Intestine Baalism- Ultimate Instinct

I just saw this band last night at Koiwa Death Fest. I'd been waiting this whole year living in Tokyo for a chance to catch them live and they did not disappoint. Intestine Baalism are a melodic death metal band from Tokyo. I've been following them for some years now and even though they are pretty obscure, I came across them long before other better known Japanese bands like Gauze or Disclose. Melodic death metal is a hard sell to most, and to be honest my first impression of them was death metal meets DanceDance Revolution. But that's just what happens when you have such an original amalgamation of sound- you struggle to equate it to something familiar which it is not. On the other hand, they're not the typical weird for weird's sake Japanese band.

Although they didn't have shirts or patches at the merch table, I got my hands on a limited press (300 copies) LP of Ultimate Instinct. "Banquet In The Darkness" was the first album I heard from them and it was a favorite for a long time, but I have to say they really perfected their craft on this release. The album shreds from start to finish- the riffs are very memorable and overall the songwriting is really solid. I got to meet the brains behind the madness, Seiji Kakuzaki after the show. Speaking with him gave me a sense for why this band is so hard to see or get information. He was very modest and reserved. The slow output and obscurity has nothing to do with elitism or trying to be cool and underground, but everything to do with his humble sensibilities. Anyways, check out the album, and try to see them or support them however you can.

Click image for DL

Autistic Youth

Sometimes you want to listen to melodic downbeat punk. Not cause you're necessarily bummed out, but sometimes you just want to fulfill your uppage of punx quota of the day.

Yeah, that was fucking awful.

Anyway, this is Autistic Youth. My friend Lisa told me about them when we were hanging out in Austin for Chaos over the summer. She said they were great and I should totally check them out. I'm really glad I did. I'm also really glad that I had the good sense not to pee on Lisa when she passed out in our hotel bathroom, sitting on the toliet with her head resting in the shower curtain. Fuck, people from Portland know how to goddamn party.

AY are doing the throwback to early 80s punk like the Adolescents or their hometown dudes, the Wipers. Check it:

The Secret - Solve Et Coagula

The Secret - Solve Et Coagula

I know Jack might hate it, but fuck it. This is a great record. Has a black metal vibe with notes of Trap Them and Converge. Dark, dirty and fast. Perfect.

How I'm Feeling Today

The Batallion - Head Up High

It's been a minute since this album dropped, but believe you me that I was trollin the nets for a leak. I can't tell you how stoked on this band I am. But like any good band, a few listens wouldn't do and I needed time to mull it over.

First off, how is it that everyone and their mother has heard of similar sounding bands like Inepsy (I mean Canada, really?), but every time I mention The Batallion I'm met with blank stares? Here's a Norwegian band that despite their credentials, seem to slide in under the radar and get almost no attention. You got guys from Old Funeral (!), Taake, and Borknagar among others. Now if you haven't heard all those bands, you need to go back to school and do your homework! This is a real super group if there ever was one. Born and bred black metalers, they've totally abandoned the scene (which gets stale by the minute) and traded in their chips for a more pure heavy metal Motorhead-worshipping sound. There are few bands who are able to recapture this sound without sounding like a cheesy caricature or totally disposable and redundant.

The thing you gotta love about super groups is their propensity to not give a fuck-all about what anyone thinks. They've been through the mill and have seen some shit. The fact that these veterans are still standing is a thing in of itself and a good super group knows not to devolve into a wank-fest circle jerk. Enter Head Up High's first track "Watch My Step"- the official middle finger in your face. It sets the tone for the whole album with a "Bang your head or get the fuck outta the way!" They know it's a sophomore album and people usually sweat that kinda thing, but they seem to not give a fuck about what anyone thinks. I like that in a band. I can't say this album's as good as their instant classic of a debut Stronghold Of Men, but it's definitely up there and there's something new I hear on each listen so far. Check them both out and decide for yourself.

Click Image for DL.

Nails - Unsilent Death

Nails - Unsilent Death

I know a lot of people are cumming all over the place over this band, but they're right. It's fucking great. Pissed loud and heavy.

Danava - Unonou 2008

Danava - Unonou

I saw Danava years ago in LA with Glass Candy. Their live show completely blew me away. Loud, riffy, spacey and weird. Weird is an understatement. At the time they didn't have much recorded, so I grabbed an LP of their previous endevour called Princess Sweepstakes. So when a rip of Danava's full length started rotating the nets, I had to put it up.

In short, it's proggy stoner metal. The kinda shit you wanna listen to while driving a T-Bird through the desert.

Kvelertak - S/T 2010

Kvelertak - S/T

Blackened Rock n Roll from Norway.

When Crust Punk Goes Baaaaaad.....

Kingdom

This is Kingdom with a song from their new record Hemeltraan. Someone should help me pronounce that. The record is decent from start to finish. Slow, droney metal that seems to be the talk of the town these days. I usually listen to this type of music while reading. It provides the atmosphere of a really, really, slow day and all you want to do is relax...

This video is weird.

Tragedy in Brooklyn

Here's a quick post. This is Tragedy (Ex-His Hero is Gone, Deathreat, Uranus, etc.) playing live in Brooklyn. In this video you can see myself, Jack and Brendan towards the front. I think there's one part where I get hit in the head by a stage diver.

Anyhow, Tragedy is great. They've spawned a ton of clones (as did HHIG)...yet I also think it's because they're a rip-off of Judgement, Muga, and all those other Burning Spirit bands.

