BLAST PICKS: April 2021
Here at Distorted Sound we pride ourselves on highlighting some of the best upcoming bands. We believe that there are a million hidden gems out there that are dying to be discovered and we’ve made it our mission over the years to help uncover some. Now, we welcome April’s edition of Blast Picks, featuring some of the best upcoming bands in grindcore, powerviolence and fastcore. Our writer, Matthew Tilt, will be launching some of the gnarliest music your way to melt your face.
It’s time for another month of bump ‘n’ grind, if the bump was a mosh pit induced fracture and the grind was face-peeling feedback and screams. Dedicated readers (Hi Mum!) will have noticed that the first few months of Blast Picks have been something of a sausage fest. This is unforgivable because women and non-binary artists can blast just as hard and, if we’re being honest with ourselves, have far more to be pissed off about.
Luckily, April has come along with some seriously kickass releases from bands not wholly consisting of angry men. So find something comfy to sit in and kick it aside for some lockdown crowd killing.
XIAO – Pain, Self-release
An absolute monster of a debut release, which should come as no surprise since XIAO comprises members of NO OMEGA and GRIEVED. From the opening feedback of Inget, these six tracks offer no leeway whatsoever. Vocalist Liv rages against the patriarchy, decrying women’s lack of sexual autonomy, the danger of saying no, and the lack of gratification that often comes from saying yes.
For the most, part this four-piece keep the tempo up, only slowing down for the slightly off-kilter Love Your Smell and the brutal mosh section at the end of Innersta. A punishing ten minutes and one that gets you excited for whatever XIAO do next.
SUFFERING LUNA/CHEST PAIN – Split, Here and Now Records
Scene legends SUFFERING LUNA team up with CHEST PAIN (one of the standouts in the early days of Jay Randall’s Grindcore Karaoke label) for this disgustingly good split. Resin Of Hate opens things up and is a disjointed, chaotic offering from SUFFERING LUNA. Shifting tempos, duelling vocals, pummelling drumming and some seriously fast guitar work make this essential listening.
For the one track from SUFFERING LUNA, we get three from CHEST PAIN. Face Dancer, Your Oppressor and Inhuman Compassion continue the band’s ongoing mission to mix the fastest possible blasts, with moments of brutal, discordant hardcore. Inhuman Compassion is a masterclass in the fast/slow methodology, showing that these guys have lost none of that bite.
MONNIER – EP 2, Self-release
When Makiko (of Japanese gorehounds FLAGITIOUS IDIOSYNCRASY IN THE DILAPIDATION) is on vocal duties, that should give you some indication of what to expect. Mixing classic death metal guttural vocals with grind stylings, all played so fast you’d think the police were in pursuit.
Within each blistering short track, however, there’s a lot of variation. Death and thrash metal guitar lines are peppered throughout, and the drum work jumps between unbridled blasting to crowd killing beatdowns. Purists, and those who like their metal unhinged and unpredictable, will find plenty to love here.
SAFDIE – Demo 2021, No Funeral Records
The cinema of the Safdie brothers (Good Time, Uncut Gems) might, at first glance, not be the most obvious influence for face-ripping fastcore, but Ontario noisemongers SAFDIE pull it off with aplomb. The breakneck pace of Skinny Kinny, falls away into the off-kilter noise-rock stylings of Rock, Paper, Burn. Speedier moments hark back to legends of the genre, while the slower moments are akin to PISSED JEANS or LIGHTNING BOLT.
Refusing to slot neatly into any genre box, SAFDIE are seriously exciting, and you get the feeling that these seven tracks (the last of which, Return Of The Juddy, mixes in an almost rock ‘n’ roll riff into the opener) are just the tip of the iceberg.
FED ASH/FENTANYL TAPWATER – Age Of Scales, Faith In Failure Productions
What do you get when you mix two bands that show no regard for genre, instead combining the nastiest parts of grind, sludge and black metal to attack the listener like acid-dipped razor blades? Age Of Scales is the result of FED ASH and FENTANYL TAPWATER trying to outdo each other with seriously sick results.
FED ASH start proceedings with three disgustingly fast ditties, broken up with sludge beatdowns so slow it sounds like the band have simply collapsed from exhaustion. It’s topped off with the seven-minute New Flesh, which starts off unsustainably fast, before getting weighed down in some of the heaviest sludge riffs you’re ever likely to hear and then falling away to discomforting soundscapes.
FENTANYL TAPWATER opt for a different approach, with a raw production that really suits their slightly out-of-step fastcore. Mixing in excellent YDI and GRIEF covers between their short sharp blasts, the band then slow things down with tracks like U.D. and Nailed, with their deliberate, trudging pace. This about as stripped back and furious as you are ever likely to find.
TRAUMA BOND – The Violence of Spring, Self-released
This collaboration between Tom Mitchell and Eloise Chong-Gargette brings together the harshest aspects of noise and grindcore to create nine blisteringly fast but uncomfortable tracks. Chong-Gargette’s vocal style is reminiscent of Julie Christmas, mixing with the guttural roars of Mitchell.
Tracks range from sample-heavy electronics, to grind so fast it verges on cybergrind. The standout is the bizarre, drum-driven Double Denim Dissociative Disorder, which slips between rhythmic beats and no-wave noise. The rough production in parts, makes this even more discombobulating, leaving the listener an exhausted, scared mess by the end. Bliss.
And that rounds off our next entry of Blast Picks! Be sure to keep posted to Distorted Sound as we bring your our next entry of all things grind and powerviolence very soon! To keep up to date with all our Blast Pick entries you can find them here.