ENDLESS MOTHS SWARMING: Jute Gyte - Vast Chains (2014)

Today, in "metal subgenres you've never heard of", we bring  you Jute Gyte, a one-man project playing "microtonal experimental black metal with irregular meters, dense polyphony, and wastelands of trudging black doom". Oh man! If that doesn't light up your hipster alarm, then you must be a pleb who is content with listening to regular black metal. Hmph!

Adam Kalmbach, the man behind Jute Gyte (which, by the way, doesn't really mean anything; it's just a made-up name), is the type of guy who's really creative, so his musical output is quite impressive, both in terms of volume and quality. Vast Chains is his latest release and conjures 6 long tracks that are bound to bring collapse and despair to your already miserable existence. I only have a vague idea of what microtonal music means, even after googling and reading a bit about it, so don't expect me to explain the theoretical intricacies of Jute Gyte's music. Suffice it to say, all of the songs are weird, angular and Escherian in structure, with hypnotic dissonant riffs and simple yet effective drumming, creating a trance-like and oppressive atmosphere. Further adding  to that are the vocals - coarse shrieks which sound like they're coming from the bottom of some horrible black pit. The lyrics are an unexpected highlight: often abstract and hermetic, they paint bizarre and nightmarish images of obsidian towers, black seas, dying animals and broken hopes. 

There's a lot of albums to wade through when it comes to Jute Gyte, but Vast Chains is a good starting point. If you're looking for something a bit more accessible and up-beat (although that's a relative term in this case), I suggest you listen to 2011's Impermanence. Either way, your mind is about to be broken like 1000 mirrors.

EAT SHIT AND LIVE: Iron Reagan - Worse Than Dead (2013)

Here's a quick dose of angry, politically-charged punk/thrash violence to get you through your bullshit day: Iron Reagan is a side-project of Municipal Waste and Darkest Hour members, featuring Land Phil and Tony Foresta from the Waste on guitars and vocals, respectively. Their sound is pretty straightforward and easy to describe: basically, it's just as fast and wild as Municipal Waste, except there's more hardcore punk in the mix and the lyrics are about corporate greed, lousy paychecks and being fed up with the government, man. Pretty meat-and-potatoes, but honestly you don't need anything more than fast riffs and pissed off vocals. Iron Reagan does just what it says on the can.

Tzeeeac Interview: OHMWAR

Hailing from Anytown, Canada, raised on hardcore punk and industrial fumes, high voltage musicians OHMWAR have agreed to do an interview on the likes of their forthcoming 1st LP, Henry Rollins, baseball and how if feels to be cool. They're the motherfucking bee's motherfucking knees, so make way!

How did OHMWAR get started?
I had a concept for a band and a bunch of tunes that I wanted to record. I hadn't played drums in years and had no interest in it so I put an ad up looking for a drummer. I got one single reply months later from Andy (former drummer) so we started talking and it turned out we knew a lot of the same people and came from the same punk rock background. We jammed a few times, got along really well and realized it was good shit. At the time he was working with Derek (bass) who I had played in a long running band with years ago so D came by and that's pretty much it. Andy moved and Chad took his place a couple of years ago.

What is the deal with the "Be An Electrician!" symbol?
Just some nonsense shit that looks cool with vague associations to the lyrical content. Basically something to make people say "What's the deal with that?"

What about the OHMWAR name, what's that all about?
Pretty much the same as the above question. I had a fairly solid concept in place for the first bunch of lyrics but that ran its course and the name stuck around. The original concept revolved around sound wars and a secret source of power that had been passed on undiscovered by all but a few, all taking place in some weird paranoid noisish/pulpy alternate world.

Who do you hail as your biggest influences?
Rush and baseball.

Don't you ever get tired from being such a cool band?
No.

How did the split with SATAN'S SATYRS come to be?

I got the SS demo tape when it came out and it really blew my head. I went to play it for a friend and I accidentally hit record on the tape player and taped over a bit of the first song. I emailed Clay to see if i could get another copy and we started talking about Black Flag other fucked up experimental music and movies we were both into. They then became underground famous so I decided to ride their coattails into sweet sweet jetsetting stardom. Still waiting on that.

Describe your live performances using some BLACK FLAG lyrics.
"I Love You."

