Mini-Reviews From Around the Bowl (7/7/22)

July 7, 2022

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Tiny reviews for tiny people. Big people do not entry.

Municipal Waste – Electrified Brain
Nuclear Blast Records | July 1, 2022

There’s a reason why Municipal Waste is still around while countless other thrash revival bands have fizzled out. They’re the best at what they do. Municipal Waste are like the metal version of Wolverine. Electrified Brain continues the band’s tradition of blasting out beer-and-piss-soaked bangers. With only one song over 3 minutes, Electrified Brain moves fast, breaks a lot of shit, and leaves you dealing with the messy aftermath. The music is tight and Tony Foresta’s vocals are as strong as ever. It makes sense since the band tours endlessly. Longtime fans of the band will love Electrified Brain and new comers will have the extra cheese on their pizza blown in their faces. — 365 Days of Horror

Entropy – Death Spell
Crazysane Records | July 29, 2022

A lot of different, but similar genres can be used to describe Germany’s Entropy: Indie Rock. Noise Rock. Emo Rock. Personally, I like to go with Alt Rock Revival because they fit in snugly with bands like Bleed and ASkySoBlack because they deftly blend that catchy 90’s style of grunge, alternative, and college rock. A better way to describe the band and their 3-song EP Death Spell: Great. It’s always a sign of quality when an EP leaves you hungry for more. There’s no gimmick with the band, just a couple of guys rocking the fuck out, creating simple, but surprisingly effective rock songs. Death Spell is a breath of fresh air for a genre that in recent years has faded in prominence from the cultural heights it used to dominate. I probably sound like an old man, but it’s just really nice to hear a new, catchy rock songs again. If a true resurgence in Alt Rock is in the works, Entropy will lead the charge. — 365 Days of Horror

Soul Glo – Diaspora Problems
Epitaph | March 25, 2022

Music that makes me smile and dance with lyrics that make me angry, gleeful destruction. Soul Glo has outright made one of the best albums of the year and one of the most hectic hardcore albums in general. It hits so many genre combinations from rap to ska to death metal pouring across this dense hardcore punk foundation. The erratic nature is far from random; this is highly controlled sonic bullshit fueled by rabid-white-liberal-bashing-leftism. It’s glorious and I can’t put it on without inevitably frothing at the mouth. The first rap track “Driponomics” featuring Mother Maryrose is super hard and noisy. Both artist’s rap styles blend seamlessly with matched aggression while maintaining their individual voice. The other rap track at the end of the album, “Spiritual Level Of Gang Shit” with Mckinley Dixon and Lojii, is a different vibe again, with a more subdued beat and a groovy flow laced with electric guitars. No matter what the album is doing, there is a consistent presence of the band’s razor sharp soul that breathes its way into every new direction the album takes. There just isn’t a scenario where I put Diaspora Problems on and have a normal time- I get hyped every time, it’s a pleasure and I’ll keep writing about this band all year long. — Carcassbomb

Existence Dysphoria – Minus Negative
Sludgelord Records | July 1, 2022

Some of that longform sludge we all know and love, 4 tracks with 3 of them over or harassing the 10 minute mark. An onward buzzing dirge populated by clean guitars with a psychedelic tinge. If you ever hear the music stop for a second you can be sure you’re about to be overcome by a tidal wave of distortion and wet vocals throwing bile indiscriminately. The occasional cleaner shouting of lines like “DROWN IN YOUR FUCKING GLASS HOUSE” is a great accentuation at the end of some passages like on the track “Sculpted Into Nothing”. The muddiness of the bass will vibrate your ears during the peaks where everything dissolves into fast paced thrashing. The negativity is palpable and what can I say other than the world deserves it. — Carcassbomb

Vorare – The Drainage Rituals
Independent | May 20, 2022

Anyone with nostalgia for (particularly) the early works of Wreck & Reference will hopefully perk up at the mention of another two-man band creating sample-based noisescapes backed by analog percussion, even if the comparisons almost end there. Vorare lean more heavily on doom and sludge as the blueprint for their songs, and they’re more prone to bouts of pure noise, albeit of a similar droning ambient variety. The result are somewhat skeletal constructs resembling an abandoned industrial facility filled with screaming ghosts and the crushingly depressive air of continued existence in the face of an evident lack of purpose. Where W&R could at least occasionally pass as a metal band early on, Vorare mostly only recall the genre in their vocal approach, with their much less dense, post-industrial compositions instead focusing on this feeling of something vital having been ripped away. It seems pointless to wish for colour and liveliness here, but I do think that a little less repetition and a tad more variety would do wonders for the music. Nonetheless, as “the precursor for worse things to come,” this first EP is very promising. — Hans