225: Cartilage

Dreams of Consciousness Podcast Episode 225 features an interview with Mark Wallace, Ria Wallace, and Mike Flory of Cartilage.

[cover photo by Chris Johnston]

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Bandcamp Picks 182: Exhumed, Cloud Rat, Drugs of Faith, No One Knows What The Dead Think, Rank and Vile

Having proved that they can be conceptual and cinematic with their previous album, gore metal pioneers Exhumed strip everything back to basics on their newest release. With most of its songs flying in under the two minute mark, Horror is the most condensed, concise album in the band's decades-long history, rivaling Repulsion's Horrified as the most direct expression of furious death/grind whilst retaining Matt Harvey's sizeable thrash influences and knack for catchy hooks. The Carnage, Master, and Genocide covers included as bonus tracks perfectly encapsulate the old school vibe. [$9.99] 

[Listen to my interview with Exhumed here.]


DoC faves Cloud Rat have been making strides due to their tireless work ethic, both in the studio and on the road. Pollinator is set to capitalize on that work ethic, turning in the best version of the trio's chimeric mix of grindcore and screamo: A seamless meld of dissonant melodies and frantic speed which never lets any song settle on a single tempo. Released concurrently with the album is a bonus EP that explores the band's interest in ambient and electronic music, as well as their hopes of uniting disparate music scenes. [$10]

[Read my interview with Cloud Rat here.]



Are Drugs Of Faith grindcore? With Richard Johnson of seminal Virginia grinders Enemy Soil leading the band, there's only so far they can run from the label, even if the unvarnished vocals and sparing use of blastbeats place the trio more in the realm of noisy hardcore. Their new 7" Decay retains the brevity and immediacy of grind even as it channels Deadguy's chuggy discordance - in short, an abrasive and angry affair. [$5]

[Read my interview with Drugs of Faith here.]



No One Knows What The Dead Think reunites Discordance Axis vocalist Jon Chang and guitarist Rob Morton for the first time in almost 20 years; and with Defiled's Kyosuke Nakano taking over the drum stool, their eponymous debut is as frenetic and unpredictable an addendum to The Inalienable Dreamless as one could hope for. Like the best grindcore albums, it's over almost as soon as it starts - but anyone wanting to emulate Chang's piercing screams can do so with the instrumental "karaoke" reprise of the album included at the end. [$8.99]



Is there too much HM-2 pedal in metal? Not if you're Portland's Rank and Vile. Their first EP Redistribution of Flesh delivers eight short slices of power violence-inflected death metal and a healthy amount of groove, all pulled together by the guitar tone that has had Stockholm garages shaking since the late Eighties. Bonus points for keeping the vocals guttural - something that's often lacking from American bands who venture down the Left Hand Path. [$8]

catching up with Ross Sewage

The last time I got tangled up with Creepsylvanian thrashers Ghoul, they threatened to kill and eat me. Frankly, I was lucky to escape with my skin (even if it was covered in food colouring). But when they announced they would be releasing their first comic book, written and drawn by Exhumed/Impaled bassist Ross Sewage, I had to find out more. Ross was kind enough to fill me in on how the idea for the book came about, its Kickstarter campaign, and the likelihood of a sequel.

Mixtape 98 - Exhumed

Here is the 98th installment of the Dreams of Consciousness podcast, featuring an interview with Matt Harvey of Exhumed.

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Bandcamp Picks - Cannibal Corpse, Exhumed, Daemusinem, THÆTAS/Haagenti

Few things in this world are as reliable as a new Cannibal Corpse album. Red Before Black, their 14th gore-soaked (s)platter, sees them reuniting with fellow death metal OG Erik Rutan, whose production brings an immediacy and clarity to the band's deceptively thoughtful songwriting. The most consistent and prolific of the genre's elder statesmen, at this point "death metal" is as concise a descriptor of  Cannibal Corpse as you'll get - and vice versa. [$9.99]

After the oddly restrained Necrocracy, Exhumed are back with a more recognizable cross section of gore fucking metal. A concept album based on the Burke and Hare murders, Death Returns matches Surgical Steel for riff after NWOBHM inspired riff, with symphonic interludes worthy of a Christopher Young score. The return of original Exhumed vocalist/bassist (and friend of the blog) Ross Sewage is as much of a bonus as the Exodus cover included at the end. [$10]



Comprising members of Putridity, Turin's Daemusinem continue largely in the same (opened) vein. Thy Ungodly Defiance is unbelievably fast, with squealing pinch harmonics punctuating the guttural onslaught, and technical in a way that enhances the brutality rather than detracting from it. There's no need to complain that Cryptopsy have strayed too far from their vile origins when bands like Daemusinem are here to pick up the slack. [$7.99]



With members of Buckshot Facelift, there's no doubt DoC friends THÆTAS are committed to expanding what it means to be a NYDM band while upholding their city's brutal legacy. The three songs on their new split release have enough blastbeats and slam parts to make Suffocation proud grandpas, but vary their attack with skronking guitar noise and changing tempos. On the other side of the split (and the L.I.E.) Haagenti make progressive metal great again by keeping the blast even through shifting time signatures, with nods to fellow Long Island native Chuck Schuldiner along the way. Both sides of the split are available as "name your price" downloads.