Raining... Bl... whut?

Goin' Global

I just re-watched this movie and I'm super stoked on it. It's a great portrait of metal around the world. I can forgive the fact that he only traveled to 7 countries to illustrate his point- after all there's only so much info you can cram into a feature length movie. The one thing that's glaringly absent though is Sarcofago. Sure they're not as big as Sepultura, but if you're going to stop by Brazil, why not talk about one of the only bands outside of Europe that had a hand in shaping the sound of modern Black Metal?

After living in Tokyo for a while, I can say his description of the scene here is pretty spot on. Unlike in other places, metal doesn't seem to be an outlet for Japanese fans to express their anger, but more to explore an individual sense of identity. I also like Kawashima-san's [Sigh] take on the difference between 'Visual-K' and metal-- "Metal is cool." Gotta say, Sigh was pretty cool live!

Definitely worth the watch if you haven't already. There's a pretty good torrent going on over at TPB.

Los Crudos

Chris Bickel (In/Humanity, Guyana Punchline) uploaded some videos of early 90s hardcore that he shot himself. This is some early footage of Los Crudos in South Carolina. Things to note: Martin's long hair, the kids sitting at the table in the background, and the Jose Cuervo banner above their set. The sound quality is pretty decent. If for some reason you've never heard of Los Crudos, do yourself a favor and find their discography. There's also an excellent documentary floating around on latino punk in Chicago and it has Crudos' last show on it.

A Mutant of Radness

Disavowed - Perceptive Deception

Here's a slice of breakneck speed Brutal Death Metal for you all the way from the Netherlands. Yep, don't let that 'dis-' fool you, there's not a trace of d-beat to be found here. The brighter ones among you might've figured that out by the logo. I was originally going to write about how I found this album, but in doing a little fact checking I've realized that my memory of how I came across this album is totally wrong and now I'm confused. Anyways I've been practicing blast beats these days so I can really appreciate a drummer that pulverizes his kit but still retains some nuance and style. Check out the video for "Rhizome" below. They have some close-ups of those blasts, but he looks surprisingly stiff. Again I'm confused. But I guess "flying fingers" isn't the only technique for a good blast.

Click image for DL.

Acephalix

On rainy days like this, I like to listen to dismal, metallic crust. Acephalix from San Francisco is what I put on this morning, and I'm sharing it with you. Think of a darker Nausea (if that's possible) but I'm sure they're sick of that description because of the call and response female/male vocals that are throughout the album. This band also has members of Poison Idea and Deathcharge, so I'm sure those comparisons are made as well. Anyhow, you should listen to this if you're into metal, hardcore, punk, or trying to dry off after a 5 mile bike ride in a storm.

http://www.mediafire.com/?yimtjhmantu

Electric Wizard - Black Masses

I feel like we here in NY have it pretty fucking good. There's a show 7 nights a week, the chinese food is cheap and tasty, you can get just about anywhere you need without burning gas, the people are good lookin, and places to get beer are plentiful. We really only lose out on just about one fucking thing. Electric Wizard shows. GODDAMNIT MOTHERFUCKERS! IT'S THE LAST PIECE OF THE FUCKING PUZZLE!

Yes, so Electric Wizard hasn't played New York, or anywhere in the states since like 2001 or something like that, and we all live release to release to get our fucking fix while gnawing like haggard jackals at the remains of our needleworn copies of Dopethrone. It's still filling after all these years.

Anyways, when I heard that EW was putting out a new album I was pretty fucking stoked. Frankly, I wasn't super into all of Witchcult Today compared to some of the more classic albums but, as a holdover it was pretty good. When Venus in Furs off the new album Black Masses leaked, I was blown away. The Wizard has grown.

If you're looking for the next Supercoven/Return Trip put this down. If you want a rehash of Dopethrone, forget about it. Not even close. If you're looking to hear EW in the middle of a 72 hour speedfreakout then you have found your Mecca. I mean, don't get me wrong, Wizard's idea of "speed" is still about 40bpm slower than everyone else but this shit rocks. Like actually fucking drives. It's awesome. Confusing at first but once you drop your expectation of another full side of space jams, it's pretty fucking dead on.

The songs are still long, the riffs still immovably massive, the vocals spaced out and painful, and the songs never fucking boring/always heavy. Electric Wizard is still the heaviest band in the universe.

Try it on, see how it fits...

The Nightmare Begins: An N.G.N.V Mixtape

I've been trying to figure out a way to get this fucking thing posted for like 2 goddamn weeks. Itunes is the digital equivalent of friggin AIDS man. Anyways, HERE IT IS KIDS! THE FIRST EDTION OF THE NGNV COLLECTIVE HIVE MIND MIX TAPE EXTRAORDINAIRE!

That's right, this right here contains what we all think is a pretty decent representation of our (the current authors) musical tastes/stylings/loves/etc. Since the intro and a few posts last week, you've been getting an idea of what's to come. Well, here's another building block. It's all over the damn place but it's a fun one.

Anyways, the premise was, each contributor gets 3-5 songs to introduce their tastes. This is what we all came up with. Click the filed called NGNV.m3u to get it in the right order.

I'm stoked about this.

Today Is The Day - In The Eyes of God

I was listening to the new Kylesa this weekend, and it reminded me of 2 bands. Today Is The Day and Boy Sets Fire. These are my 2 favorite albums by both bands.

