Hey brutalbangers,
during some of my last holidays, I found some time to listen, besides to the great debut album of All My Sins, to some crust punk as well grindcore bands. In this new appointment with "Honorable Mentions from the Abyss" you'll find the result of these deafening listening sessions of mine, so enjoy it and check out all the bands that surely deserves your attentions!
Service communication:
before reading this article, you must know that my ebook about the first wave of black metal called "Nel Segno del Marchio Nero" was released on 24th March 2019. Unfortunately, it is written only in Italian but, surely, into it there aren't the over-rehearsed sounds à la Lord of Chaos. If you want to buy my ebook, you can order it through the best Italian and international stores like Feltrinelli, IBS, Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Thank you in advance!
Brutalbangers, save this name: Split/Cross (FB page)! They are a trio from Pennsylvania that, founded only in 2018, debuted this year directly with a fantastic full-lenght titled "Rise of Discontent", that was released under the auspices of a US label, Last World Records, born in 2018 too. Prepare to be bombarded very well by an album lasting only 21 minutes per 8 tracks!
"No gimmicks. No bullshits. Just noise".
This is the motto of Split/Cross, and they shows it through "Rise of Discontent"! It is a pure demonstration of force because it spews forth essentially a raw crust punk with doglike growls, killing screams, chainsaw guitars with no solos, and d-beat drums. But the unexpected thing is that this basic formula is enriched by plenty of different influences, coming mostly from grindcore (just starting with the second track "Filth March") and sludge metal (especially in the slow and paranoid "Dis-seption"). In addition, there are also touches both of death metal and mid-tempo thrash metal ("Soaked Ground", that's full of spoken samples, just like the opening track "Blindspot"). At the end, thanking the Qabar Extreme Music PR from Bangladesh to send me this album, I am very sure that Split/Cross will like to fans of early Napalm Death, Assück, Antisect...and, why not?, also of sludge bands of the calibre of Eyehategod!
When many new bands of the Louisiana scene were forging a slow genre destined soon to be known as "Sludge Metal", other ones choose to play in a more ferocious (and also traditional) way. One of these mind-blowing bands were Mule Skinner, 4 violent sons of Louisiana that founded their dangerous creature in 1987 but managing to release their debut album "Abuse" only in 1996. Unfortunately, this little gem of pure fury was the only album of Mule Skinner for many years, until their comeback even in 2014 with a new attack, the "Crushing Breakdown" EP. It was followed finally by a new fresh album, "Airstrike", released in 2018 by the historic Italian label F.O.A.D. Rec, always active in reissueing a lot of fundamental stuff coming from the '80s international HC punk. But now I must confess I didn't know this band before receiving just "Airstrike" from the Italian agency Anubi Press. Fortunately, "Airstrike" is here to cover this gap of mine!
"Airstrike", that was recorded with 3 original members while the singer Ryan Ashmore is with them since 2013, is a 13-track album where there is a personal approach to conceive the death/grindcore genre. In fact, Mule Skinner plays through a great dynamicity by alternating (ultra)-fast tempos with slower ones. In particularly, these last ones can be groovy or sludgy or again even rockish (like in "Battle Worshiper" and in the final song "Fuse"). But this without forgetting the endless love of Mule Skinner for the purest frontal assault, so some tracks shows also more thrash metal influences (i.e. "Sovereignty", "Firing Squads") while others shows a decisive hardcore punk-oriented style ("Faith in Blood"), for the joy of the best moshing heads! Congratulations also to the new singer, very expressive considering he is able to range, with remarkable intensity, from screams to low growls. At this point, it's a pity that Mule Skinner aren't so active in the live front, at least by judging from their FB page, so it would be fantastic if they'll play more live gigs in the next days to come!
These Stench of Profit (FB page) debuted in 2015 with the absurd demo "21 Ways to Say Fuck", where every fuckin' song was titled "Fuck"! Fortunately, this Italian three piece band from Venice (FUCK AGAIN, I am Italian too but I have still to visit this city!) have now a better imagination to title their tracks, as shown recently through their new EP "Human Discount", that I received some months ago from the British agency Imperative PR.
