Exhale - Festerfiction

More Czech grind without the goof. Crusty and extremely violent and aggressive; think a Czech "Inhale/Exhale" or F.A.M. with more blasting. It's tight and minimal in the style of "Scum" but with an added slice of bitter intensity that you didn't see back in the day. Recommended.

http://www.mediafire.com/?3io3pc1asya5g5u

Puritas Virginum - Decenie De Souffrance

Incredibly French, very experimental "black metal." Some tracks are protracted neoclassical ambient pieces, others are minimal drum and bass numbers, but the bulk are punk and '70s prog rock-infused black metal; a somewhat saucier, more refined Nuit Noire, in a way. It could absolutely be bullshit or a joke, but I prefer to think of it as celebratory and brilliant. Be prepared: it's a doozy at almost 80 minutes. 1000 copies, 999 of which are probably still available.

http://www.mediafire.com/?nocbh0bp9tb0kze

Incarrion - Into the Exposed Abyss

Worthy tech death because it's deliberately abstract and weird. Yes, it obviously follows the mold of late Gorguts, but manages to be superior by dropping the navel-gazing conservatory aspects of "Obscura" in favor of a sort of Malignancy-style dementedness. It's tempered by its substantial atmosphere, which is sort of ominously grim and Lovecraftian; it's like diving into the Marianas Trench on acid and feeling the breathing of something enormous below you. Highly recommended.

The bassist was also nice enough to email me about a review I did for this EP. Give this a DL and check out what might have been.

http://www.mediafire.com/?aqqji1xbvrnl7s4

Four Seats For Invalides - Defy

There's a greater than zero chance that this is actually Czech grind's greatest achievement. Sleek, chromed off, heavily industrial in nature- it's at once a very natural musical idea and also one you never expected anyone to actually pursue. In a very weird, tricky space between The Berzerker, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, and particularly burly, militant skinhead hardcore, Four Seats For Invalides makes incredibly aggressive, violent, short songs with smashing drum machine (?) rhythms, ripping, modernized, hardcore-derived riffing, and a high/low vocal performance that comes across like a curbstomp. There's a very direct line from "Scum" to this. If you wanted to see a very stereotypical idea of "grind in the future," this is it, and I wish it actually was the future of grind.

Not sure whether to call this cybergrind or not, but I'll choose not to since that label tends to scare people off.

http://www.mediafire.com/?xbkq2ti5lytz2y2

Midwynter - Four Seasons of Frost

Fairly technical, very melodic, slightly folky, lightly orchestral black metal from Colorado. The sort of thing that viciously demands your attention to fully appreciate it. Shifting textures, brilliant introductions of new melodic motifs- it's advanced listening that can easily be shrugged off if not given the necessary time. Very worthwhile. If anyone knows where I can find a copy of this band's self-released full-length, let me know- it seems lost to time.

http://www.mediafire.com/?3uydlje562bvrei

It - Wolves of Winter

Been a very long while, hasn't it. In my defense, I was doing some things, and also some stuff. If it makes it better, I will say that I've been dealing with a crippling addiction wherein I snort lines of my own ejaculate. You think you're disgusted? I'm the one snorting cum all the time.

On the run up to Christmas, expect me to make up for lost time with some of the most deranged, retarded, and sexy music you've ever heard.

It is a one-man project from Canada that's very hard to refer to. He cranked out five demos that got distributed on the dearly departed Rusty Axe Records and supposedly also made a full-length that I've never seen proof of existing. His style developed over time, but this is the first demo. I'm not sure what to call it. Heirdrain with a more competent musician, maybe, with big chunks of old (old, old) Beherit and maybe Sort Vokter thrown in as well. It's ugly and sounds like it's made by rapist clowns.

http://www.mediafire.com/?dxcr15zo8d58aoo

Fetocide - Redefine

Tech death the way it should be: convulsing, abstract, brutal, but oddly lacking in the ornate, frilly quality of its contemporaries. It never loses sight of the ultimate goal; it just uses more elaborate tools to use it. For fans of Wormed more interested in the actual music behind the novelty.

http://www.mediafire.com/?0d871g1r5lc1fce

Lordamor - Lordamor

Funeral doom that's blackish without sounding like Nortt and tortureish without sounding like Wormphlegm. Lordamor dovetails the more extreme and more melodic styles of funeral doom into a pretty amazing whole, with the churn-and-grunt brutality of most of the big torture names alongside a remarkably fluid and dynamic sense of lead melody cultivated from bands like Mourning Beloveth but with a more unique and personal touch. Emotive, sort of psychedelic at times- essential for funeral doom fans.

http://www.mediafire.com/?i62o9gf3s646jq9

One Brick Down - This is Tribalcore

Mid-'00s metalcore mixed with "tribal" influences- hand drums and such ala "Roots." What sort of tribe is never specified, so I assume it's the same tribe that generic folk metal bands follow- not attributable to any particular nation or ethnicity. The references to mid-era Sepultura and Soulfly are clear, but somehow this comes out more than the sum of its parts and not as odious as the description sounds. Still basically a novelty listen, and it's probably best that this demo is only three tracks long, but I have many worse things in the metalcore that inhabits my collection.

http://www.mediafire.com/?qglo5jdc3kkqd6c

Maggot Infested - Aborted Fetus

Idiot, brackish noisecore with hints of death/grind in fits and starts. The sort of thing that would have been released on a blearily Xeroxed tape in '92 with a shit-smeared toilet on the cover. Sent a letter to Seth Putnam looking for a split 7" to no response sort of stuff. Fun for what it is.

http://www.mediafire.com/?4qp4eoc5xu3b1cb