ALBUM REVIEW: Leechfeast, "Neon Crosses"

By: Stephen Murray

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 30/03/2018

Label: Dry Cough Records |

Rope And Guillotine

Taken altogether, the vacillation between violence and misery is compelling

“Neon Crosses” DD//LP track listing:

1). Sacrosanct

2). Halogen

3). Tar

4). Razor Nest

The Review:

It’s not that I would nail myself to the masochist mast, but I have to admit there is something ritualistically cleansing about laying down in a dark room, depriving all senses except hearing, and shattering that peaceful seclusion with a high volume deluge of grisly, bone-biting aural violence. Despite the horrific grime one is subjected to, the effect is one of paradoxical cleanliness and peace. But for the ritual to work it must be pure; nothing watered down into a thin, homeopathic tincture; it must be something viscous and foul-tasting that lets you know that you’ve been medicined, a spiking that lets you know you’ve been spoken to. If you need this treatment as much as I do, then “Neon Crosses” is your draught.

This is Leechfeast’s first full-length for five years (their second overall), and their first release since the split with New Zealand's now defunct grime lords Meth Drinker back in 2015. Perhaps significantly, this is the first recording since Hans Wubs took over the sticks from Marko Šajn in an otherwise remarkably consistent line-up since their nascence in 2010.

As the title suggests, it cuts an urban path. For Slovenia’s Leechfeast, the children of the night are not wolves, but other predators skulking between the streetlights. They represent the mould growing in the gutters, the weeds pushing through the concrete, blackened foil in the alleys and the screams of victims slapping back off wet brick, steel and glass.

At first harken, I quickly understand why comparisons have been drawn between “Neon Crosses” and the excoriating sounds of Cough and Moss, but it is no carbon copy. Instead, the band manage to steer their sound safely across the ever busier shipping lanes of modern doom, deftly avoiding collision with the other lumbering tankers which seem to be riding in each other’s wakes.

An example of this subtle divergence comes on the second track, ‘Halogen’. Its linchpin riff is like someone heartlessly slinging on a string of Reggie Dixon numbers when you're too goofed to intervene, leaving you to be waltzed through to some dreadful other dimension.

Highlight song, ‘Razor Nest,’ well positioned at the end of the record, opens with gloomily melodic, reverb-washed singing, drawing parallels with 40 Watt Sun, except with all the hope for tomorrow extinguished. Then despair gives way to anger once more and the vocals lash out again, the guitars moving from minors to chromatics, the whole peppered with samples from what sounds to be space age American public information films. The effect is that of a broken emergency broadcast system piping messages exhorting calm which echo through the empty streets of a post-neutron bombed world.

At no point does “Neon Crosses” feel protracted, each of the eight to ten minute tracks is extremely well judged; the bars allotted to the changing riffs and motifs is perfect and the sound achieved in the studio and in post-production is crisp, capturing some of that high-end fizz that gives character to otherwise bass rich guitar tone and slow skin pummeling.

The record invokes that horrid yet splendid feeling of your flesh being torn from you in long, misshapen strips, and then dresses the wounds in melancholic, chant-like singing and single picked guitar lines more apt to surrendering to the darkness than exalting it. Taken altogether, the vacillation between violence and misery is compelling. Would definitely recommend for your next isolation tank session

“Neon Crosses” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

Groak - "Masticator" EP (Review)

By: Chris Bull

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 14/09/2015

Label: FHED Records

The four servings here offer rotten scraps of rancid sludge, this is certainly not easily digestible!  Goddamn this is filthy! Groak have crawled from the murky depths of the Leeds underground scene and are proving themselves to be a force to be reckoned with.

“Masticator” CS//DD track listing:  

1.Trichobezoar (04:33)

2.Despite the Gawker (07:21)

3.Gastric Interruptions (07:23)

4.Notebook  (05:39)

The Review:

Goddamn this is filthy! Groak have crawled from the murky depths of the Leeds underground scene and are proving themselves to be a force to be reckoned with. Originally released as a digital download only, the wonderful person behind F H E D has seen fit to release their 'Masticator EP' on black cassette.

The four servings here offer rotten scraps of rancid sludge, this is certainly not easily digestible! Crumbs of crusty hardcore are added to flesh out each portion on tracks such as 'Trichobezoar' and 'Gastric Interruptions' but they are quickly soaked up in the festering slime. 'Notebook' has that Meth Drinker stench to it and instantly makes you want to wash your hands and face.

With this EP and a split release already in the bag for this year, its evident Groak are a band who won't rest on their laurels. The future is suitably grim for these lads.

“Masticator” is available here

Band info: facebook | bandcamp

Grime - 'Circle of Molesters' (Album Review)

By: Chris Bull

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 10/09/2015

Label: Argento Records

Fans of filthy sludge take note; this is an album you need to hear this year. It's a definite improvement on previous album 'Deteriorate' as the band have followed the left hand path towards the dark side.