Today In The Day - In The Eyes of God

Boy Sets Fire - In Chrysalis

Progress??

Being a fan of Kaiju, I'd have to say "Yes!"

Judas Priest - Painkiller

Since this is my first post and I'm in Tokyo, let's talk about something tangentially related. Loud Park. If you don't know what those words mean, then you probably haven't seen the Anvil documentary and I would advise you do something about that. Loud Park is Tokyo's big annual two-day metal fest (it was the other weekend) and I sat it out this year.

So in honor of me not getting off my ass to go see Halford co-headline Loud Park with Korn (it's over a $100 for the day too- yeah fuck that shit), here's Judas Priest's first (of two) album sans-Halford: Jugulator. I first heard a track off this when one track somehow wandered into my library. I believe it was "Burn In Hell". It always caught my ear when it came on, partly cause the singing sounded a little different. I finally got around to picking up the full album a while back and did a little research after talking about it with a co-worker who was stoked on the album. He told me it was Tim "Ripper" Owens from Iced Earth on the mic, and although I'm not big on IE, the absence of Halford and that one track were bait enough for me to check it out. Man am I glad I did! This has the later Priest flavor that is more aggressive and has a lot of double kick work. Don't get me wrong, I listen the shit out of some Stained Class, but I like the more heavy, evil sounding shit too. And it turns out the guy's no slouch on vocals! The band definitely had something to prove without their main man and they rose to the task. It's no Painkiller, but it's well worth the listen. Other reviews I've read of this album are pretty mixed, but the naysayers are all the douchey purists you always come across who can't follow a band through changes and expect them to put out albums that all sound the same for decades on end. Fuck that, this album rules!

Click image for DL.

Or if that's not working, do it the old fashioned way.

Converge at 33rpm

Like many punk kids growing up in Kentucky, I went to Krazy Fest in Louisville. Back in those days (which was just 2001) you would go to this fest sponsored by Initial Records and it would be the only chance you would be able to see anyone halfway decent. I didn't go to a lot of big tour band shows in high school, but mostly hung out with the ten kids in southeastern Kentucky/southwest Virginia/Northeastern Tennessee who would listen to anything remotely heavy. Anyway, to stop rambling like Grandpa Simpson, I saw CONVERGE for the first and last time at Krazy Fest. Man did they suck. I liked a couple of songs when they first started out, but it was basically this bag of bones in a full body suit just making grunting noises with these too cool for school nerds making noises on their instruments. One of the two things I remember from that show was Jake throwing a full water bottle at the crowd and that one bass player guy hocking a loogie in someone's open mouth. (He actually asked the guy to open his mouth in the first place, saying he had a "present" for him).

After that experience I was never really into Converge. However, I got turned on to their Jane Doe record tuned down to 33rpm. It's not as good as say, 15 Counts of Arson at 33, but it makes this band tolerable.

Link

Noothgrush / Wellington Split

I posted Iron Monkey yesterday, which got me thinking about Wellington. So here's a Wellington / Noothgrush split 7" from 1999. I'll post up their full length soon.


MU

Iron Monkey - Our Problem

Iron Monkey - Our Problem.

Early sludge from England. Southern riffs, evil vocals with a heavy touch. Think Eyehategod with Unruh vocals.

Don't Just Kill Time, Slaughter It

Here's a depressing new way to spend your Tuesday. Try this nifty new N.G.N.V Youtube Playlist

Rainbow of Death

Here's my first post! This is Rainbow of Death, a female-fronted french band with influences that range from d-beat to grind to pop punk. It's like they take all these sounds, throw it into a blender for 30 sec. and out comes, well, Rainbow of Death. Don't let their MS Paint logo fool you. Their record is kind of hard to find this side of the pond so if you find it, pick it up. For fans of Melt Banana, Combat Wounded Veteran, and French blast beats.

Electric Wizard - Heftiness Awaits

Fetal Rock

Since I'm a new father, and a total sucker for Canadian hardcore, I figured this video of Fuck The Facts (with a very pregnant front-woman) playing live at the Roxy is a great first contribution to the site. Enjoy.

Same Old Punks, Brand New Problems

If you ignore the talky part at the beginning this is well worth your while

Welcome to the New World

So a few weeks ago I said I had big news about NGNV. Well here it is. Please allow me to introduce the expanded writing/drinking staff of No Gods, No Vegetables.

THOM SKVLD

name- Thom Skuld
city- Tokyo, Japan
bands(current)- Amputee, Ogre [Japan]
(former)- Haunted Castle, Dismembered Head
other metal exploits- Metal Race, Metal Race 2, Submit To Satan zine
website- www.thomskuld.com
a few words- I am an artist and musician (drums) from Brooklyn, NY (ok originally Chicago) now living in Tokyo. Most of the stuff I listen to is black, death, and thrash metal or d-beat, crust and some hardcore and any combination of the aforementioned. In the past few years, after living with a Maiden fan, I've also let go of my prejudices and now enjoy heavy metal as well.

SKVLD's site

Blake Sinclair

I'm a west coast native who spent 3 years living in Brooklyn. I work in photography, surf and ride bikes. I care way too much about coffee. I've played music with Arches, The Mistake and Rats In The Walls. I just became a dad, so I treasure sleep more than anything in the world.

