Tomorrow's Show ! Back to the post-melodic-blackened-grind!

REVIEW: DUO OF RELEASES FROM SOUTHERN LORD: WARTORN & KROMOSOM

A duo of releases from American label Southern Lord released on Monday  -

Name: Iconic Nightmare

Artist: Wartorn

Label: Southern Lord

Date: 21^st January

Wisconsin’s WARTORN feature members of Dresden, Remission, and Words that burn. They have had several releases before ‘Iconic Nightmare’ but it is this LP that really brings them into the limelight.
This is political blackened crust punk with a message that is actually audible to some extent. The production is clean enough to hear what is going on musically, and just about dirty enough to satisfy our very own CRUSTY FOX (a mammalian character on the FRIDAY FRENZY). There is much variation within this record, ranging from the all-out vicious riffing of the title-track-come-opener ‘Iconic Nightmare’, to the  post-rock elements of ‘Betrayal’.
The album provides the listener with some great epic vibes reminiscent of CONVERGE, on tracks such as ‘Knee deep in blood’ and ‘Six Feet Under’. Oh and it’s got guitar solos too! Great!

Iconic Nightmare has kept me entertained on several listens to far, and I've no intention of putting it down yet!

74/100

Name: Live Forever

Artist: Kromosom

Label: Southern Lord

Date: 21^st January

Now.. for those of you with a more hardened crusty ear-hole, KROMOSOM are the remains of the legendary PISSCHRIST. 'Live Forever' is a compilation of releases, containing all the material previously available on vinyl from the band, so it features many different mixes and recording sessions, but all are “mastered for maximum pandemonium” by Jack Control.

This release is so damn crusty its making my media player lock up! Those excepting to hear what is going on musically will not find solitude in this release, the production is harsh, unforgiving and frankly putrid. Which is awesome!

Stand out tracks include ‘Sentenced to life’, ‘Living dead’, ‘Paranoid’, and the more classically punky ‘Swine control’.

Occasionally, abrasive sound effects peep through the mix, although I’m not sure if these are generated live or in the mixing stage, and songs are mastered so that they flow into each other really well.
Defiantly one for the veterans.

72/100

REVIEW: BLOCKHEADS' 'THE WORLD IS DEAD'

Name: The World Is Dead

Artist: Blockheads

Label: Relapse

Released: 22^nd January

French grind-core act BLOCKHEADS return with a ferocious, political, and violent LP.
Songs are short in true grind-core fashion; with none of them clocking in at over 3 minutes, with the exception of the final track, an unusually placed slow tempo 7 min doom song.

BLOCKHEADS have supported NAPALM DEATH in the past (as well as ENTOMBED, CARCASS, OBITUARY, & more), and the NAPALM influence shines through. The sound leans toward death metal more than hardcore, with relentless blast-beating included, if the vocals were set at a lower pitch and the production more polished, this could pass off as American death metal at times.

Stand out tracks include ‘Awaken’ , ‘Deindividualized’ and title track ‘ The world is dead’. Some tracks take a more interesting turn and have a epic an majestic atmosphere mixed with an unrelenting hardcore assault, such as ‘Be a thorn to power’, blackened crust track, ‘To the dogs’, and ‘Pro-lifers’ (for which a video is available online below). Aforementioned album finisher; ‘Trail of dead’ is a crushing 7 minute epic, a great way to finish off the LP.

The production on the album is original, and certainly not mainstream, it has a great atmosphere, but some of the tracks could have been dropped without the album loosing its integrity, it could even have been split into two releases.

69/100

Lyric Video to 'Pro-Lifers' Available Here:

SV

REVIEW: DEVOURMENT'S 'CONCEIVED IN SEWAGE'

Name: Conceived in sewage

Artist: Devourment

Label: Relapse

Released: 19th Feburary

Texan Metaller’s DEVOURMENT play a style of slamming death metal for fans of low guttural vocals and breakdown driven riffs. Produced by Hate Eternal’s Erik Rutan, ‘Conceived in sewage’ provides the listener with a heavy as fuck, well presented, powerful attack, akin to a sledgehammer hitting a bovine corpse repeatedly.

