Been some delays here and there, but anyway, we're finally happy to announce the release of new LPs by both The Process and Art of Burning Water.
THE PROCESS - The Covenant Of The Cosmos LP
Invoking the spirit of early Ringworm and Integrity, The Process reduce all to ash with a deadly mixture of speed, metallic brutality and induced mosh-mayhem, this is the posthumous album from Scotland's purveyors of Illuminati influenced holy terror. Features ex-members of Shank, Scatha and In Decades Decline.
The Processian brothers humbly submit their definitive epistle, an end to clamour and a route to sustenation for those eager to transcend the lumpen, meagre fetters of Earthly existence. Titan awaits the birth of the red giant, preparing for colonisation. Helios sates his voracious appetite evolving unto nebula. Entropy is inevitable, auguring destruction, predicating reconstitution.
Pax Vobiscum, brethren of the Golden Stone, your journey nears conclusion. Rosicrucian fraternity, knowers of veracity, seekers of perfection. Occultus mastery, ancient cognition, draw up and rubricate the Covenant of the Cosmos, the Hermetic binding, for we are all stars. Entwined in the waltz of the Universe, now beating in time, restored. Sol Invictus! As above, so below, the endlessly victorious fire of Surya, the burning eyes, Saturnalia, let the bounties of the Earth be plentiful to those who listen to this treatise. Behold! Kaamos is banished! Hail the everlasting Sun!
"...some legit ragers by one of the UK’s more inventive 21st century hardcore bands... an unnervingly literate album with the power to satisfy base, brutish musical desires." - Noel Gardner, The Quietus
ART OF BURNING WATER - Between Life And Nowhere LP
A broken down van for broken men on the side of some motorway on the way to a show only the promoter is excited about but still the beauty of the music sends the assembled bodies into a frenzied frenzy and what seemed pointless is now evidently point full. The years spent in the realm of ignore now seem a distant future away. The rewards for effort now seem effortlessly rewarding. By way of generous funding from the ever giving state the d-beat graduated and came to work for Art Of Burning Water. Fuck your 1982 d-beat worship. D-beat went to college. This is PhD-beat infused urban heartcore of the worst kind.
Sky:Lark! is a power trio truly worthy of the name. Their second LP is a healthily noisy post-hardcore racket, like Shotmaker, Fugazi, Karp, Hoover and the like, though they transcend their influences to make something all their own. Occasional blasts of sax abound to keep you on your toes. This is the heavy, twisty and weird, like the band members.
Boak is a powerviolence thrash trio hailing from Aberdeen in Scotland, featuring members of Filthpact and Dirtdrinker. This is their second EP. 'Boak' is Scottish slang meaning vomit or feelings of excessive nausea.
Hailing from Japan, Birushanah work somewhere between doom and post-hardcore, using a guitar / voice / drums framework augmented by trash percussion sounds. They spin song lengths out to a dizzying extent and somehow intermingle a recognisably traditional, tribal bent to the melodies and progressions without sounding like complete and utter novelty prog nonsense. A unique, special band. "Makyo" is their 4th album. This is the vinyl version of the CD released in Japan on Scumzone.
NERVOUS MOTHERS / ART OF BURNING WATER - Split 7"
Nervous Mothers are actually four Belgian dudes that have served time in a number of other very fine bands. They unleash some severely harsh riffing that has some blasting, emo-violence tinged, near-grind drumming that often stick-shifts into downtuned sludge action by way of Coalesce-esque walls of atonal noise slabs.
Art Of Burning Water continue their mission to annoy all and sundry with their slightly faster take on their usual off-kilter noise-rock with definite hardcore leanings, like a sped up Keelhaul partying with Motorhead. A brutal slow-burner this time round.
HUMANS THE SIZE OF MICROPHONES - Human Crop Circles LP
HTSOM, although an obscure noughties-era UK outfit that didn't get out of the South coast area much, were utterly amazing. A crashing, bashing, chaotic agglomeration of old-skool Ebullition styled emo, their live shows were legendary, and not just because they sometimes wore massive afro wigs or the bassist used an old sweatshirt for a strap. Drummer John recorded this at his own studio, where various luminaries such as Electric Wizard, No, Facel Vega, Hunting Lodge and Field Boss have also recorded. HTSOM were in fact slated to do a split with Electric Wizard at one point.
