Battlestar Galactica

So my wife's been watching Battlestar Galactica, and to an extent, so am I.  I just happen to watch it whenever I'm in the room and it's on.  I'm somewhat following the story, but I don't really mind if I miss some parts, or even a few episodes.

As with all sci-fi, I'm not really interested in the religion part of the storyline.  I struggled with that through some of Foundation, and with some other sci-fi stories.  I realized today that this was a problem.  With Foundation, I found myself skimming the parts of the story that involved the quasi-religion of nuclear devices, always hoping it'd fade into the background.  I also do this with characters in stories occasionally, too- just waiting for them to get phased out because I'm not really interested in them.  In the case of Battlestar Galactica, I'm sure that the theological differences between the Cylons and the humans probably adds something to the story, but I find myself glazing over every time I hear "god" or "gods," just like I do in my personal life.

I can't quite put my finger on what it is that I like about this show, but I find it much more bearable than some of the other shows she's been watching lately.  One thing that I can say with certainty is that I like the music, especially the weird drumming parts.  It totally adds to the feel of the show in a way that I really enjoy. 

Femacoffin- 2013 Demo

I've always been nuts about Stormcrow.  I was pretty bummed when they dropped off the tour with Mass Grave the year that both bands were slated to play MDF.  Then I stopped hearing about Stormcrow all together.  Rather than going out with a bang, they faded into the background pretty unnoticed.

When I heard that some of the members started a new band, and that it also had ex-members of Sanctum, I was pretty excited to hear it.  I checked out the bandcamp page and was pretty underwhelmed initially.  The songs sort of had a sound reminiscent of Stormcrow, but I guess I was just expecting them to pick up exactly where Stormcrow left off, which seems foolish to think about now.

Some time passed, and I pretty much forgot about Femacoffin, until I was looking for something new to listen to and decided, as I often do, to give them another shot.  This time, I didn't have quite the expectations that I did the first time around.  What I heard was some songs in the same chuggy mid-paced plodding style that I love, but the songs didn't seem to be quite as well structured or dynamic as the Stormcrow material.  Then I heard the instrumental track, Polaris, which is fucking brilliant.  Of course, this is a demo, so I shouldn't expect second-album cohesiveness or anything.  Overall, the Femacoffin material is much more bleak, and the song structures fit that a little better.  I also learned to like that they don't just fall back on the familiar old tempos and rhythms of their previous bands, but do something slightly refreshing, but still not totally foreign. By the end of the five songs, it really hits home, especially between Polaris and the last track, Into Oblivion.  Like with Stormcrow, some of the lyrics shine through just enough to catch some memorable lines.  The production doesn't quite have that clean yet horrendous crunch of Stormcrow (which is what initially drew me to them) but I can hang.

The tape itself looks pretty cool, too.  I like that the cassette shell is a drab off-white, and everything is written in plain block letters.  It visually reminds me of the Godflesh EP in a way.  The cover isn't all that interesting, but not all that different from the demo of one of my current bands, so I shouldn't criticize too much.

Like I already said, the song structure and overall flow of this demo didn't hit me until the last two songs and this is just a demo after all.  I'm really looking forward to what this band will do next, as I think this demo is just the tip of the iceberg. 


oh yeah: femacoffin.bandcamp.com  

Bolt Thrower Peel Sessions

A couple of years ago, Naomi got me this fantastic Earache Peel Sessions compilation. I had been waiting for it to come out, and she gave it to me for Christmas.  This 3-cd set is basically my grindcore scripture.  It could have a couple more UK bands on it that I really love, but it's about as good as it gets otherwise.  The CDs live in my car, and occasionally, when I'm looking for a change of pace, or to break out of the mp3 flash drive rut that I sometimes get into, I pop one of these suckers in for my old standby favorites.  Lately, I've been really digging on the Bolt Thrower tracks. 

One of the beautiful things about these Peel Sessions is that they sort of let the listener (me, in this case) get a peek behind the curtain of what was going on as these bands progressed, changed, or whatever between albums.  I was just a boy when this shit was happening, so I sure as hell wasn't there.

