[engl] Party’s over. Madison, Wisconsin’s Sinking Suns have returned with Dark Days, their second album for Reptilian and third overall. The album title is an absolute indicator of what’s to be found within: a creeping unpleasantness elevated by confidence and strut. This is not the spastic, bookish end of the noise rock spectrum, nor an over-distorted wallow in 90’s kitsch, but an album of broad strokes and mature songwriting that cuts across genres – post-punk, post-hardcore, gritty rock, the clanging banging wallop of the Birthday Party and the tongue in cheek swagger of Lubricated Goat. It’s a nod to something more enduring. There’s a controlled swing to these nine songs. There’s breathing space in the maelstrom. The drums aren’t driving the songs off cliffs but cattle-prodding them forward. The bass isn’t saturating every song with discolored thud but pushes a groove. Dark Days is not a sprint through fire, it’s a long march to bloody victory chaperoned by Dennis Ponozzo’s irreverent vocal snarl over haunting chord progressions and exquisite guitar figures. Sinking Suns really nailed it with this one. Their finest yet. This is the sound of men who’ve received the news of social collapse and are steeling themselves to tell the rest of us about the dark days ahead.

[engl] Killer Noise-Rock from ex-PARTY DIKTATOR! SNOB CLUB was the direct follower of legendary german band PARTY DIKTATOR, formed by their bassplayer Matthias, 2nd guitarist Jochen, and occasional PARTY DIKTATOR drummer Gregor. The 6 tracks on this LP were recorded back in 1998, and some of them originally intented to be PARTY DIKTATOR songs, before they split up 1997. No surprise it's the same high-energy and complex structured Noise-Core attack that PARTY DIKTATOR used to be famous for, combining furious intensity with an incredible precision and outstanding refinement like no others. TERRA FLOP is another trio from Bremen including ex-PARTY DIKTATOR Matthias, here on guitar/vocals. Pretty much in the same vein, but changing paces a bit more during the 8 songs on their side. Handnumbered edition of 516 copies, with insert and download-code.

[engl] offset printed cover limited to 210 copies

[engl] offset printed cover limited to 210 copies

[engl] "Erupting at two-to-three-minute intervals, the songs are steeped in dissonance, a fusion of driving melodies and eyes-rolled-into-the-back-of-your-head slow builds. Pointed and unconventionally melodic guitars combine with high intensity drums and unrelenting bass. The short sharp jagged boil of SUPER THIEF sets the air on fire, vocals jumping from spoken introspection to incendiary verbal detonations, blasting waves of intensity but never at the cost of a pervading melody or hook." – Paul Stinson "Students of the AmRep/Touch & Go school for noise rock, SUPER THIEF draw comparisons to bands like The Jesus Lizard, Hammerhead, and Tar, but their attack is more impenetrable, more persistent. There’s no lull, no restraint. When the band pull back ever so slightly from the carnage, it’s only to hammer in the reality of their earthquaking rhythms and rusted distortion." – Dan Goldin (Exploding in Sound, Post-Trash)

[engl] The perfect noiserock soundtrack for the 2020 world downfall.. For fans of Brainbombs and Touch & Go noiserock classics.

[engl] From the same misty mountain top tape spool as August’s “A Weird Exits”, Thee Oh Sees bring us a companion LP titled “An Odd Entrances". Delving more towards the contemplative side than the face-skinning aspects of "A Weird Exits", "An Odd Entrances" is a cosmic exercise en plein aire with Dwyer and co double drum shuffling, lounging with cellos, following a flute around the groove, and spooling a few Grimm-dark lullabies along the way. Lurking in the grass are a snake or two, like the celestial facing instrumental buzz of Unwrap The Fiend Pt. 1…but for the most part this is a relatively hushed affair, a morning rather than evening listen perhaps. Those that are quick on the uptake will find a flexi with a bonus song on it in the colored vinyl, too. The band plans on donating half of their profits from the first pressing to Elizabeth House, a local charity here in Pasadena that specifically helps homeless women with children from the San Gabriel Valley get back on their feet.

[engl] When a band from far flung Finland drops a recording like this on us, we’re all ears, especially when we know damn well the hearing in those ears will be ruined that much further by the recording itself. Throat is a four-piece from the land that held back Russian encroachment for thousands of years, and that same diehard, winter war room mentality is at work on Short Circuit, recorded by James Vuohi, Throat’s debut for Reptilian. It’s easy and a bit cheap to liken any and all modern noise rock to the Amrep catalog, and even though Throat tips the fur-brimmed hat in that direction, other important short-circuited touchstones include Trance Syndicate, and the early, raw nastiness churned out by both Blast First and Sub Pop, but with more groove, and more loud/quiet/loud/weird/loud dynamics. The lumberjack thud of early Tad, and the spatial bleakness of mid period Neurosis come to mind. Even the strangling abrasion of Big Black and Einsturzende Neubauten. But Finland is Finland. Finland is not Washington State, Berlin, New York or Minnesota. It’s even stranger. Full days of light. Full days of darkness. Midnight sun. Noon blackness. A nation and scene at the far edge of the world. It’s no wonder Short Circuit is as bizarre and hardcore as it is. With European tours in the works, Throat has already shared stages with Brainbombs, Unsane, Big Business, Church of Misery, Brant Bjork, and any and all Finnish bands worth mentioning. Now it’s America’s turn.

