No Cure "I Hope I Die Here" (2024)

 

 Ears perked by Spotify's shuffle of heavy freshness, No Cure's brief 8 track, twenty minute EP I Hope I Die Here has been a curious listen among a sloth of modern aggressive music. Much of it lacking sparks of originality. Hang Me From The Bible Belt, the track that drew me in, fires up this romp of sludgy brutality with a bold mix of Metallica Hardcore and Melodic Death Metal. This feels like a misnomer as the annals of a tired Deathcore swiftly reveal their ugly head on following tracks. Gruff deepened guttural shouts, gritty low-end axe grinding riffs and filthy pig squeals light up the aesthetics among obnoxious angular harmonic pinches and other genre tropes.

It plays out among a reasonably excitable mix of influences, from Hardcore gang-shouts to Metalcore grooves and Slam Death Metal breaks, the record picks up some character in brief moments. No Cure bridge minor stylistic gaps that seem obvious in hindsight. The collaborative nature of this EP may explain its inconsistency in tone as songs sway between engaging constructs and the "race to the bottom" filth of Deathcore. Each track includes another band, presumably of the local music scene.

Sadly, only its opening track won me over. The rest of its heaviness played mostly as a curious throwback to Deathcore records now approaching twenty years old. In contrast, there are signs of promise, moments of light, however it doesn't come to fruition in a flavor I'm looking for right now. To much grime, not enough substance!

Rating: 4/10

Bayonet Dismemberment "Carnage Of War" (2024)

 

Randomly stumbling into the smothering arms of Brutal Slam Death Metal again, I'm transported back to the scene days of 2008. That was among my first ventures into a filthy underworld of extremity blossoming alongside Deathcore. Here we are sixteen years later and I discover the scene is lively as ever, attracting a new generation of kids to swing their arms and legs in the most pits, as well as the musicians too.

Unsurprisingly topicality is grim. Through undecipherable grunts and guttural growls, an ever shining light on humanities worse focuses on the Iraq war as its flavor of critique. In texture and rhythm, these biting blunted howls land snug into a polished aesthetic that has barely aged in principle design. The production is warm, almost inviting as opposed to the ear abusing rattles some early records would deploy.

The angered music behind cosmetics is decent, exchanging drum blasts and guitar grinds of dissonance with apt erupts of groove and halftimes for the dance-floor too. Competently creativity within constraints, its as if a day hasn't passed, deploying all the same old tropes again for three sharp cuts of savage stomping brutality.

Rating: 3/10

Drown In Sulphur "Blackwind" (2019)

Its time to throw myself back to my youth and enjoy some Deathcore! Blastbeats, slams and ludicrous gutturals here we come! Browsing Youtube's endless music videos, the song Blackwind caught my attention, purely for being comically fun and brutal with its stomping onslaught of metallic noise and guitar abuse. The song however has legs and so do the other five tracks that accompany it on this new EP, the groups second. Having had a glimpse over their older releases, it seems the Italian band has stepped up their game after a three year silence from their last single.

Their production has scaled too, despite being unsigned the band have put together a competent sound that doesn't feel flimsy or tacky as some of these kinds of records can do. Instead its the perfect podium for Deathcore aesthetics with its crunchy stomping guitars, regularly delivering textural low notes for the breakdowns. The vocals are meaty, a constant barrage of flat throaty growls, shrill pig squeals and general ridiculousness that hovers above all else. It could be a turn off for most but fits in well given the context. The drums deliver battering barrages of groove, culminating nicely with the guitars that border Djent and yet still find a little flash of color in places.

The songwriting is where Drown In Sulphur may stand apart from others. Its no mastery or revelation but they bring more excitement and freshness with a slight deviance from the norms, never settling on the bog standard approach. It gives almost everything a fraction of spice that occasionally blossoms into a fiery whirl of energy as the constant rolling over of riffs finds a peak in the wandering arrangements. Its free structural form plays big into their hands as repetition could of grinded this record to a halt. Fortunately the balance is fair. After many listens I'm still getting a kick.

Blackwind's best parts tend to be the big concluding riffs towards the end of a track however on a number like Serpenthyne a little bit of Iwrestledabearonce alike mania on the fretwork goes down a treat and so does the reverberated acoustic interlude Sulphur. Essentially, where they deviate most from the basic formula of the genre they succeed and with such a variety driven approach their writing pays off! Nuclear Dawn however fumbles through monochromatic riffs and a mid-track drop of intensity as sections don't quite link. Although I am pretty much done with this type of music, its good to keep an eye out and maybe this band is one to follow in the near future!

Favorite Track: Blackwind

Rating: 6/10

Annotations Of An Autopsy "World Of Sludge" (2019)

Annotations Of An Autopsy... here is a band Id not thought of in some time! They were once the brief obsession of my friendship group back in the boom era of the emerging Deathcore music scene. It was mostly their utterly vile and misogynist lyrics that would grab attention. The music was equally disgusting, an ugly cesspit of pig squeals, Sludge, Death Metal and Slam that doesn't hold up well over a decade later.

I was initially excited upon seeing news of their return with a short five track EP. For some reason I thought the absense might yield a new matured perspective on their former "brutality". Unfortunately its as if they have been kept on ice, unleashing new music almost ignorant to anything that has happened in Extreme Metal over the last ten years. Even clocking in at under twenty minutes its an utter grind to endure.

This is mostly down to one element, the vocals. The instrumentals are competent in performance, dulled in creativity. Its a typical cramming of guitar chugs, snaky tremolo melodies and slam grooves, recycling the same stomp over and over. They chop up the drum measures to shift the pace and create plenty of alternating bounces and slams. None of the five tracks reach anything significant. Even the obvious "big moments" of the track seem to muster little more than a reiteration of the song so far.

At the musics forefront vocalist Regan throws out some meaty guttural shouts with gritty texture but this is where things slip up. His utterly wretched pig squeals sound like a joke. These squeals resemble a squawking crow being strangled to death. They are high pitched, ridiculous, shrill and irritating. Its hard to take seriously and the utterly valueless and immature lyrics drag it further into the gutter. It really dispels what little atmosphere is being mustered and puts a downer on the whole thing.

Rating: 2/10