Not ones for conforming to naming stereotype, Edinburgh’s Britney are far removed from the pop princess. The arrangement of sounds (and that’s what I’m calling them) on Britn3y, that stretch over the brief and brutal 22 minute running time are truly maddening, destructive and horrifically chaotic.
Art of Burning Water / Harrowed – Split
Art of Burning Water and Harrowed serve up a treat in the form of their brand of blackened-metal grind and sludge-hardcore noise. Another solid release from Super Fi Records, who seem to constantly churn out the very best in underground metallic-noise chaos.
Blacklisters – Adult
The bile that races through the veins of Leeds’ Blacklisters is flecked with hundreds and thousands made out of spite and toxic laughter. Their concept of anything vaguely normal is an utterly redundant feeling – sounding like they’ve set fire to their instruments before they’ve started playing them..
Workin’ Man Noise Unit – Play Loud
With the kind of mystic aura that would take out a herd of Tyrannosaurus Rex’s just by lifting one armpit and uttering an almighty belch, Workin’ Man Noise Unit are a stagnant, crunching unit of topless, maddening energy and scene-bating destruction.
USA Nails – No Pleasure
The frothing abrasiveness of No Pleasure showcases just how far USA Nails have progressed in such a short space of time. Their punk rock melodies have mutated like Carpenter’s The Thing into an unrelenting bludgeon of ugliness. No Pleasure (which was recorded live with minimal takes) is all about creating a thoroughly demented, chaotic and cathartic listening experience.
Mutoid Man – Bleeder
Well, if this doesn’t punch a wet, viscera-coated hole through your chest, I don’t know what will. Mutoid Man are Stephen Brodsky, Ben Koller and Nick Cageao. You’ll be familiar with Brodsky – him of Cave In fame, making huge crushing space rock jams (Big Riff!), Koller briefly drummed for Cave In before becoming the stickman for noise-hardcore thrash-merchants Converge.
METZ – II
The kind of punishment drummer Hayden Menzies inflicts on his poor kit makes you wonder if he’s got some boiling hatred burning inside for his particular piece of percussion. You see, on METZ’s first album, cunningly titled METZ, he is the frontman of the band – or rather, his drum kit is – thumping out a barbaric and unrelenting cacophony from start to finish.
Art of Burning Water / Isolation Tank – Start Tomorrow
Bring on the pain. Two more acts that want to strip away any conception that we’ll be having a joyous last few weeks of 2014 and rightly so. Total and utter destruction is on the cards. Art of Burning Water and Isolation Tank are hear to smash your ears to bits with this new split EP
American Standards – Hungry Hands
What sets Arizona’s American Standards apart from their hardcore contemporaries is their inventiveness and balls to mix things up rather than sticking to a familiar path. At only three tracks long, Hungry Hands is a brief but chaotic slab of blunt, passionate hardcore.
Arms & The Man – …Are Nothing But Animals
Arms & The Man deliver three tracks explicitly stating why they’re “doing it like the bands they grew up on”, with ardent, dynamic power. Their new EP, …Are Nothing But Animals, returns to funny town with a truckload of riffs, self-deprecation, arrogant swagger and er…wolf punching?