The Black Dahlia Murder Ritual
The Black Dahlia Murder have returned with their fifth record, Ritual, showing us how they from they have come from their debut, Unhallowed. While kitchy, almost ironic slasher lyrics and simple brutality are what put The Black Dahlia Murder on the map initially, those elements are long gone on Ritual, leaving us with a very complex, clean sounding record capable of holding its own among the influential heavy hitters than came before it. Frontman Trevor Strnad has really perfected his vocal attack, with his gutteral low growls hitting the pit of your stomach and his high screams raising the hairs on the back of neck like fingernails on a chalkboard. Perhaps the biggest leap forward on Ritual is ex-Arsis guitarist Ryan Knight finding that middle ground between the overly shredder sounding riffs present on 2009's Deflorate and the less-finesse yet more brutal guitar sounds of The Black Murder's earlier releases. Overall, this record is a banger. We are looking forward to seeing them on this years Summer Slaughter tour, where they will undoubtedly lay the Fillmore in San Francisco to waste.
Harm's Way Isolation
For the longest time, I was getting Harm's Way confused with Hostage Calm. I think it had to do with them playing shows in Northern California close to one another or the fact that when a lot of people I know start talking about "good" hardcore bands I've been known to start thinking about anything else (i.e. baseball, chicks, grocery lists, etc). Oddly enough, the same person who recommended that I give Hostage Calm a chance is also who told me to give Harm's Way a whirl, and for that, I thank him. Isolation is six songs of some of the most brutal hardcore I have ever heard. At times, I am reminded of Integrity, Disembodied, Sepultura, Madball, and perhaps one of the 90s most underrated bands, Despair. What set's Harm's Way apart from their influences is their razor sharp record production and their use of discordant guitar noise and tribal drums that nod to 90s heavyweights Neurosis or Godflesh, but these interludes and breaks are used sparingly compared to the ridiculous amounts of brutal mosh parts found throughout this record. Isolation is a rare hardcore record that has the ability to transcend the sneaker and camo short wearing hardcore crowd and appeal to the metal crowd without going the Ozzfest or "swoopy haircut" route. Cop this shit ASAP.
Job For A Cowboy Gloom
When I first started seeing Job For A Cowboy's name around, it was at a time in the mid-2000s when all sorts of metal and hardcore bands with stupid names started to make the scene (see Heavy Heavy Low Low, Arsonists Get All The Girls, or A Girl, A Gun, A Ghost). I thought there would be no possible way a band with a name like Job For A Cowboy" could be any good. I just expected another band doing what Eighteen Visions or Every Time I Die was already doing an incredible job at. Then I saw this...
HARD. AS. FUCK. Straight up. I was completely and totally wrong about Job For A Cowboy. They were a brutal death metal band, comprised mostly of young kids who, at the time "Entombment of a Machine" was released on the Doom EP, couldn't even buy themselves a beer in this country. Needless to say, I was in from that moment on.
Before we get to reviewing their awesome new EP, Gloom, let me make something abundantly clear: this whole "death metal" vs "deathcore" argument is fucking stupid, and is clearly something that dudes and chicks who aren't getting laid enough came up with to pick on bands that they just don't happen to like for some reason. If Job For A Cowboy doesn't blow your hair back for your own personal reasons, that's one thing. Discrediting their entire catalog of work because it goes against some precedent set forth by Death, At The Gates, Morbid Angel, Carcass, or whatever other band from the 90s the internet is worshipping these days just shows that you're an asshole who needs to stop playing World of Warcraft and mix it up in public. People in this world have real problems. The fact that Job For A Cowboy isn't afraid of using mosh parts in their songs, or that some dude in a Ringworm shirt spinkicked you in the face during a JFAC set doesn't diminish the incredible music this band has been kicking out since their inception.
Gloom shows the band tightening up their sound a bit from their previous full lengths, especially Genesis. The guitar parts are much less noisy and chaotic, and the band comes together, assaulting your entire body by locking in with each other rhythmically behind singer Jonny Davy's disgustingly ferocious voice. The guitar soloing has been upped several notches, and is also highlighted by how together the band is behind the leads. This is a rare EP that I actually wish was a full length. If nothing else, Gloom should silence anyone who is still trying to front on Job For A Cowboy with having an early involvement in metal hardcore.
Go out and grab these joints. Make this summer a brutal summer. Life's too short to listen to shitty bands.
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