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

Hope everyone's had a good holiday. I ate way too much, played too much Wii U and got to see my newborn nephew, so it was great.

Check out my favorite albums of the year and part 1 of my favorite eps, comps, splits, and demos if you haven't already.

Without further delay, here are my favorite eps, splits, demos, comps of 2012.

10.

Meth Lab - Demo

Knuckle dragging power violence smothered in a cloud of basement brewed meth and plenty of shifts in rhythm make this demo a year's favorite for getting some aggression out. P//S Review



9.

False Light - False Light

Brackish, down tuned power violence with enough beatdowns and feedback to make your stupid Hatebreed fan friend a true believer in power violence.


8.

Obolus - Lament

Dense and distant black metal with enough doses of WITTR and the like, but sans the fat and length. Perfect for winter nights.



7.

Beatriz Carnicero - No Reces

An impressive showing from these upstarts from Uruguay. Classic Slap-a-Ham nostalgia wrapped up with a robust production and plenty of dynamics to keep your arms swinging. P//S Review




6.

thedowngoing - athousandyearsofdarkness

One of those bands you "need to know" Australia's thedowngoing mix torrents of feedback, modulated vocals, angular guitars, and cascading drums into a coherrant mess of noisy grindcore that's absolutely gripping. P//S Review


5.

Water Torture - Shellfire!

Maybe my new favorite band, Buffalo's Water Torture are making up for their hometown sports team's horrid showings with a recent slew of releases. The band does the unthinkable in actually being good without having a guitarist. Heavy, vicious, painful and alluring, Water Torture find an odd balance between catchiness, heaviness, and energy with their brand of noisy power violence. Few things stick as well as the ending breakdown with the words shouted "everyone I know is fucking dead to me" and jumping right into this jazzy kind of synth run.

4.

Burial - Kindred

I was hesitant at first due to the fast and constant beat, but I should know better as U.K. godhead Burial is his normal self in creating an alluring, foggy, and urban sounding soundtrack to a night lost on the street. Listen here.


3.

V/A - Monomaniac Vol. 1

A great "who's who" of modern fast music encompassing unreleased material from grindcore, power violence, and even black metal bands. Particular highlights are Bodyhammer, thedowngoing, Cloud Rat, and Diocletian. P//S Review.


2.

Flourishing - Intersubjectivity

A fast dirge of dissonance, melody, and brutality makes Intersubjectivity one of the most unique and best things to come out this year. While I couldn't get into The Sum of Fossils I think this one is so paradoxically perfect in so many ways that it's hard not to get lost in. Pushing the envelope right out of the door, Brooklyn's Flourishing are on point with this one. P//S Review



1. 

Deathspell Omega - Drought

One of those releases where I struggle to talk about it like I'm some nervous wiener on his first date. There's just so much to say about this gift of an ep. It's what Deathspell Omega's been working towards ever since Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice. Where they got a bit ahead of themselves and lost with Fas - Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum, Paracletus finally bridged the gap between dissonance, abstraction, and melody yet was still very chaotic. With Drought DsO's simply perfected their sound. I don't know if the band will be able to outdo Drought's uncanny ability to weave in between multiple moods without space in between and to never be uncomfortable or jarring. The best release this year by a long shot, Drought is a wisp of a dream fully fleshed out into something tangible and perfect. Listen.

Monomaniac Vol. 1

Back in the day, a day I probably don't have much business talking about, procuring music was more difficult and expensive; hence compilations provided a necessary role for those without buckets of money. Growing up I indulged in plenty of shitty compilation cds and would find one or two bands worth a damn and was thankful for that. A bit of nostalgia in that regard as Blastbeat Mailmurder's Monomaniac Vol 1 occupies an excellent niche in the grindcore world as it brings together many bands ready to burst into international acclaim (and all tracks exclusive to this comp).

Keeping with the comp's theme of roughly 1 minute offerings, I'll describe each track with one sentence.

Michigan grinders Cloud Rat start things off with "Finger Print;" a jam those Finns Rotten Sound wish they could pen.

Following up are 3 frantic, noisy and raw outbursts from Australian favorites thedowngoing (review for their latest athousandyearsofdarkness).

"Birthday Party" shows Detroit's strong suit in penning a 34 second grinder that's as elaborate and thick as you could get.

My first introduction to Sete Star Sept isn't pretty, nor is their brand of noiser than thou grind encapsulated by "Why not Intersect."

Body Hammer's "Dog Star Man" rounds off the noisy escapades with an awesomely haunting track that's 1 part grind and 2 parts evil souls lost at space.

Head Cleaner offer up the most metal approached grinder of the comp with "The Weapon of the Proletariat," which disappointingly lacks a bit of the muck the other bands include.

