/r/RABM/

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Hellships - "Leaden Hum" (2012)

HELLSHIPS "Leaden Hum"

Year: 2012
Genre: Cascadian Psychedelic Doom/Ambient 
Country: USA

Track List:
  1. Codeine Dreams
  2. Pernicious Insomnia
  3. Sleep Paralysis
  4. Ambient Napping
  5. Electric Pilgrimage
DOWNLOAD

Another release that may appeal to the fans of doom/sludge/drone ambient - this time from a Cascadian band. If you liked it, you can buy it off bandcamp for only 3$ (the band is  trying to make back some costs of production and also raise some funds for making tapes).

"Though we may not fit neatly into the "anarchist black metal" category, we are heavily influenced by the Cascadian BM scene. (Wolves in the Throne Room are the home-town heroes.) Hellships, to me, is primarily about freedom. Both from the forces of capitalism that all of us struggle with AND the boundaries of what is considered "political" music. we support anarchist organizations throughout Cascadia, and we are firmly in solidarity with the Pacific Northwest Grand Jury Resistors, who are still being detained in Federal prison simply for refusing to cooperate with Federal "authorities."" 


Asilo - "Geografías / Wardance" (2012)

ASILO "Geografías / Wardance"

Year: 2012
Genre: Doom/Sludge
Country: Argentina 

Track List:
  1. Geografías
  2. Wardance (Killing Joke cover)
DOWNLOAD

Line-up:
  • manuel p: vox - bass
  • nacho dp: drums
  • adrian m: keys - fx - ambiance - noise
  • sebaxxxtian: bass - backing vocals
"released 08 November 2012
Recorded and Mixed by Nicolas Trovato, M. Platino and A. Medinas in Estudios MG and Randolph Carter Studios.
Produced by asilo.
Cover art by A. Medinas
Geografías composed by asilo; lyrics by Ignacio Dal Pra.
Wardance composed by Killing Joke"


A new single from a Buenos Aires-based doom/crust band that was already featured on my blog. The first track will be included in their first full-length album, which is expected to be released in early 2013. Won't recommend this single to everyone, but fans of sludge/doom drone may find it interesting.

facebook / bandcamp

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Infinite Design - "Calculating Insanity" (2012)

INFINITE DESIGN "Calculating Insanity"

Year: 2011
Genre: Technical Death/Black Metal
Country: USA 

Track List:
  1. Intro
  2. Calculating Insanity
  3. Focus Point
  4. The Book Of Inventing Funerals
DOWNLOAD

I don't know much about this band, except they've sent me this free promo EP about a month and a half ago, and it turned out to be really good and intense technical death metal. Looks like they have close ties to the hardcore/grind scene of Michigan and Indiana.

"For Fans of: Origin, Dying Fetus, Behemoth, Those Who Lie Beneath, Deadwater Drowning, and Between The Buried and Me" (facebook)

facebook / bandcamp



Sunday, November 25, 2012

After The Last Sky - "There's No Light At The End Of This Tunnel" (2011)

AFTER THE LAST SKY "There's No Light At The End Of This Tunnel"

Year: 2011
Genre: Blackened Grindcore
Country: UK 

Track List:
  1. He Is Risen (Apocalypse Part 1)
  2. Our Choices, Our World
  3. Just Press That Red Button and Turn the Fukk Off
  4. The Lie of the Land
  5. The Hives Fell Silent
  6. Yoked, Choked and Quaterpounded
  7. The End of the Line
  8. Open Your Eyes for He Is Here
  9. The End of Seasons
  10. The Betrayal of Freedom
  11. No Light at the End of the Tunnel (The Fall)
DOWNLOAD

Thanks to X. for posting this great album! Unfortunately I still have a persistent problem with my connection which doesn't allow me to upload files larger than ~15-20 MB (therefore no reuploads in the recent few days), so I'll use X.'s link.
If I understood him correctly, ATLS have disbanded just a few days ago. It's a shame that a such interesting project with a more than 10 years long history of musical development remained so underrated. BTW, I remember receiving one or two emails from them an year or two ago, to which I tried to respond, but got no answer whatsoever.

official site

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Haut&Court - "La Vie" (2012)

HAUT&COURT "La Vie"

Year: 2012
Genre: Deathgrind
Country: France 

Track List:
  1. Let it Burst
  2. Krokodil
  3. This Genesis
  4. Collision
  5. Life
  6. Wasted time for wasted minds
DOWNLOAD

Haut&Court (which means "hang them high" or something along these lines) are a 3-piece anarchist grindcore/mathcore band from Strasbourg. This EP is short yet very powerful, I think it's comparable to "Gleichschritt" by Neuron (one of the best crust-influenced death/grind albums, in my opinion). Recommended!

bandcamp / interview 

P.S. There's one more grindcore band from France that deserves your attention. They're called Filthy Charity, and a download link for their split w/ Wardead can be found here. (However, I'm not sure if I correctly understood what they wrote to me in their email, and if they want this split to be posted on my blog too)

Mdzhreni - rehearsal demo (2007?)

