Bridge Burner – Chlorine Eyes / Abyssal

By Craig Hayes. The New Zealand metal scene isn’t short of strong vocalists, but the voice of Bridge Burner singer Ben Read stands out as one of most powerful and versatile. Read’s time fronting bands like In Dread Response, The Mark of Man, and Ulcerate has served him well

By Craig Hayes.


The New Zealand metal scene isn’t short of strong vocalists, but the voice of Bridge Burner singer Ben Read stands out as one of most powerful and versatile. Read’s time fronting bands like In Dread Response, The Mark of Man, and Ulcerate has served him well in developing a vocal style that mines myriad layers of both nuance and savagery from throat-shredding shrieks, snarls, howls, and growls. Read’s recordings with Auckland-based sonic annihilators Bridge Burner feature some of his best work yet, and that’s more than apparent on the band’s latest tracks, “Chlorine Eyes” and “Abyssal”.

Bridge Burner’s new songs are barbaric bait primed to lure fans along to upcoming shows where they're opening for Cult Leader and Primitive Man on their respective NZ tours. That’s an apt pair of bands for Bridge Burner to be supporting too. Like Primitive Man, Bridge Burner’s music explores existential and corporeal agonies and Bridge Burner also make bleak and bruising aesthetic choices that hammer their crushing missives home. Like Cult Leader, Bridge Burner’s music is an intoxicating mix of steel-tipped punk and metal. In Bridge Burner’s case, they smash grindcore, crust punk, and sludge, black, and death metal together with visceral ferocity.

Essenitally, that means “Chlorine Eyes” and “Abyssal” feature brutal blasts of hybridized metal. Breakneck riffs, bass, and percussion batter the mind and body as Bridge Burner’s chaotic maelstroms take hold, and “Chlorine Eyes” features additional vocals from Callum Gay (Spook the Horses, Stress), who puts his gullet-shredding holler to raucous use too. Bridge Burner work a marginally slower and doomier angle on “Abyssal" but it's still a brawling cacophony overall.

“Abyssal” and “Chlorine Eyes” both pummel and pulverize, which is no surprise given Bridge Burner's merciless methodology, but the tracks' ultimate strengths lie in the deep catharsis they foster via punishing noise and incandescent rage. I’ve said it before, but Bridge Burner’s volatile fusion of intensity and negativity carves out a clear pathway to liberation. Call it nihilistic transcendence, or purification through misery and darkness, there’s no question that all the caustic chaos on “Abyssal” and “Chlorine Eyes” will help exorcize your endless inner-demons.

If that sounds good, make sure to seek out Bridge Burner’s excellent debut full-length, Null Apostle, which was released last year (and is also available on Bandcamp). Null Apostle is also overflowing with torment, wrath, and unshackled fury. Perfect for the morbid masochist in all of us.

Tragedy – Fury

By Craig Hayes. Crust punk titans Tragedy are one of the most revered bands around, and that was recently reaffirmed when the Portland, Oregon-based group’s new EP, Fury, suddenly appeared on Bandcamp. Fury’s arrival was greeted with almost rapturous fervour

By Craig Hayes.


Crust punk titans Tragedy are one of the most revered bands around, and that was recently reaffirmed when the Portland, Oregon-based group’s new EP, Fury, suddenly appeared on Bandcamp. Fury’s arrival was greeted with almost rapturous fervour by diehard fans, myself included, and that wasn’t any kind of overreaction. Tragedy’s music is colossal, concussive, and deeply authentic, and it’s been six long years since the band’s last vitriolic release, 2012’s Darker Days Ahead.

Tragedy’s breakneck, self-titled debut was released in 2000, and the LP was instantly (and rightly) hailed as a crust punk classic. However, Tragedy’s backstory also includes a very important introductory chapter. Tragedy features members who also played in the much-admired crust band His Hero Is Gone, and the sledgehammering noise that band made (before they disbanded in 1999) has had an incalculable influence on the world of thickset punk and metal.

His Hero Is Gone took the brawnier/crustier strain of punk that UK bands like Amebix, Antisect, and Hellbastard had formulated in the 1980s and made it bigger, badder, and even swampier. The band added heftier guitars and distortion, and a neck-wrecking amount of oomph, and that set the template for an entire generation of heavyweight crust bands.

Tragedy have unquestionably carried that tradition on. Their stentorian music has proven to be equally influential, and they've played in front of appreciative audiences the world over. However, Tragedy aren’t only famed for making high-powered music.