Social Purgatory

Kim Kelly

Kim Kelly was born and raised in the Pine Barrens, and escaped roughly eighteen years later to an entirely different breed of wilderness - West Philly, Brooklyn, North London, and now back in Brooklyn for good (or at least, for a few more months. Who the fuck knows). Her writing has appeared within the pages of Terrorizer, Metal Maniacs, Unrestrained, Hails & Horns, and more, and poisoned the pixels of Brooklyn Vegan, Invisible Oranges, Metal Sucks, Metal Injection and tons of others, as well as sporadically (dis)gracing her own blog, Ravishing Grimness (Ravishing Grimness). When she's not scribbling, she's promoting sweet bands, booking sweet shows, spending entirely too much money on sweet black metal records, and touring with sweet dudes hustling merch/hauling gear. Kim enjoys fine whiskey, Russian literature, big fucking steaks, and the dulcet tones of Mike IX Williams.

Brendan Enright

I’m Brendan and I’ve played guitar in different bands around NYC for the last three years. I grew up
in Indiana whose special blend of culture and progressive thinking has made me the well-adjusted,
fine upstanding citizen that I am this day. In addition to my position as High Priest in Junior’s cult
dedicated to Crom, I spend my time being a curmudgeon, listening to punk rock and metal, drinking nice
beer, drinking shitty beer (when I’m broke), DIY ethics, and exploring the line between cynicism and
misanthropy. Future plans include Nationwide Terrorization (touring).

Mike Ley

Born in Columbus, Ohio and grew up in post-Slint Louisville, KY. After partying in Bloomington, IN for 5 years, I moved to Brooklyn where I have been working as an art director and deisgner. I run the small press mlproject, hides mfg, and contribute to endless blockades, tracko, and how about never? while listening to the finest streetpunk, oi, hardcore, skinhead reggae, terrace terror and kraut rock.

mlproject.com

Junior Tidal

My name is Junior and I play guitar and sing in We Are All Savages [We Are All Savages Site]. I was raised in Kentucky (Filipino by birth, southern by the grace of god), but have called Brooklyn home for the last five years. I am also a cult leader. In addition to attending interventions, turn ons include DIY culture, bourbon, punk rock, and fake meat.

Truth

Buzzov*en @ Public Assembly. Sept. 30th, 2010

The crowd did the masters no justice. How people can stand still in the face of that kind of fury is fucking beyond me. We are unworthy of the gifts we were given.

Fuck that was a good show.

That Monday Morning Feeling

"Eyes on the singer" says Junior...

Big Changes Afoot

Dear Friends of NGNV,
I've been writing very few posts recently because I've been trying to figure out how to make this site much much better for you. AKA, how to get posts up that don't suck. Anyways, I have some very big news coming shortly. Hopefully next week sometime that will hopefully bring this blog into a new and much needed revival. I'm stoked, you be stoked too.

In the meantime here's this.



- Jack

Giving A Junkie A Half Fix Just Ain't Right

Just got another email today from Eddie of Seven Sisters of Sleep letting me know that they have new videos up. Some of these are reposts but fuck me if they're not worth listening to over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Man, somebody sign these fuckers so I can get the fucking album already, they're the best unreleased band on earth right now and fuck me if they don't put together a hell of a video on top of that.

Just for good measure I threw in some newly posted live Tafkata vids in there too.

Warning: Do not listen to these bands at work, they'll make you want to punch your boss in the neck, piss in the water cooler and peace the fuck out to shred some amps and beers. Jus' sayin'. Support good sludge fuckers.





Tafkata Lives

Weight

I know this has little to nothing do with metal but I'm into it anyways. Fergal Smith, Tom Lowe, and Mickey Smith are doing some of the most amazing, interesting shit in the surfing world. Also, they're fucking hellmen charging eyes of the abyss.

Death, Satan, Hell, Life?

Gehennah - Hardrocker

A million bazillion moons ago, Metal Thom Skvld gave me an album by this band called Gehennah. Gehennah, with an H. Not with no H, like Gehenna. I'm glad we went over that. I summarily was super stoked to listen to it, then never did. Because I am a jackass. Well, a few weeks ago I rediscovered this album and put it on for shits and giggles. It made me shit, and giggle. This crap is fucking awesome.

Gehennah is straight up Thommetal (new term), aka raw, punk rooted black thrash that's as much Motörhead as Mayhem. Apparently this album came out in 1995 but it's blowing my mind right the fuck now. You can really see where the new crop of Bone Awl/new Darkthrone/Sarke type bands are drawing from with this RawBlackHikingMetalPunksRevival movement going on.

I don't feel like writing more because I'm headbanging right now. Listen to Gehennah fuckers. They're german or something and rad.

Ceremony - Rohnert Park

I've never been a huge Ceremony fan. It's not that I don't like them or that they're not good or anything, it's just one of those bands that's kinda hovered around the periphery of my listening. I definitely won't turn them off if they're on and I'm always pleasantly surprised at how good they are when they show up on shuffle, it's just I rarely go straight for Ceremony when I'm putting something on at home. The Rohnert Park LP is fast changing all of that.

It's been a good long fucking while since I put on an album that needed no second listen, no time spent pondering, and no second guessing. This is a great. punk. record. period. Ceremony moved from their darker, harder brand of hardcore I associated them with to a straight up, orange county style, modern day HC classic. It's fast, it's snotty, it's unmistakably punk rock and it's awesome. Think Black Flag/Circle Jerks, Poison Idea, Negative Approach. It just sounds like 1982 man. So good, so pissed, and yet so refreshingly "American." I guess that after a long ass stretch of Japanese and Swedish Doom/D-beat a little good old fashioned US Hardcore is just doing it for me.

