ALBUM REVIEW: Uniform & The Body, "Mental Wounds Not Healing"

By: Dominic Walsh

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 08/06/2018

Label: Sacred Bones Records

Mental Wounds Not Healing” is a phenomenally heavy 27 minutes of music. Throughout the seven tracks, there are some extremely harsh vocals, mountainous droning guitar riffs and glitchy distorted beats.  This record is well worth your time if you like having your boundaries of music tested.

“Mental Wounds Not Healing” DD//LP track listing:

1). Dead River

2). The Curse of Eternal Life

3). Come and See

4). The Boy With Death in His Eyes

5). In My Skin

6). We Have Always Lived in the Castle

7). Empty Comforts

The Review:

With a title taken from an Ozzy Osbourne lyric (“Crazy Train”), Uniform and The Body have joined forces for a collaboration that pushes both bands far beyond their roots in industrial music and metal - creating an immersive listening experience that truly transcends genre. 

“Mental Wounds Not Healing”is a phenomenally heavy 27 minutes of music. Throughout the seven tracks, there are some extremely harsh vocals, mountainous droning guitar riffs and glitchy distorted beats. Think NIN, Einstürzende Neubauten, Sunn 0))) and bits of Ministry mixed together with Pharmakon and Blanck Mass. It’s a complete maelstrom of industrial noise throughout.

Most of the song titles are culled from horror literature and cinema. “The Boy With Death In His eyes” is a particular highlight at the midpoint of the album. The beat is more orthodox, and the distorted synthesizers and guitars that accompany the beat create a dark, tension filled backdrop to the despairing vocals.

“In My Skin”contains a particularly unnerving screaming sound throughout the entire track, but the track also contains one of the most notable guitar melodies that spins its web around more twisted and distorted noise. As you disappear down the hole of this track, the ending of the track feels almost serene against many other parts of the song, but don’t be fooled into thinking this is full of lush melodies! “Dead River” also has the same screaming motif that runs throughout the track. It takes you wonderfully out of your comfort zone.

“We Have Always Lived in a Castle” is pure drone. “Empty Comforts” and “The Curse of Eternal Life” are the most NIN style moments on the album as the electronic beats are clear and punchy, but the former really lacks any kind of recognisable rhythm; like a heartbeat with no real idea of what it is doing. The guitars again convene towards the end of “Empty Comforts” to show that this collaboration is not simply about making a glorious racket; there is melody rooted deep within this album – you just have to have the endurance to stick around to find it. “Mental Wounds Not Healing” is well worth your time if you like having your boundaries of music tested.

“Mental Wounds Not Healing” is available here

Band info: facebook|| facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: The Body & Full of Hell - "Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released:17/11/2017

Label: Thrill Jockey

The Body and Full of Hell have created an album not easily forgotten

"Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light" CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Light Penetrates

2. Earth is a Cage

3. The King Laid Bare

4. Didn't the Night End

5. Our Love Conducted with Shields Aloft

6. Master's Story

7. Farewell, Man

8. I Did Not Want to Love You So

The Review:

Split 7-inchers are everywhere. For great reason: they're easier for bands to issue are less costly than solo pressing, and they keep one's name out there. In the case of experimental metal act Full of Hell, though, it is not enough to simply put out music with others. The quartet, which pitches punk, death metal, noise, black metal and avant garde into its blender, has generated lots of attention for full-on collaborations with others, to impressive results.

Full of Hell's2014 recording with Japanese noise master Merzbow was widely hailed as a superb achievement. The collab was easily one of the most indurated pairings in recent memory; its ultra-short tracks clocked in at under a minute, and were nothing less than an airplane propeller of bluster and apoplexy. Full of Hell followed that effort up with "One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache," a 2016 collaboration with Providence, Rhode Islandsludgers The Body. It turned out to be one of last year's better albums, showing up far better than most probably expected at least. The Body and Full of Hellreturn as a Legion of Doom once again, with this year's "Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light."

