Meneguar- I Was Born At Night (2005)

In my opinion, Meneguar was one of the most unsung bands of the last decade. While not necessarily a devotee, I listen to my fair share of indie rock and I've never heard another band that played said style of music with such unbridled passion. I'm not talking about in a live setting, unfortunately I never had the pleasure of seeing a Meneguar show. I'm talking about on tape. To me a show will always be the preferred way to experience music and albums should strive to capture the electricity that makes seeing music live so exciting. That is exactly why I consider I Was Born At Night to be a masterpiece, it sounds like the band was having just as much fun tracking these songs as they did when playing them live. This EP was initially released by Magic Bullet and was one of the label's early forays into music outside of the extreme. It's odd to think that if I weren't a fan of Majority Rule and Texbook Traitors I never would have heard this band.

Trying to encapsulate Meneguar in a paragraph or two is a pretty daunting task. I think that's due to the fact that they manage to remind me of the best aspects of a number of bands while not actually sounding anything like those bands. Take Weezer for instance. The Blue Album is littered with wonderful sing-along choruses. Menegar take it a step further. The chorus to every single song on this album demands that you sing-along. Give it two listens and try your hardest not to, I dare you. Their rhythm section pounds like Weezer did every now and again, but really that's where the comparison ends. The energy and enthusiasm with which they play reminds me of pop punk in the vein of The Ramones or Dillinger Four and the plentiful booty shakin' bass lines are reminiscent of the latter in particular. However, Meneguar isn't a pop punk band. I hear the Chuck Berry influenced garage rock of Hot Snakes. I can spot the dancy indie beat of Q and Not U. I hear the echoes of jangly guitar-driven indie rock bands from the 90's like Jawbox. While that last one might be the best overall comparison, the hammer is still pretty fucking far from the nail's head.

Whatever they sounded like, I was always nonplussed as to why Meneguar never attained the status of a band like Minus The Bear, who, while Menegar were producing two of the best indie rock releases of the decade, were beginning a backslide that sent them down into the mire with a million other terrible indie bands (there was a brief pause with Planet of Ice). Please come back Meneguar, I miss you.

Try it
(Listen to it LOUD)

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Physical (LP)

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Deathspell Omega - Drought (2012)

The Proposition is one of the best modern westerns ever made. Not only was it written by, but also features an amazing score by none other than Nick Cave. Why is this important to this post you ask? Salowe Visions. Dark and foreboding, reverb tinged twang convey a sense of longing and deep isolation before building into an ultimately triumphant crescendo, much like the first two acts of The Proposition.  And then came violence. Fiery Serpents. Blasting forth with such brutality, I can feel its sweat and rage bearing down on me, as if the song itself had been riding with Guy Pearce through the Australian Outback. Again, why is this important? With in these two songs Deathspell Omega have captured a cinematic vision so potent that it encapsulated an entire movie in my head in a mere eight minutes. There are still four other tracks on this E.P. Their ability to so completely evolve a piece of music is a true testament to their mastery. You as the listener are right there along for the journey they are unraveling in three to four minute vignettes. Some bands can’t do that in twenty! Drought is by far the most concise of  Deathsell Omega's Recorded output. There are still unbridled amounts of ballistic, incomprehensibly executed riffs on this behemoth, so don't you worry! Scorpions & Drought right through to the last chord on The Crackled Book Of Life, are just as strong, if not stronger, than the first two tracks. Drought is yet another epic masterpiece of forward thinking, awe inspiring, and most importantly, terrifying black metal.    

*I know it may come as a surprise to most of you that I'd post about Deathspell Omega. Having only name checked them in 40-60% of the entries on this site, I felt that they needed more exposure than what we were already giving them! So thank you for bearing with me on this one folks.

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CD
Vinyl

Stoneburner- Sickness Will Pass (2012)

Migration by Buried At Sea is my favorite doom record of all time, regardless of subgenre. That might seem like an odd choice to many, but I've never heard an album as unrelenting and suffocatingly heavy. I'd go so far as to call it the heaviest album of all time (and those of you who know me know that I tend to do so without the slightest provocation). Growing up a punk kid who loved powerviolence I didn't know people made music that slow and heavy or that I could possibly enjoy it so much. I remember staring agape at the car stereo after hearing that titanic crash at the beginning of Migration for the first time. The closest analogy I can come up with is when, suddenly, a gigantic chunk of glacier breaks off and slams into the ocean with a roar. Since Buried At Sea is no longer with us, I always keep my ear to their grave, anxiously listening for bands down there nibbling at their sodden corpse. At times Batillus reaches Buried At Sea levels of trudging hugeness, but they've got their own sound and are on their own path that only on occasion winds its way through that corner of the graveyard. For the past few years I've been keeping an eye on Portland's Stoneburner who feature guitarist Jason Depew formerly of...you guessed it...Buried At Sea. Thus, I've been eagerly awaiting the release of Sickness Will Pass for a number of months now.

