Review of Desolate by Musket Hawk

Band: Musket Hawk
Album: Desolate
Release Date: 6 May 2016
Record Label: Unholy Anarchy Records
Buy on CD ($9.99) from: Unholy Anarchy
Buy as mp3 ($9.99) from: iTunes

Desolate by Musket Hawk

Baltimore’s Musket Hawk put out a a full length in May titled Desolate, despite the quite vibrant colors in cover art. DCHM reviewer Buzzo Jr spent some time with the album and wrote the following review of it. Be sure to stream a few songs at the end of the post as well!

Baltimore’s own sludge/grind trio Musket Hawk are back with Desolate; their second full length album since their self released debut, The Form of Disgust, from three years prior. On their newest release, the dudes in Musket Hawk go full throttle with an intense mixture of sludge, grindcore, and stoner metal.

Sludge and grindcore are two of my favorite subgenres of metal, so it’s always great when more bands successfully merge the two together. Musket Hawk’s Desolate is a perfect example of this fusion of genres done right. The album starts off at a speedy pace with the first two tracks “Pollute Your Throat” and “Reluctant Punk;” both filled with fast, heavy riffs and rapid blast beats interspersed with slower sludge based sections. The next two tracks “Jeweler” and “The Grove” are more mid paced tracks, with “Jeweler” being centered around a grooving breakdown while “The Grove” opens up with a great deal of black metal influence in its riffing structure. Marty Spiro’s guitar work on here is superb, laying down thick riffs that intertwine with Gary Fry’s fuzzy basslines. One of the standout elements of this album are the dual vocals of Gary and Marty; interchanging between deep low gutturals and sharp high pitched screeches. While more grind oriented in nature, the vocals also lend themselves to the more sludge based sections of the albums as well. At times they almost sounded like the frantic cries of a wounded animal; perfectly adding to the grimy atmosphere that the riffs already provide.

While the first four tracks on the album were much more crusty and murky, the second half of Desolate begins to flirt a bit more with melody and stoner rock influences. The B-side begins with “Connois Sewer,” a track that opens with some melodic guitar lines before exploding back into the heavy riffs of previous tracks, although a good deal of melodic undertone is layered into the remainder of the song. “Space Ray Houska” soon comes up next, a track that showcases some post rock elements at its mid way point. Jason Goodman’s drumming on this track is great, transitioning between mid paced d-beats, to slow primal thuds, to all out blast beats. While the drumming is great from a technical standpoint, they did seem to sound a tad wooden when it came to the bass pedal’s sound, but other than that I can’t find any issue with them. My favorite track on Desolate is the seventh track, “Tweed After Dark;” another faster paced track that has an epic melodic line coursing through the song along with the pummeling riffs, giving it an almost Iron Maiden meets High On Fire type vibe. The album comes to a close with the six minute “Candidate For a Knife”; a massive slab of sludgy riffage that goes from a slow doomy dirge, to hyperspeed grind and back again.

Musket Hawk’s newest album is a brilliant fusion of some of the most abrasive genres in modern metal, and at the same time is an album that has a great deal of amazing melody at its forefront. Definitely give this album a listen if you are a fan of grimey, dark sludge and grindcore, and be sure to catch Musket Hawk on the 22nd of July when they play with the legendary Belgian band Agathocles at the Windup Space in Baltimore (details here).

Tweed After Dark:

Space-Ray Houska:

July 7, 2016
Categories: Album Reviews, Grind, Local Band Info, Washington DC / Maryland / Virginia Metal Scene . Tags: , , . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: 1 Comment

Something new planned on DCHM

I’m always looking for ways to use new forms of social media on DCHeavyMetal.com and this weekend I’ll be doing my first live streaming video interview on Periscope, a free video streaming app for both iOS and Android. On Saturday, May 13th (that’s tomorrow!) some time around 7:30 or 8pm I’ll be at DC Brau with Richard Johnson of Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Drugs Of Faith talking about the upcoming ANb show at the Black Cat on May 21st, beer, music and anything else that comes to mind. I’ll also have a free pair of tickets to give to the person with the best question for Richard!

