Grate-You Should Be

Social Blasphemy Records
2017

The brainchild of vocalist/guitarist Nick Holmquists (Aisumasen), Grate is a Gothenburg, Sweden-based outfit that was formed in 2001 and is now on album number three with "You Should Be". At first Grate was a solo project for Chris. Over time though new band members were introduced. With new members and new albums the group slowly but surely evolved into the beast that stands before us now. These days the band's influences seem to run the gamut from Godflesh, Fudge Tunnel, and Killing Joke all the way up to Prong and Helmet. Not quite industrial metal, noise rock, hardcore heavy metal, or even raw metal, Grate is a little bit of all of the above and then a whole hell of a lot more! While it was actually released over the summer of 2017, "You Should Be" is as hot and dangerous now as it has ever been!! Thanks to it's bleak industrial edge and hard as hell attitude, Grate's latest recording should appeal to a wide array of metal fans.

Wrong-Wrong

Relapse Records
2016

Wrong is post-grunge/alternative rock band that resides in Miami, Florida and is made-up of ex-members of Torche, Kylesa and Capsule. The just-released "Wrong" is the first full-length recording from this four-piece band and this 11-track release serves as the follow-up to a 2014 EP entitled "Stop Giving". Band-members include Eric Hernandez (guitars/vox), Ryan Haft (guitars), Andres Ascanio (bass), and drummer Brian Hernandez and as far as Wrong's influences go there is one particular act that stands head and shoulders above the competition. Apparently Wrong is Florida's answer to Helmet and while it might not be an exact carbon copy it is about as close as you could get to the New York band without outright copyright infringement! As such, "Wrong" is just right for Helmet fans and all those who love the more metallic side of noise rock.

Jar'd Loose-Turns 13

Threshold of Pain Records/The Path Less Traveled Records
2014

Buy it. That's all there is to it. Just buy "Turns 13". This Chicago-based band has just dropped their sophomore disc,"Turns 13" and it is fantastic! It's so good in fact that I immediately stopped what I was doing and picked up their first album (2012's equally raved over "Goes to Purgatory") and a t-shirt from this four-piece noise-rock band featuring members Eddie Gobbo (vox), Eva Bialecki (bass, vox), Nate Madden (guitar) and Phil Hardman (drums). And I did it just so that I could further bask in their kick-ass noise-rock glory! When it comes to Jar'd Loose it's almost like the lead singer (or original) of The Accused (good old Blaine Cook!) were to front this wild and crazy  noise rock n roll outfit whose sound is drew as much from the Jesus Lizard as Entombed (their own words)....only it's like 1,000 times better on tape! Whether it's the way in which Eddie Gobbo goes about hitting the mic with some unreal, wicked and absolutely gnarly, "swallowing razor blades here boss!" vocals or the band's (complex and colorful!) take on garage-like (noisy, punkified and down-right dirty!) rock n' roll it's all equally sick and it made me appreciate the music of Chicago all over again! And it's not just the music of Jar'd Loose that makes me go back to this lot over and over again! I'm loving everything about this band-their cool female bass player (always a plus for me-there is just something awesome about killer female bassists!), their apparent obsession with pro wrestling (just check out this quartet's Facebook page here:https://www.facebook.com/jardloose) and their well-organized, A-Z list of influences (check 'em out below). It's like Chicago's Jar'd Loose's are the whole package! And their second full-length, "Turns 13," is just adding to what will be their legacy! Available on both CD and (starting June 26th) LP, "Turns 13" is a must for noise rock fanatics and another release that will be featured in my year end best of list! You can find it (along with a whole slew of other cool items!) at the band's store here:http://www.shopbenchmark.com/jardloose/new-products.html



The list of influences:

Alice Cooper, Alice In Chains, Apocalypse Hoboken, Black Sabbath, Buzzcocks, Buzzoven, Coalesce, Coliseum, Corrosion Of Conformity, Converge, Crowbar, Dead Kennedys, Death, Deftones, Devin Townsend, Dwarves, Emperor, Entombed, Eyehategod, Faith No More, Frank Zappa, Godflesh, Gojira, Goreguts, Helmet, The Jesus Lizard, L7, Lair of the Minotaur, Mastodon, Melvins, Morbid Angel, Motorhead, Prong, Screaming Trees, Sepultura, Soundgarden, Swans, Thin Lizzy, Vision of Disorder, White Zombie, Zeke.

