Hemorroid Carnage DEMO

Going to and playing shows in Japan, I've amassed quite a collection of demo CD's from bands trying to get their act off the ground. It's something I didn't experience much in NYC, so I appreciate the custom. Last night I played a gig with death metal masters Gotsu-Totsu-Kotsu (兀突骨) and it was my first time to experience them live. I may have heard a song or two by them, but I must have been multitasking or something at the time cause I had no idea what I was in for. They're a tight trio who play what they refer to as Samurai Death Metal. Needless to say, I'm suffering from the worst bangover in recent memory as I write this! After the gig, I talked with the guitarist Atsushi and he gave me a demo for his side-project called Hemorrhoid Carnage. Never before has a demo gone straight from my bag, and onto my speakers, but after last night's performance, I was definitely curious. The demo is so good, that I'm putting it right here for your listening pleasure. Go see Gotsu-Totsu-Kotsu or Hemorrhoid Carnage if you get the chance!


Click image for DL.

Disavowed - Perceptive Deception

Here's a slice of breakneck speed Brutal Death Metal for you all the way from the Netherlands. Yep, don't let that 'dis-' fool you, there's not a trace of d-beat to be found here. The brighter ones among you might've figured that out by the logo. I was originally going to write about how I found this album, but in doing a little fact checking I've realized that my memory of how I came across this album is totally wrong and now I'm confused. Anyways I've been practicing blast beats these days so I can really appreciate a drummer that pulverizes his kit but still retains some nuance and style. Check out the video for "Rhizome" below. They have some close-ups of those blasts, but he looks surprisingly stiff. Again I'm confused. But I guess "flying fingers" isn't the only technique for a good blast.

Click image for DL.

Death Yes, Life? Well... maybe not...

This is the amusement of the day. Even better when you see where it comes from...

Fuck the World

After reading about the fucking teabagger nazi assholes all day, this makes me feel good. Thanks Allyson.

Dismember - Like An Ever Flowing Stream

Somehow, in the last week, I've managed to listen to nothing but Cock Sparrer, Black Sabbath, and Saint Vitus non-fucking stop. But, last night while shooting the shit with the dudes from The Skuds and Nuclear Blast Suntan I made the inebriated claim that Entombed's "Left Hand Path" is the greatest of all Swedish Death Metal albums. Chris on the other hand respectfully disagreed with me and insisted that in fact, Dismember "Like and Ever Flowing Stream" was in fact, where it was at. Not exactly being the worlds foremost authority on Swedish Death Metal I figured I should probably just drunkenly call him a motherfucker and insist that I was right anyways in order to preserve my status.

Thank god for drunk music bullshitting because after listening to this album today, I can officially say that I have a new, tied for 1st place favorite Swedish Death Metal album. Fuck yeah dudes, LaEFS is definitely a perfect compliment to LHP. Just a few less speed changes and perhaps a little lower on the sonically mind annihilating parts but on the whole a little more charging and in your fucking face. Shit, a few months ago in the Left Hand Path post I called it m favorite punk album of the year or something. Well this has replaced it. LHP is now one of my 2 top punk albums. So much hardcore/d-beat influence here. It rules.

Dismember - Like An Ever Flowing Stream

Sigh.... The internet....

Mutant Supremacy/Abbadon this Thurs @ Charleston

Death metal punx DIY delux playing the Charleston on n7 @ Bedford Ave this Thursday at 9pm. See ya there fuckers.

Dissection - The Somberlain & Storm Of The Light's Bane

So it's really fucking cold in New York right now. Cold like, "Fuck this shit, I ain't getting out of bed goddamnit!" cold. But, despite my lack of wanted to go anywhere or do anything, cold weather is good for a few things. Consumption of wine and heated liquors, trying to get other people to stay in your bed, you know, "for warmth," and most of all motherfucking BLACK METAL!

Dissection was the best fucking black metal bands to come out of Sweden. Jon Nödtveidt and his crew definitely stood out for spanning the wide gap between death and black metal at the time and in the process, made some of the most haunting, heavy shit of the era. Sadly Nödtveidt got involved in some fucked up shit and spent form 1997-2004 in jail for killing a gay man in Gothenburg effectively killing the band. Jon killed himself in 2006 but these first two albums are still timeless extreme metal classics for the eternal winter of life.

Dissection - The Somberlain & Storm Of The Light's Bane

Entombed - Left Hand Path

Aw, now that I took that dig at the Scandis I feel kinda bad. To make up to all of our colder, blonder friends from the north here's some classic Entombed. Yes, I know everyone and their mom has Left Hand Path, but what about their little sisters. That's really what I'm after...

Also, "Carnal Leftovers" is my new favorite punk song.

Entombed - Left Hand Path

Swedish Death Metal, the book

Over the course of history there have been irreplicable moments of creativity that quickly disappeared leaving an amazing legacy of art or writing, or music, or whatever in their wake. Paris between the wars, London in the 60's, New York City in the 70's etc. Well in the 80's and 90's, Sweden had it's own musical rebirth with the death metal scene. Bands like Entombed, At the Gates, Dismember, Grave, Macrodex, etc. all made of up crazy kids with the idea that howling ferociously about gore and guts was an awesome idea, came together and created a body of music that will endure in to the future. Only a few people were really able to experience this scene first hand due to the fact that Sweden is far the fuck away from everything and most of the bands were broke and didn't travel too far for a long time.

Well, if you're like me and didn't get the chance to hång out in Stockholm in the mid 90's, Dan Ekeroth of Insision, Dellamorte, and Diskonto's new book (conveniently titled), Swedish Death Metal, gives you the straight dope on what happened. This book is basically like having the gnarliest hesher older brother with a funny accent who introduces you to metal and buys you beer when yer in high school.

The book is written super conversationally so if you're in to the whole "academic music literature" thing then fuck off to somewhere else, this ain't it. Ekeroth probably uses the words "brutal" and "heavy" a thousand times in the course of the book and most of the judgements are pretty subjective (especially in the encyclopedic listing of Swedish Death Metal bands that makes up the last 1/3rd of the book) but once you realize that Dan knows what the fuck he's talking about it's all good. I read it over the summer in about 2 days when I was in Finland and it was a great book. Right up there with Our Band Could Be Your Life. Beats the shit out of Lords of Chaos that's for fucks sure.