Hazzard’s Cure
Hazzard’s Cure
Self-Released

On their self-titled full-length debut, San Francisco’s Hazzard’s Cure bruise and belch their way through a fungal-covered forest on the backs of corpse boars, spears poised to strike the life from those they pursue. Their rabid, sporadic approach to the hunt is propelled by a steady stream of heavy metal buggery; bastard forms of sludge, hardcore, death, doom, speed, and thrash not only occupy the album as a whole but often appear within the same song, and the songs themselves (which range from three to ten minutes in length) run together like the warm blood of their prey. This kind of unfocused racket is often the battle cry of the drunk and stoned, and there’s no doubt that’s the case here, but while songs like “Meet Me at the Mountain” and “Great Dishonor” were born in the bottom of bongs and bottles, “Psilocybin” and “Wolves’ Banquet” are pure mosh pit fodder. But then there’s “Tossed and Dethroned,” “Clashing of Hordes,” and “Prayer of the Hunted,” all of which sound like Mastodon, Black Breath, and Viking Skull trading riffs inside a burning church, and you decide once and for all that there’s no use trying to figure it out because it’s just plain ol’ fucking metal.

Listen to Hazzard’s Cure right here!

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!

Griever
Inferior
Vitriol

Four-song EP from San Diego’s Griever (once Lewd Acts), who double down on the two-song single they released earlier this year. There’s actually more than one Griever out there, but this is the only one that deserves your attention, believe me, and even if you don’t think so, they’ll go ahead and take it from you anyway. Griever comes to the race with a hardcore gait but their strength actually lay in their ability to pace themselves with a sludgy, down-tuned melody, which means they’ll remind you more of Torche than they will Trap Them, but they could flank either of ‘em on the podium at the end of the day. “The Forgetter” and “Black Vinyl Clouds” are the two aggressively incessant songs here, loaded with groovy, volatile riffs, while “Stag Hymn” and “Home Again, Alone Again” showcase a gloomier Griever with a post-rock vibe. While heavy and loud, Griever keep you guessing, and that makes Inferior somewhat superior.

Listen to Inferior at Griever’s bandcamp page!