Punk

Lucifer’s Fall, Children Of The Night (Morbid and Miserable 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

Lucifer’s Fall make their final recordings before the last curtain: Children Of The Night.

Lucifer’s Fall is a doom band from Adelaide, Australia. They formed in 2013, and they have been an enormous presence in the doom world Down Under ever since. Last year they decided they had had enough and were going to disband. Before they wandered off into the abyss, they decided to make one more record, Children Of The Night. The band is Deceiver (vocals), Heretic (guitar), Invocator (guitar), Cursed Priestess (bass), and The Hammer (drums).

“Children Of The Night” starts with spoken words: “At midnight they come crawling / behold, the Children of the Night.” As the song proceeds, the speaking turns into singing and the guitars rise to menace. The pace picks up at midway, and the darkness bubbles in on a sanguine hook. “Doom In The Grave” has a big guitar presence on the first bar, thick and oppressive. The song does not break tempo, and the ending features disembodied voices presaging fantastic lead guitar work. It has almost a Candlemass kind of feel to it.

“Fight With The Beast” is a banger; short, rapid, rugged. The punk brute flashes its fangs here and runs around on a rampage ripping flesh. This is a high-energy affair, and just the pump-up we can make use of to get ready for “Judgement Day.” The doom is back in force here, crushing anything and everything within reach. The pace speeds up and you start to feel Venom in spirit. Blasting beats, heavy chop, and careening shredding bring both order and disarray – I can see the circle pit when I close my eyes, forming a vortex to the dark beyond. Excellent.

The set ends on a new (2022) version of the band’s eponymous “Lucifer’s Fall,” a song that goes back to their 2014 self-titled album (and it was on demos even before that). It is a monstrous doom song. This version is a bit longer than the original and it benefits from newer recording capabilities, so it sounds great. Fans are going to like having this latter day take. I hate to see Lucifer’s Fall shut it all down, but if you’re going to go out, this is the way to do it. Recommended.

Children Of The Night is out now through Morbid and Miserable Records. I listened to it on Bandcamp. You can get it there or through the label’s on-line store at the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://lucifersfall.bandcamp.com/album/children-of-the-night

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/LucifersFallDoom

Morbid and Miserable Records, https://morbidandmiserable.storenvy.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Lucifer’s Fall, Children Of The Night (Morbid and Miserable 2023)

Tina Fey – Louise, Split (Nefarious Industries 2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

Nefarious Industries has put together a Cincinnati double-tap of hardcore with a Tina Fey / Louise split.

So, what do we have here? Four hardcore songs split down the middle by a couple of bands from the river city of Cincinnati.

Tina Fey is Shon Worthington (drums), Bryce Aasen (guitar), and Logan Nichols (guitar, vocals). The band came together just last year and, in October, released Songs About Femboys. In celebration, they have anted up for the split. The two contributions from Tina Fey are both in the three-minute radio-length range. “Nuremberged” starts with a lot of noise and a perhaps a speech, then continues with more noise. There is clanging and screaming, and what sounds like it might be a recitation. A sour, squawky guitar enters for a while, followed by feedback. A sweet, lyrical guitar takes over, riding a nice quiet percussive vamp. It weirdens up again after that, finishing in an entirely different direction. “…Officer” is a little more punky, but the screeching and dissonance turns it quickly toward a less organized subgenre. A large part of the composition is the long off ramp.

Tina Fey

Louise is Kainon Loebker (bass), Kevin Vance (vocals), Paul Estes (guitar), and Harrison Miller (drums). Haunting the same general environs as their split-mates, the band produced a demo a couple years back and now are plunking down two new ones. Louise opts for shorter tracks with hard cracks. “Desert Serpent” has an echoey sound with a heavy bottom and strained vocalizations. Just beyond the center, the song goes slow and sludgy, dragging you through the mud. Nice. “Boulder” gets the job done in eighty-five seconds. It is a lovely flowery piece topped off with screaming.

Louise

However you most like your punch in the face, there is a slug in this split for you. Recommended.

The Tina Fey / Louise split is out on Friday, April 7th through Nefarious Industries on digital and cassette. Tap the links below to get yours.

Band photos by Gabrielle Hammarlund.

Links.

Tina Fey Bandcamp, https://tinafey.bandcamp.com/album/tina-fey-louise

Louise Bandcamp, https://louisecincy.bandcamp.com/album/tina-fey-louise

Nefarious Industries, https://www.nefariousindustries.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Tina Fey – Louise, Split (Nefarious Industries 2023)

The Black Halos, How The Darkness Doubled (Stomp Records 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

Canadian punk-n-roll band The Black Halos are back with a new album, How The Darkness Doubled, twenty three years after their first.

