BIG BOYS-Where's My Towel/Industry Standard-LP
CLOUD RAT-Moksha-LP
DAVE RATA-Hallucigenia-LP
KUUDES SILMÄ-EP
ANTIMOB-LP / GATTACA-EP
BETON / SKELETON-split
CONGENITAL DEATH-From My Hands-EP
AHNA-LP / BRINK OF DESPAIR-LP
UNHOLY GRAVE-EP / RAPTUROUS GRIEF-EP
BRINK OF DESPAIR – “Rooted in Dust” LP
A record that continues to work its way deeper and deeper into my
skull, Germany’s BRINK OF DESPAIR convey a mood here that is forlorn
and yet still defiant, pulling out one of the better entries into the
epic crust arena that I’ve come across recently. The bands takes a few
twists and turns over the course of an full-length, starting off with
some thrashy, chugging crust-metal in the vein of that one THEE KVLT
OV OUROBOROS EP before switching gears towards the mid-tempo TRAGEDY
sound—which they nail pretty damn hard—and then back again. Some will
doubtless be lost by the more weepy leads on the second half of the
record, but there’s a singularity to the proceedings that makes the
whole feel like much more than the sum of its part. An auspicious
debut, as they say, and I hope we be seeing more where this came from.
(WB)
(Subcult)
DERNIER COMBAT – “Turn a Blind Eye” EP
Brash and anthemic as all fuck, DERNIER COMBAT share a member with
Atlanta's near-peerless DISABLE but turn down the noize attack a notch
or three by comparison. The phrase "crust'n'roll" kind of makes me
want to throw up in my mouth, but this record pulls the style out of
the scuzz bar and back into the filthy streets where it belongs.
Picture-perfect guitar and bass tone certainly don't hurt, and "Above
the Law" is seriously one of the best anti-cop anthems I've heard in a
long time. (WB)
(Baby on Board)
CLOUD RAT – “Moksha” LP
It’s impossible to remain objective (whatever that means) when
reviewing a band that you already love, so just in case you didn’t
read my year-end top ten last month, I will disclose my status here as
an unrepentant CLOUD RAT fangirl. By now, it should be clear that this
band has completely transcended the reductive grind label they tend to
get tagged with; I’d just call it beautiful, blast-happy
hardcore/crust that manages to prove (for the nth time) that black
metal and screamo are really just two sides of the same wonderfully
depressive coin. Moksha stands the pinnacle of CLOUD RAT’s rise to
genre-titan status over the past few years, and the longer format
really gives them room to explore to full depths of their sound. Hell,
there’s even a killer Neil Young cover ("The Needle and the Damage
Done”) to seal the deal. This is mandatory. Class dismissed. (WB)
(Halo of Flies / IFB / 7Degrees / React With Protest)
LIVVER – “Fuck You, Pay Me” LP
Gloomy, death-obsessed East Coast hardcore of a post-Holy Terror
persuasion, this is a record that reminds us that dark, brooding guy
is totally the tough guy of this generation. The ætmospheric intro had
me eating out of the palms of their hands, but the riffs that follow
only highlight the plodding, redundant tendencies of this style, and
the whole thing left me rather cold. I think this LP’s name kind of
sums it up; sure, it makes them sound hard as NAILS, but wasn't punk
supposed to be about, like, subverting capitalist modes of relation
and stuff? Self-deprecating snark aside, the lyrics are uninspired at
best (“This heart is blackened” is as indicative a line as any), and
songs like “Surf Tsunami” give this an almost exploitative vibe. (WB)
BETON / SKELETON - split EP
Completely on-point from start to finish, this is how you fucking do
it, folks. Canada’s SKELETON dress to impress, playing downtuned crust
with some reverb-drenched death growls that could easily give DOOM a
run for their money. There’s a melancholy layer mixed in with the
brutal that helps keep things dynamic, and the black metal riff they
pluck out of the ether on “Nothing” had me pulling out the corpse
paint before I could realize it was still light outside for another
six hours. BETON from Bratislava, Slovakia stay closer to the raw
party line, but if you’re into ripping, galloping d-beat there’s
really nothing not to like here, and some heavy chorus keeps the one
true guitar solo weird and awesome. Yes, yes, and yes. (WB)
(Ultima Ratio)
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