My good friend Tre Watson is a very busy man who’s up to pretty much everything you can imagine in the world of music. He’s either recording and producing someone else, writing and recording his own music, or playing with his band Carthage. I’m reviewing not only the debut EP of Carthage, but also Tre’s recent solo EP called Gravestones.
Carthage plays a style of less-is-more and simple-is-best deathcore with “a little of everything” thrown in, as he put it. This is pretty accurate, as the music has very small doses of thrash, melodeath, traditional hardcore, and death metal thrown into the mix to keep it varied despite the music’s simplistic approach.
Listening to the EP is like getting smashed over the head with boulders repeatedly. There is undeniable, consistent groove here, combined with moments of melodeath riffing, deathcore and djent syncopated chugs, tremolo riffing, and badass lead-work everywhere. I really like what’s going on here — it’s worth checking out. It’s only a tiny bit underdeveloped, but that’s to be expected with even the best of first EP’s. The potential is bursting at the seams. You can stream the entire EP at Bandcamp, or right here at NCS after the jump. Continue reading »
Wastelander plays to my personal weaknesses with their mixture of black metal, groovy thrash, D-beat/crust punk and just plain ballsy metal-rock with a lyrical focus on post-apocalyptic survival. They sonically recognize 