Think back to 2001 when the iconic underground record label Sub Pop released The Violent Years, The Black Halos’ second album. It was a big success for the Vancouver band, riding hot on the heels of their self-titled debut from a couple years before. There were a series of line-up changes after that, and the band came together and drifted apart several times over the years. They did release several more records, EPs, and compilations. How The Darkness Doubled is their fifth studio long-player. Original songwriters Billy Hopeless, Rich Jones, and Jay Millette, have reunited now and are joined by new members John Kerns and Danni Action.

The record begins with “A History of Violence,” a peppy snarler. The vocals are a combination of melodic and a bit of a growl, and the catchy music features unforgettable singalong lines that will have the crowds at live shows joining in. “Tenement Kids” follows with a slight downshift in tempo and an upshift in attitude. Different still, “Uncommonwealth” brings an insistent urgency in the delivery. With these opening songs, and all of them, truly, the guitars are the driving force, and the vocals are what make the music stick in your head.

There are a dozen songs on the new record, each one its own individual implementation of the band’s unique, appealing style. Stand out tracks include “Better Days” – see the video for a feel of the band in action in 2022, and “A Positive Note,” the closer and one of my personal favorites of the set. I am glad to hear new music from The Black Halos, and I hope this album is a sign of more to come. Recommended.

How The Darkness Doubled is out now. You can get the digital at Bandcamp – the vinyl might be sold out by now. Follow the links below to find out.

Band photo by Michael Crusty.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://theblackhalos.bandcamp.com/album/how-the-darkness-doubled

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/TheBlackHalos/

Stomp Records, https://stomprecords.com/shop/how-the-darkness-doubled/

© Wayne Edwards

The Black Halos, How The Darkness Doubled (Stomp Records 2022)

Photo Gallery: Integrity, Pure Filth Festival, Sharkey’s, Liverpool, New York, June 18, 2022

Wayne Edwards, , , , ,

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Ghost Cult Magazine article, https://www.ghostcultmag.com/festival-review-pure-filth-festival-at-sharkeys-event-center-liverpool-new-york/

Integrity website, https://www.facebook.com/INTEGRITY.HT/

Sharkey’s Event Center, https://sharkeysbarandgrill.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Photo Gallery: Integrity, Pure Filth Festival, Sharkey’s, Liverpool, New York, June 18, 2022

Photo Gallery: Hookers, Muddy Roots Festival 2022

Wayne Edwards, , , , ,

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Muddy Roots, https://www.muddyroots.com/

Ghost Cult Magazine article, https://www.ghostcultmag.com/festival-review-muddy-roots-festival-2022-live-at-junebug-boogie-ranch/

FFMB article on Muddy Roots 2022, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2022/10/03/muddy-roots-cookeville-tennessee-september-2-4-2022/

© Wayne Edwards

Photo Gallery: Hookers, Muddy Roots Festival 2022

Photo Gallery: The Casualties, Muddy Roots Festival 2022

Wayne Edwards, , , , ,

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

The Casualties website, https://linktr.ee/TheCasualties

Muddy Roots, https://www.muddyroots.com/

Ghost Cult Magazine article, https://www.ghostcultmag.com/festival-review-muddy-roots-festival-2022-live-at-junebug-boogie-ranch/

FFMB article on Muddy Roots 2022, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2022/10/03/muddy-roots-cookeville-tennessee-september-2-4-2022/

© Wayne Edwards

Photo Gallery: The Casualties, Muddy Roots Festival 2022

Muddy Roots, Cookeville, Tennessee, September 2-4, 2022

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

The Muddy Roots music festival celebrates punk, roots, metal, folk, and just about everything in between.

Muddy Roots isn’t much like other music festivals. Apart from the unusual combination of musical acts, Muddy has a few other characteristics about it that set it apart. Free camping is the big one. The venue is a large sloping field surrounded by trees. I don’t know how many people attended this year – maybe one thousand – but there was plenty of room to set up a tent and a fire pit, or a marquee and an RV. First come, first served; camp anywhere you like. To sweeten the deal, they also have free hot showers. I do not know of any other festival that does this. Given the relatively low ticket price in the first place, free lodging at the campsite makes Muddy Roots one of the best deals for fans in the country.

