jute

i recieved some cds i ordered recently. while i'm waiting for some audio files to convert, here are my initial thoughts:

Negative Reaction - Everything You Need for Galactic Battle Adventures: pretty good doom metal. lots of star wars references. the vocals are really fucking nasty, and the samples that preface every song seem totally arbitrary (i.e. a clip from a western movie starts off the song 'spaceport').

Cock and Ball Torture/Last Days of Humanity Split CD: i'd never heard either of these bands, though cbt are pretty notorious and i'd read some reviews. it seems like pretty standard grind. i prefer cbt over ldh, because they have a lot more of a groove, which is sometimes comical. the vocals are pitch-shifted and sound kind of like pig grunts. the lhd cover is a photo of a man's head after being shot with a shotgun.

Decomposing Serenity/Sugar Plum Fairy Split CD: more grind, this time with drum machines. the vocals vary between the ultra-low pitchshifted stuff and a high rasp. not bad.

Decomposing Serenity/Mortuary Hacking Session Split CD: see above. all the homemade grind is kind of blurring together. it's good, but there's not much to say. i'll probably buy some more decomposing serenity. they're interesting.

Spinegrinder - A Visual Symphony of Horror: grindcore again. this is better produced than the last two splits. the vocals seem to be either phased heavily or pitched up and down randomly, which is pretty interesting. one of the song titles is "hexen bis aufs blut gequalt". another exploding head cover.

Paracoccidioidomicosisproctitissarcomucosis - Satyriasis and Nymphomania: the band name alone makes this worth having, probably. this is goregrind from mexico. it has some good mid-tempo metal riffs to break up the barrage, but the production needs work. cover is of the interior of a rib cage, with lots of bright yellows and reds. the inside tray (behind the cd itself) is a collage of various porn images, including gay and bestiality.

Merzbow - Collapse 12 Floors: i've been looking forward to this one, but it's probably my least favorite of the merzbow albums i currently own. it's still good, but puroland is great. it has some nice quiet moments. it kind of sounds like newer xenakis compositions at times.

Cemment - Donor: this is industrial-psychedelic-grind from japan. distorted grunting vocals, occasional flanged piano solos, lots of great riffs and solos. the inside booklet has the band name in floating 3d tie-dyed letters over a backdrop of peaceful clouds, and some band photos in a bright red filmstrip frame. the other side of the booklet is pitch black. i'd buy more of their stuff.

Masonna - Noisextra: this isn't as good as inner mind mystique, but it's pretty good. two loooong tracks. the fact that it's all his voice impresses me. i might like this more than the merzbow i just got. i dunno.

Goat - England's Satanic Mills: 24 tracks of noise. pretty good and varied. the booklet is photocopied and the cd is a burned cdr, as is the case with the next two albums. i'd buy more.

Xombie - s/t: long analog distorted bass drones. they're pretty peaceful to listen to while you're driving, but i couldn't sit in front of the stereo for an hour with them.

Xome - Itch: varied noise. it's pretty good.

The Bodybag Romance - Gincrusher: this might be my favorite of the whole lot. packaged with all sorts of cool handmade stuff. it's kind of black/death/grind. they cover a song by mountain. i'd definitely buy more of their stuff.

i got all the above cds for a little under 100$, which is pretty good.