One of those albums that I always seem to forget about, and then it destroys me all over again when I remember how good it is. Immense, loud, noisy and cathartic. if you're into Celeste, Breach or even Cult of Luna then this is a must-listen. (Speaking of which, have you heard the new Celeste songs? Fucking Christ. Next level.)
One of the best hardcore bands of the 2000s. Unfortunately, their material beyond the "We All Failed" 7" is practically unavailable. The 2nd 7" and the posthumous LP were each limited to 100 copies. The music is mid-to-fast paced, heavy but never gratuitously so, and laced with a palpable sense of desperation and cynicism. My brother once described them as "a band that sounds like they all own huge stacks of records and listen to them all". High praise. Mandatory listening, as far as I'm concerned.
A 2006 compilation of Montreal noise artists. Some of it I can really dig, some of it... not so much. It's well worth a browse through though.
Evil, murky Death Metal from the deep South. I recently described this to somebody as "Incantation playing at the bottom of a chasm while you're standing at the top". That gets you in the ballpark but doesn't do justice to how good this is. FUCK OFF, TECHNICAL DEATH METAL! UGH! It's still fresh, so if you're into it, please go buy it from Profound Lore (it's cheap!) or elsewhere.
In the words of the composer:
Smokin' hot bluegrass played by a bunch of punk dudes from Milwaukee. Tons of great jams on here! Seriously, try to listen to a song like "Down on a Bender" without smiling. It's tough.
I recently discovered that this little slab of violence is commanding a surprisingly high price tag these days after being available in every distro known to man for a couple of years. Huh. Well, here's a real nice rip of it if you don't feel like getting bilked on the secondary market.
Raw and hateful Black Metal from Finland, played by the curator of the well-respected Northern Heritage label. How did it take until 2002 for a Black Metal record to be named Fist of the Northern Destroyer? I find this record to have a couple of slight misses on it, but "I Have Seen..." is a brilliant track to say the least. I really like that when you open the booklet for this CD, there's nothing but matte black staring back at you.
If you were coming of age in Canada in the mid-'90s, you might be rolling your eyes right now. You are excused. But before CanCon became an avenue for regurgitating 3-year old American trends, some pretty decent bands actually did benefit from it, and The Killjoys were one. Their debut, Starry, is a half-hour of picture-perfect powerpop. Nothing more nothing less. Check it out! At the very least, you get one perfect pop song.
