Haggatha
III
Choking Hazard Records

Sounds like someone dropped some uppers into the piping hot cups of battery acid Haggatha start their day with because the Vancouver band’s usual tar-based doom is unleashed in an unusually striking manner on their new two-song EP, III. I don’t want you to get the impression that III is in any way a perky affair, but it certainly has a little more life flowing through its ruinous black riffs compared to I and II. I mean, it’s still a disgustingly sludgy mess, but “55 Year Old Fucking Liar” finishes with a hardcore fury while “Pinkus” rolls along in evil stoner fashion, both rare moments for this decaying breed. No need to cringe though if you’re a die hard Haggathian, they still pass the vile test and will make you forget about your Southern Lord catalog for a moment in favour of spinning this multiple times while watching a warthog rip its own face off.

Listen to “55 Year Old Fucking Liar” from III!

Sunday night, for most people, is a night reserved for honest, relaxed leisure. Perhaps you like to get your ducks in a row and prepare for the week ahead, or perhaps you like to enjoy a bowl of vanilla ice cream with raspberry topping and chocolate shavings, or perhaps you like to turn out the lights, curl up on the couch, and watch a movie. If you’re really lucky, there’s hardly any ducks to line up, the ice cream is extra tasty, and the movie you’ve decided to watch isn’t Taxidermia. That’s right — isn’t — because if it is, boy, your evening of honest, relaxed leisure has suddenly been cruelly disrupted by a movie so grotesque it’ll turn you off of Sunday nights for a long time to come. Hell, this 2006 Hungarian film by György Pálfi will turn you off of life for a long time to come if you decide to dance with it, so I guess my warning to you is this: If you care about your Sundays at all, watch It’s Complicated or The Young Victoria or something equally safe. But, if your beard craves the bizarre, if it desires depravity (and it doesn’t mind subtitles), then Taxidermia will gladly ruin the rest of your week…and then some.

(more…)

What was it I said a little while ago? Nothing good ever happens in the snow? Yeah, I think that was it, and here’s more proof: Dead Snow (or Død snø in its native Norwegian). Now, if you’re like me and felt a little let down by Inglourious Basterds and are jonesing for more satisfactory Nazi killing action, then you should think about checking out Dead Snow because as an added bonus, the Nazis in this movie are also zombies. And there’s A LOT more blood and guts. There had to be, really, because this movie is a wash otherwise. But looking for substance in a low-budget horror/black comedy flick is like ordering a salad at a fast food joint, isn’t it? You really only watch a movie like Dead Snow precisely because it’s gonna pile the blood and guts up higher than a ski hill and it responsibly chooses camp over plot.

(more…)