Action Beat - Beatings (2010)
Instrumental Noisecore



Track Listing
1. Car Crash Halloween Disco
2. Solgunn
3. Danger Beat
4. Krang
5. Straight
6. Don0)))vito
7. Bergen to Bletchley
8. Shit Yrself
9. Daddy Why?
10. Chug
Total Running Time: 35:54

Zitat:Hier ist also das zweite, hauptamtliche Album einer der interessantesten Bands, die derzeit die Bühnen Europas unsicher machen. Mit bis zu sechs Gitarristen und drei Schlagzeugern nehmen die Jungs aus Bletchley nicht nur quantitativ einen Spitzenplatz in der Riege der am meisten tourenden Bands ein, nein, auch qualitativ hat die Horde eine Menge vorzuweisen.

Live wie auf Platte gepresst gehen die Jungs ab, als ob es kein Morgen gäbe und brettern mit ihrem zu 100% improvisierten LoFi-Gitarren-Noise einfach nur alles mit infantiler Vehemenz über den Haufen.

Ja, die Jungs wissen verdammt genau, was sie da tun, auch wenn sie erst zwischen 22 und 28 Lenze zählen. Aufgenommen wurde diese Wuchtbrumme in den Southern Studios zu London in gerade mal zwei Tagen.

Die Vinyl-Ausgabe kommt in der schweren 180 g-Variante, inklusive einer Bonus-CD mit unveröffentlichten Songs sowie einem Download-Code.

Giraffes? Giraffes! - Pink Magick (2011)
Instrumental Mathrock



Tracklist:
1. Es And Em And Em And Ems
2. Scorpion Bowls At The Hong Kong
3. Totally Boneless!!!
4. Werewolf Grandma With Knives (Part
One: The Challenging)
5. Werewolf Grandma With Knives (Part
Two: Don't Die)
6. Koscinski's Requiem For A Golden
Chariot
7. Curse Of The Tooth Nightmare
8. Transparent Man/Invisible Woman
(80,000,000 Years Alone)
9. DRGNFKR

Zitat:Whenever I think of music that sounds exactly like how the album cover looks, I think of My Bloody Valentine's influential 1991 album, Loveless, that set the foundation for what we now know as shoegaze. The album sounds exactly what it looks like, Belinda Butcher and Kevin Shields making blurry pink haze with their guitars. After listening to Giraffes? Giraffes! third full length, Pink Magick, I feel a similar connection between the artwork and the music. The artwork is extremely abstract and messy, yet beautiful and creative. And there are no two finer adjectives that I could think of to describe the album. Amongst Pink Magick's frantic breakdown-like explosions and intense post-rock influenced crescendos is some of the most unique and innovative music I have ever heard in recent years.

Giraffes? Giraffes! is an experimental math rock duo that consists of Joe Andreoli on guitar and Ken Topham on kit. Assumptions made from artwork aside, the band sounds like a less painful and cleaner version of Lightning Bolt, but with an extremely varied sound (not to mention a guitar in place of a bass). The band's style is immediately evident as the album begins, with the introduction "Es And Em And Em And Ems", a brief, thick cloud of shoegazy guitar noise and frantic drum hits and cymbal taps. But in the midst of Pink Magick's disorderly soundscapes, the duo has no problem in putting together a cohesive and enjoyable song. The second track on the album, "Scorpion Bowls At The Hong Kong", is driven along by a catchy, almost dancable drum beat and an infectious guitar hook that often has me coming back and listening over and over again. One of the standout tracks, "Transparent Man/Invisible Woman (80,000,000 Years Alone)", exhibits a strong progressive influence, which uses a clean and slightly flangered guitar that sounds like something out of a Joe Satriani track, a glockenspiel, and a cold, desolate sounding synthesizer, adding on to the already unique and varied tone to the album.

Pink Magick shows an extremely wide variety of genre influences, from the noisy mess of "Es And Em And Em And Ems", to the psychadelic tones of "Totally Boneless!!!" and "Werewolf Grandma With Knives (Part One: The Changeling", and even treading on the ground of black metal with "Werefolf Grandma With Knives (Part Two: Don't Die)". Pink Magick closes with the dark and crushing seven and a half minute "DRGNFKR", which wraps up everything the band has done throughout the album in a chaotic yet beautiful explosion of blast beats and screaming guitar notes. The middle section of the track includes a post-rock sounding interlude, slowly building up and exploding into a grandiose, Mogwai-esque jam and closing with a low purring synth beneath a light drum beat.

My knowledge of math rock might not be completely full and developed, but I believe that to say that what Giraffes? Giraffes! is doing on Pink Magick is nothing new might just be a lie. While drawing ideas from different genres and other math rock bands such as Tera Melos, the duo creates a completely unique texture unlike anything I have heard before. Giraffes? Giraffes! is bringing new things to the table that I think that any fan of experimental music can appreciate. Pink Magick is messy yet catchy and poppy, abrasive yet lush and beautiful, and I feel that it is just an overall accomplishment for it's genre.

