This record is an absolute monster. It's got that ferocious blend of hardcore with touches of black metal and sludge that makes for some really compelling listening. There is a very real sense of poetry to the glistening black edges of this record with its dynamic sounds and crushing volume. The overarching sense of terror that keeps listeners coming back is addictive. LLNN understand what it takes to make emotional and powerful heavy music. Unmaker is a fitting new salvo from these death merchants and one that can't help but to fascinate.
There is a breadth to this offering that can't help but to excite. LLNN have really dialed in the songwriting on this one, and with only a single track going over the six minute mark, it becomes increasingly clear that Unmaker is a potent next step for the band. I want to call special attention to the breakdown on 'Desecrator' which is just a devastating dose of heaviness to come early in the album. The mixture of a black metal snarl over hardcore inspired riffs never gets old and really gives the project its own vibe. The panic chords and booming bottom end only add to this sense of enduring despair and crushing hate.
Unmaker is an absolute skull cracker any way you slice it. LLNN have found a way to refine their sound into a devastating whole and it's the sort of thing that will keep you coming back, ever more fascinated with the twisted burning wreckage that they have created art out of. In an era of great records coming out of the pandemic, Unmaker is among the best. Losing yourself in its layers and hateful majesty is a must for anyone who is a devotee of the underground looking for a deeper dive into this music.
Blackened hardcore is finally, after years of visiting on the fringes of both genre starting to makes it way in as a respected and powerful art form. This debut offering from Totaled, Lament being reissued in the next few weeks on Profound Lore is a perfect indication of all that the genre can be and what the band was able to accomplish in a shockingly brief time. This is an exciting and potent record full of all sorts of dynamic twists and turns fusing a wealth of ideas and continually pointing towards the future of the blackened hardcore genre.
With a sort of dead ahead and no holds barred approach to aural blasphemy and reveling in the madness of the bands roots, Lament is a record that can beat your head into the ground. That being said, there are also quite a few more thoughtful elements at play here and the bands implementation and use of dynamic range is actually really interesting, especially with regards to the interludes and more meditative moments. They go a step beyond their peers who merely want to make angry and in your face black metal with breakdowns. Instead Totaled have visceral soundscapes that speak to what the genre has always been. They are sick and twisted, but what would we do without them?
This is the sort of album that you can get lost in and which continually seems to hint at bleak new soundworlds for the band. While it comes from a fairly stripped down background the roots of the band seem to grow with time and really sink into the soil. Lament is a fascinating listen and one that darts all around the map whilst staying true to what the band is all about. With a clear artistic vision and a dedication to blending two genres which once could not have been more disparate, Lament is a masterful example of a band spitting in the face of God.
Birds In Row have always been a very special hardcore band to me, they push a lot of the boundaries that define the scene and help to keep the genre interesting, what's more is that they're from my home country of France. Their is a profound power to their new record, from the epic intro track to the abrasive riffs that define the record Personal War sees Birds In Row taking their unique brand of decisively brainy hardcore to a whole new level. This is what hardcore really should be about, vicious, desperate, and incredibly enjoyable.
Regular readers know that I review a lot of bands and consequently listen to waaaaay too much extreme music - so when a band really takes me by surprise like Birds In Row does I am left in awe. These guys understand that one of the key elements of hardcore is to give the riffs space and allow the distortion and sonic might too really resonate with the listener. The thing is - Birds In Row are unafraid to mix in all sorts of diverse influences into their sound, creating music that can't help but be fascinating. Personal War is merely the culmination of all the band has done - a truly transcendent hardcore record if there ever was one.
At the end of the day - I'm just a tired out kid, and let's be real, you probably are too - there is no poetry to our day to day lives. But when we get a chance to revel in the murk and feel the cleansing power of a record that takes the art we love to a whole new level... we all have to sit back and enjoy it. Birds In Row understand the potent power of hardcore and what it was always meant to be. Listening to this band is strangely inspiring and leaves me wanting more - Birds In Row have broken all the rules and come out on top. Find them on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/birdsinrow?fref=ts
With Summer
right around the corner, our beloved french booking agencies have certainly not
been slacking off, as demonstrated with the sheer amount of fantastic gigs and
festivals being programmed all throughout the month of may through july. As
tradition has had it since the last couple of years, our friends at Old Town Bicyclette hosted yet another festival under their name, returning this year
with an eccelctic selection of hefty bands playing over 2 days. Lined up for
the first evening of sonic hostilites, Nesseria, Revok and Celeste were here to
represent what our French hardcore scene does best before paving the way for
the canadian beasts in KEN Mode, who were headlining show for the night.
