INTERVIEW: Sheena Ozzella (Lemuria)

Lemuria recently wrapped up recordings for its second album for Bridge 9 Records, The Distance Is So Big. How was the recording process for the album?

J Robbins is a magical master of recording! He recorded Pebble' and the Cannonballs To Hurt 7'' for us so we knew we wanted to go back to him for the new LP because we love how natural he is with his recordings. We did ask him to take on more of a 'producer' role for The Distance Is So Big because we felt like he started to really get what Lemuria's sound is and could put us in a good direction with what we wanted this record to be. He had a lot of great ideas, and all in all, let us do our thing, but gave us confidence that this album was/is going to be something really special for us. The album is much more poppy than most of the stuff we have done. The mood is much brighter. It’s for sure showcasing a different period of time for Lemuria.

Judging from Spin’s stream of the new track “Brilliant Dancer”, it seems like you and the band are trying some new things in regards to vocal melodies and instrumentation. How will the new album compare to older Lemuria material, specifically the last LP, Pebble?

The album, again, is much brighter than both previous albums. The Distance Is So Big is a really energetic album. We really wanted to record something that was going to transfer well live. Something that wasn't over-produced and too thick with layers. We did some added percussion and instrumentation that we haven't tried before and wanted to create a lot more vocal melodies and back up vocal parts that we could do live. Honestly, the vocal melodies for this new album are so hard for me to sing, but challenging in a good way. We put a lot of time into the vocal melodies for this record. Alex wrote most of the lyrics for the album, just like Pebble. He's got such a unique way of saying shit that most of us have trouble getting out, and his lyrics are totally relatable. I think this album has some of the best lyrics he has ever written. I am super proud to sing ‘em!

While Bridge 9 has been known as a predominately hardcore label, they have released more pop-oriented albums from Lemuria, Polar Bear Club and New Found Glory. What is the relationship like between the band and Bridge 9?

Bridge 9 has been really amazing to work with. They do so much for the bands that are on their label and really care about your bands opinions and values. We are so happy that we have had the opportunity to work with them and hope we can in the future as well.

The band has a short northeast run planned for May. What else is in store for Lemuria in 2013?

Ohhhh! So much good stuff is in store for Lemuria! Our album comes out on June 18th and around then we will be doing release shows in each of our home cities. (Washington D.C., Buffalo, and Austin, TX) Then we will head to the UK for a few weeks in July. A full US tour in August/September. The Fest in Gainesville, FL in October. So excited about all of it!

INTERVIEW: Blake Connally (Dead In The Dirt)

Dead In The Dirt just completed tracking for your first full length, The Blind Hole, with Andy Nelson from Weekend Nachos. How was the recording experience?

We had a great time. A residency studio experience was exactly what we needed to focus and complete the record. We were able to immerse ourselves in the process instead of being surrounded by the distractions of being at home. Andy has been a close friend for a few years now, and so he was in tune with our live performance and our previous records before we entered the studio. This gave him an edge and personal stake in helping us create an aggressive and harsh record.

How will the songs on The Blind Hole compare to the Fear and Vold EPs?

The new LP is much different in a lot of ways from our previous material. The Blind Hole is an extremely personal record lyrically. We wanted to create something that not many people are doing in extreme music, which is right songs about reality, not some fake nihilistic world view. So many bands want to make loud aggressive music, but have nothing to say. Musically, I feel like there are many different atmospheres and a lot of our influences come through. Fear and Vold have their place in our history, but The Blind Hole is a step in much more painful direction.

You mentioned the lyrical content of the new record as more personal. What topics do you touch on, and are there any specific recurring themes?

There are many recurring themes: the fear of death, wasting what little time we have, losing loved ones, being vulnerable. We wanted to make a record that people can connect with, and write about our reality as it is. We have no interest in making music that is emotionless or superficial.

This LP will be your second release through Southern Lord. What is the relationship like between DITD and SL?

Southern Lord is a great label to work with. We have a good working relationship. We are pleased they will be putting out our new LP.

The band also completed a decent amount of touring with Sunn O))) last year. Was it an interesting experience playing to a more chilled out metal crowd than a rowdy hardcore crowd?

It was definitely a once in a life time experience. We really didn't know what to expect. The entire touring experience was much different than what we were used to, and spending time with people we look up to was a very surreal experience. It was really nice to play places where shows are taken seriously, where people actually watched us instead of being more concerned with beating the shit out of each other. Playing a 15 minute set, I think we were on and off the stage so fast most people didn't know what was going on until it was over. Sunn O))) were very supportive and great to hang with, hopefully one day we can do it again.

What are the band's plans for the rest of 2013 and beyond?

We are doing a short two week run of the midwest starting in the beginning of May, and we may be doing a west coast run in late July, but we are most excited for our month long European tour starting in October.

INTERVIEW: Dylan Walker (Full Of Hell)

Full Of Hell is gearing up to release its second full-length album for A389, Rudiments Of Mutilation. How was the recording process for this album in contrast to Roots Of Earth Are Consuming My Home?