Diocletian's "Traitor's Gallow" is a welcomed change of pace as it ushers in one of two awesomely brutal and rough black metal tracks that incorporate an ugly breath of death metal.

The Howling Wind offer a strand of their subterranean and bizarre conjuration of black metal seen through grinder's eyes with "Bewilderment."

"Beneath the Emblems of Death" is the comp's other brutally ugly blacken death metal track courtesy of Sempiternal Dusk.

Things end on an unsettling, abstract, and alluring note revolving around noises and one noodley guitar line with This is Past's contribution "Catatonia."

A great comp showcasing bands from all over the globe that you should hear. I particularly like the combo of black metal bands with grindcore bands as it's always been a marriage I've advocated. I'm particularly fond of Body Hammer and Diocletian's contributions to this comp.

Dephosphorus - Night Sky Transform

Without a doubt, grindcore can be a restrictive genre. Any genre could be I guess, but few more than grindcore as its pillars lay in short songs, a hybrid of punk and metal stylings and speed above all else. Some bands have successfully pushed the envelope, yet still retained enough of the zing that allows you to make the jump from Napalm Death to their sound. Examples aren't illusive, nor are they plentiful. Bands like Gridlink, Gride, and thedowngoing are just a few examples of successful innovation in the oft narrow minded world of grindcore. And while those acts are all great, few bands have the ability to become  unrecognizable or rather transcendent of genre;one such act being Greece's Dephosphorus.

Fully cognizant of all the tricks in the book, Dephosphorus need not look to the stars to realize how far ahead in the game they really are. Appetites were whetted with their splits with Wake and Great Falls, but neither can compare to the band's current pinnacle Night Sky Transform.

Foggy, dense, and ponderous, Night Sky Transform finds strength in nearly every facet possible. Songs are well constructed and diverse, from straight grinders like "Cold Omen" to a drawn out dirge like "The Fermi Paradox," Dephosphorus encompass so much in so little. This is the crux of their sound and what makes the album so enjoyable. "Starless" has an infectious groove that has made it my favorite track on the album. Needless to say, like any good album, each track retains a thread, yet reinforces and builds the stitch.

Strained vocals, audible at times, viral at others, compliment the superb guitars well as they highlight the emphasis's and scatter great lyrics like Orthodox incense. Shrouded in references and obscurities, lyrics often hint at grounded issues such as issues of authority or god, but other, more lofty ones such as our place in the Universe and the possibilities of other life and what forces propel us. Thankfully,  the band never comes off pretentious  but rather alluring like a modern Lovecraftian wonder in all things starry and untouchable.

As the album fades, the words "all hail Aurora" are chanted, maybe implying the Roman goddess who brought dawn to the world. Thought of this way, Night Sky Transform plays to change and creation and effectively ushers in one of the most original, powerful and simply awesome sounds in music today.

All hail Dephosphorus.

Bandcampers: "This One Time at Bandcamp ... I Paid for a Download"

When my allowance was bounced up to $15 a week the only logical destination for my cash was the local record shop. There, I was guided through classics like Fresh Fruit For the Rotting Vegetables, Damaged, and Among the Living. When I looked for things on my own I was left with few options or waiting on the owner to order it. Scouring the web for obscure French black metal or long out of print British crust left few options as my parents wouldn't offer a credit card and money orders/mailing cash seemed a bit too much for me at 13. Enter Napster.

I cuaght the tail-end of Napster, but fully embraced (and later suffered) Kazaa and flimsily grasped torrents. Thankfully alternatives filled Napster's gap and Myspace/Youtube became the new purveyor for previewing a band. Still, the problem was unsolved for cds/records that were out of print and without alternative means some music simply became impossible to listen to. This is why, more than Myspace, which was never great at all, Bandcamp and similar sites have filled important roles.

Bandcamp to me is so crucial because it's so simple. No friends to add, or pictures and ads to get lost in, just the music I came here for. For those of you unfamiliar with Bandcamp, it is a site tailored to each artist/label that provides the ability to sell music as well as stream full releases. Downloads typically are "pay what you'd like to" and are available in almost every format/quality (many times free downloads are an option). Mathias Huxley, half of Australia's thedowngoing, points out that "...the direct connection between artist and fan is a great way for independent artists to keep their fans up to date on their music and releases." This connection is something lacking in entities like Amazon and iTunes.

Will Butler, sole dude behind To Live a Lie Records has been on a mission to upload as much of his label's discography as possible to bandcamp, and all for free. Proudly posted on TLAL's facebook Mr. Butler claims "zero dollars made on Bandcamp and counting!" While many bands and labels stress the option to download the music for free or whatever you wish, the streaming ability has proven to be another great asset. Fellow label runner, Adam Bartlett of Gilead Media, feels that...

