On The Board’s favorite releases of 2013 so far…
Cülo – My Life Sucks And I Could Care Less
This is a fucking punk record. 24 songs about doing drugs and wanting to die. You might think that this album is gimmicky or something but you can’t deny that these guys can write some serious ragers. Also, after seeing them live I can confirm that they are indeed the real deal. If you’re into punk and hardcore then you’ve probably already heard this record but if not it is a must hear.
Akitsa / Ash Pool – Ripped From Death, Forced To Live, And Die Again
A split between two prominent black metal bands. Akitsa is definitely one of the leaders of modern black metal and their tracks really tell you why. All the riffs and especially those vocals on “Ne Perdez Jamais Espoir”. If you’re a fan of my blog then you love Akitsa and will love this side. Shit, even Ash Pool brought their A-game for this release; I wouldn’t put this release on here if they didn’t. Their side is blistering fast, very tight and with great recordings. If you didn’t like Ash Pool in the past then these songs might turn you on to them.
FFH – Make Them Understand
Everything about this record is fierce and intense, even the title. The few tracks with vocals are especially haunting. This was only released on vinyl in an overpriced edition of 114 but is honestly worth every penny. If you’re wondering, the girl on the cover is 7 year old Sherrice Iverson, who was molested and killed in a Nevada casino by Jeremy Strohmeyer. This is the best work from FFH and his first full length. I’m going to go ahead and call this record a classic power electronics release. Some of the best PE to be released for years. A must hear at the very least.
Daniel Menche – Marriage Of Metals
Drone from Oregon based Daniel Menche. Two 17/18 minute tracks make up this release. The first is a dense piece that keeps building up. It feels like isolation. The second is much more ambient and holds less melody. I hate making comparisons but to describe this I would say it’s like a soundscape of a Tim Hecker song (soundscape of a soundscape, hehehe). Less structure, more drawn out, and more dense; dense like the work of Stephen O’Malley. Something you’d expect to come out on Editions Mego.
Violent Reaction – City Streets
There’s only a few albums every year that get me stoked on hardcore again. Last year was the Boston Strangler, this year is Violent Reaction. Yeah, it’s that whole 80’s sound, done very well. If you like SSD and Negative Approach, and, well, you do, then you have to pick this up. I also like the Boston hardcore guest appearances, makes this feel like home. UKHC is doing great things with this record and with the band Stab. The best album artwork too. I don’t really have much else to say other than “rager.”
Hair Police – Mercurial Rites
This album frightens me. It sounds like noise influenced by 80s horror soundtracks. It’s a lot more deconstructed than their previous work; no where near as prominent of guitar work and drums. The songs don’t feel as “heavy” as their previous work and relies a lot on ambience. That ambience is fucking terrifying though, they definitely took a step in a different direction and still made an amazing record. I feel like I’m saying “I like the vocals” a lot when writing this article, but the vocals are seriously scary on the tracks
that feature them.
dreamdecay – N V N V N V
I thought that the description on the Iron Lung website describes this record perfectly; “A lunging, murky noise rock master stroke.“ I’m reluctant to call this noise rock but this record is noisy and heavy. Layers of feedback and very dark. I don’t know how else to describe this but I know that I really like it.
Prurient – Through The Window
This one didn’t really get to me until I saw Prurient earlier this year. It wasn’t even that exciting of a performance to be honest (and that’s coming from a Hospital superfan), at least not as captivating as Vatican Shadow, but hours after the gig I still had the melody to the title track stuck in my head. This is not a very Prurient release in the noise sense, but it follows the current path of music that Dom has been making lately; namely IDM. I say this only as a semi-frequent visitor and not a resident, but I feel this is a pretty accurate musical representation of LA.
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