Bone Dance- self titled LP review

Bone Dance- self titled LP review

What a phenomenal piece of work crafted here- this has become one of m yfavorite go-to records for all-around situations:  Angry, tired, productive, bored, you name it.  Bone Dance’s self-titled record fits ‘em all.  For a while, this band had left me feeling the need for more- their CDEP only has three songs, and the split LP they released with two other bands only had two.  Not much to go on, sad to say.  However, this record does more than whet the appetite- this is the gift that keeps on giving.

Some albums try to genre-bend and mix multiple different kinds of sound into one, relatively unique one- most don’t do well at it, but this record does that and more.  Mixing hardcore, metal, crust, and noise music, this is pretty fucking unique, sound-wise.  The guitars rings of groove metal and heavy hardcore riffs, the bass is clear and crunchy, the drums easily and seamlessly transition from fast to slow to medium and right back to fast, and the vocals, though cacophonous, are not indistinguishable from the words he utters.  This band knows just what they are doing, and despite being very mad at the world, retain their lyrical intellect and complexity.

The albums kicks off with “Comfort”, and the chaotic, brutish, raw vocal “Wait your turn to become NOTHING!” as the guitar growls on in rather loudly to roar the song off to a brutal start, maintaining the force throughout, and the intro line periodically being recited, as though to drill it into one’s mind.  “Burnout” and “Conniver” creek in the doorway with creepy curst-influenced hardcore tunes filled with vigor and an unquestionable sincerity to them.  As “Conniver” ends, the sickest, most mind-blowingly psychotic riff comes in; it’s as though a mosh pit o murder massacre was in mind when it was conceived.  This riff will make one lose their mind and all self-control- that’s how powerful that 10-second (or so) riff is.  “Writhing in Ecstasy” continues to pound away in blissful riffage, never to relent or relinquish a great degree of the brutality the intro riff possesses.  “White Guilt” is a layer piece, one successfully delivering the shorter blasts to the end of the first side of the record with a sinister symphony not quite of epic proportions, but perhaps not far from it, either.

The second side begins with “West”, which barrels through with the same sonic intensity as the first song- an appropriate place to put such a punishing song.  The song drags on for a while, enough time for the point of the song to get embedded as a seed, to blossom or become a blemish as the listener adapts to it.  “Children Having Children” and “Barren” are a sad but oddly optimistic (at least sonically- the lyrics are a different matter entirely) set of tales, one of which is about teenage pregnancy and how rampant it has grown to be (honestly- even Boise, Idaho must not have a lot going on to encourage kids to be knowledgeable and pragmatic about sex).  Someone had to say it, and I’m glad it was a band as angrily brutal but provokingly thoughtful as Bone Dance to say it.  “The Skinny” begins as many of the other songs on the record do, but this is one… this one ends with a raspy, helpless, insane catcall of “Regret!” that is at times at times alternated with a despondent, high-pitched shriek of the same word- a great ending.  Finally, “Feral” closes out the album, and this feels the heaviest and most complex of all the songs on this record, and also happens to be the longest of them all as well, at just over five minutes.  In that relatively long period of time, the band never gets boring or cliché, or even mediocre.  This song rips just like the rest of ‘em.

As high a regard as I do hold “Master of Reality”, this is my new go-to record for every high, low, middle, and breathing moment of life.  Not only one of my favorite records of 2012, this might just be one of my most notable and favorite records of all-time.  Time will tell, but I’m not bored yet- I hope I never am.

-Aunty Social

Hoax- 3rd EP review

Hoax- 3^rd EP review

Fuzzy, mid-tempo, angry as FUCK hardcore from western Massachusetts.  The vocals are raspy, desperate, rage-filled short blasts of the ugliest thoughts imaginable.  The guitar buzzes along, being the background noise for the words the singer spits.  The bass is the low end of the buzzing saw, though it is a sound created independent of the guitar, distinct but barely so.  The drums usually just plug along, alternating between sludge-metal slow or punishing punk rock fast.  It’s hardcore punk as it should always be.