The band’s always known for being staunchly DIY and operating well outside the usual ‘music biz’ networks. Tragedy have also shown a complete aversion to social media and online marketing –– so much so that a few hardcore fans will no doubt protest about the band turning up on a platform like Bandcamp.

Appearing on Bandcamp doesn’t radically alter Tragedy’s DIY aesthetic though. If anything, Bandcamp has revolutionised the way underground bands and fans can connect without the need for hyped-up web campaigning. That suits Tragedy’s agenda, which has seen the band self-release their own records, avoid interviews, and deliberately sidestep the grinding wheels of the publicity machine.

In doing all that, Tragedy have become “folk heroes” within the contemporary punk underground. And there’s still a strong element of mystery to the Tragedy mythos, even if the group’s members happen to play in scores of other well-known and well-regarded punk bands.

Tragedy 2013. Photos by Carmelo Española.

Tragedy utilising Bandcamp means that tracking down a copy of Fury is that much easier –– and FYI: any punk fan worth their salt should purchase a copy forthwith. Produced by Portland heavyweight music wizard Billy Anderson, Fury features six tracks bursting with belligerent rage. The EP’s running time barely hits the 17-minute mark, but that’s more than enough time to appreciate that no one channels mind-crushing hostility quite like Tragedy.

Fury’s first track, “Leviathan”, roars out of the gate with thundering guitars, guttural barks, and crashing bass and drums. Stampeding hooks are scattered throughout, snagging you and dragging you along, and by the time second track “Enter the Void” kicks in, it’s clear that Tragedy haven’t lost one iota of their passion or potency.

In fact, guitarist/vocalist Todd Burdette, bassist/vocalist Billy Davis, guitarist Yannick Lorrain, and drummer Paul Burdette sound like they’re ready to riot. I’m guessing the band have been inspired by the overwhelming number of end-times headlines that seem to greet us every day. But, speculation aside, it’s simply magnificent to hear the band still sounding so fired up after so many years in the punk rock trenches.

Fans hankering for Tragedy to return to their feral and ferocious roots will be thrilled that tracks like “Kick and Scream” and “Fury” are speedier and more overtly unhinged than the mid-tempo (albeit still savage) tracks on Darker Days Ahead. Ripping guitars and pick-sliding galore cut through Fury’s murky mix, and scorching leads and fist-raising, shout-along choruses arrive with a palpable sense of urgency throughout the EP.

Throttling dirges are trampled by hurtling hardcore on Fury, and the EP’s final tracks, “Swallow the Pill” and “A Life Entombed”, underscore Tragedy’s ability to craft dark and blistering melodies that reflect shattered dreams, nightmare realities, and endless frustrations.

In that sense, with the world in turmoil and anxieties at an all-time high, there’s never been a better time for Tragedy to return. The band bring hope, and relief, delivered in a purging/surging rush of ear-splitting punk, backed by exorcising howls.

Over the years, countless raucous bands have tried to copy the most ferocious elements from Tragedy’s formidable playbook. However, as Fury proves, yet again, few bands exhibit Tragedy’s talent for making primal rage manifest. Even fewer bands can cast out anger with the sheer intensity of Tragedy’s cathartic anthems. And Fury adds six more reasons to stand in fucking awe of Tragedy’s intimidating discography.

Age of Woe - An Ill Wind Blowing

By Ulla Roschat. Age of Woe is a quite young five piece band from Gothenburg/Sweden. They founded in 2010 and An Ill Wind Blowing is their 2nd full length album. At first listen the album may appear unspectacular, but if you allow it to unfold its active substances to take hold of your brain through several listens, you may also find it magically varied, skull crushing and

By Ulla Roschat

Artwork by Magda Piech.

Age of Woe is a quite young five piece band from Gothenburg/Sweden. They founded in 2010 and An Ill Wind Blowing is their 2nd full length album.

At first listen the album may appear unspectacular, but if you allow it to unfold its active substances to take hold of your brain through several listens, you may also find it magically varied, skull crushing and spine tingling in an unobtrusive, unpretentious and subtle way, wrapped in a smooth mix of crusty HC, Death Metal, Doom and Black Metal.

The riffs are trudgingly heavy as well as they are catchy. The leads are driving as well as they are melodic. Pummeling, propelling drumming, passionate, creaky vocals, distorted, but grooving guitars and well placed word samples … all drenched in downtuned filth and crusty rawness.

