206 BLAST FEST!

 Metal News  No Responses »
Feb 072024
 

(Chris Luedtke wrote the following come-on for a fest set to explode this coming weekend in the Seattle area. Check it out and come if you can.)

For those out in the Pacific Northwest, specifically those in the Seattle area, if you are looking for some blasting, thrashing, grinding live music, look no further than 206 Blast Fest.

What’s 206 Blast Fest? A grindcore, noisecore, hardcore festival featuring twenty-two bands. Some you may recognize, some you may not. I’m not going to give a complete breakdown of everyone playing, so I encourage interested parties to investigate anything not covered here. And I encourage you to go if you possess the ability to support live and underground music. The festival is presented by Audio/Violence Productions and is also the medium where you can get tickets to the fest. A link will be provided at the bottom of this article, but first an overview of a few bands playing. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DOOM BEACH AND CHOP7X

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jan 262024
 

(We present Christopher Luedtke‘s introduction of our premiere of two songs from a forthcoming 12″ vinyl split set for release in February by Redscroll Records, one each by the bands Doom Beach and Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop.)

It is not just a good day because it is Friday and the weekend is so close some of us can already hear the siren call of free time choice paralysis, but today we also have not one but two song premieres. Today is a double dose of blown-out Connecticut rage from Doom Beach and Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop (or Chop7x if you’re nasty) from their upcoming split to be released early next month on Redscroll Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: COLLAPSED MAINFRAME — “AGENDA 2030”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Oct 302023
 

(Christopher Luedtke introduces our premiere of a track from a new concept album by Texas-based Collapsed Mainframe in advance of its release next month by Roman Numeral Records.)

Conceived in 2021, Collapsed Mainframe began with the mindset of pushing the boundaries of chaos and dissonance. Utilizing grind, death metal, and doom, the band forged its sound while steeping itself in a message of anti-government and concerns of technology, the topics of which paint the upcoming release Theatre of Tyranny.

The single we present today, “Agenda 2030”, begins with a thundering drum beat followed by a melodic, distorted guitar section; it goes on for a second before kicking up the speed and the harsh vocals hit. Collapsed Mainframe kick into a grindy section that’s jagged and tense. It persists in its aggression, then breaks up into a sludgy/noise-rock section. Things break up as the track goes on and dissolves. Continue reading »

STOMACH: “PARASITE”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Oct 242023
 

(The debut album of Chicago-based Stomach was released last Friday by Hibernation Release, and today we’re helping spread the word through the following review by Christopher Luedtke.)

As the world grows uglier so does perspective. Whatever we have gleamed or counted as a civilized society is long slipping through frail fingers. One, if so inclined, could likely trace the cracks in the collective consciousness through music alone. Things keep getting uglier, like a brain fever that never subsides. Maybe for our times things have just gotten more honest, raw, and ugly from an art perspective. It’s something to consider when listening to Stomach’s debut full-length Parasite.

The Chicago, IL duo consists of drummer/vocalist John Hoffman (Weekend Nachos, Ledge) and guitarist Adam Tomlinson (Sea of Shit, Sick/Tired), two players who are no strangers to composing raw-nerve music. Stomach, originally started by Hoffman, began as a loose version of Earth or Grief worship. Since its inception in 2020, the project has released two killer demos. However, now the project is ready to reign down holy hell with their debut full-length Parasite. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EUCLID C FINDER — “CORPSE PARTY”

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Sep 082023
 

(Below, Christopher Luedtke introduces our premiere of a song from a new album by the Baltimore-based math/grind group Euclid C Finder.)

The resurgence of the mathcore scene in the last half decade-plus has been a refreshing one to witness. Seeing those unwilling to put to bed frenzied, jarring meter changes, the skittering of panic chords, alongside the fusing of math rock, noise rock, hardcore, punk, grind, and noise, gives the genre more mobility than most—it has a very diverse palate. Euclid C Finder is here to add to that pool with their latest track “Corpse Party.”

Originally, Euclid C Finder started out as a one-person band by vocalist Mike Mehl, but the unit has since evolved into a three-piece. Originating in 2017 in Baltimore, MD, Mehl wrote the majority of the upcoming The Mirror, My Weapon, I Love You LP between 2018 and 2022, as well as the band’s previous two releases. Bandmates Adam Smith and Seth McFarland have since joined and rounded out the roster. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: HOLY GRINDER — “GET WELL”

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May 042023
 

(Christopher Luedtke introduces our premiere of a new song and video from the Canadian band Holy Grinder.)

