Holidays, sorry dudes

Yeah so I'm in Vermont where the internet doesn't exist and all I've been listening to is Thrash. Can't post anything new til after the new years. Put some fucking Master of Puppets or Anthrax on and rock a beer. Happy holidays kids.

Reviews up tomorrow

Ok so there's a bunch of shit to tide you over until I can get some reviews out tomorrow. Shit's busy.

Amebix - Monolith

One of the greatest Crust albums of all times. I am so fucking stoked for Jan 29th. Monolith definitely hits like a ton of fucking bricks. Not a bad apple in the fucking bunch.

Amebix - Monolith

EDIT: LINK FIXED! SORRY HOMBRES!

Witchcraft - The Alchemist

I know the general consensus would have us believe that change, progress, discovery, etc. are a generally a good thing, but I'm not so sure. You know, wind power, and high speed porn downloads, and the Jetsons and shit all seem pretty cool, but in the end I just don't trust it man. What about spy satellites, and hand portable nuclear weapons, and Sharon Osborne on TV! Fortunately, there are some other future-fearers in my camp who know not to fuck with a good thing when they got it. Sweden's Witchcraft has been consistently turning out USDA certified, grade-A classic doom for 8 years now.

When I head the phrase, "This ain't yer grandpa's XXXXXXX." I think, "Fuck that!" This is yer grandpa's doom. Straight up Pentagram/Roky Erikson 70's inspired songs, recorded on all vintage gear (tape decks, boards, guitars, etc. included). Hell the band was started as a one off tribute to Bobby Liebling. When it comes to throwing-back, these dudes don't fuck around.

The Alchemist is definitely one of their mellower albums and frankly I posted it primarily because I haven't been able to get the song Leva (track 3) unstuck from my fucking head since roughly last January. Listen to it. It's a good unwinder.

Witchcraft - The Alchemist

Church of Misery - Master of Brutality/Early Years

Sometimes I really do believe that karma exists. Like you know, if you help a little old lady cross the street and you find $5 later that day you can be like "oh snap, karma." Well, I musta been super good in a past life, because in this life I've been granted Church of Misery. It's like the bastard son produced when Geezer Butler fucked a geishasamurai and brought along satan and a stack of Marshalls with Ed Gein taking care of the camera work. Basically, the premise of the band is to be the Japanese modern day Sabbath and sing only covers (although never of Sabbath! According to them, nobody will ever be as good as the masters) or songs about serial killers. So heavy, so dense, so good. I upped two albums here. A collection of their early works and their 2001 LP Master of Brutality. There's seriously not a bad cut, a skippable track, or a shitty moment in any of it. Perfect for winter.

PS: Liner notes from Master of Brutality include this gem, “We hate trend. We hate corporate attitude. We hate the word ‘stoner’. Death to false stoners!! Let there be DOOM!!” How the fuck can you not love this shit? How? Cretin.

Church of Misery - Master of Brutality/Early Works

EDIT: Fixed the link. Definite get Houses of the Unholy too

Being sick is the worst

Sorry about the no posts over the weekend. Was sick, no internet at home. Deal with it. I should have today's changes up in a few.

Probot - Probot

So I'm totally late to the game on this one but this shit has been interesting me for a while now. I'm sure most of you know about this band but for those who don't it's Dave Grohl + a bazillion metal legends just having a good time. The album features Lemmy, Cronos of Venom, Max Cavalera, King Diamond, Wino (of every doom band from the 80's/90's), Kim Thayill, Mike Dean from COC, Kurt Brecht of DRI, Eric Wagner of Trouble, Tom Warrior, Snake of Voivod, and Lee Dorrian of Cathedral/Napalm Death. Basically, if this album sucked with that line up, metal would truly be dead forever. Seriously, that shit reads like the 1992 dream team of metalpunk.

Anyways, now that I've hyped this shit up just a little more than it already was, lemme bring it back down for a sec. This isn't the greatest album of all time, but it's a damn fun listen. Basically, Grohl was sick of playing his pussy ass foo fighters watered down crap and got nostalgic for having some fucking guillones and decided to call all his childhood heros up and jam. The end result is an album of mishmashed songs/styles with similar production and an obvious brodown undertone. It does get a little foo fightersy for my liking (like on the voivod track) but all in all Grohl manages to keep the ship in clearly metal waters.

Know what? Fuck it, I'm totally willing to say that I like this album, overproduction/nostalgia/commercialism/whatever included. Each track does a pretty good job of highlighting the singer/players style while keeping the common thread of production and Grohl's drumming (which is still spot the fuck on... most of the time). Just check out the tracks with Lemmy and Wino for reference.

Leave me alone damnit, I've been on a Motörhead kick.

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Maybe I was wrong...

Maybe there is one true god.



Motherfucking Lemmy.

