Brutality and Bloodshed for ALL!

These days, the Indianapolis HxCx scene is like a piece of steak left out in the summer heat for a lengthy period of time: from there springs some newbie cropping of larval fly bands that will probably die (i.e. breakup) in a short period of time. These bands hardly have time to gestate into anything greater, even though a handful of them have indicated some potential if it weren't for them prematurely imploding or mutating into a different band with one or two different cast members.

One of the latter of these bands is featured in today's post: Overpower. Overpower has sprung from the ashes of No Regard. Despite its brief existence, No Regard left a boot print on the head of Circle City hardcore scene, gaining notoriety for their violent live shows and being probably the first of the newer wave of bands to unabashedly include metal stylings into their Crossed Out inspired assault. That sound has been refined into a well oiled Panzer tank destructo-bot with OxPx. Before I had heard a note of the band, frontman Jacob told me "the faster parts are faster, and the slower parts are slower" aka: more violence, more destruction.

The demo (recorded by drummer Brandon Burdine) is not indexed into separate songs, so the listener is more or less forced to be bludgeoned over the head from start to finish through the five songs. Clocking in a little over 5 minutes, even the most ADD of hardcore scrappers will be pleased to endure this moshing monster. And the sound that Burdine dialed in on the recording does ample justice to the burly, pile-driving delivery of the band. Low end is all there, making those slow parts really slow, and the tone of the guitar is clarified to give the fast parts the needed presence that is sometimes lost with such music. The drums are well placed neatly in the middle of the mix, jack hammering behind Jacob's Neanderthal(pun intended) vocal barrage; all of this coming dangerously close to harnessing the intimidating energy that the band exudes live.

Enjoy terror.

Suffer

R.I.P. Mark Sheehan and Heartless 12/11

Another hero of mine has fallen prey to mortality! I just belatedly received news that New England hardcore stalwart Mark Sheehan died back in October. Mark played bass and fronted the piss and vinegar charged HxCx powerhouse Out Cold, and was also a former collaborator with G.G. Allin. He was far and away one of my favorite punk/hardcore vocalists, and always inspired me to want to front a band (which happened briefly). When you listened to his venomous vocals, you were right there with him shaking your misanthropic, mad-at-the-world fists at whatever real or imagined shit ass he and you wanted to belt! There isn't a weak Out Cold album of the bunch, and if you are unfamiliar with their work, do you self a favor and refer to my old post here where I celebrate and share their debut album. Also, check out this article on Big Wheel Magazine where Mark is remembered.




On a more positive note: The pissed off hardcore tradition is carried on by my friends in Pittsburgh PA's Heartless. I am doing a show for them at The Dojo Saturday, December 12th. Familiarize yourself with them by checking out my post I did on them here. Hope to see you at the show!!!

Here is the next big show I am doing! Hope to see a lot of people out for this!



SouthWalk productions presents:


EYEHATEGOD

Really, if you are not aware of this amazing band, and claim to be into any music deemed "heavy" you should probably come up up with a suitably constructive way of removing yourself from existence. But, I will give an obligatory description: Ten-Ton heavy, Sabbathy/blues riffin', life-hatin' sludge destruction powerhouse from NOLA; this is the Melvins/Black Flag Michael Myers sadistic bastard child! They have not been to Indy in about 5 years, and who knows when they'll be back, so you should do yourself the justice of making every opportunity to be here!

Goatwhore

Another destructive act from the swampy bowels of NOLA featuring members of Soilent Green. This blackened Celtic Frost worshiping act have been Carving the Eyes of God for over 13 years now with their Funeral Dirges for a Rotting Sun. This is their first appearance in Indy, to the best of my knowledge, and you can almost guarantee that you won't see them sandwhiched in on such a colossal bill as this ever again!

Phobia

Veteran death-grind/crust mercenaries making another appearance here in Indy! If you missed them the last 3 times they have been here in the past 5 years, here's another shot to redeem yourself! Any avowed grind freak will stand by the testament of classics such as "All That Remains" "Return To Desolation" and "Means of Existence", as well as their more recent outings such as "Grind Your Fucking Head In" and "Cruel". In Grind We Crust!!

