SONANCE - Blackflower

GENRE -  Metal, Ambient, Atmospheric, Doom, Drone, Sludge
FFO - Trudger, Sumac, Tree Of Sores
D/L - Zippyshare or Bandcamp
FACEBOOK - TWITTER - PURCHASE

From the label:

Sonance started in early 2012, in front of a wall of amps and live visuals. A quintet concerned with creating atmospheric, interwoven arrangements; detailed and droned stretches that subside into sludge filled chasms as the bass pushes you through the floor and lifts dust from the walls. Their first album, ‘Like Ghosts’, was released on a variety of different formats in late 2012, including a vinyl release via Doognad records of Norway. ‘Blackflower’ maintains that same bleak and harsh aura of the band's first offering. The record is based around an epic centrepiece, but provides shorter bursts of standalone beauty absent from Like Ghosts; epic string sections burst into shrieking feedback-noise whilst vocals swim in the murk. A delicate precision that is beguiling. ‘Blackflower’ was recorded in a single take at Joe's Garage in Bristol, the band having mixed and mastered the record alongside creating the artwork. This type of assured artistic vision is one reason why SONANCE are one of the most exciting bands in the UK today. The vinyl copy of ’Blackflower’ also features a 10 minute extended version of the albums closing track, ‘Tearce’.

EKRANOPLAN - Self Titled

GENRE - Punk Crust, Metal, Hardcore, Sludge
FFO - Cursed, Holy, Deathrite
D/L - Zippyshare or Bandcamp
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Ekranoplan from Jena, Germany with members of Hungry Lungs & doom giants AHAB unleash their first record. Five songs filled with filth, hatred and low-fi energy. Expect a bastard of icy sludge, raging crust and precise grindcore annihilation all mixed with critical but hateful lyrics. Limited to 300 copies. 100 copies on black vinyl with white splatter & 200 copies black vinyl). The vinyl will be released May 8th, pre-order here.

POSSESSOR - Stay Dead

GENRE - Stoner Rock, Black Death Metal, Doom
FFO - Black Sabbath, Atlas, Waingro
D/L - Zippyshare or Bandcamp
FACEBOOK - INSTAGRAM

This is a massively enjoyable EP from London's Possessor. Awesome doom-punk tone to the guitars and strained vocals with tons of echo. And I swear to God they are using Black Sabbath's snare drum. This is what you listen to while carving pentagrams into schooldesks before skating home while headbanging with your hair in your face. Tons of evil and occult imagery as well, but what makes this band good is all the riffs and grooves in the music. Light some candles and turn this up.

ENDLESS SWARM / BRAINSHIT - Split

GENRE - Grindcore, Powerviolence, Hardcore Punk
FFO - ACxDC, Water Torture, Puig Destroyer
D/L - Zippyshare or Bandcamp
ENDLESS SWARM  -  BRAINSHIT

This split cassette is the newest release from Mind Ripper Collective. These two UK bands are from Edinburgh and Bedford, respectfully, and both bring a very oppressive and damaging style of grind/powerviolence. Neither band EVER lets up, and what you end up with here are 11 songs of pissed-off blast beats to the head. Screaming vocals, tons of distortion and plenty of feedback accompany all of this quite well. If you like this, each band has other releases on their Bandcamp pages that you will probably like as well.

NO FEALTY - They Love the Soil Which Makes Their Graves

GENRE - Punk Crust, Grindcore, Hardcore, Thrash
FFO - Torch Runner, Hatred Surge, Iron Lung
D/L - Zippyshare or Bandcamp
FACEBOOK

Here's the newest 8-song 10" from No Fealty, a Copenhagen based crust/hardcore band. They describe themsleves as caring about fast, loud, abrasive and aggressive music, politics, DIY and nice people. Their name basically means "No Loyalty". As far as their music goes, it's a non-stop barrage of ANGRY hardcore that stays mid-tempo for the most part, while dropping in bits of blast beats here and there along with a lot of interesting breakdowns. Above all else, the recording and production is top notch, making this record even more enjoyable.

