words and photos by Ilya Blokh

sloth

Saturday (5/15) was my first time at the relatively new Party Expo, to see Divider, Beauty Apes, Chambers, Tiger Flowers and The Abominable Iron Sloth. Mixed feelings on the space - I like floor shows and the sound was better than expected, but the crowd was anemic at best. Not that I particularly miss windmills and spin-kicks, but I'll take them over glazed eyes and sullen stares any day.

Divider opened with a jaw-clenching set of hardcore/metal crossover, followed by Beauty Apes' filthy sludgecore, though I wish the bands' Neurosis and Kylesa shirts showed through a bit more in their music.

Chambers - from NJ - were on-fucking-fire! Doomriders are a decent reference point, but Chambers tread much further into drunken, psychobilly-style guitar rock, colored by Dan Pelic's raspy shout-alongs. Though steeped in metal and punk, this is pure beer-swilling, fist-fucking, bar-fight rock'n'roll at the core. Their "Old Love" debut is out June 22nd.

Not sure why, but I dug Tiger Flowers much more here than at their Public Assembly show a few weeks back. Maybe it was the DIY venue and the floor set-up, but the boys put on a fierce, fluid and raw performance, despite the iffy sound.

After briefly blowing out the power, The Abominable Iron Sloth finally took the floor for a short but massive set. Guitars tuned down to the ground, The Sloth feels like one massive rhythm section, slamming a giant sledgehammer into your chest with every sludgy chord. Apparently they only had 20 minutes of material ready due to a new touring drummer (or is he full-time?) - a damn shame. Check out their recent The Id Shall Overcome album and the song "Hats Made Of Veal And That New Car Smell" off their first record - the riff will bury straight into your brain.

More pics from the show and dates are below...

Continue reading "The Abominable Iron Sloth, Tiger Flowers, Chambers, Beauty Apes & Divider played Party Expo"

words by BBG, photos by Chloe Rice

Mammoth Grinder

Although they only fired away for a shade under twenty minutes, Mammoth Grinder played their second NYC show in a week at The Charleston on 1/12 with Dead City and Divider. The date was part of overall East Coast campaign towards beligerence and destruction, as well as a vehicle to promote their new LP, Extinction of Mankind.

Mammoth Grinder are currently scooting their way back towards their native Austin, Texas to close shop on their jaunt at Beerland on 1/20. After a month away from the stage, the band will re-emerge at the same Austin venue (on 2/25) with Shitstorm, a side project featuring members of Torche and Kylesa.

More pictures & MG dates, below...

Continue reading "Mammoth Grinder, Divider, Dead City @ the Charleston - pics "

by BBG

Misery Index at BV-BBG CMJ (more by Samantha Marble)

In lieu of my forthcoming Short Wave Warfare column (formerly known as This Week in Metal), I figured I would present a short blast of interesting shows coming up - for the dark side in you.

The biggest news of the pack is that Death metal greats Deceased will team up with the defenders of the filth, Superchrist, for the Slaves To The Grave tour which includes Union Pool on April 17th. Deceased is scheduled to make an appearance at MDF this year, while Superchrist is recovering from the release of Defenders of The Filth last year.

All Deceased tour dates and many more upcoming shows, continued below...

Continue reading "upcoming shows & dates (Deceased, Misery Index, AxCx, Magrudergrind, Mammoth Grinder, Naam & more) "