SLOWLY WE ROT - Poverty Of Existence

GENRE - Crust, Blackened Hardcore, Grindcore
FFO - End Reign, Harrowed, Depravation
D/L - Zippyshare or Bandcamp
FACEBOOK - PURCHASE

OK so this cassette came out a few months ago, and a lot of sites have covered it already, but I'm mentioning it again here because I love it so fucking much. As goofy-sounding as "Blackened Hardcore" is for a genre, it really is my absolute favorite kind of hardcore. And Slowly We Rot does it perfectly. Hailing from Belgium, they rose from the ashes of Worms Feed (who put out one of my favorite records still to this day), and this tape picks up right where WF left off. Again, for me, it all comes down to the production and execution. Something sounding solid while being out of control at the same time. Hardcore that's dark and mean, all the levels in the red, yet not sounding messy. I guess that's just a description of blackened hardcore. Whatever it is, it's fucking rad. So, if for some reason you haven't grabbed this yet, get it now. A link to buy the cassette is above and I also believe a vinyl release is planned.

GETS WORSE - White Horse

GENRE - Grindcore, Powerviolence, Hardcore
FFO - Fissure, ACxDC, Sick/Tired
D/L - Zippyshare or Bandcamp
FACEBOOK - TUMBLR - TWITTER

Gets Worse is a crazy high-energy, in your face powerviolence band from Leeds, England. They have been around for a while now, with releases going back to 2012. And every one of those releases is great. Super powerful, insane rhythm and spastic vocals all over the place. It helps that all 3 members are credited with singing. Their latest is the 7-track White Horse, and it's just as good, if not better than all their other stuff. So go and check it out. It, and everything else, is free at their Bandcamp page.

LOWEST POINT - S/T

GENRE - Chaotic Hardcore, Crust, Mathcore, Metal
FFO - Gorguts, Seizures, Coalesce, Coilguns
D/L - Zippyshare or Bandcamp
FACEBOOK - YOUTUBE

I'm having a hard time describing what I'm listening to while trying to write this review for Lowest Point, a 3-piece dissonant band from Toronto. Their music is a crust-laden, mad-science experiment that successfully intertwines mathcore, noise and metal all while crushing it into a gutter of hardcore. I can't help but be somewhat reminded of bands I used to listen to like Oxes or Pink and Brown, but thankfully Lowest Point sheds all the hipster bullshit that came attached to those bands. These five songs are REAL. The song structures impossibly stay together all while the music seems to be decaying around it. I don't know if this is making any sense because I think I'm having an anxiety attack right now. And for that, I thank this band. 

Lowest Point also references Cursed as a musical influence, which almost guarantees them a review here. And it just so happens that Alec (bass/vocals) made a short film called "Don't Call Me I Won't Call You" a few years ago about Toronto's most prolific extreme music artists. In it he interviews Chris Colohan about Cursed and there is some great Burning Love live footage. I remember watching this a long time ago and thinking how great it was. I just watched it again and it's still great, and you should watch it as well:

GODHOLE - S/T

GENRE - Powerviolence, Hardcore, Crust Punk
FFO - Nails, WVRM, Vermin Womb
D/L - Mediafire or Bandcamp
FACEBOOK - MERCH

HOLY SMOKES this is one mother of a release from the 3-piece Godhole from Edinburgh, Scotland. Billed as a "Double EP", this release really has two sides to it, no pun intended. Side A (which is what is on the physical vinyl release) is an incredible whirlwind of 7 of the most brutal powerviolence songs I have heard in a long time, all with a slight touch of black metal and crust. Really, this shit is so good. Now, Side B is not really my thing, but it's 7 more songs of atmospheric/noise so it's a bonus if you are into that stuff too. Beyond all of that, this really is a concept album of sorts. You can read more about it in detail at the Bandcamp page but to simplify it, the singer's brother committed suicide at a young age and while going through his brother's art and lyrics, he was inspired to take pieces of that and create this project. It's really an amazing thing to complete and you should really go read it in his own words for yourself.

