REVIEW: HUMMINGBIRD OF DEATH + TITANARUM 'SPLIT LP' (GIVE PRAISE)

Wow, sucks to be Titanarum. Poor guys, but someone had to be a band other than Hummingbird Of Death, and it's a little known truth that there are literally DOZENS of bands who aren't. In fact seeing as Boise, Idaho's much-loved Hummingbird Of Death open up their side of the split with an atypical grave-ploughing sludge dirge, there's no obvious reason why they couldn't do a split with themselves, maybe even a three or four-way split with themselves as they pummel out slight variations on their furious style.

Second track 'The World Needs This' is much closer to to their raucous brand of crossover-inspired fastcore, feeding neatly into the snarling buzzsaw riffs of Titanarum and their howling fit of punkish, grinding thrash - not so much the party, but the kids you didn't invite and turned up anyway to key your parents' car with their collars flicked up like tearaways in an '80s movie. You are SOOOOO grounded when mom and dad get home. This is actually their final release, a neatly packaged epitaph which makes all of that 'sucks to not be Hummingbird Of Death' stuff seem especially mean-spirited, so, erm, both bands are equally great, music is brilliant and whatever band/s the late, great Titanarum wind up in will be wonderful.

Especially if they cave in to popular demand and join Hummingbird Of Death.

REVIEW: EVISORAX 'ISLE OF DOGS' (SELF-RELEASED)

Spinning like a bottle to face the crustier end of grindcore, rather than any shrieking u-turn, Northern grinders Evisorax have merely tilted the goals and influences that existed on their 2008 EP 'Enclave' to take in a whole new swathe of aesthetic associations, helpfully backed up by the frantic lines of Womrot's Arif on the cover, art looks in danger of going septic and oozing pus at any second, and the knuckle-whitening, blood-vessel bursting extremity of post-Narcosis noise-manglers The Ergon Carousal, whose drummer Brod and vocalist Chris, have been inducted into the line-up.

You could be cynical, rub your chin, raise your eyebrows and suggest that Evisorax are following the warm Pacific current of hype in the direction of current favourites like Lycanthropy or The Afternoon Gentlemen, but that would be to ignore the how little has really changed, and how little time the band have had in order to contrive any bullshit on the scale following their two-label related fuckgasms and a complete band implosion. Sole surviving member, vocalist/guitarist Dan has always been channelling pure ferocity of early Napalm Death and Brutal Truth, and the pick-up torturing, hand-cramping gymnastics of Pig Destroyer (Scott Hull mastery being testament to that), but what has changed is the focus on the stop-start epileptic fits of songs that the generous would compare to Antigama and the cruel, or stupid, would attribute to Suicide Silence or whatever's currently shit and popular in the world of juddering idiot metal, shifting instead to a more drawn-out powerviolence dirge, dripping with muscle-tensing menace - no mean feat considering the songs, on average, are significantly shorter, to the point where their four-song EP is actually a minute or so longer than their seven-song album.

To say 'matured' to is to denigrate 'Enclave' as anything other than precise and purposeful, which it was - it's no embarrassing early fumble, of which most discographies are made. Instead 'Isle Of Dogs' feels like an old friend somehow changed, eyes ringed with pain and disappointment, following a break-up or a death in the family. You smile and make empty, meaningless conciliatory noises, but you're forever tense, on edge, teeth-gritted and anxious, expecting the mood to turn suddenly venomous when you say the world thing.

REVIEW: AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED + DESPISE YOU 'ON AND ON AND ON...' (RELAPSE)

People have a tendency to overstate the importance of music - the more basic, embarrassing or downright cro-magnon it is, the more people feel the urge to twitter on about the "primal thump of otherness" or whatever the shit crap passes for content in the Wire. Conversely, if you come out and say that you like death metal, not for the "primal thump of otherness", but because you like "songs about sluts getting what they deserve", you're also a bell end. It's a tricky business to get right isn't it?

Why do you like grindcore? Is it because it takes the contents of your heart and spits it out as jagged red chunks from a sonic chain gun? Did you even bother reading the first paragraph? Grindcore is just an instant reaction, and don't you dare try and dress it up in your fancy pants flower language like you're taking it to meet the parents. It doesn't even have to be an instant reaction to anything worthy, it's like a gag reflex spewing out a response to foul tasting world - in Napalm Death's case, it was all about Thatcher's venom dripped claws and impending nuclear dread, and in Anal Cunt's case it was all about how gays, blacks and Hitler are have given the AIDS to YOUR MUM.

Both Despise You and Agoraphobic Nosebleed represent that sort of pure honesty, the fight or flight of grindcore - whether in Despise You's Class of '82 classically inclined hardcore pugilism, or ANb's Class of Nukem High dirtbag futurism. DY's first new material in seven years (so you can all handle the four months it took for this review to turn up), and the dual-vocal Cali powerviolence unit remain utterly ageless and sharp, not that anyone was expecting maturity or progression - it's just rage and relentless, metallic forward motion in shot-glass sized measurements lined up along the bar of your eardrums to be knocked back in quick sucession

With four very different voices driving the octopus mech that is Agoraphobic Nosebleed, to do the unexpected has always been their prerogative, and they open their half of this split album with a sludge-laden piece of riff-heavy low-end before seguing into the breathless, shrieking 'As Bad As It Is...'. Scott Hull's riff-hammering is front and centre, like a rivet gun in the sparks and molten metal of iron foundry. 16 minutes seems the perfect sized dose of ANb, just long enough to register and brief enough to defy dissection - which is as it should be.