Defeatist - Tyranny of Decay (2011)
Grindcore / Crust



1.Symptoms Of Rejection 02:12
2.Displacement 01:20
3.Funeral Loathing 01:12
4.Choking The Light 01:38
5.Lament 02:12
6.Mantle Retractor 02:42
7.Nameless Graves 01:36
8.World Left Behind 01:57
9.Fall Prey 00:47
10.Bled Dry 01:21
11.Sick Slave 01:17
12.Depraved Indifference 00:58

Zitat:Summer is slowly but surely slipping away, and with that comes the eventual end of BBQs, pool parties, and muggy basement shows. While autumn is a pretty rad season, most of us are trying in vain to hold onto the last remnants of summer in any way we can. For some, that”™s freezing the fuck out of one”™s self at the beach. For others, it”™s using up the dregs of BBQs past from the back of the fridge in an effort to pull together some sort of “last hurrah!” smorgasbord. For me, it”™s blasting crust and grind as loud as my car stereo will allow, windows down, scaring the bejezzus out of the townsfolk as I zip by. For some reason, grind just calls to mind summer for me, and I find myself in this situation year after year as the leaves start to turn. Currently on heavy rotation is Defeatist”™s new album Tyranny of Decay and yes, my friends ”” it”™s been hitting the proverbial spot.

Maybe I should clarify; I have never seen Defeatist live, in a basement or otherwise. There”™s just something about their sound – that raw, dirty sound – that just makes me want to pound 40s in a dim-lit room crammed well past maximum occupancy. Though Tyranny of Decay may be a slightly more articulately produced album than some of Defeatist”™s earlier work, the blood-spitting vocals, along with the unrelenting percussion, especially, make for a tear down the fucking walls album that begs to be blasted at full volume, no matter the setting.

Take note, though: this is not Grind 101 – that is to say, this isn”™t “Pete”™s first grind album” shit. If you”™re not a fan of crust or grind in the first place, the sound conveyed could be a bit jarring, even for the genre. But for those who can really get down with that certain uncompromising grittiness, then you”™re in luck. This album delivers just that throughout its twenty minute run time.

Man”¦ I can feel the dust in my lungs now.

Zitat:San Francisco”™s metal giants up the ambition to Biblical proportions.

TRULY iconic metal bands come along only once or twice in each generation, and if Metallica and Slayer are the groups who stand tallest from the 1980s, then surely Slipknot and Machine Head are their 1990s equivalents. All four came out of the blocks with planet-levelling intensity, endured periods off the creative boil and finally attained ”˜classic”™ status – but of the four, only Machine Head can honestly claim to still be making the best music of their lives. And make no mistake, that”™s what ”˜Unto The Locust”™ is: the most accomplished album that Robb Flynn, Phil Demmel, Adam Duce and Dave McClain have ever recorded, alongside their two career-framing records, ”˜Burn My Eyes”™ and ”˜The Blackening”™. Like the former, ”˜Unto The Locust”™ boasts a sonic palette overflowing with box-fresh ideas; like the latter, the album is a storm of complex arrangements and riffs, compiled by musicians who have gained absolute command of their vision. It”™s a breathtaking work.

Right from the off it”™s obvious that Machine Head are out to take chances, and consequences be damned. The three-song ”˜I Am Hell”™ suite begins with a minute of choral vocals before breaking into one of the huge, fully leaded groove riffs the band have made their trademark. Predictable, you say? Well, less than three minutes later your jaw will have hit the floor, because Machine Head are now playing murderously fast thrash metal. Your favourite metal band, no matter who they are, would find it a challenge to match this immense song, not least because it devolves into harmonised acoustic guitars and strings.

”˜Be Still And Know”™ follows up this epic opener with an amazing, Joe Satriani-style guitar loop loaded with delay. It”™s a beast: the only track under six minutes long on this vast album, and even then, only just. Shredders extraordinaire Robb and Phil are on fire, layering multiple guitar solos just like they did on ”˜Aesthetics Of Hate”™ last time out.

You”™ve heard ”˜Locust”™ by now, and doesn”™t that central riff remind you of ”˜The Black Album”™-era Metallica? But there are way too many ideas flying about for that reference to stick for long, with the song going in multiple directions. There”™s that huge, audience-levelling groove at 3:16 and 6:40, which you”™ll play again and again until your ears bleed – and then there”™s Robb”™s sweet, choirboy tenor. Told you they had a lot of ideas. This applies to ”˜This Is The End”™, too, a meaty thrash tune for the pit jockeys which features a classical guitar intro.

The core of this fully evolved album is ”˜The Darkness Within”™, which the Machine Head bandmembers have been reluctant to define in interviews – and with good reason. The first couple of minutes are Robb as Bob Dylan, with lines such as “I”™m just a broken man” ripped from him while the song builds with agonising slowness. This is emotion at its rawest, and utterly different from anything we”™ve heard from Machine Head to date. After that, the upbeat ”˜Pearls Before The Swine”™ keeps things going at a ferocious pace. ”˜Unto The Locust”™ winds up with ”˜Who We Are”™, an experimental blend of children”™s choral vocals, strings and an infectious chord sequence. At 4:13 there”™s a maddeningly intense high-speed riff – but it only lasts 10 seconds, the swines...

Cherish ”˜Unto The Locust”™: you”™ll be living with it for a long time. There appears to be no end to Machine Head”™s inspiration at this point: God only knows what they”™ll come up with next.

[10]

JOEL McIVER