Hey brutal bangers,
welcome to a new episode of "Honorable Mentions from the Abyss", that this time is particularly rich because it contains even 8 different bands, with some of them that I received from the British press agency Imperative PR and another one from the Italian Anubi Press. It was since April of this year that I didn't publish a so long episode!
Between the aforementioned 8 bands, there is a connection: in some ways, they show an hardcore punk attitude, so to range from classic hc tunes to the grindcore massacre, to crust punk but without forgetting a bit of thrash metal mania.
THE BASTARD WITHIN - "BETTER DEAD THAN FRIENDS"
A debut album mastered by Dan Swӓno, the drums played by none other else than the unstoppable Kevin Talley and 5 guests on vocals, the most notable ones are Trevor from Sadist and even Jason Netherton from Misery Index and also author of "Extremity Retained" (a very good book about the international death metal)... FUCK, The Bastard Within (FB page) from Italy thought to present themselves in a great way to the international grindcore scene! Fortunately, all these big names aren't smoke and mirrors because "Better Dead than Friends" (Immortal Souls Productions, 2020) is outstanding! Well produced, a lot violent but also able to be very technical at times and full of different influences from hardcore punk to black metal. In brief, creative grindcore à la Nasum/Pig Destroyer and the likes!
STENCH OF PROFIT - "NO PLACE TO HIDE"
After the "Human Discount" EP, here you are again Stench of Profit (FB page) from Venice, Italy! Precisely, their return on these pages is due to their debut album "No Place to Hide" (Lethal Scissor Records, 2020), a 20-track opus that initially surprises the listeners with an opening track like "Lake of Void", in which they seem to have radically changed their style through peaceful synthwave soundscapes. But don't worry because, after that, Stench of Profit attack with the first real song "Earth is Bleeding", and, starting from it, you'll be bombarded again and again by a classic grindcore devoted to Napalm Death, Terrorizer and Brutal Truth (obviously since their moniker!). In addition, "No Place to Hide" is an interesting concept-album about enviromentalism and a humanity polluting the earth without any breaks! When there will be the peace for our Planet? After the mankind's death, maybe?
THRASHERWOLF - "WE ARE REVOLUTION"
From London with revolutionary intentions come these Thrasherwolf (FB page)! Also in this occasion we're going to talk about a debut album. Entitled "We Are Revolution", it was self-released by the same band and, as their name can suggests, their music is a fuckin' old-school thrash metal assault played with aggressivity, some melodic touches, heavy metal influences here and there ("Vermillion Steel") but without forgetting a bit of complexity, as exemplified by very long songs such as "Ruins" and the same titletrack, a monolith of 11 minutes of lenght. Shame for the drums, that are a little weak and static but, anyway, "We Are Revolution" remain a recommendable album for every thrash metal maniac out there!
UTILITARIAN - "FIGHT WAR, NOT WARS. DESTROY POWER, NOT PEOPLE"
Now it's the turn of Utilitarian (FB page), another UK band. What could you understand about a band named after a Napalm Death's album and whose debut full-lenght album has a title remembering a Crass song? That, maybe, this three-piece band is very angry. And SO IT IS! In fact, "Fight War, Not Wars..." is a fukken furious sort of crossover thrash metal attack with anarchist lyrics full of rage against a society that puts the profit over the people, even though I don't like so much the vocals of Jon Crowder but who cares? And the nicer thing is that we're talking about a band a lot involved in social issues since, for example, they donated every penny gained by the album's sales to Shelter, a homeless charity. But the struggle of Utilitarian for a better and more responsible society is continuing in these days with their upcoming new album "Stay Angry" that, strong of a remarkable guest of the calibre of Andy Whale from Bolt Thrower, will be released on 6th November 2020. So, stay angry but also stay tuned!
ORLANDO FURIOSO HC - "DEAD CITIES"/"MAR-A-LAGO ÜBER ALLES"/"HALLOWEEN III"
A USHC band that took their name from an Italian poem written by Ludovico Ariosto in the far far 1516? WTF? Oh yes, they are an act from Washington, DC, that this year released two singles. Both are covers and both are promoted on YouTube through promotional videos. So, what are these covers? Well, the band claims to be influenced by heavy metallic hardcore groups such as Terror and First Blood but, instead, the covers are "Dead Cities" of The Exploited and "California Über Alles" of the mighty Dead Kennedys, here entitled "Mar-A-Lago Über Alles" after the resort, located in Palm Beach, Florida, that Trump bought in 1985. What can I say? The covers are good but, more importantly, the band finally released on 31st October 2020 a song of their own: "Halloween III", a powerful mid-tempo where they sound like a dark version of Cromags. After this, Orlando Furioso HC (FB page) promise nice things to come. And meanwhile, they are searching for some hardcore bands in order to put up a benefit compilation, so don't hesitate to contact them!
THE PASSING - "THE PASSING"
The Passing are one of those bands coming from a country playing in the style typical of another country. Specifically, they are a quartet from the sunny Los Angeles, California, but this isn't perceptible from their music since their homonymous debut EP (Caligari Records, 2020), released after their foundation in 2018, shows a sound very rooted in the cold and dark Sweden. So, theirs is a filthy, raw, apocalyptic and hammering crust punk/d-beat à la Anti-Cimex but played with a corrosive black heart close to Hellhammer. In practice, this is crust punk meeting the first wave of black metal... and it's fuckin' inevitable that I like it a lot!
KRATZER - "ALLES LIEGT IN SCHERBEN"
If you have still hunger for some crust punk/d-beat, I think that Kratzer (FB page) from Germany are fit for you! Founded in 2012, they released veeeery recently their 11-track debut album "Alles liegt in Scherben" ("all is lying in cullets") under the auspices of 7Degrees along with 783 Punx. This band is truly different from The Passing since Kratzer play a kind of melodic crust punk/d-beat with extreme (black) metal influences here and that can be present also in some dark slowdowns ("Error"); and all this with a screaming vocalist singing in German. Very interesting and far from the old-school crust punk standards!
BEAST WITHIN THE SOUND - "RESISTANCE"
In the last episode of "Come on, burn my ears!", I featured also a band that impressed me a lot: Beast Within the Sound (FB page). Behind this curious moniker there are 5 maniacs from Czech Republic that this year published their third album, "Resistance", through Slovak Metal Army. Believe me that they are one of the most intense bands I ever heard during this absurd 2020! This because their style is a totally furious and destructive thrash metal with hardcore punk tunes and featuring even some blast-beats, so to speak. Their assault is represented at its best by songs like the same titletrack, that closes the album through an impressive piece of brutality! Now, the only problem is that every post on their FB page is in Czech, so I understand no single words haha!
THE BANDS:
THE BASTARD WITHIN
STENCH OF PROFIT
THRASHERWOLF
UTILITARIAN
KRATZER
BEAST WITHIN THE SOUND
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