by Andy O'Connor

Nasum 2011

When Nasum were active, they were at the forefront of Swedish grindcore. They took the best from their peers in Sweden's fertile death metal and punk/dbeat scenes and viewed it through the lens of grindcore. As the new millennium approached, the work they began in 1992 was beginning to pay off, releasing acclaimed records Shift, Helvete, and (personal favorite) Human 2.0. The band came to an end, tragically, when vocalist/guitarist Mieszko Talarczyk was killed in Thailand from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that also devastated Indonesia, India, and Sri Lanka. His death brought the disaster home for Nasum and their fans, as the group had lost the man largely behind the group's furious assault.

It was all but assumed Nasum would never return in any incarnation when the band broke up for good in May 2005, three months after Talarczyk's body was identified. They never gave their fans a proper goodbye, so they're doing just that starting later this month with a limited amount of live dates, including this Thursday's show (5/24) at Europa, and appearances at Maryland Deathfest and Chaos in Tejas later this month. Rotten Sound's Keijo Niinimaa will step in on vocals. Even though Talarczyk is irreplaceable, this may be the only time that some fans get to see the band in any form.

In anticipation of their upcoming BV-sponsored trek, I spoke with drummer Anders Jakobson, who also had tenures on guitar and bass in the band, on the details behind the reunion and Nasum's legacy. That conversation is below.

Continue reading "an interview with Anders Jakobson of Nasum"

Superfly presents the Great GoogaMooga this weekend (5/19-5/20) in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. As can you can see by the posted schedule, live music will be happening on two stages concurrently with food demonstrations, comedy and other entertainment while food is being served all around. Don't have one of the free tickets, and aren't planning on buying one either? Probably best to not show up then. At least that's what festival co-founder Kerry Black of Superfly told us in the interview that you can read in full below...

Continue reading "an interview w/ Great GoogaMooga co-founder Kerry Black (about this weekend's fest in Prospect Park)"

by BBG

Mutilation Rites (photo by BBG)

Brooklyn band Mutilation Rites have gone through their share of shake-ups, but it seems everything is coming together at once. With a well-received demo and split with Batillus, and the recently released I Am Legion (via Gilead Media, stream it below) in the open, the black metal quartet now have a stable lineup with the recent addition of Ryan Jones (Today is The Day, Wetnurse) on bass and are poised to release an oft-delayed 12" via Forcefield, as well as their much-anticipated debut long-player, Empyrean, with new label Prosthetic Records. "Fogwarning" from that album makes its debut here. Preorder Empyrean and stream "Fogwarning" along with another track called "Realms of Dementia", below.

We asked guitarist/vocalist George Paul a few questions about Empyrean, being a band in New York City, and the road. The results are alongside all streams, below...

Continue reading "an Interview with Mutilation Rites & new song stream (debut)"

by Kim Kelly

dISEMBOWELMENT are the definition of a "cult" band. Formed in Melbourne in 1989, these avowed practitioners of unsettling, decrepit art released a handful of seminal early recordings before unleashing their sole LP and magnum opus. With 1993's Transcendence Into the Peripheral, the Aussie quartet unwittingly created both one of the cornerstones of modern death/doom and one of the first widely acknowledged funeral doom recordings (the band prefers the death/doom tag, while many others seems hellbent on dubbing them "funeral doom;" in this instance, we'll defer to those who actually wrote the damn songs!). Unfortunately, Disembowelment languished in relative obscurity for years, breaking up immediately after the release of their LP and busying themselves with other musical pursuits. Those who stumbled across their recordings, though, were captivated by the band's atmospheric, crushingly heavy amalgam of murky death metal, wretched doom, and dark ambiance, and their posthumous influence filtered through the underground as a new wave of bands began to take their cues from Transcendence Into the Peripheral.

Much like the rebirth of Winter, it took a concentrated outside effort to lure Disembowelment out of retirement, and even then, it didn't quite work. Disembowelment is good and dead, but some of the minds behind it, namely bassist Matt Skarajew and drummer Paul Mazziota, were willing to play ghost. In 2010, the duo recruited a few new members and announced that they would be playing Transcendence Into the Peripheral in its entirety at Netherlands' prestigious Roadburn Festival, under the moniker d.USK. That gig turned into several gigs, and the inevitable rumours of new music began to spread until the cat was let out of the bag - Skarajew and Mazziota had formed a new project, christened Inverloch, that was recording new material and planning to engage in a handful of live performances. Relapse Records have signed on to release their debut EP, Dusk...Subside, and anticipation's running high for next month's d.USK performance. I spoke to Skarajew and Mazziota about the past, present, and future - and of course, did my damnedest to convince them to come play NYC.

Check out the interview with Inverloch along with a track stream for "The Menin Road" below.

Continue reading "An interview with Inverloch (mems dISEMBOWELMENT), who are welcoming "Dusk...Subside" EP"

by BBG

Anhedonist art for Netherwards

On the heels of the physical release of their impressive demo The Drear, Seattle death-doom crew Anhedonist have created a stunning statement with Netherwards, the band's first full-length and debut disc for Dark Descent Records (look for it on 4/10; vinyl is due via Parasitic/Nuclear Winter later this year). Beautiful and harrowing, introspective yet brimming with rage, soaring melodic doom and worm-ridden death metal, Netherwards is many things at once but undoubtedly a monolithic achievement, one that more-than-likely will be discussed at year-end. Stream "Estrangement" from Netherwards below.

