Experiments In The Revival Of Organisms

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Beneath The Massacre - evidence of inequity (vinyl re-issue on Total Dissonance Worship, 2026)

Dozens of listens before this long overdue re-issue on vinyl came to my doorstep graced my ears. Dozens of listens afterwards. I can't shelve this record. And when I'm working I go to Bandcamp to re-listen AGAIN. Bonkers technical metal that is at the same time so god damn melodic. Every track stands on its own here and Beneath The Massacre set themselves apart from the mass of over-technical bands that have not a single memorable part in their entire discography. These brutal tech-metal songs stick in your brain like a pop song does. The vocals especially add an extra accent to the melodies. On their newest record - Fearmonger - I have the impression the vocalist has less opportunity to do this. Maybe that's because of their new drummer, I don't know, but Fearmonger is definitaly not my favourite in their discography. Really glad that this pre-order reached my algorhythms before this sold out.

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KHANATE - two times double vinyl on my doorstep

Going to underground shows in holes in a wall since 1996, but 2024 was the year I experienced the most impressive live set I've ever seen. Like an accumulation of my listening journey. Khanate played the big room on Roadburn Festival. The sound was perfect. What impact is concerned Sunn o))) comes most close I guess. So, that being said, 15€ a piece for new Khanate records was a steal.

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Absent From The Morning Headcount - compos mentis (The Burden Of Reflecting/Oilfish Records, 2025)

1st and 2nd wave screamo is something that should stay dead, since it had a fantastic run, but in the end remains a very overtly dramatic form punk drenched in teenage angst that befitted a certain period. Every "screamo" band now sounds vintage and way too produced. That is until I checked out this Switzerland based band that took their name from my favourite hardcore band in motherfucking existence. I have never heard a band sound so perfectly crafted for the React With Protest Records label like AFTMH. Kids would've eaten this demo up around 2005. This doesn't sound vintage at all. This demo sounds like it popped up from a time-machine or was lost and now dug up again. References? The rougher recordings of Louise Cypre, Danse Macabre, Am i Dead Yet! or The Apoplexy Twist Orchestra. Wowza.

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February wrap-up!

Another month, another proof I will never land one specific sub-sub-sub genre and will proceed my music listening on a schizophrenic spectrum clusterfuck. 2 records that come close to eachother the most what style and vibe is concerned is the ELKO BLIJWEERT x ANTA COURTIS LP on Ultra Eczeema and IGNATZ' new record "I Don't Know", which is - admit it - one of the strongest album titles in music history. Ignatz still has a no-fill discography and this honkey-tonk guitar solo record infused with Ignatz' signature eerie vibe brings a somewhat more light-weight tone to his discography. The Elko Blijweert album is also a contender for end-of-the-year list and we're only in early March. The Youtube channel Slam Worldwide pours deathcore and brutal slam into the world without stopping and it's almost upsetting how much awful, over-produced slammy shit there is out there. So, it was a surprise to hear something on their channel this month that was as good as it is: MASTICATION OF BRUTALITY UNCONTROLLED - the epoch of anthropogenic deities full-length is quality brutal technical death metal. Another end of the spectrum is the ASMODEXIA/(m)OTHER_BRAIN split. Two noise-grind bands with enough personality as they use feedback to gain my interest. Let's end it with a band closer to my home: ABUSIVE FORMS is a Dutch negative hardcore band in the vein of their ex-band Lifespite, Left For Dead, Acrid or The Swarm. Fan-fucking-tastic record on LONER CULT RECORDS.

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Cadaveric Messiah - entombed in yahannam (Entropy Records, 2026)

Cadaveric Messiah and I love (and I mean L.O.V.E. Dead Congregation). I show it by going to every show the Greek do when their tour passes the Benelux and by buying every record. These basement dwelling Colombians show it by incorporating a Dead Congretation riff in their excellent slow-burning death metal. Down-tuned and raw, cavernous vocals and slimey riffage à la Incantation. So far, this record has been one of the high-lights of February. If this gets put on wax I might have to pop open my wallet.

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JANUARY 2026 WRAP-UP

Maybe a monthly wrap-up isn't such a bad idea, since the first month of the year has already been a schizophrenic cascade of genres. If you're a purist or you identify hard core with one specific musical genre, this blog is not going to suit you.

First of there was an amazing live set I checked out in Ghent by Dutch black metal punks Invunche. The first live set of 2026 was immediately a banger.

