Reviews – The Resident Sound

REVIEW: Hellbillys – Torture Garden (1995)

America, the birth place of Rockabilly music, was a slow adopter of Rockabilly’s European mutant spawn, Psychobilly. While it’s easy to cherry pick a few grotesque entries in the American Rockabilly canon, the real pioneers of American Psychobilly are often overlooked.

On its 30th anniversary, we look back at the second full-length release by one of first American Psychobilly bands (if not the first), The Hellbillys.

Readily available info on the band is fairly sparse considering their multi-decade spanning run. What I can say for sure is that The Hellbillys formed in San Francisco in 1988, and by the time of their first release, the 7″ single Dragstrip Girl in 1991, featured members of various bay area Punk and Hardcore groups.

In stride with their 2nd-wave Psychobilly counterparts, Torture Garden features a version of Psychobilly further informed by Metal and Hardcore- heavier, faster, and more aggressive riffs. Besides just being great songs, tracks such as ‘Bondage A Go-Go’ and ‘First Probe To Uranus’ step up both the taboo and the crassness at the heart of the Psychobilly subculture.

Torture Garden was released on June 15th, 1995 on Ransom Note Recordings. Clocking in at a tight 30 minutes, Torture Garden is a must-listen for both new proponents and seasoned fans of the Psychobilly genre.

If you’re looking for more info on The Hellbillys, well, me too! In the meantime there’s a great interview by Jessica Thringer in Razorcake iss. #34 with Hellbillys’ singer Barrie Evans that you can read here.

You can snag a copy of the LP over at Bad Billy Records, or you can buy a digital copy via iTunes (or Apple Music or whatever it’s called now).

For fans of: Demented Are Go!, Nekromantix, Reverend Horton Heat

Like Hellbillys? Give these a listen: SlapClapS, Alien Blood Transfusion, The Space Cossacks

REVIEW: Béton Armé – Second Souffle (2023)

The contemporary Oi scenes in both the anglo and francosphere have been churning out great work for a while now. If you’re looking to jump in or familiarize yourself with some staples, you need to check out Montreal’s Béton Armé.

Starting with their self titled debut EP in June of 2018, Béton Armé (‘Reinforced Concrete’) have been putting out no bull Punk Rock’n’Roll ever since. But the band’s 2023 EP Second Souffle has really broken through, gaining traction amongst Oi fans worldwide.

Second Souffle was recorded at Studio 440 by frequent collaborator Scott Golyardi (drummer of Force Majeure) and features a clear yet still raw sound, the Goldilocks zone of nearly all recorded music as far as I’m concerned. Crunchy, straight forward riffs, a driving rhythm section, and enough group chanted vocals to please both street and mall punks. Either you’re itching to hear it, or you’ve already clicked off of this article (shucks).

As with a lot of Punk releases in recent years, Second Souffle is short and sweet. 4 tracks spanning 9 minutes, no time wasters. Yet you’ll probably spend more time with Second Souffle given its lack of filler than you would with many Punk LPs of the past 25 years, and I think it’s a great direction for these bands to be going in.

You can find Second Souffle for streaming and digital download over on the band’s Bandcamp page, along with their other releases.

For fans of: Blitz, The Chisel, Rixe

Like Béton Armé? Give these a listen: Syndrome 81, Squelette, CRAN

REVIEW: Syndrome 81 – Désert Urbain (2015)

5 songs, 12~ minutes, no time wasters. The Brest, France Oi Punks Syndrome 81 delivered one of the tightest punk EPs I’ve heard in a while. If shimmering guitar melodies over a driving rhythm section pique your interest even remotely you won’t be disappointed.

But if that sounds a bit slack let me assure you, Désert Urbain is played with such palpable urgency that you could seamlessly play it after any worthwhile hardcore record.

The only thing I dislike about this record is that it’s from 2015, which at the time of writing this means I’ve got a decade of catch-up to do. Now that I say that, lucky me.

For fans of: Embrace, The Chisel, Crown Court

Like artist? Give these a listen: Rixe, Lyon Estates, Squelette

REVIEW: Wind Burial – Debut EP (2013)

Do you like Fairport Convention? Rowland S. Howard? Windhand? Grouper? Chelsea Wolfe? If you said yes to any one of these, there’s a chance you’ll like this record. Hell, if you hate all but one of them you still ought to give it a listen.

