will regurgitate everything onto the listener in the form of primal barbaric growls, screams and grunts, heavy loud mucky low-end guitars, ultra fast crusty thrash beats and the genre trade mark's blast beats chaos.
Behind the moniker MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS (a name that is very likely a tribute to Napalm Death's debut “Scum” and its opening track) stands a duo that started out this band in 2011.
“JAMAT-AL-MAUT” marks their second recording, the first one being a 2-track promo dated 2013, and is a 8-song EP of grindcore music, with crust and hardcore punk influences, to bring down the powers that be, governments and multinational corporations with.
Short, fast punishing tracks of extreme music played with an anarchic punk hardcore crust attitude.
The lyrics on this album, that throw in lines sung in their own language (the album's title translates in “Congregation Of Death”), are deep, hateful, and rebellious analogies of society and the human race. They address themes like materialism, capitalism, totalitarianism, modern-day slavery, the brainwashing power of the media and what they sing about is surely as poignant and fitting to the country they live in as to today's world whole.
All fans of pure uncompromising grindcore should definitely go and listen to this record at the soonest.
“Don't you tell me what to do. Lund pe charh”.

Check: www.facebook.com/multinationalcorporationspakistan


WHAT I WANT You Talk Of Peace For All, And Then Prepare For War (Demo)

by marcs77

We've had this up for streaming a while ago and it's the demo by Brasília's WHAT I WANT.
The threesome plays some no frills raw brutally ferocious grindcore crust that all of you into the genre should definitely check out because there's everything you come to expect from a grindcore record like break-neck speed, primal cavernous growls, heavy low end punishing guitars, frantic highly energetic blast beats and the longest it takes for all this to be delivered does never clock in much over the minute.
Lyrically, the title itself of the demo “You Talk Of Peace For All, And Then Prepare For War”gives out hints about WHAT I WANT being an act dealing with social and political conscious themes.
Old-school grind is never gonna die and quoting Belgian Agathocles “Grind Is Protest”.

Check: www.facebook.com/whatiwantgrind


TERROR The Twenty Fifth Hour (CD)

by marcs77

Believe me, I haven't actually listened to the new TERROR record. But I just expect it to be a TERROR album. And if you 're a fan of the Losangeleni you sure know what I mean.
The cover art is a cool photoshop work!





Check: www.facebook.com/terrorhardcore



FAT MUSIC Vol.8: Going Nowhere Fat (CD)

by marcs77

This is definitely gonna be a pure nostalgia trip. It all started in 1994 when Fat Wreck Chords put out a 12 bands, 14-trax compilation titled "Fat Music For Fat People". Here we go again 25th year later listening to the Volume #8 of the famed comp.

Check: www.facebook.com/Fat-Wreck-Chords-111826664236

No comments:

Post a Comment