Slund / Maggot Bath

What is common in Australia and Slovenia? You should listen this release to understand it. Here is a split CD with two cute bands from opposite sides of our planet. When I first saw this stuff on the internet I was confused because of the cover art - the whole design is an ode to deadly form of smallpox. All of the images are really creepy, and it's hard to believe how painful and discomforting this illness is. So I expected to hear some gore tunes, but I was mistaken. Both squads are playing grindcore, but not a classic one; Slund and Maggot Bath love to make some experiments with their music. Slovenian band Slund is the first who'll begin their grind experiment on our minds. The guy behind this band really love to mix primitive grind structure with other genres. So you should listen this noise much closer to dig it. Fast grindcore mutates into weird sludgecore and then to grindcore again. Also there is some elements from metal and hardcore (especially tiny beat down pieces). A stange observation; vocals are not the main thing, as loud guitar sound and drum-machine are the main gods in this mess. Slund shows us an unusual side of the grind, and you should chose to like it or to throw it to the trash - but personally I like these tunes. Maggot Bath is creepy (in good way) toxic grind from Melbourne… It's hard to describe their music and I have a feeling that they just take stoner, doom, grindcore, hardcore, metal, and Satan's balls and whipped in a blender, haha! I know that sounds crazy, but all together these elements sound great. There are slow and fast moments, and this music is full of weird dark atmosphere and sound slime. All songs have a nice sound, it not super juicy but pleasant, same with guitar tone and drums. This is strange and unusual grind, but it worth of your time guys. Rating: 7.5/10 Slund fb Maggot Bath fb

Split G.B.S. / Sebum Excess Production will be out soon at Terrible Mutilation Distro!

Shitgrinder / Hexx split 7"!!!

Vicious Circle ‎– The Price Of Progress / Reflections (Power It Up)

Vicious Circle were formed in Melbourne in 1983, this band is a living legend of violent Hardcore Punk. And it's fucking great that Power It Up Records picked them up for “The History Of Australian 80's Punk”. This reissue looks amazing, gate fold, colored vinyl and a huge booklet with old photos, posters and tons of information. Vicious Circle was honored to start this historical Vol 1, which contains the first two albums from the VC discography, 28 songs in total. Note that all of these bullets are charged with raw aggression and protesting spirit. This double LP is a great present for all nostalgic punks! Let's go back in time to 1985 when The Price Of Progress was released. This debut album is a perfect example of the consequences of uncontrolled boiling blood, youth and protest. Thirty odd minutes of simple, fast paced, furious Hardcore Punk. Hoarse guitar sound, primitive tunes, riffs and ton of fun. This is how Punk is supposed to sound, just true energy, raw power and uncontrolled speed. This music is loud and catchy it greatly differs from modern Punk and I really like it. Reflections was released in 1986, and on this album Vicious Circle made some really noticable changes. This LP contains more Hardcore material, the riffs and sound are more punching. Most of the songs are short and sharp, even the vocals sound more savage. I can't say that this is album full of fun, I think this is much more serious work and it sounds appropriate. Rating: 8/10 Vicious Circle fb

Remember guys,keep the underground music scene strong by supporting the artist/band/labels. Get your physical copy HERE! 

Split Sordo / Powerxchuck will be out in early 2019!

Split 7" Incinerated / Hallucination Realized will be out soon!

You can listen Incinerated side HERE!

Meth Leppard ​/​ Deterioration

What could you expect from two grind bands which are located at diferentes continents? Of course you will be expecting some powerful noise and that is only logical. But, what if these bands know each other? With no doubt they will do a split Todays heroes are Meth Leppard from Australian and Deterioration from the USA. I bet you all know these guys, and many of you have shared a beer with them during their tours… Awesome guys and bands, let's find out what have they recorded in their basements.

So according to marks on this vinyl, we should play the Deterioration side first. Wtf was that? It`s pure insanity… without any warning, it's just a fast killing punch into the face. I must say it was painful, haha! As usual, Deterioration has a bit of a muddy sound but a crazy load of power. The blast beats parts sound like machine gun fire, guitar is heavy and the riffs are short. That what I wanted to heard from these fuckers, I'm glad that they managed to record such mad noise like that.

