My record store used to be the baddest of the bad. But the store managers have wised up and they aren’t allowing any more dumbass clerks to allot  new Xasthur and Wolf Parade releases to the $0.99 bin. As a consequence, my favorite cutout bin in the whole world is getting smaller and smaller by the day. If things don’t change I might have to start venturing beyond my 10-mile radius.

The Swedes of Vomitory have been out and about since 1989 and have seven records on their sweaty backs. Primal Massacre (Metal Blade) was unleashed upon the masochist death metal masses in 2004 and features the band’s trademark potent sound. Despite their moniker, Vomitory’s kind of death metal is easier on the palate and the ear than the straight up brutal approach of classic bands like Deicide and Morbid Angel. Vomitory lists Venom, Sodom and Slayer as its main influences, but they don’t truly sound like either.  Primal Massacre is actually quite melodic and though the speed and the beefy guitar tone might not let you appreciate the true fretwork of Urban Gustaffson and Ulf Dalegren, is the guttural burp of Erik Rundaqvitz that fully cements the band as a death metal combo. Well-played, but definitely lacks a distinctive sound.

How much death metal can I take? A lot. But my ears shall not only be punished. Enter short haired homeboys The Washdown who offered up (the band expired in 2005) some pretty musical guitar oriented rock and roll. If you are thinking typical Hellacopters riffage, think the other way. The Washdown treated their guitars with much more love and put the jagged edge on curvy hooks and candy ideas. To give you a clue, I read somewhere that the band was created with the idea of sounding like Otis Redding and Tight Bros. Who the fuck are the Tight Bros? Fuck knows. Yes to Everything (Lookout!, 2004) though, was the band’s only full-length (following a 2002 self-titled EP) and displays great pop sensibilities, which are good to these ears, because they are married to upbeat melodies and Sarcony sneakers. I recommend listening to this one loudly, so it doesn’t come off as a softie.

The next band was formed by three Harvard students; bassist Naomi Young, drummer Damon Krukowski and guitarist/vocalist Dean Wareham. Galaxie 500 (pictured above) took their moniker from a 1960’s Ford model, but took their music as an extent of their admiration for bands like Spacemen 3 and other shoegaze units. I am almost certain of that. Even though the material featured on This is Our Music (Rough Trade, 1990) is quite bare of sonic layers and features a pretty back to basic take on instrumentality, one can almost sense this band’s love for Kevin Shields and inaudible atmospherics. This is exactly why the $0.99 bin is disappearing from my local record store. I mean, what the fuck are they thinking? Regardless, I can see why bands like Galaxie 500 would have quite the cult following. To say they sounded English or Scottish is no bullshit statement. Their sound was tagged by some as slowcore, a subgenre that I find pretty stupid because slow it is but where does the core come from? Minimal songs, quiet melodies, wake and bake heavy eyelids; Galaxie 500 is just that.

Babes in Toyland may have looked, and to some sounded, like second tier fodder to grunge queens L7 and even Hole, but their 1993 EP Painkillers (Reprise) had some great ideas. This Minneapolis girl trio is supposed to have inspired some of the riot grrrl bands and I can see why chicks would follow. Leader Kat Bjelland (guitars/vocals) not only rocked her axe in unorthodox noise manners but also delivered biting lines with venom at the tip of her tongue.  Painkillers has six songs, the likes of which range from the straight-up deranged to the lullaby-like but still deranged. Produced by aceman Jack Endino and Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) Painkillers also features a stellar live sound and a live track recorded at CBGB’s.

I knew Origin because a couple of years ago I had seen the cover of Echoes of Decimation in publicity pieces everywhere. This immaculate copy of the band’s second full-length Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas (Relapse, 2002) features this band’s brand of hyper technical disorienting super brutal death metal. Fans of the material that gets issued via Willowtip Records, take a look here. Check Origin right about now. No question about it, this guitar tandem rips ass wherever it heads, with staccato riffage galore and a sense of obliqueness to envy, all the men of the strings attack with furious disdain for melody. The guttural voice of James Lee is quite typical, but also quite appropriate. My disillusionment with this style has no excuse; technical death metal is rather uninspiring and that for me is what music should be, inspiring.

The next two I got still in shrink wrap and for only $0.99. Call me lucky, I just visit my record store perhaps a bit too often. The first one was a promo copy, I can tell because the barcode had a punch hole.  Anyway, Path of Resistance were tagged by their label as ‘the Wu-Tang Clang of hardcore’ because it not only counted members of Earth Crisis in its ranks but it added straight edge advocate DJ Rose and Jonathan Dennison (who’s also played in Santa Sangre and When Tigers Fight) to the fold. Created while Earth Crisis were in downtime after an auto accident Path of Resistance crafts a no frills hardcore approach that’s been heard many many times before. Fans of hardcore are famous for their loyalty, but Path of Resistance’s Can’t Stop the Truth (Victory, 2006) bore me quickly. Maybe I am not listening to the message?   Ahhh…no.  The band’s distinctive angle is the dual vocal approach, which doesn’t do much for me either. 

The next one had a sticker on that read, ‘for fans of Fear Factory, Static X and Bryeira’. First thing I thought was, ‘what the fuck is Bryeira?” Obviously, the warning refers to Brujeria, that sort of communal death grind band that’s had members of Sepultura, Faith No More, Fear Factory, Static X and Hatebreed pullulate its ranks.  Asesino is an off shoot of Brujeria and consists of guitarist Asesino (none other than Dino Cazares from Fear Factory and currently of Divine Heresy), Static X bassist Tony Campos (who goes by Maldito X) and former Sadistic Intent, Coffin Texts, Brainstorm, etc drummer Emilio Marques AKA El Sadistico. Corridos de Muerte (Latinthug, 2005) was initially released in 2002, but the copy I snatched is a re-release that actually includes a bonus DVD, which I am not going to check right now because I just had some Chinese food. Casares is a great guitarist, no question about it. And loads of respect go to him for betting for the underground. In Corridos de Muerte he offers a moldy blend of death grind riffs via his trademark exact mechanizations. Like Brujeria, these fuckers have no qualms about putting up real pictures of death scenes all over the booklet. The lyrics are sung in Spanish, and basically deal with pig love, dismembering, executions, rape etc. See why I don’t want to watch the DVD right now?

To close out this edition we got Germany’s Neaera, who play pretty flexible metalcore. Or so some say. By far the best attribute of Neaera is their ability chug along melodic Swedish metal patterns and though the inclusion of breakdowns is more than documented here that’s not where the band shines. I particularly enjoy their death metal angle. Like many, Neaera features a dual vocal attack; on one corner we got the throat, a skinny vocalist going for a hardcore approach, and on the other corner we got a chubbier cookie monster long haired headbanger. Together, they offer absolutely nothing new, but when complimented with the band…hey Neaera is a OK. The Rising Tide of Oblivion (Metal Blade, 2005) is the band’s third release and some of it is so memorable I wonder why many crappier American bands are getting more kudos than them. I hear their new album just hit these shores so keep your Dumbo ears open.

Go to Tales From the Cutout Bin VI