This album has some long term playability. In the words of my friend, "It made me like punk again," and nothing makes me happier than only having to tag "punk" and "hardcore" at the bottom for this post.

Listen to Your Elders

Alix was wondering if this was fit for NGNV. I think perhaps yes...

Buzzov*en - To a Frown/Sore/...At A Loss + Boat Show

Buzzov*en - Sore

Buzzov*en - ... At A Loss

In the world of sludge there are technically a ton of bands, but when it comes to SLUDGE and it's foundation, there are only two. Eyehategod... and Buzzov*en.

Sludge can sort of be defined as the disgusting, even more anti-social, down-syndromey bastardbaby of hardcore and doom metal. For anyone who listens to hardcore, the thought of crossing a genre that values speed with a genre that values plodding slowness should raise an eyebrow. Well, if you're on as much fucking smack as the guys in Buzzov*en were, this cross doesn't really raise shit much less an eyebrow. In fact, it's probably the only kind of speed you can muster besides the crank you just bought off that biker.

Buzzov*en basically sounds like all the drug-addicted, shit-filled, depressed, violent hate in the world bottled up and slowed to an irrepressible crawl. There's no stopping it, just submit. After over a decade, their first three full lengths are still some of the most, brutal, depressing, heavy music ever committed to tape. Feedback, a layer of creeped out movie samples about violence, and distorted riffs under screamgrowled vocals pretty much sum up the sound that defined a movement.

Start with To A Frown, move to Sore, and end with ...At a Loss. Then buy your tickets. Thanks to Dozer at the Acheron/Crust Massacre Gig for the tip off on this one. It's going to be messy.

NOTE: MY TO A FROWN IS ALL FUCKED UP AND NOT RIGHT, IF ANYONE HAS A COMPLETE VERSION THAT'S NOT SCRATCHED AS HELL PLEASE SEND IT? OH YEAH ALSO ALBUM ART IN A DECENT DIGITAL SIZE WOULD BE RAD...

Concussion - Dried Blood EP

From the ashes of the Bones Brigade and the fabled Haunted Castle and out of the beardmetaled pits of north Brooklyn comes CONCUSSION with their 1st EP. Right, now with all the stupid blogwritingbullshit out of the way, this is Brooklyn's very own, homegrown thrash legion... made up almost entirely of dudes from boston. Bones, Blake, Matt, and Hugo are doing something very few people these days even dare to attempt. Playing badass, balls to the fucking wall thrash, without any retarded, kitschy, neo-thrasher, throwback idiocy. In this band you will find no Gama Bomb patches, you will find no perfectly scuffed white Reebok hitops, you will find no acid-washed spermannihilating nuthugging jeans, and you will find absolutely no bullshit when it comes to raw metal talent. Yes that's right, I just admitted my asshole friends' band is one of the best metal bands player for player in Brooklyn. That's embarassing but fuck it, it's true.

The Dried Blood EP, recorded by Will from Orchid up in Massachusetts is 5 massive chunks of unapologetic, unrelenting thrash. While you can tell these hesher assholes have done their due time sitting around drinking heavily, playing ookiecookie to a soundtrack of Mandatory Suicide and Bonded by Blood, there is something distinctively non-throwback about this shit. The production is 100% modern (but not overproduced or fucking sterile like many these days), the riffing/writing definitely shows notable hardcore influence (especially in the strained vocals) with some heavy pantera jams thrown in just for shits and giggles.

Anyways, I'm sick of tooting these retards' horn for them, they're all too busy tooting each others horns most of the time anyways. Just get the fucking album.

Thou - Summit

A few years ago I saw a band made up of dudes probably not even in their 20s yet from Lousiana in some tiny venue that's escaping my name somewhere in the city or Brooklyn. The venue wasn't completely packed but there was definitely a crowd. The dude at the merch table before the show was a wiry not too tall, not too short friendly guy with a Lousiana accent. Seemed nice/normal enough. Then the band started and that guy walked to the ground in front of the stage and grabbed the microphone. He announced that they were Thou from Baton Rouge and the shit hit the fan. The singer turned around, hunched over into this bizarre fucking Smeagol contortion facing the stage and the band dropped a fucking nuclear note. About an hour later I had one of my new favorite bands.

Thou's brand of completely fucked, crawling punk bayou sludge, drenched in raw crude oil and growing from the destruction of a world slammed by the most brutal storms on earth multiple times every year is definitely one of the most interesting, heavy, relentless flavors of doom around. In a genre plagued by repetition (not just of the same chord over and over again) and me-too bands, Thou is a glowing fucking beacon of rad. They're one of the few that manages to not just incorporate, but expand upon their many and varied influences (Can you say Minor Threat, Mayhem, and Sabbath) as opposed to so many other bands that just re-hash, the result being something that's never boring and always heavy.

This new album shows a constantly maturing Thou with fucking blastbeats, acoustic breakdowns (not cheesedick lame shit, promise) and even a "tasteful" (if that's fucking possible) incorporation of some of the less annoying traits of Black Metal. Frankly, this ain't yer average Vitus coverband wannabes.