Although I’m not personally a fan of this type of death metal, DVOURMENT are possibly one of the better bands in their niche, but the lack of solo’s or technical guitar-work is disappointing, and the album could have easily been half as long, I became reasonably bored after 5 tracks.

To be fair to DEVOURMENT, the gruesome cover artwork certainly doesn't leave much to the imagination, and the consumer will certainly be able to make a quick judgement on whether it is their cup of tea.

Some of the better tracks are ‘today we die, tomorrow we kill’, ‘Fifty ton war machine’ and title track ‘Conceived in sewage’.

Brutal, savage, abhorrent, and vile, this album is not eloquent or beautiful. It’s disgusting, but I’m pretty sure that’s how DEVOURMENT wanted it to be…

 49/100

A lyric video for 'Fifty ton war machine' is available here:

SV

REVIEW: BRUTALITY WILL PREVAIL - 'SCATTER THE ASHES'

Name: Scatter the ashes

Artist: Brutality Will Prevail

Label: Purgatory Records

Release date: 12th November

Scatter the Ashes is the third album from BWP, who formed back in 2006 in Wales. They have a very identifiable 'hardcore' sound, but with a darker and more doom-laden vibe. Ajay Jones' vocals are certainly not my personal preference in metal but fans of the hardcore genre should have no reason to find fault with them, as he is consistent in what he does. However it must be pointed out that in the last few days he has actually parted with the band, due to ''personal commitments and interests outside of BWP",

Whilst not my favourite genre, I can certainly attest to the fact that the whole of the band are certainly good at what they do, and they are arguably at their very strongest on this record. An excellent acoustic folk passage intro then gives way to an onslaught of hardcore which rarely relents during the following nine tracks. The second track in particular, Sins of Commitment, is fierce and merciless. Each song manages to shake things up quite a bit which keeps the album from stagnating.

Album highlight is perhaps '1348' which oddly brings Neurosis to mind with it's ferocious display of guts and power. Album closer 'Scatter the Ashes' is also a personal highlight as it adopts a more varied, melodic and personal approach than can be heard on the preceding nice tracks. Ajay's vocals are also delivered in a a slightly less rawcus and uncompromising fashion here, in fact for the most part they are essentially spoken.

All in all fans of hardcore should definitely already be well aware of these Welshman by now, and for those who aren't, this release looks set to elevate them to higher status. For those slightly skeptical about the hardcore approach, there may be something here for you as well, as this is a darker and more doomy sound to what you can usually expect to hear.

All in all a varied and interesting album and one that again proves they are worthy of their status.

68/100

Scott

''The Path'' official video: 

REVIEW: WEAPON - 'EMBERS AND REVELATIONS'

Name:Embers and revelations

Artist: Weapon

Label: Relapse

Released: October 9^th

Weapon front-man Vetis Monarch was born and raised in Bangladesh before moving to Canada, where the band is now based. They play a style of blackened/death metal heavily influenced by eastern scales, on first listen similarities are drawn to Behemoth or Nile.

Although the ferocity of European death metal is apparent in the music, the production of the album makes the music rather more raw and unforgiving than conventionally produced black/death. Traditional influences show up in the music, sometimes leaning heavily towards thrash or early black metal, these guys could show a number of Scandinavian bands a thing or two.

Album opener ‘The First Witness of Lucifer’ begins with a bleak and sparse riff, before slowly building to some fluid guitar-work, hinting at the main motif present in the song. A black/thrash assault begins and the song does not let up in ferocity. Track Two, ‘Vangaurd of the morning star’ picks up the pace, with a more traditional melodic death metal feel, the relentless blast-beats and cymbal work could possibly be given more attention in the mix, but those with a trained ear will be able to pick out these complexities.

There are riffs-a plenty in this album and track ‘Crepuscular Swamp’ holds some bangers. A lyric video is also available for this tune on YouTube, linked below if you want to check out this awesome band. All in all, a good standard blackened death metal release, but we cant wait to see what Weapon’s next offering will bring.