[engl] Italian noise-rockers embrace prog and psych on new album "Unsavory Impurities" Italy's The Turin Horse announce the March 24th release of new album Unsavory Impurities. The album will be released on the legendary Reptilian Records in the US and Italian label Invisible Order in Europe. Named for the historic city in the north of Italy where they formed, The Turin Horse consists of guitarist/vocalist Enrico Tauraso, formerly of Dead Elephant, and drummer Alain Lapaglia, ex-MoRkObOt. With one untitled EP under their belts, Tauraso and Lapaglia come tearing out of the gate on Unsavory Impurities. Eyes wild and teeth gnashing, the two operate in a zone of pure abandon, bashing out caustic noise rock then drop-kicking it into other dimensions. First single "Blissed Out" serves as a perfect introduction. Ear-scraping guitar tones carry a somber melody, as frenetic drumming and a whirr of psychedelia pull the song forward. Injecting freedom and chaos into a genre known for its austerity, The Turin Horse play with prog-level exuberance and lace their raw, blown-out songs with left-field sounds, including saxophone (courtesy of baritone sax player Alessandro Cartolari of Anatrofobia and Extrema Ratio) and an arsenal of samples: "Synths, classical music, field recordings, pocket fans, data-bending files, circuit-bent machines, vegetables, anything we deem useful for our purposes," states Tauraso. The band's liberated approach to abrasive music brings to mind the maniacal sludge-punk of Karp, by way of the unchained experimentalism of Today Is The Day. Tauraso states: "If we had to make a list of influences I think it would be endless... Personally I would include Today Is The Day. I've been a fan for many years and have always enjoyed their uncompromising vision of music. I've always found it cathartic." While honoring those who have inspired them, The Turin Horse really march to their own beat and no one else's. As Tauraso puts it, "The thing that has conditioned us the most is the need to try to express ourselves freely. We already have to mediate with society for a good part of our daily lives and we like to think that music is our hour of fresh air." The band's singular sound is thanks in part to Tauraso's homemade rig: "We couldn't find a bass player and I chose to see this lack as a creative opportunity to customize my guitar sound by building a large part of my gear." Unsavory Impurities was recorded by Massimiliano Moccia and Enrico Tauraso at Nomad Studio in Turin and mixed by Tauraso at his home studio. It was mastered by Arik Victor at Creep Studio in Philadelphia. The cover art was created by Mow Skwoz.

[engl] Founded by long time friends and co-combatants Chris Spencer from New York noise stalwarts Unsane, and Steve Austin, Today is the Day’s human guided missile system, UXO are decorated survivors, veterans of countless insurgent noise rock tours and wars, campaigns waged from the early nineties through the approaching collapse of the western world. In the summer of 2013, Spencer flew out to Austin’s compound in wooded Downeast Maine, where the two wrote songs and cut demos for what would eventually become UXO’s debut album. The duo recruited Ironboss drummer Patrick Kennedy (who’d previously played with Steve Austin in Taipan), picked up Boston bassist Aarne Victorine (Whitey), and recorded a proper album. After sifting through a laundry list of names, they settled on UXO, a military acronym short for Unexploded Ordnance. It seemed fitting. The results are as loud, heavy and abrasive as the band’s pedigree might suggest. Austin and Spencer split vocal duties, and both lay down heavyweight guitar riffage – Austin’s forced death march through Fripp-ian fret heroics over Spencer’s malevolent, neckbent twang. But as much as UXO delivers exactly what the listener might hope for and expect, there are sonic surprises, too, from the Joy Division styled synth blip in “Everything’s A Mistake”, to song passages that blend the uphill trudge of Neurosis with the churning rhythms of the Jesus Lizard. From the slow burning torque and traction of “Bitter” through the hammered-skull frenzy of “User”, UXO’s debut serves as a stark blast of intent: this is not a side project, this is a band for now and a band for the future. Recorded by Austin, Spencer and Drew Mazurek, across four time zones, the album was then trucked to Northern California, where it was mixed and mastered by engineer Tim Green (Melvins, The Fucking Champs, Cutthroats 9). The cover painting comes courtesy of acclaimed tattoo artist Thomas Hooper.