Does it deliver? Boy, does it ever. Don't think that, based on the above, Stoneburner is a Buried At Sea clone. Far from it (though I could get down with that, I like plenty of Discharge clones). Like Migration, Sickness Will Pass starts out with a thunder clap and immediately hits some of the same lows (and I mean that in the best way possible). This album is vicious. If Eyehategod is a PCPed-out first timer stabbing wildly and making a mess of things, Stoneburner are a seasoned vet, knifing you methodically while staring you in the eyes with a completely flattened affect. But as I said, this isn't Migration Pt. 2. Soneburner has plenty of tricks up their sleeves in the form of bluesy southern sludge riffs, Yob-esque pedal driven bits, guitar solos, up tempo sections and double bass.

This album is tremendous and in addition to capturing a spot amongst my favorites of the year it's made me completely reevaluate some of the notions I had about Buried At Sea. Being the most visible member and the member whose other projects I was most familiar with, I had always attributed much of Buried At Sea's sound to Sanford Parker. Sickness Will Pass changes all that. The tones, the riffs and the malevolence I now see were the work of one Jason Depew and he's back with another absolutely killer piece of doom history.

Try it.

Buy it.
Physical (CD)
Digital

No vinyl yet, but I will certainly be making a post about it when it becomes available.

Vinyl Fetish: Whirr (Whirl)- Distressor EP

Not sure how I missed that this reissue was happening. The original pressing of this Whirr EP (they were known as Whirl at the time) was fraught with issues. I know that a number of people who ordered it from the UK based label it was released on never received their records. I opted not to order it from them based on that fact, so I've been semi-actively looking for a copy at a reasonable price on Discogs for a year now. I go to the Discogs homepage today and voila! a reissue. Comes with all new artwork and two bonus demo tracks. 595 copies pressed, 325 on clear with splatter (ugh, I know, splatter vinyl is fucking lame) and 270 on green/white swirl, which is supposedly exclusive to the Graveface Record Club (also lame). Oh well, at least I'll be able to own one of my favorite EPs in recent memory on vinyl at last

 

Graveface Records

Textbook Traitors- You Pull The Strings That Make Us Dance (2002)

Listening to Guidelines (see post below) got me all hot and bothered for some more chaotic screamo. I mentioned Textbook Traitors when I posted the Guidelines EP and immediately realized Textbook Traitors is one of the reasons I started this blog. Not them in particular, but bands of their ilk. Bands who in their time were completely overlooked. Granted, when this EP came out the screamo wave was just about to crest and when that wave broke it spilled out a slew of shitty bands, so Textbook Traitors were mostly lost in the wash, drown out by the pounding of the shitty surf. OK, I think that's enough water and poo allusions for one post.

Textbook Traitors were a screamo band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who released a grand total of 33 minutes of music in their all too brief career. The drummer went on to join Get Rad (had I known this when I saw Get Rad at Gilead Media Fest I would have gotten all fanboy on that guy). Other than that, I can't seem to find any info on the band's previous or more current endeavors. However, all you really need to know is that if you have even a passing interest in the genre, this EP contains 15 of the finest minutes of screamo you will ever hear. Unlike many of their peers, Textbook Traitors eschewed the quiet/loud dynamic for the most part in favor of an all out aural assault unlike anything I'd heard before or I've heard since. Eardrum shredding shrieks, grindcore pacing, blast beats and frenetic, dissonant, shrill guitar caterwauling make this one of the most grating listens ever and nearly a decade after my initial listen, I still can't get enough of it. This is a masterpiece of the genre, up there with Chaos Is Me by Orchid and Document # 5 and Document #7 by Pg. 99. Absolutely essential.

Punk rock will never die.

Buy it:

Digital
Physical (CD)
Unfortunately, this hot mess was never released on vinyl. Start talking about it incessantly and maybe we can get Magic Bullet to give this thing the vinyl treatment it deserves.

