A Certain Taste

I'm a relatively new convert to doom. I used to only consider heavy music if it was fast. The two were entwined in my mind. I didn't even find merit in slower songs by bands I did like. But tastes change with age, and maturity can bring a new appreciation for things that youth disregards. While I'm still not eating brussel sprouts, I now enjoy the slower side of heavy. Some things never change though. I'll always look for the most extreme version of the music I like, and I'll never vote Tory. Fitting then, that in searching for the heaviest, slowest modern band, I found one who likely also will never vote conservative. Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth is the 4th full-length from New England duo Body Void, their debut for Prosthetic Records, and their most disgusting to date. I mean that in the best way possible. Comprised of four tracks and sitting at just over 50 minutes, Bury Me...  is longer, and as a result, more punishing than 2019's You Will Know The Fe

My Ad Nauseum record came in the post last week and I was excited as hell to slap that baby on the turntable and blast my brain with dissonance. As I was ripping into the packaging like an over-eager toddler, my mother-in-law stopped me in my tracks and asked me what it was. Not that she doesn't know what records are of course. I showed her the artwork and the transparent smokey double LPs for Imperative Imperceptible Impulse and explained that it was avant-garde death metal, and it was interesting to me because it pushes what is already a very challenging genre close to breaking point. " Phew, that was a tricky question, " I thought, and immediately went back to planning my escape from the family for approximately 57 minutes. Then I was hit with an even harder question. " What is it you like about death metal then? " Where do you even start with a question like that?! I love hard and fast music. But gabber is both hard and fast and I'm not a fan. I love th

The lads in Allfather know how to make the most of a good riff. Their 2018 record And All Will Be Desolation  was dedicated to Hannemann, Pike, Cavalera and Cantrell and their merch is adorned with " Fuckin' riffs mate ". So what happens when a riff-heavy guitarist and a metal vocalist get bored during a pandemic? Apparently, they get together and write a five-track love letter to hardcore punk. All in the name of beer too! The motivation behind this project was to " find a way to put a positive spin on the emotions we have all been feeling over the last year or so, and have fun doing so ". In that regard, I think that the guys can call this a success. Guitarist, and I assume chief songwriter, Alan Cordner flows effortlessly between classic NYHC riffage and slower stoner and rock grooves, such as in the EP opener Unstoppable Hertz . His lead work across the album lifts this from simply being Sick Of It All worship to a strong and distinctive work in its own righ

I hate corporate talk and jargon. I'm sure you do too. But when you want to make an organisation successful it really does help to have some sort of mission statement: who you are and what you want to be. Take Unique Leader for example. It's not by accident that they are blowing fire up the arses of the industry's standard purveyors of heavy music. It's a shared vision and focus. I imagine they have a "live/love/laugh" style wall vinyl in the office that reads "go harder" because every release seems to be competing to be the heaviest thing I hear that month. Osiah is the latest band to fight that battle with Loss, their third full-length and second with Unique Leader. The band are looking to build on the reputation they have gained among deathcore fans during tours with Cattle Decapitation and The Faceless by bringing in genre heavyweights Jason Evans (Ingested) and Ben Duerr (Shadow of Intent) for guest spots. The band note: "Loss  is  Osiah ’s

It feels like I have to say this regularly but there are just so many albums and artists that have passed me by over the years that I have no idea why a certain band or artist is getting mad hype from the press.  Sometimes it's because a lot of music journalism is lazy and certain people in a bubble circle jerk over key bands or artists that moved the needle once. Sometimes it's because that band or artist has an impressive body of work that anyone who has been paying attention will have noticed. Well, I have not been paying attention. There were a couple of these in March. Different corners of the music journo world were shouting about Pupil Slicer, Mare Cognitum and Midnight Odyssey at seemingly the same time. One released their debut album, another is a solo BM project singing about space and the stars and another released part 2 of a series of work, clocking in at close to two hours. So which is which? Which one is a bit shit but journos spaff on about regardless, and which

I think comparisons between Hail The Sun and Dance Gavin Dance are unfair. True, there are similarities between the HTS' post-hardcore and what has been dubbed "Swancore" after the Dance Gavin dance guitarist and primary songwriter Will Swan. And it's also true that Hail The Sun was previously signed to Blue Swan Records and have played at Swan Fest. Oh, and members of both bands played together in the all-star side project Sianvar for a time. But... but! From the start, Hail The Sun have stood out from the crowd of copycats and pushed a myriad of influences into their sound to accompany the disconnected, spasmodic guitar that typifies the Swancore sound. Alongside the mathy and proggy elements HTS has displayed over the course of their 12 years together, the influence of the undeniable driving force that is Donovan Merelo cannot be underestimated in terms of shaping this sound. As the drummer, his apparent inability to play a straight beat adds a frenetic and janky s