Eight – Phrenelith Demo #1
Demo # 1 exudes a strong hint of some ancient death metal a la Antediluvian. The guitars are tuned down impossibly low. The riffs sound like muscle car exhaust rumble. The vocals are guttural as fuck, and the bass just adds to the mix to double the down-tuned heaviness. The drums are behind the guitars in the mix, but they lend perfect accompaniment to the music.
Read the full review HERE…
SEVEN – BIB Demo 2015
Ok, so here is the deal – yesterday I was online and saw that a friend had posted about this band BIB, and because I trust her taste, I decided to check them out. Hot diggity damn, their demo blew my fucking mind, and I knew I had to share them with you ASAP! This band slays harder than riot police at a G8 summit. Every fucking song on this demo is a BANGER!!! BIB proves what I have always said; some band’s demos are better than other band’s albums.
Read the full review HERE…
SIX – GRIN Demo I
Grin is a part of the rising noise scene in Toronto, and although the band only has one three song demo, they make it clear that their music is one menacing surprise after another. Upon first listening to Grin, I assumed that they were simply an ambient noise/industrial type of band. However, after further inspection it became clear that Grin pulls no punches when combining elements of electronic, harsh noise, industrial and punk. Grin’s demo is very special. In just a mere three songs, the band manages to show its ability to intricately merge all forms of kick ass music into one record.
Read the full review HERE…
FIVE – HAARM Demo
HAARM are a raw punk band hailing from somewhere around the L. A. area, and this demo is their first offering, an unmistakeable presentation of what this band’s music is all about. Essentially, HAARM is sadism in musical form. Aural self-mutilation. A screwdriver rammed into your eardrums. Empty hands and shattered dreams in a world where you have lost everything. In under ten minutes, HAARM somministrate to the listener the soundtrack to their demise. Songs of disease and disgust. Riffs that sound like rats gnawing through your skull. Vocals that sound like the howls coming from a godforsaken leper colony.
Read the full review HERE…
FOUR – ATRAMENT Demo MMXV
The time has come for the world to deal with a new and unapolagetic threat in sonic form, an immeasurable pile of violence and darkness coming its way. ATRAMENT are a new d-beat crust band from Oakland, CA, formed by current and former members of notable Bay Area bands like Necrot, Vastum, Caffa, Abstracter, but also coming from Midwest heavyweights Moral Void and Black September. Demo MMXV is their debut offering. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios in Oakland, this demo is unmistakeable evidence of ATRAMENT‘s wretching aural violence and of their harrowing apocalyptic visions.
Read the full review HERE…
THREE – FLOWERS & FIRE Demo
There must be something in the mountain sky or seawater, because the Northwest produces unreal post punk bands. Especially the city I now call home, Vancouver, which is also home to FLOWERS & FIRE. I saw one of their very first shows, and I knew this band had promise! Once I heard their new demo, I knew I was correct – every moment of this tape is on point. The musicianship of FLOWERS & FIRE is stellar. The vocals from this band are haunting, alluring and full of a sonic magic that will have you under her spell.
Read the full review HERE…
TWO – FUNESTE Demo MMXV
Listening to this demo, one realizes within the first few minutes that Funeste (roughly translated as baneful) are prepared to break any ropes an audience could attempt to restrict them with. As soon as the Moon synths and Xasthur-esque dissonant guitars on “Le triomphe du charnier” start to carve a path into your mind, things start to get spacey, even psychedelic, before developing into a strikingly emotional passage that could give Opeth a run for their money. At just the right time, the band drops into opener “Diptera” and you’re blanketed under a lead-weight wave of black/doom.
Read the full review HERE…
ONE – G.L.O.S.S. Demo
Punk music was founded on challenging norms and found its identity by subsequently tearing them down. Over time, this destruction-as-creation concept has become watered down, packaged and processed for sensitized, radio-friendly ears, where feelings of rejection were celebrated over the celebration of rebellion, the embracing of what society defines as the “norm.” It’s refreshing when a band rails against society’s xenophobia, refusing to package its sound with a prim, suburban bow for easy digestion.G.L.O.S.S., an acronym for “Girls Living Outside Society’s Shit,” is such a band. On a technical level, their five song demo is nothing new, though it hits just as hard, sometimes harder, than your average D-beat thought piece. Like Limp Wrist before them, G.L.O.S.S. infuses their brief, wholesome punk with purposeful fury, declaring their queerness with the utmost pride and with teeth bared.
Read the full review HERE…