When I first received these CDs, I was familiar with the Napalm Death, Heresy, and Extreme Noise Terror, and Intense Degree Peel Sessions already.  So, I was really excited to dig into the Godflesh, Carcass, and Bolt Thrower sections.  Upon first listen, I wasn't really feeling the first bunch of Bolt Thrower tracks, and I quickly forgot about them, and favored some of the other discs in the set.  The thing about the first Bolt Thrower Peel Session was the vocals.  They're not what I know and love.  The vocals are way more punk sounding, not as deep, and definitely not angry sounding. They're more desperate than anything.  The one really cool thing in the first session (the In Battle...one) is that in the beginning of Attack in the Aftermath, the part with the toms (ugh, love me a bunch of toms!) is when the singer whispers  rise,  RISE, RISE BAABAA BAP BAAAAAAA.  That sends me into a frenzy every time!  Another thing I've come to appreciate in the first session is the drumming.  I love hearing the hi-hat going full-tilt in the background of all the songs chitCHITchitCHITchitCHIT.  The whole drum performance comes off more blasty than on the album.  I've come to accept the vocals, and these other few treats are enough for me. 

The second session really stands out to me.  I really really love Realm of Chaos.  It's a great compromise between grindcore and death metal, which is what grindcore is all about in my opinion.  I love the choppy blast beats, and how awful the guitars sound.  It's really murky, and some of the riffs are totally obscured by it all.  It's amazing to me to see that the dates for the first and second sessions were only 3 months apart.  It seems like a huge leap to change so much in song structure, guitar tuning, and vocal tone in such a short time.  Listening to the first two sessions back to back makes a little more sense out of the drumming, though.  It seems like a logical step to have so many blasts on the Realm of Chaos stuff as opposed to the earlier material.  On the album, the progression of World Eater, Drowned in Torment, Realm of Chaos and Prophet of Hatred is one of the best of anything I've ever heard.  With that in mind, I think the four songs that they chose for the second session were pretty good.  I love the part of Drowned in Torment where Karl sings through the catches and into the full riff with the drums that's on the album. On the Peel Session, he doesn't quite have the timing right yet or something, but I love how it came out.  I was never crazy about Eternal War, but this version sounds better to me.  It must be the way it's mixed or something.  Haven't quite figured that one out yet.  The big question mark is Domination.  Either I'm oblivious, or that song doesn't appear anywhere else.  Oh well.

Finally, the War Master-era Peel Session-  not crazy about this one.  I like the album pretty good, but the Peel Session isn't doing it for me, except maybe Lost Souls Domain.  This session doesn't really have any tasty morsels for me, but instead just sounds like the regular album stuff but maybe not quite as rehearsed or something.  The great thing about bands like Bolt Thrower is that if I overplay any one album at any given time, I can just listen to a different album from a different era without being sick of it.  Giving these Peel Sessions a listen this last week gave me a break from the recent spurt of listening to only Realm of Chaos. 

Krypts- Unending Degradation

About 6 months ago, my friend Nick told me that I should check out this band Krypts from Finland.  The last band that he told me about, Icon of Evil, was right up my alley so I checked out a few songs.  They ruled.  Nick was spot-on.  I tried for a while to chase down the Unending Degradation 12" to no avail.  Finally I gave up and bought the CD.  I think I got the CD in an order with some other cool(er?) stuff like the Timeghoul discography, and the Krypts CD finally got a listen.  I didn't get very far into the album and turned it off for whatever reason.  It didn't seem to suit my fancy any longer, and I couldn't figure out what it was that I had originally liked about it.

Months passed.  Then recently, Nick mentioned still wanting to get the album and I hastily told him not to bother.  I quickly retracted that statement and told him I'd spin it again and check it out more critically.  BOY AM I GLAD I DID.  I realized what it was about this stuff that gripped me initially, and what my problem was when I first received the CD.  I tend to still buy music somewhat impulsively despite being able to listen to full releases for free on the internet almost all of the time.  It's because that's how I've always done it, and there have been plenty of times where I'd listen to a whole album and then decide not to buy it.  That led to me not buying new music and getting stuck listening to the same old stuff all the time.  So, I decided to throw caution to the wind.  Sometimes, I still get stinkers, and sometimes I get sleepers- like this Krypts disc.  OK, so the intro and the first full track weren't doing it for me, basically at all.  It didn't have the tempo and the feel that I remembered from the tracks I previewed.  I left the CD on while I was washing dishes so I could get an uninterrupted listen and was likely not to change it if I got bored.  When the third track "Open the Crypt" came around, I started to remember what it was that I liked about this band.  Then the fourth track "Dormancy of the Ancients" kicked in, and it had all the stuff I like- plenty of chugging, gross bubbling vocals, and some murky leads that sounded like they were wafting from a submerged cave. 

The rest of the album continues in a similar fashion.  I've been listening to this pretty regularly for the last week or so after rediscovering it.  It seems silly that I couldn't get through those first two tracks and basically discarded this album for so many months.  So, cheers Nick!