MDZHRENI "demo"

Year: unknown (probably 2007)
Genre: Raw Punk/D-Beat
Country: Georgia 

Track List:
  1. Capitalist's Hell
  2. War
  3. Belief
DOWNLOAD

Now it's time for some really - I mean, REALLY - rare and obscure stuff. There's absolutely no info about this band, and even the date of this release is dubious - it's most likely from 2007, but there's a possibility it was recorded during the 08/08/08 war. Google search yields no results for "Mdzhreni", but it's probably because the transcription is wrong - however, I know neither Georgian language (which differs drastically from all the world languages), nor their alphabet, so I have no idea how this band is called correctly. Anyway, this demo consists of 3 tracks of very raw and angry d-beat/punk, all under 1 minute long. Only for fans of primitive/lo-fi stuff.

BTW, I doubt if this band has ever existed (and not a hoax like AAIL) - because there's no punk scene in Georgia, except for a few apolitical punk/alternative bands in Tbilisi. Well, some of them are actually quite good (i.e. Outsider and Butaforia), but it's a separate matter. I seriously doubt if there currently are any dis-, crust, or just anarcho-punk bands in Georgia (or in the whole Caucasus for that matter), and more so - if there were any 5 years ago.

The metal scene there isn't much bigger, consisting of only a handful of bands, all of them from Tbilisi. The situation is slightly better in the neighbouring Armenia - at least there's a sizable amount of alternative rock fans (because of SOAD and Louna), and a growing metal scene. However, the people there are mostly religious to a fault, so at least a half of Armenian bands claiming to play black metal are in fact "unblack". Things are quite hard there for punks too - not so long ago the only DIY club in Yerevan was set on fire by two right wing extremists. Despite all that, Armenia remains the only country in the region to hold an annual metal festival (Highlands Metalfest). Yes, it's mostly used as a "safe haven" for Iranian metal bands, but at last 3 bands from both Georgia and Armenia participate each year too + even some world-class bands (Saturnus, Throes of Dawn, and Horse the Band). Don't know if any Russian bands participated there, though (except for Arkona in 2007).

P.S. Perhaps I should try to contact Darknagar Recs., the only known underground label based out of North Caucasus, and ask if they know anything about Mdzhreni. AFAIK, this label is run by Alextos Georgiadi, a Pontic Greek living in Pyatigorsk, who's playing in a BM band called Atra Hora. Judging from his VK page, politically he resembles me 7-10 years ago ;)

UPD: it turned out that the correct Georgian spelling is "მძღრენი" ("mdzghreni"). Still don't understand what it means, but it's most likely some slang word or curse.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Atomski Rat - "Iluzije Stvarnosti" (2012)

ATOMSKI RAT "Iluzije Stvarnosti"

Year: 2012
Genre: Metallic Hardcore/Crust
Country: Serbia 

Track List:
  1. Agonija
  2. Rekvizitor
  3. Urlik
  4. Masakr
  5. Psiho
  6. Atavizam
  7. Bez Slobode
  8. Veliko Danas
  9. Degradirani
  10. Pretnja
  11. Solidarnost
  12. Sadizam
  13. Prividi
  14. Covek Coveku
  15. Marioneta
  16. Ljustura
  17. Kontrola
  18. Smrt
  19. Go Fucking Nihilist (Agathocles cover)
  20. Huominen (Kuolema cover)
  21. Tornion Kevät (Terveet Kädet cover)
DOWNLOAD

One more band from the Balkans that deserves your attention. Atomski Rat ("Nuclear War") are a 4-piece  band from Serbia (Šid) that was formed with an intention to play punk/thrash, and the end result turned out to be a mix of noisy hardcore, crust/d-beat, and crossover thrash. Looks like the spirit of 80's is still alive in ex-Yugoslavian (especially Serbian) metal scene, punks and metalheads unite!