Fired up
and up to task to jumpstart the energy of the room were a band whose
affiliation with Throatruiner records could only foreshadow the level of sonic
chaos about to be unloaded. Nesseria's sound is one that is a whirlwind of
magnificient and ferocious yet calculated chaos drenched with the thunderous
wall of pitch-black black metal. Take the raw energy of a grindcore act and
inject some of the majestic, metallic rage of a blackened hardcore band and
what you end up with is the sound of Nesseria. This band exemplifies why I make
a point to always show up for every opening act on the bill. Thankfully, the
bands' set was greeted by a reasonnably packed audience for an early evening. A
great opening set of songs and a great show that will hopefully take the band
another step closer to the recognition they deserve.
Lined up
next to hit the stage were the Parisians in Revok, as evidenced by their simple
yet intriguing stage decorations consisting of lightbulbs and lampeshadeless
lamps. The band plays a noisy, gritty concoction of hardcore punk combined with
the howling vocals and groovy riffs of a sludge metal band. The bands' set
consisted of fairly long, elaborate compositions with some mean, clunky and
metallic, syncopated riffs complemented with some longwinded passages building
up and gradually morphing as the song progressed. One can only admire the
bands' audacity when it comes to their use of repetition within some of their
songs to create a hypnotic vibe through simple yet groovy and catchy loops; a
daring yet well-executed approach that comes to show that repetition can be a
great thing if used intelligently. Armed with a crushing, gritty sound and
great stage presence, Revok proved their worth and rightfully kept their
audience on their toes with a great show.
Next up
were Celeste, the blackened hardcore band from Lyon. Now I'm going to go
straight to the point and get this out of the way: I fucking love this band, I
quite simply see them as one of the most original and interesting bands to come
out of France. One only needs to witness one of their live shows to understand
why my enthusiasm grows with every opportunity I get to see them. I could
barely contain my excitement as I saw the band step on stage right before the
lights dimmed out and their 5 red headlamps turned on. The band kicked off with
the absolutely crushing intro to "D'Errances en Inimitiés", with
their flashing stroboscopes, red headlamps and smoke machines engulfing us
completely into the bleak, terrifying vibe of the bands' feral, pitch-black
sound. The band then followed things up with "Laissé pour Compte comme un
bâtard" and proceeded to deliver a suprisingly well-paced set of songs,
with the occasionnal instrumental interludes to space things out and keep their
audiences' attention during the bands' suffocating 40 minute journey into the
sonic abyss. The sound was downright impeccable all throughout the set, the
visual aspect of the show was badass as usual with the lights flashing, red
lights swaying up and down as each member headbanged their heads off, and the
performance was as airtight as ever. The set flew by in what seemed to be a
mere 20 minutes, leaving half of the audience in awe and leaving me with the
ever so dire need for more. This was quite possibly the best show I've seen
them play so far.
Finally,
Canada's favorite noisy hardcore band were up next, pumped up and ready to rip
some heads off. Being a fan of the band for quite some time now, I had always
wondered what a KEN Mode show was like, with tabloid news about phone-kicking
only adding more fuel to my fiery curiosity. After finally getting a chance to
see the trio perform live I can safely state that not only were my initial
expectations misled but they were also greatly surpassed. It was noisy, it was
loud and abrasive as hell without losing a single ounce of detail and clarity.
Most importantly of all, KEN Mode is one of the rare live bands who actually
live up to their title/name. Seeing a band pour as much raw power and intention
into their performance is something one sees all too little these days. Each
members' imposing statures and feral performances made for an impressive stage
performance. With a seemingly miniature guitar or bass in hand (compared to his
buff, colossal stature), Jesse quite simply screamed his lungs out while Skot
laid down those thick, loud and intense bass notes that shook you to your core
and Shane battered on his kit like a pissed-off lumberjack. Tonights' set
obviously made way for a good deal of new songs off the new album, and I was
particularly surprised by how well these newer noise-rock tunes blended in with
some of the more "metallic" songs from the bands' back catalog, with
the more "noise rock" influenced tracks complementing the faster more
intense tracks very nicely.