‘Circle of Molesters’ DD/LP track listing:

1. Intro (Obscuration)
2. Get Immortal
3. Verge Of Wrath
4. Decay In Hades
5. Sulphorous Veins
6. Accelerating Transition
7. Salvation Come From Below
8. Orgiastic Rite

Grime is:

Chris | drums
Marco | vocals, guitar
Paolo | bass guitar
Ans | guitar

The Review:

Italian purveyors of filth Grime return with 'Circle of Molesters', not sure about the title but one thing I am dead certain about is the band's ability to write a heavy tune!

Intro track 'Into Obscuration' lays down the monolithic cuts before the gnarly fury of 'Get Immortal' with its Eyehategod swagger and GG Allin entry level dirt. It's obvious that the band want the stringed instruments to be the main focus as the vocals are buried in the mix; it does work but just a fraction louder would have been preferable. The end of 'Verge Of Wrath' has some great double kicking going on, not death metal double kick, think more along the lines of Lord Mantis and Indian. 'Decay In Hades' has some great riffs to nod your head to and is possibly the most life affirming song on the album. Another Indian reference follows with 'Sulphurous Veins', waves of misanthropy flood your eardrums before the pitter patter drums and chugging riffs change the course. 'Accelerating Transition' is atypical sludge and unfortunately does not stand out. The bass sound on the intro to 'Salvation Come From Below' is horrible in the best way possible; I must find out what pedals he uses...The song itself switches rhythms a few times and has some good drum fills. 'Orgiastic Rites' is the final song and possibly the standout on this album, rhythmically staying away from the standard slow 4/4 for the most part in favour of some riff and pause action. Everything slows right down and the final chords linger for long enough to build up some disturbing feedback until the bitter end.

It's a shame that the vocals are so low in the mix as vocalist/guitarist Marco has some excellent blood curdling screams and really could have taken this album to the hypothetical 'next level'. Fans of filthy sludge take note; this is an album you need to hear this year. It's a definite improvement on previous album 'Deteriorate' as the band have followed the left hand path towards the dark side.

‘Circle of Molesters’ is available here

FFO: Eyehategod, Cult of Occult, Methdrinker, Love Sex Machine

Band info: Facebook | Bandcamp | twitter

‘Leechfeast/Meth Drinker’ - Split 12" (Review)

Album Type: Split 12

Date Released: 15/5/2015

Label: Dry Cough / Raw Birth Records

‘Leechfeast/Meth Drinker’ split 12 track listing:

1). Leechfeast – Aimless

2). Meth Drinker – Sewer

Review:

Another split, from two of the most brutal and evil fuzz mongering creations to ever bully their way onto the airwaves, Leechfeast and Meth Drinker? Oh hell Yeah! 

At 2 songs long, but over 19 minutes in length, it's a no brainer. This split is between some incredibly heavy bands, with absolutely no highs, simply knuckle-dragging, scum fuzzy, simplistic doom riffing that one can imagine without some extreme drug habits. Along the Lines of Keeper and War Iron, neither band gives so much as an inch of comfort in their sound, keeping it low and slow, with vocalists who sound like they are simply vomiting their demons out. The move for a 12" record was smart, because these long songs could fill both sides of a 7" easily, on their respective own.

Starting this party is Leechfeast, with Aimless (9:18). They start with a lullaby of feedback, which they just slam into a blackish wall of riffs. It’s very plodding, very steady. The vocals are wavering behind this monolithic noise, and give a very trippy air to the first parts. It's a very bleak sound, and really doesn't ever go away. The real vocals come shortly after, with much venom, acidic and simply thrown at the listener. Leechfeast don't want you comfortable, they wish to crush you under a sky of grating blackness. There is no flair to the rest of the band, the drums are just as plodding and sound somewhat like they are in another room, so as not to detune when the guitars crank up. If there is a bass player, he was swallowed by the Elder Gods sometime ago, and he was buried somewhere in that pedal signal. And that's not to say it never changes. It goes from what sounds like a stupidly simple Sabbathian riff with regular string changes around 5 and a half minutes, into what sounds like a bridge cable being picked in an really pissed off manner. 

Even more basic than your average white girl, Meth Drinker literally sounds like tectonic plates smashing against one another. It’s a huge, bass ridden sound, and it overwhelms the ear. They don't do leads of fret work, but they have cornered the market on huge, held riffs and chords. This is what your doom sounds like as it marches, ceaselessly, until the fateful time you meet in your last moments. It plods with purpose, thrumming with what sound like thick cables, the bass continuing a simple riff, as guitar fluctuates and offers screaming feedback to the Heavy Gods. It very simple, very heavy, and offers nothing but the sonic equivalent of a detuned monster truck. It is monstrous, and will slowly push you into a sonic morass for the almost 10 minute runtime.

This split isn't for the faint of ear, and will test the casual doom/drone fans. Enjoy!

Words by: Hunter Young

‘Leechfeast/Meth Drinker’ is available here

For more information:

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