Hello everyone, welcome back to regular programming but irregular scheduling. I made the chart last weekend but I only had time to write my mini-reviews/insights today. Last week I was on a heavy rotation of hardcore of all stripes. Ranging from the Bolt Thrower charged, death metal influenced hardcore of Xibalba to the mind-boggling technical proficiency of Frontierer's mathcore. However, that didn't mean I ignored all other genres, which explain Ulver (synthpop, electronica) and Sons of Kemet (jazz, afro-beat) in the chart too.
But anyway, Chartposting on Novelty Chaser is ONE MONTH OLD. I'm hoping this doesn't die out like all the other stupid endeavors. Maybe the one-week spacing might help out rather than cramming so much writing in the space of two days, on top of all the other writing I do for work.
Even when it came to sludge metal this week, I was listening to Eyehategod's closer to hardcore punk/crust punk era over Crowbar's doomier material I heard the week before.
Anyway, here's the list for this week:
Chelsea Wolfe - Hiss Spun
MØL - Jord
Converge - The Dusk In Us
Denzel Curry - Imperial
Injury Reserve - Floss
Ulver - The Assassination of Julius Caesar
Denzel Curry - TA13OO
Eyehategod - Eyehategod
Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind
Cobalt - Slow Forever
Frontierer - Orange Mathematics
Sons of Kemet - Your Queen Is a Reptile
Frontierer - Unloved
Eyehategod - Dopesick
Bad Religion - The Empire Strikes First
ecostrike - Voice of Strength
Jesus Piece - Only Self
Xibalba - Tierra y Libertad
Sectioned - Annihilated
Unravel - Eras Of Forfeit
Ulver - Perdition City
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Zeal & Ardor - Stranger Fruit
Power Trip - Nightmare Logic
Death Grips - Steroids (Crouching Tiger Hidden Gabber)
For several weeks in a row, I've been "promising" more hip-hop and rap, and I have Zel on repeat over the last week. Like JPEGMAFIA, Denzel Curry has been my favorite mad scientists of the genre, except that Zel still has one foot in the poppier world. So let's start with Zel's new record TA13OO.
Choice Cuts
Name: Denzel Curry
Album Title: TA13OO
Genre(s): Trap Rap, Hip-Hop, Experimental, Noise Rap
Year of Release: 2018
Name: Death Grips
Name: Unravel
Quite a number of people thought the album was inconsistent because it ranged too many styles. To me, it makes a lot of sense seeing how Zel purposely divided the album into 3 different parts. Also, since when diversity became an issue in rap? I appreciate the various different sections in this and it shows the different shades (pardon the pun) that Zel has. How many producers have you heard put out so many styles and do it well?
Denzel to me the template of hip-hop's future. Just like how rock is respected for their musicianship, the ability to create diverse beats in DAWs will be a respected skill in the future. Just like how Metallica can create groovy riffs, thrashy riffs, punky riffs or even ballads while still under the umbrella of metal, Zel leads the path from the pop lane to the trap trappings (sorry for the puns again) and to the borderline industrial edge in the third section of the album.
Now enough with my rant and my lame attempt at being musical Nostradamus. Also, shout out to Hip Hop DX for coining the pop lane.
The first part out of three part of this album dubbed "Light" serves like a bridge from 90s southern and east coast hip-hop on the poppier side of things. I can hear traces of Outkast's first two albums and the cheerier version of A Tribe Called Quest. While it isn't my side of rap since I've too deep down in the grittier side of things. It isn't Zel's fault but my pre-conditioning.
It's the second and third part of the album that got me interested and reflected the album cover more. The highlight of the second part was the Clout Cobain. I have a feeling when Zel was writing this song, he was listening to rock music and as from the title implies, probably Nirvana. The sad melody with trap on top of it sounds like Lil Peep growing up with 90s alt-rock rather than midwest emo. Take a guitar to this, you'll sound like a band from Seattle. I wouldn't be surprised honestly if Zel listened to Lil Peep and thought he could pull off that sound better. With all respect to Peep, his emo trappings and crooning sounded at odds with his trap influences. So he sounded like an angsty and bratty kid who's disappointed with petty setbacks while the darker vibe that Zel had, sounded like someone drinking whiskey to temporarily numb PTSD or depression because he went through a lot.
