(Andy Synn picks up the slack today while the boss is away)
Our beloved leader, he whose eyes are all-seeing and whose arms encircle the sun, is currently off on a scenic break, leaving myself and DGR in charge of the site over the weekend.
And, as consumnate professionals… we have nothing prepared.
Or, at least, I should say that we had nothing prepared, since – as luck would have it – a surprise release yesterday has allowed me to complete another tripartite “Short But Sweet” article (which, thankfully, I already had half written) so as to ensure we don’t go another day without feeding the internet’s constant craving for new content to consume.
HELL IS REAL – SURVIVOR’S GUILT
One thing that keeps me from getting jaded is just being open and curious about new bands and new music… they don’t need to be reinventing the wheel either, just playing with passion and purpose is enough.
And that’s what Chicago’s own Hell Is Real have done on their new EP, Survivor’s Guilt (the follow-up to their 2024 debut album, Scared of the World), which finds them giving the likes of Black Breath, Fuming Mouth, and Homewrecker a real run for their money with a blistering blend of Death/Thrash/Hardcore that’s all killer, no filler, and takes absolutely no prisoners.
Spitting out snarling vocals and gut-punch gang shouts over a torrent of chattering riffs and taut, thrumming trem-lines, all propelled by a barrage of blastbeats, d-beats, and splashy cymbal fills, opener “Human Processing Plant” quickly lays down the gauntlet – heavy, hard-hitting, but with just a hint of Grave-like melody courtesy of the song’s climactic solo – that the likes of the pounding, chug-happy “Kindness of Strangers” and the thrashier, blastier, and then even doomier, title-track are more than happy to pick up and run with.
Sure, the band aren’t doing anything massively different – the punky, Death-Crust swagger of “Wave Goodbye”, for example, absolutely reeks of Black Breath, albeit with a fair bit more “blackened” bite courtesy of vocalist Eric Blum – but they’ve clearly put every ounce of their own blood, sweat, and tears into the music, to the point where songs like frantic, full-force highlight “Zero Sum Game” and nasty, but sickeningly infectious, closer “Dry Needle” often feel like they’re right on the edge of coming apart at the seams due to the sheer intensity of the band’s performance (which should also leave you right on the edge of your seat).
So it just goes to show, if you go hard enough, if you really push that needle right into the red, it won’t matter who you sound like, just what you sound like… and Hell Is Real sound like a band I’m going to be keep a close eye/ear on going forwards, that’s for sure!
MOUTHBREATHER – IF I LOSE EVERYTHING, YOU ALL LOSE EVERYTHING
My first exposure to Mouthbreather was via their last album, 2023’s Self Tape, ten tracks of concussive Chaotic Hardcore meets massive, Meshuggah-nised Math Metal whose jagged, juddering sound could (and should) appeal just as much to fans of bands like Frontierer and Fawn Limbs on the one hand as it does lovers of Car Bomb and End on the other.
And while not all of those ten tracks might have had the same level of impact, the more concise format of If I Lose Everything, You All Lose Everything ensures that this time around there’s little-to-no risk of experiencing extremity fatigue.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that Mouthbreather have suddenly started pulling their punches or playing nice… if anything tracks like the more-than-aptly-named “Terrified” and the explosive bombardment of hatred and heaviness that is “Gold Star for You” somehow hit even harder than ever before, throwing out a veritable cacophony of angular, ultra-downtuned riffs and erratic, spasming percussive patterns that serve to keep you constantly ducking and dodging, never quite certain what direction the next attack is going to come from.
For all their savagery, of course, there’s still at least a little bit of subtlety at play here, with unexpected twists like the spiteful, early Slipknot style grooves of “Repeat After Me” and the shining melodic solo which crowns the otherwise unforgivingly nasty “You Look Down on Me” – not to mention the occasional burst of anxiety-inducing electronics that should appeal to any fans out there of the recently-released, and much-hyped, debut from Living Weapon – ensuring that the songs (including absolutely harrowing climactic hate-anthem “Annie”) never become familiar or predictable, meaning you’re going to need to keep your guard up and your wits about you when spinning this one!
RACETRAITOR – NOBODY, SON OF NOBODY
I’d like to take a moment, before diving into the new EP from the one and only Racetraitor, to want to talk about something that happened to me recently.
You see, a few weeks back I had tickets to see the band in question… but ended up not making the show, because on my way there I was flagged down by a woman in a great deal of distress, who told me she’d been harassed and threatened by a man (and she had video evidence of this), and was waiting for the police (this was just outside of the police station itself) to come and help, and would I wait with her so she felt safe?
And so we waited… and waited… being constantly reassured that someone was coming, all while the woman in question (who had already admitted to having mental health issues, including pretty severe PTSD which had her panicking that she was going to be arrested and/or assaulted by the police as well) continued to spiral.
But no-one came to help. In fact, at one point when I called back to find out what was going on (bearing in mind multiple officers had come and gone by us at this point) I was told her issue had been deemed “non urgent” and downgraded to “no response needed” (without telling us, of course) and that our best option was to call an ambulance and hope that they could deal with her, as if she were the problem rather than the victim.
Ultimately, after about 2 hours or so, I’d manage to calm her down eough to walk her back to her bus stop (where the incident first occurred), at which point I then waited with her for another 20 minutes, got her on the bus, and even spoke with the bus driver to let him know that she was still in a pretty vulnerable state… and only then was I able, in good conscience, to send her on her way (and make my own way back home).
And I don’t tell you this to brag about off how wonderful and virtuous I am (I assume that most people would also have stopped and helped, I just happened to be there) but to illustrate just how easy it is for vulnerable people, people who are “difficult” or just different, people who don’t quite fit in, to fall through the cracks, to be dismissed and ignored by the very institutions which are supposed to be there to help them and us.
And honestly, I am still really fucking angry about how the whole situation played out. Not for my sake, but for hers, and for everyone else who has been treated the same way.
Anyway, speaking of angry… and thank you for bearing with me while I got all that off my chest… it’s amazing that, despite being at this for more than 25 years now, Racetraitor sound just as angry on Nobody, Son of Nobody – if not even more so – as they ever have.
From the utterly catastrophic, Math-Grind-meets-Metallic-Hardcore assault of “Five Dead Stars”, via the the frenzied, blast-propelled pummelling of “Red Summer” and the crushing, doom-laden kerb-stomp of “Policy of Hell” (already one of my new favourite tracks), to the bone-charring churn ‘n’ burn of “Primitive Tongue”, this EP contains some of the most aggressive, abrasive material the band have ever done (and the bar for that was set pretty high with Creation and the Timeless Order of Things).
At the same time, however, the band haven’t abandoned their ability to communicate a more nuanced form of nihilism, with the brooding Post-Metallic strains of “A Mirror Watching” and the even darker, moodier, soundscapes of “Unity of Being” (all drifting, desolate guitar work and flickering electronic fireflies that give the track an ominously Lynch-ian vibe) helping temper and focus the band’s righteous rage through the use of diverse dynamics and compelling contrasts.
So while I may have missed my chance to see the band live, it’s reassuring to know that they’re still willing and able to stick to their guns and stand up for what they believe in without an ounce of concession or compromise to the rest of the world.