If 'On And On And On...' proves anything, it's that when so much effort elsewhere is invested into a contrived demonstrations of some imagined level of quality, on that's tied into coloured tapes, Japanese splits and obligatory references to early MOSH-number Earache bands, the real deal is always just this; a reaction, sometimes raw and primitive, sometimes razor sharp and fret-rapingly sophisticated, but always rising from deep inside like a tidal wave of stomach acid.

BAND OF THE DAY: NUCLËAR FRÖST

If we can say anything about Brazil's Nuclëar Fröst, is that they probably didn't take into account the pronunciation implications of all those umlauts. Sure, they look hella mass rad on your t-shirt and patch jacket, but somewhere right now in Germany - the Home of Heavy Metal itself, the throne room of Blind Guardian - someone is referring to them as Nucleeer Frooost, which sort of makes them sound like a fruit drink for kids, rather than some sort of shit-kicking biker clan brotherhood of the night \m/ or whatever it is everyone thinks they are these days.

In fact, you should probably start saying Motörhead as if the umlaut actually mattered, and start correcting people, even if I don't know them: "Sorry... look, ah, I don't mean to be rude, but it's actually MoTOOORhead, yeah? Can you say it for me?"

If any of that troubles the Sao Paulo four-piece, there's no outward sign of it - although it no doubt weighs heavily on the shoulders of drumm- sorry, Thunder Machinist Tom Thräshcrüst. Whatever their crimes against language, and pretension, Nuclëar Fröst more than make amends by existing in that decreasing circle of reactionary, spirit of '86 death/thrash that actually seems driven by something other than an urge to be namechecked by OMIGODERIKFROMWATAIN, appear on Fenriz' blog or ape the arbitrary handful of clichés, conventions and masturbation techniques that make up 'metalpunk'. Like Hellhammer with Slayer's lust for galloping Nazgûl riffs instead of oppressive despair, or early Onslaught with Jeff Becerra instead of their post-NWOBHM falsetto, on their absolutely ripping 15-track debut 'Nuclear Winter Gloom', as evidenced by the respectable company they keep, sharing a split with Italy's gloriously daft and over-constructed Children of Technology and lending their drumm- sorry, Thunder Machine to Brazil's own Toxic Holocaust, Whipstriker.

REVIEW: END REIGN 'SELF-TITLED' 7" (HOLY ROAR/WITCH HUNTER/HEMLOCK 13/FIST IN THE AIR)

Why do End Reign need four labels to put out their new 7" EP? BECAUSE IT'S SO DAMN HEAVYOLOLOLOL.

Some of the most cringeworthy reviews ever, mostly on websites but more often than not snuck into the 'real' music press by writers who've wandered terrifyingly out of their depth by foolishly claiming to "like a bit of everything", which was their first mistake as only cunts who like Mogwai say that. To compensate and see them through their 100-odd words, which can seem the like the biggest, most daunting eight sentences in the world when you're a complete moron, they fill it with lists or tenuous, over-embellished analogies. The former becoming redundant after the first, and the latter are just instantly recognisable as desperate horseshit, like when you ask someone their opinion on something they claim to hate and they immediately zone in on some peripheral detail and stick steadfastedly to that like some sort of comfort blanket that'll see them through life's many ambiguities. Then as a closing gambit they'll make some sort of sweeping statement that clearly by this point they have no authority to make in even the eyes of most musically illiterate, talk about how x-genre frequently does y and z things wrong, but x-band escape this trap.

Durham's grinding hardcore five-piece End Reign are really heavy, then. A mixture of knuckle-cracking Integrity chug with a trace of post-NYHC Early Learning Centre mosh parts that tickle the part of the brain that makes you strike fight poses in the mirror when you get out of the shower, the tar-thick riffs and that breathless, infectious rush towards musical orgasm that characterises/characterised bands like Trap Them, Cursed, Black Breath and Nails - existing at the meeting point between emotive Swedish-style crust, razor-edged thrash, and the sort of purposefully faded t-shirts worn by people at the Vice offices.

Heavier than the season finale of Game of Thrones, heavier than RyanAir carry-on luggage, heavier than your eyelids in the euthanasia clinic. Unconvincing metaphor to conceal ignorance, this reminded me of the time I blah fucking blah. What fast, angry hardcore usually does wrong is be too fast and angry, lucking End Reign escape this trap by not being so fast and angry that they put people off, but just being fast and angry enough to be brutal \m/

BAND OF THE DAY: ANTIMELODIX

There's something ludicriously bouncy and high octane about Russian blackened d-beat mob Antimelodix, dare it be said despite the forceful caveat in their moniker, even melodic.

Forming in 2006 in Petrozavodsk, in Russian Karelia atop the bones of numerous forgotten wars and shifting borders of states left unrecalled by history, and out of the ashes of various local punk and hardcore bands, Antimelodix have morphed from chaotic practioners of tightly monomaniacal metallic crust to the sort of bulldozer, lightning riff d-beat of Disfear and Wolfbrigade, albeit with a dark, melancholic moodiness that it's tempting to say comes from the bleak, windswept landscape they call home, and a similarly inspired black metal intensity.

Recent 7" EP 'Hellfuck 2011' on Angry Voice Records, streamable below (and pay to download), even has touch of the tooth-spitting grind 'n' roll raucousness of Malignant Tumour in its pugnacious cocktail of utterly vital pummelling punk rock, that this passed muster on a recent tour of the Finland and Sweden, the homeland of tightly honed d-beat, is a pretty hefty endorsement.