Released in 2013, Wind Burial’s debut EP blends dark Spaghetti Western and kaleidoscopic Folk Rock melodies, a sonic foundation that singer Kat Terran blankets with haunting vocals. To put it in grossly oversimplified terms, Wind Burial is a gothic Surrealistic Pillow with a ghostly Grace Slick-informed vocal performance. I liken it to American Regionalism– trippy, earthy, and a tad morose.

Depending on how you feel about any of those terms this could come across as a scathing dismissal, but let me assure you it is anything but.

Much like Grouper’s Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, Wind Burial provides a delightfully dark work whose potential fan base easily surpasses any one sect of music fans.

Closing track ‘Downstream’ is one of my favorite songs of all time. And while I would stress that it isn’t representative of the rest of the album, if you were to only listen to one track from Wind Burial it should be this.

For fans of: Chelsea Wolfe, Grouper, The Birthday Party

Like Wind Burial? Give these a listen: Friends of Dean Martinez, Luna Honey, These Immortal Souls

REVIEW: Textbook Traitors – You Pull The Strings That Make Us Dance (2003)

You Pull The Strings That Make Us Dance is a catharsis to inner turmoil, a mouthful, and a great album by Textbook Traitors. 6 songs, 16 minutes, no skips. It’s got all the panic chords and agony one could hope for. Chaotic abrasiveness that ebbs and flows, inhaling and exhaling across verses and bridges as a unit in the same violent manner of the ugliest, most hurt crying.

At its worst, it’s 16 minutes that might not be for the faint of heart. But with today’s modern technology, we can put albums on endless repeat until the noise complaints and/or welfare checks start rolling in.

Textbook Traitors burned bright and fast from 2002 to 2005, putting out this bad boy as well as a slew of split EPs. But the records live on, and for anyone only just beginning to dabble in Screamo, ‘You Pull The Strings’ is a must listen.

If you enjoyed this, you should check out Kevin’s post about Textbook Traitors over on Sophie’s Floorboard blog.

For fans of: Orchid, Examination of The…, City of Caterpillar

Like Textbook Traitors? Give these a listen: Mondrary, Cloud Rat, New Forms

REVIEW: Eternal – Cryptic Lust (2023)

If you haven’t heard Eternal yet, I understand. But there comes a time when any self-proclaimed music genre fan needs to listen to something other than the classics and the commercially accessible.

Eternal’s first full length release Cryptic Lust is incredible. Gothic horror gutturals to the nines, as the best old skool Death Metal often does. And crunchy tones, riff city, as the best old skool Thrash Metal often does.

Cryptic Lust is 12 tight tracks clocking in at approximately 45 minutes- perfect. And caps off with a cover of Deathcrush by Mayhem that’s absolutely punishing (in a good way). I highly recommend working this record into your listening rotation.

For my Metal listening sessions I’ve found myself pairing Cryptic Lust with the Feral LP from Concrete Caveman, also released in 2023. The ’20s thus far have been great for Metal music if nothing else. If you rarely find yourself listening to anything released after a certain year, now’s the time to jump back in!

For fans of: Cannibal Corpse, Testament, Gorement

Like Eternal? Give these a listen: Livid, Inhuman Condition, Artificial Brain

REVIEW: Mondrary – Paraffin – Single (2023)

We might just be in the great Skramz resurgence right now. I should’ve written about this two months back when I first came across it, but if you’re into Screamo (of the ‘skramz’ variety) you need to check out Maryland’s Mondrary.

Mondrary’s first single Paraffin is a righteous wall of sound and angst that clocks in at an even 2 minutes and crosses a ton of energetic highs and moody lows. I’m immediately reminded of groups like Pg.99 and Orchid, but I’m more excited to see where the members take Mondrary over the coming years.

But for now nothing else really needs to be said. These kids RIP. Go checkout their single Paraffin and follow their Instagram in the hopes they play the craptastic nowheresville town you live in.

For fans of: Pg.99, Orchid, City of Caterpillar

Like Mondrary? Give these a listen: Textbook Traitors, Reversal of Man, Lyon Estates

REVIEW: Neglect – The Complete Don Fury Sessions (2005)

If you’re reading this blog (you are) there’s probably a good chance you’re into dark music- whatever that may be to you. The hunt for new and overlooked records will have you running into the same 5 or so bands or singles per sub-genre with the same spiels about how such and such record is under exposed.

