MetalSucks

…..AS some of you may or may not have heard, Guitarist, Andrew has parted ways with Oceano. This decision was reached through personal as well as minor quarrels amongst the band. We wont go too much further into detail as it seemingly is not a band issue any longer.

If we’re to use MySpace blog comments as our guide, the fan reaction to last week’s news of Andrew Mikhail’s less-than-amicable departure from self-proclaimed deathcore beef-bringers Oceano was generally postive. In a post marked “Andrew Leaves Oceano” the band acknowledged their former guitarist’s public denouncement of the group before assuring fans that tour plans were not changing in spite of this. Scrolling down the page, however, it seems Mikhail wasn’t entirely happy with the comments being made. Using the presumably Outkast-referencing handle “andrew3000.” he replied directly to Oceano saying:

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Despite their inclusion at MetalSucks’ 2008 CMJ showcase, Trash Talk haven’t received much in the way of coverage here. Consider this the first step towards remedying that unintentional failing. I mean, it’s not every day that one of the most insane modern hardcore bands neatly and conveniently re-releases its entire discography on vinyl–one record to be exact. Roughly thirty minutes long, the 180g vinyl edition Shame compiles four of the Trash Talk’s increasingly difficult-to-find releases (Walking Disease, Plagues, East Of Eden/Son Of A Bitch, and self-titled full-length).

This is a great introduction to a great band and packed with loads of neat extras like a full-sized poster and footnotes. Pre-order it direct from the band. The turntable-deprived can also snag a CD copy of Shame through the U.K.’s Hassle Records as a confounding double-disc set, with each disc averaging about 15 minutes of music. Lyrics are included for those who care to scream along.

-GS

[Gary Suarez usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. He recently quit Twitter.]

Late last December, I braved some bitter winter weather to catch NYHC pioneers Cro-Mags play an almost intolerably crowded gig at Andrew W.K.’s Santos Party Haus. And boy, was it worth it! With original vocalist John Joseph and drummer Mackie Jayson, alongside members of Leeway and Sick Of It All, the current incarnation–previously touring as Cro-Mags(Jam)–ripped through so many classic Age Of Quarrel cuts to the evident delight of a flailing, furious crowd of devotees. Thanks to the Intarwebz (and a courageous soul willing risk injury to record it), you can actually watch a full set from a couple days prior in Philadelphia here. But even such great footage isn’t the same as actually experiencing the band live. Well, thankfully, many of you will get the chance now that a number of Cro-Mags gigs have been announced.

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Hardcore has a template–musically and lyrically–which is why it’s always so gratifying when artists in that scene take this potentially limiting construct and do something unique with it. Dangers, a Los Angeles-based hardcore act, does just that on Messy, Isn’t It?, their potent and thought-provoking new album. Fronted by the eloquent Al Brown and featuring Graf Orlock’s Justin Smith, the band’s approach to the sound pops, fizzles, and explodes with eccentricity, angularity, and, yes, brutality. But don’t just take my word for it; TAKE A LEAK!

Dangers – “Stay at Home Mom”

“Stay At Home Mom” opens the album with a fucking scathing indictment of shoddy parenting and the disaffected children it yields. I’ve posted the lyrics below (along with a few tour dates) so you can scream and rage along with Dangers. Like what you hear? Then why not order the LP/CD combo right now before it sells out?!

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Emmure are currently rocking the fuck headlining the Mosh Lives II tour with Terror and a few Sumeriancore bands. But their hectic schedule didn’t preclude frontman Frankie Palmieri from sitting down with Hardtimes.ca to talk such humdrum interview topics as illegal downloading, independent record labels, advice for new bands, the existence of extraterrestrial life forms, the Illuminati, and Jesusaurus Rex.

WTF?! WHAT”S THE FREQUENCY, KENNETH?!

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Bob Mould Band, Live At ATP 2008

I am loathe to acknowledge the All Tomorrow’s Parties machine as little more than an opportunity for cynical indie rock fogies and their younger, still-insufficiently jaded hipster equivalents to participate in the reprehensible festival experience they’d otherwise sneer at. Still, the organizers and curators behind the expensive, all-inclusive, fan-coddling 2008’s New York installment tempted me with the inclusion of former Husker Du frontman Bob Mould on the lineup. This quality soundboard recording, officially sanctioned though somewhat deceptively designed to look like a bootleg, features the hardcore punk and alt-rock pioneer running through a career-spanning forty-three minute set with a band featuring members of Superchunk and Verbow. Kicking off with a pair of tracks from his poppy post-hardcore project Sugar, one can immediately see these as part of the Midwest hxc legacy. Even post-Sugar solo cuts marred in the studio (“Circles,” “Paralyzed”) benefit from the substantially punkier treatment offered by the full live band. Of course, true gratification comes with the closing five song mini-set of Husker Du classics, of which “Chartered Trips” and an earth-scorching rendition of “New Day Rising” stand out. While not necessarily the best place to start for beginners, those at least familiar with New Day Rising or Zen Arcade should grab this limited edition disc.