INTERVIEW: DARGE BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN JAPAN AND LATIN AMERICA

The second in Rafael Yaekashi's four interviews with the four-way split, '4WayForDestruction', that he's releasing on his own Karasu Killer Records, based in Japan on August 27. This time, Glauco Mingau of Brazilian d-beat shitkickers Death From Above asks the questions of guitarist/vocalist Oze from knuckle-cracking, metallic thrash punks Darge (featuring Rafa himself on vocals and bass). Pics, again, are by Eder Sales Cave.

When and how did you form the band?

"After my former band Arize finished at the end of 2003, I forced my friends to form Darge with me in the summer of 2004. There were four of us to start with, but after a few member changes, we became the current three of us!"

What are your musical influences and what are your favourite bands?

"I'm influenced by SDS and European hardcore and all other punk and hardcore bands, Rafael is influenced by punk, hardcore, grindcore for sure and now he is into metal, doom and stoner, [drummer] Shinnosuke is more eclectic and hybrid! Each of us has a different taste so we don't know why, but we are having fun!"

How is the local scene? What bands are the most friendly, best live spaces for the event, interaction of band and peoples, finally, there is an active scene and support from the public who go to concerts?

"The local scene for punk and hardcore isn't that great but the number of bands and events are increasing so the scene is rising! There aren't any bands who are specially close to us. Everybody has their own ideas and I'm inspired by that. There are some live houses and the bars we can play live in Gifu, but our main venues are Gifu 51 and King Biscuit! Through Rafael, lots of Brazilians, Americans, Argentines and so on, come to our gigs, the audience can enjoy the atmosphere of mixture between Japanese and foreign people. So far we haven't had any trouble between the different type of audiences, they all cooperate with gigs and events.
If lots of trouble happens, bands and live houses will be in difficult situations and the audiences won't be able to have good times, so friends of Darge are helpful!"

We know that in Japan there's a very big and active scene for punk and hardcore despite being a small country. Is there any conflict between the different scenes?

"All of Japanese punk and hardcore bands are great! They all support tours and take care of bands from abroad. They are doing very well considering their living conditions. As long as I know. there are no fights neither troubles between different type of people. They all behave according to their own tastes of music, attitudes and fashions!"

In May 2010, Darge toured Brazil. How did you find this tour and how was the experience of living with so many different scenes, places, foods and beverages. Was there anything you disliked? or something that bothered you? 

"It was difficult as Darge's first foreign country tour was Brazil but everything was so fresh and very stimulating. People in each places had different band styles, tastes of music and fashion! The most impressive town for me was Goiania, there were so many audiences and the atmosphere was so great, and hot!
And also we were happy playing a cover song of Disclose with yourself, but we decided to do this at the last minute so we had to go and buy a Disclose CD there! Foodwise, I really liked a big hambergar called 'X-Tudo! And churrasco which I had at Cherry from Hell Sakura's place was so tasty! I was surprised there was water with gas and without! I wanted to have the one without but I bought the one with gas by mistake.

"We were expecting some disadvantages before we set off on our Brazilian tour, but we couldn't cope with a hole in the bass drum and the chair for the drums being an ordinary chair, and couldn't get sound out from the bass amp. Even in the most basic environment we can't play without a proper set-up."

Which of the bands that played on that tour were the most impressive?

"The most impressive band I saw in Brazil was Lobotomia! I already liked them before I went to Brazil and I was so glad I could see them playing my favourite song 'Nada e Como Parece' live! And I happened to like a lot of Brazilian bands like No Masters, Death From Above, Desastre, Unfit Scum, Nuclear Frost, Terror Revolucionario, Under the Ruins, DER, etc."

After the Brazil Tour in 2010, MCR Company released a DVD of this tour, how was the production and was it everything the band wanted?

"We made our tour DVD with Mr Yumikes and editing engineer at MCR Company in Kyoto! We decided on the structure of DVD before we went to Brazil but in reality, we couldn't film what we wanted so it didn't work out entirely as planned. We had decided to put some Brazilian bands in our DVD because we wanted Japanese people to know about the bands we saw there. We distributed our DVDs through out the shops in Japan who have connections with MCR Company. We also sent some copies to Brazil! Umm, I don't know about reviews? But we are happy we made a DVD that's as fun and perverse as us!"

What are the next plans of the band?

"We will be releasing CD '4WayForDestruction' from Rafael's label Karasu Killer Records. The idea of making This CD came from our Brazilian tour. This CD includes Darge and Disgust from Japan and Death From Above and Unfit Scum from Brazil! We will be having the CD releasing gig at Gifu 51 on 27 August with Darge, Disgust and Unholy Grave from Nagoya, Riverge from Osaka and GID. I'd like to go to Brazil again but it depends of the money situation and timing! In reality, it's quite tough."

TRACK BY TRACK REVIEW: VADER 'WELCOME TO THE MORBID REICH' (NUCLEAR BLAST))

1. 'ULTIMA THULE'

No surprises – Vader love intros, used them on their last three albums (composed of a similar formula), and if it's necessary give numbers, they've been playing it safe for nine years. Fortunately, with ‘Welcome to the Morbid Reich’ this is about to change. Unlike 2009’s average ‘Necropolis’, ‘Ultima Thule’ is the first of only two intros, and even better – they're both adequately situated in the playlist. A grandiose, ceremonial opening, lightly merging into…

2. ‘RETURN OF THE MORBID REICH’

Which masterfully underlines the whole symphonic pomposity, before getting rid of it (for a while, at least) with one of the most extreme moments in the Polish veterans’ career. Piotr Wiwczarek’s mighty ‘uuurgh’ kickstarts a powerful combination of mindstorming blastbeat and thrashy, pleasantly organic riffage that wonderfully sets the beginning of arguably the best Vader album since ‘Litany’.