In 36 minutes and seven songs Age of Woe conjures the 'Ill wind', tempestuously blowing or mephitically looming, but always evil and destructive. The only moment you could possibly recover your breath would be in the melancholic instrumental "Kiñe Weza Kuruf Konkey", but just for about one and a half minutes, before it gets cut off violently by the next track to destroy all hope for any stable calmness (this is one of the best transitions between two songs, ever).

Although the basic atmosphere is utterly dark and depressive throughout, it is constantly infused and mingled with different moods, be it a somewhat old fashioned occultish horror feel, a more unnerving and abrasive industrial vibe, a slightly disturbing chaos or a melancholic despair.

The term “active substances“ I chose deliberately to evoke associations of drug usage, because the album somehow works like weed. All the moods you can possibly find in the album are in a well measured balance. If you want to focus on one, you can happily do it. You want to get crushed immediately? Turn up the volume, feel the groove, bang your head. You want to feel the creepy, cold fear and despair? Sit down and let it crawl through your ears into your brain. But you can as well just let it all flow and enjoy to get blown away.

The track "Heavy Clouds" is featured on The Wicked Lady Show 134.

Ramlord / Sea of Bones – Split

By Craig Hayes. Back in 2013, I wrote a review here at Metal Bandcamp praising stenchcore trio Ramlord’s second album, Crippled Minds, Sundered Wisdom. That review remains one of my favourite contributions to this site,

By Craig Hayes.

Artwork by Diego Bureau Anti-Art.

Back in 2013, I wrote a review here at Metal Bandcamp praising stenchcore trio Ramlord’s second album, Crippled Minds, Sundered Wisdom. That review remains one of my favourite contributions to this site, and to put that into wider context for you, I generally detest everything I write.

Not that Crippled Minds, Sundered Wisdom review, though. I like that, a lot. I think that review underscores that life (including writing, in my case) can feel like an unending struggle, and that the world often seems shockingly callous. That's why we revel in the kinds of twisted, cathartic noise that bands like Ramlord create. Although, it would be a lie to say that the band's music is any kind of soothing balm, as such.

We live in a world where even the things we love can easily end up crushing our souls, and Ramlord’s music really serves as a colossal-sized vent for releasing the pressure. If you think that sounds a little on the bleak side, then keep in mind that Ramlord know all about crushing souls. That's the band's bread and butter. They are masters of abject misery. And the good news on that front is that the world is apparently set on getting worse by the second. So Ramlord’s got tragedies galore to drawn upon.

Proof of that can be heard on Ramlord’s new split album with fellow gloom-mongers Sea of Bones. But, before we get to that split in full, it’s important to note that Ramlord’s sound is perfectly pitched to conjure the savagery lurking beneath society's crumbling facade. The music they make is a horrorshow; a churning mix of d-beat, crust, and filthy black metal. Or, as the band put it, “In stench we grind through the sludge we blacken.”

Sound good? Of course it does. Ramlord’s music is a glorious nightmare. (Equal parts Discharge, Dystopia and Venom, on a real bad trip.) The band’s two full-lengths and myriad splits have all been as primitive as they are nihilistic, and as fierce as they are feral, and Ramlord’s vocalist and guitarist Jan Slezak has an amazing lo-fi punk ’n’ metal side-project called Leather Chalice that’s equally as harsh and ultra-negative.

Ramlord’s contribution to their split with Sea of Bones consists of one lengthy track, “Incarceration of Clairvoyance (Part III)”. The track is a toxic brew of punked-up black metal, stripped to its bones, with gargling-acid vocals and icier, isolated scales offering brief moments of reprieve. “Incarceration of Clairvoyance (Part III)” is dissonant and chaotic, and like the rest of Ramlord’s odorous oeuvre, the track is steeped in doom and gloom and tailor-made to soundtrack our species' long-overdue downfall.

Speaking of doom and gloom, that’s where Sea of Bones enter the picture. Like a couple of the band’s nautically named brethren – see Buried at Sea and Graves at Sea – Sea of Bones also deliver massive, rolling waves of sludgy doom. Sea of Bones’ contribution to their split with Ramlord, “Hopelessness and Decay”, is an aptly titled lurch across bleak terrain. And if mammoth and morose songs set at a funereal pace appeal, then rest assured that “Hopelessness and Decay” will provide 10 minutes of fathomless despair.

Sea of Bones’ catalogue thus far (two EPs, a couple of full-lengths, and this split) has been replete with similarly sombre music. That said, Sea of Bones do incorporate a broader set of sonic influences than your bog-standard doom band. Post-metal looms large in the band's work, providing a undulating backbone to many of Sea of Bones' songs, and the band make great use of the texture and weight of their sound as a whole – à la Swans.

