Asylum- s/t 7" review

Asylum- self titled 7” review

Primitive D-beat with some heavily reverbed vocals and cryptic lyrics.  Has a heavy grindcore/classic anarcho punk layout on the inside of the record.  Definitely a headbanger from front to back; feels like a couple of long songs, being kind of hard to tell them apart with no distinct riffs or choruses.  Still, a nice slab of wax from some East coast cats.  ABC D-beat.

-Aunty Social

Spider Sisters zine Issue #1 review

Spider Sisters zine Issue #1 review

Now this was a fine read, or view, as the case may be.  The pictures, while not professional grade, are candid shots of bands and people at shows on the east coast, being much more “in the moment” and from a showgoer’s perspective rather than a photographer’s or stage hand’s perspective.  The bands covered are also quite good- Knife Creep, Stoic Violence, among others in the DIY circuit right now.  The layout background has a psychosexual subtext that, while strange, is fitting for a zine such as this.  It’s short and simple, but make no mistake, it’s a good read, though I would also like to read some short snippets of what was notable at these shows, if anything.  Our naked moshers, shit-talking, chain-swinging, and chandelier-grabbing need documentation, too.

-Aunty Social

Balaclava- Shame 7” review

Balaclava- Shame 7” review

This is the epitome of dark, dissonant, Tragedy-style D-beat.  Even though it is definitely styled after another band, this style is done only by a few select bands, at least in a notable way.  The beginnings of these are usually pretty fast and direct, and then slow to a mid-tempo pace and start using a two-guitar approach (as in the two guitars sounding leagues apart from one another) as the singer barks out his guttural anti-establishment phrases that come just a few words at a time.  The riffs on this EP fucking crush, the drums crash, and the bass bashes.  The track “To Those Who Glorify War” is one of the best D-beat songs since Tragedy’s self-titled LP came out- it’s a fucking behemoth of a song, and the title/subject matter is one seemingly untouched by other bands, as it addresses the adoration of armed conflicts, be it by those who support it or those who constantly defy it, but use the imagery of it regularly as an eye-catching appeal to the visual senses; it makes one wonder if the intended goal of this sort of branding is truly beneficial to the ultimate goal of an end to armed skirmishes.  The rest of the lyrics still hit hard as hell, but these are groundbreaking.  “Fences”, “Shame”, and “Discipline and Punishment” make up the rest of the tracks, sludge and doom-laden crusty D-beat anarcho punk.  This is the sort of band that would open for Dystopia and surprise the shit out of you.  A damn fine EP, one of the best D-beat slabs of wax I’ve heard in quite some time.  Nab it.

-Aunty Social

Balaclava- Crimes of Faith LP review

Balaclava- Crimes of Faith LP review

This album is nowhere near what I thought it would be when I first picked it up- for some reason, I thought it would be along the lines of fast hardcore anarcho punk or a crustier version of Hirax.  Most definitely not so- Balaclava, who is from Richmond, Virginia, is a different kind of band, one much more along the lines of His Hero is Gone and what would amount to crust-influenced doom metal.

Crimes of Faith is an epic, seven song destroyer of an LP that focuses more on the crushing heaviness than anything else.  At least half of every song is instrumental and slowly chugs along, each note another punishing blow to the ears (in a positive way), further driving intoxicating negativity into one’s brain.  The other half (or less) of the songs is reminiscent of hardcore in the vein of heavier acts like Tragedy, Bullshit Tradition, and a sped-up version of Axegrinder.  There is just as much guitar work as there is bass and drum work in the instrumental portions, each one taking turns as the lead instrument while the others serve as rhythm instruments.  A very menacing beast this is; this record rules.

Toss away any preconceived ideas of what this album sounds like- chances are, they’re wrong.  Balaclava is an omnipresent insurgency that will crush you to dust with their riffs and beat you to death with their punishing beats!

-Aunty Social