ACXDC - He Had It Coming

I'm on a "KUH-RAY-ZEE" powerviolence trip right now (as someone I would dislike might say) since I'm trying to slap together a nice lil' introductory zine. If you come here for the pop-punk, I apologize, but its delivery will be a bit diluted for the time being. Ha, what am I saying, you don't "come here".

I wonder how long it'll be before the intentional self-deprecating humor will be called out as narcissistic.

This might be one of the stupidest band names I've ever encountered or one of the gutsiest. ACXDC (aka Anti-Christ Demon-Core) are a 4-piece from Southern California who did an initial run from '03-'05, called it quits after a reunion show in '06, and then reformed in 2010 much to my loins' approval. Covering their first EP right after Neanderthal was kind of a last second decision, as I had originally intended to do the genre history lesson in semi-chronological order. Unfortunately, this here came up and changed my plans:

http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2012/02/powerviolence_acxdc_benefit_sh.php

So hey, it's topical AND heartrending. Of course, it should go without saying that ACXDC are a great band and the guilt trip I'm imploring you to land in is just circumstantial. Anywho, He Had It Coming is some super intense stuff, floating in the beautiful medium betwixt grindcore and powerviolence. For a glorious 10 minutes, you get mercilessly cockstomped by a wall of high velocity riffing, shrieking, and blasting. Does comparing the listening experience to genital mutilation make you want to listen to this? A lot of reviewers of this sort of music seem to think so, and I am incapable of differentiating myself from them. Bullshit aside, this is a ton of fun. The vocals are utterly unintelligible, inhuman shrieks punctuated tastefully with rumbling death/grind growls that fly at you near constantly ala Rupture. Musically, you get a surprisingly tight and well-produced blast of tight, varied drumming, riffs alternating between chaotic shredding and mid-t0-sludge paced interludes, and even a brief nod to Star Wars. It's the kind of shit best listened to in an empty bedroom without a lot of breakables for you to collide with.
This is currently OOP, but you can still support these guys with merch and whatnot. For example, I would buy the shit out of that skate deck with the Darth Vader heads if I could actually stand on a board without immediately concussing.

http://www.mediafire.com/?wqbv2lyfjki
http://acxdc.bigcartel.com/

As a totally irrelevant sidenote, Sylvester Staline is terrible. I just rediscovered this courtesy of youtube. I made the mistake of picking up their lame-as-fuck-but-amusingly-titled Gonna Spread Hard Drugs To Your Stupid Kids With The Royalties Generated By This CD album back in high school. This is the kind of shit people dismiss powerviolence over: sloppy playing, terrible vocals, and way too many lame inside jokes.
Oh, hey, and here's another pro-tip for starting a powerviolence group: don't name your band Duke Nukem Forever.

Roskopp - s/t

I decided before I made this blog that every month would produce at least 10 posts, whether they be provided solely by me or with help from whoever else wants to contribute. I guess you could consider it an attempt at self-discipline or establishment of a "creative schedule". Either way, there's only like 2 days left before the month ends and only 8 posts to show for it. On with the forced review, then:

I've mentioned it a jillion times already, but I used to be a huge grind buff. Like, it was pretty close to the only thing I listened to for 2 straight years. Thinking back, I find it curious that I didn't suffer a serious head trauma beforehand, because I can hardly imagine sitting through that stuff everyday, constantly, for over 700 days without switching it up with something less corrosive. Well, I guess I had some Tegan & Sara in there somewhere... of all possible non-corrosive musical units. Regardless, almost everything I liked back then still sounds great when I'm in the mood for it, especially the bands plucked from the Aussie and Czech scenes. Roskopp is a member of the former collective, and were one of the bands I was most excited about amidst my aforementioned obsessive period. Unfortunately, like most grind bands from down under, they take a long fucking time between releases. Examples: Captain Cleanoff releases their s/t EP in 2001 - follow it up with a full length 7 1/2 years later. Fuck...I'm Dead releases Bring On The Dead in 2001, then a split with Engorged in 2002; plan to release new full length in 2007; never release anything again but are still touring. Vaginal Carnage release demo in 2001 and EP in 2002; vocalist dies; still waiting on new album.

Okay that last one doesn't count.

Anyway, Roskopp are a three piece who formed in 2004 as Bonehead before swapping monikers and recording a demo a couple years later. The dude who runs Crucificado Pelo Sistema Records apparently liked the material too much to allow them to drop it as a poorly circulated cassette, so it was released as a 7" EP in 2006 (that you can still pick up here on nifty "splatter" vinyl: http://www.vinyljunkiedistro.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=21_39&products_id=8542). Roskopp aren't exactly reinventing the wheel with their brand of high-paced grind, but just like their regional brethren, they've somehow found a way to take a well-worn formula and make it not only fresh and exciting, but catchy as shit without sacrificing aggression. These guys sort of sit on the fence between grindcore and goregrind, with the high speed takes appropriating the former and the moments of groove and the pitch-shifted gurgles finding more in common with the latter. These songs actually have hooks and hold their own as songs instead of mere bursts of unmemorable aggression. Here's a pretty high quality live video of an as-of-yet unreleased song:

Here's the EP with a handful of bonus tracks I harvested from by the goodness of my heart.

gimme a few hours to find my external hard drive!

If you dig these guys, definitely check out Captain Cleanoff, Fuck...I'm Dead, Agents Of Abhorrence, Die Pigeon Die, Super Fun Happy Slide (of whom I once designed a t-shirt), Doubled Over, and The Day Everything Became Nothing. All of them are pretty top notch.