Review roundup - October, 2024

It's The Daily Snob Treehouse of Horror vol. 1

Many people adjust their music consumption to match the weather outside. For some reason, the only time I do this is autumn. I instinctively reach for American Football’s LP1 when I feel that first cold August breeze, and the second I see a leaf change colour it’s time for golden era AFI.

I leaned hard into the feelings of melancholy and visual feast of dying leaves this year. I didn’t feel like interrupting the vibes just so I could review a bunch of youth crew and beatdown records, so for October’s review roundup you’re getting a bunch of sad, spooky and somber shit. I might make this an annual thing. Enjoy.

Holy Blade - Holy Blade (Closed Casket Activities)

The aforementioned AFI was a big gateway band for me, specifically between Black Sails and The Art of Drowning. It’s a unique and tricky sound. I can’t think of a band, at least in hardcore, who’s tried to recreate it. San Fernando Valley’s Holy Blade is full of talented, accomplished musicians and even they can’t fully capture the magic. To be fair, I doubt they went for a one-to-one approach. Songwriter Alec Faber cites bands like From Ashes Rise and Tragedy as secondary influences, which is most apparent to me in the metallic grandeur of Holy Blade’s choruses. You can also expect modern hardcore leanings from members of True Love, Forced Order and God’s Hate, especially with production from The Pit’s Taylor Young. This EP doesn’t have “breakdowns”, but I don’t recall Tragedy or AFI ever making some of the dance floor decisions on display here. A lot happens on this record — I feel like Holy Blade need another 7” to figure it all out. Even so, the debut is a fun and fully serviceable listen.

Mayhemic - Toba (Sepulchral Voice)

South America’s rich history of extreme metal goes back almost as far as the genre itself. While many of the continent’s early bands are foundational, their music is often quirky and idiosyncratic in a way that prevents me from fully getting it. Chile’s Mayhemic harness the old gods’ power and present it in a way casual fans can digest. This is classic 80’s European-style thrash with a heavy dose of first wave South American black metal. We even get some charming translation trouble. What exactly is a “Hazardous Prowler”? Who knows, and who cares? The updated performance, production and packaging are this record’s only “modern” elements. Genre purists will appreciate the skill and reverence on display. These dudes can shred — and write tunes. The album’s 40 minute runtime rips by. Even the long songs never drag. Evil sounding progressions picked at breakneck pace give way to chunky open chugs, while the vocalist shrieks ghoulishly overtop of it all. This is perfect fall driving music.

Scarab - Three Minute Detonator (Rebirth)

This two song promo from the Mid-Atlantic’s buzziest band is aptly named. Scarab are primed to make an explosive impact with their next drop. The members have cred. The right people like them. They play a style of music that’s entirely familiar with enough novelty to get people on board. It’s hard to predict when the next American Nightmare style “sea change” will happen in hardcore, but if I had to bet on it, my guess would be when the Scarab LP hits — provided they deliver. If these two songs are any indication, don’t worry. They’re basically playing a high energy mix of the earliest Hatebreed and Terror material, but the HM2 tones, unhinged vocals and occasionally complex drumming lend a type of metallic chaos that makes it feel like weird outsider music instead of your brother in law’s gym playlist. “Tetanus” is expertly written, capped off with an excellent transition into a psychotic breakdown. “Untitled” was apparently penned in-studio. You can tell (non-derogatory). It’s got an “effortless” aura.

Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere (Century Media)

This Denver death metal act has been highly regarded from jump, and while their last album dipped into “unlistenable horseshit” territory, they’ve returned with possibly their most ambitious work. Late-era Death has always been an easy comp, but they extend those ideas to their logical limit here. Progressive death metal isn’t my bag, so I may be wrong, but while I often hear bands in that lane cite Rush and Pink Floyd as influential, I rarely catch it in their music. This record has five minute passages that sound like Wish You Were Here b-sides. The tie to classic rock as opposed to avant garde wankery makes ten-minute prog-death songs about pyramids go down a bit easier. Some of these tracks do get oppressively long, but the record is meant to be downed in one shot. On the whole, 43 minutes feels quite doable. Some of the heavy riffs on here are incredible. We’d get a higher concentration of them if it was up to me, but it’s not, so enjoy this space alien music for what it is.

Spectral Wound - Songs of Blood and Mire (Profound Lore)

This Montreal band’s third full-length has everything I want. It’s got speed, stompiness, skill, ferocity and even a pinch of melody. If you like black metal, it’s hard to go wrong here. Then again, BM fans are fickle, contrarian snobs. I imagine this could play how that new Speed record does for the small room hardcore dweeb in me. It’s almost too perfect and proficient. There’s no scrappy charm or bumbling weirdness. In a genre where lore is almost tantamount to the music itself, perfection can feel sterile. It’s like how everyone knows Turnstile has three good albums but will only talk about the EPs in public. Spectral Wound’s last record, 2021’s A Diabolic Thirst, is practically undeniable. The new one is a little less ambitious in terms of songwriting, with every track hovering around the six-minute mark. It’s almost bereft of meandering weirdness, instead opting to inject some palm-muted stomp into their “glossy second wave” sound. I need more time with this record, but I’m interested.

Retorsion - Élve Rohadás (Septic Aroma of Reeking Flesh/Blastbeat Worship Tapes)

My fall playlist usually leans atmospherically spooky, not “brutal noise assault”, but Retorsion is probably what Michael Myers listens to before chopping up teens. The skull guy on the cover kind of looks like him, so I’m throwing it in here. This Hungarian band was pitched in the Demolisten Facebook group as “straight Repulsion worship”. That’s practically confirmed by the cover art and band logo before we even hear any music. I revisit Repulsion more often than their peers because to me they sit perfectly between 80’s hardcore, OG grind and Earache death metal. The first riff on this demo reeks of simple-minded grind freak ignorance. It’s followed by a demonic-sounding death metal progression. Those two parts swap at breakneck speed for a little bit before transitioning into a high energy “two-step riff” that nobody watching this band will ever two-step to. Retorsion nail what they’re going for and they keep it short and sweet, avoiding the common grind misstep of a punishing runtime.