(4 out of 5 horns)

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The title of this post is sort of a puzzle in secret code, but I’m sure most of you can figure it out. Right? Take a minute. It’s not that difficult. Really? You can’t figure it out. I know headbanging can cause brain damage, but come on, man. This isn’t that hard.

OK fine. If you’re really that stumped, click below and I’ll explain.

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Last year, former Billy Corgan Zwan-mate David Pajo released an LP of lo-fi acoustic Misfits covers. Surprisingly, these bare compositions–drowned in tape hiss–worked rather well. Now as open-minded as I am about artists reinterpreting the work of other artists to make new songs, I was admittedly a little taken aback when I heard about an upcoming performance that will feature classic hardcore punk songs converted into classical music.

Yeah, you read that right. THIS IS ACTUALLY FUCKING HAPPENING!

Sebastian Meissner, Germany’s well-known producer of electronic music, who also works under the name Klimek, collaborates with Kwartludium, one of Poland’s most innovative classical/avant-garde quartets. Together, as Solid State Transmitters, they perform an homage to the artists and sound of California’s infamous punk label SST Records, often described as the most influential and popular underground indie label of the 1980s. Essential songs from the SST catalog will be reinterpreted in a surprising, strikingly beautiful manner, to reveal their persisting uniqueness and relevance.

Now I’m familiar with Meissner’s folktronica-ish Klimek material, and I’m not much of a fan. So it doesn’t fill me with confidence that this ensemble’s take on SST bands like Black Flag, Husker Du, Meat Puppets and Minutemen will be at all to my liking. It sounds like some seriously pretentious, ironically artsy hipster bullshit, if you ask me. Let’s not forget that SST also put out a whole mess of Saint Vitus records back in the day too.

Even though this February 4th concert at David Rubenstein Atrium at New York’s Lincoln Center wont cost you any money to attend, it might potentially cost you loads of credibility. See you there? I hope not!

-GS

[Gary Suarez usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

Given that I’m a jet setting go-getter always on the move, I didn’t have the time or the energy to rank my favorite EPs of 2009. But if I had, Defeater’s Lost Ground 2×7″ would likely have topped that list. A concept record, it tells the tragic fictionalized tale of an African-American who serves in World War II, only to come home and end up a beggar praying for death. Furious and caustic, the music reflects the desperation of the subject matter (read the lyrics here) and reminds why Defeater are one of the best hardcore acts to come out of the 2000s so far.

West Coast hardcore folks can expect to hear tracks from this and their 2008 Bridge Nine debut Travels when the Boston-based band plays a run of dates in California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. Opening for all of these dates is Northern California’s All Teeth, whose smart and noisy hardcore should naturally appeal to Defeater’s discerning fans. Defeater will bookend this two-week tour with a few New England dates (sadly, sans All Teeth), which are included below.

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By now, everyone knows how I feel about Oceano. Many of you read – and weighed in on – my five star/horn review of their debut Depths, stayed abreast of the controversy that ensued, and joyously celebrated my subsequent return (with interview in tow) to the MetalSucks fold. It should have come as no surprise that Depths claimed the #2 spot in my own Best of 2009 list. So you can imagine how I reacted when I learned, via Oceano’s MySpace blog, that they’re going back into the studio this year to record the follow-up to that record.

A year after completing the recording of their hugely successful 2009 debut, Depths, Chicago’s deathcore heavyweights, OCEANO are heading back into the studio to record their follow-up. Set for release later this year, the new album will tell a story that promises to open eyes and deliver a more mature experience than many might normally expect. “Expect us to go deeper than Depths this time around, and not just meaning heavier;” says vocalist, Adam Warren. “This is more than just our sophomore album. It is a great vision to be accomplished when all of the pieces we’ve worked so hard to create – art, music, lyrics and overall atmosphere – come together.”