Thou is so fucking good that even the dudes at NPR got soggytrowed when they heard their new album "Summit". This band is definitely one of the best doom/sludge bands currently performing.

If you've never seen this band live, stop what you're fucking doing and go find a show.





CLICK PIC FOR ALBUM.

Masakari - "The Profit Feeds" & "Eden Compromised EP"

During the summertime I don't feel like doing fuck all. Especially during this summertime, when the waves have been good, it's been really fucking hot for days on end, I'm moving, was out of town for a shit ton of time, and frankly I'm just fucking lazy.

This band is good enough to awaken the long dormant blogasshole inside of me. You need this album. Especially if your name is Brendan or Junior and you were once in the band Rats in the Walls. Yes, that's right I reference my own (former) bands on my blog. Fuck all y'all.

Right, anyways, Masakari out of Cleveland are the disgusting crusty HHIG 90s political hardcore fiends I have been needing. They're loud, they play d-beats, they have meows, they scream real loud about how fucked up the world is, they write great fucking songs, and they write great fucking songs. Basically, the first thing I thought when I heard this was, "Motherfucking Portland gets all the good shit goddamnit." Then I read that they were from fucking Cleveland and all was made better. If we can get a crust album strong enough to get signed by Souther Lord out of Cleveland, none of us have excuses for why we're not making more awesome punk elsewhere.

This band, named after a Japanese warrior monk battle axe (and not a finnish spelling for massacre or something like I originally thought...) solidly walks the path that His Hero is Gone, Deathside/Burning Spirits bands, From Ashes Rise, etc. carved out before them while somehow never being boring. You can definitely hear why Southern Lord would be interested in them after signing Black Breath as well. They have that "Heavy and Raw yet Produced" sound that we've come to know and love.

Long and Short, put your buttflap back on motherfucker, it's Masakari time.

SLLLAAAAAAYYYYYERRRRRRRR

Shitting will never be the same!
Raining BALLS!

Maryland Death Fest - MASSIVE VIDEO DUMP OF DEATH #3 Death goes Punk

From Ashes Rise @ MDF 5/30/10 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

From Ashes Rise "Hell in the Darkness" @ MDF 5/30/10 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Massgrave @ MDF. May 30th, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Massgrave @ MDF. May 30th, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Wolfbrigade @ MDF, 5/30/10 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Wolfbrigade @ MDF. May 29th, 2010 from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Wolfbrigade @ MDF. May 29, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Maryland Death Fest - MASSIVE VIDEO DUMP OF DEATH #2

Autopsy @ MDF. May 30th, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Autopsy @ MDF. May 30th, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Autopsy @ MDF. May 30th, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Eyehategod @ MDF. May 30th, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Eyehategod @ MDF. May 30th, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Eyehategod @ MDF. May 30th, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

"Forever My Queen" by Pentagram @ MDF 5/30/10 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Magrudergrind @ MDF, 5/30/10 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Magrudergrind @ MDF 5/30/10 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Capitalist Casualties @ MDF 5/30/10 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Capitalist Casualties @ MDF 5/30/10 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Black Breath - "Spit on the Cross" @ MDF. May 29, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Entombed "Left Hand Path" @ MDF, 5/30/10 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Maryland Death Fest - MASSIVE VIDEO DUMP OF DEATH #1

Jesus Cröst @ MDF May 28, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Watain @ MDF. May 28th, 2010. www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Coffins @ MDF May 28th, 2010. www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Coffins @ MDF. May 28th, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Obliteration @ MDF. May 29th, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Obliteration @ MDF. May 29, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Melechesh @ MDF. May 29th, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Jucifer @ MDF. May 29th, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Portal @ MDF, May 28th, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Portal @ MDF. May 29th, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Repulsion @ MDF. May 29th, 2010 from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Repulsion @ MDF. May 29th, 2010 - www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

World of Shit/Maryland Death Fest

All 10 of you still reading this blog after month of near inactivity may be wondering where the fuck the MDF posts are at. 16-18 hour work days and travel have prevented me from getting shit done. Many many apologies. I'm making it up to you today, promise. Hell I already have like 5 videos uploaded starting with this little guy.... I'm hoping to blow through all 5 of my available upload gigs today. Give me a fucking break you domineering pricks, I had a shitty week last week and now I'm trapped in Orland work hell until thursday. Shit, if I work enough hours, maybe I'll be able to afford a decent fucking flash, maybe a decent lens...

You'll find some reviews thrown in there along side of the vids as they pop up... but the photography... well... funny story there. So the promoter of MDF wouldn't reply to my emails about getting press clearance to shoot. I had already bitten the bullet and paid for a 3 day pass so it was really no skin off dudes back but you know how it is. I was told that Decibel had exclusive rights to shoot at MDF. Welp... that was bullshit, so thanks to this one dude all the videos and pics I have are pretty fucking subpar because my camera can't really handle distance so well. I know I'm not winning any friends for next year with this rant but I'm kind of still annoyed a week later.

So, be on the lookout for live videos of Coffins, Watain, Obliteration, Jesus Cröst, Eyehategod, Portal, Melechesh, Massgrave, Jucifer, Repulsion, Autopsy, Wolfbrigade, Black Breath, Entombed, Magrudergrind, Pentagram, Capitalist Casualties, and From Ashes Rise. Yeah that's a lotta good shit right there.