In
conclusion, it didn't take more than the 1st night to make it evidently clear
that the festival was a great sucess. With 4 fairly different but complementary
bands delivering 4 amazing sets at the top of their game, there isn't much more
more you can ask for, can you? You've been warned, you no longer have any
excuse to miss out on any of these bands the next time they're in town. For our
readers in the US: Celeste will be doing their first US tour alongside
Primitive Man from June through July. For our readers in Europe: KEN Mode
should be returning for another european tour in the Fall. I repeat: you've
been warned.
Robin
Thank you to Adrien and the rest of the guys at OTB, to Gunnar of SOM, to Lauren, and to
the bandss for making both this amazing show and this interview
possible!
A l’issue du superbe concert célébrant les 5 ans d’existence
du labelThroatruiner, j’ai eu la chance
de pouvoir caler un entretien avec le guitariste et fondateur du groupe Cowards afin de discuter du groupe, de
leur nouvel album fraîchement sorti dans les bacs ainsi que leur positionnement
vis-à-vis de leur rattachement au hardcore.
-Vos impressions sur
le set de ce soir? C'était un peu compliqué étant donné qu'on avait un nouveau batteur ce
soir. On avait un batteur de remplacement, notre batteur avait un concert avec
un autre groupe. Il y a eu des moments difficiles mais il a bien su assurer
quand même. Je pense que ce n'était pas si mal.
- Pourrais-tu parler
de votre relation avec le label Throatruiner et comment vous avez été amenés à
signer sur ce label? Bah c'est très simple en fait. En 3 ans je n'avais pas de groupe, j'ai
monté un nouveau groupe, on a commencé à enregistrer, on a fait écouter à
Matthias et il nous a dit "c'est chanmé, j'le sors". Il a sorti nos
trucs et depuis on est obligé d'être un vrai groupe *rire*.
- Vous venez de
sortir votre deuxième album, intitulé "Rise
to Infamy". Est-ce qu'il y a eu des changements notables au niveau du
son ou de l'écriture par rapport à l'album précédent? Ce qui a changé, c'est qu'en vrai c'est le vrai 1er album qu'on a fait en
tant que groupe, en tant que 5 types qui sont devenus un groupe. C'était un
vrai effort collectif, on a essayé et je pense qu'on a réussi à pousser un peu
le délire qu'on voulait avoir.
- Vous êtes également
un groupe originaire de Paris. Est-ce que vous vous sentez justement rattaché à
la scène Hardcore de Paris ? On s'est toujours senti un peu à l'écart, on n'a pas du tout la même
approche. On ne défend pas l'esprit de scène, on ne défend pas la
"fédération" du rock, du hardcore et tout ça. On a une approche
vachement plus négative du truc. On a des copains, mais on n’en a pas beaucoup
et on ne suce pas la bite aux gens qu'on n'aime pas. Après, il y a beaucoup de
gens qui se bougent à Paris, qui essayent de faire vivre une scène mais c'est
compliqué quoi. Prends par exemple un type comme Benoit Longueville, qui a fait
cent mille groupes; il a commencé Providence, il a fait Black Spirals... Il
fait des groupes tous les 6 mois, le mec ne sait pas s'arrêter. Il organise
plein de concerts, tous les concerts de hardcore plus traditionnels, il fait
venir plein de groupes américains... Il se fatigue à faire ça, et lui il me dit
souvent qu'il a l'impression que le retour est ingrat quoi. D'un côté j'ai
envie de lui dire "toi, est-ce que tu te bouges à un concert d'un groupe
que t'aimes pas? Bah non". Nous on est pas les meilleurs clients du monde,
tu nous vois pas souvent en concert, et c'est parce qu'il n'y a pas beaucoup de
groupes qu'on aime bien. Par contre s'il y a un groupe qu'on aime bien, on y
va.
