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| Holy fuckin shit boys and girls we’s gots us some vulgar death grind from Palermo Italy with Balatonizer “Occlused in Ottusity.” This could possible be the fastest music in the world. If it were any faster it would just be static. At times it consumes all the ranges on my eq sending the stereo into cardiac arrest. Balatonizer’s OiO is a continuous rain of rifferama and devastating drumming in a no breath sequence, all mixed with various samples taken from mafia movies and Italian cult movies of the 70’s. Along with this cd, a video and a fully colored comic of the band in some crazy death grind adventure was also included. If you like brutal shit like Decide, Vomitory, and Sufferocation than you’ll love what Balatonizer and their drum machine programmers do on 33 tracks of blistering vulgar death grind. |
| Useless ID has sent us their third Kung Fu release, "Redemption". Useless ID is from Israel, and you think your scene is though! There ain’t no suicide bombers at Bitoz. But these guys are more West Coast then West Bank. Not too much politics, more about girls and love in their lyrics and a melodic pop punk sound. With a driving beat and a lot of melodies, Useless ID reminds me of bands like the Ataris and No Use For a Name. In fact the track "Deny Me" sounds like it came right off a NUFAN record. Recorded at the Blasting Room and produced by Bill Stevenson (he was in the Desendents) the quality is great. So if you the Warp Tour type, "Redemption" will fit nice in your collection. |
| Basement Records always come trough with a kickass fix of sub cultural underground aggression. This issue we mainline Spider, a raw explosive four piece from Long Beach. This band is formed by members of Walk Proud, Bent, Channel3 and Bullet Treatment. They say their music conveys primal emotion with an old school punk noise flavor. On Spider’s “Youth Insurance” they bring a full range of fat ass bass lines and buzzing guitars with powerful vocals that don’t overpower each other, more of a communion of insterments and ideas. |
| Two for one from Basement Records this time around with Bleeder Resistor from Baltimore. This journeymen trio attempt to blend years of influences and experiences with other bands into a 6 song hardcore pop masterpiece. Jeff Forbes, previously of Latchkey (who were reviewed in Akink a few issues ago) plays guitar and sings while Joey Nayls plays bass and drummer Paul Maniscalco, from other unknown Baltimore bands like Roger Miret and the Disasters, No Class Heroes and All Fall Down keep the rhythm in check. Bleeder Resister believe they can fuse pop and hardcore into an incredible musical hybrid and come out with something unique. I didn’t hear anything unique or new, more along the lines of what Hot Water Music and Strike Anywhere have been putting out lately. |
| Weapons of Choice “Putting Back The Pieces” and their weapon of choice happens to be acoustic and some aggressive shoe gazing lyrics. The first punk/emo acoustic submission is full of wobbly riffs that aren’t always in time or in tune. But, for whatever its worth, these kids are just trying to be heard. Plus I don’t think this cd is for sale since it was all handmade. None-the-less it is a well thought out effort from Anderson Indiana’s WOC and care of Youth Culture Killed My Dog Zine. Included in the package were a few flyers for Frankenhookers debut album “Pure WolfSex” which can be found at Roadhousetunes.com and a Common Enemy sticker and a denim patch with the word “scram!” on it. |
| Southern California’s, Noise Attack were recently signed to Raunchy Records and provided us with their full length album “Picture Perfect World” 14 songs of mixed tempo punk rock that defiantly shows deep influences from a lot of So-Cal bands like Rancid and Guttermouth. Someone in the band has some PR skills in regards to building their portfolio which included an 8 by 10 glossy, a full on bio from the band members birth to present day, and even a color poster. This cd has a real gritty but tight and well produced sound with the band showing many of their strong points like back ups and song structure, and a few low points like lyric content and originality. For the most part this is probly one of the most well put together cd and promo packs from such a young band that I’ve ever received. Great job guys. |
| Alright, remember how your mom would tell you, "If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all"? Well I’m gonna ignore that advice to tell you about Masque’s new EP "Sometimes I Might" from Topplers Records. Hailing from Glasgow, Masque are an electro/laptop/noise group or it could be just one guy, and he’s not working hard. The music sounds like it wants it to be 1992 again with electronic drumbeats and a shit load of samples. The words that are sung just seem to be the titles repeated over and over. Luckily there are only four songs so I don’t have to listen very long cuz this kind of shit pisses me off. I don’t know if this music (I use that term loosely)could be played live. But no matter, I would rather see Clay Aiken fronting WhiteSnake opening for Hanson then see Masque. But I’m not you. You could like this if you’re into Throbbing Gristle, early bad Ministry or being touched by your step dad. |