MDF is for the punxxx

And more silly statements like this coming soon. Get ready for a shit ton of video kids.

MDF Final Day Rundown

MAIN ROOM:
11:45 - 12:00 - Honkey Kong
12:15 - 12:45 - Rottenness
1:00 - 1:25 - Surroundings
1:40 - 2:10 -Massgrave
2:25 - 3:00 - Rompeprop
3:35 - 4:05 - Crucifist
4:40 - 5:10 - Gridlink
6:20 - 6:50 - Black Breath
8:00 - 8:30 - Captain Cleanoff
9:35 - 10:15 - Converge
10:30 - 10:55 - Magrudergrind
11:10 - 11:40 - Capitalist Casualties
11:55 - end - From Ashes Rise
OUTSIDE STAGE 1:
3:00 - 3:35 - Gorod
4:20- 5:05 - Necrophobic
6:00 - 6:45 - Pestilence
7:35 - 8:30 - Pentagram
9:40 - 10:40 - Obituary

OUTSIDE STAGE 2:
2:00 - 2:30 - Krallice
3:35 - 4:20 - Sinister
5:10 - 6:00 - Eyehategod
6:55 - 7:30 - N2002
8:35 - 9:35 - Entombed

The Maryland Death Fest Run Down for FRIDAY 5/28/10

Came to Baltimore for MDF so if you see a dude with gross long hair and a disclose patch on his back, holler at him, cause... it's prolly me.

Here's the schedule I'm lookin' at

FRIDAY

MAIN ROOM:
3:30 - 3:55 - The Communion
4:10 - 4:35 - Putrescence
4:50 - 5:20 - Defeatist
5:35 - 6:05 - Tombs
6:20 - 6:50 - Jesus Crost
7:05 - 7:35 - Birds of Prey
9:00 - 9:35 - Trap Them
10:45 - 11:20 - Gride
11:35 - 12:15 - Coffins
12: 30 - end - D.R.I.

OUTSIDE STAGE 1:
5:50 - 6:30 - Nazxul
7:35 - 8:35 - Possessed
9:40 - 10:40 - Gorguts

OUTSIDE STAGE 2:
6:45 - 7:20 - Malignancy
8:35 - 9:35 - Watain

I'll be at Defeatist, tombs, jesus crost, coffins, possessed, gorguts, watain, coffins, and DRI

I Plan on Testing This Theory

This weekend at Maryland Death Fest, I will put into effect my own personal test of this study.

Science, it's real motherfucker

Death Yes, Life? Well... maybe not...

This is the amusement of the day. Even better when you see where it comes from...

R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio

You will be sorely missed. For anyone who hasn't read Sound of the Beast or seen Metal: a Headbangers Journey, you should get to that. Dio was really one of the smartest, most down to earth, greatest men in metal and his loss will leave a big ol' hole in the music world for many years to come.

\m/ Dio.

Happy (Belated) Mothers Day Motherfuckers

Dystopia - "Human=Garbage" & "The Aftermath"

Music can have the incredible ability to influence the emotions of the listener. It can induce joy, sadness, fear, courage, and just about any other feeling you can think of. Take Slayer for instance. Nothing on earth will get you fucking lifted to skate or surf or get in to a fight with a cop like Slayer. Or perhaps you're more of a lover and less of a fighter and throwing on some R.Kelly is more your steez. That's cool, it'll get gnob greased.

Knowing this about music. Some states have passed laws saying that providing already depressed people with the music of Dystopia can get you charged with criminally negligent homicide. It's true. I read it somewhere.

Seriously. This is possibly the heaviest, most depressing, truly fucking grimmest sludge band in the history of the genre. For fucks sake, just look at the fucking title. HUMAN=GARBAGE. Never has there been a more apt title for an album, because at about 2:43 into this album you already feel like true breathing, walking shit. It's fucking awesome.

God I love this fucking band. Talk about some fuckers who need to get back together.

CLICK THE IMAGES FOR D/L's

Black Breath - Heavy Breathing

Unholy fucking hell, Black Breath just might be the best new band around. This is the best goddamn first full-length I've heard in fucking ages. If they're not the new Entombed then I'll be straight damned. Hints of Motörhead, Crusty D-beat, and good old fashioned old-school hardcore all floating on top of a Swedish Death Metal sound.

More to come on this. Just fucking get it. Now.

Truth About the New Metallica

Kyuss - "Blues for the Red Sun" & "Welcome to Sky Valley"

When I worked at Sirius, Bobby Black from High Times magazine had an all Stoner Metal show called Contact High. Sadly, they shitcanned his ass shortly before the extended the same courtesy to me and the world lost a great hour of radio every week. Oh well, their stock price is in the shitter for a reason (and it ain't their coordinators or DJ's who are some of the best people I've ever worked with...). Anyways, at the time one of my pet peeves with the show was that homeboy played too much damn Kyuss for my liking and it got me all cranky and what not. I just couldn't get in to it. I listened to a lot of Queens of the Stone Age in high school and college (thanks to my soph. year roomate leaving Songs for the Dead on repeat for something like 3 months. No, seriously. I'm not fucking with you and I have witnesses. Ian literally only listened to QOTSA, every day, from like January through April or something like that. Ian, back me up here.) but for some reason Kyuss just wouldn't click with me. My friend tried to turn me on to it in like 11th grade too but back then if it wasn't Black Flag I probably didn't give a fuck.