All of this album is streaming on their bandcamp page if I remember correctly, and it's all on youtube, too.  For some reason I can't link to Dormancy of the Ancients like I wanted to, so go look it up yourself. 

Dresden- Final Hour

When I first heard Wartorn, I instantly disliked it.  The same went for Dresden.  Strangely enough, the moment I saw both bands live (who share members) I was totally impressed with the power each band conveys in a live setting.  In both cases, I bought their records immediately.  Subsequent listens of the records in question left me less and less interested each time. 

I decided to pull out this Dresden LP since I hadn't heard it in quite some time, and I was in the mood to listen to some heavy apocalyptic crust.  I was comfortably seated in my chair reading a book that I haven't had a lot of time to enjoy, but I found this record so drab that I wanted to get up and shut it off halfway through the A side.  It seems weird that a band could come across so well live, and then come off so blah on their record.  Here's the thing- the song structures are actually pretty good/ interesting, but there are never any stand-out riffs, and it's devoid of any inflection or emotion in the way it's played.  All of that is not the case live, however.  All of the songs are played just barely fast enough to lose some of the power it'd otherwise have, and somehow the heaviness that I know is intended doesn't translate well. 

If Dresden were playing tomorrow down the street, I'd go, but this record might not survive my next purge.  The biggest issue here, and the reason I bothered to commit my opinions, is that I want to like this record.  It's just not happening. 

Warfair?- Earmageddon LP

I still like this album just as much as the first time I heard it.  It also reminds me of a time when I understood what the fuck was going on with grindcore, or at least it felt that way.  It was an exciting time for me.  I wanted so badly for my band of the time to go on tour, and in the process get to play with Warfair?.  That, sadly and predictably, never happened.  I remember this band having a post on myspace that said something to the effect of wanting labels to release the stuff they had recorded, but all labels were too busy releasing even more Agathocles and Unholy Grave records.

This record not only sounds good, but looks cool.  The black cover is printed with grey ink, and the front and back sides are fucking SEWN TOGETHER.  The song titles are cool, the artwork rules, (especially the poster, which was on my bedroom wall for quite a long time), and what an awesome album title!  The drumming is pretty good, which is absolutely necessary on a grindcore record.  It's got the perfect snappy snare that so many bands do wrong.  The guitars are thick, and the big-dog/ little-dog vocals are well balanced.  The songs, and the record as a whole, have good momentum.

From time to time, I hear murmurs of this band getting back together, or releasing more material that was recorded back when, or all kinds of other things, but it never seems to get past the rumor stage.  I would be really happy if any of it were true.  The full album is on Youtube, but for some reason I can't share it properly on here, so here's one song instead. 

Giuda- Senza Paura, Senza Domani

I hadn't listened to this in a while, and I decided to dig it out when I realized I was wearing this shirt.  My first exposure to Giuda is when they they played here, and I hadn't heard them previously.  I was completely floored by them, though.  They were touring on their second album, Decadenza, which I still love.  Their set was full of a lot of dark, slow chugging and they never really sped up the pace while keeping a lot of momentum.  The guitar players would hold their guitars up vertically over their heads in some of the heaviest parts.  All in all, it was really cool.

Some time after that, probably a couple of years, this record came out, and I ordered it right away.  It came on a cool yellowish and green splatter, and had only 5 songs on it.  I wasn't totally in love with it when I first heard it.  Listening to it now, I'm not quite sure what made me think they were listening to too much Metallica when they wrote this.  It's got a couple of faster, or more upbeat parts or something compared to Decadenza.  I think it was that there were less of those stomping chuggy parts that I loved so much when I saw them that first time, and they added a little more melody, especially in the leads.  I also didn't like the vocals on this, any of the previous material, or live because they weren't the type of gutteral, deep vocals that I tend to prefer.  The singer has more of a hardcore style to his vocals.  I've come to accept how the vocals sound, and it's definitely not a dealbreaker for me.  The standout track is definitely the last one which takes up all of the B side- Siamo Demoni- We Are Demons.  True to Giuda form, they're not in a hurry to go anywhere with the song structure, but it's also not unnecessarily built-up either.  This track, along with the others, is well-constructed.

 There is definitely a strong metal influence to all the songs, but not excessively so.  All of this record exemplifies exactly what I want in my music- punks playing metal with a punk attitude. 

I could only find one track from the album on youtube, which is too bad, but I think that any of them would be a fair representation of the record.