If you’re a fan of Neurosis’ latter era, then how Sea of Bones’ set about sculpting a towering missive like “Hopelessness and Decay” will be familiar. The band set a slow and increasingly tense tempo at first, and as the track steadily unwinds heavier and heavier elements are added, with each progression, large or small, hammered home for full aesthetic effect.

And that’s Ramlord and Sea of Bones’ split. Two bands mining a similarly wretched vein, although each approach that vein from an entirely different angle. For Ramlord, it’s all tooth and claw; a virulent and vicious attack of jagged, punked-up metal. For Sea of Bones’ it’s the slow and steady approach; with additional element added trampling the will even further.

Ramlord and Sea of Bones meet at the point where rack and ruin threaten to tip the balance. That’s life, I guess, one minute we’re hanging on and struggling through, and the next minute life can remind us that we were only ever a breath away from having our hopes shattered. Ramlord and Sea of Bones' split is the perfect accompaniment for wallowing in that fact. So how about I buy a copy, and then you buy a copy (because misery loves company), and then we all can march into the final flames together. Laughing our collective heads off at the fucking futility of it all.

Sweet dreams, my friends.

Doomsday - Doomsday

Written by Natalie Zina Walschots. Originally published here by Exclaim.

Cover art by XNA

Pressing play on Doomsday feels a lot like opening the doors to a blast furnace: a sudden, overwhelming wall of heat hits you and doesn't let up. At barely over 20 minutes, this self-titled, blackened and crusted death metal debut shows mercy only in its brevity. Four of the five band members have served time in Nachtmystium, which translates into the record's blackened, brimstone-reeking guitar tone and relentless pace. The dominant texture of the album, however, is a thick, filthy crust element that makes every song seem to drip rust and corrosion.

Photos © John Mourlas. All rights reserved.

Most of the tracks are defined by a savage, primal violence, embodied best in album closer (and G.G. Allin cover) "I Kill Everything I Fuck," but there is a moment of bleakness in "Empty Vessel" that's not a respite as much as a shift of perspective, the one time the record moves from vicious agency to furious reflection. This is a baleful, rancid debut that arrives like a whirlwind and leaves the listener similarly wondering what just happened to them.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Black Monolith - Passenger

Written by Matt Hinch.


I have this rule of thumb that if a band has "black" in their name, I at least have to try them on for size. Most often it works. In the case of Black Monolith some trusted Bandcamp buddies were willing to pay for their debut Passenger, so that was another easy plus. I laid down some hard earned review writing money (It exists!) and dove right in.

Turns out that was money extremely well spent. This Oakland, CA group take metal and crust it over some d-beat fire leaving a desiccated and charred ruin of your ears. As painful and tortured as it may be, every second is undeniably desirable.

Opener "Intro/Void" introduces the band with an atmospheric and noisy intro leading into oppressive USBM. It's raw and muddy, scathing and densely layered. The guitars cut like serrated blades of sound as the drums castigate incessantly and tremulous melodies lope from mountaintop to mountaintop. The galloping rumble isn't all about pressing inward though, as moments of triumph and airiness find their place here as well as elsewhere on the album.

The two shortest tracks in "Dead Head" and "Victims and Hangmen" show off Black Monolith's malicious d-beat side. The former joined to a lumbering acidity, with an underlying melody evolving into soaring yet still filthy black metal. The latter's swagger battles with sludgy hardcore and a scorching solo.

"Adhere" features windswept and forlorn melodies shimmering below relentless percussion and the tortured ministrations of the harrowing and pained vocals. Similarly, "Gold Watch" sees a forceful racing black metal cacophony give way to glorious epicness while maintaining that snarly attitude.

After enduring the first five tracks the listener is left spent. Black Monolith tear out their emotional core and wipe it all over your face. Inhaling its essence leaves little room for fresh air but the unending darkness recedes on closing track "Eris".

From a slow, downtrodden doom rises joyous post-metal. A glorious light streaks across the landscape soothing the wounds incurred and leaving the listener filled with a feeling of contentment. It's an unexpected but welcome counter to the acute darkness of the majority of Passenger, although shades of the "Eris" aura are woven throughout.

