Omega Massif
Karpatia
Denovali Records

The moment you begin listening to an Omega Massif album, there’s not a heavier, darker moment occurring anywhere else in the world; it was true of their 2006 debut EP Kalt, it was true of their 2007 debut full-length Geisterstadt, and now the same can be said for their latest album, Karpatia. Knowing the kind of power Omega Massif is capable of harnessing, I feared putting the headphones anywhere near their desired mark lest my skull succumb to the inevitable decibel rape and cave in upon first riff impact. To say the German instrumental band is crushing is an understatement. Many will label ‘em drone sludge, post-metal, or atmospheric doom, but each of those are just rusty links in the thick chain tied to the ten ton anchor that is their sound, which rests in the deepest part of the ocean’s black crevices, a place still and breathless, a place untouched by humanity. Whether drenched in feedback, antagonizing you with its gentler, swelling passages, or unleashing a resounding and brutal assault of monolithic proportions, Karpatia is stone cold terror. You might want to think about finding a happy place with strong walls before you drop the needle on this one, man.

Listen to “Wölfe” from Karpatia!

Trap Them
Darker Handcraft
Prosthetic Records

Here’s what’s different about Trap Them’s latest full-length album, Darker Handcraft: it features new full-time drummer Chris Maggio (ex-Coliseum), it has been released on new label Prosthetic Records (after a few years/releases with Deathwish Inc. and one EP with Southern Lord), and its songs are no longer labeled as numbered days. Now, here’s what’s not different about Darker Handcraft: it has, once again, been manhandled by Converge guitarist and super-producer Kurt Ballou, and it contains, once again, an unbelievably potent and possessive force of extreme metal/(grind-, crust-, hard-)core. Basically, it steals all the prefixes, obliterates ‘em, and scatters the gruesome dust over your pummeled being, a disastrous funeral of sorts with a corpse-raping wake that dissolves into some not-so-silent moments of silence with “Drag the Wounds Eternal” and “Scars Align” (examples of Trap Them releasing, albeit ever-so-slightly, their soul-crunching grip). Ultimately, what’s not different about Darker Handcraft is its 30 plus minutes of distorted brilliance, callous cunning, and barking mad, totalitarian rule. Like Trap Them’s previous efforts, this is just another impressive link in the heavy chain dragging us along the left hand path to where the scum and filth will one day worship these American masters.

Listen to “Slumcult & Gather” from Darker Handcraft!

This piece of shit movie is supposed to be about disenfranchised teens, the bonds of friendship, and sexual curiosity, blah blah, but I think it’s just an hour and a half of poorly acted, terribly scripted, rape. Or necrophilia, depending on how you want to look at it. First, I couldn’t get past the 20-something actors that are suppose to be high school kids.  It didn’t work on 90210 and it’s not working here. Second, given the averages laid out by this film, 100% of men — sorry, boys — who come across a bound and dead (or near dead) body of a woman aren’t going to try and help her, but are going to fuck her repeatedly. If only the girls at school would just spread their legs, then these guys wouldn’t have to fuck a living corpse, huh? I guess that’s another point this movie is trying to make, so pay attention ladies. And about this dead girl? Well, she’s not really dead in so much as she can’t die. Don’t even bother asking why or how she got that way because that kind of detail isn’t important. The important thing is, she’s naked and not really willing.

(more…)