Toronto, Ontario’s Holy Grinder has been blasting out some of the harshest noisegrind since 2016. Rough, tough, mean, and gruff, the unit has been fluid in its approach while achieving a consistently brutal output. And their upcoming album 10 Desecrations will be nothing short of another bull strapped with Semtex in a China shop. Today, the band is unleashing their latest video for the new single “Get Well.” It’s time to take a trip to the cleaners. Continue reading »

AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE: BLUE HOLOCAUST / MORGUE BREATH

 Premieres  1 Response »
Jan 192023
 

 

(Today we’re bringing you a whip-fast blast of grind released by a trio of labels, with an introduction written by Christopher Luedtke.)

Today we have a double threat of menacing grindcore. Blue Holocaust and Morgue Breath have teamed up to release After The Fall of Man / Hongo Atroz, both bands each knocking out five tracks of blasting fury.

First up is goregrinder Blue Holocaust. Hailing out of Albi, Occitanie in France, the one man band has been grinding since 2001, but has also released other projects such as Vomi Noir and Pulmonary Fibrosis. Blue Holocaust has also released three full-lengths, and a number of splits with bands such as Expurgo, Lysergic Rites of Sadopriest, Houkago Grind Time, and others.

The Blue Holocaust side is raw, punchy goregrind. It has the gurgle, raw goregrind sound but without the vocals sounding like they’re drowning in fluids. The songs also let in some death metal ala Mortician such as “Body-melting Thermomuclear Endgame” and “Wastelands of the Year Omega.” The solos are quick but wailing. And much in the spirit of grind/goregrind it’s over before you know it. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CHOP7X — “TELL YOURSELF A LITTLE LIE / CHOSEN IGNORANCE”

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Dec 092022
 

(Christopher Luedtke introduces our premiere of a two-track blast from the cubergrind project Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop.)

Cybergrind has become a fluid, ever-evolving genre that can be a bear to keep up with. As far as genre conventions go, there the genre seems to be over-trying to move as fast as it can to shatter conventions. But that doesn’t mean it is devoid of more straightforward projects.

Cybergrind is not a young genre, it is just a more recently utilized one. It can be mad-scientist experimental or just straight noisy digital grind. The one-man-band Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop (or Chop7x if you’re nasty) falls into the latter category. Noisy and harsh, the project has been on an unrelenting path and is ready to step up its game on its latest singles “Tell Yourself A Little Lie” and “Chosen Ignorance.” Continue reading »

HEADGORE: “A MEAL FIT FOR GOD”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Dec 092022
 

(Christopher Luedtke reviews a new EP by the Vegas band HeadGore, which just dropped yesterday. Prepare to have your head gored.)

The state of music today is a frankly daunting and overwhelming landscape. In the last few years alone so many sounds have been converged, soldered, and brought together by odd arcane alchemy in very quick succession. And as this internet experiment slouches onward at lightspeed it becomes increasingly more impossible to hear it all at once, much less in individual doses. It is a thought that crosses my mind as I listen to Las Vegas, NV nocore unit HeadGore. There is a lot going on and going down, and their latest EP A MEAL FIT FOR GOD is a snapshot into the alchemy of everything.

HeadGore has been putting out bizarre iterations of grind, cybergrind, death metal, and electronic music since their 2019 split with Shitnoise Bastards. At once they are primarily a band that fits into the grind category. They do blasts, and the music is fast and noisy, but they very easily transition into the noisecore/noisegrind categories, but then will also flip a track into an electronic break or turn it into an uncomfortable, swampy melodic section. The nature of things seems to be not confining or boxing oneself in, hence nocore. And this latest release A MEAL FIT FOR GOD is the band at their most experimental yet. Continue reading »

VOLENTE BEACH: “SOUNDS OF THE OCEAN”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Dec 022022
 

(Here we present Christopher Luedtke‘s review of a debut EP that’s being released today by the Austin, Texas band Volente Beach.)

As the world burns and breaks before our eyes, there’s a constant desire to want to run away from problems, especially when they’re out of our control. And while some of us simply can’t look away from an apocalyptic train wreck, there are plenty who will. Thankfully we have music, and when the human race isn’t horny fixated, we can fall into despair and our eyes connect with the issues once more. Which perpetuates the horny cycle, honestly. Today though, we’re on that path to the apocalypse with Sounds of the Ocean, the first release from Volente Beach.

The Texas four-piece Volente Beach are on a mission to keep us from getting too comfy in our ennui. Featuring members of Deaf Club, Glassing, Exhalants, Vampyre, and Honey & Salt, the project is an exercise in the dichotomy of serene beach sunsets and Skynet dystopias. The sound hovers in the hardcore/punk but has more than might be expected. Continue reading »

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