Any chances of a European trip for you guys?
It's unlikely but who knows? We're old and broke.

Tell us about the forthcoming debut LP.
It's called BROKEN ARMS DANCE WITH BLACK FEET. Twelve songs, 6 per side. 45 RPM. Along with the songs we have really amazing artwork for the cover and insert done by colombian madman Juan Y Diego. His drawings are as much a part of this project as the music and lyrics. Check out some of his stuff here. The pressing place managed to fuck it up 4 times. The most recent one which we got today had a totally different band on Side B so that has been frustrating.

Plans for the near and far away future?
We're jamming on Wednesday. The music for our next album is written. We'll arrange that and I'll write the lyrics. If money and time permit I hope that will be out around this time next year.

What sound does an "Eisenstein" make?
Just tune down and bang the octave.

BANG THE OCTAVE HERE.

The Milton Incident - Innocence Lost (2014)

Attention, TZEEEAC minions! How are you today? I hope you're fine. Are you ready for some sweet French alternative metal? You'd better fucking be, because I've skipped college today to write this.

The Milton Incident is a dark alternative metal band hailing from France. I'm so glad they've chosen to sing in English, because I've been skimming through the French underground scene for a while now (mostly for hip-hop bands) in hopes of finding some content for TZEEEAC. Since most of them sang in French and the only phrase I know in French is ''I can't speak French, it's too complicated'', I have refrained myself from writing anything about said acts. Fortunately, I can offer The Milton Incident the coverage it deserves. 

Every song on Innocence Lost is a pile of heavy riffs, energetic drumming and groovy rhythms. The albums starts full-force with Deadset, a crushing riff-heavy monster of a track which will blast your speakers into oblivion. The next track, Torn Down, follows the exact same formula, only that it's a bit more engaging. Things start getting really interesting when Deus Ex Machina enters the rotation with its catchy chorus and the superb vocal delivery, which alternates between straight up clean and demonic fits of rage in a matter of nanoseconds (as is the case with the majority of the songs on this album). I don't know what preparations Sam does prior to singing (he's probably a robot), but I can't even imagine how exhausted he must feel after every live performance. This is not to say that I believe that the rest of the rascals are slacking off, smoking weed and watching MTV while the frontman is spiting his lungs out - the drumming, guitar (as mentioned before) and bass work are as equally engaging as Sam's vocals.

Although the album slows down a bit after the fifth track, it never loses momentum; the overwhelming avalanche of heaviness is now replaced with slower, more melodic sounds in combination with short bursts of violent rhythms. It tricks you into believing that it's a straightforward alternative-metal album, then it throws a bunch of different influences into your face and runs away laughing maniacally, like that stupid kid from kindergarten that always destroyed my beautiful cube castles and who I totally beat the shit out of afterwards and not run away crying into my mom's caring arms--- it's really good that they've decided to experiment, is what I'm trying to say. You might think that they're similar to Papa Roach and Avenged Sevenfold, but my spider sense has also detected some hints of Tool when it comes to the overall structure and song progression.

Which is always good, because they haven't released anything in fucking ages.

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Official website

KINDERGRIND: Sockweb - Werewolf (2014)

This is it everybody - the grindcore album to end all grindcore! I've been literally waiting for this for close to a year, when I contributed $1 to Sockweb's Indiegogo campaign to fund their debut album. A few days ago, I received an email with a download code for Werewolf and I've had a stupid grin plastered on my face ever since. 

So who are Sockweb and what's up with their name? Sockweb is the world's first father/daughter grindcore band, composed of 7 year-old Joanie Young on lead vocals and her cool dad Adam Young on guitars, drum programming and backing vocals. The first thing you're inclined to think is "What, a 7 year-old girl doing vocals for a grindcore band? Pffahahaha LAME!" Well that would make you a big doo-doo head, because Joanie absolutely KILLS IT on vocals and Werewolf is actually one of the most insane, brutal and creative grindcore albums I've ever heard. She also writes all of the lyrics, which deal with hard-hitting issues like pancakes, werewolves, hot chocolate, bunnies and playground bullies. Joanie's shrieks are complimented by Adam's swarm-of-angry-hornets-type guitar riffs, the occasional guitar solo and, of course, more yelling. I imagine having your dad grindcore-scream at you "YOU'RE GROUNDED FOREVER" would pretty much send everyone crying to their rooms, but Joanie has no problem going head to head with her dad and their vocal trade-offs are too great. Scott Hull from Pig Destroyer handled mastering duties so the production is flawless and there's a guest appearance on the last track by my favorite female vocalist in metal, Katherine Katz of Agoraphobic Nosebleed, who joins Joanie for some all-out sonic carnage. Oh, and there are a lot of samples from cartoons like Scooby Doo, Spongebob Squarepants, The Tick and Drawn Together. Does the awesomeness ever end?!

