Best Albums of 2010

I am very pleased to announce the second annual year's best presented by Chainsaw Justice. Chainsaw Justice Vol. III will follow soon as a collection of the best songs of the year.

Bluntly said, I'm not happy with the output of 2010. Full length wise there were some good ones, but very lackluster (especially for grindcore/power violence). There have also been some difficulties personally. I know that Lycanthrophy's LP as well as The Makai's LP would be top 10 material, but I can't get a hold of them until after New Years. I'd rather not put off this list anymore than I have, so without further adieu here are the best albums of 2010.


10.Jesus Cröst- 010
A soccer (football) hooligan's approach to stop'n'go fastcore from this dutch duo. Just making it at the 10 spot with their World Cup offering -010. Thankfully the band's use of pitch-shifted vocals has been greatly reduced this time around. 206's review

9.Lantlôs- .neon
One of the better mixtures of black metal and post-rock/shoegaze out there, Lantlôs take it down a notch after their debut but still offer up some blissed out black metal jams with .neon. A bit melodramatic, but it still packs that melodic and emotional punch we've come to expect from this group of bands. Features Neige (Alcest, Amesoeurs, ex-Peste Noire, etc) on vocals.

8. Nails- Unsilent Death
Ignoring the fact that the badassness of this album largely pertains to the ridiculously over the top production, Nails's debut is a killer slab of death metal tinged power violence. Think Crossed Out teaming up with Entombed. Short and barbwire bitter.

7. Protestant- Judgments
Milwaukee hardcore juggernauts return after their amazing Antagonist Ep from last year. A furious slab of metallic hardcore, that finds a good balance in everything that hardcore stands for. For fans of Integrity, Tragedy, and Behind Enemy Lines.


6. Bastard Priest - Under the Hammer of Destruction
I'm a complete sucker for old school death metal that finds its reanimated pulse to have d-beats. Bastard Priest are a pure and brilliant homage to bands like Dismember, Entombed, and Master.



5.Enabler- Eden Sank To Grief
Gothenburg tinged hardcore that's not afraid to blast and thrash, Eden Sank To Grief is a dirty pearl of music that's got the grooves to headbang to and the riffage to pray to. Underwhelming attention to this overwhelming band.



4. Salome- Terminal
After their excellent split with Thou, it was only a matter of time before another full length from this trio would surface. The band seems to have come into their own as their debut was good, but nothing out of the ordinary. Terminal is violent, heavy, and painfully noisy as the band experiments with much longer and sparse sounds. Oh, and Katherine Katz has one of the best voices in metal today, she absolutely kills with her powerful and varied voice.

3. Thou- Summit
If you read my review you'd know I wasn't completely sold on this one. With that said, Thou's 'good' is better than most band's best. Summit showcases some instant classics, as well as a more optimistic and experimental sound. There's a lot of buzz around this one and for good reason.

2.Suffering Mind- Suffering Mind
As I said, it was a lackluster year for grindcore. Thankfully though, Poland's shining star Suffering Mind put out this stellar release which almost makes up for the lack of everything else. Off the wall vocals match the firecracker snap drums and cement churning guitars. The band isn't afraid to slow things down with double bass bouts and stomach dropping rhythmic shifts; a must have.

1. Deathspell Omega - Paracletus
Surprised? Me too. DSO's latest effort was off my radar for awhile as I've become a bit dismissive of the band's mumbo-jumbo black metal. This time around, however, I find the band to be much different. The band has built upon the absurd complexity of works like Fas - Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem where the dissonance and jarring composure work to highlight some of the sublimely clear and melodic passages and riffs. Overwhelming is an understatement first time around, Paracletus, benefits greatly from shorter and more diverse songs and a lack of pedantic intros. Deathspell Omega have finally reached a point that they first alluded to with Kenose.

Here are my favorite eps, comps, and splits of the year.

