The Sharp Teeth - Familiar

One of the things I find interesting about the modern rock scene is all of the bands who are basically going in the grunge wave but doing it with a bit more a stoner rock image. While the Sharp Teeth are perhaps more tied into the traditional rock scene, the grungy influence of their sound is palatable and the raw heaviness of their music creates a direct musical connection between them and their musical ancestors in bands like Alice In chains and Soundgarden. There is a very real sense of yarling fury to their new record Familiar which serves to make it wonderfully compelling.

This is the sort of rock record that really understands that darker side of the genre without ever getting artsy. This is an album that has a lot of really deep and interesting lyrics and executes them through a sense of raw rock fury. The emphasis on the heavy bass parts is really exciting and the amount of space that the drums ave in the mix is glorious. this is an album that sounds huge from front to back and the transcendent hints at American rock speak to the power of The Sharp Teeth as an entity. As this band crafts potent sonic highways, you find yourself digging deeper into Familiar and enjoying every studio trick they pull. It's triumphant.

More than almost all of their peers The Sharp Teeth understand the power of dynamics in rock music. The ability to drop into bass and drum driven verses and then roar back with high powered guitars speaks to the talents of this band as songwriters. This is obviously a work that has been crafted with endless love and devotion. It's a refined and interesting listen. It's an album you are going to fall in love with time and time again and which can't help but to shock, impress and make you wonder when we will get more.

Find them on Facebook! 
https://www.facebook.com/TheSharpTeeth

Spacetrucker - Smooth Orbit

I've had this theory for a little while now that a lot of these stoner rock bands aren't actually stoner rock bands. They might fit into the aesthetic but they are tied into something else, they are tied into grunge, and bands like Backwoods Payback, Zed and now Spacetrucker prove it. It's not just the guitar tone or the vocals, but the entire ethos, the attack that Spacetrucker bring to the scene is what makes them unique, differentiates them and gets you digging into whole new blasphemous realms of heavy rock glory.

Here's the thing, a lot of the guys in this scene grew up with grunge, a helluva lot more than grew up with fucking Budgie and Necromandus that's for sure. It all informs each other though and that's the beauty of a band like Spacetrucker. While the grunge influence is clear, they are unafraid to bring in some wonderfully weird fuzz stuff, pushing their pedals to the limit of their capabilities and occasionally slipping into complete noisy oblivion. It's this tendency for raw rock fury, pure noise driven annihilation that makes Spacetrucker such an interesting band to sink your teeth into and traverse the distorted universe with.

There are a lot of really solid riffs in what Spacetrucker does, but not too many, which is a mistake a lot of bands make. While at times they might be a bit longwinded, they still definitely wrote songs here. While I'd like to see everything under four minutes or so, the general attack of the band is exciting and tracks like Not As Hung suggest that there is an incredible talent here just waiting to be developed. You can groove with these tracks, they have clear drive and they remind us that no matter what we do we are going to fall in love with the pummeling riffage.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/spctrckr/

Inner Temple - Captivity

Man it's been a while since we last heard from Inner Temple. When the band last put out a record the guys were still teenagers for Christ's sake! Now we see an Inner Temple who have matured, become a bit more bitter but also realized that they need to find a way to survive in this crazy old messed up universe of ours. Captivity is a testament to everything the band has done for years and the personal suffering that the groups frontman, Dustin Schumacher has had to deal with over the past couple years, a deep internal pain that returns to reflect upon all of us.

There is something strangely entrancing about the power of Captivity. The vocals often go beyond the bands trademark grungy yarl. In fact, as a general rule, Inner Temple have moved well past their grungy roots. Though those roots are still there the song structures are vastly evolved and the riffs hint at something far darker. That being said, a song like Your Favorite Season manages to balance that with a clean passage that suggests a deepset internal beauty. The fact that you can hear touches of extreme metal and pop punk in the same song, but have it come off in a way that isn't utterly cringy speaks volumes to what Inner Temple can do.

Part of the beauty of Captivity is that while it has a lot to unpack it remains short enough that you can sit back and listen to it again and again. This certainly isn't a record that is going to take forever to properly enjoy, but it is also a record that gets better with every passing listen. There is something, as always, strangely charming about Inner Temple's music that forces me to come to terms with how goddamn talented they are and makes me wish there was more to enjoy. Yet from high school in Paris to hipsterdom in Brooklyn, Inner Temple rule.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/innertemplepa/?fref=ts

Garbage Brain, Darkwing and Sharkmuffin at The Gateway

Rock shows are interesting to me, especially since I spend so much time at metal shows, their twisted fuck up of a cousin. That being said - rock shows are fucked up in their own wonderful way, especially at a unique spot like The Gateway, a venue that perfectly blends DIY culture with the beauty of the New York scene. There was something beautifully hedonistic about the evening, a Bernie Sanders Rally, with women randomly taking shirts off, dudes doing shots at the bar,, and the university culture that seemed to define the 80s coming back in full force in defense of a self proclaimed socialist from Vermont.