Side B. My old Australian friends came up with 5 robust tracks. I must say that they coped well with this grindcore deal. You won't hear anything radically new, but you also won't hear any weak material. They are sticking to their own style (and that is good thing). Bloody dangerous speed, recognizable guitar sound and tons of blast beats. Twisting moments between blast parts making this noise  spicier and more diverse. Meth Leppard is a pure drilling machine and they will make a hole in your skull with their grindcore!

Rating: 8.5/10 Meth Leppard fb Deterioration fb

Remember guys,keep the underground music scene strong by supporting the artist/band/labels. Get your physical copy HERE! 

Split tape SkullxPiercer / Maggot Bath!

You can listen the whole tape HERE! 

Skullxpiercer / Maggot Bath!

Out soon on tape and CD!

Shitgrinder - Eternal Death

Shitgrinder is the most diabolical and fucked in the head band you will hear today! What you’ll hear when you press play is pure unhinged sonic punishment that will become an audio drug that will leave you in a state of disarray. Eternal Death is freaking smashing; with no doubt this is one of the fastest albums from to ever come out of Australia.

After the scratchy intro, heavy riffs start and keep the songs rolling towards the end. This is what I call jaw dropping Grind. The blast beats are alive and fresh, without any digital trigger bullshit. Guitar tone is heavy and its sound isn`t dry at all, which is very important for fast music. This crazy duo used two kinds of vocals, the main ones being caveman growling and second is screaming, and this combination is very effective. Song by song “Eternal Death” strikes painful blows into my mind and ears, I absolutely love it! Maybe someone will find this album monotonous because most of the songs are made with the same structure, but fuck it, this is a Grindcore album. It sounds how it should sound. Like a real grind album.

If you used to be a fan of fast Grindcore, and you were disappointed by the last few albums from Phobia, give this wild piece of Noise a chance, I think your neck will start to ache after the first three songs.

Rating: 8.5/10 Shitgrinder bc Shitgrinder fb

Remember guys,keep the underground music scene strong by supporting the artist/band/labels. Get your physical copy HERE!

Perdition - Not Just Another Anthology

The good old label from the mainland Power It Up started to re-release some old and good punk rock releases a few years ago. I've reviewed some of these releases previously, but now I finally got my hands on their top notch release - The great collection of Australian punk. It's something like am audio encyclopedia with the title “Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask about dirtiest Australian punk”, haha! This is the second issue and it's dedicated to the band Perdition. These moldy old punks are still around, and they are still playing shows and they have not lost their energy. This edition stands out with great quality and design. Both vinyls have a piss yellow color, and the cover art was taken from debut album ‘How To Teach Your Budgie To Talk“ (you will find this album inside), with cute and lovely parrots are staring at you, (what can be better?). But the most adorable thing is hidden inside the sleeve; there is a book with tons of old Perdition photos, show posters, stories and many other info. That was nice and a very pleasant surprise for me. This “gold” release contains songs from the “How to Teach Your Budgie to Talk" lp, "A Positive Alternative To Torture" tape, "Intoxicated" 7" EP, "A Positive Alternative To torture" tape and split LP with Vicious Circle (Australian punk legends). Whatever you would expect from a Punk Rock album released in 1983 can probably be found in spades on this particular anthology, as it is musically one of the simplest and most unsophisticated releases ever made. However, it is also a very organic and live-sounding record. Right from the opening title track, rowdy chants of a menacing yet youthful following of the band literally take place of the guitars, drums, and bass work, until a chainsaw riff cuts through your ears as easily as a knife would through butter. This material doesn't have the best sound, but hey, what a hell do you expect from old noise that was recorded in the beginning of 80's? I'm not a big punk expert, but Perdition left a good impression, their song are so simple but freaking catchy! If you want a portion of great old atmosphere from golden punk era, than this double lp is for you! Rating: 8/10 Perdition fb

Remember guys,keep the underground music scene strong by supporting the artist/band/labels. Get your physical copy HERE!

Split Maggot Bath / Husmanskost will be out very soon!

You can check the whole split HERE!

Split Maggot Bath / Subhuman Hordes will be out soon!

Here is a first look at Incinerated / Hallucination Realized split!

East West DeathGrind Fest 8!

Take That Vile Fiend - Excreted Brain Matters

Now, in all honesty, this isn't the fastest or heaviest gore album on the market today. But, that's in no way a bad thing. With Excreted Brain Matters, Take That Vile Fiend have displayed some of the best noisewriting I've heard from the gore scene in a long while. They have found what is quite possibly the perfect combination of speed, vomit, aggression, heaviness and rottenes. Funny fact: the cover image is really gory but in not even close to these what is hiding inside. Brad and Nik created a messy, dirty, smelly and super ugly beast.
   