A similar comparison would be Nine Inch Nail's original version of Hurt versus Johnny Cash's cover. Trent's bratty voice sounded like he was singing problems that could away next week but Cash was singing with a deep voice, sounding like a sage who has seen all the worst parts of the human experience. Broken down to its core, Zel sounded more mature approaching this spin of melodic minor chord trap music.
The third part of this album comes from the edgier side of Zel (in a good way.) While songs like Clout Cobain were talking about depression, suicidal tendencies, and the mad demands of a media circus. The third part, dubbed "Dark" came from the angle of a frustrated man, ready to break the system. Of course, he had to bring some of angriest rappers of this generation, Zillakami and JPEGMAFIA. I'm not really a big fan of Zilla and longtime readers know I'd stan, Peggy. But both worked so well in delivering their anger, almost hardcore punk like barks. The three trading verses just made me want to get into a mosh pit, grab the mic from Aaron Heard and spit verses, oh wait, this is Jesus Piece. But I fucking feel like listening to the rap equivalent of Jesus Piece. The multiple beat changes further cemented Zel's place as a diverse DAW-player. Is that term a thing yet? I guess I'll coin it.
If this is the future of hip-hop, experimental rap then I'm happy. This feels like going through my own experience of discovering hardcore punk like the old heads did in the 80s/90s. This is Zel when he's still young. Imagine if he honed his craft further, maybe he'll even supersede JPEGMAFIA and become king of experimental rap.
Name: Death Grips
Album Title: Steroids (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Gabber)
Genre(s): Noise Rap, Digital Hardcore, Gabber
Year of Release: 2017
First of all, let me address the hidden gabber in the room. I know this isn't Death Grip's latest release and one day I'll get around to writing about their weirdest, goofiest, and most challenging third eye opening material by far, Year of the Snitch.
But for this week, I want to talk about Death Grip's most brutal and relentless record yet; Steroids. If No Love Deep Web was old school death metal ala Obituary with the evil plodding synths replacing the shovel-in-the-dirt sounding deep riffs. Then steroids, pardon the pun is like a juiced up, version of No Love Deep Web on steroids. It's the later era, "Code Is Red" era Napalm Death version of No Love Deep Web.
If the synths of No Love were bottled up and the riffs and Slowly We Rot is like a giant aircraft carrier on shaking the stilts of a tiny coastal village, then Steroids is like an M1 Abram tank.
You know this has hardcore punk, bordering grindcore written all over it when Ride belts out "MY WHOLE LIFE, MY WHOLE FUCKING LIFE" within the few minutes of the 20 mins + track, accompanied by some of the vicious snare-drumming Zach Hill has ever done. Ride's voice here is probably the most violent he has ever been. There's less of a stress on his rhymes. He isn't interested in that. He wants people to know he's angry first. Figure out the fucking message later. The screams were pretty low on the pitch register, that he's so close to actually growl like on a death metal or grindcore record. He sounds like a refined later day Barney Greenway here. On the album that preceded this EP, Bottomless Pit, Zach went out on a black metal like assault with blast beats. Steroids sounded a madman beating his victim repeatedly, allowing them to breathe for a second and continue beating over and over.
This is one of their most violent records ever. Makes so much sense why I was listening to this back to back to Xibalba and Unravel. Mosh friendly, bastardized version of industrial rap. If you have a friend who listens to metal and wants to get into Death Grips, then this is the EP you should give to overload their mind. Fuck, can this even be called rap?
Name: Unravel
Album Title: Eras of Forfeit
Genre(s): Death Metal, Hardcore, Grindcore
Year of Release: 2018
Speaking about Unravel, let's talk about them. The easiest way for me to explain Unravel is basically Xibalba's Australian cousin. If Xibalba was interested in combining the grooves of Bolt Thrower's brand of crusty death metal, with neanderthal Hatebreed styled breakdowns then Unravel takes the same formula only to dial up their interest in power chord charged hardcore.
Make no mistake, the backbone of this band is death metal. But think of hardcore passages, constructed surrounding chunky, meaty death metal riffs. They have no interest in making you think. All they want to do is smash that message into your head. Even the lyrics reflect this, with that guttural voice with their super political left wing orders.
