Roaring from the depths of Dublin’s punk cesspool, Rats Blood have been delivering the goods for months now with feral live shows and unsurprisingly come the release of this eight track demo, the band has committed their ferocity to tape with none of it lost. It can be a worry when a band shows nothing but havoc on a stage that when their first release comes it may not translate as well. Thankfully that’s not the case with Rats Blood’s tape. Of course the rawness of a gig can never truly be matched but these eight songs sure do make a valiant effort.

Unsurprisingly drenched in the most primal recording quality possible, this demo serves up a very brief, very concise hail of raging Japanese influenced hardcore. That said, the fiends of Swedish crust are running wild from the off too with flashes of Wolfbrigade and Disfear to be heard in the urgency of each song’s delivery.

With members of Contort and Putrefaction, and other familiar faces within Dublin’s scene, these eight songs are an adrenaline rush of caustic hardcore punk. The spat vocals are soaked in reverb and come bellowing from the pits of despair along with the cavalcade of riffs and frantic drumming. “Abyss” is a song that really captures all that this band is about with a seething bass line intro that erupts into some d-beat savagery. “Bloodsucker”, the opening number, is nothing short of fucking relentless and “Bottles” just simply pummels.

Rats Blood by AD.AD

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by Oliver Sheppard

This is an interview I did with World Burns to Death in 2003. It was something I originally meant for a paper zine I was going to do, but I ended up putting it on a website I started (and which no longer exists). CVLT Nation is a good home for it, at long last.

You probably know who World Burns to Death are, but in the event you don’t: World Burns to Death existed from 2000 until 2009 and were not only one of the best American hardcore bands of that period, but, some would argue, are one of the best hardcore punk bands ever. (And I would be very tempted to agree with anyone who would argue that!) Hearing the band back in 2002 shook me out of a growing apathy I had at that time towards hardcore; the band singlehandedly reignited my interest in punk in a very powerful way. 9/11 had just happened, Bush was quickly growing frighteningly tyrannical, and American culture — especially here in Texas — became reactionary and oppressive over night. This mattered. Enter these genuinely scary-looking guys right in the belly of the beast — Austin, Texas — belting out aggressive hardcore songs about US warmongering, highlighting who the real terrorists were, combined with profane graphics of President Bush, coming out to play on stage with black raccoon eyes (and a fog machine!) and a kind of disturbingly intimidating demeanor — I thought it was brilliant! I still do.

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Review Source:Profane Existence

Label:Inimical

Of course, MISERY needs no introduction, having been prophesizing the end times while blasting our ears for the last 25 years now. 25 years and only three full-lengths. For many bands, after such a huge gap between releases (it’s been 9 years since their somewhat lacklustre splits with TOXIC NARCOTIC and PATH OF DESTRUCTION; 16 years since the now-legendary “Who’s the Fool… The Fool is Silence” LP), the original spark isn’t there anymore, or the band merely splits up. Thankfully, neither of these are the case with MISERY. In fact, it is safe to say that this is the best thing the band has recorded in their entire history, and this seems to be the start of a whole new exciting chapter for the band.

Recorded in their own studio on their own time, this record has been slowly taking shape over the last five years or so. I still remember the day when I was in Minneapolis hanging out and went over to the House of Misery to drink beers and watch the band practice. Before anyone else showed up, Jon played me a couple of tracks they had just recorded a couple days prior – the two earliest tracks recorded for this album. At that point, I knew that this was destined to become a classic record… if it ever came out.

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Since 2005, Cross Stitched Eyes have been dishing out a viscerally compelling, deathrock-tinged take on hardcore punk. Their new Decomposition LP — out on Alternative Tentacles May 1 — incorporates elements of Amebix, Rudimentary Peni, and Killing Joke into the band’s consistently aggressive sound. Decomposition is a fiery and thoughtful take on hardcore punk that effectively explores the darker corners of the genre. It’s a release that seamlessly straddles the crust, d-beat, and deathrock sub-genres of punk, reassembling aspects of each, Frankenstein-like, into a brilliant new whole.

The band hails from several countries — the US, UK, and Germany (where the band was founded), respectively. It’s hard for me not to think of the band as a San Francisco act, however, and I want to place them alongside bands like Crimson Scarlet or the recently-revamped Altar de Fey, who are currently reigniting the goth-punk scene along the California coast. Or with Alaric, for whom Cross Stitched Eyes drummer and singer Jason Willer also plays.

