ninehertz

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

The original tag line for ninehertz, when we started in 2004, was “stoner / doom / sludge / whatever”, the latter of which was our clumsy way of keeping our options open to cover anything that took our fancy. But of late, the ‘whatever’ has been somewhat neglected due to an avalanche of doom and psych releases to review, so this month’s round up is dedicated to the worlds beyond doom.

We begin with an incredible album, out on 1st May on Wrong Speed Records – The Grievance from Irked. This is punk of the highest of energies, riding a wave that will get you up dancing or shouting or both. Even in my overcast, boggiest of doom holes I found myself in, I always came back to this to get me back out. It is easy to get giddy about this, so lets – fourteen songs of absolute punk perfection, this Newcastle lot already had made a massive impression, but this will elevate them beyond cult status. I’ve had the song Green Space stuck in my head for days now.

Over in Montreal, there’s cause for celebration with the return of Ratpiss. Their previous EPs are held in high regard here and Sex/Violence/Death may be the best of the lot, brim-full of crust fuelled punk and sludgey noise. The opening Boltcutter is the most fun you can have in 74 seconds, as that grimy noise is added to by a surprising flair to the guitarwork and an infectious rhythm. The vocals can be fiercely impassioned, pushing it towards powerviolence at times.

Speaking of which, Ape Unit from Italy – known in the UK from sharing a split 7” with Horsebastard – are back with the ten-track, eleven-minute Sticks. They are grindcore and powerviolence to their core, but they stand out from the heaving crowds by incorporating these crazed elements – a surprise dissonant riff here, a glitchy noise segment there. It is still whirlwind, blink and you’ll miss it grinding chaos, but the nods to Jesus Lizard alongside Siege and Napalm Death in their influences are telling, and the final track has a The Locust gone primitive powerviolence vibe which is very cool.

The title of Slund’s latest is ominous – Last One – say it isn’t so Slund… To be fair, it’s been a ride, so would be fully deserving of a rest if it is indeed the end – 27 releases in under a decade for this Slovenian solo artist, noted for a toxic grind and sludge combination and the silliest of song name, lyrics and samples you’ll find. This is more on the grind end of the scale and contains everything we’ve come to love from Slund, even if it is a shame the lyrics aren’t typed out on bandcamp as usual. The comedic highlight has to be one second long No I Don’t (Suffer) riposte to Napalm Death, while the solitary reintroduction of a sludge side on Bore Me is my favourite from the purely musical perspective.

Moving away from the punk n grind, we find Dug on The Ghost Is Clear Records, with a four-track release entitled Mule. This is noise-rock, primarily, and all its weird and obtuseness – if anything ever stranger than normal for the genre. Take the song The Vessel, with its drum opening, dirtiest of fuzz tones and shouting vocals all before the semblance of a true beginning, more a rumble of feedback when combined with the persistent drum pattern. There is a clear noise-rock anger, a piano appearing from nowhere to shift it along a gear, and then a sludgey riff begins to form, only for it to disassemble once more. It is an uncomfortable, unusual and intriguing release all round.

London’s Low Road released this self-titled EP back in January but I’ve only just even heard of it and them so I’m including here, especially so because it takes a lot for me to be impressed by post-metal these days and they’ve done exactly that (especially as – or because? – my discovery of it was around the same time the Neurosis album took us all by surprise). They are masters of patience, as the genre demands, and this fondly recalls the formative albums of the genre – Oceanic, The Beyond, Australasia all recalled as I listen. It carries a fair weight at times too which never hurts and it is impressively atmospheric throughout.

From that debut release to an artist with a whole record collection’s worth – Bong-Ra are back once more with Esoterik and their unique brand of harsh mechanical industrial metal colliding with saxophone jazz and noise. What should be a cold experience is, at its best, a surprisingly warm sensation, even within the industrial pulsations and the chaos around them. There’s a detectable melancholy that you cling to, and real adventurism in other moments that align with the visionary Perdition City by Ulver.

For our final couple, we head into the extreme. Bog Walker’s Fester has become a staple of my headphones for trips to the shops or on school runs, their self-described “atmospheric mosh music” the perfect walking music to keep up your tempo. This is death metal with a riff addiction, maybe even edging towards the heaviest end of metal hardcore, with overarching similarities if needed to Sanguisugabogg. Within the deathly carnage there’s some outrageous grooves, even when it is at its most discordant. They change it up here and there too, bringing in grindcore blasts and more.

Finally, we arrive at Bekor Qilish, suitably out on its own at the end to allow it the cautionary space it requires as a quarantine from others. Consecrated Abysses of Dread is a madness, finding a secure home for its type on the wildly experimental I, Voidhanger Records. This is true avant garde death metal, featuring guest appearances from Krallice and Cosmic Putrefaction. The first song (Emptiness-Wrought Cognition) is bonkers and totally awesome with it, exemplifying the album. It sounds like an alien let loose in a neon arcade emporium, a bewildering experience to listen to as croaked vocals and rampaging guitars in a neo sci-fi maelstrom. There are occasional moments of more stabilised death metal (but not many), forays into black metal, and moments which remind me of Jute Gyte’s technicalities in the extreme. It is an overwhelming but rewarding listen.