Then: the schizophrenics... I checked out the new Lorna Shore, the theatrical deathcore band that has waaay too much influence on that scene to my liking. Suddenly every deathcore band is copying those breakdowns and the ice-cold, unsympathetic production. Gone is the groove, in is the ice cold nihilism. I have to admit the first listen of "I feel the everblack festering within me" is as nauseating as I expected. What else: local harsh noise solo project Last Action came out with another crackling anti-music release. "Secluded mansion" is harsh noise-wall done well. I very much appreciated this thing. For some reason more so than his dozen-a-year other releases for some reason. So, to keep it short and not go into the "okay" category of January's releases... let's go to the two toppers of the month. Both hip hop releases from the same boutique label realm:

IMPORTED GOODZ x ROME STREETZ - smuggled narratives RECOGNIZE ALI & D-STYLES - all shall perish 2 records I wouldn't mind having in my collection with some amazing production, piano loops, bluesy and groovy vibes and hard street talk. Fucking awesome.

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Where has this album been my entire life? First time listen and I'm completely floored. Low-tuned old school death metal that can go caveman and frantic with (proto?) techy riffs like a swarm of bees fucking you up. Track after track... this record does not give in. This record is in my wantlist right now!

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The Peter Brötzmann Sextet/Quartet- nipples (Calig, 1969)

Over 3 decades of listening to hardcore, metal and punk. Swearing on this music. One hand on the Mortician's Chainsaw Dismembertment album when I cross my heart hope to die. Then a coming of age of sorts when The Locust took a shitload of chaotic hardcore and punk bands in their slipstream. Then doing vocals in a chaotic hardcore band that I found musically the most interesting band out of the 7+ I did and it would not sell to either metalheads nor punks. Too abrassive and "difficult". Somewhere Charles Mingus was in there as well as a very early album that never left my rotations. But it was when I went to check out improv jazz sessions in "the big city" with about 20 attendees or less that I had to admit that if the chaos came together somehow it was.... it IS my favourite way of hearing and experiencing music. Here's a master, maybe THE master at work in 1969 with Han Bennink on drums and Fred Van Hove on the piano.

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And here's a more recent video of a Sissy Spacek live set in which Mr. Wiese doesn't even play one note but puts down a set with (I think?) the drummer of Sulfuric Cautery that is hands down the number one live set (albeit online) that makes me want to play shows again. Killer. I kinda like it that the live sets are a complete different animal than the cut-up noise on record.

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Sissy Spacek - Rip (Gilgongo, 2011)

Every once in a while I return to Sissy Spacek albums on digital platforms, preferably Bandcamp. Time and time again - we are talking 2 decades here - I keep being impressed by this project led by John Wiese. This man almost gave me tinnitus when I saw a noise set-by-laptop of him in a squat in Ghent around 2000. To be honest I was actually pretty pissed off, since this set was so loud it was absolutely not for human ear consumption. Or: maybe he wasn't feeling it and just wanted to clear the room as fast as possible. Context. I don't know. We were used to feedback drenched squat punk sets, so I know it wasn't us being touchy. Anyway, Sissy Spacek goes from noise sets to sets played - and even practiced - with bands. Live this project can be a Locust/screamo show with added noise and feedback to headfirst harsh noise. One of my favourite tracks in the entire discography is "really into the haters" on the French Album. A song I forwarded to Yves De Mey who wholeheartedly approved my choice. It's crazy how some albums can connect you with people with a completely different background. So, this Rip album (the one with a really excellent ass on the cover) is faaaaan fucking tastic. Shattered glass-in-fast forward modus style cut-up noise drenched in feedback. Fan fucking tastic album. I should buy more CDs.

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Favourite listens of 2025.

In 2025 I liked a ton of hardcore EPs of the macho kind, but to my own surprise there's not one I returned to more than once. Maybe it was just the overabundance of it. Maybe because 2025 was an intense and weird year.

