Carved Out

  The best part of being back in the shitty part of Ohio that I was in is that I got to see some close friends of mine all the time. The dudes I would hang out with when I was a kid and still living in houses with a band and going to shows non-stop. I still listen to some of the bands those dudes are in (Ringworm, what's up) and it's awesome to see them still putting out music. Two of those friends started a new band called Carved Out that is heavy as fuck. They sort of play crusty tough guy hardcore with metal as fuck vocals. I'd say their biggest influences are Tragedy, cannabis, d-beat hardcore, Cleveland and NY style hardcore beatdown parts. I love that the songs are short, fast and still balls heavy. Absolutely worth checking out.

Who fucking cares?
Scenery

No Master-Ruthless Future+3 CDep

So I saw these dudes open for Magrudergind earlir this month. They played after a doomy sludge band called Stull. Stull was alright, when they got heavy, it was real heavy but like most bands of this nature I had a hard time focusing on the music and not the singer's super short cut off denim shorts. Then No Master came on. It was apparently their bass players birthday so the singer called for lots of dick punches as he sucked in a whippit before they started. As the feedback started I began getting excited from seeing the bands they were repping. Assuck, Discharge. Fuckng spiked denim jackets and tattoos. The heavy, crusty, punk that ensued worked the crowd into a frenzy which I loved considering there like 30 people there. Most people knew the ques and went crazy accordingly to whether No Master was crushing with crust or whirl-winding with blastbeats. I'm unsure if they played their demo straight through as their set but I really like Eyes and Act of War as a medley. Slow brooding and heavy until they explode with the raw punk energy missing in a lot of extreme bands. Grind isn't only about being fast and aggressive. Death metal does that too. It's the energy that really sets the hardcore based grind apart from the metal based Death. Is that too obvious of a statement? I hope so because too many bands forget it. I know Magrudergrind recognized it because Avi gave them a shout out and Joe more than complimented them. I believe he took Avi's statement of "Real crusty" and took it to the next level with "Crusty as fuck!".

"I've been bled dry. Pain is weakness leaving the body."

Check the two newer songs on their Myspace too. The demo is from May of 2009 so compare and contrast.

Sunday Songs to Do Bong Rips

Since I've started listening to 324 I find myself always listening to the 3-Way Split they did with Discordance Axis and Corrupted or this album. "Boutokunotaiyo" is the full-length I would expect this band to evolve into from their 7" and split. It's the same fast, aggressive, heavy grind-crust from before, just amped way up. The energy and urgency went way up on this record. I wish I knew what they were upset about but but Masao just rages in Japanese the whole time, which makes it all the better. His vocal patterns are all over the place here with my favourites being where he just fucking yells at you non-stop the whole song. Check out "Swinging Skull" as a prime example. Short, fast, loud and fucking aggro at all times. Just the way I like it.

I have to admit that I only uploaded the first half of this album for brevity, but this is an intense 11 minutes. And "Broken Clock" is already on the 7", so you don't need that twice.

Nippon Grind-Crust

Throatstab

This is the second EP Backstabbers Inc. put out. This came out on Trash Art! in 2000/20001 and is only available in CDEP form unfortunately. If anyone runs a label repressing good records on vinyl, this is one for you to convert to wax. This seven song EP is more mega-raging, pissed off hardcore that has a crusty feel and amazing vocals that are raw and full of energy. There are some moments of just ludicrous album filler on here that I admit to hating, and it's not really sludgy, heavy riffs. It's boring album filler. But beyond that each song still has parts that stand out to make them memorable, and when these guys get going they are indeed a force to be trifled with. This album is more upbeat hardcore with bouncing bass, lots of snappy snare and dissonant guitars with agonizingly honest, virulent and hateful lyrics. Once again these guys have moments of total aural cacophony when everyone is going full speed, but within the ugliness of being bludgeoned in the head with a block of concrete you find moments of clarity.
There's really nothing new or overtly innovative with this album, but it's worth a listen to get a feel for the BSI sound and what will become the Trap Them sound. Both "Kamikaze Missions" and the next EP they put out are fantastic albums and I still feel Backstabbers Inc. is a better band than Trap Them.