"Bandcamp changed the way I operate the label. They've given me an amazing outlet for streaming and downloadable audio that directly benefits the bands and the label. They filled an enormous void where many other sites tried and failed."

While Mr. Bartlett and I's backgrounds might be different, I completely agree that Bandcamp has only been an improvement for fans, labels, and the bands themselves (and hopefully is the death knell for buggy, awful quality Myspace). I spend a lot of time going through records, whether it be in a real store, or online, so having the ability to listen beforehand has been humongous.

Many labels are using Bandcamp to showcase their catalog, Grindcore Karaokee however is an unusual presence in that it is a label strictly operating through Bandcamp. Run by Agoraphobic Nosebleed vocalist Jay Randall, Grindcore Karaokee has a vast catalog of bands covering every possible spectrum of grindcore and all available for streaming or free downloads. This offers a unique and easy to access platform for many smaller acts and those who lack the means for larger physical distribution.

I'll admit my perspective might be narrow in regards to the world of trends and the music biz, being that I grew up with cassettes and saw their demise and was really a child of CDs, but in an age were people are less inclined to pay for digital files, Bandcamp has been a pleasant surprise and an effective halfway point between blog-whoring download links and artists/labels getting their names out. As Mr. Butler points out...

"The Internet is a great place, and I'm scared the SOPA thing, ISP monitoring downloading, and the whole download blog crackdown is going to affect free underground music heavily... so these are my wants to keep my releases available for free (Bandcamp) and cheap but making the money count (digital distribution via my aggregator)."

If we are entering an era of a Phillip K. Dick-like crackdowns on internet freedoms, then Bandcamp might be a strong contender for maintaining our collective wants as enthusiasts and supporters of independent bands and labels.

thedowngoing - athousandyearsofdarkness

Much like watching a film that's most enjoyable when everything seems to have gone wrong or gotten weird (like Altered States) the best part of thedowngoing is seeing how far they will spiral out of control. The band thankfully doesn't just devolve into painful noise, but rather straddles a horizon of experimentation and familiar grindcore tropes  to create a sound that can't be cornered.

The noisy grind duo have gotten pretty damn close to perfecting the art of being incoherent as their latest athousandyearsofdarkness, is an atonal compactor of jagged riffs, vocals pushed as far as possible  and cascading drums that threaten to bludgeon everything else out of the picture. Grindy, angular riffs reminiscent of Discordance Axis splash against "out-there" pinches and strums that complement the samples, drums, modulated vocals, and everything else that's filling this kitchen sink to the brim.

As I said in my review of their previous ep, thedowngoing isn't something I'd usually find myself coming back to, but like early grindcore, part of the enjoyment is seeing them on the brink of chaos and controlling it and coming back to (relative) safety. Try and remember when you first heard Scum, there's a constant thought that during elongated blasts (like that of "Instinct of Survival") that the band might just fall apart and their limbs would just fly off their bodies trying to keep up with the bar of fury they set. That's the same sort of enjoyment thedowngoing captures, especially with tracks like "hope[sic]" and "snakecharmer."

Much more cohesive and fulfilling than their previous efforts, thedowngoing have done a great job in riding an aggression and weirdness that seems to be lacking from so many grindcore bands today. On another note, the lyrics are a nice surprise as they're a an uncomfortable linage of vignette meets stream of consciousness that will spark your curiosity and imagination.

This one's a real grower.

thedowngoing
thedowngoing bandcamp

thedowngoing doesn't fuck with capitalization

much like their refusal to capitalize anything, thedowngoing don't adhere to any set of rules or standards. the two man aussie act hits a fine point between grindcore and complete noise oblivion that does well for someone like me who's not the biggest fan of power electronics and harsh noise. distorted (make that ultra distorted) vocals plus complete guitar abuse and a whole bucket of various effects untop of stumbling drums make up a unique brand of grind noise that strives for some sort of equilibrium.

the ep starts with an eerie guitar pluck and an unfortunately overused quote from "there will be blood." this intro sets the bar high as it's so uncomfortable sounding and yet intriguing. i'd love to see the band pump out more ambient uses of noise like this as it is a welcomed change from the rest of the ep that's exhausting and overtly painful.

tracks like "hurtnone" and "badmachete" are easily the best the band has to offer as they successfully find common ground between delirious noise and wrathful grindcore while allowing the guitar to be clearly heard.

a large step on their way to perfecting a particularly difficult mesh of styles, thedowngoing offer a fallen power line of grind noise that can be enjoyed by fans on both sides of the fence.

check it out  below or download for free at grindcore karaoke
and keep up to date with the band on their page.