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| FEATURES | THE GOOD THE BAD THE UNSIGNED XVI | |||
IT'S A 7 INCH EXTRAVAGANZA IV |
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Alright, once again here is a little bit of everything. This time around Portland represents with a couple of outstanding units, while some of the rest keep their head above water and manage to stay away from complete suckiness. OK, plenty to listen here, dig them in and as always, read on and spread the word.... |
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Nether Regions (pictured above) hail from fertile Portland and craft a sound that is akin to that of a more sludge leaning Yob if fronted by Wino Weinrich. Some of the riffage sounds pretty angular and yet is very distorted, as if a doom or a very heavy stoner band was into making a hybrid of noise and metal. Every once in a while, like during “Do You Live?”, the foursome gallops and shows a more blatantly metallic influence with flourishing solos, hammering drum beats and pulsating basslines. Sure, then, Nether Regions move slow, they twist the song and keep on twisting it never straying far from a somber moods and riffs that echo as if attempting to go astral or coiling. There are even some pretty moments. The start of “Blood Ritual” is gorgeous with textured guitars that reminisce of why post rock once mattered, the melody and its layers transcend and so, this self-titled debut is beyond auspicious. Bandcamp |
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RÖÄRGH! hail from Pughskeepie, NY and have the coolest moniker of the day. The cover artwork of their EP is also quite memorable; red shit fat devil monster with sharp teeth to tear you apart. Straight up the drum programming is quite annoying. When applied to melodic death metal like this it gives it this air of lightheadedness that makes you think that this is perhaps just a joke. Then again, with a cover and a moniker like these, I am sure this NY duo isn’t out to blow minds philosophically. “In War and Harmony” is one of the catchiest tunes, that is, if you don’t mind the folksy keyboard work. Frankly, quite celtic and totally ludicruous unless you like those Finnish bands that wear kilts. Roargh may overdo the melodic part, but that’s a matter of taste, others will see in the better tracks like “Fixation On the Outer Image” the possibility of a better band and it’s there clearly laid out, as long as they don’t include those silly keyboards and let their guitars roargh that way muting the horrible sounds of the drum programming. Facebook |
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Line Nether Regions, Norska also come from Oregon. Unlike Nether Regions, they call the green region of Willamette Valley home. And like Nether Regions, Norska’s sound comes out of leftfield. In the way they approach their music, Norska can be tagged many things but can’t be fairly encased as a doom metal band. Sludge is much more fitting because the subgenre has a closer allegiance to noise, and that’s basically how this self-titled debut sounds like. Like the sick cousins of Black Elk, Norska’s sound is pure inside ugliness. The guitars do not riff, they run the palette in odd patterns and do the range, from low tones to higher pitches. There is this grinding quality to their music. It’s their workmanlike-sound, Unsane with a stoner bent and in the last cut “Two Coins for the Ferryman” Norska sounds like the reincarnation of Yob. It’s not something that was created by Scheidt and Co., but that Yob, the band, has made its trademark; caustic, uber slow and elongated screams. It goes to prove an influence, but it also highlights the need for Norska to find its own voice and path. Facebook |
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Initially I thought that Poland’s Neuronia wouldn’t qualify for inclusion in one of these unsigned features. The cardboard sleeve that wraps their 2012 EP Insanity Relapse has more logos than a fucking Nascar racecar, so you’d imagine this Warsaw quintet, already two full-lengths deep into their metal career, would have managed to secure a deal already. But no. If somehow they haven’t managed to convince anyone to finance their music this quintet is at least financing their own stuff and the love they put into it shows. The guys have chops and a melodic flare to boot. The three tracks included here tread too friendly waters for yours truly, but lovers of melodic heavy metal and of speedy heavy metal could easily soil themselves upon the first spin of the corny “Kick the Fuckers Out”, an infectious cut, that needless to say, I won’t be playing anymore but that I am sure, may give you a stiffy if you think that melodic death metal is a style that will never sound outdated. Facebook |
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Equal parts stoner rock and post-grunge, Chris Cornell-ish vocal worshipping included, and Mother’s Green debut comes as a bit forced and totally faceless. It is impossible to deny the melodic gift this band has as well as their ability to infuse soul and bluesy licks into every cut, however, the fact that Mother’s Green sounds like FM radio fodder from like 2002 makes them no service. This self-titled recording from 2008 is despite its gusto and dated panache, utterly forgettable. Unless of course, you are stuck in time, love everything from Cornell’s solo material all the way to fucking Creed, in which case we could recommend this highly. Then again, times have changed and maybe so have Mother’s Green, who have recently released another full-length non-sensically titled Swimming in the Sun. In that case, this piece is actually more dated than Mother’s Green music. Official Site |
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Canada’s Disrape may be a bit too obvious by grace of their moniker and by the abuse of the umlaut but those who dig the style couldn’t give less of a shit. Dis Nightmare Continues has got seven cuts of fuzzy D-Beat. Hairy stuff, the guitars blend into a mish mash of static and only on counted occasions one can make out the works of our men Deevon and Iron. Like on “Grim and Frostbitten”, shits go slow and craft a bit of melody. But no one comes to D Beat camp to play NWOBHM and elsewhere Disrape just crush, and stomp and scream so loud, I got to think of early Voi Vod and how much I was once enamoured with their noise. Make no mistake, this ain’t no Voi Vod worship, Disrape are hardcore at heart. They have a full-length in the works so keep your eyes wide open. Bandcamp |
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Clock Paradox come from Finland, they are self-declared groove metalheads but we shouldn’t judge them because of it. They come from Oulu which sounds like the name of a Hawaiian island but is most certainly a pretty cold place. “F21” is the first track out of their third EP The Five Percepts and it pretty much lets us know that these guys can play, at least as good as a band of bad Fates Warning impersonators. Clock Paradox go over the line on “Footprints” a technical, Messhuggah-esque rumbler that serves as an even bigger showcase of their musical abilities. Here, Clock Paradox sound almost as if Messhuggah had opted to go a little more commercial; the sound is softer, the 45 degree angles are more like 40 degree curves and the vocals, well, the vocals remain pretty brutal and harsh. It’s hard to fault the band, this EP rocks and Clock Paradox can write good tunes. The whole of The First Precepts is clear on that, albeit, it is also clear in the fact that this band is too influenced to stand out on its own. So for now, they will have to remain in Oulu, enjoying the cold weather. Official Site |
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Holy shit, what a clusterfuck! Let me just tell you, for the past ten years or so I have been dismissing orchestrated black metal because it’s just a silly proposition and most bands that take a stab at it end up sounding like a bunch of idiots who don’t know how to imitate a good orchestra by way of a Casio keyboard. Not sure what the good man Steffen Bruckner used to get this massive sound, but boy, does he give orchestrated black metal a good name. It helps that everything is turned up to twelve so the guitars don’t sound like one man playing the thin string but more like a battalion of midgets playing about ten guitars through a stack of broken Marshalls. And if the drums are actually programmed then kudos to Steffen for keeping the beats as close to organic as possible. And then of course, there is the orchestra which doesn’t do much to add certain melodic flare, but just aggrandize the chaos even more. Now all Steffen has to do is stop doing the artwork for his records because The Godslayer, Winterthrone’s third full-length, looks pretty damn generic. Official Site |
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