Antagonizers ATL
Black Cobra
Black Tarpoon

Along with the free camping, you can come and go as you please between the camping areas and the event space. You can even leave the grounds and return whenever you like – the gates are open twenty-four hours a day. You can bring in your own food and alcohol … try doing that at any other festival. There are several vendors on site so you can buy chow and drinks, and the prices are the lowest I have seen anywhere, especially for beer, soft drinks, and water.

Doyle
Fear

There were three stages at the festival this year. The main stage is called the Wood Stage, and it is at the bottom of a sloping main (gravel) street that where everything happens. It is an open stage with a shed roof and good views from all angles. The smallest stage is in the Little Tent, and then there is the middle ground of the Big Tent a little bit farther along. These tents are open-sided, and they allow you to get out of the direct sun and rain while listening to the music.

The headliners this year ended up being Stöner, Fear, and Heavy Temple. Monolord was a late dropout and Heavy Temple took up the mantle on day two. The variety of bands that played is impressive and fascinating. There was a large punk presence, and that surprised me (even though I hadn’t formed strong expectations in the first place before the festivals). There were many folk and roots bands, and I did expect. Straight-up rock bands, and especially Doyle, felt a little out of place, but the crowd seemed to love them just as much as all the others.

Stoner
Hookers
HR of Bad Brains

There is a real sense of community at this festival, unlike any other I have ever been to. Part of it is the small size of the crowd, but it is more than that. There is a very specific vibe at Muddy Roots. One way to say it is that they only really have one rule at the festival: Don’t be a dick. I only saw one small group get the boot during the entire weekend. Virtually everybody had a constant positive attitude and there were good vibes all around all the time. Really.

IV & The Strange Band
Mike Vallely & The Complete Disaster
Munly And The Lupercalians

This was my first trip to Muddy Roots, and I won’t be going back. No hard feelings, but I am simply looking for something else in a music festival. Muddy offers an eclectic blend of music and people, adding up to a unique music festival in the humid hills of middle Tennessee. It is worth going at least one time and, if you don’t live too far away, it is one of the best deals in music festivals you can find anywhere.

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Note: This is a summary/excerpt/reduction/reimagining based on the original article that appeared in Ghost Cult Magazine. A link to the article appears below.

Links.

Ghost Cult article, https://www.ghostcultmag.com/festival-review-muddy-roots-festival-2022-live-at-junebug-boogie-ranch/

Muddy Roots Festival, https://www.muddyroots.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Muddy Roots, Cookeville, Tennessee, September 2-4, 2022

Autopsy, Morbidity Triumphant (Peaceville 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

Oakland death metal band Autopsy is back after eight years with a new full-length album, Morbidity Triumphant.

Autopsy stomped the earth in the first half of the nineties. Their first two albums, Severed Survival (1989) and Mental Funeral (1991), are considered by many to be standards even now. They were a band that cut deeply in the death metal scene, and left carnage in their wake. The band split in 1995, then reformed in 2008/9 and have been cracking on ever since. Their most recent full-length album came out in 2014, Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves, and there have been EPs and splits, compilations, and live albums aplenty along the way. Morbidity Triumphant is Autopsy’s eighth long-player. The band is Eric Cutler (guitar), Danny Coralles (guitar), Chris Reifert (vocals, drums), and Greg Wilkinson (bass).

Autopsy was different from other death bands in the way they used grindcore, punk, and doom in their musical constructions. You get this on the new album as well. The first song is “Stab the Brain.” What a great title. It sounds at first like a disturbed beehive, then a groove kicks in unexpectedly. The chaotic swirl tag teams the groove and hook, showing how well the two disparate ideas can work together. Clever moments of melody and lead guitar bursts elevate the composition to the next level. “Final Frost” is next, and it has an eastern mystical twinge and a moving doom posture walking it to a different space compared to the opener. The second movement of the song is straight up death metal, and then the doom comes back. “The Voracious One” is different still, starting on a groove with a great disarming riff. This one is a top pick for me from the set.

Every song is more than one thing on the new Autopsy album. It is filled with doom and mysticism, and also raging death metal. I particularly like “Tapestry of Scars” for the depths of its doom, and “Skin By Skin” in a similar vein. “Maggots in the Mirror” is a wonderfully stabby punk piece, and “Your Eyes Will Turn to Dust” is perfectly dreary closer. To me, Autopsy has struck exactly the right tone at every turn on this record. Highly recommended.

