Architects - Untitled Demo/We Will Turn Your Cemetaries Into Your Cathedrals, And Your Cities Into Tombs

no album art makes me sad, but there's a pic of the band at the end !!

anyhow, this aint architects (the brits, but theyre awesome too), this be faithealer, in their earliest incarnation, playing a sweet little mix of hardcore, grind, and screamo. very lo-fi, depressive, and drony... the production makes it sound like, grimy idk. its the type of music you listen to when its just really cold and raining during the winter.

tracklisting:

demo
1. Homes
2. When I Get Scared I Think Of You
3. Things They Never Taught Us In History Class
4. Each Sentence Was A Little Triumph
5. Turn Your Back
6. Revenge

we will turn your cemetaries into our cathedrals and your cities into tombs
1. Cannot Die
2. Flower Of Flesh And Blood
3. Human Waste (The Long Haul)

linky poo

<3> mappy

Skycamefalling - A Penny For Your Confessions...

Skycamefalling is a band I've been listening to for I don't know how long, since sometime in middle school I guess, when my brother's one friend picked up ...To Forever Embrace The Sun. From the second I heard this band, there was just something that clicked, just the whole atmosphere of the combined elements of the lo-fi production to the stop and go hardcore to breakdown to dissonant to melodic bit song structures.

This demo, is probably the best example of just the raw emotional display this band was capable of. Christopher Tzompanakis' vocal display is pure distress and frustration, the guitars are crunchy, dissonant, and thrashy, the drums vary from groove beats and breakdowns to classic punky beats. It's one of those jawesome old releases where you can see the origins of modern generic metalcore and shake your head in shame at what the genre's become.

Tracklist:
1. A Perfect Prayer
2. Of Adornment And Disgust
3. The Fall Of Cain's Countenence
4. Malachai's Whisper

linky poo

<3 mappy

Country Teasers

There has yet to be a band to exist that is anything like this one. The Country Teasers, ah, London’s finest sons, born and bred to whisper/scream/cough whimsical lyrics and prose hell bent on making you cross the line into realizing you are unsatisfied, that you want more, that you crave more and to understand that you do not deserve anything good but you will do anything in your power to get anything good. To get what you want. Now don’t let that message fool you, these boys aren’t anything close to preachers seeing as how they’re singing to the converted but by chance a ‘non believer’ (or ‘believer’ if you want to say that) may happen to stumble onto this amazing force then they may as well be handed their ticket to hell right then and there. You are not worthy. At any rate these sounds are gritty, dirty, reminiscent of old Blues songs that are in your face, angry and sad; but this isn’t a Blues band. The Country Teasers play beautiful Post Punk with hints of Country and Artsy Noise Rock. Lyrically you will probably be offended at least once, or question what the singer is singing but it’s amazing. Musically, you will recognize some bass lines and riffs from other songs time to time (you will hear Joy Division somewhere down the road), this band does know its roots and it won’t let you forget them either. All three albums represent various parts of the bands history, Back to the Future is no doubt the grittiest and rawest (it even has a live portion in the end), the Self-Titled album is cleaner but just as raw and possibly more sillier, Satan is Real Again (Or Feeling Good About Bad Thoughts) is just top notch, killer sound by a band that attempts to sound disgusting. Can be Post-Punk, can even probably be called Dark-Country (there is Dark-Wave after all) but will always be catchy. They’ve got a whole bunch of albums and I believe nearly all of them are still in print, once I discover how to rip vinyl I’ll get Secret Weapon Revealed At Last (Or Full Moon Empty Sports Bag) on here. D.I.Y., experimentation and evil.

