Friday, April 18, 2008

Heavy Rotation: Fellas of the Belly (Apr. 18)

........ annnnnnnnnnnd we're back in Rotation!

We here at the Belly Full of Sorry would like to extend our deepest gnarpologies to thee and thine for leaving you in the lurch for a quite a spell. Sorry you probably had to spin the last Rotation ad nauseam, biting your fingertips into a bloody pulp of anxiety, worrying your hair out that another one might not show up knocking at your door again, and you'd have no idea what you should be listening to... but have no fear, bearfights... The shit is back. And this time it's sticking to the tile.

Spleen Latifa:
01. Whiskey Sunday - Maldecido
02. Los Crudos - Discografia
03. Backstabbers Inc. - Kamikaze Missions
04. Coliseum/Doomriders - Not of this World EP
05. This is My Fist - A History of Rats
06. Capitalist Casualties - Capitalist Casualties
07. Tragedy - Tragedy
08. Scared of Chaka - Crossing with Switchblades
09. Torche - Meanderthal
10. His Hero is Gone - Fifteen Counts of Arson

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Featured Live Show: Converge / The Red Chord

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4.05.2008 - Reggie's Rock Club - Chicago

Alrighty. To begin, I need to say that the lineup for this show was fucking incredible. Here's the order of gnardeath appearances:

1. Hewhocorrupts
2. Genghis Tron
3. Baroness
4. The Red Chord
5. Converge

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So let's do a little play-by-play so all you readers can get a feel for the destruction. As you already saw from the lineup chart I so generously provided, Hewhocorrupts took the stage first. And of course they were fucking awesome. Pounding through their sharkbite set of grind, these fuckers ended up in their underwear by the end of the set. Unfortunately, I missed the opening songs because I was bit late. You know how it goes; gotta get some of the drinky-poos in before you head out to the venue. Side note: I was wasted by the end of this show. Anyway, these guys tore it up from what I did see.

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Next up was Genghis Tron. I love these guys. If anyone remembers, I did a "Found You, Asshole" on them awhile back. Made up of three members (a guitarist, a singer, and a guy that handles all the electronics), GT puts on a pretty interesting show. With a backdrop of these creepy, tall light things that flashed along with the music, the trio brought some killer cybergrind for the crowd. They obviously played a lot off of their new album, so a lot of their set was a little slower than the non-stop blastbeats I was looking forward to. But don't fret! They were still incredible. And, they were amazingly tight. I wouldn't have been surprised if they sounded a bit sloppy because of their goofy setup, but they weren't at all. Nice job, fellas.

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After GT came the sweetness that is Baroness. With the booze kicking it and the sounds of sludge/psych-metal blaring, I was pretty much in greatest place ever at this point. I want to make note that our new writer GnarHammer was rocking out harder than fuck to these guys, so you know they have to be good. Baroness actually got a chance to play for a pretty decent amount of time. Unfortunately, as is the case with most shows these days, the crowd seemed a little too young to appreciate the complexity of this quartet, so it didn't really get too jumpin' during their set. Most of these little fuckers were just standing around waiting for their moms to pick them up. This was beginning to irritate Psycho Killa, GnarHammer, and myself, and all this would come to a head as The Red Chord took the stage.

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I've seen The Red Chord a few times before, and they are always fucking amazing. This was no exception. How can you not get down with their crazy-yet-still-brutal technicality? It's impossible to try and fight it, or so I thought. Remember the kids waiting for mom? Nobody moved. Literally. Nobody. While the band tried to egg the crowd on, these jackholes just stood there in defiant silence. This is when a few of your favorite Bellions went into action. While I am not one who usually thinks hardcore dancing is all that cool, something needed to be done. So we broke that out to the horror of these 15 year old bastards. As complete confusion overtook most of the crowd (Are these kids actually dancing? Mommy!), some people finally figured out that it was okay to break it down to a band that you like. I lost my hat though during this, and that is the only sad part. Oh yeah, and Psycho Killa and GnarHammer BOTH fucked up their ankles pretty bad. That sucked, too. I made it out with just cuts and bruises, but that is because I am super-human.