3. ‘THE BLACK EYE’

Then it’s time for the classic war march that ‘The Black Eye’ definitely is. With militaristic tempo, unforgettable riffs and the trademark short, ripping, yet strangely melodic solos, ready to drop you to your knees and cut your head off… Straight away!

4. ‘COME AND SEE MY SACRIFICE’

And while Behemoth constantly developed to reach the point where they almost went mainstream, but succeeded in remaining themselves and Decapitated showed people how technical death really should sound, Vader have always been the stronghold of traditionalism in the Polish metal scene. With songs like ‘Come and See My Sacrifice’ the band continue to be such, as this song isn't made to be heard, but to be experienced.

5. ‘ONLY HELL KNOWS’

Things get even more frightful when track number five – fast, ugly and merciless in it’s old school rage is spat out by this monster of a record. The song rarely reaches brainwashing speed or headcrushing heaviness, but it is as brutal as needed. Tortured opening riff and some of the most diverse vocals Pete has ever exhorted. This is Vader at their most grotesque!

6. ‘I AM WHO FEASTS UPON YOUR SOUL’

One of the album’s most epic moments, ‘I Am Who Feasts Upon Your Soul’ starts with an almost Zimmer-ish symphonic interlude and after a brilliant guitar bridge (similar to the bridge on the cover artwork, but built in music form), slowly turns into the beast it has to be. Mid-tempo death metal madness with rich, doomed atmosphere and an amazing solo.

7. ‘DON’T RIP THE BEAST’S HEART OUT’…

… Starts directly from a great string-duel between Pete and Spider. Bombastic blastbeat adds more weight to the solid main riff and probably makes Doc proud of his ex-colleagues in his boiling cauldron there in the underworld. Don’t worry Doc, songs like this one concrete the quartet strong positions in Hell. They’ll soon be your new neighbours.

8. ‘I HAD A DREAM…’

Sinister is the solemn way in which the second part of ‘Welcome to the Morbid Reich’ continues to sound as ‘I Had a Dream…’ adds another epic note in the album as if Vader are currently celebrating some triumph of evil.

9. ‘LORD OF THORNS’

‘Lord of Thorns’ easily explaines why the band are often described as ‘death-thrash metal’ and, let’s not miss the subjective element – this is how the subgenre should sound. To be specific, more death than thrash. And proudly embracing the as-many-as-possible principle when it comes to the ripping solos. Legion Of The Damned – take some notes, please, or don't come back.

10. ‘DECAPITATED SAINTS’

It’s truly difficult to compare when the quality of a given release is at this height, but ‘Decapitated Saints’ is probably the most brutal track, not only in ‘Welcome to the Morbid Reich’, but in the band's entire career. From the song-title, through yo the harrowing speed Peter shoots his vocals out, to the final blood-freezing call.

11. ‘THEY ARE COMING'

The second interlude and the soundtrack to a terrifying satanic ritual.

12. ‘BLACK VELVET AND SKULLS OF STEEL’

Perfect epitaph with the slowest and obscurest number on this full-length. It’s definitely not an accident that all ends with a single call to arms: ‘HELL!’. Surprise or not, this is one of Vader’s strongest albums and an unexpected return to form.

INTERVIEW: DEATH FROM ABOVE... D-BEAT BUT NOT BEATEN

Rafael Yaekashi of Japan's Karasu Killer Records is on a mission, he wants to unite four of the nastiest, crustiest bands he can find in one toxic disc - '4WayForDestruction', out August 27. Not content with just unleashing that into the world by itself, he's interviewed each band involved (with pics from Eder Sales Cave), starting with Glauco Mingau of Brazil's furious d-beat hellions Death From Above.

Tell us a little about the band’s history, the discography, the first shows. And also, what’s the meaning of the band’s name?

"The band began in the beginning of 2006, I was bored enough because my two other bands I was playing with had broke up by it - Neurose Urbana in 2004 and Chaotix in the end of 2005 - and I wanted to start another band, but this time want to do a sound in the style that I love: D-BEAT! Since I'm a d-beat maniac, I chose the name Death From Above because of Discard 'Death From Above' 7" EP. Besides being one influence in our sound, Discard was the first band to use the Discharge logo, thus declaring their total passion to the Discharge band.

"Then I began to think about this new project. So, I called the Thiago, who was playing in the Sociofobia, to play bass and called the Ratão, who was the drummer of Neurose Ubana, to give us a help as drummer to compose some songs. Since there were no others drummer to play d-beat here in the city he accepted. then we did about six songs, played a gig and then he got out from the band. Next we called Hassan, who was drumming in Sociofobia and guitarist of Desastre, to play. We did the demo 'Lost in the Insane War' with him on drums, it was cool because I had already played with him before in Chaotix. Shortly afterwards of that he got out from the band, but this time we had our eyes on a friend of ours, Slake who is the singer in WCM and was playing in a new band called Asas Da Vingança. I realised that he had a good style and that perhaps he could play with us. We did some tests, but the his drum beat wasn't quite d-beat, so I showed him how to play the d-beat and with the time he was catching the beat and was perfecting his style. The good thing is that he has a heavy beat that makes me remember Ratão playing in Neurose Urbana. This happened in the beginning of 2007, then we begin to work new song and to do shows. 2007 and 2008 were very good for us, we played a lot, maybe about two shows monthly. It helped give the band more 'gas' in the sound, in a sense, and left it more cohesive. Also we use a strategy of 'non stop show' like in the Discharge live album 'The Nightmare Continues'.