V/A- This Comp Kills Fascists Vol. 2
Sakatat/Dispepsiaa- Split 7"
PLF/ In Disgust- Pray for Death / Visions of Your Own Death
Machetazo - Necrocovered
Endless Blockade/ Bastard Noise - The Red List
Innumerable Forms - Dark Worship
Lycanthrophy/ FUBAR - Doomed to Consume
Swarrrm/Atka -Split 7"
Parlamentarisk Sodomi/Blodspurt 7"


-F

Chainsaw Justice Vol. II- Eastern Bloccore

I'm pretty sure Lenin's(?) introducing the importance of grinding down the capitalist system to that youngster. And no, I don't speak Russian so don't be cute and tell me this picture has nothing to do with grindcore.

There's a lot of things to give thanks for, but today I'll narrow it down to the grind and the core of Eastern Europe. This is the second installment of the Chainsaw Justice Volumes. I'm having a lot of fun doing them. Unfortunately good grindcore seems to be hard to find outside of Poland and the Czech Republic, most bands (especially in Russia) play awful goregrind. I was tempted to call this comp "Czech out Poland" but decided against it based on the excluding factor. (I know the Czech Republic is more central European , but I wanted to include them, so fuck you).

Without further adieu, here's the list of Chainsaw Justice Volume II: Eastern BlocCore
Download

1."Prawo"- Selfhate (Poland)
Poland's answer to Phobia, Selfhate rejoice in thick and buzzy guitars and bring that fine aftertaste of punk into a brutal grindcore sound. Taken from their album At the Beginning God Created Fear, Selfhate establish themselves as a crucial force in Poland's ripe grindcore scene.

2. "Birth Cleanliness" -Idiots Parade (Czech Republic)
Making a splash in the states on Scott Hull's crack frenzied baby of a comp, This Comp Kills Fascists 2 Idiots Parade play a very modern style of power violence with absolutely skin shredding vocals. This is taken from the adformentioned comp; brilliant.

3. "News From Pedigree" - Orchestral Pit's Cannibals (Russia)
Oddest band I've come by for this comp by far, and probably oldest too. They play a style of grindcore that sounds really similar to Impetigo, but gets all kind of bizarre (note the duck vocals please-no pig squeals here). Taken from their 1998 debut Exalted Oestrum.

4. "Kazdy Powod Wystarczajacy" -Suffering Mind (Poland)
Making giant steps, Polish grinders Suffering Mind just released their s/t lp this year and boy does it kill. Maybe my inspiration for this comp, Suffering Mind's defiantly the toast of the...country... if that works. Track taken from the self-titled full length.

5. "Two-faced Politics" - Wojtyla (Poland)
Wojtyla are just fucking awesome, they're my favorite recent discovery. Maybe there's something in the water, but like Suffering Mind, Wojytla rocks a female vocalist that has some of my favorite vocals I've heard yet. The vocals are very black metalish, and they match perfectly with Wojtyla's super heavy and dark grinding affair. Track taken from their split with Canadian grinders Archagathus.

6. "Rotten Glory" - Onanizer (Czech Republic)
Straight ahead grindcore that got you moving back in '86. Perfect mixture between punk and metal, viscous vocals; all killer-no filler. Taken from their split with UK jokesters Joe Pesci.

7. "Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Ass" -Squash Bowels (Poland)
Poland's favorite gore-drenched sons make themselves a mandatory player in this comp with their highly modernized take on Carcass's gory antics of the 80's. Too clean a production to get much of a play from me, they're still worth a listen. Heavy Grindcore that stays away from the putrid aftertaste of many goregrind bands. Track taken from their '09 Grindvirus.

8. "Samota" - Extreme Smoke ( Slovenia)
Holding the proud title of "Slovenia's first grindcore band." Playing gruff, lo-fi grindcore all the way from '93 Extreme Smoke are just that, not too hot but deadly if too much is taken in. Track taken from their 3 way split with Agathocles and Epilepsija.

9. "Skřípot" - Gride (Czech Republic)
Bad ass thrash-grind bastards Gride know how to do everything I want. There's thrashy grooves, grindy blasts, punky d-beats, gang vocals, riffs galore, and lyrics in a cool sounding language I can't understand. There's a reason why I kick myself for missing this band at last year's MDF. Track taken from their split with Lycanthrophy.