“Discipline” is the slogan song of the record, consisting of only a few lines- Joseph Goebbels once said that the key to successful propaganda is to take a piece of a complicated issue, simplify it to one’s advantage, and repeat, repeat, repeat.  That’s what this song does, and it teaches a self-reliant, independent, efficient mindset, an important one to have.  This song never picks up the pace, instead slowly trudging along to clearly communicate its point.  “Fantasy” is a complex psychological tale of how the mind works in the land of the unreal- an experience we all undoubtedly have had both on and off drugs.  The beat is very similar to the first song, but it does pick up the pace at times.  The words truly have to be read to be understood- they are a real mindfuck, especially as the singer spews them with all the venom of a king cobra.
“Stuck”- the tale of our lives being individuals, fuck-ups, and losers.  Again, the song plugs along at a slower pace, but it never needs to pick up- the sincere frustration and frivolity of life is easily understood at a slower pace- this is the most brutal, intense, pissed-off song on the record.  “Free the Land” is another odd tale, but it is the fastest of the songs on the record- it is about freeing the world of nature from its owners, mankind.  Interestingly enough, it isn’t a direct, poised attack on man, but a subtle suggestion done with all the vigor of one who is posing a direct attack on man for his actions.  A killer tune, though not as much so as the rest on the album.  Perhaps I will come around.  Still, it is by no means weak- it is a fucking ripper.

This is my current favorite band- lyrical relevance, the vocal driven sound done over top of the fast/ mid-tempo speed of buzzsaw hardcore.  Count me in as a rider on the fan bus for this band.  A fantastic EP through and through.

-Aunty Social

Nails- Unsilent Death 12" review

Nails- Unsilent Death 12” review

I’m a little late to the party on this one, but this record required a review.  This is quite possibly the angriest band I’ve ever heard- powerviolence, grindcore, death metal, punk, hardcore, all rolled into one ball of dough to create one absolutely delicious cookie, baked with chips of anger and hate, the dough crafted from pummeling energy and a short list of other ingredients for a recipe to make “fucking angry”.  Though they are what one could call a ‘hyped’ band, this is one of the rare bands deserving it.  The only appropriate way to listen to this album is after a month off medication, a week alone, and a baseball bat all to one’s self.  This is vandalizing music- property should be destroyed to this record- alternatively, if one can locate a known rapist, child molester, or Nazi skinhead, this also makes for fine music to have at a boot party.  This is what happens when heavy, angry, pissed-off hardcore bands get good production and still sound just as angry, if not moreso, than their lower-echelon contemporaries.  This group deserves whatever praise they can get, even if a douchebag football player you hated in high school discovers these guys and starts rocking their hoodies.  Instinctual music for both simple and complicated people- this record won’t ever let you down.

-Aunty Social

No Happy Endings

No Happy Endings

Wherever did people get the idea that life is a happy venture that will end in bliss and puppies and flowers?  That’s bullshit propaganda, folks.  Life sucks, and then you die.  This whole idea that life is a path laden with golden tiles and fertile grass is an unending barrage of lies, and it has contributed to so many social problems in our society- it has truly made life LESS worth living, and not more.  From issues of self-image to a win-at-all-costs mentality, we are suffering from a widespread mental disease that at the end of our path, our contributions will be rewarded, despite our sufferings in this life.  They used this same argument to justify the story of Boxer the horse (in Animal Farm), where the horse put in his life’s work, and then was denied the rest of his life after he was too ill to work anymore.  People promising a future reward should ALWAYS be regarded with skepticism and mild distrust, with correlation to the distance of the reward and relevance given to the amount of work put in.  A future promise of happiness is never an acceptable one- if you want happiness, find it now, with what you have, who have, wherever you are.  If you still lack this happiness, then pursue it, and enjoy it while it lasts.  Make no mistake, believe no delusion- we are here now, and tomorrow is far from guaranteed.  A “horizon promise” becomes less worthwhile the further away it is, especially if you have your happiness now.  Supervisors, ministers, rabbis, imams, senators, representatives, cops, liars, deceivers… they all come bearing these horizon promises, a happy ending in exchange for the miserable now.  This bullshit should have an odor from yards away.  Now, what are the sources of these happy endings?  Oh, they are like weeds- omnipresent and never ending.  How many times does the antidote of reality have to be applied before these weeds do not grow back?