Regular death metal still wants to show off. Even Xibalba still wants to show off. But Unravel uses death metal riffs as a blunt instrument. It's the musical equivalent of saying fuck discourse, let pummel Richard Spencer and all his pathetic Alt-Right neo-nazi trash into the ground to give them a taste of cement.
While in the past, death metal and hardcore has married before. Just like how neo-nazis and punks used to fight in bars, the same thing is going on with Proud Boys or the Alt-Right scum exchanging blows with Antifa. A different skin, updated with a new context. And no one plans on holding back.
The best description I've heard of this band or this sound, in general, is that this is what deathcore should've sounded like.
Name: Ecostrike
Speaking about Unravel, let's talk about them. The easiest way for me to explain Unravel is basically Xibalba's Australian cousin. If Xibalba was interested in combining the grooves of Bolt Thrower's brand of crusty death metal, with neanderthal Hatebreed styled breakdowns then Unravel takes the same formula only to dial up their interest in power chord charged hardcore.
Make no mistake, the backbone of this band is death metal. But think of hardcore passages, constructed surrounding chunky, meaty death metal riffs. They have no interest in making you think. All they want to do is smash that message into your head. Even the lyrics reflect this, with that guttural voice with their super political left wing orders.
Regular death metal still wants to show off. Even Xibalba still wants to show off. But Unravel uses death metal riffs as a blunt instrument. It's the musical equivalent of saying fuck discourse, let pummel Richard Spencer and all his pathetic Alt-Right neo-nazi trash into the ground to give them a taste of cement.
While in the past, death metal and hardcore has married before. Just like how neo-nazis and punks used to fight in bars, the same thing is going on with Proud Boys or the Alt-Right scum exchanging blows with Antifa. A different skin, updated with a new context. And no one plans on holding back.
The best description I've heard of this band or this sound, in general, is that this is what deathcore should've sounded like.
Name: Ecostrike
Album Title: Voices of Strength
Genre(s): Hardcore Punk, Crossover-Thrash
Year of Release: 2018
When I first saw the cover of this record, I thought this was from the 90s. Maybe it's from Boston, Massachusets or New Jersey. In general, they did pay homage to the area and era but that was not the impression when I heard the first few riffs of Still Remains.
Thrash Metal. That's what I thought at first but that's only like 40% of their sound. What started off as a punkier version of Anthrax coming through, evolves more intro the crossover thrash of Cro Mags with cleaner production. At that point, I knew they were not from the 90s. It's too clear for the era's grit. But I mean it in the best way possible.
By the time the vocals kick in, they start to remind me of New York hardcore barks. At that point, I knew they're going to be based closer to hardcore over metal. It's simple, straightforward and it felt like a well-done homage to the era.
But the main reason why I decided to put this in the choice cut section is that while I thought this was a 90s homage, I realized that this couldn't really exist in the 90s because these scenes were still disparate or at least trying to form some kind of shape. Crossover Thrash didn't really cross into this borderline post-hardcore sounds in the middle of the record. If this existed in the 90s, it would probably what people would imagine if someone tried to describe early era Converge but not quite nailing it. It's a 90s concept with 90s ingredients, but could only exist today. Just like the synthwave pseudo soundtracks we've heard in recent years. Oddly enough, it's the audio equivalent of retrofuturism.
When I first saw the cover of this record, I thought this was from the 90s. Maybe it's from Boston, Massachusets or New Jersey. In general, they did pay homage to the area and era but that was not the impression when I heard the first few riffs of Still Remains.
Thrash Metal. That's what I thought at first but that's only like 40% of their sound. What started off as a punkier version of Anthrax coming through, evolves more intro the crossover thrash of Cro Mags with cleaner production. At that point, I knew they were not from the 90s. It's too clear for the era's grit. But I mean it in the best way possible.
By the time the vocals kick in, they start to remind me of New York hardcore barks. At that point, I knew they're going to be based closer to hardcore over metal. It's simple, straightforward and it felt like a well-done homage to the era.