- Concernant la
hardcore à l'international, est-ce que t'as plutôt une vision positive ou
négative de son évolution depuis ton initiation ? Je suis la mauvaise personne à qui poser cette question, parce qu'on nous
appelle un groupe de hardcore mais on n'est pas du tout des gens du hardcore.
Je ne connais pas vraiment cette scène là. Mais sinon à l'époque où je jouais
dans Hangman's Chair, on a beaucoup tourné avec Archangel donc j'en ai vu des
scènes hardcore, mais je ne peux pas te parler de la scène hardcore, ca
n'aurait aucun sens que je te donne mon avis.
- Et du coup où
est-ce que vous vous placeriez sur le plan musical ou sur le plan d'une scène? Si on était obligés de s'identifier à une scène, je te dirais la scène
H8000 en Belgique ou Holy Terror avec Integrity, Gehenna ... tous ces groupes
là. Des groupes qui font de la musique avec des guitares saturées, qui gueulent
et qui est vénèr surtout. C'est le plus important. Pour moi, pour nous, tu ne
peux pas faire cette musique là et n'être énervé contre rien, ça n'a pas de
sens. Tu ne peux pas faire cette musique-là de manière positive, c'est faux. Ça
ne me dérange pas qu'on fasse de la musique positive, mais ne mets pas une
guitare saturée et ne mets pas un mec qui gueule, ça n'a pas de sens, fais du
blues, fais du folk... fais tout ce que tu veux. On adore la pop, le rap, tout
ce que tu veux... le positif ça ne nous dérange pas mais pas dans le hardcore
quoi.
-En parlant de ça,
j'ai pu notamment relever des influences d'un groupe qui partageait notamment
un point de vue similaire, une figure dans le hardcore français... (A.L
affiche un petit sourire et lâche un léger soupir)… je parle bien évidemment de Kickback… Qui ça? *rires*
- Est-ce qu'il y a un
rapprochement à faire avec ce groupe en termes d'influences? Je pense que c'est évident, on ne va pas essayer de se le cacher, mais nous
est pas des fans inconditionnels de Kickback. Nous on aime bien un album de
Kickback, c'est "No Surrender".
Pour nous, la plupart d'entre nous, c'est un genre de chef d'œuvre un peu à
part, un disque qu'ils ont sorti après 10 ans de silence, avec un type qui
venait du black metal, et ils ont fait un espèce de mélange qui était complètement
fou. Je l'ai trouvé génial, clairement. Ils avaient un lineup en or en plus: le
batteur Hervé Goardou de Judoboy est un tueur sur ce disque. Il fait la moitié
du travail. Damien, ses riffs sont FOUS. Oui on adore un disque de Kickback, et
oui on en a pris plein d'éléments, mais on ne se limite pas à "viens on va
faire du Kickback". Surtout, je me rappelle quand le disque de Kickback
est sorti je me suis dit :« Mais c'est la musique que j'essaye de
faire depuis tellement longtemps sans jamais avoir trouvé mon crew. » Avec
Cowards j'ai trouvé mon crew et on a fait cette musique-là. Oui on prend plein
de trucs de chez eux, à coté de ca il y'a plein d'interviews de Stephen que je
trouve hyper intéressantes. Je suis d'accord avec lui sur plein de trucs, mais
je suis en désaccord profond avec lui sur plein d'autres trucs aussi.
- Des exemples? Je trouve notamment très intéressant dans certaines interviews plus
récentes depuis qu'il est parti habiter en Thaïlande qu'il te parle de
Bouddhisme. Il te parle de qui lui marque dans le Bouddhisme et ce qui ne lui
marque pas. Ça, par exemple, ça fait
partie des trucs que je me dis depuis hyper longtemps. J'adore le Bouddhisme,
je trouve ça hyper intéressant, mais tu ne peux pas tout prendre du Bouddhisme.
Après il se réclame d'un genre de nihilisme actif. Je trouve ça rigolo, mais tu
ne peux pas concilier nihilisme et activité. Soit tu détestes tout, sois tu
défends des trucs. Et surtout il y a une valeur que nous chez Cowards on
défend, qui ne s'entend pas forcément dans la musique qu'on fait, c'est quelque
chose qu'on a volé à Crowbar: c'est l'amour. Tu ne peux pas détester autant sans aimer tout autant. Nous, on parle des
trucs qu'on déteste, mais ce que ça sous-tend, c'est qu'on aime plein d'autres
trucs, plein d'autres gens. On aime les individus mais on déteste les masses.