There were full lengths that gave me a sense of relief since I found myself returning to them a lot. Your Spirit Dies' LP and especially the first track I found phenomenally working for me. Destruxion America released a punk LP that proved I am not burned out on punk sounds. This comes close to the immense love I had for Generacion Suicida's debut 12". Pissgrave is being Pissgrave. Unfuckwithable. Same with Primitive Man. First listen: check! Into the end of the year list. Easy as that. Cromlech was released on a tape label that I would've obsessed over if I didn't have so much shit on my mind. Crucifiction is a peculiar taste, I know. This sounds like early Suicide Silence. Sorry. I have been following Relics Of Humanity since their first record and this one is next level. I put 1 hip hop album in the list as well. A lot of good releases this year, but Body Bag Ben keeps being one of my favourite producers. #1: Your Spirit Dies - My Gnawing Pains Will Never Rest #2: Destruxion America - Gritos Norteno #3: Cromlech - Dark Is A Way And Light Is A Place #4: Pissgrave - Malignant Worthlessness #5: Anal Stabwound - Enshrining The Many-fingered Grasp #6: Crucifiction - Will To Power #7: Scalphunter - Archimandrite #8: Daniel Son & Body Bag Ben - Brown Body Bags #9: Relics Of Humanity - Absolute Dismal Domain #10:Primitive Man - Observance

Destruxion America's fantastic album art up above and - cheesy, break-down heavy and not covering new ground: my favourite song of 2025 below through Bandcamp:

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Sammath - godless arrogance (Hammerheart, 2014)

OG metalheads: it's okay. You can open your eyes again. I just bought about 7 LPs from a guy who's selling his entire collection. Luckily for my wallet, from the over 8000 titles in his list over 70% was on tape or CD. Still, I selected about 20 titles and narrowed them down to about 10. Since it took him a couple of days more than expected he added this one to the pile. Extra record in a package mostly means buuuuullshit, but not this time. Sammath is a raging Dutch black metal band that leans towards war metal in it's abbrasiveness. Right when they're about to tip over to the blur of noise these type of bands tend to get, Sammath holds back and keep everything within the bounds of well-written, recognisable songs and riffs. Excellent riffs with a good balance inbetween dissonance and high-end black metal headbanging. The current drummer is ex-Centurian (possibly one of the most impressive death metal bands to ever come from The Netherlands?), but the one on these recordings is fucking nuts as well. Fast, complex and eager for tempo changes. No atmospheric, melodic nature worshipping black metal here. This is for fans of Angelcorpse, Marduk or Immortal. One of the genuine "what the fuck" moments on the record for me was this one below: death (hunt them down).

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Dead Blue Sky - symptoms of an unwanted emotion (Good Life Recordings, 2001)

OG metal heads: look away now! What I dig about 90s and 00s metalcore is that they completely butchered metal. And not from an conscious point of deconstruction, but more from a blundering and enthousiastic kind if you will. The closer to "real" metal metalcore albums got, the least interesting they got. Both Arkangel and Liar got more praise for their later albums from the metal scene, but they were forgetable to say the least. Obviously they don't play songs from those live. Dead Blue Sky's only full-length is a peculiar one in that regard. Very prominent use of synths, hardcore vocals, At The Gates riffs and song structures that are ... special... to say the least. I just picked this up at a 10 minute drive from my place for 5€ after I noticed it goes for over 100€ on Discogs. The seller had it for sale on a local 2nd hand shop as "Death Blue Sky" as well.

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Teitanblood - death (Norma Evangelium Diaboli, 2014)

Re-discovered a record that was sitting in my collection. This one has been giving me the side-eye for about 10 years while I kept putting on my deathcore albums. These Spaniards turn the abrasive meter up a notch with unrelenting, wall-of-dissonance death metal hulking over classic albums (there! I said it!) and newcomers alike. The eerie chants blend perfectly in and add to the tonality of this monstruous record. Not for the weak. Together with Knelt Rote and Impetuous Ritual I consider this one of the heaviest bands on the planet.

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Conway The Machine & Big Ghost Ltd. - if it bleeds it can be killed (De Rap Winkel, 2021)

This one didn't leave the turntable for at least 5 meals being cooked this week. At least! Conway's album 'reject 2' was a god damn revelation for me and everything that followed was gold as well. Everything. Which is quite impressive since it has been non-stop full-length collaborations with the most grimey producers out there. Big Ghost Ltd. is a high point inbetween all the high points.

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M.A.V. & Giallo Point - Hoodlum (Copenhagen Crates, 2020

Cooking with eerie piano loops has been 90% of my cooking the last 5 years. Had to check if this was track B2 on the player to catch the name of the song. Vibin'

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Ancestors - II (Youth Attack, 2015)

Hardcore kids that play melodic black metal is mostly a big palm to the face for my ears, but when hardcore bros take that black metal vibe to the dungeon and mingle it with punk I'm there. Ancestors are probably - depends when you ask - my favorite Youth Attack project. Practically the only connection to punk is its D-beat and mid-paced drums. Some punk riff here and there, but the scarcer the better.