Pale Creation - s/t 7" (Review)

When I heard that Pale Creation were about to release a new 7", I was more than stoked. I mean their last record was released in the last century, who would expect to get the chance to listen to new Pale Creation songs at all? Not me. And of course my expectations were quite high - to me, the Twilight full length is one of the most outstanding records of the 90ies. Surely rooted in Clevelands Hardcore scene, Pale Creation managed to create something really unique. It's not just Hardcore mixed with Metal, so way deeper than that. I'm not sure if Neurosis was an influence, but I think the comparison is not too odd. The factor that really made me an Pale Creation addict are the guitar solos: They're not of the Thrashy kind like those of Integrity for example (which are, of course, awesome as well), but more atmospheric, with loads of delay onto them, and a very smooth neck-humbucker sound. It's the kind of solos that let you shiver. 

To make a long story short: the new 7" doesn't sound exactly like the Twilight record, which isn't too surprising when you consider the timespan in between, it sounds different but still awesome. I'd say it's more a mix of the (split-) 7"s and the full length, soundwise, and the songs are just plain great, really, there's not much more to say about it. The song on the A-side, "Rose Colored Haze", comes with an super spheric intro, then the guitars all of a sudden start, and you get washed away by a whirl of harsh vocals, double bass, and the heaviest riffs pressed onto vinyl in 2010. The solo ain't missing as well and it completes the song in a way only Pale Creation solos can. The song on the B-side, "Wake Of temptation" starts calm, with sung (!) vocals, and leads to the chorus, where Dwid Hellion is doing guest vocals. And whereas I still don't like his vocals on the new Integrity full length, here he's doing an awesome job. All in all, I think "Wake Of Temptation" is arguably Pale Creation's best song ever, and for damn sure the best song released in 2010 so far. Seriously, I'm addicted to this song. It's emotive, it creates a tense atmosphere, it's heavy, dark... I don't know, it's hard to describe music in words. Just go get this 7", and if it's the only 7" you buy this year, so be it. There's not likely anything better to come. 

Pale Creation:

palecreation.com

A389 Records

Black Breath - Heavy Breathing

Black Breath got my attention sometime last year, when they got featured in the same fanzine like my own band. They had one record out, "Razor To Oblivion", a 10" I purchased shortly afterwards. A heavy, solid record for everyone who likes rough Hardcore and Swedish Deathmetal (so obviously this record was made for me, haha), giving you a good 50/50 mix of both genres. 
Their new record entitled "Heavy Breathing" was released via Southern Lord Records, somehow I missed to order it directly, so one day I checked the SL-site again when the vinyl version's gonna be released, and found out it was already sold out. Bummer. But Per Koro Records from Germany got some copies shortly afterwards, so I finally got mine. And, as you've probably heard somewhere else, this record is fucking awesome. It leans definetely more towards early Swedish Death Metal, sound- and songwise, a.k.a. Entombed "Left Hand Path" era, Dismember "Like an everflowing stream" era, or, not so Swedish but for sure influental for those, Autopsy. Heavy, groovy Death Metal riffs, uptempo beats but not ridiculously fast, that's the way it goes. Add a good dose of Motörhead and Discharge, put a Boss HM-2 pedal between guitar and the old Marshall, there you go: Black Breath. The vocals are the main factor reminiscent of Hardcore, but don't get me wrong: "Heavy Breathing" for sure eyes more towards Metal than the previous record. 
The first Black Breath full length should complement everybody's record collection (if available haha) who likes his Death Metal "Stockholmish", his Hardcore raw and/or his hair long. Amazing record that leaves me longing for more. 

Black Breath:
Myspace
Facebook
Southern Lord Records

Agalloch - Wooden Box 7xLP

I've waited quite a long time for this. But after I saw the massive box, I knew it was worth it. What more can I say, check out the pictures, and if you haven't yet, check out Agalloch, especially their latest record, "Ashes against the grain".

The box

Logo detail

The open box

Booklet (contains all lyrics) detail

Booklet detail

Slipmat

The four records (three of them are double LPs)

Box detail

Call me a nerd, I think it's beautiful and totally worth its price. 

The box is exclusively available through the Viva Hate Records webstore.

www.agalloch.org

www.vivahaterecords.com

Integrity - The Blackest Curse (Review)

The latest Integrity output called "The Blackest Curse" was maybe one of the most anticipated records in 2010. And 2009. And 2008, or since the date it was scheduled for the first time, when ever that was. Because of the growing attention towards the classic "Holy-Terror"-sound (whatever that term means, nobody really seems to know that, even bands that use that term to describe themselves don't know it; I'd really like to know what the idea behind Holy Terrorism is, if there really is one) during the last few years, a lot of people look at the originators Integrity and what they are doing within this sub-sub-genre. And, to be honest, I was quite curious myself. Would Dwid surprise/piss off a lot of people again by doing something different like Integrity 2000, would Integrity do a second "To Die For" record, or would they even go for a more "classic" Integrity sound à la "Humanity Is The Devil"? The truth lies in between the latter two options. The riffs are huge, the solos are awesome, the songs are all heavy and dark, in general they are a lot more raw and unpolished than those on "To Die For" - of course, due to the awesome, rough production, that even adds a punk-feeling to the sound. So song-wise, "The Blackest Curse" is definetely a winner. But not everything's good about this record: the total lack of any information about who actually played on that record, no lyrics, no credits, just nothing, could be interpreted as the artist's idea of focusing the listener to the music, but basically it pisses me off. I mean I'm not a fan of liner notes that are longer than the lyrics themselves, nor of never ending thanks lists, and I see that those would be pretty displaced in an Integrity record anyway. But at least some basic information about the record would have been fine, if all records I buy would be like this one I'd stop paying for them and download everything. I mean if you don't miss anything by downloading a record instead of buying it, why do it then? But the fact that makes "The Blackest Curse" just a good, and not an awesome record is Dwid's vocal performance. The vocals are monotone, too deep, and way too gargling, in a way they even sound a bit bored, you know, just sung somehow - no comparison to the grandness of the early Integrity recordings. After a while I really feel annoyed - and keep in mind, this is written by someone who "likes" the vocals on Napalm Death's "Enslavement" record for example.
To sum it up, if you dig the early records by this band, and don't need a super high-end sound like they had on "To Die For", you'll probably like "The Blackes Curse". But because of the substandard vocals and the lack of information I'd only give this record a 7 out of 10.