First up was Garbage Brain, a sort of psychedelic rock and roll band who make music that felt simply timeless. Their stripped back brand of garage punk was notable because it spoke to a simpler reality and a more beautiful time, there is something strangely about a Garbage Brain live set, with their drummer providing backup vocals and their crunchy riffs storming through the mix. This is the kind of band who seem to thrive on intellectual gatherings that let kids feel the potent rebellion in their veins. There is something important to what Garbage Brain do, it speaks to the human condition in a sort of abstract way and reminds us where we came from.

Darkwing were up next playing their distinctive brand of what they call 'surf grunge'. With a special emphasis on "Ooo, Ooo's" Darkwing are a fun band to watch, muddy riffs coming face to face with flashy solos and pummeling drums. There is a wonderful inherent darkness to what Darkwing do that seems to stem from the idea of the tortured artist, it's clear that the band is very much a vehicle for the frontman, Rich, but there's nothing wrong with that - in fact it only serves to help evidence the purity of his intentions. This is a band who are simply fun to watch and aware of the power and glory their music can provide.

The last band I saw that evening was Sharkmuffin who were a fun but dark all-girl punk trio. There is something strangely appealing about the band and the way they represent the torture of humanity and yet couch it in a wonderfully hopeful sense of rock and roll magic. Sharkmuffin are a sort of existential experience, fazed out and weird but also a lot of fun to listen to. Sharkmuffin rapidly established a distinctive sound and used it to define the rest of their set, making for some exciting listening that allowed for a sort of spiritual communion between band and audience. Sharkmuffin understand the potency of the live experience and they are masters because of it.

And so the night came to an end - friends were made, even if they were the type of people you might only meet once, and bands watched and perhaps ore importantly money raised for the man who might be our only salvation. Then again - as these bands evidenced, rock and roll might be our salvation, we might not need a balding socialist from Vermont. But does it really matter? Rock and roll is rock and roll and any show at the Gateway is decidedly a good time, so perhaps we should be happy with that and the hipstery madness that cleanses our souls.

Find them on Facebook!

Garbage Brain: https://www.facebook.com/GarbageBrain/

Darkwing: https://www.facebook.com/darkwingdarkwing/

Sharkmuffin: https://www.facebook.com/sharkmuffin/

El Caco - 7

Norwegian hard rockers El Caco are back with one of their most vibrant and exciting releases to date. 7 is more than just a rock record - it's an album that fuses ideas and concepts together into a promising release that will get straight to your heart and force you to raise the horns in the air in unholy salute to all that this band represents. El Caco get the spirit of rock and roll and use their diverse sound to craft something that reflects the very spirit of the genre and all that it can mean and represent.

The deeper I delve into this album the more I realize that a huge part of what I love about 7 is how good it sounds. The quality of the production is insane and allows the punchy riffing on a song like Sickness to really resound with the listener. Toss in a few anthemic choruses that channel a punk rock energy on top of a grungy sense of songwriting and you start to get a sense for what El Caco is all about. Their is almost a manic sentiment behind the music here, the demented struggles of all that El Caco represent coming out with every tortured shout and then resonating in passages that let the listener soar.

Based on duality and emphasizing a stellar guitar tone El Caco get at why people like me love this kind of music. Simply put - 7 is a whole lot of fun to listen to and every single song just plain works. Coming at you from several directions at once it's easy to see why the band has achieved so much critical acclaim over the years - and its clear to me at least that they are set for much more. 7 is another step forward for a band that have been driving the rock machine for three decades - so let it ring out, loud and proud.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/elcacoofficial/?fref=ts

Spitehouse

It's Black Friday, the entire nation seems to be in a collective hangover from all the food we shoved down our faces mere hours ago. So now I bring you Spitehouse, a grungy rock band from the side of the pond where they don't do make poor choices and gorge one day a year in November. Young and restless these guys have music that seems to be couched in raw energy, bursting at the seams and raging forth with a sort of ungodly energy that few of their peers can claim to match. Filled with emotion and unafraid t be incredibly sad, Spitehouse are doing everything by their own rules, one minute pulling at the heartstrings and the next playing loud and over the top music that would rock any party. These young Englishmen have a pretty distinct sound and a great artistic vision, it leaves me vegging for more and excited for what they will be able to do next. Dig into the down to earth beauty of this band and enjoy your Black Friday, I certainly am.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/SpitehouseUK 

Interview with Dustin Schumacher of Inner Temple!

Saturday night I got the chance to call up another great frontman in the form of Dustin Schumacher of the new grunge band, Inner Temple. As we talked, his Pennsylvania accent made me very nostalgic for home, adding to the sadness of our overall conversation (Which dealt a lot of with darkness in modern life) In the interview we get a chance to talk about his band and the future that it will have. We even touch a little bit on his upcoming record.

If you haven't checked them out on Facebook find them here: https://www.facebook.com/innertemplepa

How's it been going with Inner Temple?
It's been going pretty well.

Tell me about the exciting stuff you have going on?
Currently we're working on our first full length album, we released the EP close to a year ago which pretty crazy thinking about it now, we've been writing a lot of new material since the release of the EP. We've been doing a lot of shows and getting very good reactions which is jsut great.

What would you say is the driving force behind Inner Temple?
Just freedom of expression. Expressing what you believe in and helping others to come together as one and share the emotions that you have with other people to let people know that there are people going through the exact same things that you are so people can have something to relate to. Instead of having to be forced to relate to the pop sound and the radio sound, pretending that you're happy all the time which seems to be the standard of pop music. I believe we're in a time when no one is truly happy and it's so hard to relate to that music.

You're criticizing the radio sound, but isn't the radio what broke grunge?
Right, it did. There's a good and a bad to it, when Nirvana, Alice in Chains and all them broke through, they broke through by saying everything was not okay and gave everyone something to relate too.

Do you think that could happen again?
I believe so because I believe people want change really bad right now within music.

Do you think this desire for change goes to life in general?
Yes, I fully believe that life in general is just a very tough thing right now to live the day by day and work the 9 to 5. To always have a happy face. a lot of people have customer service type jobs and have to do that. It's especially tough with prices of gas rising, and it's just tough to survive anymore. Then you have people who are poor who really need things like food stamps, but they're being cut, it's terrible, I don't think anyone is truly happy anymore.

That's pretty interesting. So this sort of cultural sorrow... what's the solution to the sadness?
I think the solution is coming together as one and stop fighting each other because that gets you nowhere. Look back in history where does that get you? Nowhere. The main message outside and inside of music is to come together. To just be one, because we are one, there's one human race.

What song in particular off the EP most deals with this?
I honestly will say that the EP and the majority of what I have been writing is more about personal affairs more than worldly affairs.

And will that be found on the record too?
The personal affairs yes. I don't really like to go into worldly affairs inside of my music, because that causes too much debate on either end.

Tell us, what kind of personal affairs are you trying to deal with?
The EP touched on things like, having an alcoholic father which a lot of people can relate too which is very sad. Any kind of addicted parent is sad. The main part of the EP was breakups and being with another person and that person being totally obliterated from your life that's really tough. That's pretty much what the record is going to be as well. It will be very, very dark as people going through that can understand.

So, you don't think in this time of happiness we don't need something happier to lift our spirits?
That's tough as well. While some people need happy music in order to feel happy other people tend to feel better listen to someone that understands them, being engulfed in that darkness. Some people feel great after going to a show where they can totally relate to the artist.

What was that quote from Eddie Vedder about that?
They asked him "You have this, you have that, you're a multi million dollar artist on a huge record label, you've been creating songs for over 20 years, how do you keep creating such sad music when you seem like you would be one of the happiest people there is. He said "You never forget what made you start writing in the first place" That's true. People have good days, people have bad days. You have to remember where you came from and why you started to do something.

This desire to get at where you came from, I guess that's a founding a concept for the band right?
I write about things that I've been through. I'm not going to sell off and say I know what people have been through when I've been through it, I can't do it and I won't do it.

For the fans then, what are the major differences between the EP and the album musically?
There are going to be a few songs from the EP on the album. They'll be remastered to get them up to par with the album. But, it all ties in very well. All the songs tie in very well to each other. You really can't tell a year difference, and I'm saying that in a good way. You can't say "They've lost this" or "They're trying something different" It all sounds like it was made in one breath, I like that.

It gives your work a sense of unity.
One song does not sound like "Oh it shouldn't belong on this album" It's all on the same basis. That's the best way I can say it.

You have a very distinct sound, a lot of people in reviews have compared you to Nirvana or whatever. How do you personally deal with those kind of comparisons?
Trying to be Nirvana is sad. To that I say Fuck off. I'm not Kurt Cobain, I don't want to be Kurt Cobain. My drummer is not Dave Grohl, he doesn't want to be Dave Grohl. My bassist is not Kris Novoselic, he doesn't want to be Kris Novoselic. We're Inner Temple, we're not Nirvana and we don't want to be Nirvana. We just play what we like. If people want to honestly compare us to Nirvana, I got to say, we're being compared to one of the biggest bands that ever existed, I guess that's a good thing right?

Would you agree with me a lot of people have only listened to a handful of Nirvana of songs and claimed to be superfans but don't get at the magic of the deep cuts?
I know what you're trying to say. I'm not trying to bash on anyone, I'm sure there are people who only like Red from us, and maybe after this album they'll only like one more song. Does that make them a fan? Maybe. But, I think with any band you're allowed, as your free will to like one or two songs and that's it. It's free will, you can like what you like.

Do you think that there's going to be a new wave of grunge bands then?
I believe that there will be a new wave of reality musically. We might not label it as grunge, it could just be an alternative wave, which is what grunge is, alternative. I believe we're heading towards an alternative or a grunge wave. People are just tired of today's music. Where is this current or next generations Beatles. Where are they? You can't honestly, I can't honestly, maybe someone can, but I can't tell you who the new idol is, the voice for today's youth, or tomorrows youth and it's sad because it's so cookie cutter right now. I think people are yearning for that, to have that next voice, somebody who speaks for them when they can't speak for themselves. They might not be a musician but when they find that person who completely relates to them, that's their new voice.

When do you think was the last time we had that kind of voice?
To be honest, and I'm not saying it any relation, or to correlate to what we previously said, but I honestly believe that the last era of having a voice was the 90s grunge era.

Would you agree that in general rock music has become less honest over the last few decades?
I believe that we are currently in the 80s in terms of sound. It is more about sex drugs and rock and roll then it is about feeling. That's what the 80s was all about, hairspray, and drugs and rock and roll then the 90s came along and kicked the shit out of that. They were like, fuck you, I'm going to talk about true emotion and not sleeping around.

What do you love so much about music?
It's an escape. What I've always said to people is that if I were to say the things that I say on stage or within our albums I would be pushed tons of medications for it, but with music I get tons of understanding for it.

Any last words of wisdom?
I just want to say thank you to everybody following us, spreading the world and downloading our EP. It's honestly incredible. We just passed 1,000 fans on Facebook, and it's really humbling to see that happen. It might be very cliche but thank you.

Interview with Igor Cavalera of Lody Kong!

Saturday night I got the chance to interview Igor Cavalera  of Lody Kong (Max's son, not brother) We got a great chat in and got to talk about his band, what it's like to be a Cavalera, and some of the evolution set to come. Lody Kong is one of my favorite up and coming bands, and if you dig crazy punk rock I'm sure you'll love them too!

If you haven't already, check them out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pimp.juice.28

Hows it been going with Lody Kong?
Everything's going really good actually. We're in New River, Arizona at the moment working on new material for our first LP that we will be recording on Monday. It's the first full length that we've done, we've only had an EP before and we're all really stoked about this upcoming recording. All of our new songs are good, heavy and strong, so we're pretty excited.

When you say you're recording Monday, will you only be in the studio for a day or what?
We'll be recording for I believe 5 days to do about 10-11 songs.

What will the run time be?
It will be 30-40 minutes, a couple of the songs are a little longer. Some of them are a little less punk rock and a little more straight up metal, those songs are about 5 minutes. It's going to be a nice album. It's not going to be too short it's not going to be like the old Slayer records that were 20 minutes long, it's going to be good and heavy, I hope it's enough for everyone, we've got a lot of fans who have been waiting. I hope that what we put out is going to be what everybody wants.

After recording what are your plans? When will it be out? 
Hopefully September or October, we're still talking to labels. We haven't actually signed to anyone yet. We're talking to a couple we're not sure who we're going to go with. Expected release date should be this fall, around then. We're going to go on tour again too.

Can you tell, us are the labels you looking at bigger, or independent ones?
A couple of them are independent, one or two of them are major labels that are looking at us which we're super stoked for. Either way we go whether it is with the major or the independent people are going to find the music either way. We're just excited to do the music really. (Laughs)

Are you going to be touring to support this record?
We're scheduling a tour in early August to September with Soulfly in the States. We're hoping to get some Europe dates either after that American tour or early next year. We're just keeping our fingers crossed hoping that once this albums out things start to pick up. It's been kind of slow for us, we haven't toured for a few months, we've just been dedicating all of our time to writing and preproduction. We're hoping that all of the work we put into this album will put us on tours later on.

This tour with Soulfly, will that be a Maximum Cavalera tour or what?
It will be somewhat like the Maximum Cavalera tour, the only difference will be that Ritchie's band Incite won't be on that tour. Soulfly is looking for some other bands to go on after us in that main support slot. It won't exactly be a Maximum Cavalera tour, but it will be close to the same thing.

Do you have other tours set up with non Cavalera bands?
We're trying to. I've been getting in touch with some younger bands that are more age appropriate to what Lody Kong is. We've been talking to some more underground bands. We're just trying to put as much work as we can into the album and broadening our views on who we're going to tour with and things like that.

I've interviewed Richie too, and he was saying that other bands don't want to tour with him because they're like, why don't you just tour with Soulfly. Do you get that problem with Lody Kong?
Definitely, a lot of people probably don't expect us to really do much without Soulfly there's a lot of criticism on the internet about how the sons of a famous musician in a band get unfair benefits. We love to tour with Soulfly, it's family, it's fun, it's a little easier than touring with another band. We really want to get out with more bands to broaden our fan base. Touring with Soulfly is great but Lody Kong is a little bit more experimental. We're trying to find some more bands that are a little more experimental. One of the reasons that we are a little more experimental because we don't want to be like Sepultura or Soulfly. Just because Max is me and my brothers dad, we're not trying to take advantage of the name but just want to make it. We definitely face trouble and we're always going to tour with Soulfly once in a while but we definitely want to branch out and do some other stuff. Hopping in the van and just hitting the road.

Do you ever feel like you're in your father shadow in a way?
Definitely. People expect that we're going to put out an album and it's going to sound exactly like Chaos AD or something or that we'll put out something as good as Roots. In reality we want to do something totally different from all of that. We all love that music but we don't want to rip it off, I want my own sound, Zyon does too. We just want to have our own sound asides from being Max's kids. I don't mind the criticism that much. Some of it can get under your skin sometimes, but it keeps the fire going inside of me. I want to prove these people wrong. All of this criticism, instead of getting bummed about it, I'm going to write something that will make people go "Wow!". That's basically where we are, the shadow of Max falls onto us once in a while, but I don't really mind it. I was born and bred into this. There are people that criticize Max and he doesn't let it get to him. It's just how we were raised. My parents always told me that if I wanted to be in a band I would have to deal with criticism and comparisons. I've learned to deal with it, it's always fun though to be in a band!

To what extent has Gloria been able to help you?
She's a great help. She is one of the most solid metal managers on the planet. People sometimes put her down, just for being a woman and a metal manager. They'll think she isn't as powerful or can't stand up for herself. She does tons man. She works harder than anyone I know from morning till night, with about five different bands, pretty much all the time. She never lets anything stop her or get her down, she does a lot for us. She invented the Maximum Cavalera tour out of thin air so we could have a chance to get some exposure. People will sometimes say things like "Lody Kong wouldn't go anywhere if it wasn't for them setting that tour" That's not true, we wouldn't go anywhere if we didn't have a good manager. All I can say about my mom is that she's a hard worker and she dedicates every single moment of her life to these bands.

When you're not with Lody Kong in the studio, what are you doing? Are you in college, do you have a job?
Some of our guys work when we have time off from tours. I don't go to school, I dropped out of high school when I was 16 to pursue my career in music. Since I left school I've done nothing but play guitar and try and work on my voice and write good songs.

How long ago was that?
I've played almost my whole life. I've played drums for about three years and guitar my whole life. I'm not into the whole shredding lead guitars or anything but I like to work on my riff writing, I think that's a lot more important than being able to shred, being able to write a good song.

Is that a driving factor behind the Lody Kong sound?
Absolutely. A lot of the Lody KLong stuff doesn't really have any lead guitar playing, it just has a lot of raw riffing and heavy drum beats. This new album is going to be interesting because we're starting to mess with leads and more complicated riffs and bass lines. I'm really excited to see how this turns out. We've been a band for almost three years now and this is our first full length so we're all kind of giddy with excitement.

What should the fans be ready to expect off the new record then? What evolution will we see?
A lot of people called us a kind of grungy metal band. If you listen to No Rules you'll hear a lot of Nirvana Bleach influence and Melvins and shit like that. If you listen to the new er stuff tath we're working on right now you'll hear more stuff like Nailbomb and old thrash metal like Nuclear Assault. There's more mosh parts. We've still got kind of our trippy grunge parts in it but for the most part it's really just simple straight to the point raw metal. We dropped down to B. All of our old stuff was recorded in E. B is really really low, I think people aregoing to notice we've kind of taken a step into a heavier direction as opposed to the trippy kind of grunge approach.

What motivated this evolution?
For a while I would only listen to 90s grunge and late 80s punk rock, so a lot of the new stuff came from that. But over the last year since we last recorded I've gotten into a lot more stuff that I listened to before I was in a band. Iv'e been listening to more death metal, grindcore and powerviolence. I've always been a a fan of death metal and stuff. Obviously with Max as a father he would show me stuff like Morbid Angel, Obituary and Napalm Death. But when I started writing music I wanted to do more of this trippy grunge stuff. Over the last year I've kind of fallen back into that heavier stuff. It all depends on what you listen too. You listen to one type of music that you really like and you're going to see that the influence impacts your own music. There's newer bands I've gotten into as well bands like Nails, Wormrot, Noisem and stuff, who are all really young guys doing death metal and grindcore. It's kind of pushed me to see how heavy we could go with Lody Kong without losing our style. It still has the style of Lody Kong but a lot heavier.

Finish this sentence for me "I've never told this story before and probably shouldn't but..."
That's a tough one right there! (Laughs) I probably really shouldn't be telling this because my moms going to hear this. There's this one time we were all fried out on acid when my parents were out of town and we threw this huge fucking party and everything got thrashed and the house was destroyed. The next morning we were all laughing because my parents had security cameras built around our house because we had a stalker once. So we were all at our house that one night, and everything we had done the entire night was captured on video that my parents can go back and look at whenever they want too. That was about a week before Lody Kongs very first tour, this is about 2 years ago, we wanted a party before we left. We threw this huge rager and found out everything we did was caught on camera.

What is it that you love so much about music?
The energy. There's so many different kinds of energy that you can produce with music. Like I said earlier, I listen to grunge and punk rock, but I also listen to completely different spectrums of music like death metal and stuff. I love the vibe that you can create through music. Stuff like Blind Melon which is really chill and has nice melodies, before a good metal show I 'll put on Napalm Death or Carcass to get me excited. The fact that one person can listen to fifteen different kinds of music that's really what I love about it. The fact that I can wake up in this mood and listen to this band, or wake up angry and listen to another band to deal with that.

That's the big thing with Lody Kong, we want to have almost every single song have a new vibe behind it. It's where a lot of the Lody Kong stuff comes from. Like Zyon, our drummer and my brother, he makes hip hop beats for sale, just for fun on the side because he likes old hip hop. Our guitar player John listens to the Pixies and Minor Threat and there's me into death metal and other types of grunge. You take 20 different kinds of energizing music to produce what you want and you get something totally new. The energy in music is just astounding.

Any last words of wisdom?
If you're in a small  band, keep going, keep writing, keep doing what you can, that's what Lody Kong will always do. Be on the lookout for us on tour later this year, keep your eyes peeled for the album coming out hopefully in September or October.

Dangerego-Autopsy

Dangerego is an exciting new rock band with a powerful and passionate sound reflective of the true and undying magic that Chuck Berry's music has. With Autopsy Dangerego unleash a sound that seems to take influence from every era of rock music to get something varied and powerful. This is the sort of distinct and beautiful release that could only have come out in the past few years. Dangerego have a lot of good ideas on hand here and their varied sound comes across as surprisingly streamlined, proof of the monolithic magic of rock music.

One of the defining aspects of the Dangerego sound is the prevailing sense of groove. Be it in the glorious thudding bass or in the crushing guitar riffs, Dangerego know how to craft some catchy grooves. This gives the entire record an impressive drive, it forces everything forward and speaks to enduring dominance of rock and roll over the generations. I especially like the records more grunge oriented moments, I'd like to hear the band develop more in the direction, the grunge based riffs tend to be among the best. Yet as a whole the riffing tends to be top notch and filled with the sort of primitive power that gave some of the genres founders a whole new way to approach music.

These Italians have done something remarkable with Autopsy making an album that has the force of a charging boar. With highlights including pulsating riffs, a wonderful emphasis on the bass and brilliantly executed vocal passages, Dangerego get what it means to bring rock to the fore. A record that fuses the best of the old into something new and unique I am excited to hear how Dangerego progress. If they can continue to make music that is as distinct and magical as Autopsy then they can't help but have a great future ahead of them!

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dangerego/219371498132142?fref=ts

Moose Patrol

There used to be a time when I had to cover a lot of different alt rock bands, as Two Guys got bigger, that became less and less true. Yet every once in a while I consider it a bit of a treat to get to check out the cool stuff going on in the alternative rock scene. That's part of why I'm so excited to review Moose Patrol today. The other part of my excitement is due to the fact that this band creates some really great alt rock that combines a variety of influences to create something powerful and emotional. One of the main things that really characterizes this band is the grungy sound that makes itself present in songs like Far Away. The whole ethos of the band seems very grunge too, with mixtures of beautiful acoustics and more mainstream sounding parts with other bits that are more desperate and heavy. (Although, nothing here gets truly heavy, from a musical standpoint at least) In conclusion, if you want an alt rock band who stick a little bit of everything in their sound and get something that is clearly their own then you are going to want to check out Moose Patrol Fiery and passionate these guys have the potential and sheer dedication to go far with their music, and I sincerely hope they get the chance to do just that!

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/MoosePatrolBand/app_2405167945

Degeneration Fuzz-Disposable

Degeneration Fuzz are a heavy and explosive grunge band from the north west of England. (You thought I was going to say the US didn't you) I've covered them in the past, but now they are back with a new EP titled Disposable filled with the crushing hardcore punk sounds and strange vibes that make the rest of Degeneration Fuzz's music so good this new EP is just a logical progression on their already awesome sound. Their is a wonderful grunge desperation found throughout these tracks that makes them so much more passionate and emotionally powerful. These guys are singing about issues that effect us every day and they do it with a rugged sort of pride. Sure these riffs aren't super technical, but they are hooky, crass and destructive, Disposable will draw you in, beat you up, and then spit you out. My only real complaint about this record is that its too short. I feel like the vibes these guys are trying to achieve are sometimes missed because they don't have enough time to fully develop their ideas. These guys know what they are doing and how to do it, so prepare yourself for some major rock and roll beatdowns!

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/degenerationfuzz

Inner Temple

Now you guys know I love me some grunge, so when a powerful young grunge trio (the best type of grunge combo) shows up from my home state then you know something special is going to happen. Inner Temple play grunge in its purest and most glorious form, a band who are drunk on their own rock and roll energy and all the more mighty because of it. Yet Inner Temple are not at all decadent, they understand the spirit of grunge and invoke it in its purest form. Purists know that the Pennsylvania grunge scene is seeing some great things happen right now and Inner Temple is just one part of this. Their new EP Mechanical Existence (due to come out October 13th) captures the heart of the grunge movement in its roaring and bare bones glory. These guys are unpretentious and willing to do anything for their music and for that they are great. Rare is the band who really get grunge, and I feel like Inner Temple will definitely go far.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/innertemplepa

Mind Enemies-The Darkest Way

Now here's something pretty interesting. A metal record that seems to fuse alternative music, grunge, heavy metal, and good old rock and roll into a new and powerful whole that reaches out and speaks to the soul. Music for the ages, a band for the twenty first century. Mind Enemies are a group who combine a plethora of older influences into something powerful and passionate, a new type of heavy metal that somehow sounds very familiar. Suffice to say, their debut EP The Darkest Way caught me by surprise and reviewing it will be a huge pleasure.

The first thing that will strike you about this record is the sheer riffing. Its not exactly like other kinds you've heard before, it brings something new and fresh to the table. I can best describe it as halfway between Metallica and Alice in Chains, something exciting, but not mindblowing. Its ironic that the sort of thing that I've been looking for, has in fact been here the whole time. In other words, what Mind Enemies have done on The Darkest Way is start to create the music of the soul. Sure some of the songs could be shorter and occasionally the production isn't wholly up to snuff, but these guys are just starting out, give them a chance! Mind Enemies are one of the most exciting bands in rock and roll!

In conclusion, The Darkest Way is definitely a powerful debut from a band who promise to become one of my new favorites. I am very excited to see where they go in the future once they polish their sound up a bit. This groups unique mix of grunge, metal, and everything else can not be stifled, the way they slowly grind forward with an implacable mid tempo stomp is quite frankly impressive. If you want to find one of the most potent young bands in rock music then look no further, Mind Enemies are here for you with their powerful and vaguely progressive new wave of rock and roll.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mind-Enemies/228821583804979

Badmotorfinger

Well, here we go! A hard rock band who really get the ethos of the thing. With influences as clear as the groups name (For the uninitiated Badmotorfinger is the name of Soundgardens third album) these guys have a vicious rock and roll attack ripped straight from Mars. What makes these guys so fun for me is that their riffs are just a blast to listen to, they drown you in mountains of groove that reveal the true musical excellence of this band. Their is a certain punchiness here to, it really accents tracks like Ride the Storm which showcases the band at their finest. Toss in a couple of great solos and some gritty vocals and you have yourself a band who really know what they want to do and how they want to do it. All I can say is, let this rock and roll party continue. Modern rock could do with a healthy does of reckless hedonism and Badmotorfinger seem to be just about insane enough to wipe away all the pretentiousness that is hurting the modern scene.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/BADMOTORFINGER.BAND/app_2405167945

False-Heads

False-Heads is a nifty modern grunge band who have a powerful and raw sound that fuses elements of bands like The Pixies and Nirvana with a few classic punk elements (Think Sex Pistols and The Clash). This gives the group a dead ahead attack that can't be easily forgotten. Add in some excellent lyrics, which are often surprisingly intelligent and you have yourself something truly special. The whole philosophy exuded by this band is also pretty interesting and gives the listener something else to latch on to. This is more than just a stellar grunge act, there is an inhuman and beautiful power that is found in False-Heads music and it leaves me begging for more. Their punk edges help to keep things fresh and exciting and add a lot of spice to songs like Without a Doubt. What I'm really trying to say is that their new record, Tunnel Vision will be on heavy rotation for me for the next few days. There is a primal rock and roll energy that pulses through there music that any fan of the genre that Chuck Berry created will not be able to deny.

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/FalseHeads/app_204974879526524

Skid Life-Change Your Mind

Not a lot of grunge these days really gets into the spirit of the thing. Few enough bands get the raw beauty that is required to make a grunge band great. A lot of them fade into the post grunge vacuum and by default suck, and others just completely miss the point. So when a band like Skid Life comes around, I am truly heartened. Here is a band who get the point of grunge and are ready to share it with the nations, spreading the good word of Kurt Cobains music to thousands of fans on their rapidly ascending star. Their new record, Change Your Mind is simply a tribute to the bands potential and rising glory.