Anhedonist were kind enough to answer a few questions regarding their formation, the LP, and the reverence of the demo within the underground scene. The answers, with the song stream, below...

Continue reading "an Interview with Anhedonist & new song stream from 'Netherwards' (premiere)"

by BBG

Some may see Louisville punk band Black God as a continuation of the mighty Black Cross, but with songs like these, they definitely should stand on their own. Black God, made up of BC members Ryan Patterson (also Coliseum) and Rob Pennington (also Endpoint/By The Grace of God) as well as Nick Thieneman (Young Widows/Breather Resist), and Ben Sears (Mountain Asleep), is welcoming their second seven-inch via No Idea TODAY and are streaming that in full for the first time below.

We asked Rob Pennington and Ryan Patterson a few questions about the Black God project, the comparisons to Black Cross, the current status of Coliseum and Endpoint, and more in an interview that you can read, along with the 7" stream and a full live show video, below...

Continue reading "an interview w/ Black God (mems Coliseum, Endpoint, Young Widows, Black Cross), and a new 7" stream (premiere)"

by BBG

Eric Wood of The Bastard Noise at DBA (more by BBG)

With all of the back and forth recently between Bastard Noise and Akron/Family, regarding the MiTB Skull art being used by Akron/Family on a shirt, it might be easy to forget why it was an issue in the first place; The Bastard Noise is an important and pioneering band. Now currently in a new incarnation with Aimee Artz on vocals/noise, Eric Wood's evolving vision has included elements of hardcore, powerviolence, jazz, noise, and experimentalism, but never at the expense of interesting songwriting.

We sat down with Eric Wood to ask him a few questions about his his response to Akron/Family and the cricism he received, his current projects and the future of the band. The results of our conversation is below.

Continue reading "An interview with Eric Wood (Bastard Noise)"

by Erik Wunder

Erik Wunder of Man's Gin and Cobalt took time out of his current projects to speak with NYC's own Unsane. The results of the interview, along with a new song stream, are below. -BBG

Unsane at Santos Party House (more by Keith Marlowe)

Noise-metal pioneers Unsane are back at it with Wreck, their new LP due via Alternative Tentacles on March 20th and first in five years. Over the LP's forty minutes Unsane bash out ten new tracks, one of which is a cover of Flipper's "Ha Ha Ha". Stream three songs from Wreck below, including "Decay" which appears here for the first time.

With the new LP right around the corner, I had the distinguished opportunity to speak with frontman Chris Spencer to talk about influence, the new record, and generally see how things are in the land of things that aren't necessarily sane. The results, song streams, and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "an Interview with Unsane by Erik of Man's Gin/Cobalt, plus a new song stream"

by Michael Hill

For over a decade, Pelican have been navigating the changing tides of a musical movement that they, along with one-time label mates Isis, helped to create. Where most bands tended toward hyperbole in their song structures, Pelican's music has a sense of immediacy that set them apart from the legion of carbon-copy bands that favored the "loud-soft-loud-crescendo" formula. Pelican added a more apocalyptic sensibility to the epic musings.

A few years ago, my band Tombs had the opportunity to tour with them. We unanimously thought this was a good thing because Pelican, aside from gaining a high standing with critics, had also garnered a very devoted following. It was one of the easiest tours I've ever done; everyone was cool, professional and totally about the music, but it was at a Denny's in San Antonio that we solidified our friendship. Or was it the white-knuckle drive across the Midwest during a freak snow storm that we did together that made us road-brothers. Either way, I feel honored to call them my friends.

Call it synchronicity, but Trevor de Brauw would be in Los Angeles on the same weekend that Tombs was scheduled to play with Exhumed as part of a Scion / Relapse showcase. I met up with Trevor and drummer Larry Herweg after our set to discuss the forthcoming EP Ataraxia / Taraxis (due via Southern Lord on 4/10), the creative process, working in a band with members living in two cities and the normal jack-assery that results when three friends get together on a warm Saturday afternoon...

Continue reading "An Interview with Pelican by Mike Hill of Tombs"

We are understandably excited about the Locrian/Mamiffer collaborative LP Bless Them That Curse You, out now via SIGE/Utech/Profound Lore. As a result, we fanagled the world's most eloquent pugilist, Oxbow's Eugene Robinson, into discussing the release with both bands. The results of said discussion is below. -BBG

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TWO + THREE = INFINITY or: How Mammifer and Locrian will make mad the weary and drown the stage in tears.

by Eugene S. Robinson

A lot of times, well almost more times than not, the math and the mathematicians bungle the fucking job and adding cool to cool just results in everything being half as much instead of twice as much cool. How this happens and why probably has everything to do with the fact that this is more about magic and less about math, and putting Aaron Turner and Faith Coloccia's Mammifer together with the fine young men in Locrian and the results are less about a subtle power and grace and much more about the first hand experiences of loss, failure, and unnamed corruptions.

Forthwith: a chat with AARON TURNER, FAITH COLOCCIA, TERENCE HANNUM, STEVEN HESS and ANDRE FOISY....

Continue reading "an interview with Locrian & Mamiffer by Eugene Robinson"