Buzzov*en @ Public Assembly. Sept. 30th, 2010

The crowd did the masters no justice. How people can stand still in the face of that kind of fury is fucking beyond me. We are unworthy of the gifts we were given.

Fuck that was a good show.

Concussion - Dried Blood EP

From the ashes of the Bones Brigade and the fabled Haunted Castle and out of the beardmetaled pits of north Brooklyn comes CONCUSSION with their 1st EP. Right, now with all the stupid blogwritingbullshit out of the way, this is Brooklyn's very own, homegrown thrash legion... made up almost entirely of dudes from boston. Bones, Blake, Matt, and Hugo are doing something very few people these days even dare to attempt. Playing badass, balls to the fucking wall thrash, without any retarded, kitschy, neo-thrasher, throwback idiocy. In this band you will find no Gama Bomb patches, you will find no perfectly scuffed white Reebok hitops, you will find no acid-washed spermannihilating nuthugging jeans, and you will find absolutely no bullshit when it comes to raw metal talent. Yes that's right, I just admitted my asshole friends' band is one of the best metal bands player for player in Brooklyn. That's embarassing but fuck it, it's true.

The Dried Blood EP, recorded by Will from Orchid up in Massachusetts is 5 massive chunks of unapologetic, unrelenting thrash. While you can tell these hesher assholes have done their due time sitting around drinking heavily, playing ookiecookie to a soundtrack of Mandatory Suicide and Bonded by Blood, there is something distinctively non-throwback about this shit. The production is 100% modern (but not overproduced or fucking sterile like many these days), the riffing/writing definitely shows notable hardcore influence (especially in the strained vocals) with some heavy pantera jams thrown in just for shits and giggles.

Anyways, I'm sick of tooting these retards' horn for them, they're all too busy tooting each others horns most of the time anyways. Just get the fucking album.

Hull & Giant Squid @ Union Pool, Brooklyn. Aug 11th, 2009

MORE STUFF TO COME OVER THE NEXT FEW MINUTES.

Hull @ Union Pool, Brooklyn. Aug 11th, 2009 from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

HULL






GIANT SQUID






MORE PICS OF LIVE STUFF HERE @ FLICKR

SAINT VITUS IN BROOKLYN

FRIDAY OCTOBER 16TH, EUROPA IN GREENPOINT

SAINT MOTHERFUCKING VITUS

FUCK YEAH!

Tragedy/Morne/Brain Killer/Brainhandle live in Brooklyn 7/12/09

Last Sunday was apparently the last show ever at Studio B in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Now, as an opening line, this may sound all kinds of dramatic and sad and shit but really, who gives a fuck. Studio B was(/is still? Who knows, this place has been "closing" for over a year now.) usually some shit üntzüntzdiscodancepartyfunkytime club that usually attracts the santorum of Brooklyn (read: coked out Royal Oak rejects and thickneck fake tan Jaegerbombs dudes) that featured the occasional rock/punk show. That being said, due to it's status as like Dubstep discodanceland, they have a fucking annihilator of a sound system featuring like a fucking wall of massive subs. Shit is epic. Anyways, to close they doors I guess they figured they'd go out on the crustiest note they could muster and managed to snag Tragedy for one US date before they head off to Europe for their summer tour.

When I first heard that Tragedy was coming to town I was totally fucking stoked. They are the Amebix of this decade and easily one of the best bands around. Then I remembered the kinda meh last Tragedy show I saw (my first time seeing them...) at the Knit last year some time and was a little hesitant. I mean this show was the first of the tour, that one was one of the last. Either way I was gonna fucking be there, especially with Morne and Brain Killer playing.