So, to put it in short for all you dum-dums out there: 

• father/daughter grindcore band
• an adorable 7 year-old girl on vocals
• catchy and crushing songs about breakfast cereal and werewolves
• cartoons
• mastering by Scott Hull
• guest vocals by Katherine Katz (Agoraphobic Nosebleed)

I know it sounds gimmicky and to a certain point, it is. But there's no denying that this is seriously an amazing album and that the music definitely stands up on its own. I urge you to check it out or else I'll throw dirt in your face and steal your toys! Do iiiiiiit!

br00tal.

VACANT SMILE / VACANT EYES: An Interview with NO OMEGA

We're once again excited to bring you an interview with one of our favorite bands here at TZEEEAC, the emotional punk doomsters from No Omega (Swe)! Daniel, bassist/guitarist for the band, has been kind enough to answer some questions about their many concerts, the places they've visited, the food they enjoy and the music they play. Read on and then head over to their Bandcamp page and listen to their crushing tunes!

1. Hey, boys! We really appreciate you talking with us! How are things in Sweden? Are you even at home?

In Sweden we're experiencing a lot of weird far right/nazi shit going down at the moment. People are really standing up against it though, which is really cool to see. Also, the weather is fucked up, we barely had any winter and now we change from sun to snow over a few days every week... climate change is scary as fuck.
We've been home since December actually, taking a few months off from touring, which is nice for a change, catch up with life and stuff.

2. 2013 was a full year for you and I have always thought your touring schedules are insane. How does it feel to tour the world and be on the road constantly? What are some of your favorite places to visit in Europe?

The fact that we could tour so much last year amazes me. It was a really rad experience, and I got to see so many places I'll never be able to visit again. Our shows in Ukraine and Russia were really cool, both the shows and peope were really cool, and it was really interesting seeing all those countries in Eastern Europe leading us up there. A few of the shows in Spain and Portugal late last year were some of the best we've ever played, for example Porto and Madrid. Hamburg is always a really good time for us, and the last two shows we've played in Örebro, Sweden have been great.

3. You guys seem pretty young! How long have you been playing music and how did No Omega came to be? Are you still in school or do you have jobs and you piss off your bosses constantly by asking for 6 months off to blast beat your way across Europe? :)

Right now I'm the youngest, and I'm turning 24 in a couple of months... Andreas who used to sing is 21, but I think we all just don't look that old haha. No beards or anything usually. We've all basically been playing music since our early teens, and that all turned in to what No Omega is now.
Oscar's been studying at university for a while now, and the rest of us have just been jumping around between jobs and short stints at school. I've been working the front desk of a hotel for a couple of years now, and they've let me go on tour as much as I want pretty much, which is rad. We never have any money, but getting to tour is more important.

4. Speaking of traveling, in which parts of Europe did you eat the best food? Ever try some fucking mamaliga (Romanian polenta)?

We usually try to have food that we don't have in Stockholm when we're out, or just stuff that sounds good for the day. We're all vegan or vegetarian, and usually make sure we get to have lunch before we leave town every day, if there's anything vegan around. Germany generally havs good food, but we found a few really good buffet places in southern Spain and Portugal, which was great. One place in Valencia was an Asian buffet, WITH BURGERS AND FRIES. For no money at all, so cool.

5. No Omega has some really cool merch! Do you design your own clothes? Also, your e-store is currently running out of a lot of stuff, meaning people like your merch. Do you plan on refreshing your stocks in the near future, especially patches? Cuz if not, I'm ordering a Shame tshirt right now!

