Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Black Metal

Three Punches to the Gut by TLAL: Debut LPs by Joy, Ugly, and Pig City

Will Butler, the man behind To Live A Lie Records, has a special ear. TLAL’s release history is populated with essential hardcore, fastcore, grindcore, and powerviolence releases. Butler’s seal-of-approval is not to be ignored. These three debut LPs by some of the hardest working bands around are no exceptions.

Joy โ€“ No Light Below

Joy’s debut LP, No Light Below, was released through To Live A Lie Records on Nov. 10, 2019.

Listening to No Light Belowโ€™s frenzied opener feels like being chased by wolves, North Carolinaโ€™s Joy pull out the stops on their debut LP, out now through To Live A Lie Records. Having released two acclaimed EPsโ€”self-titled (self-released) and Of Nothing (Blood & Ink)โ€”the band must have known that expectations were high for No Light Below. Joy are usually described as blackened hardcore, which is not inaccurate, but this band is so much more than that (or any) label , as is evident on this album. Though they had, before now, a distinct sound that, allowed them to fit into one genre, albeit a decidedly blended one, this album really breaks down any genre restrictions that may have held them back before.

You walked down the wrong alley.

Joyโ€™s influences are many, and instead of trying to create a singular sound that homogenizes those disparate musical forebears, they allow the diversity of their listening to shine through. They glide effortlessly from grindcore, to black metal, to melodeath, to metalcore without compromising the individuality of their musical voice. Though there is no real analog, the easiest comparison to make would be to Trap Them, themselves experts in borrowing from various genres to create a vicious sound unique to them.

Joy’s fast bits are breakneck, and their sludgy breakdowns are perfect for tearing down a shed with your bare hands. From the blinding, angry, heart-racing beginning, there is no reprieve in the aggression. Until the last track, that is. Their doom-folk outro has me hoping that they collaborate with Mirel Wagner, Cold Specks, or Chelsea Wolfe. It is the perfect ending to an album that sounds like a sustained prison riot. It is the sound of one survivor, reflecting on death and its inevitability.

 

Ugly โ€“ BETRAYAL

Ugly’s debut LP, BETRAYAL, was released through To Live A Lie Records on Nov. 10, 2019.

Of course, one has to put a band into a category, and Ugly is officially a sludge band. That said, they approach sludge the way that Sleepytime Gorilla Museum approached art rock, the way Mr. Bungle approached metal, and the way Zappa approached everything: this band is unconfined by any genre expectations. Their samplesโ€”some almost a minuteโ€”are troubling like Pig Destroyerโ€™s but with more realism, capturing the angst and tragedy of domestic violence, as if youโ€™re stuck in the closet of some strangerโ€™s house while they have a raging dispute with their significant other. The band shares members with Landmine Marathon, Transient, and Endorphins Lost–bands that deliver top-notch death metal, grindcore, and crusty powerviolence, respectively–and there is definitely some cross-pollination happening, as BETRAYAL would appeal to any fan of those genres. Though there are traces of these other genres, Ugly are doing sludge better than almost anyone right now. For being an Arizona band, they sure know how to write riffs that plod with the desperation of a midnight jailbreak through a Louisiana bog.

Ugly’s BETRAYAL will leave you in pieces.

Uglyโ€™s last EPs, Butcher (self-released) and Wall (Rotten to the Core Records & Bloody Scythe Records), are brutal, uncomfortable, and angry, but this debut LP is the first time their recordings capture the ferocity of their live performances. Ugly puts on one of the greatest live shows of any heavy band I have ever seen, and one of the best parts of seeing them perform is seeing other peopleโ€”fans and touring bands alikeโ€”discover them, with eyes wide and mouth agape. The band has fun onstage, and they are friendly at the merch table, but their live songs are stomach-churningly aggressive. This music is channeling some real anger about real life in a way that we can all relate to, and that makes listening to it or seeing it live especially cathartic. Uglyโ€™s anger will leave you a happier person.

 

Pig City โ€“ Terminal Decline

Pig City’s debut LP, Terminal Decline, will be released through To Live A Lie Records on Nov. 22, 2019.

Pig City must have money set aside for all the reconstructive surgery that theyโ€™re responsible for, because Terminal Decline is nose-breaking music. Residing in Phoenix, these purveyors of โ€œCopper State Crustโ€ provide furied, in-your-face d-beat, crust, grind, and straight-up hardcore. Their debut, continues the virulence of their self-released EP, Polemics, produced by Jirix-Mie Paz (Burnout, Gay Kiss, Humiliation). Listening to Terminal Decline on headphones in the supermarket means balling your fists and snarling at children in shopping carts. One can hardly believe that these same musicians, violent and wrathful, are the alter-egos of the equally excellent Lychee, who play some of the best fuzzy, emo pop-punk to come out this decade. At the same time, it makes sense that a more blissful, more shoegazey outfit like Lychee would have another side to its coin. Like Code Orange to Adventures, Pig City is the dark underbelly. It is immediate, unapologetic, and steel-toed. It is a kick to the ribs.

Pig City are here to steal your love interest.

Terminal Declineโ€™s trajectory is a disturbed beehive, swarming and grinding, only slowing for the occasional knuckle-dragging breakdown before revving up for more circle-pitting and elbow-throwing. Pig Cityโ€™s talent and sweat make it easy to see why theyโ€™ve shared bills with Leeway, Regional Justice Center, Street Sects, Vitamin X, and Burnout. They hold their own among these giants, proving with every recording and every live show that they deserve their spot, that they can hang with the greats while bringing their very own voice, visceral and real.

They are their own beast, and any house venue that hosts a Pig City show is not getting its deposit back.

 
Written By

Evan lives in Arizona and works as an English and History teacher. He loves to learn new things and meet new people.

โ€œDREAMLESS"
โ€œBMM"
Sentient 51423

You May Also Like

Illustration

I’ve been admiring Caroline Harrison‘s work for a long time now without knowing it. I should have gotten more curious about the artist behind...

Hardcore Punk

I write this full of rage for this fucked place we call Amewrekkka. Where a raging d-bag named Elon Musk who fully supported and...

Music

#10 NEGATIVE SUN Menticide Tokyo’s Negative Sun blend noise, grindcore, and powerviolence with powerful messaging about Japanese politics, society, and police. Drawing comparisons bands...

Grindcore

Grindcore didnโ€™t start in the 90s but it does seem that the genre evolved more or less into its current identities during that decade,...

Copyright ยฉ 2025 CVLT Nation.