Review roundup - September 2023

Plus: what's happening with hardcore kid death metal?

Kruelty courtesy of Todd Follett

Old school death metal has seen quite a renaissance in the last few years, led in large part by bands and labels with connections to the hardcore world. Two labels in particular — Maggot Stomp Records and 20 Buck Spin — have basically been farm teams for the titanic metal labels. It’s been a fruitful run, but like any other interesting underground music trend, it’s got an expiry date.

2023 may have been the year where hardcore influenced OSDM jumped the shark. There’s been some good stuff. Kruelty put out a record people will be talking about for a long time. Sangiusugabogg transcended meme status by finally writing good songs. The top bands in this stratosphere have cemented themselves and hopefully will bear long, fruitful discographies.

Unfortunately, though, this year’s undercard has devolved to uninspired chromatic slam fart music and third rate Bolt Thrower plagiarism by people who are hardly competent enough at their instruments to play in beatdown bands. As remarked on the Kings of Punk podcast, it doesn’t seem like new bands are trying this style, and if they are, nobody’s giving them much attention.

Now it’s time for me — as someone who arrived to the OSDM party a bit late — to pick through the back-catalogs of these influential labels and see what I missed. I am grateful that hardcore’s little soirée with death metal allowed me to jump headfirst into that genre. I hope going forward there will be a couple records a year that make my radar. I had the good fortune of finding some in September.

Tomb Mold - The Enduring Spirit (20 Buck Spin)

Toronto’s Tomb Mold surprise-dropped an album this month on 20 Buck Spin after what seemed like an eternity of inactivity. I’m not even sure they’d played a show since the COVID-19 lockdown. Guitarist Derrick Vella has kept busy with his other critically acclaimed project, Dream Unending. I doubt he would consider the influences for the two projects to be similar, but you can certainly hear his style in this record’s clean parts, which are a new addition to Tomb Mold’s sound. The band’s imagery and subject matter always hinted at more progressive underpinnings, which they’ve finally actualized on this record. This is post ‘91 death metal. There’s jazz inspired clean parts and technicality is a key component of the songwriting. The new direction might alienate some of the people who loved the band’s cavernous era, but there are enough fans of Death’s Human to make up for it. The songwriting has levelled up too. I always considered Tomb Mold to have better riffs than tracks, but there are some well constructed songs on here.

Kruelty - Untopia (Profound Lore)

It’s me, I’m the wojak. Can you blame me though? Kruelty is doing a lot more than just playing three-minute metallic hardcore with tremolo riffs and slam breakdowns. I’m sure there’s some band they’re drawing inspiration from, but to me this is a completely unique way to merge two familiar genres. There’s a lot of slow playing, which lends an oppressive doom element to the songs. There’s also some nasty HM2 tones and a bit of d-beat to give this a Scandy flavour. The fresh perspectives and creative ingenuity give Kruelty a leg up on throngs of recent bands who seem content with ripping each other off again and again.

Inhuman Condition - Panic Prayer (Listenable Insanity)

People throw the term “old school death metal” around a lot these days. Inhuman Condition are old school as they come. The band features ex-members of Massacre, Death and Obituary, trying and generally succeeding to play Death’s Leprosy and Morbid Angel’s Altars of Madness. There’s more straightforward thrash in the DNA than those two records in particular, but it blends well. Chuck Schuldiner and Trey Azagthoth might as well be playing guitar on this record. The riffs and solos on “Final Credits” nail Morbid Angel’s early style. Hardcore kids playing death metal can’t do that. I’m glad this exists, as someone who favours the primordial era of DM over any other. My big complaint is with the vocalist. His cleaner delivery accentuates his weak lyricism. This reminds me of listening to the Cancer record for my old podcast, where I couldn’t tell if the lyrics were exceptionally awful, or buddy just sounded dumb saying them. “Please grace us with the presence of your total death” from the aforementioned “Final Credits” sounds like something a non-native English speaker would write.

Speed Plans - Statues of God (Iron Lung)

Most of what gets attributed as early Boston worship these days has more New York and Midwest DNA than people realize. While Negative Approach and Agnostic Front were pioneering stompy mid-tempo mosh parts, most Boston bands of the era (aside from SSD) weren’t really switching tempos mid-song. The rare Boston divergence was usually a dirge or some weird deconstructionism, as opposed to the tom-heavy two-step parts we know and love from modern punk hardcore. Speed Plans, like those early Boston bands, are just playing hard rock really fast. Most of these songs are under 45 seconds, leaving little time to digest what’s happening. Between the Negative FX style thrashing, I hear a smidge of west coast surfer shred, and admittedly, some stomp. My experience with this record is a lot like how I felt discovering Jerry’s Kids. The lack of obvious moments underwhelmed me at first, but every time I spin it, I’ve been blown away by a new riff, vocal melody or drum part. Excellent stuff.

Pain of Truth - Not Through Blood (Daze)

I bought a Pain of Truth shirt at Tied Down fest this year, even though the material they’d released to that point hadn’t made a huge impact on me. I was buying futures in anticipation of their upcoming release being an AOTY candidate. It was a good bet. This record will probably crack my top ten in one of the strongest years for hardcore I’ve personally witnessed. I’m not gonna lie, the first listen felt kind of like a Travis Scott album with all the features. Once the dust settles, though, we’re left with a fun record that’s eminently moshable and chalked full of ignorant quotables. This is the sound of New York hardcore in 2023, wrapping 35 years of inspiration into a modern package. There’s hints of the 80’s, large swaths of the 90’s, and a decent chunk of inspo from the last 20 years, when NYHC couldn’t be geographically contained. Still, the slams and mosh calls let you know POT is the sound of the present. The features on this record from guys like Freddy Madball, Justice TUI and Jay Mindforce feel like a torch passing, intentionally or not.

Magnitude - Of Days Renewed… (Triple B)

Much like their Triple B debut, Magnitude’s sophmore LP (or 12” EP? I’m not sure) clocks in at just under ten songs and just shy of 20 minutes long. Both records are easily digestible pieces of 90’s mosh nostalgia, but the new one has an all-killer no filler approach. The first record had three clean guitar interludes. This one comes out the gate swinging with a hard ass chugging mosh part and goes out swinging on a chuggy, hard mosh part. In between? You guessed it! Hard chuggy mosh aplenty. It’s not like the last record was lacking in the dance department, but the “mosh science” on the new one has been dialled in to an expert level. Four years have passed between Magnitude releases — plenty of time for the band to tighten up their transitions and make sure the hard parts really pack a punch. Better production helps too, accentuating the heaviness without treading into nu metal. My only complaint is that the last record had more memorable hooks. In all other departments, though, this is a step in the right direction.