For the past couple of years our friend Christian from Kids Artwork and Reason To Care (German melodic post-hardcore band) has designed everything for us. He's really talented, and we've been happy with everything he's made for us!
We usually only print merch for tours, and then sell the leftovers after. We always reprint a lot of stuff, but now I guess we'll mostly do new stuff along with whatever releases we do this year.
As a touring hardcore band you really rely on merch sales to have van rentals and food secured, so we'll probably never stop printing tshirts, even if we wished we could.

6. Not sure if you're gear dorks or not, but do you feel like taking us through your guitar/bass rigs and tell us how you achieve your hard-ass sound?

Since I used to play bass and now play guitar I'll try to run through what we've got.
For guitar, we play through an Orange Thunderverb 200 and a Orange 4x12 cab, which is pretty much the No Omega sound in a nutshell, with lots of mids and not a lot of distortion. Then we use a delay pedal for some songs, and just drown most songs in reverb.
For bass, lately we've used my Orange Rockerverb, which is a quitar amp really. Then we play through classic Rat distortion pedal, and some songs incorporate a Digitech bass synth wah (heard when the vocals come in on Vacants for example). I used to use some more effects on the bass, mostly for noise and ambient parts, but I don't really remember any names or anything.

7. Probably should have started with this, but what is the current lineup of No Omega? I couldn't keep up with the changes.

Now we are Daniel, Oscar, Joakim and Tal. Tal used to play in Goodtime Boys and We Came Out Like Tigers, and Joakim is a close friend of mine and Oscar, and we have both played with him in other bands before. We'll see what happens with the band and the lineup, but this is the band that’s writing songs and played the last show we did. 

8. Your band photos make it really hard to tell what the weather was like in the picture -- most of the time, half of you are wearing shorts and tshirts while the other half is clad in jeans and hoodies. I find it very confusing! How do you comment?

Haha... I think you've seen some of the photos we took on our two tours last Autumn. It's in that vague shift between summer/spring/winter, and our group never agreed on if it was tshirt weather or not haha. Also, it's always different who in the group is sick, so that adds to it... And it's really funny that you and other people have noticed. We strive to mess with minds.

9. Five obscure hardcore bands we should be on the lookout for in 2014?

Hardcore, obscure, I don't know... Shirokuma from Söderhamn, Damaged Goods from the US. Just did a show for Totem Skin from Falun last weekend, and they are really cool. Our good friends in This Gift is a Curse from Stockholm will release a new record soon that is going to blow minds I hope. And This Routine is Hell from Holland put out on of the best records of 2013, so I hope they put out something new soon!

10. Last question: when are you hitting the road again? Have fun and be safe, guys! Cheers!

We're focusing on writing new songs now, but we'll be out this summer. We have a couple of things that we hope will come through, so it might be more than just the few weeks we have booked for this summer. I hope we can play a lot this year, but you never know.
Thanks for being interested in our band, cheerio(s)!

Teledrome - Teledrome (2014)

It's 4:30 in the morning and I'm enjoying a quiet, relaxing evening/morning. I'm browsing weird music blogs, eating chips, drinking coffee and half-watching Ugly Americans on Comedy Central. Oh, and listening to this totally sweet album by Philadelphia's Teledrome, who play cold, futuristic, retro, soothing synth punk/cold wave full of buzzing synths and croaking, phoned-in vocals. Robotic drumming, distorted guitar riffs and weird noises complete the atmosphere. This is good. 

No Omega - Shame (2013)

No Omega will always hold a special place in my heart because they were the band Volo and I got to see when we went on our first hardcore punk date in Bucharest. I had just arrived by bus and I met Volo at a shitty local burger joint called Springtime. We were both starving and the place seemed good enough, so we got some burgers and fries and stuffed our faces. We then went to the venue and moshed hard for 2 hours or so, gawked at some cool merch, realized we were both too poor to afford any and then we went home. BEST PUNK DATE EVER <3

Shame is an uncompromising hardcore record with some grim, doomy overtones that deals with issues like loneliness, depression, isolation and grief. It still amazes me how talented these dudes are, despite their young age. The album is full to the brim with explosive riffs, numerous changes of pace, dark melodies and some of the best drumming I've ever heard on a hardcore record - fast, complex and diverse. I think they've changed a bunch of drummers since Volo and I saw them, but the drumming is one of the highlights of this band. And the vocals - oh man! It's pretty much non-stop screaming and on stage the vocalist looked like he was about to barf his lungs out every second. The whole band is really cool and energetic whenever they are playing live, so their shows are great fun. If they happen to roll over your town - which is very likely, given their insane touring schedules - you should definitely go. You'll have a blast!