Tom and Boot boys

Here's a shit ton of Tom and Boot Boys. Japan is the greatest fucking place on earth. No words can describe "1234 Fucking Fuck" or "Piss Off MTV Punks" in all their glory so I'm not even gonna try. Here's an upload of some shit off of "Punk Parade," "Fuck You! Stay Punk!"and "Follow No Leaders." It speaks for itself.


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Tracks of the Week

So here are last weeks T.O.T.W. I'm currently working on posting up a way to D/L the tracks of the week but I haven't really figured out a good way of dealing with it considering I don't have access to most of my music during the day. Lame man.

Tracks of the Week (In no particular order)

* Cro Mags - Malfunction
* Darkthrone - Hiking Metal Punks
* Corrosion of Conformity - Intervention
* The Accüsed - Wrong Side of the Grave
* Church of Misery - Plainfield
* Amebix - The Power Remains
* World Burns to Death - Boiling Blood
* Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
* Disfear - Firey Father
* Deathammer - Deathammer Strike

Just posting them for posterity as I'm about to change them for this week.

Nomos - Demo Tape and interview

So there's a new band in NYC that doesn't suck at all. This band is called Nomos. In fact they don't suck to the point where I might even call them good. You know, for some fucking rookies. This being said, I haven't seen them live and had the chance to heckle and throw shit at them yet so I'm still not sold. Anyways, I had a chance to talk to their drummer Chris Bowman about their first release. Here's what he said.

Jack: Yo

Chris: Hey dude

J: I'm gonna post that nomos shit up on no gods that cool?

C: That would be cool, yeah

J: Nice, wanna answer a few questions about it?

C:sure

J: Word, why the fuck are you called the nomos? Is that like no homo or no more or something?

C: Nomos is greek for law- we basically thought that it sounded cool. yeah, not the no homo thing

J: Ha, nice that's cooler. Who's in the band?

C: It's me, Garrett McGrath on vox/bass and Michael Gorup on guitar

J: How do you guys know each other?

C: Garrett and I know each other through NYU, theres not alot of kids who listen to hardcore punk stuff so I think I met him at a show. And Garrett and mike are friends from high school

J: Nice, you all in NYC now?

C: Yep

J: So if you're all in school, how come all you listen to is 90's crust and 80's hardcore. You can't fuck to it and it's hard as shit to write if you're headbanging

C: Haha, um lemme see... Well its fast and has energy and makes people move
fuck boring music

J: Excellent response. What's your favorite flavor of punk rock?

C: Anything that sounds like early black flag and a couple later songs

J: What's your favorite flavor of meat?

C: Bloody

J: What's your favorite flavor of beer?

C: Steel Reserve

J: What's your favorite flavor of god?

C: N/A

J: Correct. Any last words?

C: Mosh

J: Fair nuff.

So there it is folks. That's Nomos in about 3 minutes on instant messager. Download it, listen to it, gimme your feedback. For reference, it doesn't sound shit like early Black Flag but it's still alright by me.


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A little DIY somethin' somethin'

So I just scored a shit ton of super detailed speaker cabinet plans for guitar/bass. If anyone is interested in doing some DIY construction, download this:

Cabinet Plans

And let me know how it goes. I'm pretty stoked on the idea of doing some arts and crafts this winter.

Tragedy - Tragedy

The great thing about crust is that, like your disgusting psoriasis, it can pop up anywhere, anytime and often flourishes in nice little pockets. Texas, Portland, England in the 80's, etc. Sometimes, a band is able to connect a few of these pockets. Tragedy is one of these bands and are pretty fucking stellar when it comes to making amazing hardcore. Coming out of the south and currently living in Portland, their breed of crusty/d-beaty/hardcore lays down all the best parts of the individuals that make up the band. His Hero is Gone, Warcry, Deaththreat, From Ashes Rise, etc. It's like a fucking crustpunk supergroup. The self titled album says it all.

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Witchfinder General - Death Penalty

Although I'd like to say that in every cloud there is a silver lining, in reality that's just a load of bullshit. Like genocide, not a whole lot of silver lining in that shit. Fortunately, the decade of beards, corduroy blazers, and Tony Orlando and Dawn did have a silver lining. A few actually (Johnny Thunders, affordable New York, Punk rock, etc.). Today's silver lining is some straight up ass kicking old school NWOBHM/Doom classic shit. Witchfinder General was a metal band more famous in their time for their album covers (dude, boobs, seriously.) than their tunes, but still managed to produce some badass rock and roll. Pretty much straight up Black Sabbath style classic doom rockers about witches and beer and possibly the best non-sequitur in metal history on "free country".

