On their second album, the New Zealand group of Meth Drinker continue brewing noxiously harsh sludge, with grinding guitar feedback, thrumming bass reverb, and guttural vocals gnashing at the words. The track titles do most of the imagery direction due to the unintelligible singing, with names like “Convulsion”, “Catalepsy”, and “Narco Terror” lending things an impression of asylums and drug abuse. A couple of spoken-word sections break out of the wailing strings with surprising sharpness, and the album as a whole achieves an unnerving flow of oppressive texturing.
On this EP, running just over twenty minutes long, Gost continues his horror-influenced breed of synthwave, opening with the chattering synths, grinding bass drones, and slapping synth bass plucks of “Ritual”. Energized but gloomy, dancy and downcast, the music makes an easy transition to the more disco-evident “Cascade”, which brings in echoing chimes and an increased swing to the beat, with a break evoking empty church ambience. “Ascension” rounds out the first half with a rock-like main riff of buzzing tone counter-pointed by stabbing keyboards, kicking up the bass presence after cycling back around.
The B-side leads with “Within”, which opens with a melody like the main theme of Halloween before throwing it into a dance mode with buzzy bass and twinkling keyboard loops. Some experimentation with the breaks doesn’t run on too long before sliding back into a twist on the established melody, but it does provide a welcome breather from the pressurized electronics. Lastly, “Horizon” contrasts its dirty bass with interjections of airy-vocal synth bursts, swapped out for tingly arpeggios and twitchy phasing once the build is clearly set. Despite the EP’s brevity, it maintains high intensity through its run, and shows Gost gearing up for lengthier releases while using up some material that wouldn’t work as well in an LP format.
Two tracks of sludgy metal (the B-side being “Wheel”), with the band growling and grinding along in decent form. The riffs have some fair hookiness, the drummer puts in some respectable work, and the low end is capably handled, but (especially for being a live recording), there’s just not much spark to it, and it comes off as something without much enthusiasm behind its creation or performance.
Five tracks of heavy rock with a touch of stoner sensibilities, without much to make them stand out from other modern heavy rock acts. A few momentary touch-ups of studio effects lend things a little more pizzazz, and the drift into playful bluesiness with midway track “Hitch Hike” shows a life to the song-writing that’s essentially absent from the rest of the songs, but the bulk of it ends up unmemorable due to playing it too safe (even in the ~9-minute “Cage”), an approach that goes right against the presented values of the style. Fans of that style who aren’t too picky about the earnestness or creativity behind the music they listen to should be able to get some enjoyment out of this (and admittedly, there’s some very nice work done with the guitar tones), but for those who need something higher-grade, there’s plenty of preferable options.
With ~8 minutes over three tracks, the Leather Lungs blister through their garage punk rock with a surprising amount of character for such a quick run. Humor is evident without overpowering the musical efforts, and as the instrumental “Blast Beach” shows, they can put some serious riffs to work. While the brevity of the release is regrettable, it does keep the band from over-indulging, and as their debut (EP?), that’s a good point to hit. Fast and dirty, with plenty of fun to its raw-sounding ruckus.
Splitting ~90 minutes of material between two tracks, this album from the Scottish group of Ommadon focuses on developing its instrumental doom through a set of central riffs, letting their shaping of bass resonance and percussion do practically all of the work. Grinding along on the riff cycling, the little tweaks in alignment of beats and chords provide the majority of variance, and while the sustained patterns are impressive in a way, until the last few minutes, the extra length doesn’t really do anything that isn’t communicated within the first half. Good as background doom atmosphere, but very resistant to active listening.
Nine quick tracks of off-beat alt/folk/pop/garage/rock ramblings, with easy-going attitude and playing styles. The sparse instrumentation and reedy singing keep things light, despite some of the songs clearly being intended as downers, and the short run-time keeps the fairly narrow style spectrum from getting too tiresome. As a bit of a novelty record, it’s not bad, but it seems a little too much like a collection of spare recordings that didn’t make the cut for other releases.
This single opens with a cover of Pearl Jam’s “State of Love and Trust”, putting a leaner and groove-focused take on it while keeping the grunge base firmly intact. “Sliver” by Nirvana gets a similar treatment on the B-side, with a heavier bass thrum running under the vocals and guitar for practically the whole duration. Quick and energetic, but not especially memorable despite the twists the band provides.
The opening title track of this single leads with a doom-paced trudge through slow bass-lines and reedy guitar-work, before sliding in the rasping vocals to clarify its black metal nature. The deliberate tempo, particularly with the punctuating percussion, helps sell the atmospheric mixture, with the touches of organ adding extra funereal gloom. “Pillars of Creation”, the B-side, builds up more doom heaviness before the vocals return with a shriek, and rides a firmer melody than the A-side. Solid work on both tracks, evoking dread and menace.
Opening with “Melting”, this three-song EP (the band’s first release in a little over a decade) of brutal tech death metal unloads a barrage of triggered drums, guitar shredding so fast and precise as to suggest programming, and raspy grunts. The bass provides a near-constant wall of background low-end, with a few solos to its credit, and the concerted thunderous outpouring of the instruments moves with some surprisingly fluid twists at times. An impressive return from the band, though the over-the-top nature of the slamming and blasting does give it an occasional silly vibe.
Scrambled Brains 