- Pour clôturer notre
interview: est-ce que tu pourrais nous citer un de tes albums, de tes films
et de tes livres préférés?
Disque: J'adore cette compilation de Gehenna (le groupe américain) qui
s'appelle The War of the sons of light
and the Suns of Darkness. C'est une compilation avec plein de morceaux avec
des prods différentes.
En trucs un peu plus récents j'adore Blind To Faith, qui est
un groupe belge et qui est un peu dans cet esprit-là aussi, hyper destroy... un
peu à la Eyehategod mais vachement plus teigneux.
Films: J'adore L'échelle de Jacob, Indian Runner et Vol
au-dessus d'un nid de coucou. J'aime bien les films qui commencent bien et
qui finissent très très mal.
Livres: Un des
derniers bouquins qui m'ont vraiment marqué c'est un recueil de nouvelles de
Lovecraft, parce qu'il a une écriture géniale. C'est chez Penguin Books et ce
qui est génial, c'est que t'as l'intégrale de ses nouvelles et elles sont
organisées par ordre chronologique de publication. Du coup tu peux voir
l'évolution de son style nouvelle après nouvelle. Il ne se renouvelle pas
beaucoup mais il change 2-3 trucs ici et là, et à la fin il arrive à un truc complètement
fou.
- Oui, il est aussi
passé par des phases durant sa carrière: la partie "macabre", sa
phase sur les rêves et puis enfin le mythe de Cthulhu. Il se trouve que j'ai
tout lu de Lovecraft! Ah bah je ne sais pas si tu l'as lu, mais pour mettre en parallèle avec ça,
il y a la thèse de Michel Houellebecq sur Lovecraft qui est vachement
intéressante !
- Je ne l'ai pas lu
par contre. Il met en parallèle les phases de la vie de Lovecraft avec ses histoires.
En fait tu te rends compte qu'à chaque fois qu'il te parle d'un monstre, c'est
en fait du racisme de base, pur et dur, parce qu'il avait l'impression de se
faire voler tous les boulots qu'il aurait pu avoir par les immigrés. Et puis à
un moment donné il se casse de New York et il retourne à Providence, et puis
d'un coup il est vachement moins raciste.
- Merci en tout cas
de nous avoir accordé cette interview! Je t'en prie.
Un grand merci à A.L, au
reste du groupe, et à Matthias Jungbluth et à toute l’équipe du fest, sans
lequel cette interview n’aurait pas été possible !
After their
outstanding set at the Throatruiner festival, which celebrated the labels’ 5
year of existence, I got the opportunity to sit down and chat with the lead
guitarist and founding member of Cowards
to talk about the band, their freshly released sophomore album as well as
their stance regarding their affiliations as a hardcore act from Paris.
-What are your impressions on the set
you just played tonight?
It was a little bit complicated, since we had a drummer tonight filling
in for our actual drummer who’s playing a show with another band. There were a
few tough moments but overall he did a good job. It wasn’t too bad.
-Could you tell us a little about
your relationship with Throatruiner records and how you came to get signed by
them?
It’s a fairly simple story. After3 yearsI still hadn’t found a
band, so I started a new one, we started recording our material which we then
showed to Matthias (the head of Throatruiner) and he told us “this is dope,
I’ll release it”. He released our stuff and we’ve been obliged to stay a real
band ever since *laugh*.
-You’ve just put out your sophomore
album, titled “Rise to Infamy”. Were there any notable changes regarding your
sound, your approach to writing… compared to you previous record?
What changed this time around is that this album is our first real album
as a band, as 5 guys who became a band. It was a real collective effort, we
tried and I think we succeeded in pushing the envelope when it came to
achieving the sound we were after.
-So you’re a band based in Paris. Do
you guys identify yourselves as being part of a Parisian Hardcore scene?