I would go over stand out tracks, but all 26 songs are one, thus that would take forever, haha! Most of these songs sounds like garbage grinding machine, I bet this noise will be so annoying to regular fans of Deep Purple, haha! Excreted Brain Matters has a decent and low sound which rolls over you like an asphalt paver. This “music” is close to gorenoise, but it does not cross this line. Although that this tracks is unstoppable avalanche of vomit, I caught
a lot of catchy groovy moment in theme. The album is in actuality full of great headbang-able moments, they are, for the most part, a far cry from being easily accessible.

If you`re tired of usual grindcore, you want something intensive, dynamic and really sick, than “Excreted Brain Matters” be the best choice for you!

Rating: 8/10 Take That Vile Fiend fb

Remember guys,keep the underground music scene strong by supporting the artist/band/labels. Get your physical copy HERE!

The Borkenlayne - Pain Is The Fearminder (Radical Blarghst)

One gloomy day years ago, four dirty minds from Japan and Australia met together and decided to form a band. This decision would not only change their lives, but it will make a huge damage in grindheads minds.
Through the course of 21 tracks, The Borkenlayne absolutely tear it up. Pain Is The Fearminder is a phenomenal deathgrind, or maybe deathgore record. If you haven’t heard gored deathgrind yet and you like grind, then this is a great introduction. An epic “Oceanic Thrust” opens this gate to hell and then it drags us into the black void of boiling obscurity. First, what will really punish you, it's the sound...it has a raw taste and it's heavy as fuck! The pitch shifted vocal is as deep as Hell is, and it has a nice low tremoring sound. The guitars paint the thunderous portrait of flames and continents breaking apart. The rhythm section provides the fuel to keep the fires burning from start to finish. I want to highlight a blasting drums, they have old school sound, which is perfectly fits in.
By far one of the most bizarre covers I’ve ever seen. This paintings remind me mutilated mix of H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (that guy who wrote Conan) stories. Muscle warrior who is fighting with sea monster it looks simply funny and epic. There is clearly a whole boatload of potential here and I am very curious to see where The Borkenlayne go with this. Rating: 8.5/10 The Borkenlayne bc

Remember guys,keep the underground music scene strong by supporting the artist/band/labels. Get your physical copy HERE!

Split Deterioration / Incinerated will be out later this year!

Split Pulmonary Fibrosis / Chikara / Maggot Bath will be out very soon!

Maggot Cave - EP

If we're going to be honest here, over the years I've bought a number of records purely because of the album art. And you know what? I'm a total sucker for plain black and red covers, so when the 7" EP from Maggot Cave showed up at my door, I was pretty excited. This EP is 12 tracks of Australian grindcore, comprised of 4 guys from Sydney. Since we're already talking about the art, let's look at the rest of the package. The art on the front of the cardstock fold shows a couple of flies fucking on a skull with all kinds of maggots coming out of it's nose, and to me, it's definitely fits the name of the band. On the back, we have the tracklist and a picture of the band, and label credits. Inside of the cover we have a lyric sheet; it's a xeroxed sheet with cut up, hand written lyrics. It's got a cool DIY feel, for sure. But...how does it sound? The first track gives a good sample of what's to come. We start with a sample, into a hardcore kind-of two step riff,and then right into a blasting death-grind riff. From there we've got a hardcore sounding riff, into another death metal-ish riff. The rest of the songs on this release follow this pattern for the most part, and while this isn't necessarily a problem, once you notice it, the songs start to feel a bit predictable. As far as the actual sound of the album, the guitar is very much front and center and washes out the bass a bit. When you get a chance to hear the bass, like in the beginning of Thumping Bloodwart, it's got a nice, grinding fuzz tone that I like. The guitar sound doesn't have a ton of body, but it just adds to the raw feel of this recording. The drums have that clicky grindcore sound that does a good job of filling things out. I wish the vocals were a bit louder, the vocalist definitely has a great roar and I want to hear it! The backing vocals do a good job of really giving the death-grind sections a real death metal feel. All in all, not a bad release, but it's probably not something I'd spin that often. Rating: 6.5/10 Maggot Cave fb Maggot Cave bc

(Review by Nick Vecellio)