Much like "One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache," The Body and Full of Hell combine for a sound on the upcoming album that is related to doom and sludge in only the slightest ways. You may hear a chord here or a muddy bass there. Rather, "Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light" is definitely more in the wheelhouse of Full of Hell, for fans of its intense brand of grindcore. Even if that is not quite for you, extreme music aficionados are sure to find something they like in disparate efforts included in "Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light."

What has always distinguished Full of Hell as well as The Body is boldness. The groups are willing to permit genres you would not normally hear together very often, including industrial, a touch of electronic and, of course, mountains of hard guitars. "Light Penetrates"the opener, is a great instance of this. The oscillating guitar and drums quite nearly brush an indie vibe until the blitzkrieg vocals and curtain of sound crash in. As they build to a crescendo, those screams are going to stick with you. The vocals get even fiercer on "Earth is A Cage," which features its own unique effects. Presumably you are hearing The Body's Lee Buford's hand with some of the unusual elements. The Bodyhas had its own nondenominational relationship with sludge, and has been seemingly more open than many to diversify its arrangements. The bands merge to creative music with impact on this track.

"The King Laid Bare"is among the release's most abrasive cuts, and it is seemingly where the release starts its most furious stretch. Where the Merzbow disc was unmatched in volume and "One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache" set a standard for the pairing's fervor, this song and "Didn't the Night End" raise the bar. However, instead of pure bombast, The Body and Full of Hell amalgamate the harsh guitars, drums and dissonance with noise rock trappings that ramp up the constriction you feel as you listen. It is hard to overstate just how taut that gets in "Our Love Conducted with Shields Aloft," where the drums are teeming and the screaming mirrors a sort of mania that rattles you from all directions.  When that trance-sort-of drum machine and in/out effect assaults you, it's pretty much over.

There are moments when the experimentation takes a little getting used to. "Master's Story" feels like a Ministryouttake that doesn't quite work as well as it sounds. "Farewell, Man" slips into this mode too. Fortunately enough, Full of Hell and The Body get back on track in time for the closing, "I Did Not Want to Love You So." It meanders through a doom or drone energy until it slams into its final note. Chances are, you will get into "Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light"understanding it will not be your typical metal record. The Body and Full of Hellmake good on your assumptions, and make an album not easily forgotten.

"Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light" is available to preorder/buy here

Band info: The Body || Full of Hell

RIFF REWIND (23/05/2013): The Body - "Master, We Perish"

 

The Body’s Chip King and Lee Buford can emote pain like no other band, and their ability to move between the often strict confines of the metal world and the electronic music sphere is perhaps best illustrated on their 2016 full length “No One Deserves Happiness”, an album that eludes categorization.

Buford and King are outlaws of the metal world, striving to create music without a category. They embody many contrasts but always deliver punishing music in volume and scale.  Back in 2013 in an ongoing pilgrimage towards the apocalypse and perpetual hatred for humankind, THE BODY unleashed their “Master, We Perish” EP which showcased the THE BODY’s nihilistic audio terror with three blackened bursts of noise-drenched, low-fi doom.

With mangled-human cover art by Manifester, “Master, We Perish” was released as a 12” EP, CDEP, cassette and digital download on April 30^th 2013 via At A Loss Recordings.  Today we rewind the riffs to 4 years ago to the day and reacquaint ourselves with “Master, We Perish”.  So if you missed it the first time, be sure to remedy you error by checking out our review in full below. 

By: Chris Markwell

Album Type: EP

Date Released:30/4/2013

Label: At A Loss Recordings

This is a musical Frankenstein at work: stitching together lifeless vocal snippets and attaching them to raw guitar and drum tissue.  What is created is nothing short of terrifying: it should not be, but here it is in front of you.  ‘Master, We Perish’ is a fuse leading to dynamite, and it gets lit every time you listen to it.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you. 

