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

Violent Party- End of Existence/ Parasitic Culture 45 review

Violent Party- End of Existence/ Parasitic Culture 45 review

This EP starts with a news report about a woman who received a death sentence by means of electrocution, and managed to survive the exact amount applied to her husband- apparently, this was newsworthy, though it certainly is interesting, if nothing else.  “End of Existence” kicks in some kind of noisy D-beat with machine-like vocals, like a traditional punk scream yelled into a huge metallic fan; a decent tune.  “Parasitic Culture” is a bit more mid-tempo, and has no audio intro (which is for the better here).  This is the same good noisy punk with a D-beat tinge, if you like that sort of thing.  I’m not into the noise-influenced punk so much, but it is what it is.  Generally a polarized sort of genre, I like it a bit; worth the time spent listening to it.

-Aunty Social