Periscope is owned by Twitter so if you have a Twitter account you’ve already got a Periscope account. The cool thing about Periscope is that it will let people watching ask their own questions that we can answer in real time. And on Saturday I’ll have a pair of tickets to give away to whoever has the best question for Richard. All you need to watch or join in is a smart phone (with the Periscope app) or a computer with a browser and the link to my account conveniently posted right here: www.periscope.tv/metalchris

If you can’t watch live don’t worry, I plan on saving the stream and posting it to YouTube and on the main site for people to watch later. If this goes well then I hope to do more interviews with metal musicians at local breweries and bars around town in the future. I hope you enjoy the first in a series of interviews I’d like to call “Have A Beer With…” so join us Saturday evening and have a beer with Richard Johnson of Agoraphobic Nosebleed!

Agoraphobic Nosebleed at the Black Cat

May 13, 2016
Categories: Black Cat, Contests, Grind . Tags: , , , , . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: Leave a comment

Napalm Death and Melvins ticket give away

Napalm Death and the Melvins at the 9:30 Club

Since we had so many entries in our DC Brau 5th Anniversary concert contest last week, and we really wanted everyone to win, this week we’re doubling down on ticket give aways. First up we’ve got tickets to see Napalm Death and the Melvins at the 9:30 Club on Tuesday, April 12th, 2016! If you want tickets to this epic show (and I know you do) then you need to enter by leaving a comment on this post telling me which band on the bill you’re the most excited to see (and don’t forget Melt-Banana is playing too!). At 5pm EST on Monday, April 4th, 2016, the contest will end I’ll pick a winner at random (using Random.org) from all valid entries to win the tickets. Be sure to use a valid email you check regularly so I can contact you if you win. Don’t worry, I won’t add you to any spam lists or sell your info or anything sleazy like that. If I haven’t heard back from the winner in 24 hours another winner will be chosen at random. If you can’t wait to see if you win or the contest is already over when you read this, then you can get tickets from Ticket Fly for just $30 here.

Napalm Death is one of the fathers of grind but what is most amazing about their career is that they keep putting out incredible records after 30+ years! Seriously, try to think of another band that has putting out that high quality of material after that much time, it’s not easy! Oh wait, I just thought of one, the Melvins! The genre defying masters of the bizarre and experimental seem to be able to change their style at will while still keeping that “Melvins” sound. Melt-Banana is an experimental Japanese band that rides the line somewhere between grind, noise, rock, electronica and pop. Every band on this bill is truly unique and it should make for a night to remember! Plus, when the hell else are you going to see Napalm Death play on a stage that is as big (and sounds as good) as at the 9:30 Club? Now check out these videos by all three bands on the bill and tell me in the comments which one you want to see the most!

Napalm Death – How The Years Condemn

Melvins – Honey Bucket
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp5r9qwqpPc

Melt-Banana – The Hive

March 29, 2016
Categories: Contests, Grind, Nightclub 9:30 . Tags: , , , , , . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: 31 Comments

Review of Arc by Agoraphobic Nosebleed

Band: Agoraphobic Nosebleed
Album: Arc
Release Date: 22 January 2016
Record Label: Relapse Records
Buy on CD ($11) or digital ($6) or vinyl ($19) from: Bandcamp

Arc by Agoraphobic Nosebleed

Locals Agoraphobic Nosebleed have been very active lately. They recently started performing their first live shows at various festivals around the world (including their first ever live performance at last year’s Maryland Deathfest). Now they’re working on putting out a series of EPs that each feature a different band member’s musical tastes. When I heard the first of these was going to be a slower, more sludgey album I knew that DCHM writer Buzzo Jr would be perfect to review it since he is a fan of both grind and sludge metal. What follows is his take on the first studio recording of this new era for Agoraphobic Nosebleed. And don’t forget to stream a track from it at the end of this post!

