Csorna - Black Horizons

Csorna Myspace
Release: 2009
Label: Self-Released
Release Type: Demo, Mp3
Genre:Black Metal

Relatively unknown, and maybe that’s how they want it, America’s Csorna offer up absolutely no information in terms of their lineup, image, or product. There’s no physical manifestation at the moment to confirm this band’s actual existence, all that exists are two demos in mp3 format with song titles and album art. The band’s myspace features no information, nor does it allude to any. When it all boils down to it, it doesn’t really matter.

Csorna’s Black Horizons blurs by quickly in a storm of static, wails, drums, and surprisingly melodic guitars. Playing a style of black metal that flirts with punk, the d-beat region, Csorna exemplifies competent and promising bedroom black metal. To unaccustomed ears, the permanent hiss of Csorna’s guitars that cuts through the foreboding intro track of ambiance could be quite offsetting, but when given time the listener is privileged to hear actual notes, melodies and progressions. The production found on Black Horizons is purposefully raw sounding and establishes mood quite well, yet it also allows everything that needs to be heard by the listener to remain in plain sight. Making comparisons is usually an unfair game, but Csorna seems to run with the school of lo-fi acts like Akitsa, Bone Awl, Vordr and Ancestors, while stepping away from the first two’s obsession with simplicity. There exists enough progressions, rhythm changes and structure so that the music maintains its vital energy and keeps your head banging.

The vocals are buried deep in the background and contribute a throaty and distorted kind of death howl a bit similar to Archgoat. The drums pound away beneath the sea of static allowing only the bass drum and various cymbal crashes to be heard on a consistent basis. Each song contains catchy, yet simple punk styled riffs which often rely upon power chords and predictable transitions. My favorite sections are when the drums break away from the ambiguity of lo-fi blast beats and slam into a powerful sounding punk beat (check out 2:25 in “Passage Through The Depths” and the beginning of “Bellows Of Ancient Souls”).

While the band isn't breaking ground, nor are they pushing boundaries, there's something I really like about them. The combination of death metalish vocals, abstract static of the most lo-fi quality, and the melding of punk and black metal in terms of song writing make this highly enjoyable.

A promising release, one can only hope that this band moves away from the crutch that is Myspace and release physical output. Download both demos here.
-F

Jesus Ain't In Poland - Holobscene EP

JAIP MySpace
Release: 2008
Label: Self-Released
Release Type: EP

It only takes a modified syllogism to describe this EP. Let's start with the sound/vocals established by Nasum on Inhale-Exhale. If you like that sound, you will like this band. Now let's look at how that sound was successfully employed by the likes of Rotten Sound, Afgrund and Gadget, etc. If you enjoyed how they used the sound, you will enjoy this band. And finally, if you can acknowledge that, in reality, all of those bands have their own unique vibe (thus making Nasum not the foundation, but the point of departure) then you will both like this EP and be just as eager for a full-length as I am. It really is that simple. But logic does not work on everyone, so I will continue...

Italian grinders Jesus Ain't In Poland do not mess around. They rip through 10 songs in just under 15 minutes. And they do it so well that the track list cycles through before you even notice it. Not that, mind you, all the songs sound the same. This goes beyond their tone; beyond the riffs or the moments that remind you of the great grindcore bands - it's their intensity that keeps you listening. This is the intensity of a band that understands grindcore, as opposed to the intensity of a band that plays beyond their ability in an effort to sound "brutal." The moment when this rings true for me is track three, "Cyclop." It is not the best tune on the EP; in fact it is only 25 seconds long. It's the beginning, the vocalist's raspily growled "Cy-clop!" that lets me know I was too busy enjoying the first two songs to notice I just heard them 15 minutes ago.

Of course, I can see you now, staring at your media/cd player waiting for track 10 to end. Don't worry - you are the exception to the rule. This EP is eminently listenable, much like Mumakil's early EPs - which were so good they reappeared on Customized Warfare and no one complained. JAIP are welcome to do the same once they get enough material for a full-length together.

