Sacrilege – Behind The Realms of Madness

Bagsy the stud on the right. The similarity looks-wise to early Napalm Death is unnerving.

How the hell did I overlook these grotty thrash-punk geniuses? They were even from my home town of Birmingham, UK. Admittedly I was still in short trousers when Sacrilege put out their crossover debut but sweet fucking Jesus, how can I not know about a band whose alumni played for greats such as Napalm Death, Benediction, The Damned and… uh.., Morrisey, ah well you can’t win ’em all I guess.

In 1985 they put out a record that combined the best of Discharge, Crass, and the sloppier end of thrash (think Venom or Possessed) for a truly British take on crossover. The ace in the hole though was Tam’s singular vocals. She truly is the queen of crusty thrash vox: snotty, anguished but supremely listenable.

They also had an interesting lyrical approach, melding your typical crusty socio-political rants (think Napalm Death style) but wrapping them in Lord of the Rings worship. Pretty crazy for the time, huh.

Fire up the 2015 Relapse reissue that has great sound and adds another 7 tracks to the original wham-bam-thank-you-mam 6 and enjoy some chunky, memorable riffs, crusty beats and unique vocals. My fave track is probably Death’s Door.

 

Kvelertak and Baroness Live in London 2012

Will bits of me get caught in JBD’s beard? One hopes not…

Long time readers of Monkey Defies Gravity will know how much of a collective man-crush I have on Baroness. I have long thought that I might explode with excitement should I ever get to see them.

Well, I shall be able to test my hypothesis on July 12 at tiny London club, Barfly – that’s just five days before the UK release of Yellow & Green. Let’s hope the staff don’t have to scrape me off the walls and ceiling. It could be messy.

I can’t believe a band of this stature is playing a 200-capacity venue in the UK capital in 2012. I also can’t believe I managed to snag a ticket. Thank you Songkick.

Black Breath and Victims: Live in London, UK

Black Breath in the process of staving in my skull. I’m clearly no photographer but hey, it’s an original pic so cut me some slack bitch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He stumbled from the shadows, blinking, rubbing his eyes. They were red-rimmed with black hammocks slung beneath them like scars of lost time.

Shambling into the light, the hunched figure muttered and twitched as he repeatedly jamming his fingers in his ears. This involuntary rummaging dislodged flakes of dried blood that fell like rusty snowflakes only to catch in his stubble.

The freshly-showered and laundered commuter crowd parted easily around him as if subconsciously aware of the foreign body in its midst, slipping him through with nothing but a few sideways glances to hinder him. 

Those close enough to hear the murmuring from his cracked lips could make out the simple mantra, “Black Breath, fucking hell”, repeated again and again.

Balaclava – Crimes of Faith

What next, death metal bands called "Bobble Hat"?!

Happy new year gentle men and women, lovers of the heavy.

Gotta love serendipity.

Picked almost at random from the Southern Lord website in a bid to sate my hunger for crusty metal, Balaclava has barrelled into my life without warning and wrenched me from my festive meat coma with an almighty slap around the chops.

Crimes of Faith may be billed as “hardcore punk [played] with severe intensity” but that is selling this cracking little gem far short.

Terraset – Concrete Altar

Tapes, remember them? They sound like crap.

Buried under thick layers of fuzz, tape noise and feedback is this odd but endearing little gem.

Then again the murky scuzz this three-song tape is such a part of the appeal that I would hate to see it buffed clean.

Concrete Altars, the debut from Virginia duo Terraset, mixes up dirty doom and sloppy punk before burying it deep under six feet of grunge.

The vocals forgo growls or shouts for a Mark Arm style drawl, as well as the occasional frothing gibber. In fact the whole shebang wierdly reminds me of a filthier, more metal version of Green River or early Mudhoney.