IAMDISEASE - s/t (2012)

IAMDISEASE "iamdisease"

Year: 2012
Genre: Metallic Hardcore/Crust
Country: Slovenia 

Track List:
  1. Izoliran, varen, varen
  2. Beg iz raja
  3. Diktatura podobe
  4. Želja drugega
  5. Vonj po krvi
  6. Bregovi deroče reke
  7. Urna postavka
  8. Novi Jeruzalem
  9. Korak prezgodaj
  10. Grozote teme in ledu
  11. Pozdrav zahajajočemu soncu
DOWNLOAD

"IAMDISEASE is a Slovenian band playing dark and angry hardcore with strong influences of metal, crust and sludge. Their music deals with the darker sides of human nature and the monstrosities of the information society. However, their message is not surrender and despair, but hope in changes for the better of everyone.
The bandmembers play or used to play in Elodea, Man in the shadow, Kennybal smith, A Murder Theory, The Hoax Program, Low punch, and others. FFO: Integrity, Slayer, His Hero is Gone...
This is our debut album released via Storm Inside Records in October 2012. CD is limited to 100 copies" 


facebook / bandcamp

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Kvlti - "Melasurej" (2012)

KVLTI "Melasurej"

Year: 2012
Genre: Black Metal
Country: USA 

Track List:
  1. Blood Fist Victory
  2. Satan's Escape
  3. Valley Of The Shadow Of Death
  4. Dance To The Gods
  5. Nehushtan's Bite
  6. Energy & Reason
bandcamp

"The album is apolitical but I think it goes well with your blog concept because a lot of the concept and lyrics in this EP are influenced by the British poet William Blake who was anti-imperialist"

 Besides this, I have very little info about the project, but the music is interesting, even though the quality of its  production is noticeably amateur. "Dance To The Gods" sounds almost like blackened dark-electro.

downpour. - "Cringe" (2012)

DOWNPOUR. "Cringe"

Year: 2012
Genre: Hardcore/Crust/PV
Country: USA 

Track List:
  1. The Deluge (intro)
  2. Temporis Fidelis
  3. Hunger
  4. Hyperthermia
  5. Kinship
  6. Maternal
  7. Police Bastard (Doom cover)
  8. Idle Hands
  9. Going Home (outro)
DOWNLOAD

A new mini album from a Texas-based anarchist DIY band whose music is strongly influenced by the Spanish metallic crust scene (Ictus, Madame Germen, etc.), as well as Gather, 7 Generations, Undying and Crystal Lake. However, I can't say it's metal (and the member of downpour. themselves don't label their music as metal), it's just crust-influenced hardcore/powerviolence with agressive vocals.


facebook / bandcamp

Monday, November 12, 2012

Rifle Diet - split w/ Thrash Compactor (2012)

RIFLE DIET "split 7'' w/ Thrash Compactor"

Year: 2012
Genre: Dark Hardcore/Crust
Country: USA 

Track List:
  1. EWDP
  2. Black and Broken
  3. Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
DOWNLOAD

Rifle Diet are an anarcho-crustcore band from Minneapolis, MN. They're a part of Minneapolis punk/metal scene along with Bellow, Youwretch and Morality Crisis; their guitarist also plays in Youwretch. Some more info from the band themselves:

"We are ex-members of Garmonbozia (blackened crust) and In Defence (hardcore punk) who got together after our singer Mariko decided to start a band after the demise of Garmonbozia.
We originally started out 5 years ago as a more fastcore style band called Thrash Compactor but after some lineup changes and with our style getting heavier and darker we decided to change our name to Rifle Diet and put out our unreleased Thrash Compactor material as a split with our new stuff. 
Our name comes from a railroad strike during 1877 where the owner of one of the biggest railroads on the East coast of the US recommended giving strikers "a rifle diet for a few days and see how they like that kind of bread".  You can read more about the strike here if you are interested.
Our split record came out in 2012 and is currently available through Profane Existence as 7" vinyl (part of a package deal) and through our bandcamp page as a free download of the Rifle Diet side"


bandcamp

Teenage Suicide - "Volume One" (2012)

TEENAGE SUICIDE "Volume 1"

Year: 2012
Genre: Blackened Hardcore/Grind
Country: Brazil 

Track List:
  1. High morals
  2. The new people
  3. Negative youth
  4. Reappropriating violence
  5. Armed forces
  6. Against normativity
  7. Social anxiety blues
  8. Silence is death
  9. Loveless
  10. Burning churches 
bandcamp