Morbidity Triumphant is out on Friday, September 30th through Peaceville Records in the customary forms. Check it out through the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://peaceville.bandcamp.com/album/morbidity-triumphant

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100050176223094

Peaceville Records, https://peaceville.com/bands/autopsy/

© Wayne Edwards

Autopsy, Morbidity Triumphant (Peaceville 2022)

Venom, Inc., There’s Only Black (Nuclear Blast 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

The sophomore full-length album from Venom, Inc. is an unwavering menace: There’s Only Black.

Venom is the iconic band that brought us Welcome To Hell (1981) and Black Metal (1982), essentially creating Black Metal from punk and speed metal. Since then, black metal itself has evolved in a particular direction while Venom had other ideas. At War With Satan (1984) was on brand but it was clear that things were changing, and then Possessed (1985) was a noticeable, clear shift. The seas calmed a bit with Prime Evil (1987), but chaos was coming. The band paused, considered reforming, then split in twain.

Venom, Inc. emerged from the schism of the original band. Their debut album was Avé (2017), and I found it enthralling. That one will be hard to follow, but if any band can do it, Venom, Inc. is the one. The musicians are Tony “Demolition Man” Dolan, Jeffrey “Mantas” Dunn, and Jeramie “War Machine” Kling.

You can hear the music coming from far away on the first track, “How Many Can Die.” It is a stylized punk attack with a hardcore head and intermittent hooks. The song works, and still this is a chancy approach for an opener – you have to really depend on the fans being in to what you are putting down. And I was. “Infinitum” is a stone cold killer with a battering mission. The lead guitar break will really wind you up. “Come To Me” is a chopper. I love the straight-forward, no nonsense musical construction. An excellent metal song where the vocals take the forefront while the riff and rhythm provide an indelible platform and the dark lead guitar work intoxicates.

I am having a hard time finding anything to complain about on this record. The title track is a stunningly superbly sinister metal song. “Don’t Feed Me Your Lies” begins on a contemplative foot and then turns into a ravager. “Rampant” is a race straight toward a sharp cliff. Every song has a unique appeal, and they all come together to create a solid set you will want to listen to over and again. Recommended.

There’s Only Black is out now through Nuclear Blast Records. Links below.

Links.

Venom, Inc. website, https://www.venom-inc.co.uk/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/VenomIncOfficial/

Nuclear Blast Records, https://shop.nuclearblast.com/en/shop/index.html

© Wayne Edwards

Venom, Inc., There’s Only Black (Nuclear Blast 2022)

Manic Abraxas, Foreign Winds (2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

Bangor, Maine blackened punk band Manic Abraxas reveal the third album of their canon, Foreign Winds.

Early on, Manic Abraxas played at a slower pace, focusing on doom. The tempo has since quickened but the darkness has not lifted. Their latest album features music that lies in the blackened realm between thrash, punk, and doom. The band is Tom Bennett (drums), Justin Hamm (bass, vocals, synth), and Dallas Seger (guitar, vocals, synth).

“Red Camo Rock” is a straight-up heavy number with a good roll and the intimation of a groove. It runs on the plus side of mid-tempo and gets the job done. A fine beginning. “Onyxsphere” is very punk indeed in its construction and spat-out lyrics. Quite an attitude is on display with this one. Very nice lead break toward the end. “I Toblakai” lurches toward the creepy, with eerie keys working a number on your spine and stabbing guitars pointed at your orbital sockets. If you catch them in the right mood, a goth might dance with you on this one – careful of the turns and twists.

The title track is the doomiest so far in tone. The count picks up and becomes positively speedy from time to time. Unusual percussion wrong-foots you more than once, and the keys whisper incantations that you can hear but that you don’t really understand. “Canonized” and “Domerunner” both put me in a strange mood. The former pecks at you with great deliberation on a ceaseless unspoken mission. The latter is a constant threat that draws a small amount of blood then nibbles at the wound – again – ceaselessly. They both hang on in different, almost opposite, ways.

The set ends with “Black Destrier.” It’s a ripper, with a cruising riff in a goth-n-roll gear that is wonder of its own. The guitar work is beautifully done. I hope they close every live show with this number. I did not know where this record was going when it started but I am delighted with where it ended up. Recommended.

Foreign Winds hits the streets as an independent release on Friday, September 30th in CD and digital. Bandcamp is the easy get at the link below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://manicabraxas.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/manicabraxas

Manic Abraxas, Foreign Winds (2022)