Spare me your 'drama' spare me your 'friendship' because both can be filed under fiction. You're still the same (a politician) every word you've said to me (filed under fiction)

Keep It Mean

I've been having a shitty couple of days mentally. I can barely pay rent, I eat once a day if I'm lucky, I have no heat/cold air in my apartment during this season change etc. Am I being a whiny bitch about the whole situation? Maybe. But all this sulking has made me full of hate right now so I've been combing through some Cd's (yeah, I own a few) and I found this gem. I bought this at the only show I ever saw the Cursed play, and it was the first time I'd ever heard of them. I saw them play after Daughters and before Most Precious Blood (who never showed, van problems) and American Nightmare (GUtG). By far the most intense set of the night was from Cursed. No one moved, everyone just stared. I think partially because most people had never heard these four Canadians before. It was just so intense. They played every song on the CD with ferocity and energy. And somehow they managed to have fun, every band member was smiling and just rocking the fuck out.
I'm sure everyone already knows who Chris Calohan and two other Cursed members from The Swarm or possibly Ruination and Left For Dead. But apparently someone from Haymaker was in this band too, which I didn't know. But it helps explain the rancor and acrimony pouring out of this album. This kind of picks up where The Swarm left off, or another good comparison is His Hero Is Gone. There's a fair share of droning instrumentals but this is mostly crusty hardcore album and less of a spiteful hardcore record like previously. I feel like previous bands were a much more youthful and hate filled version of something like Sheer Terror while Cursed had grown into it's own entity (Disclaimer: I heard Cursed before the other 9 bands these guys were in) of seething, pounding fucking rocking hardcore.
I should also point out that "Guilt Parade" is a Swarm cover, so you get 9 originals, a cover and an instrumental track.

Turn the dollar, dig the hole deeper, regret as you get another year older...."But tomorrow's another day", that's what the hopeless say.

From Soft to Hard

Backstabbers Inc.- "Evolution" 7"

Notice the Man Is the Bastard style skulls,
this trend has been going strong for quite some time.

First off this post is in response to to am I mean? for him posting about a Trap Them 12".
In an effort to post more informational posts I'm going to start actually looking at my copies of the records I post. For instance this 7" came out in 2000, is the first Cadmium Sick Records released and the lyrics are printed on a separate sheet of paper. It's a little less than seven minutes of fucking hateful hardcore/grind. The kind of music that warrants stomping head walks and vicious circle pits. These guys can even get really dense and chaotic and with blastbeats and some ripping low end. This is a really good precursor for the rest of their material and the next band some of the members are in, Trap Them. I haven't heard more than like four songs by Trap Them (who changed their name, see below) but apparently it's been a good transition is style for them. But BSI is just an honest expression of contempt for the things we that we all hate played in a very fast and loud. Which is how it should be. The only time I've seen them was at the first Bottlerocket Fest in MI. They were one of the bands I was most excited about seeing and I was not disappointed. Every second was they played weighed so heavily on me by the cacophony they were releasing through the amps. Every second Ryan was screaming was a moment the anger he felt about the things happening around seethed out. I think it's great when people's faces get so ready and strained from moving and screaming, and that's just what everyone in the band was doing.
I also have have a 7" comp call "People Don't Take Photographs of Things They Want to Forget" with Transistor Transistor, Purity's Failure, Trap Them & Kill Them and Advocate on Broken Press. The BSI song is called "Flesh Wounds, Target Practice and How I Became a Statistic" It's transparent blue, side A says "Cir Sus Peanuts..." on the matrix and side B says "Get fucked" on the matrix. I don't have any of the songs from this in digital format, but I would like to find a way to rip my vinyl.
I unfortunately couldn't really find any pressing information on either of these.
BSI also put out a discography on Black Market Activities (Guy from The Red Chord's label) called "Bare As Bones" that has the 7" I posted, and I believe two other 7"s. They also put out an LP called "Kamikaze Missions" on Trash Art! before they broke up. They were originally based out of Vermont/New Hampshire, but had a large number of member changes including lots of drummers and at least three bass players, and I know some of their drummers were also in The Red Chord and Unearth.

The correct track listing is as follows:
Hair and Nails, Nails and Hair(Don't Kiss the Rapist)
I Wish You Were Here (So I Could Tell You to Leave
Still Photos Exemplifying Blind Rage
"Sergeant Gun In Mouth, Reporting For Duty"
Problem Solving Technique Of An Asshole
Send Me A Fucking Blitzkrieg
What If He Shouts Back? (The Anti-tortured Souls Campaign Anthem)

"Thanks to those who've pulled the knives from our backs."