Let me start off by apologizing to all those who are still waiting their reviews. Everyone is in line and will be served what's expected. Just patience. As a one man zine, I wish I could go a little faster, but if I want to keep some level of quality I must go at a pace that lets me enjoy what I do. Anyway, here are 8 new seven inches, some are splits, some are not, all are pretty underground. Read on and spread the word…

You’d think that compilations demand more space than that of a 7 inch, well, think again fool. Vomitcore Records has put out this compilation called Living On Hope Street Vol. 2 (not the artwork on the right) and in this short space they have managed to cram no less than eleven bands. The first half has LA’s Watch Me Burn walking the thin line between the thickness of death metal and the brevity of grind. Pillage are much more rudimentary, not only in the recording but on the usage of someone’s grandma for a vocalist. On the other end are Paroxysm who seem to have a pig for a vocalist. Much wilder and more to my liking is Eat the Living, their song “Sea Hag” is an example of not rare, nor medium, but totally well-done grindcore power.. Powerful indeed, but perhaps too brief to have real impact. Closing the first half is Progeria who are absolutely hysterical and don’t fool around. Raw, but well-recorded, this overlooked band has been around since 1998. We have no excuses not to dig them out! The second side starts off with Fetus Eaters, they'll be covered at more length below. Much more interesting, at least in name, are Back Stabbath whose track here is almost too brief to grant an opinion. The same could be said about Faceplant, this has me almost claiming ‘where is the song?' The Dolemite Project are almost totally metal; the structure, the vibe, the killer riff, the almost black metal feel. Sincerely, this band rules. Wartorn on the other hand sound rabid and mad. I really hate it when hardcore and grind is presented with that hollow tin can drum sound and that’s the problem with Wartorn’s song “Kevorkian has a Cure”. Finishing off this compilation are Bad Acid Trip, who may be somebody’s favorite, but not mine. I reviewed their album Lynch the Weirdo a few years ago and clearly remember hating it. The song included here won’t make me change my mind. If you are into playful, epileptic and utterly ecletic grind then you might like this. I pass. Vomitcore MySpace

Thug Free Records out of Finland paid for postage but labels like WTF, Words Are Weapons and Poolside collaborated to release this two song 7 inch split between Worth the Pain and Human Demise. The latter could even be lumped along the shits in the metalcore subgenre, but this sounds much better to these ears. I read in the press clip that Human Demise plays Cleveland-style hardcore and even though I don’t know what they mean by that, I know that this song (“Agony, Anxiety, Acceptance”), despite its blunt simplicity, shows imagination and ambition. Finland’s Worth the Pain on the other hand have been around at least since 2003 (first recording dates back to this year) and are pure hardcore in the most strict sense of the word. Somehow, when Europeans play it though, it sounds more dynamic than when their American counterparts go at it. Personally, I dig the speed of “Faithless Follower”, which without being groundbreaking or even trying to bend any rules, manages to be pummeling like the best material of Earth Crisis. Human Demise MySpace /  Worth the Pain MySpace 

Getting out of split territory we got Nazi Dust and their 7 inch via Youth Attack Records, which I may say, is the most vibrant recording I have heard in eons. Absolutely vital, the way these maniacs play, it’s like they’ve said no to Ritalin and they really, really need it. And it’s not like they lack concentration, because they have it down, at least for as long as their punk allows. Why can’t more bands play like this? Let’s put it this way, the whole hardcore movement could take a lesson here; Nazi Dust have this raw sound that’s perfectly printed in acetate and that is pretty much the next best thing to having them play in your bedroom. Zero breakdowns, zero posses, no gimmicks, just ear blistering songs and passion, pure motherfucking passion. Youth Attack

Sons of Tonatiuh (pictured above) hail from hot as fuck Atlanta and their proposition is like a totally punk version of EyeHateGod. But these fellows aren’t afraid to speed up the proceedings. As much as possible, but not much more, because with so much grime it is nearly impossible to gain blinding speed and with this much low bottom weighing down the tunes, how can you even want speed? Instead, this offspring of the devil and mud get doom on “Oracle” and hit head first against the concrete with the incredibly acidic and sludgey sounds of “Chain Up the Masses”. They say the devil is in the details, and let me tell you son, it is true. For that you must try to catch the bass playing of Jeff J, his sounds are so massive your insides will be shaking and before you have noticed your bowels will be moving. Sons of Tonatiuh almost hit the brown note. MySpace

Australian label Zinarthan Productions have released the seven inch (Dead Orations) recording from Portugal’s Satanize. It is limited to 200 copies and it follows the release of two demos, a full-length and a split, and it features such feral, caustic, atavistic and primitive sounds I can only wonder how raw their previous recordings were. Black metal has rarely sounded this macabre. Perhaps I should do more research for my reviews, but I don’t think there is any guitar here, just drums, a bass, maybe a detuned cello and creepy cavernous vocals. One thing is for sure, I don’t feel any riffs. Anyway, the result is bizarre, unsettling and almost avant-garde, whatever that means these days. The guitar sound comes clean midway through “World of Human Extinction”, but that doesn’t approximate the sound of Satanize to the regular sounds of any other run of the mill black metal band.  Hail Satanize! Official Site

Balaclava call Richmond home but live somewhere between punk and metal. And yeah, hardcore too. Shame is their seven inch released by Forcefield Records and it packs four songs of massive riffs, post hardcore structures (here and there but not all over) and plenty of metallic brutality. Balaclava sound to me like the punk band that never intended to come out even as slightly metal, but whose sounds came out so fluidly and flowed so organically they just couldn’t help it. “Fences” is as nice as this quartet is willing to play, and to be frank, it ain’t that nice. The track starts clear, only to distort to a cruel mid tempo. The other three songs are way harsher, with faster tempos and the constancy of a D beat band with too much in their mind. The 7 inch comes with a download code, too bad for me, my promo copy was just blank. MySpace

Finland’s The Hood Took Us Under Records has put out a seven inch by Helsinki’s Lighthouse Project. Lust for Lie boasts gorgeous artwork and music that is almost as pretty. Ok, maybe not, but Lighthouse Project is by far the nicest bunch from this article. The recording is very polished, the guitars have girth but are super clean and the vocals though throaty, in your face and pretty raw, would unbalance the delivery of any of the other bands included in this piece. The music is well-arranged and obviously well-rehearsed. Of the three songs included here, “Choosing My Confessions” stands out if only because it gets out of the normal hardcore operandi. It’s obvious that these Finnish boys are looking to expand their sound, so let’s give props where deserved. MySpace

The sickos of Vomitcore Records in California have put out this split between the ultra sickos of Fetus Eaters and Maggot Colony. Jeez, man I wouldn’t let these people come near my family, but they can hang around my stereo all they want. Burbank’s Fetus Eaters grind like disturbed maniacs with a fuzz box. They push the pedal to the metal, come to a painful halt and even groove for a second or two. Then, if the results are a bit too much on either side, they puke all over. The vocals of Headsmasher redefine the word guttural, but he delivers at such speed, it is actually, pretty unbelievable. Maggot Colony also hail from Cali and are perhaps less embarrassed about the metal association. This trio lacks no grind, there is plenty of hairy feeling, of that loosened up vintage hardcore feel, but the vocals are necrotic and some of the guitar notes are so thrashy you’ll be on the lookout for a dustbin. Compared to Fetus Eaters, Maggot Colony are prog rockers. Good stuff on both ends.   Fetus Eaters MySpace