| DIY spirit lives in Ft. Myers Florida with ‘Jiyuna’, a technical juggernaut of hardcore. Completely inspired by Refused and their pioneering brand of hardcore, all the while having the talent to pull it off with precise time signatures and Arpeggiatic flows. “Arpeggiatic” I know that’s not a word? What I mean is the guitar and bass play single note lines in different octaves adding much texture and excellent framework for the vocalist to choke up a lung with every verse. Very painful and emotionally driven lyrical content complement the music. On the DIY side this band makes all of their album covers from trash and other recyclables and hand paint each one. Also included are the lyrics in a tiny book. Jiyuna are a real creative and resourceful group of humans and it shows in their dedication to the music. |
| Blei “In Day As Dark”
Low-fi, low tech and background adsorbing rock. The band of Blei consists of one man and one woman and some hired hands on percussions. I think I’ve used the term “heroin music” before and it just seems to fit in this situation. This cd is not a all drivel there a few well crafted songs with some low gravelly vocals done by the female, half of Blei. I’m not really into this type of music but I bet drunk people love it, or it can possibly appeal to fans of crooners like Nick Cave or early Echo and the bunniemen stuff, but with a little more grit and less retro feel. With every song all I can think of is the 80’s MTV rock, bohemic and poetic like a cross between that band who sang the song “my futures so bright that I gota wear shades” and the Smashing Pumpkins without Billy Coragen. |
| Throw Rag
Sinful dirty rock and roll from the Salton Seas of Southern California incorporate the washboard like no one’s business. Throw Rag have gained mad respect from their relentless tours to their energized and outrageous live shows, so on their latest release “13 FT. and Rising” (Due to hit stores June 28th) the whole rag crew are back. From Taco, Jacko to the Captain and they’re dirty as ever. This time around they brought a few guests on board to beefin up the disk from Jello to Lemmy from Motorhead and even good ol Keith Morris from the Circle Jerks. Not a bad list of contributors. If you are familiar with Throw Rag than you know no matter who is on their album they’re still going to go off with the up beat hillbilly blues rock that they are famous for. |
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| Love Nut
Nasty little punks laying down a dirty little demo here. This three song punk jam comes from two Anchorage kids who are either nutty about love or lovely about nuts? The ‘No Underware’ demo reeks of teen angst and rebellion and it also reeks of human filth with Chris on guitar and Josh on drums and vocals Love Nut delivers one of the most blistering recorded performances Anchorage has never seen, and done for only 10 bucks thanx to their friends Epoch. Perseverance and longevity are some of the keys to most band’s success, so if these turds can keep from being flushed down the bottomless pit that takes most Anchorage upstart bands, maybe you all down at Bitoz might get to smell what they’re stepping in. |
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| BullDozer from New York City sent in a nice package for review, with the help of W.W.K.D. Records. These working class stiffs have submitted their latest release, a self titled 8 song EP. What we seem to have here is a cross between early Social Distortion and easy catchy riffs of the Queers. BD plow through this cd with slick greaser attitude and punk rock stead fast tradition. From the rock a billy solo’s on “Caterpillar” to the hooky vocals on “You’ll never take” BD show a cohesion that can take them where ever they want to go with the music leading the way. I did a little research and found out that BD are in the studio working on their next demonstration of audio devastation and destruction. |
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| Life Before This
Here we have another pretty serious band from the pop-rock/emo assembly line that has pushed out bands like Coheed and Cambria, My Chemical Romance and Thrice. Certain genres are overplayed, shit, all genres get played out, some just take longer than others, especially in this high tech internet world. Production and performance points are defiantly not lost on this listener. All the guitars blend well with out the use of fx overkill which shows good musical skill and thought out structural ground work. The drums, although mid tempo, clearly stand out with tasty 16th notes and ghost notes filling the tracks. On this 12 song self-titled release ‘Life Before This’ makes you wonder what life was like before this band, High School? Burger King? For me it’s exactly the same. |
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| Blackout Radio
Repent I got this Compact Disc from a friend after trying to find it for a while now. Blackout Radio is a Psychobilly band from Portland with members from our very own mother state. For those of you who’ve had you head in the fuckin dirt for the past few years there is this thing called Psychobilly. Now Psychobilly is an energetic blend of standup bass, hollow body guitar and an upbeat drum. Got it? Ok. The CD is called Repent if you didn’t get that from my title. Now these guys rock and the recording sounds real tight. The guitar riffs are a nice change from the usual punk power chord drone found in most of my collection. And with a rocken rhythm section that scream ye haw. You might even find yourself singing along Too. I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not true. You don’t have to have a pomp or drive a Cadillac or even do the stray cat strut. Cuz tattoos and hair gel don’t make you cool. But you will enjoy the CD if you have any soul at all. so do yourself a favor and write it down. Blackout Radio. Hell, you might even get a chance to see them someday if you can get your lazy ass off of the couch and away from the video games and weed. |
| AKink Music Reviews Issue 16 |