WOUNDS - The Valley Of Death

GENRE - Blackened Death Metal, Hardcore
FFO - Ancst, Leviathan, Deafheaven
D/L - Zippyshare
FACEBOOK - PURCHASE

Wounds is a new band from Sarnia, Ontario, Canada that plays an interesting style of black metal/blackened death metal. Their debut release "The Valley of Death" was independently released in January of this year. While it only features 3 songs, you get your money's worth as it clocks in at over 27 minutes. Each song starts out beautifully and seamlessly evolves into a bobbing ocean of blackness, calming down just in time for the next track to start. I really enjoyed closing my eyes and listening to this EP, and if you are a fan of this genre, you will too. 

WHITE SPOT - Father Songs

GENRE - Experimental Grindcore, Noise Rock, Mathcore
FFO - The Locust, The Chariot, The Taos Hum
D/L - Zippyshare or Bandcamp
FACEBOOK - PURCHASE

White Spot is a genre bending, noise induced project filled with structured chaos containing elements of noise rock, mathcore, grind and sludge. Whats so impressive to me is that this is a one-man band. Marcus lives in the middle of Louisiana and, through a self-admitted bare-bones setup, manages to make some fantastic stuff. It would be easy enough I guess just to make some punk demos by yourself, but like I mentioned earlier, we're talking mathcore here. That means weird timing, weird breaks, weird everything sometimes. I mentioned White Spot's debut here last year and I'm happy to say that Father Songs is a worthy follow up. The songwriting is interesting, the production is big, and at no point does this feel like a "solo project". This is a no-brainer if you are into experimental hardcore at all. This is also getting a limited cassette release through Procurement Records. Pre-orders are now up on Bandcamp. They are limited to only 50 copies, with 3 of them being special editions, including alternate album art. The release date is 4/8/15.

REMINDER - New Burning Love 7" Is Out Now

Heads up in case you haven't picked this up already. The newest 7" from Burning Love is now available in vinyl & digital form. ALWAYS great to hear new music from this band, and this new stuff does not disappoint. This record picks up right where their last LP left off with their unmistakable punk/hardcore sound melded with the inimitable Chris Colohan lyrics/vocals you've come to expect. The vinyl has 2 songs and can be ordered from Deathwish (along with new shirts). You should get a digital download if you buy the 7", which includes a 3rd bonus song, or if you don't want the vinyl, just pick up the songs below for $2.50.

CORDELL - 2 EP's

GENRE - Blackened Crust, Hardcore, Punk
FFO - Amenra, Young And In The Way, Nails, False Light
D/L - Zippyshare or Bandcamp
FACEBOOK

Cordell is from Melbourne, Australia and describes themselves as a congregation of four friends that like crust and the cold weather. Earlier this year they release 2 EP's. Felo De Se, which contained 4 new songs, and Anything is Everything, Everything is Nothing, which is a re-recording of their 2013 Demo. That's 8 songs full of blast beats and guttural vocals played at a breakneck speed. As I listen to these EP's, the same comparison keeps coming to mind. FULL OF HELL. Maybe a little more rough around the edges, but that's how we like things around here, right? Needless to say, if you like Full Of Hell, get these EP's.

WAR WOLF / CROSSBURNER - Split

GENRE - Crust, Blackened Hardcore, Punk
FFO - Deathrite, Black Breath, Hellmouth
D/L - Zippyshare
WAR WOLF - CROSSBURNER

Absolutely killer split cassette that came out late last year but recently made available for free download. Crossburner is from Miltonn Keynes and formed in 2013. Taking influence from the early 90's Swedish death metal scene and mixing it with aggressive speed of 80's UK punk and hardcore, the sound is abusive and bleak. Expect buzzsaw guitar tones, D-beat onslaught and lyrical content that covers a range of topics from personal struggles to the Occult. War Wolf is from Brighton and formed in 2012. Where Crossburner leans towards the crust-side of hardcore, War Wolf punishingly lays down a thick coating of doom-tinged hardcore punk. Their LP "Crushing The Ways Of The Old" from 2013 was, and is still awesome. And of course, all of their stuff can be had on Bandcamp for free.