ninehertz

A round up of nine recent releases in bitesize review form...

Our final round up of the year finds us globe-trotting once more, a quick run through of some stocking filler sounds for the festive mood. And what says Christmas more than...

...grindcore, which must be the friendliest genre around, as no other has record sharing splits as its bread and butter. This is a good one between two Bologna bands – Estinzione on one side mixing in hardcore and some metallic crust. The vocals are great, jumping between death metal and desperate screams in the wild. Flip over and you find Klava who are crustier still, instruments that rattle through your bones and with a real beat going on. It rumbles along in a way that pulls you into their aggro rhythms. It is out on a whole host of record labels, as also is grindcore’s way.

Only slightly less frenetic are Nuclear Dudes from California, and their Skeletal Blasphemy record out on The Ghost is Clear. The promo alerted me to the presence of Coady Willis in the band, who it described as being a member of High on Fire, Melvins and Murder City Devils, criminally not mentioning one of the greatest bands of all time Big Business. I’ll forgive them as it pointed me in the direction of this album. It is manic, straight from the off, reminding me of Genghis Tron, The Armed’s Only Love, Rolo Tomassi and even The Locust at different points. It’s not particularly short but flies past, leaving it all out there.

We travel northwards to Quebec for Albatros’ Correct on No Funeral Records. Come for the song title, stay for the ska scramz. Yep, you heard that right. The opening song is named Minor Tull / Jethro Threat which was enough to pique my interest, only then to find a (surely) unique concoction of brass band – more akin to a twelve piece ska band – and screamo. That it works well is even more astonishing. They achieve this by going against the grain of what you would surely imagine would arise from such an unusual marriage – the mood is downbeat, songs as lament ever present, not the positive energy you probably imaging would flow through. In breaking further expectation in their post-hardcore delivery, they keep your attention throughout.

Closer to home now – London to be precise – where the fantastically experimental Locusts and Honey return with a rather unique and odd little EP (Shadow of My End, out on Hypaethral Records), consisting of two long tracks and three serving to create blackened atmospherics. It took me a couple of goes to lock into this as a result, but I’m glad I did as when you consider it as a single piece concept - wrapped in the veiled proceedings it clicks and makes sense. Within the walls of static scarred noises in the dark they erect two enormous walls of post-black metal, this sheer cliff face of pure atmospherics and a prowling, stalking menace. Come, Appalling Sleep is especially impressive.

A trip down under unearths Spawn and their Light Rite album (out on Ramble Records and VW Sorcerer Productions). The slow stoner/doom start with vague country and western sense within draws inevitable reminders of Hex era Earth before branching out and flowering into a halfway house between psych and proto-doom, a sense of individuality existing between these known points. There are powerful vocals across the record, bluesy with a psych hint and occasional drifts towards admittedly dramatic doom folk. Their ethereal gothic psychedelia leaves a lasting impression.

Vaara reside in the northern Polar circle and ply a tasty form of sludge, as evidenced on their five-track Transition release. This is sludge but with some serious groove and perhaps even melody would you believe. There’s hints of the progressive end of the genre, in Kylesa or Black Tusk worlds perhaps, leaning into post-metal a touch too – still coming across as pissed off mind. Light is the standout track, a prowling creepy guitar in its beginnings and quiet middle, allowing for the big booming riff return to excel even more in fantastic fashion.

Desertica are much more chilled. MobyDick is three tracks across nearly an hour of long-form heavy psych instrumental jams, and, if caught in the right mood, will provide a perfect relaxation soundtrack. There’s rich history of such music from Argentina, Desetica well set to add themselves to that lineage through Colour Haze school stoner/psych, jams that go on for days and occasion forays into space-rock or doom, the few heavier moments serving to waken you from the lysergic stupor the music has approximated within you, as well as adding much needed variance.

Limerick’s Nílim are a solo act featuring a member of Karpackonaut, an improv doom band we featured twice on our podcast in the dark days of Covid. Back now on a different slant with Uncoiling, this is angular and strained music of a clanging industrial distant nightmare, all within a vaguely doom landscape. It reminds me of Doubtsower who we reviewed recently. It churns along on downcast riffs like a barraging machine – slow and blunt, just as they self-describe. The vocals are of the Conan worlds, and the final track is excellent with its atmospheric noise-rock. It is released on the 12th December.

We end with the speedy return of Grasshopper, whose debut release thrilled us so as recently as May. Last Days is a mere two tracks but still worthy of attention, further emboldening the case for Grasshooper being a leading band in the UK stoner rock scene in the very near future. 2 Ton Drum has a seriously funky guitar opening, with slacker suppressed vocals that fit in nicely, reminding me a little of another up and coming UK stoner rock band Requiem Blues. There’s a little Fu Manchu in the guitar inflection, but it generally resides in the heavy psych side of the sound, free and easy going. The title track is equally enjoyable, a soloing guitar present as the pace increases a fraction. Apparently, there will be a vinyl press of both releases together in the new year, so keep hold of any Christmas present money you may get for that.