Guidelines- S/T EP (2012)

Whoa! This is some rad shit! I can’t say I really listen to much screamo anymore, when nearly all of the progenitors of the genre and the second wave bands went the way of the dodo so did my interest. I peek in every once in a while to see what the haps are, but these days every band I hear seems to be a Pg. 99 clone doing the quiet/loud thing over and over and over and over again. That’s cool, I’d rather listen to Pg. 99. They all seem to have become so concerned with the pretty, quiet parts and crafting the most epic build that they completely forget the payoff; the violent, unhinged, sounds like it’s going to go spiraling out of control at any second, bordering on grindcore bits of screamo songs that I absolutely adore. You know, like what Orchid and Textbook Traitors excelled at. Call it “emoviolence” if you’re one of those people. It’s those delightful tidbits where Guidelines shine. Sure, there are still the melodic sections and the quiet/loud dynamic, that’s part and parcel of the genre, but what is truly remarkable is how these New Jersey gents manage to transition into and even combine the chaotic elements of screamo with the melodic. Listening to this brings me back to a whole different era of punk rock music, but also gives me hope for the future. Thanks, Guidelines.

Digtial. Name your price on bandcamp.

Ajuna- Incomplete Circles Becoming Dead Ends & Perpetual State Of Disbelieve (2011)

Like my compatriot Pat, my tastes in black metal do not ride the rails of convention. Ajuna is not your typical black metal band and therefore perfect for me. Even calling what they do on these albums black metal is almost a misnomer. Asides from the vocals and stylistic flourishes they share more with bands like Slint, Jesus Lizard, and 90's alternative than they do Mayhem or Emperor. The eight songs that comprise Incomplete Circles Becoming Dead Ends & Perpetual State of Disbelieve run the gamut of AmRep / Touch and Go sounds. Jangly, not overly distorted, but dangerous guitar, thunderous Henry Bogdan / David Wm. Sims bass tone, and propulsive drummimg. Yeah you read that right, second post featuring a black metal band where you can hear the bass. The rhythm section in Ajuna drive the hell out of these songs. Absolutely stellar shit here! This band has been on repeat for quite a while now and probably will for the foreseeable future. 

Included in the download is their brand new demo Death In The Shape Of Winter. Having listen to it, I can say they have definitely taken a turn for the heavier in the last year. That's not a bad thing at all, but a lot of the AmRepiness that make the first albums so charming and interesting is lost a little bit. I am in no way knocking these songs, hell the video I included is from Death..., they're just different.

Try it

Buy it:
Not yet, look for it soon on Neh-Owh Records

Dweller on the Threshold - S/T (2012)

I had the hardest time trying to sum up Dweller on the Threshold. Here you have a band that takes their moniker from a Van Morrison song, crafting songs that would fit easily on records ranging from Cave In, Converge, Pygmy Lush, Boris, Isis, Bright Eyes and Wilco. While the the majority of S/T lay on the quieter, reverb drenched side of life, Dweller... can bring the almighty riff. When they do, it is to devastating effect. Upon first listen I was totally taken aback when the charging rhino of Crumbling House erupted from my speakers. After being lulled in to a sense of tranquil melencholia after the first two tracks, it was a shock to say the least. It's as if they decided to reverse engineer the quiet loud quiet dynamic so prevalent in music today. Whatever their particular path, it works! Not to say Dweller... doesn't mix the two, That Drone and Canto 894 are an excellent example of that. They just seem to want to keep their chocolate out of their peanut butter... you know what I mean. So if I had to wrap it up in a nice little package for you i'd sum it up like this: Jeff Tweedy starting an all star post-metal band with Ken Andrews, Wata, Aaron Harris, And Nate Newton. Yeah, it's rad!

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Digital
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Azoic- Gateways (2012)

Yes, goddamnit. Yes. I don't know about you, but all of this weird, dissonant, cacophonous and angular death and black metal that's coming out these days gets me all antsy in my pantsy. Deathspell Omega and Mitochondrion are two of my favorite bands on the planet right now and released my favorite albums of 2010 and 2011 respectively. Since I'm name dropping those two bands it shouldn't come as a surprise that Gateways will likely nab a high spot on my best of 2012 list. If you were to make a box and whisker plot with DsO as the lower extreme and Mitochondrion as the upper extreme, Azoic would fall somewhere in the interquartile range, between the median and the lower quartile (remember box and whisker plots? they ruled!). What makes this album even more impressive it that's it's the work of just two dudes, who based on the only picture of them that is on the internet look like they're 17. But who knows, maybe the delightfully mild Icelandic summers and hot springs keep inhabitants baby-faced into their 30's. Alright, enough inane rambling. Fans of the aforementioned bands, fans of Enslaved's more recent output and fans of modern black metal acts like Dodecahedron absolutely need to check this out. Highly recommended.