I was not let down. At fucking all. Not even a little. Brain Killer, Brainhandle, and especially Morne and Tragedy turned it in to a slaughterhouse. Brain Killer and Brain Handle are both definitely acts to catch. In fact, I'd say that BK at 538 Johnson was easily one of the best house shows I've seen in ages. Morne was way more monstrous/epic/heavy/etcetcetc than I was imagining. Actually kind of reminded me of Amebix in a few ways (you know, more than just the obvious influence on their songs). They had a great balance between slow, doomy parts, and crusty hardcore parts. The sound was excellent and they sounded like the end of the world live. Dual vox/dual guitars approach really laid down the weight.

If you're paying attention, you'll notice that I haven't really mentioned blacklisted. There's a reason for that. That reason is because brocore is fucking lame. Especially when it brings out the thickneck throwdown crew to an otherwise friendly affair. If I had to write a letter it'd prolly look something like this:

"Dear Blacklisted, while your music isn't the worst thing I've ever heard, in fact it occasionally borders on the enjoyable, your fanbase of collarwearing khaki short roundhousing kids, thickneck pound-the-shit-out-of-little-kids-for-no-reason linebackers, and awkward Boston post mall-punks isn't exactly the most enjoyable. Keep up the good work... back in Boston.

Love and Cheek Kisses,
Crank"

Anyways, it all came down to Tragedy at the end of the night. They did not disappoint. Lemme just put it this way. I usually follow the "No crowd-surfing/stage-diving for kids over 175lbs" rule pretty fucking strictly. It definitely makes the show more enjoyable for the majority. For Tragedy, I smashed that rule to fucking pieces for the first time in years. I definitely heard "Not Fucking Fodder", "Call to Arms", "The Day After", and "The Ending Fight". They also played one, possibly 2 new songs as well. Could this mean a new album? Who knows?! Shit dude, for a bunch of semi-drunk dudes they were tighter than Nancy Reagan's asshole and heavier than a 10 ton weight. EURO-FRIENDS: GO SEE TRAGEDY.

Here's some shots from the show. Sorry I don't have more of the FSU dudes trying to bludgeon my friend Matt's Gold lame clad ass. Oh yeah, and sorry I don't have better pics of Tragedy, I was busy losing my shit and going buckwild.

BRAINHANDLE








Best gameface ever




MORNE










TRAGEDY

Tragedy - The Day After Live at Studio B. July 12th, 2009 from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Part 1: Morne - Eyes live at Studio B, Brooklyn NY July 12th, 2009 from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Part 2 Morne - Eyes at Studio B, Brooklyn NY July 12, 2009 from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Laws of Burial comandeer the Woe interview, 6/7/09

Last night Woe played some brutal, crushing, but interesting and solid black metal jams at Public Assembly. Like a bunch of other artists, they're doing a "Pay what you feel our album is worth" policy on their downloads now which I think is fucking great. If you want some classic-to-be black crushing madness check this page out and get everything on it. Pay a lot for it too.

Pay What You Think Woe Downloads

EDIT: FUCKING VIMEO IS DOWN RIGHT NOW. VID SHOULD BE UP AS SOON AS IT'S BACK.

Here's a supposed interview with the dudes from Woe actually turns into a rep sesh for Laws of Burial after the Black Anvil/Woe/Salome show at Public Assembly in Brooklyn. June 7th, 2009.

Laws of Burial/Woe Interview 6/7/2009 @ Public Assembly, Brooklyn from Jack Crank on Vimeo.

Mmmm... so few hours of waiting

Until this happens tonight

Sir Lord Baltimore

So back in the late 60's/early 70's when hippies ruled the earth and you could still buy a Sunn amp for cheap, there was a band in Brooklyn called Sir Lord Baltimore. They did not fuck around when it came to rock and roll. The first band ever to be written about as "Heavy Metal" they pretty much sum up the sound of the founding wave metal. It's basically psyched out, fuzzed out, fast, distorted biker rock played by lunatics.

Instead of doing two separate posts I upped their first album "Kingdom Come" and their second S/T album. The riffage on "Hard Rain Fallin'" and the epic of "Man From Manhattan" fucking wreck it.

Sir Lord Baltimore