These releases are available to pre-order: Birushanah - Makyo 2xLP Nervous Mothers / Art Of Burning Water - Split 7" Humans The Size Of Microphones - Human Crop Circles LP
Lots of gigs happening here and there, plus these tours: Nothing Clean / Prisoner 639 EU tour starts today Art Of Burning Water EU tour 28 April - 08 May
MoE / Birushanah Japan tour 29 April - 08 May
ACxDC / Boak UK tour 01 - 13 June
Shackles / Famine EU tour 07 - 27 July
plus more probably.
Nothing Clean are straight out of Leicester in the middle bit of the Shittish Isles, and make blisteringly fast, quasi-grind powerviolence stuff that is constantly on the verge of collapsing into total and utter chaos. Rage and fury positively vents from their spleens. Members have served time in bands like Hangover Heartattack, Meatpacker and Mangle.
Higgs Boson are straight out of Oslo in Norway and make reprehensible, barely comprehensible powerviolence as well, with a tighter, catchier fastcore feel to it. Melodic yet real nasty with it.
Seventeen tracks in way fewer minutes for four quid (not including postage), or download it for free. Bargain.
Co-released with FHED, Glass To The Face and Samizdat.
Straight Outta Margate. Kind Eyes is Tim Dubbins and Chris Dow. Both members have cut their teeth as part of the south-east DIY scene for over ten years, in groups We Are Carnivores, Wedding and more. "It's OK, Its Not OK" harks back to the early 90's for inspiration. The syncopated, poly-rhythmic mathrock of Don Caballero, intense post-hardcore of Unwound, and the underlying sentimentality and dense emotional weight of Slint. Couple this with Tim's incredible guitar tone, equal parts mud and crystal; beautiful melodies seems to effortlessly writhe between opaque, dry hardcore chug. His vocals, sparse but vital, seem to be at one with what is an incredible singular performance throughout. Dow's drums provide chaos and momentum in equal measure, often recalling late-90's emo and post hardcore with aplomb.
Here's them playing the opening track for the Papercrane Sessions:
HARROWED / ART OF BURNING WATER - Split 7" - OUT NOW!
Harrowed is a power trio melding d-beat with the more “modern” (or rather, decade old) hardcore stylings of a Cursed or a Converge, with some nifty flourishes of powerviolence and doom in the mix for good measure.
Art Of Burning Water continue their mission to annoy all and sundry with their slightly faster take on their usual off-kilter noise-rock with definite hardcore leanings, like a sped up Keelhaul partying with Motorhead.
Windmill to Harrowed's video for "Twenty Ten" right here:
Savagely dissonant yet emotive grindcore powerviolence trio Godhole team up with Scottish harsh noise legend and cultivator of Vile Noise Records, Crozier on this brutal 7". Seven tracks of face melting punk chaos slamming against barbaric harsh noise walls, brain scrambling signal generators and ear bleed inducing noise. Imagine the Scottish version of the Full Of Hell vs Merzbow collaboration, on a variety of tasteful vinyl colours.
Some nice reviews coming in already such as this one from Zero Tolerance:
"Godhole’s self-titled double EP was one of the most impressive powerviolence/grind/noise debuts of recent times, and working with harsh noise artist Crozier hasn’t exactly calmed the Edinburgh trio down. Not surprisingly, this is even more aggressively dissonant than the EP, but like that work, what makes it so effective is Godhole’s ability to create a wall of sound that is emotionally affecting beyond the simple gut reaction of brain-scrambling fury. The noise element is all the more effective because it’s so seamlessly interwoven with the songs. These are short and apparently spontaneous, but never shapeless; for something so short and brutal (seven tracks in just over seven minutes) it touches a lot of bases; powerviolence, grind, noise, hardcore, even metal; this is extreme music that should appeal to fans across many subcultures. All of which makes Anthrophobia sound more accessible than it is. In fact, it’s hair-raising, brain-melting and electrifying stuff – but in the end it’s strangely moving too; a cathartic release that is absolutely what underground music is all about – and there’s even a sample of Hugh Laurie; win-win."