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Converge. What can be said? They are the godfathers of hardcore. They constantly reinvent themselves and push the boundaries of extreme music. Their shows are always top shelf. As expected, they exploded once on stage and put on a pretty good show. I do have to say, however, that I think they get a little sloppier each time I see them. Maybe I am just losing my excitement, since I have seen them about 5,000 times by now. I don't know. They were great, but it was nowhere near the intensity of the first time I saw them. Or the second. Or the third, etc. Maybe it was the venue. I know the crowd had a lot to do with it, as well, but still, I felt a little let down. There was no Jake grabbing peoples' heads and screaming in their faces. In fact, there was really no crowd interaction at all. I don't even know what to think about it. I think I am just going to blame this on the crowd, but I don't know how much I am just forcing myself to think that since I love them so much. I think I just need them to play in the alley behind my apartment before I make a full-on decision.

So all in all, the show was pretty damn good. My entire party of ragers got a little wounded, and the music was great. Plus there was booze, and booze is our lifeblood. I just wish that the crowds at these shows didn't suck so bad all the fucking time. I literally think I am becoming "that guy" that sits around and thinks about how things used to be "back in the old days."

So Sick It Hurts: Unleashed - "Midvinterblot"

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*Editor's Note: The following review was sent to me from a new writer who shall be worshiped under the name GnarHammer (now using Old Iron Blood). Hailing from Iceland, this sexy piece of man knows a thing or two about the metal that will have you thrashing into oblivion. Let's give him a warm welcome.*

Góðan daginn, one and all and welcome to my rant about the merits of Scandinavian metal as exemplified by Unleashed, the Lords of Viking Metal with their 2007 release: Midvinterblot. There will be NO arguing or whining about how "great" or "badass" American "metal" is in comparison because such things simply do NOT exist in the face of such UTTER sonic greatness that is Unleashed. It will be as if someone says to a meat eater that eating such fare is no better than eating fibrous vegetable slush. Complete lunacy! If you persist in your futile debate I will have no choice but to call upon Þór to smite you. No Valhalla for you, weakling!

There are few things in this Mortal world that bring happiness to a Norseman's heart besides bedding a fine wench, filling our bellies with ale in celebration of victorious triumphs over our weak enemies, breaking the skulls of said enemies, and doing so to the immortal slaying metal riffs of Unleashed. When the Valkyries themselves bang their long locks in reverence to such awe-some acoustic genocide then you know that you, pathetic weaklings as you are, should slit your wrists out of hopelessness for your so-called "metal" is nothing but the equivalent of sloppy feces. Your only hope is to give up all your ambition and pray, pray to Óðin that you may have a honorable death and not that of a peasant. All hail Óðin!!!

With such reverent lyrics as:
"Let's drink to Þór. The return of the Sun. And to our dead. Yes!
raise your horns. Hail Þór! Drink to remember our dead!
Midvinterblot!,"
the faithful legions of Pagans will start to stand and claim the pit. Watch yourselves, Christians, for we will take our revenge for your ravaging of our culture as described in SALVATION FOR MANKIND:
"YEAH, resurrect so I can vomit on the body of Christ!"
for ours is a culture that is proud and still strong as told in THE AVENGER:
"Upon this land his forefathers walked. The call from the past.
That warms his heart. Decades pass by, the changing of time.
Still there's a fire that burns inside. Óðin!...hear my call!
Óðin!...hear my call!!."
Metal and it's Lord of Lords, Death Metal, was born in the North and no imitation will stand. Eons have passed, but with such Metal Gods as Unleashed stoking the proud fires within with such war cries as:
"On the endless path of war
We may be torn or beat
but we have sworn to stand as one
In victory or defeat.

We are the immortals.
From hell we rise.
We are the immortals.
Death Metal-no compromise

Others follow the winds of change.
You came to swear allegiance.
No conformity at all.
We didn't come to reason",
we will rise in the face of our enemies and claim what's ours. All hail Óðin!!! All hail Þór!!! For Valhöll awaits! May we die in battle with our swords clenched!! All hail!!!

"The age of the commoner is over. The age of the warrior dawns!"

Here's a little video of Unleashed playing "Midvinterblot" live in Holland.