"The band is Teenage Suicide and hails from Brazil (from São Paulo state). It's a relatively new band, functioning so far as a solo project, but it will change in a near future. Volume 1 was released (digitally) in June, this year, and i started making some physical copies last month (October), which are almost all gone. TS takes influences from all kind of classic and modern Crust, Hardcore and Black Metal bands (and a little bit of Noise creeps its way in). As far as ideology goes, TS is far leftist. I don't try to stick solely to Anarchism or Communism, but instead, incorporating every bits i find most accurate, fair, etc. (and you'll also find bits of nihillism and irony/sarcasm)"

Well, I think it isn't great (the album sounds too "digital" and monotonous, and the slow/noisy parts don't help), but it isn't bad either, so if you like DIY cybergrind, you may find "Vol.1" interesting. Looking forward for TS to become a full band.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Maniak Cop - "All Cops Are Maniaks" (2012)

MANIAK COP "All Cops Are Maniaks"

Year: 2012
Genre: Blackened Punk, Crack Rock Steady
Country: Russia 

Track List:
  1. Чёрный Плащ
  2. Ничего Святого
  3. Пассивность
DOWNLOAD

Maniak Cop are a new band from Murmansk (the very north of Russia, beyond the Arctic Circle). Not much is known about them, except they're a part of anarcho-punk/rockabilly scene of Murmansk, but their debut EP "All Cops Are Maniaks" is definitely worth attention. Looks like we've got our first local blackened crust/ska project in the vein of Leper or Dancehall Satan! (and definitely no worse than these bands)

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Drukne - s/t (2012)

DRUKNE "Drukne"

Year: 2012
Genre: Raw Atmospheric Black Metal
Country: USA 

Track List:
  1. The Metamorphosis
  2. The Despiser
  3. Buried Ashes
  4. The Overcoming of the Great Void
  5. Aurora Imperium
DOWNLOAD

Drukne (formerly known as The Sons Of Dead Druids) are an atmospheric black metal band from Indiana. The lyrics on this demo are based on Nietzsche's "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", and deal primarily with Nietzsche's concept of "Overman", interpreted as a "self-created transcendence" (the spirit that drives man to achieve and to push himself beyond himself, without any metaphysical implications). Yes, I'm aware that concept was used in various kinds of far-right propaganda, and by a lot of NSBM bands, but Drukne is in no way right-wing. As for the music - yes, it's raw, and maybe some of you won't like this kind of "free improvisation black metal" (as it was tagged on last.fm), but i think it's definitely interesting, and if you have listened to the demo by TSODD, then you probably have an idea of what to expect from this one.

facebook / bandcamp

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Printemps Noir - "Front Pour La Libération Des Aliénés" (2012)

PRINTEMPS NOIR "Front Pour La Libération Des Aliénées"

Year: 2012
Genre: Black Noise
Country: UK 

Track List:
  1. Intro (Under The Indifferent Stars)
  2. Rites Of Darkness
  3. To Annihilate The Self-Hood Of Deceit & False Forgiveness
  4. Amor Imprevisto
  5. The Anguish Of No Future

These tracks weren't actually intended for publishing, because X. (the person behind Printemps Noir) considered this demo as a failure, and released it only as a cassette for friends (not for the broad audience). However, a 128kbps rip of the cassette has leaked to metalarea.org. After I stumbled upon it, I contacted X., who sent me a 320kbps version of "Front..." with a permission to do whatever I want with it, and the following release notes:

"I recorded in this Summer in England and France in a particularly fucked-up and angry frame of mind... Anyone who downloads this and complains about how bad it is is stupid and deserves everything they get. This is True Black Metal Outsider Art, only for the fucked-up and hard of hearing. It's not an 'album' and I'm not a 'band'"

Musically, "Front..." contains of roughly equal amount of minimalistic dark ambient and very lo-fi black metal. It's indeed very raw and noisy, but it serves the purpose to reflect the atmosphere of insanity very well. Anyway, this album is actually quite good for its genre, somehow reminding me of Shapeless' demos. Definitely recommened to all the fanatics of primitive black metal and noise punk (BTW, according to X., he was highly inspired by early Siberian punk scene, which always was one of my favourites as well).

P.S. Although X. has no desire for a self-promotion and would prefer to remain anonymous, he's open for doing a split EP with anyone English- or French-speaking who plays BM (no NSBM), dark ambient, punk, grindcore, thrash, etc.