Grindcore legends Agoraphobic Nosebleed have been delivering hyperspeed audio assaults fueled by manic riffs and machine gun tempo drum machines since the early 90’s. The band have since experimented with harsh noise, power electronics, and crossover thrash. Their experimentation continues with Arc, the first in the series of EPs the band is releasing that will each have a separate style representing a different member’s musical taste. Driven by vocalist Kat Katz, Arc is definitely a major departure from the ultra fast grind/crossover style Agoraphobic Nosebleed is infamous for, and instead is a slow, heavy, 3 song slab of sludge metal. If this was your first time listening to them, I’m pretty sure you would be quite surprised to learn that this is the same band that released Altered States of America; a frantic 100 song EP clocking in at only 20 minutes.

Arc gets the ball rolling with “Not a Daughter,” a relentlessly groovy track that at some points sounds almost upbeat with its swaying, southern feel. I don’t think anyone has ever dared to use the term “catchy” to describe an Agoraphobic Nosebleed song, but I’ll be damned if I can find a better description for the bluesy, pulsating riffs that guitarist Scott Hull unleashes here. Hull, also of local grindcore band Pig Destroyer, has flirted with slower, doomy material in the past on some Agoraphobic Nosebleed tracks and with Pig Destroyer’s Mass & Volume EP, but on this album it seems as if he’s actually been in at least 3 secret sludge bands. The riffs here are something I would expect from seasoned sludge veterans like Jimmy Bower of Eyehategod or Buzz Osbourne of the Melvins. The mid paced grooves of “Not a Daughter” soon give way to the next track, “Deathbed.” Any sense of slight optimism that may have been heard in the first track are now all but gone, with the pace coming to a slow dirge that creeps along with a spiteful sonic intensity. Agoraphobic Nosebleed has always been instantly recognizable for their use of incredibly fast drum machine blast beats, giving their early releases an almost machine like feel to them. Scott Hull’s programming skills have vastly improved throughout the years however, and on Arc the pounding drumbeats feel completely organic; at times I almost completely forgot that Agoraphobic Nosebleed didn’t have a drummer. The methodical pace of the drums on this album show that Hull definitely knows what he’s doing. Hull also handles the basswork on all of the tracks, and while not as exceptional as his guitar work, the flowing basslines on all of the tracks provide a great backbone to the rest of the music. The EP soon comes to a close with “Gnaw”, a mammothly crushing track filled to the brim with slow, sinister riffs and tormented screams. Vocalist Kat Katz is front and center on this album, with her howling screams and low growls echoing along with Scott Hull’s brilliant guitar and drum work. Kat is no stranger to doom and sludge, as many will remember her amazing vocals from her time in local doom band Salome. While not exactly a replication of past work, it’s great to hear Kat’s amazing vocals alongside slower material once again. Apart from the major change in tempo and number of songs, another huge change that listeners will notice about Arc is the subject matter of the tracks. You won’t find any songs like “Dick to Mouth Resuscitation” or “Druggernaut Jug Fuck” on here. The morbid comedy of past Agoraphobic Nosebleed tracks are instead replaced with much more personal tone. The lyrics on Arc are all written by Kat Katz, and revolve around her dealing with the death of her mother who suffered from schizophrenia. The intense personal meaning in the songs gives even more weight to them; with the emotional severity adding to the bleak tone the album already conveys.

The band is planning to release the rest of the EPs later this year, and I’m pretty psyched to hear how they differ from this and all of the previous Agoraphobic releases. Those of you who were expecting just another hyperspeed offering of grindcore may be disappointed, but if you’re open to a band experimenting with vastly different musical influences, and are a fan of slow, Black Sabbath worshipping tunes, then this is for you. Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s Arc is a major departure from the sound we know them for, but it’s proof that experimentation can bring forth great results. For those still sad about Salome breaking up (myself included) this is a great way to appease your need for more local sludge driven by Kat’s peircing howls. Definitely give this album a listen and don’t miss Agoraphobic Nosebleed when they play their first ever local headline show at the Black Cat in May!

