25 years of L7’s Bricks are Heavy

L7’s Bricks are Heavy came out twenty-five years  ago today in 1992, the same year that I became a teenager. Needless to say, when I first heard the Los Angeles based quartet they were a goddamn revelation; my Midwest-living, Catholic school-attending ignorant ass didn’t even realize that women who liked heavy music existed, let alone women who played heavy music.

Lord Time – Mandatory Human Livestock Reduction (Universal Consciousness, 2016)

My introduction to Southern California’s Lord Time was 2013’s Drink My Tears, an hour-long mind-fucking odyssey to the outer fringes of black metal, noise and experimental music which ended up being one of my favorite albums released that year.  Since then, the one-man project has only gotten darker, harsher and weirder, as evidenced by the utterly warped Mandatory Human Livestock Reduction, released earlier this year on sole member Andorkappen’s own Universal Consciousness.

Brujeria – Pocho Aztlan (Nuclear Blast, 2016)

It’s been sixteen long years since we last got a full length from Brujeria, but with presidential candidate/racist fruit loop Donald Trump threatening to build a wall between Mexico and the good ol’ U-S-of-A, there’s no time like the present for everyone’s favorite south of the border Satanic drug lords to come out of hiding.

Dark Realm Records

This past weekend, my wife and I ventured down to Anaheim to get our Disneyland fix. But the magic kingdom wasn’t the only destination on our agenda; Mrs. IG built some time into our busy itinerary to make a stop at the mighty Dark Realm Records.  For those unfamiliar, Dark Realm is the Los Angeles area’s only all-metal record store and is run by brothers Rick and Bay Cortez of the legendary Sadistic Intent.  I first visited the shop roughly six years ago and was blown away by the selection of CDs, shirts and various other heavy metal goodies, so I couldn’t wait to finally make my second pilgrimage.

Bloodscribe – Prologue to the Apocalypse (Gore House Productions, 2015)

It’s been a quiet year so far on the slam/brutal death metal front here at THKD.  I get a serious hankering for this shit every so often, and due to the lack of promos I have to admit I’ve been jonesing hardcore for the right band to come along and crush my skull with some ignorant slams.  Just when I was about give up hope, my friends at Gore House Productions hit me upside the head with Prologue to the Apocalypse, the debut full length from Los Angeles’ Bloodscribe.  Although the album clocks in at a mere twenty-six minutes, it has managed to more than satisfy my craving for a hefty dose of brutality.

Harassor – Into Unknown Depths (Dais Records, 2014)

One of my favorite things about digging into the metal underground is when one great band leads me to another great band.  That’s exactly what happened when Lord Time mastermind Andorkappen (aka Sandor GF) turned me on to Harassor, the LA black metal trio he plays drums for.  They’ve just released their fourth full length, Into Unknown Depths, via Dais Records and it’s a damn fine slab of bulldozing USBM if ever there was one.

Stages of Decomposition – Piles of Rotting Flesh (Gore House Productions, 2014)

In the most recent edition of my Oodles of Brutals series, I proclaimed that Stages of Decomposition’s Piles of Rotting Flesh just might be the slam album to beat in 2014 based on the two teaser tracks that were available at the time.  I’ve now had the pleasure of hearing the entire album thanks to our friends at Gore House Productions, and as a result I can officially say that my prediction was correct (how often does that happen?); the Los Angeles-based power trio have one hell of a debut full length on their hands.  This ain’t no hyperbole kidz, this is a genuine example of a young band kicking open the gates and setting the bar.

Lord Time – Black Hole at the End of the Tunnel (Universal Consciousness, 2013)

In recent months, I have come to know Los Angeles, California’s Lord Time as one of the most challenging and idiosyncratic artists in American black metal.  Sole member Andorkappen has crafted a distinctive, enthralling vision that’s thoroughly black, yet at times is only tethered to black metal by the thinnest of threads, incorporating elements of drone, ambient and noise to create dense musical tapestries that are nightmarish, surreal and at times abstract to the point where music transforms into pure, free-form sound exploration. Lord Time’s second album, Black Hole at the End of the Tunnel (henceforth referred to as BHATEOTT) was originally issued on cassette back in 2011, but now sees a vinyl re-release via Andorkappen’s own Universal Consciousness label.

Listen to: Ghost Noise

A man cannot live by metal alone.  The problem is, I don’t keep up with other styles of music as obsessively and consistently as I do metal, so when I want something new to listen to that falls outside the genre, I’m often at a bit of a loss.  Not sure where to turn, I recently started trawling Bandcamp to see if I could find anything of note that didn’t involve screaming, Satan, loud guitars and the like.  Most of the bands I found were total duds, but after much intense searching I stumbled across the Los Angeles trio Ghost Noise, and suddenly all was right with the world.

Lord Time – Drink My Tears (Universal Consciousness, 2013)

Whether you like it or not, you might as well just accept the fact that in 2013, the most interesting black metal is being released on cassette.  Case in point; Lord Time’s Drink My Tears, a lengthy, mesmerizing odyssey of USBM at it’s most psychedelically fucked up that’s almost impossible to stop listening to once you’ve let its bloodstained anti-hymns corrode your brain.

Behold! The Monolith – Defender, Redeemist (self-released, 2012)

I’ve always been fascinated by power trios.  It surely has something to do with my love of all things raw and stripped down, since it doesn’t get any more stripped down than tres hombres against the world, brandishing only electric instruments and bad attitudes.  The power trio is the bare minimum of musicians needed to produce a full and complete sound within a rock or metal format (although I’m sure there are plenty of duos who would beg to differ… eh, fuck ’em); it’s all about maximizing the minimal, and I’ve often found that power trios are inherently heavier and more powerful-sounding than these bands that feel the need to have three guitarists, two vocalists, four drummers, a percussionist, a keyboardist, a DJ, an acrobat, a lion tamer, etc… just listen to Motorhead, Venom, High on Fire or Hellhammer and you’ll catch my drift.