Grünt Grünt vs P.U.T- Split EP (CD Review)

Grunt Grunt

01.01

02.02

03.03

04.04

05.05

06.06

Vincent Lozachmeur (Vocals)

Laurent Bourlaud (Drums)

Bertrand Poulain (Guitar)

Grunt-Grunt is an epileptic Unholy Grind'n'Roll band from Angoulême, france formed in 2002. They dont seem to like song titles, have a facebook page and no bio was supplied by record company. So who knows what else the band have done, are etc?

[ P.U.T ]
07.With The Evil
08.Fear
09.Industral Vs Forest
10.Under Most Darkest Sea



Lionel Beyet (Bass/Vocals/Laptop)
Nicolas Beyet (Guitar/Vocals/Laptop)
Loïc Beyet (Studio Guitar/Sampler)



3 brothers, living between Paris/Brussels, started making music in 1998.
A a mix of machines Vs guitars, noise, sludge-metal, industrial and punk to create music madness, emotion, heaviness and anger.
Personal and without concessions, their 5 albums, 8 maxis, 3 live, 7" and various sound experiments, does not disavow their influences (of Godflesh, Killing joke, Sonic Youth while passing by Scorn or Unsane) the band intrigues at the most point.
It's on stage which the band reveal is power, making the same noise as 4-5 piece band, with intense, raw, dirty and disturbing sounds.

First up then is Grunt Grunt, and all they seem to do is grunt and make piggy squeals over some pretty standard fuzzed out short bursts of grindcore.
Only the last track seems to offer more with a slow almost melvins like sludge/crust hybrid.

P.U.T are better, first track 'With The Evil' is more of an industrial/goth song, slow with a simple guitar riff running throughout. The same sounds continue with 'Fear'.

Keeping with the post punk/industrial theme is 'Industral Vs Forest', weird jagged rhythms are punched out with echoes of Bauhaus at their most experimental.

The last track 'Under Most Darkest Sea' has more in the structure, drum patterns are prominent and it has a more dance orientated goth feel to it.

Have to say this is a strange pairing of bands.

Rating 7/10
For Fans of: Godflesh, Killing Joke, Napalm Death

Vidian - Transgressing the Horizon (CD Review)

01.Control
02.Overdose
03.A Sad Place For Hopeless People
04.Breathe Out
05.It's Like It Cannot Be Broken
06.Temporary Life
07.Transgressing
08.The Horizon



Szymon Brazkiewicz (Vocals)
Adam Borys (Guitar)
Maciej Brzezinski (Drums)
Arkadiusz Orlowski (Guitar)
Aleksander Ziólkowski (Bass)

Polish metal band formed in 2008.
Cant tell you anymore as the bio supplied was in polish and there is no information on their facebook page.

Okay err, right. So we start with 'Control' a song of seven minutes that starts with near silence and the some strange distorted effects, then it blasts into some death metal meets metalcore riffs and screams and then goes "Lounge" with what sounds like trumpets and piano! I kid you not this is strange shit, then goes back to heavy and then some more piano.
No mention as to who is playing these instruments or if they are sampled from some early 1970's MOR collection.

'Overdose' seems to be a very rhythmic alsmost jazz/metal hybrid with agressive vocals and the next song after a slow start is fairly standard metalcore.

Up next is 'Breathe Out', what seems another standard song soon displays other influences, again you can detect some jazz rhythms and then comes some backing vocals that creates the kind of epic chorus' from the like of Turisas.

Mixing up everything from Doom to Nu-Metal, great backing vocals and delivered with measured anger.

'Temporary Life' has a laid back and melodic introduction, goes on for a while and just when you think they are throwing in another curve ball the metal is unleashed!

'Transgressing' and 'The Horizon' although they are laid down as two seperate songs they are essentially one song and this creates a massive and superb seventeen minute epic.
Starting with a slow and ambient intro and then launching into a very heavy piece, it then starts to build and create different sounds, ideas and layers, from the slow punchy powerchord style to neo-prog guitar workouts.
Towards the end of the first song there is some spoken word over guitar f/x and then a very quiet near classical ending. This carries through to the final song which then adds some, i suppose they call it "Post-Metal" stylings, personally i dont care what they call it as long as they keep making music this interesting and clever.