Passenger is a captivating album blended with enough elements to entice a varied audience. There's a commonality across it all that ties it together and makes it feel like a complete whole and more than just a band struggling to find its identity. It's comfortable to say this stellar debut is among the best USBM releases so far this year.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

Ramlord - Crippled Minds, Sundered Wisdom

By Craig Hayes. Life is a struggle, whatever your situation. It is complicated and often disheartening, and it can become wholly precarious in the blink of an eye. Seven days a week you haul yourself out of bed and brace yourself for another day.

By Craig Hayes.

Artwork by Aeron Alfrey.

Life is a struggle, whatever your situation. It is complicated and often disheartening, and it can become wholly precarious in the blink of an eye. Seven days a week you haul yourself out of bed and brace yourself for another day. You stare at grey polluted cityscapes filled with the detritus of capitalism’s crumbling facade and wonder if you’re any different to those forgotten souls huddled on street corners begging for change. We’re all, in one form or another, victims of the cold indifference of modernity.

This is why you must listen to Ramlord.

The New Hampshire trio are not going to solve your problems, let's be honest about that, but then, that's not in Ramlord's gamut. Jan ("usurper tongue and nihil resonance"), Ben ("blastphemous degradation of the human spirit") and Mike ("low souled grinder of the underbelly") make music to lean on when life gets hard, providing a means to spit those feelings of frustration, antipathy and revulsion back into society's face.

Ramlord dispense the best kind of music for venting rage and outrage--blackened d-beat. Punk and black metal (the perfect combination of hostility and militancy) are wrapped around Ramlord's grinding, stench-ridden swamps of sludge, crust and powerviolence. The band make inflammatory battering noise, and have a number of Bandcamp releases, including their powerful 2011 debut full-length, Stench of Fallacy, along with splits with Condensed Flesh and Cara Neir. The trio have recently released their new album, Crippled Minds, Sundered Wisdom, which comprises 11 putrid screeds of bile and belligerence, providing all the ammunition you need to stock your armory of enmity-driven convictions.

Like the best crust-slathered bands of yore (see Discharge, Hellbastard etc) Ramlord waste no time on ambiguity. Crippled Minds, Sundered Wisdom opens with the bitterly churning "Nihil Fucking Lifeblood" and "Weakness", before tearing through a triple dose of 30-second breakneck tracks of toxic metallized clangor. The bass-heavy sludge trawls of "Retrospect Dissonance" and "Dependency" rumble forth with strength that’s both crushing and macerating, while "Extinction of Clairvoyance (Part Two)" drops fuzzy noise-rock into the mix, although it’s very quickly smothered by virulent blackness.

Crippled Minds, Sundered Wisdom is exactly what's needed to strengthen your resolve against attacks from our contemporary world. It's ugly, as are the problems we face daily. It's as chaotic as our feelings and as bleak as the futures we face. And it's primal, just like those base instincts we need to survive.

However, in rendering the harshness of life (both external and internal) into 40-or-more minutes of sweltering sonic filth, Ramlord don't just highlight issues, they offer deep-rooted solace. The world is an uncaring and callous place, delivering never-ending streams of tragedy, but albums like Crippled Minds, Sundered Wisdom allow us to cope. In the album's frenetic velocity there's a sense that you’re not alone. When Ramlord roars, they roar for you. The band take our shared fears and frustrations and channel them into a sound just as discomforting as anything we see on the news, but in doing so, they provide us with exactly what we seek: catharsis.

Ramlord make malformed and monstrous noise, but the reality they represent is not distorted in any way. Crippled Minds, Sundered Wisdom is the truth. It may well be harrowing and rotten to the core, but even on our best days we know what lurks over our shoulders. Like the best crust bands (past and present) Ramlord don't just provide us with the ordnance we need to bolster our defense, they stand there alongside us, howling defiantly at the world.

Walden - .​.​.​Isolation

Review by Aaron Sullivan.

...Isolation is an Atmospheric Black Metal album from the band Walden, hailing from Victoria British Columbia.

As the name would suggest, nature plays a big part thematically. The acoustic tracks give that sense of sitting in a wooded area with a fire burning to keep you warm. But the Black Metal tracks, full of tortured wails and tremolo picking, are anything but cozy; the fire is now out and you are frostbitten. This juxtaposition of styles is made even better by the production. With the acoustic passages being very well produced, with added outdoor sound effects to enhance the warm feeling. While the Black Metal tracks are raw, as if they were recorded in cave. This difference in sounds never effects the flow of the album, Actually adding to it with great effect.

If you're a fan of Atmospheric Black Metal, especially one that has acoustic passages, this is an album and artist worth checking out.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]