Coffinworm

Indy's finest misanthropic merchants of eschatological sludge-noir! Offering up omens of doom and paeans of blasphemy at this altar of heaviness that will never be constructed here-after!

Daisycutter

x260x powerviolence barbarians throwing down the gauntlet and smashing open the doors of this show! After they are finished, you will banging your head for the duration of this show FACELESS after they duly rip in off!

December 6th, 2010
@ Birdy's
2131 East 71st Street
Indianapolis, IN 46220
(317) 254-8971
http://www.birdyslive.com

Doors 6:30 p.m. Show starts 7 p.m.
Advanced tickets $17.50
Day of show $20
21+ show

This will be the only stop of this tour coming near here! Tickets will be available through Ticketmaster, with all applicable fees applying. They will also be available through Birdy's box office, and at Vibes Music. Other ticket vendors will be announced later. Coffinworm, Daisycutter, myself, and Jared Southwick will also have tickets on hand in the next few days. Contact me through here or Facebook if you are interested in buying some!

The Shows Must Go On!!!

After a significant hiatus of booking shows regularly on my part, I have come back, full swing, to being a show booker/promoter. As has been the case in my past, the focus of the majority of my shows are smaller, all-ages, d.i.y. shows. However, I have started to branch out a bit and book some "bigger" shows and 21+. I don't plan on making this a regular occurance, but given the nature of some of the shows I have been offered, and the current climate of the Indianapolis music scene, it is best for me to re-strategize how I do shows, and diversify the selection of venues and locales I choose. That being said, hit up my Facebook to get regular updates and invites for any shows I may be booking now and in the future: My Face

Here is a calendar of confirmed upcoming shows:

10/17/2010:

Kata Sarka: Born under a bad sign grinding, blackened crust. Join us in nihilistic reverie as we hammer nails into the cross.

Mutilation Rites:Harrowing, punk inflected black metal hailing from Brooklyn. This is the last date of their tour circling the Chicago Apocalyptic Crust fest.

Nak'ay: Sarcafago worshiping crustified black metal from Ft. Wayne. Features members of Daisycutter.

Overpower: New band with No Regard contingent. Sounds like this shit is legit!

@ The Dojo
2207 N. College
Indianapolis, IN.
7 p.m.
$7

10/26/2010

Medusa Bloomington serpent cult playing angry Melvins/Stooges rockers

Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire Sludgey, contorting grind-ish stuff. For fans of Gaza and Early Graves

Summon the Destroyer Circle city death merchants.


@ The Vollrath Tavern
118 E. Palmer St Indianapolis, IN 46225
9 p.m.
$7
21+

12/11/2010

Heartless Burly, PV tinged hardcore from PA. Features members of Masakari

Cleanslate sXe attack from the 'Nap.

others TBA.

@The Dojo
2207 N. College Ave
7 p.m.
$5

Goin' Out West!

Been seriously neglecting the Dervish. Sorry about that. Hope to get it back up and running here.

Anyway, wanted to let people know that I will be out west Aug. 7th through the 24th, hanging with my homies in Black Breath for a few shows and then going up to Seattle with them to later leave with my good friend Vince's doom and gloom contingent Anhedonist. Here are the dates below. Hope to see old friends, and make new ones during my trek:

Black Breath tour:

August 7 - Half Moon Bay, CA @ The Community Center w/ Make Do and Mend, Heartsounds, Shook Ones, Glasses, Comadre

August 8 - Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex w/ Corrosion Of Conformity, Goatsnake, From Ashes Rise, Trap Them, Repulsion, Nails, Coliseum, Night Horse, Eagle Twin, Early Graves, Righteous Fool, Semen Sundae, The Fucking Wrath, Rats Eyes, Spider Fever

August 9 - TBA, CA @ TBA

August 10 - San Francisco, CA @ DNA Lounge w/ Corrosion Of Conformity, Goatsnake, Eagle Twin

August 11 - East Bay, CA @ TBA

August 12 - Seattle, WA @ Neumo's w/ Corrosion Of Conformity, Goatsnake, Eagle Twin, Righteous Fool

Anhedonist tour (all dates with Baltimore's Oak):

August 15th Seattle, WA - at The Funhouse with Elk's Blood and Cross (most likely)

August 16th Portland, OR - at Pocket Sandwich house with TBA

August 17th Portland, OR - at Plan B with Nux Vomica, Stone Burner and Ealdath

August 18th Salem, OR - at The Burial Grounds with TBA

August 19th Eureka, CA - With speed of darkness plus one other at empire squared

August 20th San Francisco, ca? Oakland, CA? bay area help? - ??????.

