As I Fly Away.

concrete sleep

It absolutely pains me a hardcore band recently took up the Concrete Sleep moniker. I know, it is a name that screams beatdown hardcore, but, man oh man, do as they do in film and television for info dumps the past 20 years and “Google it.” The real deal Concrete Sleep is Swedish death metal. Not the traditional Gothenberg sound, either. More like Dark Angel meets Confessor though not as accomplished. Shame they didn’t hold it together to do their album. Without further ado, 1992’s As I Fly Away.

Speaking of beatdown hardcore… Jesus Piece has a new album coming out on Century Media in April. No, it ain’t my thing but in all honesty this is one of the few acts in the field worth giving a fuck about as they (along with Varials) bring sounds not dissimilar to Meshuggah crossed with Burn and even Candiria given the hip hop and jazz influences. I could bring up Maximum Penalty for that matter, but, given MP is far more melodic than anything discussed here, MP is off the table and upon the hardcore hall of fame mantle. Jesus Piece bring uber heavy tone with offsetting dissonances, dual vocals and short dose song writing firmly entrenched in hardcore aesthetic.

Hardcore adjacent and stabbing further into dissonance and noise comes Imbroglio with Dissociate. Knock down, drag out and punishing in an early The End and Ion Dissonance form of chaoticore. Essentially what Imbroglio has been doing for 16 years - whether as a full fledged multi-member band or more recent iterations created by mad scientist Darrell J. Gilbert Jr. - being a champion juggernaut of abrasive sound and sense smashing rhythmic play.

So much of this, whether they know or not, owes a huge debt to SAMO.

…and, of course, KOBONG. Naturally.

All of this Polish noise and angularity in visual form takes us back to Steeve Hurdle’s youtube channel and Progrram’s awesome “Arteries” video.

For good measure, choke on this:

Continuing in abstraction and dissonant hazes. KCMO’s Matthew Perrin and his Leg Yield noise rock agenda.

Funny enough Thin has an upcoming run of shows with the first being in KCMO. Thin zooms about in a Voivod informed grind assault which was captured and set free from Menegroth by Colin Marston. Gotta love the cover art. If you didn’t know better you would never expect what is going to spill forth from the speakers to be an avalanche of blower bass, frantic grind with Piggy unchords aplenty.

Dialing it down a bit and making things more consonant than the ever flowing streams of dissonance above. Sysyphus is a tidal wave of Morbid Angel, Immolation death crush at Krisiun speeds slathered in black metal slime. And, yes, with the dual guitars dueling there are deliberate atonal clashes. Thus keeping the current theme of dissonance intact. Maximum Violence Productions released it late January. Hopefully this makes a breakthrough to the proper channels. Exceptional, no nonsense stuff. Witness a live performance and take in the full length.

If Sysyphus was too straight forward for you, try Zvylpwkua on for size. More skittering insectoid noise from the Centipede Abyss. This trio of deviant mutants have familiarity with each other via different projects and here they bring free form jazzed up death metal skronk and squee. You know I am a card carrying member of keyboards/synths out of metal and Zvylpwkua utilizes weaponry I typically hate but in this context, how it is deployed, perfectly serves the music. Synths and keys are here to maximize discomfort and coat the free wheeling and dealing drums, bass and guitars in grime and filth. Shorthand: Orbyssmal, Portal jamming free jazz.

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Anatomy of Habit have a second track debut at Invisible Oranges along with an interview with vocalist Mark Solotroff and bassist/lap steel guitarist Sam Wagster. If you pre-ordered hard copy, chances are you already have it in your filthy mitts. If not, saunter on over to Invisible Oranges and get absorbed by “Black Openings.” Scrap metal percussion, jangly guitars washed in reverb and delay drifting on post punk no wave gloom and riding a sinuous bass line over in the pocket drumming.

Second dose from Total Dissonance Worship’s reissue of Choir - Songs For a Tarnished World. First was “Drawn to an Early Grave.” As of Friday, “Mouths Trapped in Concrete.” A third has been bouncing around on youtube for over a year. Guttural guitar in Altarage attack mode and stacked in layers providing additional microtonal noise to the racket of burly bass and tumble of drums and cymbal clatter. Portal meets SAMO in Singapore.

Joint effort between Scald and qip members produces Pincer Consortium. Cinematic sci-fi death metal that would pair up considerably well with the trio of Labyrinth of Stars on Translation Loss Records and comprised of Markus Siegenhort (Lantlos), Christian Kolf (Valborg, Owl) and Dirk Stark. I really don’t like Labyrinth of Stars as it feels too much like Fear Factory. While some of that churning element is present with Pincer Consortium it has far more open space, variation and melodic qualities threading through this 11 minute arrangement. I can get lost in the atmosphere with this epic metal monstrosity whereas I want to turn off Spectrum Xenomorph - which is crazy to me given the individuals involved.

New Spotlights slated for late April on Ipecac. This has a hard 90s alt bent to it. Huge production. Though this track makes me wonder why Dead Register isn’t on Ipecac? Just saying. Maybe it’s the vocal interplay with Spotlights having something that catches Patton’s ear? For me, the simp who doesn’t have a label, Dead Register have more earworms, dynamic composition and earth moving rhythms.

Never forget: Concrete Sleep is Swedish death metal.