Zinc Bukowski: Care For This? (Red Sun Sounds) [Matt Bladen]
Zinc Bunkowski are something of an enigma in terms of sound, they fuse together snot nosed punk, open chord alt rock and spacey desert rock sounds on this 8 track album. It's the follow up to their 2012 debut album Nature Finds A Way In The Face Of Woe and it benefits from years of touring between the two releases as the duality of the bands sound meshes together well, Zero Sum Game has the jangling guitars of the Manics This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours but with a driving rhythm section and the spoken/shouted vocals from singer/guitarist David Foley, it leads into the crawling title track which builds layers of dissonance over Chris Baker's bass and Carl Richards' drums, taking you to those more otherworldly realms. Autopsy has more surf rock riffs, paired with a defiant vocal, it's a bit Pixies and that's no bad thing.
Care For This? was recorded in March 2019 with Phil Smith at One Louder Studios, Newport and he's done a bang up job of capturing Zinc's intense musical fusion as aggression comes across on Shoot The Messenger while Port Talbot is a lot breezier than it's town namesake, Engulfed does just that with the repeating riff evolving into First Fail Forward, two songs that are clearly two parts of the same number as they both have samples, open clean guitar riffs as First Fail Forward changes into a pogoing punk number at it's climax. I've mentioned The Pixies in this review but these Pontypridd dwelling rockers have a lot of similarities to to Sonic Youth with their musical experimentation and even at their most expressive they even move into Hüsker Dü realms. One word of advice though is give this album time, preferably listening to it in one sitting rather than individual tracks and you'll be rewarded with an album that has its influence in the early to mid 90's and is brilliantly realised. 8/10
Woodhawk: Violent Nature (Self Released) [Zach Williams]
I don’t quite know what it is about autumn that makes me want to sit in a dark room and listen to Carcass until I can wear shorts outside again. I call it S.A.D.D (Seasonal Affective Death-Metal Disorder), and I think it is why on my first listen to Violent Nature – the third offering from Canadian riff trio Woodhawk – my first thought was ‘this is too poppy for my liking’. How wrong I was. This album has more hooks that a cenobites tackle box. It is REALLY catchy. From the opening track Snake In The Grass which has riffs for days, to the closing number Our Greatest Weakness which starts off with an almost Neil Young vibe, and ends by battering you across the head with a chorus you won’t soon forget. And just to clarify, please don’t be put off by the word ‘poppy’. This album is plenty heavy. There are two things that will get my attention on a record; big rockin’ riffs and a filthy bass tones and Violent Nature’s got ‘em both to spare. Thank you, Woodhawk, for breaking my autumnal funk. 7/10
Stoned Jesus: From The Outer Space (Napalm Records) [Paul Hutchings]
Those stoner dudes from Ukraine are back, a mere 14 months after Pilgrim blew a hole in the living room wall with it’s massively down tuned vibe and lengthy sojourns into the abyss. This time the trio from Kyiv have decided to blow another hole in the wall with a five-track album that lasts just shy of 50 minutes. That means that we have some lengthy shit going on here, with three tracks way over the ten-minute mark. Occult is the longest, drawn out, sludgy grinding riffs; the death throes of a dying leviathan would surely be accompanied by this soundtrack. As well as the unearthly musical crawl, the pained tortured croak of Igor Sidorenko adds significantly to the overall feel. It’s heavy as the bag of anvils dropped from the tenth floor and when the band let rip the neck aches without moving. It doesn’t have to be fast to be heavy and the Ukrainians know how to cave your cranium without breaking a sweat. Bludgeoning stuff. 6/10
Paricia's Patience: Self Titled (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
The Self Titled debut EP from Puerto Rican prog metal band Paricia's Patience is one that will impress fans of thunderously heavy riffs and old school metal flavour. They've been categorized as prog metal and while there are some progressive touches to this album, mainly on opening track Headless Horseman which has a choppy, trad metal riff and a solo that takes you away to a dream. They are difficult to categorise as Rise Of The Old Ones which is a swaggering doom as the title track brings some proggy rock sounds. Where Paricia's Patience shine is with the dual guitar prowess of brothers José Luis and José Miguel Vázquez on guitar and the brilliantly full bodied vocals of bassit/singer Damaris Rodríguez, who brings Latin flavours to Modern Prometheus a song that also has some great harsh vocals. A strong debut EP from Paricia's Patience that hints at more to come. 7/10
Zinc Bunkowski are something of an enigma in terms of sound, they fuse together snot nosed punk, open chord alt rock and spacey desert rock sounds on this 8 track album. It's the follow up to their 2012 debut album Nature Finds A Way In The Face Of Woe and it benefits from years of touring between the two releases as the duality of the bands sound meshes together well, Zero Sum Game has the jangling guitars of the Manics This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours but with a driving rhythm section and the spoken/shouted vocals from singer/guitarist David Foley, it leads into the crawling title track which builds layers of dissonance over Chris Baker's bass and Carl Richards' drums, taking you to those more otherworldly realms. Autopsy has more surf rock riffs, paired with a defiant vocal, it's a bit Pixies and that's no bad thing.