But the main reason why I decided to put this in the choice cut section is that while I thought this was a 90s homage, I realized that this couldn't really exist in the 90s because these scenes were still disparate or at least trying to form some kind of shape. Crossover Thrash didn't really cross into this borderline post-hardcore sounds in the middle of the record. If this existed in the 90s, it would probably what people would imagine if someone tried to describe early era Converge but not quite nailing it. It's a 90s concept with 90s ingredients, but could only exist today. Just like the synthwave pseudo soundtracks we've heard in recent years. Oddly enough, it's the audio equivalent of retrofuturism.
Name: Sons of Kemet
Album Title: Your Queen is a Reptile
Genre(s): Jazz, Afro-Beat, Spoken Word
Year of Release: 2018
This is the angriest jazz record I've ever heard. Maybe this is premature but his album is a strong contender for Album of The Year for me. Now, this is the first time ever in my life I've made that statement for a jazz band. And for a good reason. I've only started learning the necessary vocabulary to describe jazz. Oddly enough, a huge chunk of my informal jargon jazz education came from metal nonmenclature adopted by metal bands.
But let's talk about this supposedly the angriest jazz record I've heard. Hopefully time won't bite me in the ass when I discover Slayer level aggression from a jazz record in the 70s. But if I do, I'll happily embrace it.
This feels like an album meant to be played in a protest. The saxaphone here acts like a guitar stacking riffs on top of each other. Instead of asking you to headbang, you feel like giving the most intense dance off, staring your opponent in the eye, as if about to get into a mosh, or a fight. The afro beat and steel pans portrays angry carribean crowd. As all the instruments come together, without distortion mind you feels like the flurry you'd hear in the climax of sludge record. The stacked riffs bleed into each other creating a strong buzz.
Unlike most jazz records I've listened to, this is probably the first time I've heard an angry spoken word artist barking orders. Like a public speaker dropping intellectual arguments in the middle of a protest, urging people to follow his rally, the vocalist here wants you to feel his anger and his message. You don't need to follow his chants. Just listen and shout back in agreement in between his bursts. At times he starts screaming as if he was on a hardcore punk record. It's jazz you can mosh to when the aggression is scaled up with accompanied stacked saxaphone riffs. The politically charged lyrics has no interest in pretension.
Remember when I said Unravel took a genre like death metal that loves to show off, and strip it down to it's basic to use it as a blunt instrument? Sons of Kemet says fuck it, takes the building blocks of jazz and removes the pretension to use it as a protest medium. Like a well written chant holding nuance, the complexity of the music is in the background but smashed into your face to get the message across.
Can I call this Protest-Jazz?
This is the angriest jazz record I've ever heard. Maybe this is premature but his album is a strong contender for Album of The Year for me. Now, this is the first time ever in my life I've made that statement for a jazz band. And for a good reason. I've only started learning the necessary vocabulary to describe jazz. Oddly enough, a huge chunk of my informal jargon jazz education came from metal nonmenclature adopted by metal bands.
But let's talk about this supposedly the angriest jazz record I've heard. Hopefully time won't bite me in the ass when I discover Slayer level aggression from a jazz record in the 70s. But if I do, I'll happily embrace it.
This feels like an album meant to be played in a protest. The saxaphone here acts like a guitar stacking riffs on top of each other. Instead of asking you to headbang, you feel like giving the most intense dance off, staring your opponent in the eye, as if about to get into a mosh, or a fight. The afro beat and steel pans portrays angry carribean crowd. As all the instruments come together, without distortion mind you feels like the flurry you'd hear in the climax of sludge record. The stacked riffs bleed into each other creating a strong buzz.
Unlike most jazz records I've listened to, this is probably the first time I've heard an angry spoken word artist barking orders. Like a public speaker dropping intellectual arguments in the middle of a protest, urging people to follow his rally, the vocalist here wants you to feel his anger and his message. You don't need to follow his chants. Just listen and shout back in agreement in between his bursts. At times he starts screaming as if he was on a hardcore punk record. It's jazz you can mosh to when the aggression is scaled up with accompanied stacked saxaphone riffs. The politically charged lyrics has no interest in pretension.
Remember when I said Unravel took a genre like death metal that loves to show off, and strip it down to it's basic to use it as a blunt instrument? Sons of Kemet says fuck it, takes the building blocks of jazz and removes the pretension to use it as a protest medium. Like a well written chant holding nuance, the complexity of the music is in the background but smashed into your face to get the message across.
Can I call this Protest-Jazz?
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