Going into record this second record, we definitely had a much clearer vision for how we wanted it to sound on all levels. We recorded with the same engineer and took about the same amount of time (3 days). The main difference this time was the confidence going on. We had a much clearer vision for the record, and thankfully it fell into place like we wanted it to. The band has always seemed to be busy in regards to releases.

In between your LPs you've released splits with Code Orange Kids, The Guilt Of and Calm The Fire as well as volumes two and three in the FOH Noise series. Where does the band's desire to release so much content come from?

The musicians and bands that we have grown up admiring have always been prolific. That isn't the main reason for doing a myriad of releases, but it's definitely the inspiration behind it. We release material when we have ideas formed. We just do a lot of writing, and we enjoy putting it out. I don't think we would release as much if we didn't enjoy what we were creating.

After looking at the track listing for Rudiments Of Mutilation, I noticed the band re-recorded a track from the Goldust split, "Vessel Deserted", while the other tracks will be new. How does the new material stand up against your old material?

I don't think it stands up very well. I was on the fence about including "Vessel Deserted" at certain points before going in to record, but I was really into it when it was finished.. Lyrically, I think that song in particular is still okay. It's not great, but it has a very personal meaning, and fit very well with the theme of the record. There is a large part of the back catalog that I feel does not stand up to this material. That's normal though, isn't it? A band always says the newest record is their best.

The band mentioned FOH Noise vol. 4 coming soon, and I've always felt these noise tapes are your most experimental and genre-challenging releases. The first three have been drastically different than the prior volumes. How will volume 4 measure up against the first three?

Volume 4 has been honed much further than the previous 3. It's the longest entry yet, and definitely the most interesting, in my opinion. We have been able to experiment with new textures, due to some new equipment. This is being released through Arctic Night Records in late spring. A small amount will be available online, mostly only available on tour, as with the others.

I also saw you were involved with a three-piece group called Gerald Fletcher Memorial Grindcore Explosion. How did that idea come about?

We met a drummer named Balazs Pandi in Brooklyn last year at a show we played. He was super friendly and interested in the band and we kept in touch through email. It turned out that he was a pretty prolific musician, and is currently a huge collaborator with Merzbow, playing drums live and on record. We kept in touch. This year, Balazs asked me to come up to NYC with him to make an album with jazz legend Jamie Saft. I couldn't refuse. We worked on a very strange and bleak sounding LP while I was up in New York and we played a set in NYC. I'm hoping more comes of this project. The name is changing though.

Full Of Hell has announced US touring plans with Seven Sisters Of Sleep and Gehenna, as well as another European trek with Circle Takes The Square and Code Orange Kids. What else is in store for Full Of Hell in 2013 and beyond?

We've got a pretty full plate until the end of the summer. I don't think we could have anything better lined up for ourselves and I'm really excited. We are just starting to look into the fall, but it should be really cool. Nothing set yet. I only know that we will be playing a lot, in as many places as we can.

REVIEW: Full Of Hell - Rudiments Of Mutilation (A389, 2013)

Full Of Hell’s second full-length album for A389 Records, Rudiments Of Mutilation, follows up the band’s extensive output since its first LP, Roots Of Earth Are Consuming My Home, while keeping the band’s signature blend of hardcore, grind, and power electronics fresh.

This record wastes no time getting into the thick of things. The first track, “Dichotomy”, starts with wailing feedback and heavily reverbed vocals over random drum fills, which makes way for the harsh noise Full Of Hell has become infamous for. “Dichotomy” then leads right into a re-recording of “Vessel Deserted”, which made its first appearance on the band’s 2010 split with Goldust. The second take of this song charges forth with even more fury than the original, adding more urgency to the track. In the most sludge-laden portion of the song, vocalist Dylan Walker and bassist Brandon Brown trade syllable for syllable and create an interesting landscape for the breakdown with Walker’s mid-pitch vocals and Brown’s guttural blows.

The song leads right into the third track, “Coven Of The Larynx”, which contains the signature Full Of Hell sound: fast and abrasive, leveling out the amount of fast punk drumming and blast beats from drummer Dave Bland. The track even receives some guest vocals from Heartless vocalist Cory Smith. “Throbbing Lung Fiber” follows soon, clocking in at a little over a minute, as does its predecessor. “Throbbing Lung Fiber” is a minute-long grinding explosion detailing, as Walker describes, a “narrative a family being burned alive”. The music reflects the inhumane detailing of the lyrics, creating an atmosphere where the listener can almost smell the demise of the family within the storyline.