The groove on this album runs deep as fuck and wider than your uncles size 7 poop shoot and the guitars kill it by just keeping it fucking simple. Although allmusic seems to think that these dudes draw way less from punk than other NWOBHM bands I'm gonna say otherwise. There's definitely a solid punk rock vibe on cuts like "Free Country" and "No Stayer." Well, punk in that way that Motorhead is kinda punk but even still.

Whatever, throw it on and enjoy the boobs.

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The Accüsed - The Return of Martha Splatterhead

The Accüsed - The Return of Martha Splatterhead
OK so I promised yesterday that I'd get you all some more info on this album. The Accüsed (yes you need the umlaut you dicks) were a crossover band from Seattle in the 80's/90's who played some blazingly fast, super gnarly high speed thrashy hardcore. Pretty much all of their songs are about dead things, murder, sex, drugs, alienation, or having sex for money. Yeah so they were like 16 or something when they started... Yet even at as these impressionable youths were shredding the shit harder than anyone else around.

"The Return of Martha Splatterhead" is their first full length (the original "Martha Splatterhead" being an EP) and basically showcases their hardcore-gone-thrash approach. Hell you can even hear some total Discharge ripoff shit in there on "Buried Alive." Scope out "Wrong Side of the Grave" too for the best line to say when you show up to work hungover as fuck and not wanting to talk to anyone.

Put this shit on and go skate or something.

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Dr. Know - The Best of Dr. Know

See toldjah I wasn't fistfuckin around and that I'd post it the minute I found it! Track 5. Oh yeah the rest of the album is some good old fashioned thrashy cali hardcore too.

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Fistfuck!

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Just Making Sure

In case it's not abundantly clear, the point of this blog is to give you a place to grab some music. Notice the link at the end of every album post? It's a downloadable file (not for reproduction or anything). Click it, take it, use it damnit!

G.I.S.M. - Military Affairs Neurotic

Eh, nevermind, looks like I got off my ass. I don't know what the fuck it is with Japan, but it's like every time that place gets its hands on anything, it comes back out of their cultural mindfuckculturegrinder of death more fucked up, gnarlier, louder, faster, and generally more insane than it was when they got it. I offer today's download as proof. GISM - the band that assaulted its fans with flamethrowers, mixed Discharge with Iron Maiden, and has possibly the best album art of all time. Take a listen and see what Japan in the early 80's had to offer

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Shitty day, no post. Watch some Cathedral instead.

Bongzilla - Gateway

Sticking with the stoner doom vibe I had going yesterday I'm upping some Bongzilla. There is little in this world more satisfying than mercilessly heavy, totally riffed out, stoner doom sludge. The kings of weed from Madison, WI drop the heaviest album about weed (and nothing but weed. Seriously, read the lyrics) ever. Turn on and tune out.

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A little reminder from Napalm Death...

The race for faster and heavier has been over for 20 years. Watch Mick Harris's drumming. There is nothing fucking like it.

Napalm Death Live in Geislingen - Part 1

Napalm Death Live in Geislingen - Part 2

Swedish Death Metal, the book

Over the course of history there have been irreplicable moments of creativity that quickly disappeared leaving an amazing legacy of art or writing, or music, or whatever in their wake. Paris between the wars, London in the 60's, New York City in the 70's etc. Well in the 80's and 90's, Sweden had it's own musical rebirth with the death metal scene. Bands like Entombed, At the Gates, Dismember, Grave, Macrodex, etc. all made of up crazy kids with the idea that howling ferociously about gore and guts was an awesome idea, came together and created a body of music that will endure in to the future. Only a few people were really able to experience this scene first hand due to the fact that Sweden is far the fuck away from everything and most of the bands were broke and didn't travel too far for a long time.

Well, if you're like me and didn't get the chance to hång out in Stockholm in the mid 90's, Dan Ekeroth of Insision, Dellamorte, and Diskonto's new book (conveniently titled), Swedish Death Metal, gives you the straight dope on what happened. This book is basically like having the gnarliest hesher older brother with a funny accent who introduces you to metal and buys you beer when yer in high school.

The book is written super conversationally so if you're in to the whole "academic music literature" thing then fuck off to somewhere else, this ain't it. Ekeroth probably uses the words "brutal" and "heavy" a thousand times in the course of the book and most of the judgements are pretty subjective (especially in the encyclopedic listing of Swedish Death Metal bands that makes up the last 1/3rd of the book) but once you realize that Dan knows what the fuck he's talking about it's all good. I read it over the summer in about 2 days when I was in Finland and it was a great book. Right up there with Our Band Could Be Your Life. Beats the shit out of Lords of Chaos that's for fucks sure.

The Sleepies - Join the Shark

So there's this band in Brooklyn called the Queefies Sleepies who blow, so hard. Seriously, it's like the sonic equivalent of a quadriplegics orgy while your mom mows the lawn crying about her failed child. Seriously. Damn.