Enter Neglect. Often recommended for people looking for Hardcore bands with darker lyrical themes, Neglect was founded and folded in the early to mid-1990s in Long Island, NY.

Their sound was typical for the Hardcore zeitgeist at the turn of the 1990s. Heavier, slower, groovier, meatier, essentially embracing what Pantera saw as Hardcore music’s potential, but with lyrics on suicide, premature death and nihilism.

If you’re looking for darker records in an emotional sense, you might find this record lacking in depth. Suicide, hatred, death, and anger- if you were ever 16 and inspired by Black Flag’s Damaged to punch a mirror and hurt yourself, this is probably a record that will resonate with you. If that sounds a little too 2-dimensional or underdeveloped to you, you’re not alone.

This extreme degree of anger (self-directed and otherwise) undermines its own emotional impact by drowning out (or leaving out) any nuance in an attempt to win Hardcore’s own anger pissing contest.

Fans of this kinda stuff (I’ve been one at different times of my life) will defend it by saying that it’s ‘brutally honest’ (whatever that means), and to their emotional truth that may very well be the case.

Neglect’s The Complete Don Fury Sessions is a compilation released in 2005 of the band’s work with prolific Hardcore producer Don Fury (production credits include Agnostic Front, Gorilla Biscuits, Born Against, and more). Besides the few movie sample intros and outros it’s a no-thrills album. A bit muddy but all’s fair in hard and core.

For fans of: Pantera, Everybody Gets Hurt, Next Step Up

Like Neglect? Give these a listen: Deceased, xMeans to an Endx, Fuck The Facts

REVIEW: Slayer – Repentless (2015)

Does it live up to their classic material? Of course not. You reach over to your shelf of records, thumb over to Slayer, and you’re gonna grab Repentless? No way!

You listen to Slayer because you want that classic Slayer sound. The only reason you’d grab Repentless is because you spent $20-$30 on the album when it was released and now the more it’s played the more your purchase feels justified. Just grab what you really want to listen to: Reign in Blood, South of Heaven, Hell Awaits, etc. They’re great records! Why listen to a nutrient deficient version of what you really want?

Repentless doesn’t give you any other reason to listen to it. Slayer never developed too much from album to album- which has led to great consistency for better or worse. But since no one album offers anything significantly different from the last album- even aesthetically- it’s too easy to reach for the classics over this every time.

Araya sounds rough here. Lombardo is clearly absent. And coming along with Hanneman’s death before recording on the album began? It feels like they should’ve just scrapped it. It’s not bad, but it’s not worth the time or money. Cash grab? Maybe. Same old song and dance? Absolutely.

For fans of: Metallica, Venom, Exodus

Like Slayer? Give these a listen: Grip Inc., Sacred Reich, Vio-Lence

REVIEW: At The Gates – Slaughter of The Soul (1995)

The only album using Papyrus font on the album artwork I can give a pass to.

nothing will date a single more than its music video

As someone generally burned out on the plethora of soundalike bands with nothing new to bring to Metal- songs that only sound like chopped and re-ordered versions of other songs by other cut-rate extreme metal bands- finally checking out At The Gates’ 1995 classic Slaughter of the Soul was long overdue.

Slaughter of the Soul is fixated on one thing and one thing only: guitar shredding. While less angular and certainly more melodic than anything approaching grindcore, no one riff lingers long enough to create a greater textural or ambient quality to the record (think: black metal). Every moment is a Guitar Hero blue-lightning power-up moment, and if that’s something you’re in to you’re going to enjoy this record.

For some Slaughter of the Soul may be too commercial- too clean, too produced, too melodic- but it’s a logical progression from Mercyful Fate’s work a decade earlier. And so if Mercyful Fate is as far as you’ve gone into melodic metal, and you’re willing to opt to in for deathly fry screamed vocals and throttling double kick driven sections, At The Gates’ Slaughter of the Soul is a great place to start.

For fans of: Mercyful Fate, Metallica, Grip Inc.

Like At The Gates? Give these a listen: Sodom, Carcass, Edge of Sanity