Released by the newborn Italian label Lethal Scissor Rec, "Human Discount" destroys wildy the ears of the "poor" listeners with 4 tracks for the misery of 7 minutes, but this narrow lenght is enough to give you a good impression about Stench of Profit. This because they spit out a grindcore that's really violent, chaotic and also sick, especially in a song entitled "Every Little Piece", which contains a slow section with a disturbing effect on the guitar. This style features also clear death metal as well hardcore punk influences, that make more intense the entire massacre perpetrated by this young band. But, with a moniker taken from a Brutal Truth's song, did you expect maybe something light?
Trivia time: I don't know why but, for some mysterious reasons, many women in the extreme music are singers and/or are bassplayers. Instead, Lory is the guitarist (and also backing vocalist) of this band...and she kick plenty of fukken asses!
Another band featuring a woman kicking "plenty of fukken asses" is Wolfsblood (FB page) from Sweden. But here I must give a bad news: Divina, their singer, is recently dead on 11th March 2019 at 39 years old. A real loss, also because their debut album "Vomit & Lice", released in 2018 in a co-operation between Regain Rec and Troglodyte Rec, is really stunning. But it could be only "really stunning" since Wolfsblood consist of veterans coming from bands like the legendary HC punkers Moderat Likvidation (GULP!) or the gothic metallers Tenebre, while the same Divina had also experiences in black metal acts. With all these versatile backgrounds, Wolfsblood crafted an excellent assault in the sign of the crust punk!
Yes, an intense crust punk/D-beat is what will await you when you'll play "Vomit & Lice"! But this crust punk is played with a strong metallic edge and also with rock'n'roll touches, so to show an outstanding combination between Discharge, Sacrilege and Motörhead. And there's something more because this album has a so great variety to features not only fast songs but also slower episodes, like, to name an example, that sort of ballad called "Last Train". If all this wasn't enough, other interesting characteristics are the very good interaction between the guitarists (that play also nice guitar solos in every song), the special intro of some tracks (like the military intro of "On Your Knees" or the gloomy one of "Kamagra", that has dark tunes), and, above all, the very aggressive and memorable vocal performances of Divina (R.I.P.). Now that she isn't among us anymore, what is the future of Wolfsblood?
SPLIT/CROSS - "RISE OF DISCONTENT"
"No gimmicks. No bullshits. Just noise".This is the motto of Split/Cross, and they shows it through "Rise of Discontent"! It is a pure demonstration of force because it spews forth essentially a raw crust punk with doglike growls, killing screams, chainsaw guitars with no solos, and d-beat drums. But the unexpected thing is that this basic formula is enriched by plenty of different influences, coming mostly from grindcore (just starting with the second track "Filth March") and sludge metal (especially in the slow and paranoid "Dis-seption"). In addition, there are also touches both of death metal and mid-tempo thrash metal ("Soaked Ground", that's full of spoken samples, just like the opening track "Blindspot"). At the end, thanking the Qabar Extreme Music PR from Bangladesh to send me this album, I am very sure that Split/Cross will like to fans of early Napalm Death, Assück, Antisect...and, why not?, also of sludge bands of the calibre of Eyehategod!
MULE SKINNER - "AIRSTRIKE"
"Airstrike", that was recorded with 3 original members while the singer Ryan Ashmore is with them since 2013, is a 13-track album where there is a personal approach to conceive the death/grindcore genre. In fact, Mule Skinner plays through a great dynamicity by alternating (ultra)-fast tempos with slower ones. In particularly, these last ones can be groovy or sludgy or again even rockish (like in "Battle Worshiper" and in the final song "Fuse"). But this without forgetting the endless love of Mule Skinner for the purest frontal assault, so some tracks shows also more thrash metal influences (i.e. "Sovereignty", "Firing Squads") while others shows a decisive hardcore punk-oriented style ("Faith in Blood"), for the joy of the best moshing heads! Congratulations also to the new singer, very expressive considering he is able to range, with remarkable intensity, from screams to low growls. At this point, it's a pity that Mule Skinner aren't so active in the live front, at least by judging from their FB page, so it would be fantastic if they'll play more live gigs in the next days to come!
STENCH OF PROFIT - "HUMAN DISCOUNT"
Trivia time: I don't know why but, for some mysterious reasons, many women in the extreme music are singers and/or are bassplayers. Instead, Lory is the guitarist (and also backing vocalist) of this band...and she kick plenty of fukken asses!
WOLFSBLOOD - "VOMIT & LICE"
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