February 5, 2016
Categories: Album Reviews, Grind, Local Band Info, Sludge Metal, Washington DC / Maryland / Virginia Metal Scene . Tags: , , . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: Leave a comment

Review of The Insolent by Antigama

Band: Antigama
Album: The Insolent
Release Date: 7 May 2015
Record Label: Selfmadegod Records
Buy CD ($10) or digital ($8) or vinyl ($15) or cassette tape ($8) from: Bandcamp

The Insolent by Antigama

At the end of every year I like to give my album review writers the chance to write about not their favorite album of the year but the one they think was most overlooked and deserving of more attention. The albums don’t have to be from the local scene like most of the reviews on DCHM and the choice is totally up to them. Today is Buzzo Jr’s turn and, well, I’ll let his words do the talking from here.

There was a ton of awesome heavy music that was released this year, but an unfortunate amount of it went rather unnoticed by most people. One of those releases that I felt wasn’t given enough praise this year was The Insolent. The Insolent is the newest full length album from grindcore outfit Antigama; a band that has been delivering punishing tunes ever since the they formed in Warsaw, Poland, at the dawn of the millennium. With their seventh album, Antigama offers up a vicious array of grindcore tracks that that experiment with tempo and technicality.

The Insolent comes roaring straight out of the gate with the one-two punch of the tracks “Reward or Punishment” and “Foul Play,” both of which consist of blisteringly fast blast beats and energetic guitar riffs. Keeping within standard grindcore conventions, these first two tracks are very short; with neither of them breaking the two minute mark. Those who think that they are in for just another standard grindcore album are in for a surprise however, as they will soon realize that as the album progresses, the tracks get longer and more and more experimental. The next two tracks “Data Overload” and “Used To” bring the tempo of the album down slightly with distorted, industrial sounding grooves that are interspersed with sections of the familiar break neck speed found at the start of the record. Some grindcore bands often treat the bass guitar as a secondary instrument or shirks it in the production entirely making it all but inaudible and placing more emphasis to the lead guitar. This isn’t the case on this album however; Sebastian Kucharski’s bass is nice and audible, giving off a strong metallic twang. The flow of the album changes up again with “Randomize the Algorithm”; one of the more technical tracks on the album. The track opens with a brief audio sample from the 1995 supernatural horror film The Prophecy, (a pretty bad film in my not so humble opinion) and soon erupts into a barrage of start/stop riffage, dynamic bass lines, and tortured vocals roaring over it all. Sebastian Rockicki shows off his proficient guitar skills on this track especially; fusing traditional grindcore structures with more complex patterns to create a harsh, atonal sound that seems to take influence from the industrial sounds of Godflesh and the multi-layered, dissonant tunes found in Gorguts’ Obscura album. The title track that soon follows is also jam packed with varying time signatures and corkscrewing riffs. The drumming on The Insolent is fantastic, and the title track provides the best example of Paweł Jaroszewicz’s incredible versatility on the drum kit. In the span of only two minutes, he transitions from hyperspeed blast beats to jazzy, polyrhythmic drum fills; meshing perfectly with the bass and guitar barrage provided by the two Sebastians.

The second half of The Insolent starts with the track “Sentenced to the Void,” a mid paced stomper filled with crunching grooves and thunderous vocals. Lukasz Myszkowski is a force of nature on this track, delivering cataclysmic roars that are soaked in distortion and vocal effects. The experimentation on the record comes out again in “Out Beyond”; a spacey track that makes good use of electronic effects to create an otherworldly atmosphere. The track is almost completely instrumental but for the last few seconds when the sample of a countdown to a launch is heard, perfectly leading into the track “Eraser”; another hyperfast display of technical riffs and vocal terror that slows again near the end to segue into the final track; “The Land of Monotony.” At over seven minutes long, this track is a slow, crushing slab of sludgy riffs and pounding drums. It provides a stark contrast to the balls to the wall speed of the majority of the album, giving a terminal sense of finality. The track at some points seems to be ticking down to its very last moments before coming to a void-like silence after the last echoes of Lukasz’s vocals fade away. There isn’t a single bad track on this album, although people who are looking for a more straightforward grindcore album may be put off by the slower, longer tracks near the end. That being said, if you were ever wondering what it would sound like if you took the spacey experimental style of Voivod and merged it with the balls out fury of Pig Destroyer, look no further than right here.