60/100

CARCASS to Headline DAMNATION FESTIVAL 2013!

Great news from the guys at the Damnation Festival Camp! 
Read on:

"English extreme metal legends CARCASS will return to headline the ninth Damnation Festival for their only UK appearance following the release of their first album in 17 years.
The death and grind standard bearers have promised another historic set which will feature cult classics alongside unexpected old gems and brand new material when they take the stage at Leeds University Union on Saturday, November 2, 2013.

And after helping to sell out Damnation Festival in advance back in 2008, guitarist Bill Steer is looking forward to performing to a packed house on their return to the event.
He said: “We’re very excited about the prospect of returning to Damnation Festival this year.
“Our appearance there in 2008 was a major highlight for us and this time around, people can expect to hear a fairly different Carcass set.

“The old favourites will be in there, of course, but we’re also planning to play a couple of the less obvious tracks from our past, as well as songs from the album we’ve just completed. Join us!”
With 22 more bands to be announced across three stages, festival director Gavin McInally, said fans can look forward to the melting pot of diverse styles of music Damnation Festival is known for from black metal to post-rock.

He added: “It was a coup to land the first UK Carcass show in 13 years in 2008 when fans snapped up every ticket going before we made it to the day itself and it’s another coup having the band return following the release of their first new album in 17 years.

“But even with the mighty Carcass topping the bill, we won’t be satisfied until we’ve pieced together a more challenging and brilliant day of music than the eight successful years we’ve already had the pleasure of hosting, so expect a lot more to come from 2013.”
Tickets for Damnation Festival 2013 are on sale now and will be held at last year’s price of £32 for a limited period."


To buy tickets, visit http://www.leedstickets.co.uk , the official Damnation Festival website at http://www.damnationfestival.co.uk or facebook.com/damnationfestival.

REVIEW: TORPOR'S 'BLED DRY EP'

Title: Bled Dry EP

Artist: Torpor

Label: Self-Released

Year: 2012

We have featured Torpor, (pronounced tor·por /ˈtɔːpə/  as they have pointed out to us several times on air!), on several Friday Frenzy shows. They are a relatively new sludge/noise/post metal band hailing from London & Brighton UK. They have provided us with a exclusive little nugget of history regarding how they formed :

“I met Jon in March 2012. We'd been trying to put this band together for a couple of years but didn't meet anyone who understood what we wanted to create or who could tune down low enough before Jon! We played our first gig as an instrumental 3-piece in June, then met Nats after she replied to our online ad a few weeks later. Simon played me her last band down the phone while I was on holiday and I knew straight away that she would be awesome!”

Sure enough, ‘Bled Dry EP’ has the energy of a new band entwined within the music. The general  sound of the release isn’t particularly mad-experimental as they assure us the next release will be;

” The EP was recorded live at our rehearsal studio in a couple of hours by Paul Andrew (Guerrilla Studio). We wanted it to sound as raw, live and heavy as possible. We're hoping to release another EP in the spring/summer, and it will be a lot darker and more experimental than Bled Dry. That was our pop record in comparison!”

…but this band are playing a niche sound which is not being explored by the countless London sludge bands around. Two of the members of Torpor are female, which unfortunately is still unusual within metal as a whole, some groups even get lumped into the genre of ‘female fronted metal’ just because of the gender of its members, but don’t expect sympathetic operatic Nightwishy melodies from vocalist Nats Spada, the screams (especially on track ‘blackend lungs’), are unearthy and unholy and put many male vocalists to shame.

This album is full of melody, be it downtuned, sludgy and covered in mud, title track ‘Bled dry’ is a slow, sludgy tune with almost a Deftones vibe about it, but with more dissonance. The vocals in this song are closer to Carcass than Chino Moreno, and they give it an almost tribal feel. Track two ‘Ashes’ drudges along until a single slyable chant takes the main focus of the music, I imagine that this live is killer.

I'm not sure if ‘blackened lungs’ is an anti-smoking song, but it certainly made me feel very dark while smoking a cigarette listening to it! The slow, punishing outro is enough to make anyone think twice about lighting up!!