Country Teasers – Back to the Future
Country Teasers – Country Teasers
Country Teasers - Satan Is Real Again (Or Feeling Good About Bad Thoughts)

- Manuel

Zombina and the Skeletones

I realize my last post was completely obnoxious and to show you how much writing all of that for just one band is completely worth it I will take time out of this post to further show you that I think Stationary Odyssey is very good. Okay now that we’re done with that we must continue into other territory. This band is very happy sounding, I think there is a lot to be said about girl vocalists nowadays, especially in our society full of bigamists and hardcore purists trying to branch out and say that this is more or less ‘all guy territory,’ and let’s face it, what options do you really have in the mainstream when It comes down to listening to female fronted vocalists? The Donnas? Honestly, you don’t want to listen to them past a couple of their songs and they will more than likely just be ‘RADIO HITS!’ Zombina and the Skeletones play a really good fun type of sound that you will enjoy from start to finish if you’re into 45 Grave, Lemuria and The Unlovables (they sound more like The Unlovables than Lemuria), the difference here is that their subject matter is about B Horror Movies or Space Odysseys, or Sci-Fi flicks you’d rent on Friday night and watch with your best friends while doing your make-up, painting your nails black and listening to your extensive collection of really obscure Goth Punk hits. Each album seems to take the form of some story line, concept, and ends completely tragic. You’d think this would be full of lyrical wankery like Rush’s albums or The Mars Volta but nope, this right here is simple pop punk debauchery of any story telling, its so simple and catchy, so good. They released a trilogy of 7 inches that tell a complete tale, if you can hunt those down (all OOP I believe); eventually they might end up here. I won’t get in depth with each album like I did with the last post, but I will say kind words about them. THEY’RE ALL GOOD. Last.fm calls them Goth, Death Rock, yadda yadda, etc etc, but no way no how, this band is nothing short (or more) of pop punk with a different lyrical content. If you’re into what Glen Danzig has to say check them out, if you’re into Blink 182 give them a listen, if you like it when the girl next door gets murdered and then is stuffed full of plastic explosives then give it a try. Death Valley High and Taste the Blood Of…(their debut) are full lengths while Love Bits is one of their many E.P.s

Zombina and the Skeletones - Taste the Blood Of...
Zombina and the Skeletones - Death Valley High
Zombina and the Skeletones - Love Bits

- Manuel

p.s. I promise I'll start to write less and less, eventually.

Swarm Of The Lotus - The Sirens Of Silence

Now this is a cute album, it's got a nice dissonant breakdown's everywhere metallic thing going on to it. Very muddy and groove oriented, but spaced with random hardcore parts or death metal stomp sections... this album's kinda like when people play "mathcore" but the sludgy older brother who doesnt constantly vie for attention. Great drumming, interesting guitars, and intense vocals... these guys are pretty heavy, and designed to blaze to !! Definitely for fans of Botch, Knut, Norma Jean, Intronaut, and whatnot.

I write shorter posts than Manny.

Tracklisting:
1. Hookworm
2. Call To Abandon
3. The Great Masquerade
4. Yan Hou
5. Jackie G
6. Snowbeast
7. Needles And Knives
8. The Insect Trust Fund
9. Vertigo
10. Judas
11. House At The Bottom Of The Sea
12. Nightmare Paint

linky poo

<3 mappy

Stationary Odyssey

This band has put out some of the most solid post rock releases I have ever heard, so good. In this you'll listen too and discover that they can be the Mars Volta when they want to be the Mars Volta, that they can be Pelican too! Each album offers a little more than something from bands past/present/to come but in their own style and maybe even better. More or Less is More sounds like a complete psychedelic Post Rock Progressive trip, its sound is akin to earlier Mars Volta without vocals, think of the parts in between vocals in the songs that would go on for five minutes or so, just like that except not diluted or even boring (as the Mars Volta can sometimes get). Perpetual of The Retired Evermore sounds like its namesake, a Sludgy (at times) doomy (at times) escape into progressive metal or post-metal such as Pelican and ISIS, the album is short and will probably play amazingly quick. "UH (Rehearsal)," the last track on Perpetual of The Retired Evermore, is so good even though its just a Rehearsal track, shows what these guys can come up with at a moments whim. Head! Foot! And the Pink Axe is definitely my favorite of theres to listen too and was the soundtrack to Winter 07/08, listening to this album on long drives while it rained was really spectacular and nothing short of amazing. With Head! Foot! And the Pink Axe we return to a more post rockish stance and sort of forget the whole Psychedelic vibe they had with the other albums even though this one can just be as groovy if not more, as shown at 3:00 into Nobody Does it Better with the glitch noises and other synthesized sounds that they add (to a couple of other tracks as well). Head! Foot! And the Pink Axe is more like Do Make Say Think without incredibly long and boring songs, they keep it traditional without clocking it in at over 4:34 minutes. I think their entire catalogue is in print still so you might want to check it out, even though their web store has none of their 'actual' CDs on sale, just $5 downloads per album (there are more on there that aren't on here so if you really dig them you might wanna go ahead and check them out) and a neat t shirt going for around $15, you can also probably spot something nice on Interpunk or the label that released a couple of them, the Joyful Noise label. They're working on a new release and have already announced that it was definitely going to be weirder so be on the lookout for that.

