Cybergrind act Blind Equation preps new LP 'LIFE IS PAIN' (watch the "Lcd Dem" video)
As mentioned, one-person cybergrind band Blind Equation are releasing their new album LIFE IS PAIN on September 3. We recently posted a few songs from it, and we’re now premiering opening track “Lcd Dem” and its video. “The song is titled after a Yume Nikki fangame that I’ve had a fascination with while writing the album,” James tells us. It pairs glittery chiptune synths with throat-shredding, emotive metalcore, and James makes these two polar opposites sound like they were meant to be together. It’s in the lineage of classic bands like HORSE the Band and Genghis Tron, but Blind Equation (and many of the other newer cybergrind acts) take a very modern approach that isn’t overly indebted to older influences. In an era where hyperpop is huge and metalcore is making a big comeback, music like Blind Equation fits right in.
Watch the video and stream the previous singles below…
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25 Chaotic Hardcore, Mathcore & Sasscore Albums from the 2000s That Are Seminal Today
Black Cat #13 – I Blast Off! (2000)
The Sawtooth Grin – Cuddlemonster (2001)
Racebannon – In the Grips of the Light (2002)
The Blood Brothers – March On Electric Children (2002)
Orchid – Orchid (aka “Gatefold”) (2002)
Since By Man – We Sing the Body Electric (2003)
"We sing the body electric/Sickness says hold on/Would you like to dance, dance, dance?"
That's how Since By Man open "A Kid Who Tells on Another Kid is a Dead Kid" (probably an Over the Edge reference but not a Nation of Ulysses cover), with Sam Macon raising his voice to a harsh shriek on "dance, dance, dance" and totally embodying flamboyant hardcore in the process. That line also gives this Milwaukee band's Revelation-released debut LP its title, and -- for a subgenre that prides itself on shamelessly verbose poetry -- it makes sense that a band would name their album after a Whitman poem. Throughout We Sing the Body Electric, Since By Man deliver a shapeshifting soundscape that bounces between melodic math riffs, clean-sung hooks, and bludgeoning metalcore, sounding like a cross between The Blood Brothers, Botch, and Poison The Well (who Since By Man guitarist Brad Clifford later joined). It's often a fast, frenzied, constantly-in-motion record, but it sets itself apart from dime-a-dozen mathcore with a few atmospheric, slow-burning songs that veer closer to Jupiter-era Cave In. I don't know if this particular album is a big influence on the current punk scene or not, but it sure sounds like it could be; it combines a lot of different sounds that have been coming to prominence in recent years. Some parts of this album sound like early 2000s post-hardcore in a nutshell, but other times it feels genuinely ahead of its time.