Integrity on myspace
Deathwish Records

The Love Below - Reproductive Rights 7" (Review)

The beginning of the first track reminds me of Napalm Death’s „Enslavement“ record, just because every record that starts with a bass drum with lots of reverb does so. Well, not the worst first impression I’d say. The Love Below are quite hard to classify, which isn’t a bad thing, somehow they sound like a tougher version of Left For Dead, which is a stupid thesis anyway because Left For Dead were tough as fuck. Next try. The Love Below combine the heaviness of bands like early Blacklisted and the rawness and riffs of bands like Left For Dead or the more Hardcore-ish songs of The Swarm, with vocals that remind me of spazzy Hardcore outfits like early Some Girls or even Swing Kids. The lyrics are quite personal, quite pissed, and more in the vein of Hardcore ca. 2001, but without all the sadness-thing. On their myspace page they state their influences the following: "godlessness. drug abuse. adult situations". I guess that sums it up pretty well.  The more often I listen to this, the better it gets, this record is definetely a grower. At first I thought something like „well, another Hardcore record, not bad, but not exciting as well“, but after a few more turns this record get’s damn awesome, and proves that you just can’t go wrong with A389 Records. Oh, and on the cover artwork there’s a lot of pink. Hint, hint. 

The Love Below on myspace
A389 Records

Virgin Witch - s/t 7" (Review)

Here we have a cool Hardcore item on a small label I unfortunatly haven’t heard about until now, Free Cake Records. In Virgin Witch, Dom from Pulling Teeth is filling on the bass and guitar duties, so I knew beforehand that this shit’s gonna rule. So what music can you expect from a one sided 7“ with two songs, the flip side of the record with a silk screened pentagramm on it, and a cover artwork that has everything what’s good (boobs, skulls, devil horns)? Let me say it like this, if the number of the Os in the word doom correlates with the slowness of the music, the first track is definetely a dooooooooooooom song. Sludgy, with nice twin guitar harmonies here and there, and realy slow, mean vocals, you know the deal. Nothing to bring you into an happy mood, though, like Grief when they had a really bad day. The second song is faster, not really super fast but a solid midtempo, a good Hardcore song in the vein of Pulling Teeth (sorry for the unoriginal comparison), and the solo is one of the best Dom has done so far. It could very well be on one of the earyl Angel Witch recordings as well. I love Angel Witch’s solos. Virgin Witch is probably only one of Dom’s many side projects, but a very good one and I hope that there will be more tunes of that band sometime soon.

Virgin Witch on myspace

Free Cake Records

Nails - Unsilent Death (Review)

Does anybody remember the movie 28 Days Later? In that film humans get infected by a virus, that is basically like to pure rage and turns its victims into some kind of zombies („some kind of“ because they are able to run and climb, something a normal zombie doesn’t). Why am I mentioning this? The first time I’ve listened to this LP, I thought that this record was pure rage pressed on vinyl. And I still think it is. At first I wanted to make the usual Dropdead-meets-early-Terror-comparison, and it still would describe pretty good what’s going on here, but this morning, on my way to the bus, I suddenly knew of what band Nails, especially the new record, reminds me. I think Nails are like a Hardcore-interpretation of Terrorizer (speaking of Terrorizer I only speak about their masterpiece „World Downfall“ of course, I never even listened to the second record because everybody kept telling me how shitty it was). Nails have the same „all go no slow“ meets unseen brutality attitude, a lot of blastbeats, typical Hardcore-rythm parts, with 20 Boss Heavy Metal pedals between instruments and amps, add the hardest moshparts since Hatebreed's "Satisfaction..." record, there you are. The angriest vocals on earth screaming some of the most pissed off lyrics in Hardcore's short but angry history: "Bow to no man, no pig, no book of myths/tolerate no deception, no ignorance/I'm not your fucking servant" ("No Servant") or "Show your true self/Your loyality runs thin/You want to be liked by everyone/Two-faced faker, fucking traitor/Your feet are firmly planted/On both sides of the drawn line/Coward" (Traitor). A lot of "me against the world"-attitude, which is cool if it's authentic like in Nails' case. Now I probably should write about who’s playing in this band, but I don’t think Nails really need that. This thing was recorded at Kurt Ballou’s Godcity Studios, but don’t expect something rather slick like the Carry On full length (no diss towards Carry On, I love that record), the production is really noisy and dirty, still super heavy and, well, brutal. What more can I say... this is one of THE Hardcore records in 2010, if you’re into bands like [namedropping mode on] early Terror or Hatebreed, Terrorizer, Mind Eraser, Dropdead, Entombed or Napalm Death [namedropping mode off] you’ll be blown away by Nails.

www.sixfeetunderrecords.com