CONVULSIS ~ An Evil Born From the Void (2022)

Wow! That was over in a heartbeat! Time flies when you're having fun. I've just finished listening to this sweet litlle headbang inducing EP from Michigan's Convulsis. Thrashing riffs slice and dice while the breakdowns run whats left through the grinder. Add a touch of death metal and what you have here is a potent, rabid slashfest.

File this under 'More Please!'

 

STONED VOID ~ Throbbing Rhythm of the Doldrums (2022)

I've been playing a lot of nasty, filthy stuff recently and it feels quite pleasant sometimes to just kick back and soothe my ears with some jams. 'Throbbing Rhythm of the Doldrums' the new album from French stoner psych band Stoned Void fits the bill perfectly. As I close my eyes and let the music wash over me I can hear emotive guitar jams of all types, the one I'm listening to now on the track 'Lonely Mountain' sounds like its off a Mahogany Rush live album but on 'Throbbing Rhythm of the Doldrums' the mood changes in an instant, one moment gentle and tender, the next spraying you in flecks of angry spittle! What makes this album stand out however is the frequent onset of heavy stoner heft with the coma inducing rhythm section of bass and drums throbbing higher in the mix giving an overall more immersive sound.

Hellgrav ~ Rottomatic (2022)

German death metal with a relentless HM-2 sound that grinds you to your knees. There's nothing new here and I'm sure Hellgrav couldn't care less, I certainly don't while I sit here listening to the album in all its downtuned, blood spattered glory!

CRUA - CHAN ~ Crua - Chan (2018)

I played a track from this album after it popped up on my iTUNES 'shuffle', it had been filed away and forgotten over the passage of time. As the track 'Resplandor' tore from my speakers, I took a glance at Crua - Chan's Bandcamp page to see if I'd missed any other releases and was amazed to find that the usual suspects you would normally rely on to discover the delights of albums such as this, are largely absent. Anyone who checks this album out, and surely you must, can expect their eardums to be spanked by rampant, quick fire stoner scraping away most of the fuzz, leaving a masticated hard rock foundation spitting out destructive passages of doom and thrashy sludge coiled in off kilter soloing that gives Crua - Chan their individual slant on what extreme music should sound like.

DEHISCENT ~ Split (2021)

Ugliness permeates every pore of this nasty piece of work. I found it buried deeper than usual in an unconsecrated patch of Bandcamp soil reserved for those releases that need approaching wearing a Level A HAZMAT suit because the sounds eminating from Dehiscent need  hazard warning signs plastered all over them. If proof is needed  that filth comes in many forms, Dehiscent's side of this split with Sterileprayer provides it in spades with each track providing obnoxious examples of punk influenced sludge, stoner or doom depending on which track assaults your senses, each song scoured and pitted with an unpolished but still more than acceptable production.

DEER CREEK ~ Menticide (2022)

Six tracks of  doom riffs engorged with sludge and consummated with humid stoner dissonance. Surprisingly, Deer Creek manages to dredge some semblance of groove from the lumbering colossus that is 'Menticide' particularly with the final track 'The Working Man Is A Dead Pig' which has a rather clever version of Rush's 'Working Man' hidden within its bloated bosom.

SEA OF FLAME ~ Ballast ( 2018 )

Most albums of this type are blues based. 'Ballast' is no exception. However, the blues in this record has been beaten to within an inch of its life by granite hard stoner rock riffs then lacerated from the various scorching guitar licks that lurk, coiled and ready to strike.