Anyways, sometimes I like to listen to it because that kinda thing is how I get my jollys. Oh yeah, they're also great to make fun of in person. I highly recommend berating them. You can pick them out from the crowd because their bassist looks like a teddy bear, their lead singer looks like the bastard child of Ted Kaczynski and a legume, and their drummer wets the bed. Usually my bed.

Oh hell, who am I kidding, I love these goofy fuckers. Download this shit for some catchy garage punk about who knows what inane crap. It's fun. It's their first release ever and it's worth your measley, pathetic 15 minutes.

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H.R. With a High Dive In To The Deepest of Ends

Stunning man... Just stunning.

Watch more The DL videos on AOL Video

How the fuck did we get there from here?

Saint Vitus - Born Too Late

So Mondays generally suck for those involved in the office working week. What better way to get through it than slamming some fucking Vitus. The godfathers of modern doom stagger through this masterpiece of depression, pills, self-loathing, dragons, and fear at drowning in molasses speed. Wino's vox are totally clean and all the guitars sound like mother smothering an infant with a pillow of fuzz.

If you like it sludgy, hop on this shit. Oh yeah, it also has the best fucking Black Flag cover of all time. Don't miss it.

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Something to Ponder Over the Weekend

Darkthrone - Dark Thrones and Black Flags

Ok just because I feel guilty for not posting in like 7 or so months, and K-tel is nagging me for more good heavy shit I'll throw up the new Darkthrone.

After the first few minutes of listening I realized that this was a fucking perfect name for this album. It's punk rock black metal at its finest. While other black metal bands have either faded away, murdered and eaten themselves (literally), or just started releasing shitty albums, Darkthrone has come out and kicked me in the balls.

First off, it sounds like it was recorded in a fucking dumpster by Thor. It's heavy as shit and they sing about stuff like "hiking metal punks" and fucking grizzly bears and shit. The riffs are tight as hell and Fenriz and Nocturno Culto share vocal duties in the best way possible. Just listen to this shit, it's good. Seriously.

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World Burns To Death - Totalitarian Sodomy

Well, seeing how works slow on a Friday afternoon right now I'm gonna keep putting stuff up.

For the last 2 weeks I've been on a huge World Burns to Death Bender. Since I started playing D-beat with a few guys a couple of guys it's all I can listen to. I just grabbed a bunch of their shit on vinyl and the "Cease to Exist" DVD. The DVD is fricking mindblowing. Stark black and white with inside cover art done by Sakevi of GISM. DO NOT WATCH THIS DISK RIGHT BEFORE GOING TO BED! It's got some fucked up shit going on and will make your dreams way gnarly. Here's a little taste:


Boiling Blood


Frenzied Hacking of Swords

Anyways, out of all their albums I find myself headed towards "Totalitarian Sodomy" the most often so I guess I throw that one up. Sucking of the Missile Cock is heavy as fuck as well but I think this album just has some better riffs. It occasionally gets a little too bro-down for me (All the Young Turks, Pigs Get Fat...) but the rest of the album slaughters. Try "Boiling Blood," "Sarajevo Snapshot," or "Frenzied Hacking of Swords" for guaranteed d-beat masscre.


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Corrosion of Conformity - Technocracy

Well... So much for grand visions... apparently that last/first post was from May and was obviously a little too ambitious (or a huge fucking fail) considering that since then I've written all of dick. Anyways, I'm gonna try to do this again but in a little less involved way. The new goal of this blog is going to be to post one album, 7", or EP every day with a little blurb.


I'll kick it off today with some Corrosion of Conformity - Technocracy. This shit is tight. COC at arguably their best. Raw as fuck hardcore meets Sabbath with some thrash thrown in for good measure. The guitar sound on "Intervention" will kick your ass. Riffs galore. This is crossover at its best.

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The Awakening...

So I’m finally getting off my ass and starting this ridiculous project as a way of chronicling the mayhem of living in an age of great turmoil (great being the operative word). Long and short, I’m hoping to make this blog a chronicle of my day to day life of listening to, seeing, and generally loving punk and metal because, even in this climate of general malaise and bitching, there’s an amazing amount of great new music being made every day all across the world.
As I see it, right now I can think of at least 50 crust, doom, thrash, grind, etc. acts touring the world with little to no recognition or documentation outside of flyers, myspace pages, and word of mouth. Bands like Atakke from New York, Deathammer from Maryland, Metalian from Montreal, Disfear from Sweden, Forca Macabra from Finland, you get the idea, are all putting on some of the best shows on the planet, so if you’re interested in the punk and metal world, here’s the site for you.

If your band actually reads this blog and you don't want your music posted here please tell me and I'll gladly take it off, apologize profusely, and probably offer to buy you a beer. If you don't mind me sharing your stuff though, more power to ya.