10. "Gore Ne Može" - Dislike (Croatia)
The former Yugoslavia countries seem to really know how to grind. Dislike, one of the only bands I know of from Croatia play a slick pseudo-death metal style of grindcore. This is from their 2006 demo Ctrl, dunno if anything else exists by this band, hopefully they keep trucking as it's pretty damn good.

11. "Queue for Perfectness" -Lycanthrophy (Czech Republic)
Possibly my favorite band here, Lycanthrophy rock a totally authentic and brutal style of power/fast/grind/whatever/core all with a female vocalist of course! Can't get enough of this band. In their 12th year, they've just released their debut LP, something I'm very excited to get my hands on. Track taken from their split with Suffering Domepiece (Mind)

12. "Lord of The Shits" Ass to Mouth (Poland)
With more goregrind then you can shake a dead, disfigured, prostitute at, Eastern Europe leaves a lot of shit to sort through (literally!), fortunately, Ass to Mouth are actually good. No lack of pig squeals, blast beats, or an absolutely crushing guitar tone, Ass to Mouth know how to grind and stay away from inane blasting and shit riffs. Taken from their album Kiss Ass.

13. "Starec" - Saywhy? (Czech Republic)
Blistering hardcore with male/female vox, how can I lose? Saywhy? know what's up and add a huge touch of punk which works so well. For fans of U.S. power violence/ fastcore bands. Taken from their split with Bastardass.

14. "Wicked faith" - БУТ (Czech Republic)
Reminds me of modern day Napalm Death if they didn't suck and knew how to write riffs and had a badass punky vibe. Track taken from their 2009-2010 promo.

15. "Suicidal Philosophy" - Needful Things (Czech Republic)
If you thought the Czech Republic only had awesome beer and sausages, I hope this comp helped change that; especially with the final contributor. Similar to bands like In Disgust who tread a line between death metal, grindcore, and power violence. Needful Things don't need shit, they're awesome the way they are. Track taken from their split with Genital Gore.

A lot of fun to do this, and eye opening as to how goddamn fruitful the Czech Republic is when it comes to grindcore. I hope you enjoyed this, await Vol. III due sometime around Christmas(sacre).

Download
-F

The Mail Order Blues

I'm singing 'em. I prefer funk though, so I called in Clyde Stubblefield to play drums.

So here we are approaching the ides of February and I have no new tunes. What gives? One mail order got lost by the US Postal Service. The other order was a screw job. I placed the order, then got an email two weeks later stating they didn't have any of the items. They convinced me to wait two weeks while they tracked everything down and then admitted failure. Sad times. But when it comes to international mail order I follow the same rule as I do for gambling: only risk what you are able to lose.

So what have you been listening to? Do you ever go through rough times, when new music manages to evade your every attempt to track it down? When I encounter these phases I usually revert to the classics. The same is true here. Been listening to 80's punk, mostly Subhumans, Discharge and early DRI, along with Bolt Thrower "Realm of Chaos" and Godflesh "Streetcleaner." But between all of this, I get around to my favorite grind band from Poland: Suffering Mind. Poland has quite the grind scene - worth spending an hour between The Archives and friend jumping on MySpace. Off the top, there is Ass To Mouth, F.A.M., Dead Infection, and a certain Squash Bowels.

SxMx is an intense experience. They play raw, dirty crust grind at the speed of hate. The punk influence is strikingly obvious. There is little bullshit, little filler and when they do slow down, it's actually rather welcoming. If any one is looking for a quality, motivating, get up and fucking grind CD, "At War With Mankind" is the one for you. Seriously. Downloading is not enough. That is one to own. Below is all things SxMx. I know the band will probably hate me for this, but they tend to release their tunes on vinyl which is fastly becoming the red-headed step child of media formats. They need to get heard somehow... Shouts to Keep The Grindcore Alive for the Destroy Mankind EP. That's the only one I can't find a physical copy of.

destroy mankind ep
at war with mankind
asshammer split
lycanthropy split
wojtyla split