‘Anchors’ the final track, has a stronger Deftones vibe than before, (I think it might be the drumming), with tinges of a hardcore influence, it chugs along at a perfect speed, and the master fade towards the end of the track and EP leaves us wanting more.

Please give us more, Torpor!

Listen to Bled Dry Here:

87/100

-SV

REVIEW : AEON'S 'AEONS BLACK'

So, another Swedish Death Metal band you might think, Aeon isn't quite that. Though Swedish, Aeon's style is more Technical Brutal, and reminds the listener of Cannibal Corpse.

Aeons Black is their fourth full-length album and listening to it makes me want to dig into their older stuff. Full of brutality, aggressiveness and intensity this band delivers with "Aeons Black" what an "Extreme Death Metal" fan would definitely enjoy listening to, still recommended for the curious listener too. They definitely got talent and a lot of hate to spread. Their lyrical themes are mainly anti-Christian, and one could be easily misguided into thinking it's a black metal band just by reading their lyrics.

Tommy Dahlström's (ex-Defaced Creation, ex-Imperial, ex-Unorthodox, ex-Diabolicum) low-pitched growls really have prescience throughout the whole album, blasting your ears in songs like "Still They Pray" and "Sacrificed". I'm even amazed by the clarity of the vocals, something not common in such a genre.

Three instrumental passages, which seem to give anything by themselves, will let your brains rest from aggressive anti-Christian brutality by giving you an obscure and peaceful atmosphere, and working perfectly well along with the other songs.

Arttu Malkki (now replaced by Emil Wiksten) does a decent job on drums. Nothing fantastic, nothing I haven't heard before, but it does what is needed.

On the other hand Zeb Nilsson's and Daniel Dlimi's guitars really give the band that killer sound with some great hellish thrashy riffs as the ones on "Nothing Left To Destroy".

Marcus Edvardsson does a pretty good job on bass too, though it might go unnoticed on a few tracks.

Overall this is an interesting and good album, something really pleasant to listen to.

 75/100

-Nacho

IGORRR 'HALLELUJAH' REVIEW & INTERVIEW

For any of you who have no idea who IGORRR is, bear with me…

I never really listen to much electronic music, but if you can imagine Zappa or Patton joining into one form (for IGORRR is just one man), and focusing on a multi-genre electronic-based apocalypse, then you’re probably a fraction of the way there.

We caught up with Igorrr via the interweb to get more information from the mastermind himself:

Hello Igorrr, welcome to the Friday Frenzy on TBFM.
What first inspired you to first start making music & how old were you?
Actually, many things were inspiring me, many really different things in reality, death and black metal, electronic or experimental music, baroque music, traditional music from eastern Europe etc… And what pushed me at first to do my own music, is the fact that i didn't find anywhere the music i was looking for. I mean, I love all these genres, and the music I want to hear connect everything at the same time, like a really condensate of ideas and feelings.
That was this idea which inspired me. 
I don't remember any age or precise moment when I decided to really start music. I was always producing as far as I remember, of course not with the same material, but still, with everything I had, I was doing music.
I remember my old Yamaha synthesizer and my PlayStation 1 with the game called "music", I was spending days and days producing hundreds of useless tracks.
Mmm, actually I'm doing a bit the same thing today!

What genre would you label yourself as?
I'd call it Music.
Very personal point of view of the music.
Some people call it Baroquecore now, following my EP with the same name, that's not totally true, it was just a joke, but I like it though. There are several genre inside it's not easy to name it !
The real name would be something like : Breakcoredeathblackmetalbaroquetraditionaltriphop.

Describe your methodology/creative-process…
I don't have precise way of doing music, I think it's going a bit by itself, I get an idea, and in spite of myself, it will stay on my brain until the moment it's ready, you know like a microwave, when the little bell makes noise, it's ready.
But in fact, when I get the idea, a long work starts, I stick as much as I can to the very first idea to keep the spontaneity, and I start recording and mixing, then it takes months and months to be totally exact with what I want to get. Sometimes even years, like with the track "Grosse Barbe" from Hallelujah, it was really long work, but after all this time, I got precisely what I wanted.