We’ve always felt a little bit a little bit outside of all of that, we
definitely don’t have that kind of approach. We don’t defend the “scene
spirit”, we don’t defend any Hardcore family” or anything like that. We’ve got
a much more negative approach. We do have friends, but we don’t have that many
and we don’t suck people’s dicks if we don’t like them. With that being said,
there are loads of active people in Paris who try to keep a scene alive, but
it’s tough. Take for exemple a guy like Benoit Longueville, who formed heaps of
bands: he started Providence, he did Black Spirals… He’s got a new band started
every 6 months, the dude just won’t stop. He books lots of shows, all of the
more “traditional” hardcore bands, he brings loads of bands from the US… he
puts this incredible amount of effort into doing all of that, yet he often
tells me that he feels like a thankless job. On one hand I feel like telling
him “do you ever go to see a band you don’t like? Of course not”. We’re not the
most supportive band out there; you won’t see us very often at shows, simply
because there aren’t that many bands that we like. On the other hand, if
there’s a band playing that we happen to like, we’ll go.
-Regarding the Hardcore scene in general,
do you have a more positive or negative outlook on its evolution since you were
first introduced to it?
I’m the wrong person to be asked this question, because people call us a
hardcore band but we’re not people from the hardcore scene. I don’t really know
that scene. Back in the day when I used to play in Hangman’s Chair, we did tour
a lot with Archangel , soI did see some
of the hardcore scene, but I wouldn’t be able to talk about it, it wouldn’t
make any sense for me to give my opinion.
-In that case, which musical genre or
“scene” do you identify with the most? If we HAD to
identify with a particular scene, I’d say it’d be the H8000 scene from Belgium
or Holy Terror with Integrity, Gehenna… all of those bands. Bands that play
music with saturated guitars, with scream and most importantly pissed off.
Tome, to us, you simply can’t make this
kind of music if you aren’t pissed off at anything, it wouldn’t make any sense.
You can’t play this kind of music in a positive way. I don’t mind people who play
positive music, but just don’t put a saturated guitar and a dude screaming, it
makes no sense. Play some blues, folk… anything you want really. We love rap
music, pop, and all kinds of music. Positivity doesn’t bother us, just not in
Hardcore music.
-Speaking of which, I did pick up
some musical influences in your music from another hardcore act from Paris, one
of the figureheads of French Hardcore music… (A.L. grins and lets out a small sigh)… I’m talking off course about Kickback… Who? *laugh*
-Is there a certain connection to be
done between both bands in terms of influence? I think it’s pretty
obvious, there’s no denying it, however that is not tosay that we’re diehard Kickback fans. We only
like one album by Kickback, and that album is No Surrender. To us, to most of us,that record is a sort of masterpiece that is kind of on its own, an
album they released after 10 years of absence, with a dude who came from the
black metal scene, where they made some sort of a completely insane hybrid. I
found it simply outstanding. Furthermore, they had a top-notch lineup: the
drummer, Hervé Goardou from Judoboy is a killer on that album. He did half of
the work. As for Damien, his riffs are absolutely insane. Yes, we do love one
album by Kickback, and yes we did draw quite a bit of influence from it, but
we’re limiting ourselves to simply playing Kickback’s music. Furthermore, I
remember when that album came out I was thinking to myself “THAT’s the music
I’ve been trying to play for such a long time without ever having found my
crew”. With Cowards I’ve finally found my crew, and that is what we did. So yes
we do take a lot of things from them, on a side note there are lots of
interviews with Stephen that I find really interesting. There a lot of things
where I agree with him, but there are also a lot of aspects where I happen to
strongly disagree with him.
-Any examples?
I find it very interesting that, in some of his more recent interviews
since he moved to Thailand, that he talks about Buddhism. He talks about the
things that strike him in Buddhism and the aspects that don’t. That, for
example, is part of the things I had been thinking for a very long time. I love
Buddhism, I find it extremely interesting, but you can’t take all of the
aspects of Buddhism. Then there’s the fact that he considers himself as a sort
of “active nihilist”. I find it pretty funny, but you simply can’t mix nihilism
and being active. You either hate everything, or you defend some things. Most
importantly there’s a value that we defend in Cowards, something you might not
be able to tell from the music we play, it’s something we stole from Crowbar:
it’s love.