Jotnarr (or more accurately JØTNARR, named after a type of monster from the film “The Troll Hunter”) are a trio hailing from the fairly un-grim wastes of Colchester in the east of England. Chris, Simon and Ollie have all been plugging away in various bands such as Meadows, Mother Sky and Three Thrones (which are all still going concerns) before getting together in 2013 to jam what could be considered to be black metal, with its scathing, evil atmosphere, fused to a belligerently hardcore punk backbone, topped off with elements of screamo. Heavy, devastating and yet melodic. Lyrics are concerned with human relationships with the natural world, environmental degradation, loss, grief and wolves. Their interests include King Diamond, Black Sabbath, and playing shows. For fans of early Ulver, His Hero Is Gone and Wolves In The Throne Room.
Some nice reviews coming in already:
"This almost perfect concoction of potions delivering a spell that is troublesome, nose bleedingly heavy, and ultimately enchanting." - Ninehertz
"The music rips, tears, and claws, but it’s also heavy as hell and sometimes as light and vibrant as a sun-dappled stream — and all the songs are memorable." - No Clean Singing
"Jotnarr how plenty of promise on this release and could grow into one of the leading names in British underground extreme music should they keep up the amazing work. Expect great things from this band in the coming years." - The Sludgelord
Boak is a powerviolence thrash trio hailing from Aberdeen in Scotland, featuring members of Filthpact and Dirtdrinker. 'Boak' is Scottish slang meaning vomit or feelings of excessive nausea.
Clocked Out are from north of the border and have been making killer thrashy punk for years now. This is their first full-length and is bursting with energy, tightness and attitude. They regularly garner comparisons to Clevo-style US hardcore like H100s and 9 Shocks Terror. Brutal, throat-wrecked vocals howling over high-charge, riff-tastic hardcore punk, with just the right amounts of mid-tempo rocking and just the right flashes of guitar lead. Memorable songs captured with a heavy production, a perfect execution of "hardcore punk".
Crows from Dublin absolutely bring some of the most satisfyingly smart, crunchy hardcore I've heard in a long time. Ten songs of anger, power, mosh, breakdowns, singalongs that sound catchy and killer without being boneheaded in the slightest. I heard the singer once moshed through a wall, so I knew I had to help release it.
Some great reviews have come in already, here are some choice quotes:
"Clipped, heavy and hairy, the tracks get under your skin. There’s an immediacy about it that grabs you by the collar... There’s enough bile here to give even the mighty Dystopia a run for their money... An ability to quickly shift and lurch into angular sounding breakdowns helps make it all the more absorbing... Hardcore this enraged, bleak and heavy has to be appreciated. The fact that they’ve been able to keep the quality bar so high throughout is remarkable." - Metal Ireland
"This band pummels through ten songs full of rage. It’s not that difficult to maintain a crazy level of rage on only one side of a 7”, keeping it interesting for an entire LP, that’s something quite different. On Better of dead Crows shows you it can be done." - SWNK
"If you enjoy a good piece of genre mayhem then Crows Better Off Dead is something you need to check out. One of the best contemporary hardcore/punk bands the genre has to offer. This is an absolute rager." - Metal Injection
Crows are playing a couple of release gigs this weekend in Dublin and Belfast and will have the LP with them.
23/01/15 - Dublin (IE) @ Seomra Spraoi w/ Bacchus, Putrefaction, The Whole Sick, Seizure
24/01/15 - Belfast @ Warzone Centre w/ Zombified, Wardomized
ART OF BURNING WATER
Living Is For Giving, Dying Is For Getting LP
Art Of Burning Water refuse to die despite being one of the most frowned upon bunch of noise making twats of the past 10 years. There is no machine behind this band and the UK 'underground' rock circle jerk has never approved them or championed them and they do not have friends in high places but do have high friends. You won't be told to check them out and they will not be seen high fiving the correct people in the correct places in order to further their way up festival bills with the correct bands. Art Of Burning Water are outsiders in the truest sense of the word and very proud to stand outside the circle of your love. Art Of Burning Water are a steroided immigrant noise punk outfit that does not need to be loved to live. Art Of Burning Water love what they do and therefore need not be loved for what they do. This is strong music by weak people. For fans of: Keelhaul, Rorschach, Voivod, Amebix, Godflesh and Motorhead.
SCREEN WIVES
Women In Love LP
Neato heavy and awkward post-hardcore that arguably sits alongside fellow youthful UK bands like Skylark, Plaids, Kind Eyes, Wooderson and Shield Your Eyes that have their roots in that 90’s US Gravity Records-esque (proper) emo scene. Jawbox meets Jerome's Dream maybe? Discordance and twistiness abounds with a quintessentially British oddness to it.