Get it here.

Not available in a physical format or as a legit download yet.

Hell- Hell I (2009)

Holy fuck. I would love to say I slept on this band, but I really didn't. I downloaded a copy of this record sometime in 2010 and it just didn't grab me. As I said in the Gilead Media Fest review post, it might have been due to the extremely poor quality vinyl rip I had at the time (a much, much better rip is linked below) or maybe I just didn't give it a fair shake. Either way, now I see the light. The ugly, ugly light. Sludge isn't exactly a genre for the faint of heart or the causal music listener, but Hell are really on another level. I don't usually key in on vocals in metal music, it's a riff driven genre so that tends to be what I latch on to, but Hell I boasts some of the most torturous, inhuman vocals I've ever heard. Black metal dudes who think they're the bee's knees need to listen to this and have their egos stepped on a bit. But like I said, metal is riff driven music, so how 'bout them gits? Well, they're fucking huge. Imagine Thou at their most pummeling, like that riff in "Fucking Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean," but ALL OF THE TIME and you'll get the idea. Can't get enough of this record, listen to to goddamnit.

Get it here.

Unfortunately, this is currently out of print and not available digitally other than the above vinyl rip.

Mutilation Rites- I Am Legion (2012)

I've been hesitant to post this since I think you should be giving Gilead Media all of your money every paycheck and I don't want anybody to think that just downloading this (or any album) is acceptable, but I suppose that if you're like me you like to hear things before spending your grocery money on records. Mutilation Rites is the best black metal band in the United States right now. I'm not stating that as my opinion, I'm stating that as a fact. I Am Legion features three tracks from early Mutilation Rites demos that have been re-tooled and re-recorded with the new lineup. The result fucking rules. Despite hailing from one of the five boroughs, the widely acknowledged epicenter of much of the post-black or "hipster" black metal happening these days (fuck I hate the word hipster, but I'll save that rant for another time), Mutilation Rites share little in common with their Empire State brethren. On I Am Legion you'll find fairly traditional sounding black metal with touches of thrash and maybe a little crust thrown in the mix. Mutilation Rites aren't breaking down any genre barriers, pushing the black metal envelope or showing you what black metal could be, but rather are reminding you of just how goddamn good black metal can be. I should also note how much I enjoy the production on this album. Everything comes through nicely in the mix and you can even hear the...wait for it....wait for it...bass! I need me some low end. Tinny sounding guitars that sound like they were recorded in a trashcan pushed to the front of the mix bore me, so kudos to Mutilation Rites.

Try it:

Get it here. 

Buy it:

Digital  

Vinyl 

Black Clouds- Everything Is Not Going To Be OK (2012)

I had never heard of Black Clouds before I saw them open the DC date for the Alcest/Deafheaven tour. I'm not sure they really fit on that bill (actually, Auroboros, the other opener didn't exactly either), but I was way fucking impressed. Looking back on that show it was their set, not Alcest or Deafheaven, that left the greatest impression on me. Since then I've been looking forward to some recorded material and Everything Is Not Going To Be OK does not disappoint. I've been trying to think of bands with whom I can compare Black Clouds for the last week or so, but haven't found any of the comparisons to be satisfactory. But that might just be because I don't really listen to enough post-rock anymore. I think the best I can come up with would be a less mathy, more sinister The Cancer Conspiracy. Think post-rock with a little ambient thrown in the mix, but not of the triumphant, makes you feel like taking on the world variety, as you probably gathered from the album title.While the drumming and guitar are both totally excellent, what really stands out on this album is the bass. The bass tones aren't exactly standard fare for post-rock, it's more Godflesh than Explosions In The Sky, which I think plays a big part in why I enjoy this so much (referencing The Big Lebowski in a song title doesn't hurt either, he was a man who loved the outdoors...and bowling). I don't know how long these guys have been around, but for an initial release this is surprisingly well fleshed out and sounds much more like a band in their prime than one working to attain their own identity. Looking forward to hearing more from Black Clouds, hopefully in the near future.

Right now you can name your own price for Everything Is Not Going to Be OK over at bandcamp. Do it.

 bandcamp

H.B.B.R.

Definitely more awesome than Band of Susans!