Do you find it easier to work alone, or to collaborate?
Working alone is easier for me as I don't have to discuss about the choices, and also I can do a lot by myself, like composing, recording, mixing and make the mastering, so it is faster.
There are good points on both sides actually, and I’m working with bands as well, so I know a bit from the 2 sides.
Let's say, if you lead a band, it can be hard sometimes to manage with some people, but if you don't do the decisions and the important choices and you are just doing music, it can be easier. It is the case for me at least.

How do you find people usually react to your music?
The reaction is very different, but always a bit strong !
As "Igorrr" is my very personal point of view of the music, it automatically makes the music not massive and unfortunately, quite selective, so then, people who are not get used to it, usually reject what they hear and call it noise or mess. On the other side, people with who I seem to have some similarities are really enthusiastic about it, even much more than with massive music, and it makes me happy.

Did you perform under a different name before sticking with Igorrr?
I had a couple of bands with my friends, but we didn't released any serious album before I did with my project "Igorrr", and we didn't tour either, it was more like, we are trying to find ourselves and doing experiments on music to see where we are going to.
I still have a couple of side projects with different names, like Whourkr or Corpo-Mente, and I'm working with several bands like Öxxö Xööx or Vladimir Bozar 'n' ze Sheraf Orkestär, but I’m playing live only with Igorrr now.

Are there any hidden concepts behind your albums?
Not really, at least not as far as I know.
I don't see my music by "albums" but more by the tracks themselves, the "album" thing is just a compilation of track you was doing at this precise period for me.
There can be some concepts in some tracks like "Infinite Loop" where the idea was, the death metal which is going to be faster and faster, starts to be a note, and this note is the beginning of baroque music, and this baroque music is getting angry and start to become death metal, and this death metal is going faster etc… The Infinite Loop, there are some concepts like that, but not with the albums themselves.

 What other projects have you been involved with? 
As I was saying above, I’m working in several projects. Right now, it's about our first album with my duo Corpo-Mente, we are working on it for long time already, something much calmer than Igorrr, with Laure Le Prunenec, who is the singer on "Tout Petit Moineau".
We are doing as well the second album of Vladimir Bozar 'n' ze Sheraf Orkestär, and will start to work slowly on the new Öxxö Xööx.
I did also a collaboration with Bong-ra recently, 2 tracks, which will be released in Spring if everything will be fine! 

What’s next for Igorrr?
First of all, I have to shave my hamster, and after that I’ll be touring with "Hallelujah".
Also in 2103, there will be the re-release of our 2 first albums with Whourkr, they will be available on vinyl through the label Blood Music in February / March !! And there will be also my collaboration Igorrr Vs Bong-ra, and I hope our first album with my duo Corpo-Mente !

-

This album, ‘Hallelujah’, is by far his best album to date, all elements of previous albums are there, but they are refined. The album starts with just a piano and a vocal line, but before long becomes a universe of glitch, breakbeat, death metal, baroque, eastern scales, orchestra, tonnes of spot-samples including a vacuum cleaner and a chicken. I shit you not.

IGORRR is a master – a master of rhythm, of texture, of humor & contrast. Oh, and the production is among the best I’ve ever heard. The difficulty of the listen does not improve with time, although it does become much more fun. I have started to feel that since I discovered IGORRR’s music, I have become cursed because nothing is comparable to this, and as such I also think the album is far too short!

Personal standout tracks; Absolute Psalm, Vegetable Soup, Scarlatti 2.0, Infinite Loop

90/100

-Ricky

REVIEW: HANG THE BASTARD '2009-2012' + INTERVIEW

The thing I find about hardcore (and other forms of heavy music) these days is that it tends to lack integrity… these days I find many bands just follow the formula and after a while it sometimes becomes difficult to distinguish many bands of this ilk.

HANG THE BASTARD however, are one band who have a different approach.

