Mar 272014
 

(It is always such a treat for us to bring you the investigations of Professor D. Grover the XIIIth. They come in the night, when you least expect them, and they open your eyes, and your ears. Blessings be upon his wizard head.)

Greetings and salutations, friends. I return to bring to your undoubtedly overcrowded attention new releases from a quintet of artistic purveyors of the Devil’s Musick. You may be familiar with a few of these artists, and that in itself is laudable. If, by some odd confluence of fate, you are familiar with all of them, then I warmly shake your hand and wish to know more about you, as clearly we are of a similar mind when it comes to music. And now, let us commence.

SOCKWEB

If there is one of these musical groups I would expect most of you to know, it would be Sockweb. After all, they have been widely discussed in the annals of No Clean Singing before. Still, for those of you a bit slow on the uptake, Sockweb are a grind duo comprised of multi-instrumentalist Adam “Blackula” Young and his now seven-year-old daughter and vocalist Joanie “Bologna” Young, and it is that initially gimmicky quality that has gained Sockweb their notoriety. At any rate, the duo’s debut album Werewolf is finally available for purchase, and as many had hoped, it’s actually quite excellent. Continue reading »

Mar 112014
 

So many excellent new songs have begun streaming in recent days that I’ve shoehorned two of these round-ups into our schedule today, and I’m still not covering everything I want you to hear. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if you’re bored with the state of metal in 2014, you’re not really listening.

EYEHATEGOD

Fourteen years after Confederacy of Ruined Lives, New Orleans’ Eyehategod will finally be releasing a new, self-titled full-length album on May 27 in North America (May 26 in Europe) in North America via Housecore Records. It was mixed by the ubiquitous Sanford Parker and includes some of the final recordings from late Eyehategod drummer Joey LaCaze.

Today the band premiered a squalling track from the album entitled “Agitation! Propaganda!” which can be streamed below. It will get your blood pumping with a meaty punked-out fist in the face and then kick you tumbling down into a sludgy pit of tar.  Continue reading »

Jul 012013
 

Relatively speaking, I’ve been a late-comer to the marvels of Sockweb, a father/daughter duo who have been recording some punishing grind and are on the verge of releasing their debut album Werewolf via Monolithic Records. But though I may be late to the party, I’ve definitely had my eyes (and ears) opened: Adam “Blackula” Young churns out some decimating riffs and drum blasts, and 7-year-old Joanie “Bologna” Young delivers raw, sandpaper-abraded howls that will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck (how someone this young and this cute can vocalize with such no-holds-barred extremity still blows my mind). Not only that, but Joanie writes all the lyrics herself (Werewolf chronicles her friendship with a werewolf she found hiding from a storm under her bed).

Today, Sockweb announced the launch of an Indiegogo campaign, which is designed to help fund manufacturing of a bunch of extras to accompany the album’s digital release on August 6. As these things typically work, contributions to the Sockweb indigogo will essentially be pre-orders for future merchandise, including CDs, limited-edition shirts (like the one pictured above) and socks, and signed posters.

In addition to all that merch, donors will be offered hand-written lyric sheets and the chance to have a song written about you or a subject of your choice (pending parental approval) for the next release. And if the campaign goes well, there may be some vinyl in our future, too. Continue reading »

Jun 262013
 

For various reasons, mainly a long trip to the East Coast and back over the last weekend and catching-up to do at my job, I’ve fallen behind in listening to new metal. I’ve made a halting effort to catch up, and though I’ve not made much of a dent, I did select a few of the songs (quite diverse from each other) that I’ve heard since late last week to share with you in this post.

SOCKWEB

I don’t consider myself a cynic. In fact, I think I’m one of the least cynical people I know over the age of 12, more of a glass-is-half-full, give-everyone-the-benefit-of-the-doubt kind of guy. Yet I confess that I keep caged within me a black-eyed little cynic-monster, and the scaly bastard broke free when I first started reading about the duo from Richmond, Indiana, who call themselves Sockweb. Surely, that little monster screamed, this is pure gimmickry, one of those viral internet thingies that thrives solely on novelty (mixed with cuteness) rather than substance or merit.

Because after all, how could a father and his seven-year-old daughter really make grindcore that’s worth a damn, especially when it’s the little tyke who’s the vocalist?

And then I saw an announcement that first appeared late last week which caused me to reconsider: Not only have The Sockweb duo recorded a debut album (Werewolf), it’s being mastered by none other than Scott Hull (Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic Nosebleed) and it will include guest appearances by Kat Katz (Agoraphobic Nosebleed), Joe Torchia (Flux Conspiracy), Erik Ebsen (Spiralmountain), and Jonathan Chun (Azure Noise, Ozoru Hammer). And so I relented, I shoved the monster back in his cage, and I listened for the first time to the four songs that are now out. And I was glad I did. Continue reading »