In their MySpace blog is a link to the site hosting a free download of their EP. I recommend the songs "Infibulation", "Habemus Napalm" and "Saft, Blut Und Scheisse" so you can get a good idea of where these guys are going. But you might as well grab the whole thing.

Let me say that another way: They not only want you to download their music - they went out of their way to provide you with the link. Makes me like them even more.

(Axel Sikth: Because the download was so stupidly messy I took the liberty of correcting the tracklist and songtitles, and reuploaded it on Mediafire. Here's the link. )

ComFail MySpace
Release Date: 2009
Label: Self-released

Release Type: Full-Length

Genre: Grindcore

This is without a doubt one of the better DIY grind albums I have heard, especially coming from a band that is not already established. Anyone familiar with their first release, Perversions Of Guilt, will be greatly (and immediately) impressed with the production. Those unfamiliar with Perversions would never think this was recorded and mixed in a house. HealNoEvil realizes all the potential hidden in the travesty that was the production of Perversions - and the band made no effort to mask their anger at the music industry for doing it to them. Note to Complete Failure - stay pissed!

The band's tone sounds a little lower than standard thrash tuning, so one of the more noticeable benefits in the production comes from the bass. The tone/distortion allows the bass, on one hand, to remain audible, while on the other hand to cover its duties both in adding necessary depth to each song and serving as an all-important backbone. Just to clarify, do not expect 80's crossover basslines - but do expect that added punch of being able to hear what you are feeling.

So, what about the music? Over 12 songs covering 30 minutes they offer up a nice slab of unpretentious, hardcore-influenced grind. For those familiar with the band, the major difference this time around is that Complete Failure sound much more focused as songwriters and musicians throughout. The songs have purpose and are well presented - they are not just blasting to blast or sludging along for the sake of hardcore. As to be expected there is plenty of plodding, dissonant hardcore, plenty of the requisite straightforward grind and their signature full-speed-ahead assaults. What ties this all together is how well they transition from one style of riffing to the next. This is where their focus and comfort kicks in.

For the most part, if a song's length is under 2:30 it will be grind focused. The longer songs start off with (and feature) their dissonant/hardcore influences but also show off their skills in the aforementioned transitioning department. By looking over the playlist you can see how much of it grinds as well as how they spaced everything out. And they did all this in a house... Amazing.

I'm impressed by this effort. There were many moments on Perversions that I enjoyed - and just as many that left wondering if they were going to be another band that turns about- face instead of realizing their potential. Complete Failure came through. I recommend this to any grind head, but especially to fans of "Black Army Jacket" style powerviolence acts, since they will better appreciate the blended genres. Anyone with little to no interest in hardcore should still check this out as it definitely does grind and is also a great alternative to whatever you prefer.

Good luck buying this - there were only 100 limited edition copies made, and those were distributed on a brief tour. But do not fret: you can least listen to all of it in hi-def on their website, here. I cannot imagine they will horde this for long...

Bonescraper - Demo 2009

Tracklist

1. Hunt For Blood
2. Torturer
3. Instant Death
4. Lurking Insanity

Stop digging, there is nothing deep here. Noktorn's previous projects (Rainfall, Feast of Roses, Septic Tomb) might have been more ambitious, striving to reach some kind of aesthetic or unconcieved atmosphere, but this is exactly what it sounds like upon first listen. It's death metal, very very brutal death metal, with no secret message or deeper meaning. Just death metal, pure and simple.

There is obviously a high amount of Mortician influence here. This demo follows that band's exact same style of writing, with lots of very simple, fast riffs that take no effort to write whatsoever, building up tension and releasing it during the slower, more calculated sections. The faster parts aren't effortless because Noktorn's (or Mortician) is lazy, but because they don't require any effort, and whether or not you spend thirty seconds thinking up a set of notes or spend hours dwelling on it, the end product would be the same. They're there to provide a function, and that is to build up intensity before the slow riffs, and they're not there to be listen to and analysed and appreciated on their own.

