Sweatin' the Small Stuff, Part I: Best EPs, Splits, Comps, and Demos of 2012

After my favorite full lengths of the year, here are my favorite EPs, demos, comps, and splits of 2012. Split into two parts, this is part one numbers 20-11.


20. 

Cold Cave - A Little Death to Laugh

Three songs, last a throw away, middle one okay, first track the catchiest thing this year. Seriously. Listen here







19.

Graf Orlock - L.A.

What I can I say? Cinema grind nerds Graf Orlock tackle one of the  90's best films (Heat) and make an EP about it and the sociological side of the city its set in. Graf Orlock's more Tom Sizemore and DeNiro than the rest, but it's not all THAT crazy.





18. 

Adversarial / Antediluvian - Initiated in Impiety as Mysteries

Two titans of modern-retro-heavier-than-fuck-Incantationcore death metal, what more could you want? This one's grown on me for sure, ignore the pompous titles and enjoy the crushing and sometimes truly bizarre stuff they come up with.





17.

Closet Case - It Doesn't Get Better

Old school hardcore; something I know very little about. But Closet Case don't belong in this century  the need to be wearing old flannel shirts and living in bumble-fuck middle america in the 90's to sound this pissed. A promising demo. And man, what a cover. Listen here






16. 

Teitanblood - Woven Black Arteries

So Purging Tongues came out last year and I made a big stink about it  even though I had no clue what it sounded like.  Now they've re-released that track with another and put it on this CD for us dolts to buy. "Purging Tongues" is cool, a bit too muddy for my liking, but whatever. I'm really going by the new track which is good, a bit more normal except one thing : the toms are twice as high as everything else. Who the fuck mixed this thing? It's like making a guitarist's A string twice as loud as every other string, instrument, or  singer. It's pretty fucking annoying. Rabble. I still like this though. duuur. Listen here



15.

Spewtilator - Inhale Awaits

Fuck Sleep. They might have an awesome 13 hour album about potheads trapped in the desert, but Atlanta's now defunct Spewtilator were the kind of potheads that would eat all your food, fuck your house up then bail as your parents come home. Inhale Awaits is fun and much trashier then previous efforts. And dude, "Into the Crypt of Rays!?" C'mon. P//S Review



14.

Slave -Demo 2012

This is what you hear when you're waiting in line at the DMV thinking of driving a F-350 through the line and  ripping the place apart. Solid PV from these upstarts in Alabama. Despise You cover makes it about 73% 3000% better.






13.

Moloch / Closure - Split

Representing the UK, Moloch's scummy sludge pairs well with Closure's pitch black power violence. Dismal and pissed, both bands were made for each other. P//S Review

Listen here




12.

Protestant / Suffering Mind - Split

Suffering Mind aka the best straight up grind band out there, brings out the grindier side of Milwaukee hardcore ragers Protestant with this super short and rough 6". Truly DIY, truly awesome. P//S Review






11.

Faith Addiction - Order From Chaos

I can't tell if they sound more like a death metal band trying to play power violence, or a power violence band trying to play death metal. But, either way this short EP is heavy, viscous and hits like a haymaker. Excited for more from them. Listen here





Top 10 eps, splits, demos, and comps to come soon.

Moloch / Closure

While power violence bands and sludge bands have always gone hand in hand, stylistically they still maintained a strong gap between each other; speed for one and lack of speed for the other. This gap seems to be filling fast. I don't particularly care so much, maybe because I was still wearing diapers when Infest were pummeling people's faces in or maybe because I got into punk in my early teens in hopes of finding heavier and more powerful affairs. Regardless, Moloch's latest effort, a split with countrymen Closure showcases this gap's near end.

Closure plays the kind of stuff I stay up all night hunting blogs and webstores for, a type of power violence that just wants to play Dopesick. The guitars are wet concrete oozing through rusted pipes that eventually get dialed up into a vicious mixture of blast beats and faster vocals. Their side reminds me a lot of the nearly perfect Prodigal Son Brings Death by PV mainstays Mind Eraser. The production is a bit more genuine here and not as overblown and heavy as the aforementioned EP and the band's tendency to beatdown and ride a slower paces works perfectly as no one expects Moloch to hit anything more than a trot. A great match for their sludgy counterparts, Closure does more than I could've asked for having never heard them before.

While Moloch's trademark has been lurches of tortured vocals and painful amounts of feedback in between juggernaut riffs and crashing drums, the band decides to rock out a bit at a more constant and midpaced rhythm this time around. Starting with some tom play and a buzzing riff, Moloch's side eventually slows down  only to shoot out into this nifty syncopated beat and a noodly Southern inspired lick and of course back into comfortable dirge territory as things progress. Continuing the progression and incorporation of a more varied style that began with Possession, Moloch reign supreme on this excellent split.

Feast of Tentacles
2012