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Corpus Christi, Texas is perhaps best known for producing the honey-toned latin pop vocal stylings of Selena Quintanilla (1971-95) for many years now. Taking that into account, the aptly named small label/distro known as Murder/Suicide Incidents are doing what they can to put Corpus on the map for underground punk and metal. With just very few releases so far they’ve offered up a small variety of delicacies which include some death metal, sludge, hardcore, shoegaze and grindcore/power violence. Murder/Sucide Incidents hosts many young and memorable bands like Esclavo (sludgy doom chaos for the cult of Noothgrush), Chuch Of Disgust (brutal shredding death doom for anyone undergoing an Autopsy) and also Skinfather (d-beaten death blast for Swedish streets circa ’91). Nestled among those sit Botfly and Sigil who are perhaps the most unlikely pair out of the bunch, which is why I’ve singled them out for the spotlight. Some of what Murder/Suicide‘s got is on vinyl but most is only available on cassette tape, which I enjoy just as much as wax, if not more sometimes. Let’s face it, you just can’t fix broken a record with a pencil.

BOTFLY
ENEMIES OF THE WORLD
New York style hardcore by way of San Antonio. All the heavy breakdowns and thrashing, in the “no bullshit” east coast tradition was refreshing to hear from a southern band like Botfly. This is a quick cassette EP with an intro, three proper tracks and they even managed to squeeze in their own version of “Birthright” by Samhain. That cover really sold me on this too. Definitely recommended for anyone who’s ever been taken in under Citizen’s Arrest.

SIGIL Review after the jump!
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I only write about the music I feel, and one label that always releases music I feel is Seattle’s Aborted Society. Last week, they put out the new Future Ruins album, and it’s so strong that it’s like listening to metallic crust on steroids. The band is in a straight zone from the opening song, “Crown of Creation,” until the last song, “Collapse.” Future Ruins fires dis-beat fire into your ears with every second that it blasts through your speakers. It’s the tones of empathy and conviction that this band possesses that really make the hairs on my knuckles stand up. Future Ruins know how to create major pockets of crustified melody in their compositions. Living in a society that is filled with so much corruption, the lyrics that this band writes resonate with me on a deeper level. It’s beyond our honor that today, CVLT Nation has a chance to share the new Future Ruins in full! So here is the deal: check out the stream below and then pick up the limited edition colored vinyl HERE!…Also peep their video for “Dead Peasants” after the jump!!!

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Acephalix return with “Deathless Master”, the follow up release to “Interminable Night” on Southern Lord Records READ MORE…

Right now I’m listing to one of my favorite records of the year without a doubt! Basically, I’m fucking amazed by the new TREE OF SORES record entitled A Cry of Despair, which will be released via Witch Hunter Records on May 3rd. To put their sound into a box would be a huge injustice to both you and the band. Here you have a chance to listen to this beyond awesome album for yourself in full. I’m pretty confident at the end of the 23 minutes, you will agree that TREE OF SORES has raised the bar! When you’re done zoning out on A Cry of Despair, head over to their site to pre-order this limited edition CD HERE! CVLT Nation would like to salute Witch Hunter Records and TREE OF SORES on a great release. For the maximum listening experience, blast this motherfucker loud and play it from start to finish, then play it a couple more times!

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Main artwork and layout by Black Uroborus

Bädr Vogu is a band that has become a constant storm sweeping through the Bay Area of California since the start of 2010. Featuring members from the bands Strains Of The Apocalypse, Hotblack Desiato, and World Eater, Bädr Vogu continues to usurp the many souls lucky enough to witness their crushingly heavy West Oakland Blues Crust.

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The long awaited 7 inch from California powerviolence/grind act DNF is finally here. The Hurt EP is a collection of 8 bruising songs available for the first time in a physical format. DNF has been flooring crowds playing on bills with the likes of Thou, Nails, Deafheaven and Lake of Blood. Their shows always turn into a maelstrom of limbs as vocalist Kyle stirs the audience into a frenzy with his confrontational stage presence and powerful roar. The intensity of their live performance is now etched into the grooves of vinyl. Each song is a short burst of energy that makes you feel like you just stepped in front of a jet engine. Grind and powerviolence bands have a knack for for choosing incredibly succinct titles (Wormrot’s “Abuse” and Weekend Nachos “Unforgiveable” come to mind). “Hurt” will leave you feeling just that. Each of these songs feels like a physical assault, and it’s almost impossible to sit still while listening to it. While most of the songs are incredibly fast paced, the band brings the sludge for a bit on “Most Few” when the grindcore pace gives way to a doomed-out dirge, back to grind all while keeping the length under two minutes. “Homesick” is another song that brings the doom, and you think this will be the record’s slowest jam, when the blast comes out of left field and destroys your ear drums all over again. Press releases will all mention that the band includes members of Trash Talk and Touche Amore, but DNF is an entitey unto itself. Hurt sounds nothing like either of the other bands that the members are a part of. Don’t sleep on this band, order Hurt here and catch the band live whenever you can. Stream “Homesick” and check out some live photos of DNF after the jump!
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