Did I mention that the production really goes too far? This is STUPIDLY low. There is so much low end on here that both my laptop and iPod earphones can barely contain it. The bass is just too much and goes beyond being heavy by regular standards and turns everything into sort of wavy floods of sounds that are sure to make your room shake if this is played too loud. The vocals only make things worse (but by worse I mean better), it's believable that Noktorn could have performed the vocals on the Septic Tomb album without pitchshifting, but there's no way in Hell I'm believing it this time. The vocals are insanely low and contribute more to the brute...brutality of this demo. The tremolo parts are even weirder, the chugging sounds almost normal under this much low end, the tremolo riffs just sound strange, with those superlow rumblings split up into mininotes whilst Noktorn murmurs with completely inhuman vocals over the top. The drum machine is a well programmed but super-obvious drum machine like the one used on Catasexual Urge Motivation's 'Encyclopedia of Serial Murders'. It does it's job of holding the beat and is pretty heavy, not interfering at all. Infact whilst listening to this you barely even think about the drum machine, which was probably intentional.

The songwriting is completely dumb on purpose and will appeal only to death metalheads that aren't exceptions to the rule that like death metal for it's sound and aesthetic and not just the fact that there are lots of great songwriters. This demo isn't memorable at all, not one bit, but it's super enjoyable while it's playing, which is most definitely it's purpose. Do you hate Mortician? Jungle Rot? Devourment? Then stay away from this. This is not Demilich worship. This is ugly, raw death metal that does not intend to excel beyond anything other than being death metal. It's about taking the basic elements of death metal and crafting really great songs with them without passing outside the boundaries of death metal by even the smallest step, 'normal' music listeners that don't like death metal will not like this at all, and it has been purposefully crafted in such a way. If you're a fan of death metal then I recommend you check out Bonescraper, this demo is a promising look at what the future holds.

- Colum Hill

(Originally written for Metal Archives)

Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V6KECJL0

3 Victims - Demo

Tracklist

1. Butchered Cunt
2. Painful Awakening to Lunacy
3. Inseminating Sufferance
4. Ridiculous Accusations of Contradictory Ideas Suppressing Thou
5. Insanely Hypocritical Retaliation

Hardcore is still taking up all my listening time lately, though when I put on something metal, this band is usually what I listen to. 3 Victims is an Australian trio that plays a vicious blend of brutal death metal and grindcore. There are slam riffs a-plenty, as well as some tremolo-picked riffs which provide a decent distraction until the next slam riff comes. The vocals are the ridiculously low, pitch-shifted sort, which are anathema to some, but tolerable for me. The best aspect of this demo however, would have to be the drumming. When their drummer isn't feverishly pounding away behind the tremolo riffs, he's augmenting the slams with a powerful combination of fast snare blasts and rampant cymbal bashing. 'Tis some pretty good shit, this demo.

Check it out.

Burdens - Burdens

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/burdenspa
Release Date: 2008
Label: Unsigned
Release Type: EP

I’ve been on a lovely little hardcore binge lately and Burdens is one of the better bands I’ve discovered in the last week or so. The Cursed-isms are heavy on this release, from the sledgehammer guitar tone to the biting lyrical diatribes and the fierce snarl they are spit out with. “Fit for Swine” opens the EP with a pounding riff roughly equivalent to a dropkick to your gut while “Thunderhawk” swings with a sharp vocal hook backed by a pounding rhythm. "Less and Less” is a minute long fusillade with its fire pointed against the self and closer “Power Trip” rails against the tyrant’s hand with seething rage and climaxes with pounding guitars and venomous spite.

A couple of the songs err when it comes to cutting some great moments short, but that doesn’t cripple the record. These guys still have much time to develop their craft. Overall, Burden's attack has as much wrath and fury as it has hooks and for me, that qualifies for a release worth listening to.

Download:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?memnjgmymwm