Baxter Stockman-Punter

Ektro
2013

Looks can be so deceiving. If I had to guess about this one I would have gone with "heavy rock" or maybe "80's-infleunced hard rock". Neither answer would be correct although this is a form of rock I guess. After the title-cut, which opens this debut-album from the Helsinki, Finland-based three-piece known as Baxter Stockman, tests the boundaries of even my patience before things get a tiny bit more "Even Steven"...although, it's not by that much admittedly. Baxter Stockman*, which was founded in  in 2006 (and has a name that sounds like the title-character to some 80's comedy about an adventurous teenager!), find their inspiration in the likes of Swans, G.G. Allin and Rapeman (a group that feature Steve Albini of Big Black). If your looking at those three influences and you find yourself saying "Well, that looks like one hot-mess of psychotic inspirations" then you are pretty much correct! The vocals are bizarre (going from almost raw punk-like moaning/murmuring to eery cries) and the actual music is the sound of rock and roll as it's getting raped by Frankenstein's punk-rock obsessed monster! Is it tolerable? Well, that just depends upon what your ears can endure. These guys founded the band with the aim of making intense rock that was harsh and hammered into the listeners eardrums with the surgical procession of a circus strongman drunk on his own power and filled to the brim with rage and cheap beer! In that regard this one is a success! But if your squeamish and don't like the sound of screeching guitars and drums that sound as if they are being played by a out-of-control, one-armed robot then you would be best served to just keep on walking, no, make that running, away from "Punter" as quickly as your tiny feet can carry you! 

 

 

*In reality the group is named after a character from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Mutation-Error 500

Ipecac
2013

 
What happens when you get the likes of Shane Embury (Napalm Death), Ginger Wildheart (The Wildhearts) and Jon Poole (Cardiacs) together in a recording studio? Well, in a word "chaos". Or more specifically it's speed-blast infused and industrialized "chaos". Mutation, which is full-scale craziness in glorious color, is akin to taking a weird acid trip with Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers) and Al Jourgensen (Ministry) while attempting to create a fusion of grindcore and melodic rock with Andrew WK! Notice that I said "attempting" as these individuals, who also kidnapped the likes of Mark E Smith (The Fall) and Merzbow to help with the birthing pains of  "Error 500", don't quite get around to anything resembling normality. But then again that does seem to be the whole point of Mutation. As they all can together with the sole purpose being "to hear an album that no one else looked likely to make", or at least not before the end of 2013, one could argue that Mutation did achieve that goal. The mere fact that "Error 500" is like nothing else (even by extreme metal standards) makes it a mandatory listening experience although, as a word of caution, do not play any music by Mutation in the presence of children, kittens, the elderly or anyone with a weak heart as this is "music" meant to destroy!

Dead-Idiots

Eolian Empire
2013

Dead, the Melbourne, Australia-based purveyors of noise rock, is a 2-piece band comprised of Jace on bass/vocals and Jem on drums/vocals. After listening to all that Dead has to offer here on their latest release, which was originally released at the tail end of 2012, I'm left drifting in the wasteland that is indecision. As "Idiots" opens with a slow build up, which I would have bet anything was going to be a case where a track  lulls you into a false sense of security, and doesn't really ever pick up until much later on. Produced by Dead themselves and recorded and mixed at Headgap Studios by Neil Thomason (except for the vocals which were recorded by Max Ducker at Cellar Sessions) this heavy slab of noise rock picks apart plenty treasured post-punk bands of old and then super-glues everything back together into it's own structurally unsafe work of art. I'm not going to lie here as I do like the description that came with this particular underground release. Describing this LP as (and I quote) "a Voltron-like beast formed from stripped-to-the-bone Karp and Melvins, ultra-heavy aberrations of Wire and Gang of Four angular punk, odd technical riffage of GodHeadSilo and No Means No, the aggro Aussie vibes of Feedtime, and creepshow experimentation" it's actually close to being spot on (description-wise) although images of The Swans flashed before my very eyes as I sat with my headphones on digesting this album. There's parts of this album that I thoroughly enjoyed (including the last 3 album tracks), but there's also parts I could have done without. Therefore I'm left in a quandary as I can't really recommend this release and yet I'm not ready to write Dead off yet. My best advise with this one (if you're into noise rock) would be to listen to it before you buy it. If you can take it for a test drive then by all means do it.

Megachurch: Megachurch 2: Judgement Day

Stressed Sumo Records
2013

With the end of the world now (thankfully) less then a week away why not confess you misdeeds at the Megachurch? This 3-piece Cleveland act seems as if it does not take themselves, or this world all that matters, all that seriously, but one listen to their seriously insane sound is likely to make you a believer anyway! In place of a lead vocalist (who needs 'em anyway right?) we're treated to found-sound samples of politicians, televangelists and Tea Party fanatics. Not only that, but the band takes a stand against traditional power trios by going bass, bass and drums instead of bass, guitar and drums. If you guessed that the combination of samples, bass and drums results in a unholy amount of racket and noise then give yourself a pat on the back and shout "Hallelujah!". The group’s sound is mean and ugly. It's also very effective. Looking for the ultimate listening experience for your "End Of the World" party? Look no further my friends. While it technically does not come out until after the world is due to expire it is streaming at the link below so at least you have that to go by right? All you need to do is combine "Megachurch 2: Judgement Day" with cheap beer, some good friends and maybe some tacos (why tacos? why not!) and you are all set to ride out the end times in style.

http://stressedsumorecords.co.uk/?p=359&preview=true