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Jello Biafra is one of the very few people living today who can honestly be called a musical pioneer. The importance of the Dead Kennedys cannot be overstated, and as that hardcore punk act’s frontman and voice, Jello’s words continue to influence generations of people worldwide dissatisfied with the status quo, whether that apply to the music scene or the socio-political climate. Fortunately, he continues to rail against the crimes inflicted by governments and corporations in his own unique way, whether it be through bitingly witty spoken word performances or those from his new band, The Guantanamo School of Medicine. Yet after all of these years, Jello still prides himself on not stagnating or repeating himself. In his own words:

One thing we’ve gone out of our way to do with [The Guantanamo School of Medicine] and what I do in general, I’m kinda proud that no two music albums of mine have ever sounded alike. Not even the Lard albums or the two I did with the Melvins, let alone Dead Kennedys. There’s so much punk and so much metal that gets put into these little genres and sounds so much like other bands that you wonder, “what’s the point?” This is like drawing in a coloring book instead of making a picture from your imagination as a kid. Part of what that comes from is drawing my sources and my ideas from other parts of music besides punk, including even that weird tiki cocktail lounge music from the Fifties… You wanna put a unique stamp on your band, you’ve gotta draw from forces outside your favorite kind of music. I didn’t even realize until years later that when I’d hide out at my parents’ place in Colorado to write songs and plan out the next Dead Kennedys album that I was listening to almost no punk whatsoever when I was doing it.

Below, check out more from my interview with Jello.

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Released stealthily though Deathwish Inc. quite late last year, Blacklisted’s vinyl-only No One Deserves To Be Here More Than Me secured a well deserved (Dis)honorable Mention on my Best Albums of 2009 post, as I’ve found myself listening to it more and more over the past several weeks. It doesn’t quite top the extraordinarily aggressive Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God, but frankly neither do most hardcore albums of the past decade. Though my proper review of the album will come later, you can check out the title track streaming at the band’s MySpace page. Blacklisted’s sound has evolved into something… else. If you own a turntable, you should buy the record here.

After playing a great one-off gig last week in NYC with The Hope Conspiracy, United Nations and Mother Of Mercy, Blacklisted will finally tour for the new album beginning next month. A handful of the U.S. gigs will feature Gods & Queens, a phenomenal noise rock band that formed out of the ashes of Versoma. The opportunity to see both them and Blacklisted on the same bill is as awesome as dipping a chocolate bar in a jar of creamy peanut butter. Yum. The tour wraps up later in March when the band plays the United Blood fest, which (as I’ve already reported) will include sets from Madball, Maximum Penalty, Cruel Hand and a whole bunch of others hardcore acts. All dates below.

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Born Low
Reincarnage
Label – Reaper Records
Release date – Out Now

As some of you have begun to notice, my Scraping Genius Off The Wheel column has evolved somewhat, with an increased focus on hardcore. The rationale behind this change is twofold. Firstly, while the inimitable MetalSucks staff cover a fair range of heavy music subgenres, there is a general dearth of coverage of hardcore, save for certain breakout artists like Converge and Coalesce. Secondly, several of my favorite albums of 2009 are classifiable as either hardcore or post-hardcore, or otherwise influenced by those sounds. So, yes, in addition to my continued devotional noise rock ravings and totally serious Oceano coverage, expect to read a lot about hardcore from me in 2010, including music from formidable newcomers like Born Low.

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Kingdom of Sorrow, the sludgecore supergrouping of Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta with Crowbar’s Kirk Windstein, has just announced via press release that they have re-upped with Relapse Records, with a new album to be released some time this Spring. And while admittedly I’m having a little bit of harmless fun with the band’s unintended double entrendre (referenced above), in actuality I’m seriously fucking excited about this. We don’t have a name for the record yet, or any other details, but I loved their debut enough to call it my favorite album of 2008. One thing’s for sure: the guys have some nice things to say about Relapse!

Windstein commented on the resigning and new album; “Jamey and I are really excited to be working with Relapse on another Kingdom Of Sorrow album. They were a big part of the success of our first album and have been a great company to work with. Our new material kicks ass, we can’t wait to unleash it! It’s a real beast!”

Jasta continues; “It was a no brainer to re-sign with Relapse for another Kingdom Of Sorrow album. They are a great company who really gets it and we’re extremely excited to have them 110% behind us.”

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Well now that we’re all clear that you all have opinions on abortion, it’s time for you to weigh in on another serious topic of great importance: strippers.

Reigning champions of thugcore Skarhead just debuted their new video for “P.S.P.”- shorthand for “pole swinging pigs” – and it paints ladies who disrobe for dollars in a rather unfavorable light. Though part of the clip was apparently filmed at Queens, NY’s Club Perfection, the explicit lyrics of Lord Ezec and Ceekay Jones don’t exactly endorse the establishment or the profession. Spat with vitriol over a slamming hardcore mix, their disdainful words bubble over like hot bile, lambasting strippers for their scheming ways, filthy habits, and general loathsomeness.

Check out the clip above and offer your feedback in the comments. Are Skarhead too hard on strippers or not hard enough?

-GS

[Gary Suarez helps manage the No Yoko No blog. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

We’re less than halfway through the first month of 2010, but already we’re beginning to see the rumblings of quality hardcore to come in 2010. Case in point: First Blood. An unmastered version of “Enemy” was added to the San Francisco based band’s MySpace page today. This is the first track revealed from Silence Is Betrayal, the follow-up to the band’s Trustkill Records debut Killafornia. Though not leaps and bounds above the metallic sound mined on that aforementioned release, “Enemy” is reliably true to First Blood’s sound and assuredly characteristic of what to expect when the new record drops this Spring.

