Total Fucking Slam

My first introduction to Wild Rags Records was this sophomore demo from Long Island mosh heavies Internal Suffering. Having gotten in touch with guitarist Chris Pervelis somehow or another (incredibly nice guy by the way) he hooked me up with this amazing 4-song introduction to his band and what would eventually be termed "brutal death metal". Slow, slamming death metal with crunching guitar riffs and breakdown after breakdown, the EP is a moshpit junkie's wet dream. Seriously, if the vocals were modernized (or degraded, depending on your point of view) into the "reee reee" of today's brutal death, there would be little difference - and these guys were doing it in 1994. While the opener, "Anointed In Servitude" is admittely my favorite, all of the crushing, groove-heavy tracks have something to offer. After going on hiatus in 2004 to focus on things like family and careers, I am happy to report the band is back at it and primed to release their new album this fall. Keep up with them at their impressively polished website here.

Extreme Malevolence

Y-Town's Stompcore Pimp Daddies

From waaay up north in Ypsilanti, MI (home of the EMU Eagles - thanks NCAA Football 09!) comes the working man's deathcore outfit Kitchen Knife Conspiracy. I discovered them many a year ago while desperately perusing the painfully now-obsolete mp3fiesta.com in search of any metalcore band I hadn't yet heard (little did I know my discovery of PtDB was only weeks away but that's another story). In comes KKC and their fourth (and final?) album, the witty A Friend In Need... Is A Friend To Kill. While some of the movie samples go on way too long, the album is a fun walk down death metal memory lane and stays pretty listenable today. I mean it's almost a decade old and completely derivative of Vision Of Disorder/Carnifex but who back then wasn't? The token humorous song titles belay the groovy breakdowns and tight riffs of generally good tunes. My only complaint is the low vocals seem to be mixed a tad high - the obvious overdub can be distracting. Other than that, a solid thirty minutes by a band stuck in a shitty college town worshipping My Chemical Romance and the Foo Fighters. They still seem to be around and are re-releasing remastered versions of their stuff soon so show some Michigan respect and keep up with 'em here.

Envy The Dead