The song structures are easy to identify, but they don’t always take you where you’d expect… there’s the classic hardcore riffs mixed up with some doom, plenty of thrash, and the occasional death metal section, incredible breakdowns, some awesome, yet subtle tempo changes. The guitar solo’s show incredible speed and precision, and if there wasn't as much energy as these guys deliver, you could be forgiven for thinking some of the riffs came right out of the seventies… but this is downright crushing anger and despite the rather polished production, the energy does not dissipate.

HANG THE BASTARD are a name I've heard mentioned several times over the last few years… it’s a shame I didn't listen to them sooner. While they’re not as extreme as much of the music that demands my attention these days, I have a burning desire to see them live – I’m sure they would suit the big stage very well, but I can only imagine the destruction that would be caused seeing them in a tiny, dirty pub someplace…

Personal standout tracks; Genesis, Earthmover, Hells Teeth

75/100

Listen to our interview with Hang the Bastard here:

Check out the video for 'Interplanetary Portals' here:

-Ricky 

The Friday Frenzy's Top Tracks of 2012

2012 has been a great year for metal. Check out some of our favorite tracks below, selected by our new team!

In no particular order:

Anaal Nathrakh - The Blood Dimmed Tide - Vanitas

The newest offering from Birmingham's Anaal Nathrakh, 'Vanitas' is a carcophony of industrial black metal grind. The opening track is a howling mess of blastbeats and chugging guitars with an atmosphere which signals the end times.
- Simon


Igorrr - Absolute Psalm - Hallelujah 

Igorr was selected twice by our contributors Catt and Ricky, here's what they have to say about it:

Id go for this off the new Igorrr album .. I love thiss cuz i can dance but its still brutal as fuck!
-Catt

Igorrr beats everything.
- Ricky



Meshuggah - Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion - Koloss

A fairly simple choice in the end: my favorite song from my favorite metal album of 2012! This song steamrolls along like some kind of evil rhinoceros, crushing anything in its path (honorable mention also goes to 'the hurt that finds you first')

- Scott

Wodensthrone - The Name Of The Wind - Curse

Its a long one I know, but I think its an incredible track that kinda consolidates all the things I love about the album as a whole. Hréowsian's drumming is always understated and tends not to be the usual extreme metal fare; there are blasts a plenty but use of D-beat rhythms and exceptional feel prove there's more than one way to skin a cat. The Name of The Wind really is like a microcosm of the whole album, dynamic and epic,  a mini journey all of its own.
- Jon


Conan - Grim Tormentor - Monnos

Self-styled 'Caveman Battle Doom' from the grim North. Catchy, textured, down-tuned to oblivion, yet accessible. Straight up doom without the bullshit cult trimmings. Monnos is worth a listen in its entirety, but after seeing Conan countless times during the past year, this song never failed to get people moving (quite a feat at the slower shows).
- Craig


Ethernal - Ravens at Dusk - Arkioas

From the bleak wastes of High Wycombe, Ethernal are a 3 piece melodic black metal band. This track 'Ravens at Dusk' along with their album, 'Arkioas' has been the soundtrack to my winter.
- Simon


Ikkadian - Adversary - Of Alpha and Omega

Ikkadian play blackened death metal which sticks out from the crowd, plus they give everything away for free!
- Steve


Amenra - Nowena I 9.10 - Mass V

Amenra's Mass V is a post-metal masterpiece  riffs a plenty and chilling passages through melody give the listener a brutal but pleasant experience.
-Simon

God Seed - Alt Liv - I Begin

Gaahl of Gorgoroth's new project God Seed came into 2012 like a disgusting, beautiful virus. I haven't been able to put this record down since listening, true brilliance. 
- Simon

Agalloch - Faustian Echoes - Faustian Echoes

Being based on Goethe's masterpiece "Faust", definitely makes it the best 2012 song for me. One of my favourite books + one of my favourite bands = an epic 21+ minutes song. Love the Burzum-like intro.

-Nacho

Enslaved - Thoughts like hammers - RIITIIR

And finally this beauty from the new Enslaved album, RIITIIR, which we have had trouble pronouncing all year. 
- Simon

So Happy New Year All From The Team At THE FRIDAY FRENZY  !