You can’t have so much hate without loving just as much. We talk about
things we hate, but what it implies is that we love lots of other things, loads
of other people. We love individuals but we hate the masses.
-To finish off this interview: could
you name some of your favorite albums, one of your favorite movies and one of
your favorite books?
Albums: I love this compilation by Gehenna (the US
band) called The War of the sons of light
and the Sunds of Darkness. It’s a compilation with a bunch of songs with
different productions.
As to more recent stuff, I love Blind to Faith, a Belgian band with the
same kind of destructive spirit… kind of like Eyehategod but much more fierce.
Movies: I love Jacob’s Ladder, Indian Runner, and One Flew Over
the Cuckoo's Nest. I like movies that start off well and end very badly.
Books: One of the last books that really made an
impression on me was a collection of short stories by Lovecraft, because he has
an amazing writing style. It was published by Penguin Books and what’s cool is
that you’ve got his collection entire sort stories sorted by order of
publication, which allow you to see how his writing evolved from one story to
the next. He doesn’t renew his ideas all that much, but he changes a few things
here and there and towards the end he ends up writing completely crazy stuff.
-Yeah, he went through different
phases during his career: his “macabre” phase, the dream cycle phase and of
course the Cthulhu mythos. I happen to have also read Lovecrafts’ entire
bibliography!
Ah well I don’t know if you read it, but to also add to that there’s
also Michel Houellebecq’s thesis on Lovecraft, which is really interesting!
-I haven’t read it.
He draws parallels between the different periods in Lovecraft’s live and
his writing. You start to realize that every time he talks about a monster,
it’s usually just plain racism because he was under the impression that immigrants
were stealing all of his potential jobs. Then, later on, when he leaves New
York to return to Providence, he suddenly becomes way less racist.
-Thank you very much for granting us
this interview!
My pleasure.
Interview conducted and translated from french by Robin Ono
A huge thank you goes out to A.L, to
Cowards, to Matthias Jungbluth as well as everyone involved at Throatruiner
fest!
When I started writing for Two Guys Metal
reviews, one of the main personal objectives I had set out for was to promote
and expose the very best of France's hardcore and metal scene, a goldmine of
talent severely lacking of the recognition it deserves. Moreover, it hurts me
all the more to run into all too many French heavy music enthusiasts claiming
that you can count all of the great French metal and hardcore acts on one hand.
To these people I dedicate this following article, and to these people I
proudly present to them 8 more bands for them to count.
Last Thursday at the Glazart, Paris celebrated the 5th anniversary of one of
the country’s' most heavily armed record labels: Throatruiner records. 8 bands,
8 of France's most devastating acts lined up to delivers nearly 8 hours of
sonic mayhem.
Right from the get-go, the show kicked off by
jumping straight to business with the first of 8 loud, bleak and incredibly abrasive
bands scheduled for the evening: Calvaiire.
Fronted by none other than the head Throatruiner himself, Matthias Jungbluth,
themetallic hardcore act made for an
explosive opening act with its noisy dissonant guitars delivering chaotic
syncopated riffs over cataclysmic drum grooves, coupled with Matthias' inhuman
vocals (a hybrid between Jacob Bannons' vocals and those of a pissed of
humanoid insect from another planet).
Lined up next and ready to keep our blood
pumping were the Bayonne-based hardcore act known as The Rodeo Idiot engine, ready to blast our ears with their 30
minute set of wailing guitar riffs and Gatling drums. With their solid
half-hour setlist, the band successfully made all hell break loose with a well-articulated
setlist showcasing influences from post-hardcore, sludge and black metal
amongst others. Their energetic stage presence made for an all the more
memorable show, with axes swinging, cymbals swaying and cables flying and
dancing through the air.
Local psychopathic hardcore act Comity stepped up next. Articulating
their sound around a post-hardcore baseline, this eclectic and innovative band
from Paris kept the show going with their dense, volatile compositions
effortlessly tying together influences from mathcore, post-hardcore and noise
rock within their ambitious lengthy songs. With a fine-tuned sense of
bittersweet melody sprinkled on the bands' set, Comity led the show with a fine
balance of winding riffs and crushing sludge-driven landscapes.