The Insolent is one of the best releases of 2015; grindcore or otherwise. If you consider yourself a fan of grindcore and experimental music, then give this album a spin and make sure to catch Antigama live if you ever have the opportunity, because I can say from first hand experience that they always put on one hell of a show. Here’s to another year of great underground music!

December 29, 2015
Categories: Album Reviews, Grind . Tags: , , . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: Leave a comment

Review of B.C.G.C. by Clay Davis

Band: Clay Davis
Album: B.C.G.C.
Release Date: 11 August 2015
Record Label: Grimoire Records
Buy cassette ($5) or digital ($4) from: Bandcamp
Buy 7″ vinyl ($6) from: Fake Crab Records

B.C.G.C. by Clay Davis

Next week there’s another new release coming from local label Grimoire Records! DCHM writer Buzzo Jr got his hands on a copy and reviewed it, though you can stream the release at the bottom of this post. It comes in a few different formats (listed above) and all are pretty cheap so if you dig it then send them a few bucks and get your very own copy.

Taking their name from the corrupt, profanity spewing senator from The Wire, Baltimore powerviolence two-piece Clay Davis make their full length debut with “B.C.G.C.” As the name of the genre may suggest, powerviolence is a genre that is built upon a foundation of tumultuous anger, furious noise, and relentless aggression, much like the similar genre of grindcore. Clay Davis fully deliver on all of these fronts, putting forth what is one of the best local releases this year so far.

It’s become almost standard nowadays for powerviolence and grindcore bands to either bury the bass in the mix or reject the idea of having a bassist altogether, opting for a drum and guitar setup. Clay Davis does the reverse of this, and instead goes without a guitar and lets the bass do the work. The lack of a guitarist doesn’t hold the sound back at all, with Thor Buntin’s monstrous bass lines and thick sludgy tone pummeling through and doling out incredibly intimidating riffs. The drumming is fantastic, with Mike Barth’s explosive blasts and hyperspeed fills giving a frenzied feel to the songs. Mike also switches up his style on the songs “Hit with a Brick” and “Construct of Ruin,” playing at a much slower pace. These tracks may not be as fast as the the others, but don’t let that fool you into thinking they’re any less intense. If the faster tracks are a series of stab wounds from a butterfly knife, then these slower tracks are a blow to the face with a steel toed boot. Thor and Mike’s alternating vocals go between belted hardcore-style shouting, pained, high pitched shrieking, and deep deathgrind style growls. The variety in the vocal styles keeps the flow going, and prevents the tracks from blending together.

A good description for “B.C.G.C” is that it’s the sonic equivalent of getting beaten down in a seedy alleyway. It’s grimy, filthy, and pissed off. While some listeners may be left wanting more due to the short running time, I personally feel that the short length is what makes it so effective. At only ten minutes long, with tracks averaging just under a minute, this album kicks you square in the teeth and leaves you wondering what the hell just happened. I probably listened to this in full four times back to back, loving it more and more each time. The majority of the tracks on “B.C.G.C” whiz by at an incredibly fast pace, offering the listener little to no room to catch their breath and prepare for the next round of chaos. A track that definitely stood out to me was the humorously titled “Poser Disposer,” which starts out with a great breakdown and then erupts into a full speed barrage of crushing riffs and insane blast beats.

I definitely recommend you pick up this record if you’re a fan powerviolence and grindcore similar to Weekend Nachos and DC’s own Magrudergrind (who are now based out of Brooklyn). Clay Davis’ “B.C.G.C” does not mess around. This album is gritty, vitriolic, and straight up angry. Look no further than right here when you need a soundtrack to getting jumped for your wallet and shoes in Pigtown. There’s a pretty good chance that the first thing out of your mouth upon hearing this record will be senator Davis’s favorite exclamation.

https://soundcloud.com/noel-grimoire-phil/sets/clay-davis-bcgc/s-kCYbF

August 7, 2015
Categories: Album Reviews, Grind, Local Band Info, Washington DC / Maryland / Virginia Metal Scene . Tags: , , , , . Author: Metal Chris . Comments: Leave a comment

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