Rating 10/10
For fans of: System Of A Down, Mastodon, Hatebreed

Fleshworld, Gazers, Viscera - 3 Way Split (CD Review)

01.Fleshworld - Krąg                                               

02.Fleshworld - Petla

03.Fleshworld - Rezygnacja

04.Gazers - Rash

05.Gazers - The Decline

06.Gazers - Epilogue

07.Viscera/// - Versus

08.Viscera/// - Nobody's Diary

Unquiet Records present a unique limited edition (300 copies) 3 way split cd, each disc is handmade and comes in a special canvas sleeve, the label like to focus on werid, dark and heavy music.

Up first is Fleshworld, they are a "post-metal" band from Poland formed in 2010.

'Krag' may have shouty vocals, but the music is quite progressive and the use of a spoken sample works well.

'Petla' has a very quiet start before a huge bassline kicks in over the drums, the song remains rhythmic, only the overly agresssive vocals fit their chosen genre.

Guest vocals on 'Rezygnacja' by Alex and Victor from The Moth Gatherer means we get 3 people shouting over 9 minutes of slow, rhythmic and well executed music.

RATING 7/10

Next come Gazers the "post-hardcore/Screamo" band from France formed in 2012.

3 tracks of utter rubbish, pointless timing changes and endless screaming, no melody, no thought, just a noise.

RATING 1/10

Viscera/// describe themselves as "Psychedelic metal" and hail from Italy and formed way back in 2000.

'Versus' sounds more like a black metal song than "psychedelic", at times its slow and doom laden funeral doom over an evil sounding vocal, add to this blast beats and heavy riffs.

'Nobodys Diary' is a cover of a song by Yazoo, while the music is more mainstream and has a clean vocal to start with it then moves into the same black metal style, awesome!

RATING 9/10

OVERALL RATING 8/10

For Fans Of: Isis, Envy, Norma Jean, Neurosis, Converge, Deathspell Omega

Record Label: http://www.unquietrecords.com/

Valerian Swing - A U R O R A (CD Review)

01.3 Juno
02.Cancer Minor
03.Scilla
04.Cariddi
05.In Vacume
06.Spazio
07.Parsec
08.Calar Alto


Steve (Guitar/Vocals)
David (Drums)
Alan (Bass)

VALERIAN SWING are three Italian lunatics playing mathy, violent, anthemic, and largely-instrumental songs that are concise and to the point.
In the last few years they have toured multiple countries, honing an extraordinarily dynamic, frenetic, and highly musical brand of sonic madness to a signature level that is uniquely its own.

Having recorded their previous album A Sailor Lost Around The Earth with Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Isis, Botch, Russian Circles) at Red Room in Seattle, WA, the trio invited the legendary producer to their home town to record the follow up.

The resulting album A U R O R A, picks up where A Sailor Lost… left off, but, according to Bayles “with more mood, more melodic crescendos and more vocals.”. The band and producer set up camp at Igloo Audio Factory in Correggio to record the eight track album, before Bayles returned to Red Room to mix.

Following the release of A Sailor Lost… Valerian Swing took off around the earth themselves, taking in both Europe and America, with a stop at SXSW, and playing shows with Russian Circles, Boris, and This Town Needs Guns among others. A full European tour is in the works for late 2014 in support of A U R O R A, where the band will showcase their unique genre-defying sounds, electrifyingly translated into the live arena.

The opening piece '3 Juno' seems to start off as fairly straight forward post rock, but then turns a bit weirder and faster with some high pitched guitar playing.

Pretty much stays that way until 'Cariddi' a sort of post rock/doom hybrid, nice solid drumming and some good use of feedback guitar over slow drum beat.
Second half of the song moves into prog/jazz style, yep another weird song!

Whilst listening to 'Spazio' it struck me that this stuff kind of reminds me of 70's proggers 'Yes' but with a modern twist.

Then a track like 'Calar Alto' with its quiet ambience could be something by Goblin.

Rating 7/10
For fans of: Yes, Goblin, Tacoma Narrow Bridge Disaster, Radiohead, King Crimson