“Master, We Perish” CD//DD//LP tracklisting:

1) The Ebb and Flow of Tides in a Sea Of Ash

2) The Blessed lay Down and Writhe in Agony

3) Worship

The Review:

Sometimes in this life we come across… anomalies.  Strange happenings we experience but cannot quite explain.  Portland, Oregon’s The Body is an example of such an occurrence: a two-piece metal act that sounds like an entire orchestra of angry, darkly creative musical alchemists.  Their latest offering is the EP ‘Master, We Perish’, and it’s three tracks of pure, churning hate.  Let’s let the autopsy begin. 

EP opener ‘The Ebb And Flow Of Tides In A Sea Of Ash’ begins with an air raid siren rolling up and letting loose, followed by a low, ripping guitar riff that feels like you’re being crushed with the sheer force of it.  It reminds me of Pulled Apart By Horses, with a generous tint of Hierophant mixed in.  As openers go, it’s a mighty beast, and Chip’s vocal cries are those of a madman, freshly escaped from the asylum. 

Track 2 opens in a much darker, low-key way: a guitar riff, doomy yet melancholy, mixes with some of Lee’s strange samples, creating a very unsettling, dark atmosphere to descend.  This is ‘The Blessed Lay Down And Writhe In Agony’, and it’s a really messed-up slice of doom.  This is a musical Frankenstein at work: stitching together lifeless vocal snippets and attaching them to raw guitar and drum tissue.  What is created is nothing short of terrifying: it should not be, but here it is in front of you: ‘IT’S ALIVE!  IT’S ALIVE!’ 

Lee’s very fine drumming work begins proceedings on final track ‘Worship’ and, clocking in at 9:39, it’s a real odyssey of a song, one that takes you down blind alleys and through streets with boarded-up houses and smashed windows.  The drums are unstoppable on this track and, frankly, the entire musical experience found here is nothing short of suffocating until it bursts open at around 6 minutes in and becomes this grinding, doom steamroller.  ‘Master, We Perish’ is a fuse leading to dynamite, and it gets lit every time you listen to it.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you. 

 Band info: Facebook



ALBUM REVIEW: Aseethe - "Hopes of Failure"

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 24/02/2017

Label: Thrill Jockey Records

“Hopes of Failure” is sparse and minimal yet packed with detail and intricacies, like Yob and Unearthly Trance stripped of their psychedelic tendencies to let the raw oppressive riffs do the talking.  Aseethe have crafted a slow-burning masterpiece that reveals more with each listen. Every spin increases the pull of its hypnotic spell and leaves you with no option but to submit to its crushing power.

“Hopes of Failure” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Sever The Head

2). Towers of Dust

3). Barren Soil

4). Into The Sun

The Review:

Thrill Jockey Records continue to bolster the impressive heavy end of their roster in 2017 with the latest LP from Iowa trio Aseethe. “Hopes of Failure” sounds destined to follow in the footsteps of label mates Sumacand The Bodyand bother many an end of year list in eleven months’ time.

Over the course of four lengthy tracks the band entrances the listener with their distinct brand of bleak doom. It is sparse and minimal yet packed with detail and intricacies, like Yob and Unearthly Trance stripped of their psychedelic tendencies to let the raw oppressive riffs do the talking. Vocals are kept to a minimum, carefully deployed when necessary for maximum impact such as the pained howls that accompany the snail-paced downward spiral into misery at the climax of “Barren Soil”. Aseethe eschew vocals entirely on “Towers Of Dust”. Instead they focus on aggressive riffage that slowly degenerates into a jerky discordant locked groove reminiscent of Harvey Milkat their most awkward.

The band offer some glimmers of light in amongst the gloom. The middle of “Sever The Head” breaks down to clean picked guitar that brings a hint of Slint-style dark post-hardcore to proceedings. This leads to a passage of restrained heaviness that packs as much of a punch as the punishing riffs that bring the track to a head.

On “Hopes Of Failure”, Aseethe have crafted a slow-burning masterpiece that reveals more with each listen. Every spin increases the pull of its hypnotic spell and leaves you with no option but to submit to its crushing power. 

“Hopes of Failure” is available to buy/preorder here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook