Coliseum - Parasites

Coliseum - Parasites EP

Latest EP from one of the best bands going. The bulk of this EP was recorded by J. Robbins at Inner Ear Studio and the tracks all sound amazing. The remaining jams are House With A Curse leftovers (that also totally slay). The added icing on the cake here is that rad fucking cover art by Rick Froberg.

Masakari - The Profit Feeds

Masakari - The Profit Feeds

Masakari hail from Cleveland, OH and they play a brutal blend of punk and metal. These dudes are really pissed-off with religion and the government (among other things). Basically this band sounds just like Cursed circa the "One" album. Hardcore with just the right amount of grind/crust and d-beat thrown in. If you're a fan of His Hero Is Gone and Tragedy but wished they sounded a bit more like Ringworm then this is the band for you. The best use of sound clips I've heard since the "Intimacy" EP by Light Yourself On Fire. This is one sickeningly heavy album that any fan of Cursed, Early Graves or G.I.S.M. will absolutely love.

Fang Rouge - Assassiner Les Montagnes

R F - M T M

If you are looking to find another banger like "Prehistoric Dog" you'll have to look elsewhere, because it isn't on here. This reminds me of early 90's groove-metal, which is fucking totally rad. This sounds like the album Blind by C.O.C., only mixed with a dash Mastodon and a pinch of Soundgarden. Catchy and interesting sludge-rock that was produced by Chris Funk from the Decemberists (weird I know).

GobbleHoof

GobbleHoof - S/T

GobbleHoof - FreezerBurn

Both these albums were produced by J. Mascis (who also played drums on the self titled) and released on the Minutemen's New Alliance Records. GobbleHoof featured J. Mascis' childhood friends Charles Nakajima (former Deep Wound frontman) on vocals, Kurt Fedora (a frequent guest on Dinosaur Jr albums) on bass and future Dinosaur Jr member George Berz on drums (for the FreezerBurn album). The sound on the self titled is a hybrid of punk and metal, you can hear some Rollins Band, some Black Flag and even some Butthole Surfers. On FreezerBurn they upped the metal and added some wah-wah drenched guitar and some seriously rad guitar riffs (a-la Soundgarden and Tad). Pretty rad proto-grunge.

Sweet Cobra - Mercy

Sweet Cobra - Mercy

This was written and recorded while guitarist Matt Arluck was battling cancer (a battle he lost this summer, rest in peace) and the songs don't just address and reference that battle, they channel the struggle into one of the of the best albums of the year. Sweet Cobra play noisy metal that draws as much influence from Neurosis as it does Quicksand. If you wished Torche wasn't so damn poppy, or on the flip side, that High On Fire were just a little more sugary, then this here is for you. Mercy was produced by Sanford Parker (Minsk, Nachtmystium, Pelican) and mixed by Kurt Ballou and it sound absolutely huge.