August 21st Oakland, CA - at The Victory Warehouse with Badr Vogu, +others

August 22nd Los Angeles, CA - at The Blvd. with Murder Construct, +TBA

August 23rd Hollywood, CA - with Crom, +TBA venue info forthcoming

Kata Sarka blog

Finally, Kata Sarka has a presence on the interwebs. We have published a blog which you can access here or from my blog list. We have just posted streaming audio tracks from our forthcoming demo "Riding a Wind of Knives". Once they are ready, I will be posting pricing and shipping info here and on the KS blog.

AWOL

Yeah I know, its been a month since I have done anything on here (for those of you that actually care, heh!). Been moving and busy with school, and band related business. I should be posting on this again with about the same regularity as before. Later.

Hardcore Classics Vol.1

Here is an awesome homemade comp that I got from Steve the vocalist of 9 Shocks Terror at a show one time. It features among the many great bands Naps own once cherished Zero Boys, and also lesser known old school Circle City punkers The Slammies (whom featured Jeff Berman, co-owner of Bazbeaux fame). Here it is, all 43 tracks:

For the love of the 'core

Heartless Bastards

Heartless are a lean, mean, hardcore killin' machine from Pittsburgh and features members of the awesome crustcore band Maskari. This post features their winter 09-10 demo which is a comp of some 7" and older demo tracks. Kata Sarka did a show with them on a grim, wintery eve back in January, and being not only a killer band, they were some righteous, down-to-earth cats. They play a brand of HxC that could easily be passed off on first listen as power violence, but upon repeated listens one will uncover an array of other influences like metallic hardcore ala Integrity, straight up crust punk (see track #7, "Never Enough", my personal favorite on this), and burly, bottom-heavy dark hardcore like Cursed, Pulling Teeth, and The Power and Glory. Definitely for fans of Deathwish Inc. style stuff. Get in touch with these gents here Heartless pick up their schwag, and catch them when they roll through your town.

Never Enough

Narcissitic Blasts From the Past: Part I

Graves of the Endless Fall is a band that I formerly played guitar for. It was the first project I had been involved in where I felt like I was able to explore my varied interests in music. Although rooted in hardcore, GOTEF was a vehicle used to explore the varying members love for namely Black Sabbath, but also other metal tinged acts such as Neurosis, early Mastodon, Converge, and Botch. This seething brew was also peppered with my then mounting fascination with all things droning and crusty, ala His Hero Is Gone, and From Ashes Rise. I ended up leaving GOTEF to pursue other musical horizons, but did so amicably, and happily note that these dudes are still going at it with a re-vamped line up that holds its previous core of Eric R., Adam L., John C., and Mike V., along with newer additions in my good friend and former band mate Sean T. (also of Somnabulist Red fame) and brother-in-arms Eric S.(whom also is axe slayer and vokillist in Daisycutter and Nak'ay, as well as holder of the flame of Ft. Wayne's d.i.y. scene at 1624 N. Harrison St.).

This little demo is what I consider this bands crowning achievement while I was a member, and I am proud to have been a part of its creation. The songs on here are what I feel some of the best I have collaborated on in my time as musician. Here it is and I hope you enjoy it:

We Sleep Moving

Disconnected are no "Pussyfooters"

Back in November, my band Kata Sarka played our first show. While in the process of planning the show, I got word from a friend of mine that he had been planning a show on the same date, and wanted to merge the two so we didn't slit each other's throats in the deal. I said "sure, who are the bands?". He said one of the bands was a japanese hardcore influenced d-beat thing called Disconnected from Toledo. He said it was his friend Mahlon's band. I said, "hold on, there is only one Mahlon that I know and he is from Toledo also!". Lo and belhold, it was the newest project of an old friend of mine that I had not seen in some years. Needless to say, this was an awesome coincidence, because a) Mahlon is one helluva stand up dude and b) his merry band of Deathside/GISM/Bastard/Tragedy worshippers rip shit up! So, I present to you Disconnected's raging debut "Isolated". Also, Mahlon has a great blog called Thank You For Your Mediocrity that you can access from my blog list to the right.