"About recordings, what I can say is that we are a band without luck! After we recorded the demo 'Lost in the Insane War' in the end of 2006, we recorded three songs - including cover of Disclose - in 2007, two were for a split 7" EP and other would be for a tribute to a Disclose. The split never came out because another band, Kandiru, from Minneapolis, US, broke up and the tribute to Disclose... simply, they took us off the CD. Then in 2008 we recorded the CD digipack 'Death Comes' but it was only released in 2009. Also in 2008 we played in Gama-city with Besthoven  for a DVD recording and our set was recorded, mixed by Frango from Galinha Preta, but it is still unreleased! Our CD 'Death Comes' was to be released by the Speed State records from Japan, but in the process they stopped writing, so I gave up and decided to release in the local label TBONTB - Two Beers Or Not Two Beers - and my own Mingau's Productions. That was much better because we had a good distribution. Still in 2009, we recorded two more songs for another split 7" EP with Dead Section from Portland, US, because they were coming to Brazil for a tour, we were set to tour with them but the band split up and they gave up on doing split 7 "EP, in this time time we had already sent our complete stuff for them because the were the ones who were going to press it. Well, in the end of 2009 we did our second tour in São Paulo for 'Death Comes', we did about six or seven shows, a good but very stressful tour, so when we got back home Thiago got out of the band and Danny,  ex-Desastre, was invited to play bass. With him on the bass we recorded two more songs for another attempt to do a split 7" EP with War/System from England, but that didn't get released either because the guy I was in contact with, the vocalist, who was also pressing the 7" left the band. So, we lost heart and gave up. Then we decide to use one song for a four-way 7" EP, still in progress. In the beginning of 2011 we recorded four songs for our debut '4 Trax EP', will be released in 7" and tape version with two bonus songs by Bombs Away Records, coming soon. Also this year we recorded a one song cover of 'War's No Fairytale' by Discharge for the Discharge Brazilian tribute CD, in progress too, and finally last May we recorded three songs for '4 Way for Destruction Vol 2' that will be out next August."

What are the themes in the lyrics? How’s the writing process?

"I write the lyrics, and different from many bands that play d-beat I try not to write lyrics only about war even though it's still a recurring subject. I try to write about human questions with acid criticism and how loneliness is an intrinsically human characteristic. I haven't a process for composition, it just happens, inspiration comes day by day, from announcements on the TV and from the world around us. All of these are influences and become inspirations for the compositions."

What are your biggest influences?

"When I thought to start the band I hadn't got a formula for the type sound that we would be going to play, but certainly we didn't want to be a sound clone of another band. The basic influences at the root of our sound are Discharge singles, Antisect demos, old Disclose, Discard, MG15, Unruled, The Inconoclast, Diatribe, Final Warning, Fader War, Disaster, Underage, old Crow, UBR, Olho Seco, and more, but it has been changing a little with the change in bass player. We are trying to have a more structured sound, but we are still in the same raw d-beat vibe.

Do all the band members have a day job, or do you live off your music? What’s the hardest thing about having a band in Brazil?

"I have informal jobs, I have a small silk screen office, also I'm a DJ and play at local parties, but I also do some cultural events, concerts and parties - this is where I get my money. Slake is working at my old job in a binder, a kind of graphic place but smaller. He works closely with the Wilton from Desastre, Danny was fucking unemployed, we hope he finds a job soon to help pay practice studio for the band hahaha! Now, the greatest difficulty to being in a band in Brazil is the lack of support to produce and spread word of bands, also the lack of space for concerts, all this bother. Another thing is the lack of support from the public who still insisting on not paying the tickets, always asked to enter free and refuse to buy material produced by the bands, which would greatly help them to keep producing albums and merchandise. These are all difficulties but as we're not in it for money or fame, we'll continue to make noise!"

And the current state of Brazilian underground, what’s good and what’s bad? Is there support? What’s the band’s opinion on the punk/hardcore scene in Goiania ?

"Good? I can't say exactly, but today things are a little more easy than ten years ago, at least here in Goiania. The scene is small but has been quite active in recent years and there's union and a good level of cooperation among the punks, anarcho, hardcore, thrashers, etc... this is one factor that I consider very good for our scene. Goiania has shows every week and there have been many new bands and producers as well. Currently we have fixed the following events: Noise For Heroes, Music For Zeros that I do, and had brought Darge from Japan to play. Punks Not Profits, Underground Forces, Thrashcore Fest, among other events more sporadically but with some regularity."

In what other projects are and were the current band member involved?

"I've had many projects in the past. I played in Neurose Urbana from 1993 to 2004, in Chaotix from 2003 to 2005, and in Refuse from 1994 to 1996. Disastre was formed by me and Wilton, along with Fofão and Ratao but this line-up lasted a short time. I played in the Besthoven in a time where both Neurose Urbana and Besthoven had no bassist, and we were sharing the same drummer. I played bass in Besthoven, Fofão and he played bass in the Neurose Urbana in 1996, but we didn't gig. I also played in the band Lixo when they moved to Goiania, the band included the Marcelo Holanda aka Kamikazi drummer in Nailbiter. Besides doing the vocals in WCM, Slake plays in Asas da Vingança, but that band stopped, for all I know. Danny played in the Desastre for a long time, but he also played with me in the Chaotix, and he also played guitar in Asas da Vingança."

