Getting Laid at Bandcamp XII
Welcome back to camp ya’ll. It’s been a while, and I’m sorry for that. Unfortunately I’m on tour right now, so I’ll be very distant from the Toilet. So, I figured I’d write one last post before I leave you guys and girls. This post is sort of all over the place musically so hopefully there is something you’ll like.
HTRK – Work (work, work) (Australia) 2011
Electronic music can be a hit or miss with me, but it’s usually a miss. HTRK hit me right square in the heart with Work (work, work). There is a back story to how I found out about HTRK that haunts me to this very dismal day.
I went to The Big 4 Concert at Yankee stadium in 2011 which was coincidentally the same year that Work (work, work) was released. My guitarist/vocalist Taylor from my dumb band and I went to stay at Jake Kolatis’s (Guitarist for The Casualties) apartment in Jersey City and had a blast! Jake got us into all kinds of great places for free which was incredible. We traveled to Yankee stadium on a booze cruise which meant a heavy load of pre-gaming. By the time we arrived at the stadium we were far beyond buzzed; we were pretty much hammered. We walked into the stadium and immediately went up to the beer counter to get our first Yankee stadium beer. As we approach the beer stand we see that beers are 12 dollars… Fuck that!!! We proceeded to go the whole concert with out drinking which was probably for the best. We made it through the concert but were so dehydrated from the heat and the alcohol; our heads were throbbing. We just wanted to go back to Jake’s place and sleep. After the concert Taylor tried to call Jake for an hour but he never picked up. He was in the pit while we were in the stands. After a while we started to really worry because we have no idea how to get around New York let alone get a subway back to Jersey City to Jake’s place. FINALLY, we hear back from Jake and meet him outside one of the exits of the stadium. He asks if we want to go to some goth bar in Manhattan. We could not refuse so we went with him which turned out to be one of the most fucked up experiences of my life. The bar was named Home Sweet Home and it was on a Wednesday which they called “Weird Wednesday.” We arrive to the bar and walked down the stairs and it was fucking WEIRD alright. The door was closed to the club, the music is pounding and there is a man/woman covered in make-up behind a booth collecting cover fees. I pay him or her my cover and some creepy fucking gimp dude opens the door for us. What I saw was FUCKED!!! The smoke was so thick from the fog machines that you could not see 2 feet in front of you, and what I could see was complete fuckness. There were body bags on the floor with people in them moving around while you step on them or over top of them. There was taxidermy shit and strange antiques all over the place while people that looked like they were from the band The Cure danced around the floor and made out with each other. The music that was playing in the the bar was so loud but it it caught my attention right away. I noticed that there was a a group of people beyond the heavy smoke watching a live performance at the end of the bar so I walked over to see what it was. I had no idea who the band was at the time, and I only found out recently. My main man Ethan Lee McCarthy from Primitive Man and Vermin Womb gave them a shout out in an interview I was reading, and he mentioned HTRK. I was listening and slowly realized that this was the group that was playing at the Manhattan bar 3 years ago.
Depressing is the first word that comes to mind when listening to this album. The album, while somber, is also very beautiful. I did actually buy this album on vinyl and am expecting it any day now. I really don’t know too much about these guys other then the fact that I just realized who they are and I dig their mournful sounding music. Give them a listen and free fall into the black and heavy abyss.
Aureole – Alunar (United States) 2014
Fallen Empire Records has been unstoppable this year when it comes to their releases from incredible black metal bands. Alunar is a near perfect depressive ambient/atmospheric black metal album, and it’s created by a very young Ukrainian. Markov Soroka at age 19 puts most atmospheric black metalers to shame. While listening to Alunar I feel a strong and heavy scene of despair and loneliness. Loneliness is a powerful feeling and it can drive any recluse into madness and rage. This album will make everyone that is lonely feel even more alone and every un-lonely person feel the grief of those who are dreadfully alone in this world of shit. Desolation and complete loss will infect your weak minds. Complete eternal downfall into the heavy black abyss is what is achieved in this listen. Be prepared to meet the grim reaper if you have not already.
Ism – Nativity (Niagara Falls, Ontario) 2014
Add some grind, doom, and hardcore into the blender and push blend and you have Ism. These guys go full out and everything is hard hitting and destructive. Ism at times remind me of Full of Hell with their song structures and intensity. The album can be ferociously fast at times and then be dreadfully slow and crushing at other times. Ism are not breaking any new ground here, but goddamn can they deliver the fucking aggression that makes any unstable punk-rocker want to punch their enemies straight in the fucking face. It’s Friday Hump Day and we all need to vent the fuck out with some angry tunes, so go on and let Ism inject the rage into your hate filled veins; it’s the perfect medicine for your miserable life.
Burrow – The Collapse Of Time (Pennsylvania) 2014
Burrow play some heavy sounding doomy sludge that is as thick as the tar pits of the dismal underworld. This is sludge so dense that the stone you throw into it does not sink. The stone makes a minor impact and festers for eternity before it finally dissolves to the bottom of the abyss. There are definitely some influences that can be picked out on this, the most upfront being Neurosis. There is even some early Mastodon influence that can be heard throughout the album. The pace of the album is slow, but the crushing melancholy and creative song structures create a captivating and irresistible urge that draws the listener into Burrow’s tar pits which implode your body into oblivion.
Sabbatic Goat – Imprecations of Black Chaos Wellington (New Zealand) 2014
Ahhhhh, here is some War Metal for you Satanic Warriors out there. This demo is filled with primitive aggression and blasphemous hatred. The demo starts out with an atmospheric intro that adds suspense and fear that sends cold shivers down the spine. The suspense finally ends with a mean guitar riff that leads into pummeling drum blasts and savage screams of chaos. This is an unrelenting album that suffocates you in burning napalm while the flesh melts from your bones and leaves you craving death. This is a young band so hopefully they can crush us with a new EP or full length very soon. Be prepared to be completely annihilated when you hit play.
Guest Submission ov the Week
Our good pal HessianHunter shares this with you this week:
Aziza – Thunderpunk? Jesus (Minnesota) 2014
“Thunderpunk? Jesus.” is absolutely the correct response to this fresh debut from Minneapolis sludgebastards Aziza. Is it thrashy? Yes, yes it is. Does it doom? Yes, yes it does. Are the riffs? Yes, yes, they are. Get in here and dig on some Midwestern mudcandy.