Serve No One

Hell Comes To Fort Waste

Clawing its way out of the razed steel and rubble of the dead factory town of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Nak'ay is a new force to be reckoned with. A raw thrasher that mixes up all the elements of old school, primitive black metal a la Blasphemy, Beherit, Sarcofago, old Bathory, and Impaled Nazarene, with some traditional metal flourishes; served up on a grinding punk platter. This rages! Features some of the maniacs from the cartel known as Daisycutter. Get in touch with them here Nak'ay about grabbing a copy of this, and check them out March 10th at 1624 N. Harrison St. in Ft. Wayne


Nak'ay RGBBMPND demo

Cleveland HxC Madness: Paying Ohmage

Almost 10 years ago, I worked at an independent punk record store called Subterranean. At the time I was chin deep in listening to the blackest, most jesus hatin' metal around, while periodically listening to some other things like crusty hardcore, post-punk, and industrial music. Well, as time went along working there, I met some pretty cool people that turned me on to a vast array of underground hardcore that I had been sleeping on, and was literally under my nose at the record store. One of the bands I got turned on to that pretty much broke the floodgates open for me was Nine Shocks Terror. Some people who check this blog may be familiar with the insane Clevo scene that has spawned such awesome bands as Gordon Solie Motherfuckers, Inmates, and their ilk. For those of you that are not, d/l this, Nine Shocks "Paying Ohmage" and then buy the fucker (and any other Nine Shocks you come across) from Sound Pollution records or next time you see it at the finest of indie record stores.

Remove the Pope

*note* My uploads have been plagued with corrupt file issues, so if you d/l this and it has some, just holla and I will re-up it, yo!

Voluspa9's Digital Mix vol. 2

Here is the latest installment in my digital mix series:

1. EyeHateGod- Serving Time in the Middle of Nowhere

My favorite cut from the masters of southern druggy sludge. This version is from the compilation "Preaching the End Time Message". The first (and I feel superior version) appeared on their split with the doom band 13. I don't have that version uploaded, so this will have to suffice.

2. Skeletonwitch- Crushed Beyod Dust

How fucking metal is that title? That and the mad riffage is why I picked this jam by Ohio blackened thrashers Skeletonwitch.

3. Roky Erickson- Bloody Hammer

Legendary cut from the unparalleled genius known as Roky Erickson. For those of you not familiar with Roky's solo material (or the 13th Floor Elevators for that matter) here is a good place to start. A straight ahead rock anthem in many ways, with deranged, stream-of-conscience style lyrics, if it wasn't for his mental illness, this song should have catapulted him into the upper echelon of rock n' roll fame. Its just as well, cause Roky's day seems to have come in the past few years and he is finally getting the recognition he always deserved.

4. Holy Water- Death In June

DIJ are a strange little outfit, being the creative vehicle primarily of controversial figure Douglas P. it has garned equal parts praise and disdain due in part to its ambiguous flirtations with fascist and war imagery. If you can read deeper into this and take the music for what it is worth you will find that this band is pretty amazing. This is a song from their earlier days, showcasing a more post punk element, very similar to Joy Division.

5. Gang of Four- Is It Love

Most people who are familiar with Gang of Four seem too unanimously prefer the jagged, stripped down sound of Entertainment! and dis the dance-funk electronic style they later adopted. I, however, love all Gang of Four, especially this tune, a single from their album "Hard". This sound, along with post "Pornography" pre-"Disintegration" era Cure, and New Order helped spawn bands such as The Rapture and !!!, so if you dig that, you should be down with this hit.

6. Death Cult- God's Zoo

You know that song "Fire Woman"? That was by a band named The Cult and they are one of my favorite bands (don't hate). I celebrate their entire catalog, especially the early 80's jangle-psychedelic-punk they emerged from. Prior to the Cult, singer Ian Astbury was in a band called Southern Death Cult and they were Crass "groupies" who hung out at the Dial House and followed them around on tour. After SDC disbanded, Astbury and Theater of Hate guitarist Billy Duffy teamed up and formed Death Cult, the moniker of which was once more truncated prior to the band becoming college radio darlings and later stadium rock icons. This song is off of one of the few Death Cult e.p.s

7. Blonde Redhead-Spring and by Summer Fall

Blonde Redhead are an indie-rock/psychedelic trio from New York. They write some of the freshest, original music coming out today. FFO My Bloody Valentine, Jesus and Mary Chain, Juno, Mogwai....