“Indigence And Guilt” follows, serving as the fifth track of Rudiments Of Mutilation. This song offers more classic Full Of Hell, with guitarist Spencer Hazard using some interesting chords in the middle passage. The song also features more guest vocals, this time from Weekend Nachos frontman John Hoffman. The latter half of the songs features stop-and-go drumming from Bland, which stomps through the song quickly, paving the way for the slamming ending. Track six, “Embrace” is the second longest song on the album, clocking in at over three minutes. The song features squealing feedback, tom-heavy drums, and creepy spoken passages by vocalist Walker. “Embrace” almost serves as a cooling off period, given its placement right in the middle of the record and following five tracks of nonstop brutality.

The latter half of the album kicks off with "The Lord Is My Light", a song showcasing some of Walker's more guttural vocal attacks, harkening a black metal vibe. The track sludges along, encompassing a bleak atmosphere. Walker also adds more unsettling talking, sounding almost possessed at times. After drawing back in a lighter dynamic, the band slams back into the song and rides it out, slamming right into the next song, “Bone Coral And Brine”. The song features more blasting drum passages that lead into a sinister slow part with rung out chords. The title track, “Rudiments OfMutilation” follows, another offering of unrelenting blasts of aggression. The song then breaks, making way for slow and churning riffs from Hazard. The track leads right into the final song on the album, “Contempt Of Life”. The song starts off with a drum track that sounds like Full Of Hell is marching right into the heart of war, accompanied by an arsenal of feedback and tense chords that retreat as soon as it barges onto the battlefield. The song comes to an abrupt end with only a swirling noise track that sounds like a swarm of bees. Walker adds some sparse vocals to the end, washed out heavily by reverb to finish off Rudiments Of Mutilation.

REVIEW: Nails - Abandon All Life (Southern Lord, 2013)

I’m a sucker for three-piece extreme bands. If you can pull off doing a really heavy or fast band with only three people, then you’re doing something right.

Rewind to September 2012. I was watching a video of Nails’ set from This Is Hardcore the month before and noticed they added a new guitarist. I’ll admit, I was a bit disappointed; seeing Nails completely destroy a small venue in Pittsburgh the year before really cemented my love for the concept of the hardcore trio. However, as the video rolled, I warmed up to the idea and eventually abandoned the three-piece Nails I once knew for the quartet I was currently watching. During the set, Todd Jones announced they would be recording a new album for release in 2013, which would become the band’s sophomore release for Southern Lord Records, Abandon All Life.

After listening through the album, I decided there was no way to compare Abandon All Life with the band’s prior effort, Unsilent Death. The new record comes off more as a metal album than a grind-influenced hardcore record, incorporating more death metal influences and punishing listeners in new forms. The band comes right out of the gate with the opener, “In Exodus”, which rotates between crushing slow parts and otherworldly blasts with Jones’ signature high-pitched howl layered on top. The song is followed by two 45-second bursts of grinding fury in “Tyrant” and “Absolute Control”; the songs run you over like a steamroller and are finished before you even realize what hit you.

One thing that really shines through for Nails on this record is the utilization of slower and more sinister passages such as “Wide Open Wound” and the album’s closer, “Suum Cuique”. These songs sit nicely between the short songs on the latter half of the album, not one of which clocks in over 90 seconds, and create a more cohesive album experience. Don’t get me wrong, Unsilent Death was great, but compared to Abandon All Life, it was short and not as varied.

REVIEW: Hoax - Caged/Sick Punk 7" (La Vida Es Un Mus, 2013)

Massachusetts mystery punks Hoax really took the hardcore world by storm with its first handful of releases and the band’s volatile and violent live show. Releases on Deranged, Youth Attack, and Painkiller polarized Hoax: either you love them or despise them. Most recently, the band issued the “Caged” single with “Sick Punk” as a b-side through La Vida Es Un Mus.

The first thing to note is the production value. While not as abrasive and blown out as the band’s Painkiller EP, the sound is still fuzzy but not distorted enough to distract (this was my case with the Painkiller EP: I absolutely hated how distorted the final product was I couldn’t get into the album itself). “Caged” starts off with a chunky bass intro leading into an evil mid-tempo barrage of hatred and venom. The song barely makes it over 90 seconds, pogoing along in the same pace for the duration of the song. As the record is flipped, “Sick Punk” smacks the listener right away with the signature Hoax feedback, right into a demented and malevolently fast segment that sounds akin to classic east coast 80s hardcore. The song twists and turns between fast and mid-tempo parts and also keeps it short and sweet, containing itself right around a minute and a half like its A side companion.

While the two songs contained are good, and I think a step up from the release before it, “Caged” and “Sick Punk” fail to maintain the attention of the listener like some of Hoax’s earlier releases did. The band has seemingly traded in its blistered mosh-inducing hardcore for a more deranged punk sound, which is a fine direction to go in, but if you’re looking to mosh, stick to Hoax’s older material.

NEWS: Code Orange Kids post new song from upcoming four-way split

Topshelf Records has posted a new song from Code Orange Kids that will appear on the band's four-way split with The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, Self Defense Family, and the recently deceased Tigers Jaw. The split will be released through Topshelf and Run For Cover Records.