Young Widows - Old Wounds (2008)

Arriving two years after their debut, Settle Down City, Old Wounds completes Young Widows' transformation into a top-shelf rock band firing on all cylinders. Forging the best parts of Nirvana, The Jesus Lizard, Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Fugazi and The Melvins, Old Wounds is a series of dynamic, thoughtful tunes anchored by cavernous grooves that will certainly push most speakers to their breaking point. For the unique production, the band reunited with uber-producer friend (and Converge guitarist) Kurt Ballou, who had been eager to experiment with recording the band in multiple environments, with the intent of capturing the definitive take of each song for the final cut of the album. Feeling most at home when they're not at home, they brought Ballou along on tour to record all of their live shows. In addition, they recorded multiple sets in their rehearsal space, and another set at Ballou's Godcity Studios in Boston, MA. After tediously combing through a dozen hours of recordings, they compiled and mixed the album. The result is a bonafide classic, overflowing with the sweaty euphoria of a great live show, and the high replay value of a perfectly sequenced, well-produced rock record.

(from Temporary Residence.com)

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Master Musicians of Bukkake - Totem One (2009)

Master Musicians Of Bukkake’s newest record and part of a Northwest trilogy, Totem One marks an evolution from their first record “Visible Sign Of the Invisible order.” MMOB has now solidified into a 7 piece cosmic psyche force. Like a reverse dark side of the New Age sound, on the Totem series Master Musicians of Bukkake perform ritualistic electric excursions into the outer and inner reaches.Relying more on the electric power of psyched guitars, analog synth chants, and exotic heavy percussion, Totem one echos with the delusions of a West Coast Death cult. Outer spaced Gamelan, dusty fuzz rock from celestial deserts, meditations of a deranged Krishna gathering, and the Blurry acoustic guitar majesty of The Cascade mountains all reveal themselves here in epic form On Totem One. Every sound and note played was put to tape by a group with a singular purging purpose. Totem one also features Vocals By MMOB honorary member Alan Bishop of the Sun City Girls.

(From Conspiracy Records)

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Black Haven - The Cleansing Storm 7" (2007)

Like a gigantic wall of sound hitting you like a train and destroying as much as possible in the process. Only not sounding as cliche as this description. Others say they sound like Ringworm, Integrity and Entombed mixed together, which is quite correct, I guess. Another band that kept popping up while listening was Tragedy, on overdrive perhaps. Bust most of all Black Haven sounds raw and pissed.

Sure, Black Haven is a little bit slower and maybe also a bit more metal but other than that, their fellow countrymen Rise and Fall must have had a huge impact on them.

(from Asice Webzine)

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Amenra - Afterlife ep (2009)

For those unaware, Amenra is sludge/post-hardcore band from Belgium which is quite known for their long songs with repetitive and hypnotizing riffs that put a listener in a state of trance. At least that is what happens in my case.Unlike their previous releases this EP is completely acoustic and contains 6 songs. There are actually 3 and the other 3 are their mirror reflections, which can be figured out by looking at the track list.There wasn’t much change in their songwriting signature: songs still have that touch of infinity or should I say timelessness, although they didn’t play as much with dynamic structure as on their “electric” releases.Gentle, melancholic, compassionate vocals and “cold” acoustic melodies are just perfect for rainy nights.

(from vilenoise.com)

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Karysun - Interceptor (2008)

Self released debut album by the french drums n' guitar powerduo. It combines huge crunchy garage metal riffs with spaced-out gutteral Lemmy vocals, leagues of fuzz, and a droning scumbag swagger that reminds of a noise-rock tainted Black Cobra or High On Fire. There is some really rad shit happening in here though that makes these guys stand out...Imagine Black Cobra bestowed with a propensity for motorik rhythms, a noisier, lysergic Torche, or Floor after a weeklong listening binge of nothing but Motorhead's Orgasmatron. Karysun has played with Saviours, Akimbo, Young Widows, Tesa, Kidcrash, Black Cobra. Members of Amanda Woodward, Sugartown Cabaret and lots of another band from the Caen Punk / Hardcore scene. "Mixing stoner, sludge, noise, punk and rock influences, this CD is for fans of Baroness, Torche, Floor and Black Cobra.

(from clear-spot.nl)

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Big Black - Atomizer (1986)

Atomizer is a 1986 album by the American noise rock group Big Black. It is their debut album as all previous releases are EPs. The LP is accompanied by liner notes that explain the stories behind many of the songs. The album reached number 197 in the Billboard Hot 200 charts.It was released on CD, with the Headache EP and "Heartbeat" single, as The Rich Man's Eight Track Tape, which omitted the instrumental "Strange Things", as well as the artwork and liner notes from the original LP. This is in line with Steve Albini's general dislike for the CD format.

(from wikipedia)

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Aussitôt Mort - Montuenga (2008)

French screamoband at the top of their game. Need I say more ?

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