The Bastards Diesel "A Liminal Release" EP Review

 

  Let this serve as an introduction/commendation of the very interesting solo project The Bastards Diesel,stepped in the nuances of Experimental Sludge/Noise/Doom with a penchant for creating an audio/visual assualt on the senses with the absolutely fantastic debut release A Liminal Release.

  The bass heavy intro on opening track Thoughts Lost In The Ether sets a very bleak and dirge like tone added by the lo-fi miserably scrawled vocals, you can literally feel the nastiness and filthiness with every moving second,the repitive riff running throughout just pounds home the atmosphere, the lo-fi crushing heaviness of That Cold Feeling has subtle hints of Funeral Doom while still maintaining that bleak and nasty atmosphere,there's also the added elements of some fantastic guitar leads permeating in the background and epic drum fills executed with razor sharp precision.

  This is a great start of what's to come from The Bastards Diesel,the atmosphere created throughout paints a picture of Bleak,Nasty and Epic Soundscapes desigend to assualt the senses and leave you coming back for more,in all A Liminal Release is the perfect introduction for what we can expect from The Bastards Diesel in the future.

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/33T2sQtRgTfd3T6raeTB9r?si=_LuxQNbhT1-beg8Aste9KQ

BANDCAMP: https://thebastardsdiesel.bandcamp.com/album/a-liminal-release

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/thebastardsdiesel

PxBx "Commissary Or Die" EP Review

   Unbeknownst to the masses there's a plethora of quality Hardcore bands circulating up in the North of Ireland and they're producing some top notch material,just recently a new band of this ilk arose like a pheonix from the ashes in the shape of the Old School NYHC inspired trio PxBx with their excellent debut EP Commissary Or Die.

   Opening track PxBx(Prison Bitch) is an abrasive and sludgy offering with a very dark and foreboding atmosphere, we're treated to some relentless and raw in your face attitude with the short sharp shock of the title track Commissary Or Die time to explore the topic of mental health and the demons involved with it that we deal with on a daily basis with the extremely aggressive Cycle Of Destruction  things get that bit more vitriolic with the stigma and tragicness of substance abuse with gut punching aggresiveness of Meth=Deth, closing track Life(Death Penalty On Standby) slows the pace down a bit and has an element of groove combined with the filthy rawness that's very prevelent throughout this EP,

   despite the shortness of this release it achieves what it set out to do and that's have all the nuances and elements synonymous with Old School NY Hardcore with subtle homages to Black Flag,Leeway and Agnostic Front combined with a really dark and foreboding atmosphere that's all their own,for a debut this is a really ambitious attempt to deliver something that's not only an ode to Old School NY Hardcore but also touches on relevant and modern stigmas associated with life's struggle, keep a close watch on this band i can see plenty of memorable releases in their future.

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2KhcduWH4HK6mlIAyoSMpU?si=IglPE-p6Tb-kqfFSmcVnGA

YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@PxBxBC

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/pxbxbc

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/pxbxbc/

Rotlaust "The Dirge" Album Review

    Once in a while something comes out of nowhere and hits you like a tonne of brick or a curveball so to speak and your left utterly gobsmacked and speechless i could add a few more descriptive analogies to describe the absolutely mind blowing album The Dirge from Blackened Death Metal Project Rotlaust, Former Dead Aeon Vocalist Jack Penders is the brainchild behind this monumental project and has enlisted the help of a few old friends to help create possibly one of the best releases within the Irish Metal scene this year.

  Carrion opens up with the sound of thundering drums rumbling in the background before we're hit with a barage of crushing riffs and relentless drumming add to that a groove that continually evolves the track into nefarious tinged vocals which switch between Crushing Growls and tortured shreeks,suddenly there's the brief sound of a sitar which blends in seamlessly with the rest of the music before a soaring lead pushes the atmosphere to another level, Ceaseless continues the trend of combining groove with crushing relentlessness with an added darkness and atmosphere, the vocals begin to develop a much more darker and sinister tone,as the song title suggest the boundaries pushed into a territory that's never ending, The tempo is slowed down slightly with the groove laden heaviness of All But Calcerous while the dual vocals add a more caustic/aggressive atmosphere to proceedings,another addition is the riffs are a lot more melodic on this track, near the end of the track there's a sample of some man speaking about some nightmarish scenario about life and evolution this seamlessly flows into the earth shaking crushingly heavy The Deafening Dawn Chorus which seems to be touching on the topic of depression and the mental restraints that go with it, the further you delve into this album the darker and more sinister it becomes which is further compunded with another eerie sample from the same person about beliefs and how much they enjoy the darkness within life.

  Stain Of The Familiar delves further into mental anguish and societal collapse, the relentlessness begins to reach even higher levels, the musicianship is absolutely mind blowing and soars like a pheonix risen from the ashes, Nascent really pushes a relentless atmosphere and darkness to the fore further compounding the exremely sinister aura persisting throughout this offering,again we hear another sample/spoken dialogue from the same person this time talking about rage and a world full of bleakness and hopelessness, The Dirge combines every element and facet within this opus with a relentless efficiency that most Death Metal Bands would only dream of,about half way through the song we're treated to a dream like sequence which adds a slightly uplifting element to the overall aura before delving back into the malevolent and aggressive scenarios, Nex Internum is a fitting way to close this absolutely magnificient opus combining elements of Black Metal with the trademark crushing groove laden Death Metal ,all executed with ruthless precision and efficiency.

  The Dirge was an absolute curve ball of a release that no one was expecting and to everyones delight it delivered an album with all the hallmarks of a modern masterpiece,this has everything you'd want from an Extreme Metal band,darkness,crushing grooves,the technical proficiency of all the luminaries that create this type of Blackened Death Metal,a relentlessness that evolves to a mind blowing crescendo the further you delve into this opus, furthermore the work, focus and effort put into this deserve to commended with all the aplomb of modern masterpice of artistic genius.

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3cdNp5FWU7T85voDcEjkTb?si=7YK5qkZCRwuAzM2Wuq5uPA

BANDCAMP: https://rotlaust.bandcamp.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/RotlaustMusic

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/rotlaustmusic/