Anyways, a couple of months ago the Mishka Bloglin did this "choice is yours" thingy where they asked people which was better, Dopethrone or Welcome to Sky Valley. At first (and kinda now) I scoffed at the idea of these two things even being in the same fucking sport much less the same league. Dopethrone is possibly the heaviest album in the universe by the heaviest band in the universe. Kyuss (or so I thought) was basically a glorified stoner rock desert dwelling hawkwind ripoff. Either way, I figured if some motherfucker had the cojones to compare these two, I'd better at least give another listen.

So, after going back and giving these two albums a spin, I can officially say I'm a convert to the Kyuss way (although they still can't hold a fucking candle to Dopethrone. Sorry, ain't never gonna happen.) I guess it really hooked me with the first riff in Thumb on "Blues for the Red Sun." That kinda uberstoned "Hole in the Sky" jam thing definitely got caught in my head for like 2 weeks and from there it was downhill.

Since pretty much everybody and their mom has written fucking volumes on this band already, and I'm fairly new to Kyuss fandom, I'm gonna leave it with this. It's fucking awesome music to bike/drive/train/travel to. Get some.

CLICK THE PICS FOR D/L's

Things Will Never Been The Same

I Believe...

Weedeater, Black Tusk, Gates of Slumber, and Struck By Lighting @ Webster Hall. April 10th, 2010

I haven't posted in a long time. Basically because all I listen to is Weedeater. When that's all I listen to, I don't feel like it's necessary to repeat myself every day. Having just seen Weedeater, Black Tusk, Gates of Slumber, and Struck By Lightning at Webster Hall last weekend, I was forcefully reminded of the fact that yeah, maybe I do need to repeat myself.

WEEDEATER IS THE FUCKING SHIT. PERIOD. END OF STORY.

I am proud to report, yet again, that Dave, Keko, and Shep are still, entirely unfuckwittable. They are, undeniably, one of the heaviest, most reliably fucking awesome doom bands in the history of the Earth and nobody praise them enough.

Anyways, now that the WE cocksuck sesh is over, let's get down to the real biz.

The night opened up with this band "Struck By Lightning" who I'd never heard of but was totally blown away by. I showed up half way through the set to a lead singer in a his hero is gone shirt, blasting crusty doom, and good times already underway. Apparently one of the dudes in that band is formerly of Mouth of the Architect, all well and good, but SbL fucking destroys. Expect big things from these guys. I'm fucking stoked that Metal is getting more and more punk every day. Also, their drummer fucking kills it. Check out THEIR MYSPACE. Their live recorded shit is a lot more tech than it sounds like live but it's still awesome. I can taste notes of Disfear, HHIG, old school Baroness, classic Swedish Death Metal, and a buncha other good shit in here.

After SbL, Gates of Slumber, looking more than a little like a marauding viking hoard, took to the stage with their vengeful old school doom sounds. Like St. Vitus? Go buy a GoS album. Now. These large, hirsuit barbarians from the midwest play a brand of Doom rarely seen or heard done properly these days. Classic, Sabbath worshipping, Wino copping, old school no bullshit slow ass, riff driven heavy metal. I just recently got into these guys but I feel like they'll be around for a while to come. They're headed to Europe for the upcoming festival season over there and you can bet your ass that they're gonna fit right in with the bekutted, longhaired Hessians over there. I still have massive fucking neck pain from when they busted out "Blood and Thunder." Hesh on.

Finally, Black Tusk was the last "opener." I use quotation marks around the word opener because I feel like that term is slightly less than fitting for a band that the entire audience is going ballistic for. I'd heard some BT before and always though they were pretty good. I never really paid too much attention (probably because I was listening to Bongzilla or something) before, but after this show, my eyes (and ears) are wide fucking open to the greatness of this band. Black Tusk did something that I haven't seen a doom band do in ages. The put the goofy fucking rock star shit back into metal, and it totally rules. These dudes are possibly one of the most fun shows I've seen in ages. Fucking awesome. Jumping around, ripping shit up, headbanging, crossing the fucking guitars, wailing, all of it. No shame, no mercy, all metal. If you get a chance to see these guys, especially in a kinda small venue, be there. It's totally worth it.

Which brings us to Weedeater. Yeah, there's just nothing you can say about their set besides:

1) It fucking rules.
2) It's fucking mindblowing that these dudes are still alive.

The thing about a lot of sludgier bands is that live they tend to speed shit up. WE does the opposite. The slowly strangle the last drops of life out of every fucking note they hit. They crank the fucking volume to earsplitting levels, the bash drums harder than anyone else out there, and you could pave a fucking highway with Dave's voice. Just watch the videos and try to ignore the fact that I gave more of a shit about going nuts than holding the camera steady. Sorry bout that, it's fucking Weedeater.

CLICK THE PIC OF DIXIE FOR A LINK TO THE FLICKR PAGE.

Weedeater - God Luck and Good Speed @ Webster Hall. 4/10/10 www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Weedeater - "Gimme Back My Bullets" @ Webster Hall 4/10/10. www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Weedeater - "Time Served" @ Webster Hall Basement. 4/10/10 www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Weedeater - "Monkey Junction" @ Webster Hall 4/10/10. www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Black Tusk @ Webster Hall. 4/10/10 www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Gates of Slumber @ Webster Hall 4/10/10. www.nogodsnovegetables.com from Jack Crank on Vimeo.