8. Aesop Rock- Big Bang

I guess Aesop is kind of a divisive figure nowadays in the hip hop underground. Maybe I am just conjecturing from passive conversation. Either way, you can't deny that the man has skills, and this jam is pretty indicative of that ability to engage in MC tongue acrobatics.

9. Mad Men- demo track 5

Mad Men are a one man project featuring the talents of Jonah Falco of Fucked Up (drummer) and Career Suicide (guitarist). Pretty much in the vein of alot of hardcore revivalism that has been the thing these days. Nothing out of the ordinary, but a solid enough song from the 2007 self-titled demo

10. Jerry's Kids- Raise the Curtain

A dirgey ditty spit out by Boston HxCx legends Jerry's Kids, this song displays JK being ahead of the game with a song uncharacteristic of the style and region for the time. His Hero is Gone did an awesome take of this song on the highly sought after split with Uranus (later re-issued on the Fool's Gold e.p.) New Lows have a cover of this jam on the Paincave Sessions vol. 1 as well.

11. Broken Bones- Decapitated

A straight ripper from BB's debut e.p. of the same name. Off with yer 'eads!

12. Adolescents- Kids of the Black Hole

This mix is rounded out by a classic cut by a classic Orange County punk supergroup. That eerie siren sounding guitar melody makes this song.

Here it all is, folks:

Digital mix Vol. 2

HACKED!!!!

So, many of you already know this since you received this e-mail from "me":

Hello,

How are you doing? Hope all is well with you and I pray this email finds you in good health. I am sorry that I didn’t tell you about me leaving for this Conference here in England but it was spur of the moment.

I really hate to ask you but I need favor from you because i misplaced my wallet on my way to the hotel where my money and other valuable things were kept.I really need a loan urgently. I will be needing the sum of $3,000 to sort-out my hotel bills and get myself back home.

I will appreciate whatever you can afford to help me with, I'll pay you back as soon as i return. Kindly let me know if you can be of help? so that i can send you the details to use when sending the money via Western Union Money Transfer.

Your help will be greatly appreciated.

Adam

Well, anyone that knows me is well aware that this would never be a thing that I would do or say, and even so, I can't even afford to see people in Ft. Wayne, let alone attend a "conference" in fucking England! Yes, after 12 years of having my hotmail account, it final succumbed to the demise of hackedom. So, hopefully none of you that know me well got bamboozled into this scheme. That being said, my e-mail has a new home at voluspa999@gmail.com. You may send your praises, inquiries, hatemail, and junk to this from here forward or get in touch with me via this blog. I have lost all my contacts, so if any of you catch this send an e-mail post haste so I know how to get in touch with you.

Black Metal Classics: Ulver- "Bergtatt"

On this wintry, grim and frost-bitten eve I bring a true classic from the pantheon of blackened metal. Prior to the forays into electronic and ambient territories that has been Ulver's fare for almost 12 years, they were as true-as-can-be heralders of Nordic paeans to darkened forests, majestic snow-capped mountains of might, and the feral violence of lycanthropy. Their debut album, Bergtatt - Et Eeventyr i 5 Capitler ,may be only five songs in length, but is epic in scope. Few other albums of the genre are able to evoke the imagery that is intended by this masterwork. This is an essential volume to the library of every connoisseur of underground metal, and is the best place to start researching the large, diverse catalog of this Norwegian pack of wolves:

I Troldskog Faren Vild

Here is the English translation of the song titles:

Taken into the Mountain - A Fairy Tale in 5 Chapters

1. Chapter I : Lost in a Forest of Trolls
2. Chapter II : The Sun goes down Behind the Hills
3. Chapter III : She Noticed she was being Watched
4. Chapter IV : A Voice is Calling
5. Chapter V : Into the Chambers of the Mountain