For some people, Sunday is a day of rest. For us, it’s just another day when we parboil our heads with metal. And on this Sunday, we’re featuring two unsigned bands we think are worth checking out. As it happens, both have made their latest offerings available for free download, and we’re making it easy on you by adding download links right here at NCS. So, if you’re in the mood to flash-fry your gray matter while you, uh, rest, then read on.
BURNING GHATS
Burning Ghats is a band from Vancouver, British Columbia, and they’ve produced an eclectic, three-song demo that’s very cool. “Contombs” is a high-energy blast of grindcore that features unusually inventive, technical guitar leads, pummeling drums, and Converge-style vocals. We would have been happy with two more songs in the vein of “Contombs,” but we got a surprise with the second song, “Chorea Pseudonym”. It starts off with the pacing ratcheted down, but the time signatures then proceed to jump all over the place, with bursts of flashy, math-metal technicality in the guitar leads.
There’s more nimble-fingered guitar mayhem in the third installment, “Hemophiliac Gash,” which zooms back up to grindcore pace. Right before the song’s mid-point, there’s a jazzy solo (almost sounds like a sax), and then the bottom drops out of the rhythm — a long, slow breakdown carried along by the bass and drums and experimental-sounding guitars meandering in the background, before one last eruption of blowtorch fire.
In a nutshell, the Burning Ghats demo is packed with hardcore attitude, grindcore energy, and tech-death flash. It’s a real head-turner. (lots more after the jump . . .)
A few more random pieces of information about this band: First, the artwork for the demo was created by the band’s bassist, Cam Strudwick. The cover art appears at the top of this post, and we thought it was fucking awesome — and even more striking when you see the front and back covers opened up to form a single image. Check it out:
To see more of Cam Strudwick’s album art, band logos, and illustrations, you can visit his site by clicking this link. If we were a new band starting out and interested in some eye-catching logos and artwork, we’d be giving this dude a serious look.
Second, as far as we can tell from some quick research, it appears that burning ghats are sacred Hindu crematoriums along the Ganges in India (and elsewhere), just in case you were wondering.
And third, the lyrics for these three songs are fascinating. They don’t always make complete sense, but the choice of words and the way they’re strung together is imaginative and evocative.
Now, here’s one of those tracks to stream from the demo. And if you like it, you can download the lyrics, the album art, and all three songs in a compressed .zip file by clicking on the second link below. With the band’s permission, we’re hosting this file on the high-speed download service we pay for, but you can also download it from Burning Ghats’ MySpace page or throw a little money their way by purchasing the songs on iTunes.
Burning Ghats has been in the studio off and on since last month recording tracks for their first EP. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for that baby when it chooses to be born.
BURN IN HELL
Our second band, Burn in Hell, is also from Vancouver, BC. Wow, what a coincidence!
Wait a minute. This band also includes two members named Chad and Cam, just like Burning Ghats. Man, what are the odds of that?
Okay, it’s no coincidence. Cam Strudwick, the artist and bassist for Burning Ghats is also the guitarist (and artist) for Burn in Hell. And Chad Jones, the vocalist for Burning Ghats, is the bass player for Burn in Hell. Talk about a game of musical chairs!
Burn in Hell released a 7-song EP in late April, called Open Civilia. Despite the presence of two musicians from Burning Ghats, the music is very different. It’s a crushingly heavy beast, filled with deep-throated howling vocals, hammering distorted riffs, freaked-out guitar leads and a generous salting of disturbing vocal samples.
The polyrhythmic tempos and instrumental pyrotechnics veer into experimental territory, but the music never loses its suffocating air of menace or its brutal heaviness. These densely layered songs grind and shriek and pound without mercy. They’re wildly inventive, and the musicianship is amazingly accomplished.
The album also flies by like some kind of demonic starling. Six of the seven songs are under two minutes in length, and the whole thing is about 13 minutes total. Just long enough to whip your brain into a fine froth and then pour it out onto the floor for your cat to lap up.
Like Burning Ghats, Burn in Hell has made its EP available for free download on its MySpace page, but we’ve also got a link for direct download from our hosting service. Check out this track from the EP, and if you like it, the download link is the next thing you’ll see (the file you’ll get will be compressed in the .zip format). Lap it up.