The fourth band of the evening, the
Lorient-based ear-wreckers known as Death
Engine were up next. Out of all of the bands scheduled to play this
evening, this one were quite possibly the loudest and the noisiest. Take the
climactic, long-winded compositions of a post-metal song, the crushing slow
edge of Neurosis, the down pouring desperation of post-hardcore and add a bleak
shoegaze-inspired wall of sound and some noise-rock grittiness and what you get
is the uncompromising sound of Death Engine. Yet another brilliant show by a
promising and original band brilliantly standing out from tonight’s' heavy
lineup.
The second half of the evening started off with
quite possibly one of the most pissed off bands of the night, the Holy Terror
inspired hardcore act from Paris known as Cowards,
here to promote their latest chapter in the bands' ruthless discography, titled
"Rise to Infamy". The band started off their set slow and steady with
a sludgy, massive, evil opener, setting the tone for the rest of the show
before letting all hell break loose and unleashing their pitch-black brand of
sonic savagery. More than a mere hardcore act, Cowards draws from the bleak,
tortured realms of black metal and the groovy low end of sludge metal to
deliver filthy, hellish vocals (inspired by bands such as Arkangel and
Kickback) , guttural baselines and dissonant riffs, making for the perfect
balance between cacophonous chaos and groove.
After the demise of one of Frances' most infamous hardcore bands, Cowards seem
to make for a serious contender as one of france's most abrasive bands, with
their incredibly abrasive sonic savagery and their great stage performances.
Next up on stage were the Toulouse-based four
piece Plebeian Grandstand, ready
open up a black hole with their impenetrably black, apocalyptic sonic wrath.
With their great stage presence and incredibly dense sound delivered at maximum
volume, the band managed to keep their audience present after five sets worth
of relentless heaviness. Not unlike Death Engine, the audience was once more
hit by a thick wall of sound, yet this time with a strong, distinct
experimental black metal edge delivered with the intensity and aggression of a
hardcore act. While this kind of music doesn't always work as well live as in
the studio, Plebeian Grandstand did a great job when it came to taking both the
atmospheric vibe and their ruthlessness to the stage.
Deathwish Inc.'s very own French protégés were
up next to hit the stage to play a set I, for one, had been waiting to see ever
since having first heard their album. Birds In Row were finally back to kick
some Parisian ass and were largely prepared to do so. The Laval based
screamo-infused hardcore punk trio quite simply conquered the stage along with
each and every square inch of the venue as soon as they unleashed their fiery
energy. Each and every band member was at the top of their game, blasting away
and fueled by an unmistakably genuine sense of passion. Seeing a band sing and
play their hearts out like this was absolutely enthralling, to the point where
their 35 minute seemed to have flown by in what seemed to be a mere 10 minutes.
Last but certainly not least on the bill for
the evening, As We Draw were there to close off the show. For their headlining
set, As We Draw had decided to make use of their 50 minute set by dedicating it
to their latest album, the cosmic voyage that is "Mirages", allowing
them to properly lay out their somber sonic textures and set up an atmosphere
for the set. Their show made for a perfect balance between bursts of frenetic,
heartfelt aggression and cathartic, floating sonicscapes with clear, spaced out
instrumentations beautifully intertwining with one another to create a
distinctive, introspective, raw and visceral live sound unlike any other.
By brilliantly combining the likes of heartgripping essence of Post-hardcore
with the compositional ambition of post-metal, As We Draw will take to the moon
and back and make for yet another prime example of an underrated display of
brilliance deserving of more recognition in France and overseas.
And thus yet another great evening had come to
a close. I walked out of the Glazart that night more confident than ever in the
french heavy music scene. If this night was proof of anything, it would be of
an incredible amount of talent and passion deserving more exposure. I can only
urge you to look up these bands to hear this all for yourself and find out for
yourself why this goldmine of a record label deserves our utmost support and
attention. French readers out there will also be glad to hear that this might
be the last Throatruiner fest, which give us all the more reason to make sure
events like these happen more often.
Robin
Photos by Rémy Barbe
A Huge thank you goes
out to all of the bands and especially to Matthias of Throatruiner for making
both this live report and both interviews possible. Long live Throatruiner!
