Flush It Friday: Itty Bitty Ditties from 2024
A novel enterprise.
I have nothing to say to you barf bags, so let’s just get straight to the “reviews”:
Big Ass Truck – Big Ass Demo
Independent
Straight outtta the Inland Empire comes everyone’s new favourite mosh band. The demo is Knocked Loose meets All Hell Breaks Loose meets truck nuts hangin’ real loose off the back of your 18-wheeler. Each song is an exquisitely rendered pit anthem, and you gotta just choose your favourite. You got problems with someone? “BEEF.” Prefer to live that Thelma & Louise life? “SMOKEY AND THE BAT.” Absolutely sick of perpetrators on your porch? “BIG ASS DOG.” A fan of Big 10 football and those offensive linemen from Iowa like Bryan Bulaga? “CORN-FED.” It’s all there. This is Big. Ass. Truck.
Hassan I Sabbah – Untitled
Iodine Recordings
From the truly ephemeral salad days of emo when bands might last for less than a year and be all the more memorable for it. It’s astonishing how clean the songs sound thanks to the remixing/remastering job from Jack Shirley. While one might miss the muddiness of Angel Hair’s Pregnant with the Senior Class or the blown-out earache of Mohinder’s The Mission, Untitled sparkles with energy and a crisp, clear sound that focalizes both Hassan I Sabbah’s songwriting and knack for total chaos. Members would end up playing in 108, Backstabbers Inc, Red Chord, Unearth, and Madball, among many others.
Glutted Swarm – …of Old
Independent
There used to be a record store in the town I moved to in 1996, though I think it’s been closed for more than 20 years at this point. I think it was called Island Music. Given that Limp Bizkit was from Jacksonville, which was only an hour away, 3 Dollar Bill Y’all was featured in the “Local” section. I remember listening to Misfits’ Famous Monsters in there and thinking, “People like this fucking band?” I bought a copy of Obituary’s World Demise for $4 from the Used section. Glutted Swarm would approve. The guitar tone. The vocals. The riffs.
edhochuli – Higherlander
Independent/Zegema Beach
A friend of mine recently played a show in Athens with these Pittsburgh-based weirdos. A week after he told me that story, I was listening to Higherlander and texted the recommendation. “I just played with them,” he said. So, I guess neither of us remembers shit from that night. Immensely engaging longform post-hardcore that’s sorta like a proggier City of Caterpillar with a little Botch mathiness and a little Big Business groove and a little Helms Alee doom. Hochuli’s first game as a referee was at Lambeau, which is awesome, but he also refereed Super Bowl XXXII, so fuck him.
No Pulse – No Pulse
Independent
It’s honest-to-God snowing in Atlanta, though I’m sure the winter wonderland will shortly be replaced by sleet, cold rain, and car accidents. I just got word that campus is going to remain closed tomorrow, so I guess won’t be going to any basketball games. You know how that makes me feel? A little like No Pulse on “Mercy”: “I HAVE NO MERCY LEFT TO GIVE / SO PICK A GOD AND FUCKING PRAY TO IT.” Grinding powerviolence from Hate City with vocals reverbed and echoed to hell and hole-stomping breakdowns to match. They’re playing with Vastum and Goetia in April.
But that ain’t it! It’s time to take a Big. Ass. Flush.
We’ve got our first Monday Press and Toilet Tuesday of 2025!
Metal Aged Mom brought us the third installment of DEI Metal.
DEI Metal: Sorry, Not Sorry, Cis Straight White Guys (PART III)
Spear was firmly in his bag premiering this technical/melodic death metal track from The Spiral Continuum.
365 premiered a thrashing new video from Electrocutioner. High-fives and stage-dives forever, y’all.
Toilet Radio 537 is everything you’d expect from Joe n Jordan. If you’re a clown, you’re gonna get clowned.
Sean Ghoulson endangered us all with this brutal slobberknocker from Relics of Humanity.
Premiere: Relics of Humanity – “Taking The Shape Of Infinity”
Old friend SLNC emerged from the silence to throw four flaming toilets at the new Schammasch.
Falxifer reviewed the latest from Prehistoria. All hail the New World Order of Hoosier Heavy Metal.
That’s a pretty sweet week in the Bowl! Make sure to check out any posts you might’ve missed along the way and share your thoughts with the contributors. Afterwards, you can hit us with those GBUs. Time to go eat all the yellow snow in the neighbourhood!
