Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Bandcamp Picks: Crutches, PARASIT, Cripple Bastards, Nausea



DoC faves Crutches have issued their new album Lurad on Bandcamp. It's everything that made kids in Rumah Api run around in circles and bounce off of walls (and the concrete floor): D-Beat with a gnarly metal edge. Meanwhile, the anti-religious screed "Absolution" shows that our Swedish friends have more in common with Entombed than just a guitar pedal. The album is available as a "name your price" download.


Meanwhile, in nearby Stockholm PARASIT share space on the same HM-2 fueled crusty hardcore plane. Blisteringly fast and out of control, the four songs on Bag of Enemies (which also includes a Disrupt cover) would have been right at home sitting between Driller Killer and Wolfpack on a Distortion Records sampler back in the day. The EP is available as a "name your price" download.


Italian provocateurs Cripple Bastards have returned with their second album for Relapse. Nero In Metastasi may stand as the band's most accomplished album - a tight and unrelenting grind fest that is boosted with some slick riffage that recalls the likes of Exhumed and Impaled. Recording at the legendary Studio Fredman was an inspired idea; the sound highlights the band's exceptional musicianship without diluting their fury. Highly recommended. [$9.99]


This one slipped by me until fairly recently: Grindcore OG Oscar Garcia is back with a new Nausea release. With a mix of new and unreleased songs (plus a revamp of the classic Terrorizer rager "Corporation Pull In"), Condemned to the System sounds more like classic Terrorizer than Terrorizer do these days (though "Dr. Blastbeat" Eric Castro doesn't have quite the same presence behind the kit as Commando Sandoval). Anyone who heard World Downfall at an impressionable age will appreciate reliving the good old days. [$7.99]