Hell Awaits is a column by Kim Kelly and Andy O'Connor that shines a light on extreme and underground metal. This time, Andy sizes up new releases from Music Blues, Electric Funeral, Bongripper and more.
Music Blues: “91771”
It's been a while since we've heard anything from any of the Harvey Milk dudes, but bassist Stephen Tanner has returned with a new solo project, Music Blues, and he's set to release Things Haven't Gone Well through Thrill Jockey on August 26. “91771,” named for Tanner's birthday, is the first track off the record, and it's very much in the vein of Harvey Milk's last release, A Small Turn of Human Kindness. It's droning and depressing, but it also preserves the morbid sense of humor that Harvey Milk used so well. Tanner's Georgia roots are evident in the riffing, even when slowed to a crawl. This record is instrumental, and it has plenty of twists throughout. Harvey Milk might be dead, but one part of it is very much alive, whether it wants to be or not.
Electric Funeral: Total Funeral
Swedish harsh noise punk act Electric Funeral is not for people who value conventional structures, ample production, clarity of lyrics, joyous attitudes, or any combination thereof. Total Funeral, which will come out via Southern Lord on July 22, collects the entire discography from the solo project of Jocke D-Takt, and it's highly recommended if you are into Disclose and D-Clone. Like those bands, Electric Funeral takes the static tone of Discharge's Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing and magnifies it to the point where it becomes power electronics with live drums. Admittedly, this collection is a LOT to take in at once, but it's all the Electric Funeral you'll ever need. The only reason to listen to this is to torture yourself... but if you're a regular reader of Hell Awaits, that's not really a deterrent, is it?
Bongripper: Miserable
Chicago instrumental doom miscreants Bongripper just dropped Miserable digitally, and they haven't deviated from their path one bit. If you're already into them, this will reaffirm your love. If you're not familiar with Bongripper, this record will give you a head start in catching up. Bongripper are pretty much only interested in bludgeoning you with a variety of riffs at varying degrees of sloth. They'll ride a riff out for however long it takes, and with the shortest track on here falling just shy of 18 minutes, let's hope you didn't have errands to run today. They've got a lot of tar to dump on you.
Gas Chamber: Hemorrhaging Light
Iron Lung Records serves as a mechanism for Iron Lung to put out their own records, but they've also put great releases from Column of Heaven, Hatred Surge, and Buffalo, NY's noise-hardcore ensemble Gas Chamber, whose Hemorrhaging Light LP just came out a couple weeks ago. The guitars have a shine to them not unlike Blind Idiot God, which adds to their piercing nature. “White” recalls both Amebix's slower moments and the nastiest West Coast powerviolence, and the melodic and active bass is a standout. And, in the case of “1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000”, has there been a more significant glass breaking since the beginning of Dopesick? This is what would happen if Nomeansno lose their sense of humor, go out into the woods for a year, and returned even more pissed at society. Light doesn't abandon the principles of hardcore, but this is so much more ambitious than your standard hardcore album.
Gas Chamber: "1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000" on Bandcamp
Ohmwar: Broken Arms Dance With Black Feet
Medicine Hat is an odd name for a town, but it's a real place in Alberta, Canada, and it houses the appropriately weird Ohmwar. Their music is definitely rooted in metal and punk, but it's pretty hard to pin down—which is the appeal! Broken Arms Dance With Black Feet, which was released back in April, in some parts sound like a more hardcore influenced Tweak Bird, mainly because Ohmwar could easily open for The Melvins. They also share an unusual sense of humor in the lyrics, especially in “The Dozens,” which dismantles the machoism of gun culture. Guitars lean towards the proggier edge of stoner rock, jagged with hints of groove. Greg Ginn could stand to listen to a song like “Twigs And Sprigs And Leaves” and get his mojo back. One of the year's more out-there, but not completely out of this solar system, rock releases.
Ohmwar: "The Dozens" on Bandcamp
Powerlord: The Awakening Reissue
Shadow Kingdom Records are aces at finding obscure and forgotten metal, and their latest find is Oklahoma City's Powerlord's sole full-length The Awakening, which will be rereleased on August 19. Drummer Bob Gourley played one show with Slayer in 1983 and was in Dark Angel at one point, and while it must suck to live as footnote amongst names like Dave Lombardo and Gene Hoglan, The Awakening is something he can be proud of. Powerlord existed in that weird purgatory between the commercial metal popular in the 80s and thrash—it's definitely too hard for the glam set, but some thrash kids might have scoffed at this too. Their loss—this is plenty heavy and has aged better (maybe because of its obscurity) than a lot of run-of-the-mill thrash that plagued the late 80s. If you ever wish Metal Church picked up the slack a little more, this is definitely in your wheelhouse. Will it free Kevin Durant from the Based God's curse? That remains to be seen.
Powerlord: "Masters of Death" on Bandcamp