NECROLUST: A BUNCH OF BANDS YOU SHOULD REALLY BE LISTENING TO

Hey dudes and ladies, this time I’m coming at you from the Twinkie-filled bowels of the Midwest. I’m currently out with a pair of Brooklyn’s finest — doomed Godflesh stompers Batillus, and evil-as-fuck black metallers Mutilation Rites (hustling merch for the former) — and will soon be circling my way back around with Corrosion of Conformity (with Clutch/Coliseum). Google the tourdates and come fight me at the merch table (and by fight, I mean bring me whiskey, ‘cause I’ll be trapped behind a tower of XL tshirts). I’ll be the tall blonde in the Nunslaughter shirt.

Anyways, I wanted to scribble a few words about some of the bands who’ve been keeping me sane during those lovely, scenic, fourteen-hour drives through the American heartland’s amber waves of grain and endless McDonald’s outposts.

ASH BORER

I’ve known about these guys for awhile, but never really delved that deeply into their music until my boyfriend’s band played with them on the West Coast last summer. He and I have more or less identical taste in tunes, so I made it a point to give Ash Borer an honest listen. I was captivated then, and am even more captivated now after having the chance to see them live at a cramped, sweaty bar show. Cascadian by blood but more than a little European in practice, this fairly young collective hails from sunny California but are eerily adept at crafting the sort of icy, driving melodies and rich, moody atmosphere that made Scandinavian black metal what it is. Waves of shimmering feedback, deep hollows of distortion, and a clever balance of raw metallic ferocity and gorgeously expansive sections, alongside a satisfyingly primal guitar and percussion sound and  consistently impassioned vocal performance, make Ash Borer what they are.

Sure, Weakling and Wolves in the Throne Room are apt enough reference points, but while Ash Borer may be hewn from the same boulder, the sound they’ve carved out is all their own. Brother band Fell Voices have got the same idea. Those who appreciate the delicate balance of beauty and brutality for which the newer wave of American black metal bands strive (Woe, Krallice, Fauna, Lake of Blood,, and Europeans like Altar of Plagues, Fen, and Amesoeurs), take note.

WORMS IN WOMEN AND CATTLE

Rule of the parasite by Worms in Women and Cattle (w intro)And the Dogs Now They Howl at Man Who Makes Them Slaves by Worms in Women and Cattle

Another band that I discovered, fell in love with, then promptly forgot about until some random event brought ‘em back onto my radar. Worms in Women and Cattle are pure blackened hellnoise – just listen to their recordings, and let the shivers creep down your spine. Interestingly, the recordings seem to point straight towards doomy black metal, with a hefty dose of demonic distortion and noise, but in the live setting, WIWAC are far quicker to the punch, swerving closer to blackened, crusty hardcore. Vocalist Pippi is an absolute terror, screaming bloody gore like a woman possessed,  stalking the length of the venue, rolling around on the floor like a wounded animal, and violently crashing into any audience member within range. “Intense” doesn’t do her justice, and the band themselves couldn’t have sounded filthier if they’d caked their instruments in mud and dried goat semen before they hit the stage. They opened up for the Batillus/Mutilation Rites’ show in Providence last week, and Pippi was even kind enough to put us up in her abode, a sprawling converted library turned community space/punk mansion called, appropriately enough, The Dirt Palace (many thanks!). Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to grab a copy of their demo, and there’s next to no information about them online, so just trust me on this one. Check ‘em out on Soundcloud, and let me know if you have any more info on them!

IMPIETY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dru0SePHSA=player_embedded

Truer than true. Impiety are an absolutely essential, legendary Singaporean extreme metal horde who’ve been fistfucking god’s planet since 1990, and have about a billion awesome releases under their makeshift bulletbelts. I can’t stop listening to their latest release, a short’n’nasty three-track EP called Advent Of… It’s classic Impiety – bestial black/death, with a liberal thrash influence and even shards of grindcore, sadistically executed and soaked in pure blasphemous evil. The production is a bit more modern and clean that usual, but might serve as a nice gateway to lure newcomers towards total annihilation. Word is that they’re currently in the planning stages for a mammoth North American/Mexican tour this autumn – I am STOKED. Are you gonna go check them out or what?

GOATPENIS

Speaking of bestial… it doesn’t get much more bestial (in any sense of the word) than the crazed Brazilian metaleros in Goatpenis. Raw, primitive black/death for fans of Teitanblood, Proclamation, Black Witchery, Conqueror, and maybe even Portal/Impetuous Ritual. Totally primitive, unrelenting, and addictive. They’ve been slaving away in the underground since 1991, and as of 1999, are currently active; they’ve got a new record, Depleted Ammunition, out now on Satanic Skinhead Propaganda (before you dudes cry Nazi, SSP definitely have their share of stupidly dodgy releases, but Goatpenis are not associated with anything of the sort. They just REALLY dig nuclear war. And goats).

On a side note, Revenge are have just finished recording a new album! It’s supposedly coming out on Nuclear War Now! later this year. You guys stoked or what?

Oh, and hey – someone sent me a link to his band The Butcher via Twitter, and fortuitously enough, they’re pretty good! Still a new, mostly improv project, but they’ve definitely got some nice scummy sludge potential brewing. Check out The Butcher here.

If you want me to check out your band, hit me up on Twitter – @grimkim. I’m always on the lookout for more killer black metal, doom, sludge, grind, old-school death, fucked-up noisy shit, and bands that sound like Blasphemy to write about/spend all my money on.

-KK