Cinema (at least popular cinema) is a great example of these false promises.  Even off-the-cuff movies like Kick Ass, Zombieland, and Juno end with “the guy gets the girl and they live happily ever after”- how revolting!  An otherwise exemplary and exciting/ interesting film, sullied by a compulsory happy ending.  Our human need for closure is almost unbelievable- why does everything have to be okay in the end?  Why does such a minor thing create such distress in the human mind?  If Michael Cera and Ellen Page had parted ways, what would have been undesirable about that?  The disclosed reality is that people change, move on, or something happens, and it is no longer desirable to be around them- this is part of life’s process, and it is VERY real.  Why do we deny this- would it not be healthier to accept this regular occasion in life and be better conditioned for life, and therefore, more susceptible to happiness?  There is no use in closing one’s eyes and denying what has happened- the embrace of reality comes with a stronger skin and a more robust person in the end.  Escapism will not solve your problems- if they help you cope with loss, so be it, but do not believe for a second that happiness is forever, or just on the horizon; only taking action and solving the puzzle of one’s life will bestow upon you any level of happiness.

The second source of these problems is music- what I shall give to music, though, is that it is usually made in times of distress in order to cope with reality, of which there is nothing wrong.  However, it seems that contemporary popular music is related to live or falling in it (or it is other meaningless bullshit, but that’s a different story).  This is different than cinema, in that music is saturated in society and constantly projects a message behind a song by whatever band is playing.  It is that much more difficult to avoid, and the powers that music has on our psyche are demonstrable, making this happy crap that much more dangerous.  In short, cinema is rarely integrated as a part of life- music often is.  The same barrage of propaganda applies here, the level and efficacy of the message being the only notable variables that change from cinema’s propagandic ways.  In the end, it is a message of happiness on the horizon being involuntarily pushed into our collective brains, the results of which can (and are) often used to change someone’s mind about something.  Happiness has a high tendency to make potential consumers more willing to spend, hence why there is not a cacophonous sound to be heard in any shopping outlet.

This horizon happiness is being used to influence us, and in addition to this deception, the happiness is an outright lie.  There is no happy ending in life- instead, you have the potential to have a happy life.  Of course, it sucks when it ends, but that’s how life works, and is much less bitter a pill to swallow when reality is embraced.  Your happiness is here, now, not on any horizon or over any hill- my happiness comes through music and the days when I do not dwell in the darkest depths of the human mind.  Even a lonely pessimist of gargantuan proportions has his solace- hah!  One can certainly find theirs.

-Aunty Social

N.M.A.- s/t EP review

Powerviolence is one of those extraordinarily touchy things:  It can be too epic (Mind Eraser), too straight-edge (Crucial Unit), lacking a bass player (ironically, the band being reviewed here), or too elusive (XBraniax).  Though I love all of these aforementioned bands, it’s rather difficult to get past some of these shortcomings.  However, I will periodically discover a good powerviolence band, one that breaks away from these negative attributes and manages to pound (grind?) out some snappy, short sonic bursts.  This is one such band.

On an alternative note, it seems that there is a growing powerviolence and grind scene here in Michigan, and to a greater extent in the Midwest.  How the hell so much work goes into such short songs confuses me, but I shall relish it nonetheless.  Anyway, onward with the review.

N.M.A. (short for Negative Mental Attitude) is a three-piece group based out of Jackson.  Though they are somewhat new to Michigan’s punk scene, they’ve already gained a reputation (good or bad reputation, you decide).  Though this E.P. clocks in at just over six minutes, it leaves one feeling satisfied, fulfilled, and beyond.  The guitars are down-tuned as hell, and it sets the ominous tone of N.M.A.’s angry anthems; it chugs and grinds as is appropriate for the speed set by the drums, which is bass-heavy and snare-plenty, so to speak.  In fact, the bass drums are a bit too heavy, overcompensating for the lack of a bassist.  The vocal point of N.M.A. is a bulldog roar, frequently indecipherable and always powerful.  Lyrical content is only describable as pissed off; it lives up to the name N.M.A. well.

I was pretty impressed with this E.P.; the passion, lyrics, and music, it’s all there.  Given a bass player and some higher quality gear to record with, this band would absolutely be vinyl worthy.  It’s also worth mentioning that N.M.A. is a great contrarian take on the “PMA”; the positivity of a “PMA” is generally overshadowed by the laughably stereotypical nature of those who use the term.  Remember, it is a negative attitude that prompts the discovery of life’s problems; it is the positivity that solves them.

-Aunty Social