What the band members listen to nowadays?

"I listen to many different music style, but two bands that I'm a fanatic about and I never stop listening to are Discharge and The Cure. I like many classics of different styles, like punk, hardcore, post punk, goth, rock etc... Danny listen to similar music like me, but I don't know what he's listened to recently. Slake like tons of hardcore, fast, crust, punk and rap. I do not know which bands he's listening to right now but I know they're fast bands hehehe!"

Since 2003 there’s a new wave of punk/hardcore bands coming around in Brazil. How do you see this revitalization? Which bands/artists do you consider prominent?

"Yes, some good and great things have been happening over the last few years and that is very encouraging. We were in need of good bands again in Brazil, and the best thing is that they are are treading their own paths without relying on others, and even without creating intrigues and competition. It has been of great value to the current scene that many friendly bands that help and work together have appeared. For me the strongest bands are Whipstriker from Rio de Janeiro, Unfit Scum, Nuclear Frost, and Social Chaos from São Paulo, Terror Revolucionario, Murro no Olho, Subterror, and Violator from the area around Brasília, Gritos de Alerta and Chaca from Rio Grande do Sul, and more ... they are many good but these are the ones that I can remember now."

What would you guys be doing if it wasn’t for punk/hardcore in your lives?

"Man, sincerely I do not know. I've been a punk since I was young, when I was forming a personality, so it's hard to think about what it would be. I always liked music, I do not know, but perhaps I might have been a professional DJ, because I remember a moment before becoming punk that I liked the DJ world, observing the guys playing vinyl in the parties etc... that never went out from my head. Perhaps I would have gone by that way. I think that the same thing for Danny and Slake, they are already everything that they want to be. Danny has been a punk since he was 13 years old, and he's got no motive to change, and Slake was also in this since he was kid. Perhaps they wins in lottery! Hahaha!"

More and more we talk about corruption, violence and unemployment in Brazil. What do you see for the country’s future?

"These things have been happening in Brazil systematically, for decades until today and have not had a significant attitude on the part of governments to change this depressing situation in which Brazil finds itself. Every election comes new promises of change mainly to health, education, work against violence, corruption, unemployment these basic things for life to proceed. But what happens are more scandals involving politicians and no improvements. People are tired of being cheated and lack of confidence in the government is growing, and it's only going to worsen. As for me, I don't believe in government. I know it's there to fuck me."

How would you like Brazil to be?

"In the financial part, the same as the Swiss. With regard to culture, literature, cinema and music as in England, Germany, Czech Republic, Spain. In Italy as a culinary item, but Brazil is well served, there is lots of good food here. Well, this is just a dream, there is no perfection in a nightmare world!"

BAND OF THE DAY: WHIPSTRIKER

Fuck yeah, Whipstriker! You don't even need to hear this to picture leather-clad, pouting neo-punks in skinny fit Discharge t-shirts standing around some sort of contrived oil drum fire, while Fenriz bounces up and down in his computer chair with glee like a baboon with an itchy arse. Who cares what they sound like, send vinyl fast! Mother, get out the sewing machine, I need another patch-... why?! BECAUSE THIS BAND ARE THE BEST IN THE WORLD. NO, SHUT UP, I DIDN'T SAY THAT EXACT SAME THING ABOUT CHILDREN OF TECHNOLOGY LAST WEEK. GOD, SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP, YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING.

Forming in 2008 in Rio de Janeiro as a one-man-band in the Toxic Holocaust model (he's been a live member in Joel Grind's thrash metal circus, so he at least learnt from the master) based around the titular Whipstriker, who's carved out a reputation for himself in metalpunk through tellingly monikered bands like Apokaliptic Raids. With the usual narrow spectrum of influences that can usually be distilled even further to post-2006 Darkthrone, Whipstriker crank out d-beating, Motörcrusting primitivism with no surprises, just enough gritted teeth and mean-spirited groove to soundtrack the local Hell's Angels chapter.

Since releasing their first demo in 2010, 'Midnight Crust', very little has changed sonically, which is to be expected when there's only one of you and the bands you're taking pointers from can be counted on Rick Allen's fingers.

DON'T MISS IT: DISMA & WE ARE THE DAMNED

Unlike the majority of genres, united under the extreme music banner, death metal rarely ‘suffers’ from ‘more of the same’ which in many cases is more a promise for the quality of a given record, and New Jersey’s freaks Disma demonstrate it by summoning up those old demons on their debut full-length. They’re the newest and freshest corpse buried in Profound Lore’s lurid crypt and as everyone who has somehow managed to retain his sanity knows, once you enter its narrow, unlit tunnels, you either leave them with well shaken psyche, or remain walled in between these ancient stones forever. So it’s obvious that whatever happens on ‘Towards The Megalith’ (some sadist has decided to stream the album), it happens in completely different reality. Disma are composed of professional death metal occultists, the most obvious being ex-Incantation frontman Craig Pillard, whose deep growls always sound like the last painful cry of a dying mammoth and form terrifying Impetuous Ritual-like atmosphere. Walking through the halls of his sick imagination guarantees loads of twisted visions that remind of his classic appearance on ‘Onwards To Golgotha’, an album that, as if you need to be told, paved the way for 90% of the satanic death metal hordes. The riffs are simple, massive and addictive, absorbing the early '90s traditions in goat warship and the spirit of new leaders like Portal, Mitochondrion and Vastum. ‘Towards The Megalith’ is an audio gate to the haunted post-apocalyptic world.

