It's gonna be a sweaty summer...

Coming Soon:

 

Artificial Brain - 2012 Demo 

(Recording starts : 6/7 /2012)

Buckshot Facelift - "Elders Rasp" full length

(Recording starts: 6/16/2012)

+New merch and live performances by both bands 

and under the radar tapes and side projects, as always...

R.I.P. Greg Ham

Just read in the newspaper that Greg Ham, Flute and Sax player of Australian rock group Men At Work, passed away this week. Apparently he had been distraught these last few years after a lawsuit insinuated that he stole the classic flute hook used in "Land Down Under" from an Australian childrens song of some sort. Either way, the guy was a very talented multi-instrumentalist, had 2 hit singles and contributed to a lot of other wonderful music that people still enjoy. For what it's worth, some of the B-sides and misses from the Men At Work albums "Cargo" and "Business as Usual" got me through many inebriated nights alone last year and I would like to wish my respect and condolences to Mr. Ham and his people.  Watch the video above with its addictive Sax hook and spacy guitars and perhaps you'll see a different side of the lighthearted pop most people associate with Men At Work due to their two infectious singles, "Land Down Under" and "Who Can It Be Now?"

To Mr. Ham, as for all the people who wanted to talk about whether or not you copied an 8 bar flute part - you should know better than anyone that "People just love to play with words".

 

Happy Record Store Day, Bitch

 -Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil

-Tony Bennetts Greatest hits (elusive vinyl rendition of "My Favorite Things" accomplished)

-EPMD - You Gots To Chill "Giant 12" Single" (Shout to Brentwood)

-Yes - The Yes Album (Bill Bruford)

 

-Wasp - Wild Child 12" single w/ cover of "Mississippi Queen" as B side

-King Crimson - Islands

-UTFO - Skeezer Pleezer 

Gary Burton / Chick Corea - Crystal Silence (Recorded in Oslo, 1972. KVLT)

I got the UTFO record at the Northport Salvation Army and the WASP record at the Commack Goodwill store, otherwise everything else was purchased at:

The Record Reserve - 126B Laurel Hollow rd. in Northport, NY.

-It is notable that Mercyful Fate's "Melissa" was playing the whole time we were there. 

-Adam got Phobia's "Grind your fucking head in" on 12" vinyl along with some Unholy Grave split 7"s. His cousin got a Hank Williams record. Fucking true.

Another Biolich guitar cover

"Puppeteered Corpse Trap"
They dance the waltz of puppeteered corpses
in a room the size of time (with...)
Twice as many eyes as faces
Twice as  many lies to hide the cases
in a room the size of time with no walls, only books


I don't remember the rest. I'll look it up if he learns the rest of the song.

Big Boy Moves

BLACK SEEDS OF VENGEANCE

ULTIMATE RESPECT

PRO INTERNAL SUFFERING LIVE VIDEO WITH LYRIC SUB-TITLES. 

Watch this every morning, sing along and your life will improve.

Free BRUTAL TECH DEATH from Spain

In space, no one can hear you inhale growl.

Hellgate from Galicia, Spain are a horribly underexposed band that should blow up in due time with the right label behind them. They blast, they're technical, they're brutal as fuck and they've got their game down pretty tight. Lyrically they're all about space (ahem), which is sick. Not that you would understand a word of what's going on though - the vocals are varied and textured without ever leaving the range of a snarling toilet (compliment). Download the free demo so you can say that you already heard them when all the kids on the Origin message board find out about this and go apeshit.

Hellgate

Jarkko Rantanen - Death Metal Champion

Young Jarkko Rantanen was clearly born to innovate Death Metal regardless of any obstacles that got in his way. Born in Loimaa, Finland (population 7000) - it seems by the time he was ready to jam in 1991, all the other Metal bros in town had already formed Demigod, and he was assed out on his own. Despite being odd man out in the middle of Finland, Jarkko somehow managed to scrape together some friends and recorded a demo that got them signed to Apidocere records. You can read my "anniversary" review of the 7" that followed HERE . Though he never managed to keep a solid lineup, Jarkko and drum/guitar partner Seppo Taatila never let this hold them back - at two seperate points in their career they had to take time off so a member could learn to play drums out of neccessity!. It is also noteworthy that Jarkko's brother, Turkka, wrote all of their cryptic mythologicial lyrics and painted the covers to all of their releases.
 I truly believe having such a varied and chaotic path of converging and ever-changing creative energies infused Adramelech with something special that only comes around every so often in our scene. Don't take my long winded fanboy version of it though - here's the official biography on MetalFromFinland.com
From what I recall, this is taken almost word for word from an old interview that was on their myspace years ago. Also, their Encyclopedia Metallum status lists them as "On Hold"...
 With Demigod playing MDF this year, I can only cross my fingers and hope that their "little brother" Jarkko comes to Maryland next year to once again show who the most brutal and obscure Loimaa band really is...

New Zealand Death Metal History

I think it was Adam who gave me the Eviscerate "Severely Butchered Remains" 1993 demo many years ago, when we used to get so many demos we swapped them like baseball cards. While home sick today from a brutal stomach virus, I did a little research and found some other obscure bands from New Zealand that were active almost 20 years ago, in the year 1993, that magical 12 months of Death Metal history... Although at first these bands may seem a little slow and trying, I have definitely noticed an emphasis on American style guttural vocals and gore, but slowed down to lingering atmospheres that predate the current "post-" or "funeral doom" scenes. This is very dark, raw stuff - give it a minute to settle in.

Here's a sample of the Eviscerate demo (primitive but effective):

 

This is my personal favorite oldschool New Zealand band - Convulsion. Check the interesting vocal techniques:

Then there's this scary shit, Sinistrous Diabolus - masters of the impending doom buildup:

DAN ALERT! CODE SCOTCHBONNET!

HAVE YOU SEEN MY BASS PLAYER? Last seen suffering from a head wound and drinking with a strange homosexual asian man. I AM WORRIED SICK, PLEASE HELP!

Yea!

Holler at your boys

As you can see, Dan has stepped up his attendance average big time and I am practicing drums every day. Old Boar, coming soon to a tape deck near you.
Photos by Paulo

"2 out of 5 Rehearsals a month."

"We light a candle, run laps around the English channel."

Free Canadian Death Metal (REALLY Good!)

Xyphos from Canada, boys, Xyphos from Canada.... I can't help but describe this as sounding alot like Godless Truth's demo and first two albums but with much better vocals. Not to spite Martin of Godless Truth, but Xyphos display an excellent croak-like, dry, guttural voice which is frequently accented by a consistent mid-range black metal snarl. To call it "Tech-death" seems kind of a misnomer. Don't get me wrong - the music displays above average competency and experience, but  has a straight-forward, choppy feel that reminds me of the late nineties, when Death Metal bands were having fun with breakdowns and hadn't gone completely overboard yet. They always keep things interesting with touches of clean guitar, dark melodies and the occasional technical flair, but nothing sounds forced or out of place and they seem pretty comfortable confining their depth and attention to detail to the realm of Death Metal alone, which is cake for you and me. Here's a link to Death Metal Invasion, where I downloaded their EP, "What Comes Before", for free. Be careful, you might get lost in Death Metal Invasion for awhile, so much free Metal...
XYPHOS