Nostalgia
Do you at times dwell in nostalgia? I know I do. One music related subject is how much I miss record stores. When I grew up I would go to the record store every weekend. Not that I would buy something every week, I would just browse through their collection. Just to check out what is new. Every couple of weeks I would have made enough money to be able to buy something new and I would pick up the records that looked most promising and spend some time listening to them to pick one. That record I would later bring home and spend a lot of time with.
Sometimes I miss that time. I used to say that we don’t get to know music like that anymore. And in a way that is true. I do get to visit a record store every now and then. But now I need to travel to get to one. But I figured it is also not true, it has just changed. What I do now (and I suspect lots of you might do more or less the same) is we take refuge on the internet and go on and explore what the music world has to offer. I don’t know about you, but in my case this can come in two distinctly different forms. The first one is really simple: I read a review that makes me want to check something out so I do. Sometimes I add it to a playlist on the streaming service of my choice, sometimes I buy it on Bandcamp, sometimes I buy the record in physical format.
The second way is something I want to talk a bit more about today. This is when I get into an internet vortex. You perhaps know the feeling? It is a quiet night and all of a sudden you realize it is time to go to bed. You are not really sure what happened to the past couple of hours except that your head is spinning from all the new music you just listened to. That kind of vortex.
Enter the vortex
I especially experience these kinds of vortexes when I find myself in love with a genre I did not listen to a lot lately. One example is the vortex I entered when I started looking for more information on LLNN, who really surprised me last year with their excellent album Unmaker. That album became my favorite record of last year, and it deserved it. So yeah, after checking out the back catalog too, I was still hungry for more. My collection of The Psyke Project offered some relief, but it was not too long after that I entered one of those vortexes I talked about.
First band I found is We Are Among Storms. This band with the singer from The Psyke Project took me a little bit of time to get used to. One song is brilliant, the whole album was a bit much the first spin. Once I took to their sound I have to admit last year's debut full length The I In We is one hell of an album. The riffs are massive, the songs feel like they are looking forward to crushing you. To me the singer is the selling point, he is the best voice I have ever heard in this style. The information on their Bandcamp is a bit misleading if you ask me. They tell you “The purpose of this constellation is to mix aggressive, heavy moods and serene, uplifting ambiances into one force of nature.” From what I have told you I have found the aggression and the heaviness they went for, the serene and uplifting not so much. I am perfectly ok with that though and highly recommend checking this band out. While you are at it, their self-titled EP is also very much worth listening to.
Stick around for more
The next band I found is Église. Upon reading more about We Are Among Storms I saw a couple of band names I did not know. Time to check them out. What surprised me the most is that Discogs tells me there is one album, a self-titled album, but Bandcamp had four releases available (another album, an EP and a single to be precise). I have already told you I really dig the vocals of the singer of The Psyke Project and We Are Among Storms. Turns out he holds up pretty well in a musical style that is heavily influenced by Converge. The lyrics deserve special attention as they are really outstanding. Just check the lyrics of “Light Conquerer” and I think you will agree with me. On their second (and last) album we find another singer, but this band still delivers on that album. I think they called it quits after that, which is kinda sad, as I would have loved to hear more.
Related but slightly different
Now, there is one final band I found while I was lost in this particular vortex that I feel I need to share with you. That is the band Eyes. I really cannot understand why bands pick certain names, especially names like this that make you practically unfindable online, but let’s focus on the music. Again, this is a Danish band. I am guessing I found this band because their bass player plays on a couple of LLNN releases, but I am not sure about that. This band plays slightly different music than those mentioned above. I catch some Refused vibes, but that’s not all. It has some similarities with Anchor. There are numerous bands called Anchor, in fact I even have two bands with that name in my collection, but I am talking here about the band that released the neigh perfect album Recovery. So in the same ballpark as Refused, but much smoother. There is also a bit of the madness the Euglena brings to the table. Euglena plays absolutely mental mathcore. That should not come as a surprise considering this band was started after the demise of Follow The White Rabbit (if you haven’t checked out Endorphinia, I suggest you get to it now).
A vortex into the crossover thrash universe
Working from home has its benefits. I can play my own music. Some days I go from virtual meeting to virtual meeting and I do not get to enjoy too much music, but some days I have no meetings. I love those days for the music I get to enjoy. One of those days, after playing Nightmare Logic, Powertrip’s exceptional album, three times in a row I decided to delve into this particular genre. I already own albums by High Command, Lowest Creature and Enforced (all these bands are highly recommended), and am familiar with Drains California Cursed, which is highly recommended by my colleague Campbell. When it comes to music I currently live by the adagium: more is more. That night, after dinner I prepared myself for another vortex, and boy did it deliver.
The NY variant
One easy find was Ekulu. I was well aware of their existence but hadn’t had the time to check their album Unscrew My Head. I was pleasantly surprised when I finally did. Do I need to elaborate on their influences? If I would not mention Cro-Mags influences you would be surprised, right? Given that Ekulu hails from New York it should also be no surprise that their sound is rooted in NYHC. That gives them a bit different sound than the bands mentioned earlier, but only slightly so. At times I feel a riff or a lead is an ode to a band. For example, during the intro of “Half Alive” the lead guitar reminds a lot of Suicidal Tendencies. Or the opening riff of “Crossed” sounds very close to Metallica. I don’t know if the band intended it as such, but it is fun to try and match something that sounds so familiar with the band it refers to.
A bit Slayeresque
Another band with a strong hardcore connection is Honey. To be fair: I almost dismissed this band based on their name alone. Last years Forever Fire has some really cool cover art though. This convinced me to give this band a chance. I am happy that I did because this band rips. Forever Fire is their second album and it is definitely a step up from debut Nightmares come to life. On Forever Fire I am reminded of Slayer's Undisputed Attitude and then especially the first half of that album, an album that is really quite dear to me (which is a bit of an unpopular opinion I think, but that is something to be discussed another time). That is partly due to the haunted riffs, but also because Jay's voice reminds me of Tom Araya's on that album. That hardcore connection I talk about in the first sentence? I mentioned that because you might remember Jay Laughlins from Turning Point.
The London alternative
A bit more recent is the Under The Boot EP by Inhuman Nature. This EP roams the same grounds as Enforced. Meaning it mixes its crossover thrash roots with a pinch of death metal. For Inhuman Nature that mainly translates in vocals that are a bit more gruff. Add a solo guitar that is a bit more metal influenced and you get the picture. The main problem I have with this EP is that it is too short. With only three songs and about twelve minutes of music I am left hungry for more.
The Dutch connection
Lucky for me I found Bloodsucker. Bloodsucker hails from my home country, The Netherlands. They are Frisian to be more precise and released their debut EP last November. Once upon a time there was a band from that region of The Netherlands called Icepick. Icepick released very little music, but what they released is very much worth your time. They played crossover thrash of the Cro-Mags school. Bloodsucker is cut from the exact same cloth and remind me very much of Icepick. With regards to Cro-Mags, think the Revenge album and not so much the older material. The end riff from opening track “The End” could be lifted from that album. At times I am also reminded of Son Of Sams second album, Into The Night. Can I also point your attention to the artwork of this EP? It's simple, but something about this -- the clever placement of the band logo and its color on the black and white background -- is just splendid.
All these bands operate in a very narrowly defined genre, but every band finds its own niche. None of these bands are truly original, but all play with more than enough conviction and energy to be worth your time.
After explaining all this I can only conclude that my visits to the music store certainly had its charms, but I have found another way to relive that charm. On to the next vortex!
