INQUISITION - OMINOUS DOCTRINES OF THE PERPETUAL MYSTICAL MACROCOSM

Though I love their early pursuits, the vision that Inquisition has cultivated over the course of their twenty five year career has grown absolutely astounding. Ominous Doctrines Of The Perpetual Mystical Macrocosm is the eighth full length release in their discography. It's easily among the best sounding of their recordings and some of their best song writing as well. Dagon and Incubus have expanded on their brand of grinding black metal to achieve a level of sophistication and sheer perfection that few can boast. Eternally unaffected by the limitations of a two piece line up, they offer yet another slab rife with all the aggressive energy and melodic abrasion we've come to expect. Dagon's voice is completely mesmerizing this time around; even transcendent. These songs numb your digits, tear your spine from it's ornamental blob and warp you to an inner space that dwarfs the known universe. If you only bought one BM record in 2010, this should have been it. Ominous!

DOOM - THE GREATEST INVENTION

Got this when it came out in '93. I used to hate the production on it. It starts off with a spongy techno intro, the drums have more reverb than a Neil Diamond record and at times excessive use of chorus washes the guitar out completely. I recently dug it out after sitting quiet in my collection for almost twenty years. I gotta admit, I totally screwed the pooch on this one. The rave-cave production is actually kinda awesome. I can't think of many HC records that sound this expansive. Not even other Doom records. Beneath the atmosphere, Doom's Napalm Death-ish approach to crusty D-beat HC reveals why they are one of the most influential bands in the genre. Relentless low end, Jump 'n' jack guitar riffs and unmistakably british gut-throat vocals set the bar for everyone from Dropdead to Martyrdöd. All of their releases are worth having, but The Greatest Invention has become, by far my favorite. The techno intro is like crack to my ears now. At times I consider dubbing an endless loop of it to make love to. Am I Doomed?

HOAX - 3RD 7"

This western Mass born quartet's most recent effort marks the third release in what's shaping up to be an impressive discography. Following the tenets established on their first two 7s", Hoax serves up four more brutally executed examples of some of the best striped down, mid-paced hardcore five bucks can buy. Relative to their previous releases, you can feel the band settling into themselves here. Infectious riffs, concise, full drums and feral vocal anthems seem to come naturally to these dudes. Topped off with excellent lyrics that don't ask you to forgo adulthood. Seriously one of the best of 2012! Yoga!

MORTUARY DRAPE - ALL THE WITCHES DANCE

Peel back the drape to reveal one of the coolest BM bands to ever walk the earth. These necro obsessed weirdos take their perverse brand of pageantry to the extreme. Imagine an updated Merciful Fate complete with shiny hooded robes and a buxom, guttural apache on vocals. All The Witches Dance twists a wide range of high and low metal arts into a confounding and furious whirlwind. Even with familiarity, there's a persistent and illusive surprise element to this record. As you fall prey to the wild chants of these axe wielding muppets, one senses infinitely more sinister forces galloping in from the outer realms. The ground becomes liquid. You're drawn down with inexplicable speed. Horrific trumpets announce a soul crushing pain of loss. At last you rest, a mere silhouette at the gates of hell. Necomania!

SPAZZ - DWARF JESTER RISING

           

When I first heard these guys I had no clue that they were forging a new sub-genre of hardcore. I just knew it was the fastest and funniest shit on the planet. With countless releases and splits, Spazz endures as one of the most prolific bands in HC. Though not as aggressive or refined as some of their later work, Dwarf Jester Rising remains slightly more memorable for me. It was my introduction to both the band and to language of the music they inspired. Whether playing a bass laden sludge part, or a blinding garbled blast, Spazz delivers the goods as a cartooned badass that rises from the page to kick your teeth in. Unlike the metallic leanings of many of their spawn, they managed to move into uncharted territory without sacrificing one single ounce of punk rock. Who knows? Maybe someday HC bands will have ideas again. For now...

CHEST PAIN - S/T 7"

More powerviolence! This time from the great state of Texas. Ten choice, god hating slammers delivered in under eight minutes. Though rooted in standard 1990-esque PV, there's an underlining youth crew cleanliness to these songs. The strained vocal delivery is hybrid between SSD's Springa and the standard Crossed Out guttural thing. As always, I'm a little perplexed as to why today's PV bands sound so much like bands from twenty years ago. Regardless, this is an adept addition to the dialogue (despite the Andrew W. K. pic). I'm told they kill "it" live too. Party Hard!

ASSÜCK - BLINDSPOT 7"

This is one of the first grindcore records I ever bought. I have yet to hear better. It was recommended to me by Judy from Fast Forward in Providence RI. I think she was dating Ben from Dropdead at the time and he also worked at FF. They both turned me on to powervoilence and tons of other stuff. I remember being uncertain what speed to play it at. I eventually decided that it sounded best on 33rpm. Ha! It's actually 45. The only time I caught them live was with Rorschach, Merel and Dropdead at AS220. Needless to say, it was awesome. Anyway, get ready to watch all your glamgrind/boy bands with their ridiculous swine vocals fall by the way side. Suck ass!

Fast Forward is long gone, but Ben currently co-ownes a store called Armageddon Shop. They have an amazing selection and they're great folks to deal with.

Armageddon Shop