Stationary Odyssey - More or Less is More
Stationary Odyssey - Perpetual of The Retired Evermore
Stationary Odyssey - Head! Foot! And the Pink Axe

If you're into the 'Joyful Noise' sound on Stationary Odyssey you might like to know that there IS an audio sampler for download on there site here. Enjoy it!

- Manuel

At The Throne Of Judgement - The Arcanum Order

At The Throne Of Judgement is one of many many bands within that "deathcore" movement... but they deserve some credit, cause well, they're actally good. Kind of like The Black Dahlia Murder (classic melodic death metal riffs, varied guttural-to-high rasp vocals), with a modern metalcore tinge to it. Also, there aren't breakdowns every 5 seconds, and no ultra-brutal Acacia Strain junts either. Basically, if you like circle pit focused Southern mdm, fucking get The Arcanum Order.

Tracklisting:
01. Cacophonous
02. Sentinal
03. Mariner's Cutlass
04. Celestial Scourge
05. Ruin Of Gaia
06. Tomb Of The Thracians
07. Delphic Star
08. The Captive
09. Untitled [instrumental]
Linky poo:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?qzgnrgymykd

<3 mappy

Virgin Mega Whore

Mark McCoy (of Spazz and Das Oath infamy) has been known to do some really outrageous sounding music, combined with Jeff Jellen (of MK Ultra) though, he has surpassed all expectations, all of them. This sound is like it was made in the late post punk era of Public Image LTD and The Silver Apples but dirtier, nastier, more cocaine/drug oriented, and lets just emphasize how dirty it sounds. The albums (both) are completely vulgar, no mercy action that will more or less make you want to shake your ass for one last dance before that fucking tractor beam takes you off to one planet out there in the middle of no where. Ever since Virgin Records got a hold of the name, realized its amazing play on words, the band has been operating under VMW which I'm sure would go swell as a tattoo in the middle of a red circle or a nice T-Shirt maybe. Think of Disco and think of Syringes and think of your gayest friend, or the gayest person you could ever meet ever and it still wouldn't sound as gross as these CD's. You know, this shit is so good, some douche bag had the honor of stealing my copy of the full length a long while back. You can purchase both of them at any record shop, I suppose, being as how the Full Length is still in print. Go ahead and check them both out here, the link includes both in one convenient ready to listen too package.

Virgin Mega Whore - VMW/Door Knob of San Diego

- Manuel

Systral - Black Smoker

What can be said about Germen Hardcore except that it is mind numbingly brutal and crushing as fuck. At the front of this hardcore machine was Systral, a band with a lot of notoriety for being an influence on Orchid and many other bands that had followed them. There is no doubt that this band is often overlook because of that very reason but happily is always looked into by those interested in understanding where that bone crushing sound came from. This Album is my favorite from them and their second Full Length, so god damn good. From beginning to end you get wall punching grooves and vocals that sound like a dog barking into your ear for hours at a time, they sound painful as though the singer is going through nothing but complete struggle and always has; there is no song that isn't brutal. The album is violent, chaotic and at times sounds nothing but like pure evil. The only other bands that did this whole shtick at this era were Morser, Acme and Carol. No song goes on longer than it should and no song is wimpy at any time. There are no complaints here, you get what you expect to hear straight from the first song to the last, Germans showing up Americans at some fucking ingenuity. The LP can be purchased HERE for $7.50 and the CD HERE for $12 even though the label it was released on, Edison Recordings, possibly no longer exists. Bands still try to sound like this but can't, they just fucking can't.

Systral - Black Smoker


- Manuel