What makes the songs on Change Your Mind so good is that they are clearly structured, hooky, and meaningful. The latent power of songs like Crazy Ways can not be underestimated, it shows off all that the band can do. While a lot of their songs might work on modern rock radio there music seems a lot deeper to me, it has an inner might that you can't just ignore, it characterizes the music to a great extent and constantly pushes the band forward. This hidden element really digs at the spirit of grunge and shows that the band is really capable of bringing the genre forward and inciting a new revolution in one of the most honest and beautiful forms of rock to ever storm across the earth. 

In conclusion, if your looking for a fresh new grunge band who breathe new life into the genre while still respecting the great work of the old masters then Skid Life is the band for you. They add interesting elements from different genres (including thrash metal and prog) to give their music a unique feel. Toss in the true spirit of grunge and you have yourself a record that is special, moving and very, very, promising. If you think that grunge is dead and the genre is played out then I suggest you heed the recommendation of the title track and "Change your mind".

Find them on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Skid-Life/132017603539487?id=132017603539487&sk=app_2405167945

The Black Clouds

A band who embody the DIY sentiment to its very core The Black Clouds are a powerful grunge act with earthy sounds and crushing riff sthat you won't soon forget. Veritable descendants of Nirvana and Soundgarden these guys have a powerful and sludgy sound that is ready to take over the world. Modern day grunge lords with their own edge to the sound The Black Clouds give their own edge to the sound that Nirvana perfected two decades ago. I love the gritty quality that so much of The Black Clouds music embodies. It gives their songs a certain element that only the greatest groups can attain, it shows me that The Black Clouds have what it takes to get big and dominate. With a wonderfully raw sound and some very tight songwriting I'm excited to see where these guys bring their sound next. Suffice to say, if you're looking for some alt rock that will smash your head in and take you on a wild rock and roll adventure then this is definitely the band for you!

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Black-Clouds/101315741799?id=101315741799&sk=app_2405167945

Degeneration Fuzz-Come Licketh the Bowl

Some of you may remember my review of Degeneration Fuzz from back in May , suffice to say, these guys understand what the spirit of true grunge is all about and excel in making hard hitting music that really catches the listener. So when I heard they had a new EP I was understandable excited. I'm proud to announce that Come Licketh the Bowl is yet another slab of pure grunge brilliance from a band who truly understand what the Seattle scene was trying to accomplish way back in '91. With roaring vocals and vicious guitar lines these guys are true disciples of Bleach era Nirvana. They don't try to cover their sound in pop production or catchy hooks, instead they invoke the raw darkness that made grunge so good in the first place. Garage based and proud of it Degeneration Fuzz are simply fun to listen too because you know that  the posers won't get it. A band for people who understand what grunge is about and want to embrace it in its brute state this groups new EP leaves me begging for a full length!

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/degenerationfuzz

PseudoNympho

A destructive grunge band with loads of distortion and dazzling bass beats PseudoNympho are a band who are determined to wipe out the posers and bring a new type of heavy music to the scene. A group who use stellar transitions between cleans and growls in a way that reminds me of Alice in Chains after a fashion. The gritty nature of the music makes it appeal to hoary old metalheads like me while the more melodic passages open up the music to more mainstream fans. This band is at times violent and unforgiving and at others filled with aural caresses that will break even the most hardened death metal heart. In short, if you're looking for some fresh new metal that seems to fuse grunge with death metal in a way that even Kurt Cobain would have been proud of then PseudoNympho is a band you MUST check out. Their stellar songwriting and dynamic riffs help to make them one of the more innovative unsigned discoveries I have made this year. They're pushing the boundaries of metal and infusing it with a heavy dose of grunge and alternative music, who knows what could happen next?

Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/pseudomyspace

Spitehouse

Spitehouse is a nifty garage rock band very much in the vein of Nirvana. Yet unlike many of these bands who take a huge influence from those gods Spitehouse are actually good and fun to listen too despite their low production values. These guys are all pretty young (Barely 18) yet they're very tight. Their music may sound fairly simple on the outside but it's in fact a joy to jam with and showcases the power that the modern rock scene can have. The riffs are simple and primal, they call out to the soul and bring them into a grunge inspired nirvana, a glorious world where Kurt Cobain rules all. The earthy tones captured by these Londoners in conjunction with their more fiery riffs creates an end product that is surprisingly addictive even if it could do with polishing. Right now I think that with a few studio tracks and some bigger shows Spitehouse might very well be capable of taking their music to a much bigger stage. Once they release an album things could get huge for these sons of England!

Listen to them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/SpitehouseUK/app_178091127385