Care For This? was recorded in March 2019 with Phil Smith at One Louder Studios, Newport and he's done a bang up job of capturing Zinc's intense musical fusion as aggression comes across on Shoot The Messenger while Port Talbot is a lot breezier than it's town namesake, Engulfed does just that with the repeating riff evolving into First Fail Forward, two songs that are clearly two parts of the same number as they both have samples, open clean guitar riffs as First Fail Forward changes into a pogoing punk number at it's climax. I've mentioned The Pixies in this review but these Pontypridd dwelling rockers have a lot of similarities to to Sonic Youth with their musical experimentation and even at their most expressive they even move into Hüsker Dü realms. One word of advice though is give this album time, preferably listening to it in one sitting rather than individual tracks and you'll be rewarded with an album that has its influence in the early to mid 90's and is brilliantly realised. 8/10
Woodhawk: Violent Nature (Self Released) [Zach Williams]
I don’t quite know what it is about autumn that makes me want to sit in a dark room and listen to Carcass until I can wear shorts outside again. I call it S.A.D.D (Seasonal Affective Death-Metal Disorder), and I think it is why on my first listen to Violent Nature – the third offering from Canadian riff trio Woodhawk – my first thought was ‘this is too poppy for my liking’. How wrong I was. This album has more hooks that a cenobites tackle box. It is REALLY catchy. From the opening track Snake In The Grass which has riffs for days, to the closing number Our Greatest Weakness which starts off with an almost Neil Young vibe, and ends by battering you across the head with a chorus you won’t soon forget. And just to clarify, please don’t be put off by the word ‘poppy’. This album is plenty heavy. There are two things that will get my attention on a record; big rockin’ riffs and a filthy bass tones and Violent Nature’s got ‘em both to spare. Thank you, Woodhawk, for breaking my autumnal funk. 7/10
Stoned Jesus: From The Outer Space (Napalm Records) [Paul Hutchings]
Those stoner dudes from Ukraine are back, a mere 14 months after Pilgrim blew a hole in the living room wall with it’s massively down tuned vibe and lengthy sojourns into the abyss. This time the trio from Kyiv have decided to blow another hole in the wall with a five-track album that lasts just shy of 50 minutes. That means that we have some lengthy shit going on here, with three tracks way over the ten-minute mark. Occult is the longest, drawn out, sludgy grinding riffs; the death throes of a dying leviathan would surely be accompanied by this soundtrack. As well as the unearthly musical crawl, the pained tortured croak of Igor Sidorenko adds significantly to the overall feel. It’s heavy as the bag of anvils dropped from the tenth floor and when the band let rip the neck aches without moving. It doesn’t have to be fast to be heavy and the Ukrainians know how to cave your cranium without breaking a sweat. Bludgeoning stuff. 6/10
Paricia's Patience: Self Titled (Self Released) [Matt Bladen]
The Self Titled debut EP from Puerto Rican prog metal band Paricia's Patience is one that will impress fans of thunderously heavy riffs and old school metal flavour. They've been categorized as prog metal and while there are some progressive touches to this album, mainly on opening track Headless Horseman which has a choppy, trad metal riff and a solo that takes you away to a dream. They are difficult to categorise as Rise Of The Old Ones which is a swaggering doom as the title track brings some proggy rock sounds. Where Paricia's Patience shine is with the dual guitar prowess of brothers José Luis and José Miguel Vázquez on guitar and the brilliantly full bodied vocals of bassit/singer Damaris Rodríguez, who brings Latin flavours to Modern Prometheus a song that also has some great harsh vocals. A strong debut EP from Paricia's Patience that hints at more to come. 7/10