Also, I can never tell what the weather is like when I look at their band photos. It's like one of them is in a tshirt and shorts while the others are wearing hoodies and jeans. It's too confusing!

PS: Oh yeah, and Stephen O'Malley from Sunn O))) was at that show. I stood next to him as he was yelling jokes that nobody else understood then laughing by himself. Cool.

#poppunk

VIOLENCE ON VIOLENCE: Daniel's life-changing album

When you lay your seven year old eyes on such an album cover, you know your life will have be forever changed. Spellbinding artwork aside, the music contained in this magnum opus is the pure work of gods, heavy metal at its finest, and when it acted as a gateway album into metal to my virgin ears it was just magical. Had this album never existed, it would have never been the same for me.

Dual guitars like you've never heard before, a bass that tears through the music like a hot blade, Nicko smashing drums into oblivion and newbie Bruce Dickinson pulling the vocal strings on this LP, yet the songs themselves really don't sound humanly possible. Outtathisworld. I remember hearing my 5th grade religion teacher telling me how he got hold of an Iron Maiden album in the 80s and saying that their evil music sounded inhuman, mechanical, impossible.

As "Invader" jumpstarts the album into lightspeed riffs and solos you get a taste of things a-coming, "Children Of The Damned" is just about the greatest heavy metal song ever written. "The Prisoner", "22 Acacia Avenue" and eponymous track are living proof of Maiden's evolution from the Di'Anno years. "Run To The Hills" is the single definition of a hook that stays in your brain years on end, while tunes "Gangland" and "Total Eclipse" bring the NWOBHM groove thrashing down.

And then there's "Hallowed Be Thy Name", an overture for all ends. How to finish on a high note. How to bring home the bacon. How to make your mark on the mind of millions upon millions of young music enthusiasts that want to explore new horizons. Make way not for the greatest metal album of all time, but for one of the biggest musical achievements in history.

It goes without saying that if this LP had not been, it would mean the non-existance of so many heavy metal bands that took the flag further and bowed before The Beast.

He's walking like a small child 

But watch his eyes burn you away 

PunK NewS - March 2014

Remember last year’s review of Propagandhi?

Well, turns out there’s no shortage of punk out there in the wilderness, and just as you’re about to make fun of me for recommending albums from a genre I know close to nothing about, I would beg you not to.

Not because these are records that rival in any way the grandiosity of Failed States, but because it’s simply about good music. That just happened to be released this month. So be thankful for that! 

First off, Forus:

They hail from Bayonne, France and play a very fast and skilled combo made of skate punk awesomeness and mathcore, at times reminding me of the vivid images of canadian riff machines Protest The Hero. The album is short (just over twenty minutes), the songs are of the same nature, yet they keep things interesting by always changing the pace. And this is how they start it up:

Nifty, ain’t it? Be sure to check out the rest.

The counterpart to his fast attack are the more subdued, introspective tunes of Morning Glory with their aptly titled ‘War Psalms’.

Cute cover, huh? Definitely Tzeeeac material!

And while I don’t wish to go into the details of the lyrics (as I rarely do, no matter the record), War Psalms seems set out to do exactly what it wants: namely to mix up a sample of both angry yet soulful songs, while at the same time keeping an exemplary flow to the album. 

How good is it you ask? Well, considering they’ve just created one of the best opera rock pieces that I’ve had the pleasure of listening to in quite a while (I think this is what Avenged Sevenfold wanted to achieve for some time now, yet they keep failing at it),

and that many a song will make you raise you fist in the air and simply sing along to all the ‘oo ooo ooohs’ this things has, War Psalms might just make it up to the top of your playlist for a sunny Sunday morning while you’re eating cereals and drinking milk.

Or a gloomy Friday evening with a beer. Serve it as you wish.