Currently on tour in Southeast Asia with fellow Bay Area denizens Alcatraz, First Blood will team up later this month with former Victory Records’ act Earth Crisis, whose first album in eight years To The Death inexplicably didn’t get much love on people’s year-end lists. (On a tangential topic, both First Blood and Earth Crisis are staunch vegans, a topic which EC’s frontman Karl Buechner discussed in a brief recent interview with Noisecreep.) All dates below:

Jan 15 2010 Hong Kong @ Warehouse*
Jan 17 2010 Philippines @ Ten O2 Manila*
Jan 18 2010 Thailand @ Overtone Bangkok*
Jan 20 2010 Indonesia @ Kanjuruhan Univercity Hall Malang*
Jan 21 2010 Indonesia @ Famestation Bandung*
Jan 22 2010 Indonesia @ Viky Sianipar Music Center Jakarta*
Jan 23 2010 Malaysia @ Number One Cafe Kuala Lumpur*
Jan 24 2010 Singapore @ Scape Lab*
Jan 27 2010 King Cobra Osaka**
Jan 28 2010 Huck Finn Nagoya**
Jan 29 2010 Drunkard’s Stadium Kashiwa**
Jan 30 2010 Citta’ Kawasaki Kanagawa**
Jan 31 2010 Shinjuku ACB hall Tokyo**

* w/ Alcatraz
* w/ Earth Crisis & Alcatraz

-GS

[Gary Suarez helps manage the Shadows FAIL blog. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]

As some of you might know, I have a Twitter account. I find the microblogging site to be a useful tool for making pithy comments about the state of metal as well as for catching up on the activities of some of my favorite bands (such as Emmure, Kingdom Of Sorrow, and Jucifer). But, man, the following tweet from Agnostic Front serves as the clearest reminder of why everyone should be using this invaluable social networking service:

Upcoming Victim In Pain Tour, AF will be playing the WHOLE VIP record!! This will never happen again!!

That’s right: Agnostic Front will play Victim In Pain, the definitive NYHC album (rivaled perhaps only by Cro-Mags’ The Age Of Quarrel), live in its entirety on a tour that kicks off this week. And on one date in particular, audiences will be treated to a rare performance from the classic lineup that recorded that album.

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Earlier this week, the organizers behind Virginia’s annual United Blood festival announced a preliminary list of the bands scheduled to perform at its fourth installment, which runs once again at Alleykatz in Richmond from March 26th through the 27th. For lovers of hardcore young and old, the lineup should seem damn impressive.

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While I love New York City 364 days out of the year, it is the last place I want to be on New Years Eve. Restaurants jack up their already steep prices, clubs overcharge for the privilege of waiting interminably for a drink at their open bars, and the streets are full of intolerable amateurs, bewildered tourists, and lapsed teetotalers. Typically, I stay at home and watch the ball drop in the comfort of my Park Avenue penthouse. Yet this time I was almost tempted to break with tradition when I read that Courtney Love would be playing a black tie event at The Standard Hotel’s Boom Boom Room. The exorbitant ticket prices, which started in the high hundreds and went well into the thousands, were prohibitive enough to keep me away, but fortunately Love has graced the IntarWebs with some candid footage of her rehearsing for the show (in what appears to be a hotel room) with Micko Larkin, a member of the reconstituted Hole. The track is a difficult-to-recognize cover of The Replacements’ “Unsatisfied” and, speaking as a longtime fan of the group, it is extremely, well, unsatisfactory.

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Though undeniably influential, Killing Time haven’t exactly been the most prolific NYHC band, thanks to a career interrupted by several hiatuses. Thankfully, the seminal “second wave” hardcore group, which reunited for the third time in 2006, will rectify that this year with their first record since 1997’s The Method. Three Steps Back drops February 9 on Dead City Records, a New York-based label which boasts releases from No Redeeming Social Value and Billy Club Sandwich in its discography. Recorded in the same garage that yielded their debut Brightside, this new album includes the same classic lineup as on that full-length, with bassist Christopher Skowronski (who joined in 2006) filling the place of former bassist/now-second guitarist Rich McLoughlin.

Peep the promotional clip above for a preview of some of the music off Three Steps Back. If you dig what you hear and you live anywhere near New York City, you’re definitely going to want to check out Killing Time when they headline their record release show on February 27th at The Knitting Factory – Brooklyn. Openers include New Jersey’s Suburban Scum and fellow second-wavers Maximum Penalty.

-GS

[Gary Suarez manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]