And while Disma consume souls slowly but inevitably like some ancient evil, Portuguese terrorists We Are The Damned explode suddenly, deafeningly and deadly, leaving only ashes behind them. ‘Holy Beast’ has everything a secondLP can need – power, clever song-writing, intentions, insisting yearning to prove itself and of course, conviction. Hardcore dynamics meet death 'n' roll nastiness on killer songs that sound so concentrated on the surface, but immediately storm chaos in the mind, make you unable to control your pulse, and more importantly – your actions. They have to be here, representing the entire anger of our societies and pulling out one of 2011’s key albums. ‘Holly Beast’ simply demands extreme responses.

INTERVIEW: EVISORAX GET THEIR SHIT TOGETHER

Don't be ashamed to admit that two years ago you completely wrote off Evisorax. It's okay, they don't mind.

In a very short time, the Wigan-based grindcore trio went from being the sort of furious young hellions that British grindcore lacks, able to get nods of approval from knuckle-dragging death metallers, ADD grindcore fans testing the quality of their coloured vinyl by smell, and pouting, posturing scenebros thanks to a wonderfully ambiguous concoction of shifting, firecracker fretbroad abuse,  straight up wailing brutality and tremendous energy, to being pretty much dead in all but name.

“A whole shitstorm of internal bullshit is what happened,” admits guitarist and sole surviving founding member Daniel. “Keith [drums] and Pete [vocals] left the band and I was pretty much left stood alone, this was especially crippling after all the positive reviews, acclaim, sixth best newcomer '09,  two UK tours as well as all the other shows and the 'Enclave' release. It basically all went to waste as there was nothing I could do at the time.

So these last two years have been spent writing, rehearsing and getting a new CD together with Brod on drums, formally of Narcosis and currently of The Ergon Carousel, and Chris, former Carmen and current Ergon Carousel also, on vocals.”

Aside from the internal strife, the label that released their well received debut EP vanished less than acrimoniously, leaving more drama in its wake, and seeing more than a few people update their shit lists – not to mention that the label they were first involved with was run by the king of all shit cunts. Daniel confirms that both experiences have soured his attitude towards labels, but he remains pragmatic.

“That's life and it's taught me a great deal as well as making more contacts so it is what it was and that's the end to it. It's definitely made me more cautious as to how I approach labels and more aware as to what I'm looking for, I don't think I would ever get in bed with a label ever again, it would take a lot for me to do that. These days I'm looking more for limited releases as opposed to recording contracts. There again, DIY seems a pretty attractive option, once you have the fanbase and know what you're doing then there's not a great deal a label can offer you that you cant do yourself, you just need the hard work ethic and the commitment. Obviously though there's times and situations where a label really would come in handy.”

What fanbase or buzz they may have lost through activity will easily be balanced by the incoming XP from Brod and Chris, the latter famously (or infamously, if you considered it a travesty and you're a complete dick) standing in as vocalist on Insect Warfare's posthumous UK tour.

“Seeing as Narcosis were a Wigan-based band and so are Evisorax, I've known Brod and the lads for a long time now,” he expands on how the current line-up came together. “We actually have practice rooms facing one another across a hallway so it was pretty logical. After Keith left I approached Brod as I didn't know of anyone nearby who could help piece this together and move to the next stage as well as being on the same page as me musically. As for Chris, he's the vocalist in The Ergon Carousel with Brod, we'd met before at a show we played and really hit it off so it just seemed a given to ask him if he'd be interested. As for them being permanent, I really hope so but you never know as I learnt with Pete and Keith.

“I was only in my teens when I saw Narcosis on tour with Pig Destroyer and blew me away, I did even realise we were from the same town and had been a big fan ever since. So when it came down to emailing Brod MP3s of the songs I had made on my PC for him to get the ideas to put drums to, it was a bit of ''what the fuck is happening!?' moment, and totally surreal. But Brod's a sterling chap and was great about everything! And Chris is a fantastic guy and has a lot of drive so to hear them both be totally into this and really on board is great. Claiming the main support on the Wormrot tour was a great feeling as it was something I could say to them ''look, this is working'.”

Aside from touring with Singapore grinders Wormrot on the UK leg of their European tour in September, Evisorax have finished work on their first full-length, which is being mastered by Pig Destroyer/Agoraphobic Nosebleed's Scott Hull, and featured some input from Insect Warfare drummer Dobber Beverly who, er, helped them set up and made suggestions.

“This time around I wanted to make the most pissed off, bile fuelled, disgusting, uncomfortable and venomous recording I could,” enthuses Dan about the material. “Like the soundtrack to murdering someone. That you could actually envisage a serial killer slaughtering people whilst he has this record blasting on his MP3 player. Just pure hostility and violence, not that its in any way gore, just totally violent.

“I think it's more straight grind edged this time too, shorter songs but still has everything packed in to it, I think the writing skills have been refined and honed in as well. The concepts are a lot more developed and matured as well. I can't wait to unleash this CD, seriously, I have high hopes for this bastard and hope to get Evisorax back to where it was and further!”