TARSIUS TARSIER - Ceremonia de Atadura de Manos

GENRE - Blackened Hardcore, Crust, Punk
FFO - From Ashes Rise, Disfear, The Hope Conspracy
D/L - Zippyshare or Bandcamp
FACEBOOK - PURCHASE

Tarsius Tarsier, from Madrid, features current/ex members of Knowledge is a Weapon, Trecedeluno, Muerdelágrimas, Lösung & Forzuda. Two years ago, they gathered with the idea to play fast, dark and intense music, & Tarsius Tarsier was born. Although they didn't look for the sound of a particular band, they naturally transformed into one that can be compared to Ekkaia, Converge, Orchid or His Hero is Gone, to name a few. This is a GREAT release and if you even remotely like any of the bands mentioned, you need to take a listen.

TAKE THIS TOWN - Waking Dream

GENRE - Blackened Hardcore, Metal, Doom, Sludge
FFO - Rorcal, Celeste, Oathbreaker
D/L - Zippyshare or Bandcamp
FACEBOOK

Take This Town is a four-piece band from the Bavarian Forest in Germany that draws influences from black metal, sludge, doom and hardcore. They released their second EP last year, Waking Dream. While only 3 songs, it clocks in at over 13 minutes, and none of it is filler. The terrifyingly intense vocals create a great harmony with the hypnotic, sludge-like rhythm section. The only bad thing I can say about it is that there are not enough songs. Hopefully they make more.

CURSED EARTH - Vae Mortis

GENRE - Hardcore, Punk, Metal
FFO - Entombed, Black Breath, Code Orange Kids, Harms Way
D/L - Zippyshare or Bandcamp
FACEBOOK - YOUTUBE

Fuck, another amazing band from Australia. Cursed Earth is a female-fronted hardcore band from Perth. I'm seriously loving everything from Australia these days. Like Caged Grave and Removalist, this band straddles the line of so many genre's perfectly. Sort of like how Nails can be described as 10 different things at the same time, that's how this band is. Catchy, heavy and mean. That, and the badass cover art makes this a no-brainer.

THE BLONDE TONGUES - New Air Blues

GENRE - Punk, Rock
FFO - Rocket From The Crypt, Burning Love
D/L - Mediafire or Bandcamp
FACEBOOK - BIG CARTEL

The Blonde Tongues is a fairly new band that formed late last year in Tampa, FL with members of Florida's Reveal Renew, The Dead Legs & Sleep Patterns. They list their genre as simply "Rock", and I suppose that's fairly accurate. But this 4-song EP is much better than most "rock" you hear these days. Incredibly catchy, mid-tempo stuff that manages to sound nostalgic and brand new at the same time. The band screams "Florida", yet seems "California" too. Very weird, but very cool. They'll have a new record coming out soon too, I'm going to be looking out for it.

RORCAL / PROCESS OF GUILT - Split

GENRE - Black Metal, Doom, Drone, Crust
FFO - Cult Of Occult, Sumac, SUNN O)))
D/L - Zippyshare or Bandcamp
PURCHASE

I'm a little late on this one, but here's a great split if you are into Doom-y Crust stuff. Rorcal is from Geneva, Switzerland and formed in 2006. Lately they have become obsessively dark and heavy, Like its source of inspiration, Rorcal music has no boundaries, When Doom turns into Black, you can't expect anything but chaos. Process of Guilt started their existence in early 2002 having their foundations firmly based in doom and dark music. Process of Guilt paint desolate sonic landscapes and dig their own place in the scene even deeper. After a first premonitory meeting at the first edition of Amplifest in Portugal in 2011, Process of Guilt and Rorcal finally joined forces to present this split on Lost Pilgrim Records. Limited to 666 copies, you can still pick the LP up at the label's Bandcamp.

ADED - Monstrum

GENRE - Metal, Experimental, Hardcore, Mathcore
FFO - The Rodeo Idiot Engine, KEN mode, Oblivionized
D/L - Zippyshare or Bandcamp
FACEBOOK

Check out this 4-song EP from ADED, a project that isn't strictly mathcore, but definitely inspired by it. The recording and production is super compact and precise, but brutal at the same time. These songs give off a feeling that they were created in the bowels of some deep, dark factory somewhere. There's an overwhelming mechanical/industrial vibe to them that works really well with the hardcore aspect of the music. If David Lynch was into metal, I would imagine that this is what he would listen to.