REVIEW: DESTROY JUDAS 'WAKE' (SELF-RELEASED)

Genre super-classification upsets musicians because it somehow reduces their art to a set of simplistic building blocks, and that's not always unjust, it often is constructed out of a set of simplistic building blocks and they'd rather you thought of it as the magical end result of three months mediating under a waterfall. Destroy Judas' 2011 EP 'Wake' (stream below or name-your-price download) is template atmospheric crust in very much the same way that Star Wars is a film about space wizards - it blatantly is, but people who like it would rather over-romanticise it as a hand-woven miracle, than something that came from a press-out sprue kit.

Covering similar territory to Morne, Fall Of Efrafa and all those other heavy-lidded bands lurking in that poorly lit Neurosian nexus where sludge, crust, post-metal, doom and lapping tides of bongwater meet, playing off their perfectly construct ambiguity that lends them no ambiguity at all. There're tribal drum fills, dense and ponderous slowbuilds, crashing riff waves, and euphoric eruptions like breaking through the layer of stormclouds to stand, breathless in the cold sunlight at the top of Mount Doompatch Postcrust, and other obvious elemental metaphors. Made up of veterans of such intimidating OC outfits as Phobia, Asunder, Lachrymose, Crisis and others no sane man has the time or patience to list, it's fair to say that their collective skill, experience and sheer passion for playing music with a track record of being its own reward, transforms something that'd be profoundly dull in other hands, into something heartaching, earnest and downright amazing.

Like Star Wars, it's perfectly possible for something to be contrived and really, really good.

REVIEW: THE AFTERNOON GENTLEMEN 'PISSDOGRAPHY' (GIVE PRAISE)

It's always a bit lame and patronising to make proclamations about a band's career trajectory (especially when you're talking about bands who probably don't have one). It widens that already oceanic gulf between people who sit on the internet writing about music, and people who actually get face first involved in music, but nevertheless Leeds' filthkickers The Afternoon Gentlemen have begun to take on the sort of feverishly received reputation of similar fast and grubby powerviolence outfits like Spoonful Of Vicodin and Lycanthropy.

Everyone either wants to see them or talk about how they want to see them, and then not bother.

Constantly touring mainland Europe where people care about such things, their 38-song 'Pissedography' (streamable below or on Bandcamp) captures their complete split and singles archive of table-thumping drum battery as it careens drunkenly through similar basement show territory to No Comment, Spazz and Despise You, all punkish clattering and euphoric, hungover groove parts. Production is rickety, but achieves that sought after balance, keeping things immediate and raw, dripping with sweat, White Ace and filter papers, without obscuring the actual tunes in an unwanted slurry of snare and reverb.

REVIEW: DECAPITATED 'CARNIVAL IS FOREVER' (NUCLEAR BLAST)

‘I just don’t stand on my own!’

Such is the definite statement on the eagerly awaited ‘Carnival Is Forever’: Decapitated are ‘United’ once again, and a few years after the traumatic loss of a brother and the near death of a friend, they’re neither inactive, nor a sad and empty tribute act, playing all the usual songs at all the usual festivals. With his band jolted from its coma, sole surviving original member Vogg is suffering the old pain even more dramatically, yet this same pain is his drive. Joined by three new members (now two after the recent departure of bassist Heinrich) – vocalist Rafal Piotrowski and talented young drummer Krimh, the (obviously) immortal Polish death metal institution thoroughly, precisely reinforce their uncompromising worldview, finding its most felicitous and genuinely artistic expression in the process.

Now Decapitated are nothing but wiser, more solid and undoubtedly more uncompromising.

Following this train of thought, it’s easy to understand why they return with ‘The Knife’ in their hands – a genuinely brutal, violent and in this very case, fair way to open a new page both as a team and as a collection of different personalities. Given that 2006's ‘Organic Hallucinosis’ was the band’s most evolutionary 32 minutes, proving to be one of the classics in technical, ‘Post-Organic’ extreme/death metal, ‘Carnival Is Forever’ really shouln't be as impressive. Especially when Decapitated are almost entirely new band. However, their fifth full-length is not just impressing, but it also shows some unexpected new motions, erupting here and there that always manage to keep the listener’s adrenaline at dangerous levels. The most obvious being of course the clean guitar theme that builds to album closer ‘Silence’ in its totallity. Great moments are the dark interlude, followed by an echo-ing flageolette, and one of the very best riffs of 2011 on the title-track and the absolutely dismembering attack of ‘Pest’.

While they’re cynically met by the stupid, needless, endless and whorish scepticism, Decapitated still continue to be the same bullet-proof wall of sound. This truly is their triumphant moment. Brutal and grotesque, the ‘Carnival Is Forever’!

BAND OF THE DAY: ASSAULT

The first Band of the Day in just over a month, and to compensate it's the most lo-fi, clattering shit that can be unearthed, the sort of music that sends the posers screaming and wailing off back to their collection of Toxic Holocaust vinyl, and leaves the true, stalwart sons of crust gazing meaningfully in pride, the urge to rage hard rising in their chests. Or something like that.

East Jakarta's Assault formed as a side-project for a number of prolific musicians in the Indonesian crust scene who weren't quite as prolific as the band's core liked, resulting in them being repopulated by members of DeadSystem, Arianggara and others, and getting them into the furiously kinetic place where they could blast out the ten tracks of buzzsaw crust punk that make up their Anti Cimex-approved 2009 demo 'Here We Are'.

If only they weren't too punk rock to be active on the internet and let us know what they're up to, eh?