This latest volume from Out of Step has taken rather longer than I'd like to come out. As often happens the ordinary bullshit gets in the way. However let that not hinder us from enjoying what's important.
In this issue we hear from slam experts Party Cannon, noise enthusiasts Modern Technology and black metal extremist Mizmor.
Elsewhere there's reviews of some of the best new music and unfortunately that god awful Six Feet Under record.
Dave Gilmore Out of Step UK
Peace��
OK so Six feet Under are sharing reviews of their newest record but only those from "proper journalists“. What the band mean by this is anyone's guess but for my money "proper" must be an American term meaning "deaf, lazy or functionally brain dead".
Anyone whom listens to this God awful racket and gives it anything close to a positive review is either lying or a member of the band. Quite how dirge like this gets the green light over countless other acts defies all reason. Surely the well of Chris Barnes past success in Cannibal Corpse has run dry by now?
Chris' vocals sound like a pair of foxes fucking in trash compacter and the rest of the group do little better. What solos there are on the record sound like Kerry King if he lost both hands and played by dragging his knob across the fretboard.
I can honestly say this is the worst pile of shit I have heard in recent memory.
Normally I would try to write something witty as an end to a review but I refuse to put in more effort than the band did.
In a genre of music largely concerned with murder, war and other macabre subjects it is always refreshing to hear a band with a sense of humour. The hilarious subjects the band covers would be cringe worthy if they didn't have the musical chops to back it up. But back it up they do.
Song concepts like "Strictly come Danzig" and "Live Laugh, Lars" would be wasted on lesser musicians. The lads from Raised by Owls are masters of their instruments and death metal as a whole and this third instalment is by far their most accomplished to date.
After many listens to the record it is clear that the band could easily fit into more mainstream (for metal anyway) sounds if they so chose to. The fact that they persist with confidence in their own style is a rare quality in a band which is something to be admired.
There are plenty of bands out their of a similar style but few that can match up technically and artistically to RBO. The bands best effort by quite some margin. Wonderful.
In have to admit it, two minutes into this record I was hooked. The band, hailing from the Isle of Man have successfully captured the confidence of The Exploited, the aggression of Discharge and the technical speed of early Slayer.
That being said Swarf Damage plant their feet firmly in the camp marked 'crossover' and are perhaps guilty of staying a little too deep in their comfort zone with an attitude of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'. This does also work in the bands favour and the commitment to their sound is admirable.
This is exciting debut which lays a solid foundation for the bands future.
This debut from the Mexico City duo leans firmly on the "progressive" side of death metal. Each of the songs have a complex structure which allows a tense ebb and flow throughout the record. Leaving you unsure where it will go next.
Occasionally there are moments where there is a little to much going on. The Job For A Cowboy meandering bass is something I will never get used to but it is largely effective here.
Production wise things work well enough and as such don't warrant any further thought. I get the impression that this record was recorded over a long period of time with songs added to at different points and as your mum said to the randy stallion, it's possible to put to much in.
Overall this record brims with ideas and some superb musicianship. Fans of progressive metal take note.
The award for this years worst album art goes to Full of Hells latest record. Imagine AI art of a roast chicken in a body warmer with a grenade detonating inside it and you are almost half way there.
Crap art aside. I have been waiting for a new FOH record for some time. The bands last two cooperative efforts, 2023's "Suffocating Gasp" and "When No Birds Sing" with Primitive Man and Nothing respectively left me rather cold and unimpressed like an erection in a snowstorm.
Coagulated Bliss is just the record I was looking for. The album is twenty five minutes of frantic layered noise. The band stick to their trademark sound with an increased leaning into hardcore this time around, think Converge with a particularly nasty and painful cist. For me the record doesn’t quiet make it back to the high water mark of 2019’s Weeping Choir but is a welcome return nonetheless.
By their nature Full of Hell are an extreme band and this record further cements their legacy as one of the best grindcore bands to ever grace a stage.
Scotland’s favourite sons Party Cannon are back with their signature brutal party slam on their latest record “injuries Are Inevitable”. Bassist Chris Ryan took some time out to from listening to Eurodance and making Lego to have a chat about the new record and the bands upcoming UK tour. Your latest record is simultaneously the most accomplished album the band has made to date and probably the silliest. How do you manage that dynamic of having fun and putting out a killer album?
Chris: Thanks a lot for the kind words! I think with this release we’ve really honed in on what makes us, us, in a musical sense. While we are a goofy band, we take the music very seriously and don’t want it to be considered ‘novelty’ music. We played a lot of great gigs in support of our last album Volumes Of Vomit which included support tours and big fests that put in front of a lot of new faces so we were really able to see what songs worked well and won new people over while pleasing die hard fans that came out to see us. We would never actively change our sound to please outsiders, but we were able to make our sound more focussed and write songs that we knew would cause the most havoc in a live setting!
We believe our sound is about the push-pull of fast parts vs breakdowns, each of them are important but serve to make each section hit harder through the contrast. When you build up a slam part enough then it feels more fun when it comes in, in my opinion. To sum up; we tried to make our songs shorter while not waiting too long to get a slam riff.
This year the band is celebrating ten years since your debut “Partied in half”. How does it feel to reach such a big milestone in your career?
Chris: Surreal releasing it would be considered a milestone! When we first put it out I pretty much assumed the band would be done after that, we were having a lot of issues getting a solid lineup together and honestly didn’t think the extreme metal climate in 2013 would care about what we doing, but as time went on people seemed to really pick up on that EP. It’s great to know we’ve put out something that people find memorable and felt was worth celebrating despite it being the product of a some ADHD riddled, unemployed 20 year olds. Overall I’d say I’m grateful people still want to hear those songs live 10 years later, ‘Duct Taped To A Flag Pole’ is the one song people in every country we play in always ask for.
The band has, probably, the best logo in heavy metal and it always stands out on posters. Did you always want the band to be perceived as different?
Chris: Honestly, the logo was a result of accidental genius – it was just suggested and we went with it, there was no formal planning to make it stand out. Very happy we went with that option and not ‘Catatonic Thanatology’ which was the other contender. I wouldn’t say there was an aim to make the band different from other bands in our scene but more-so we just wanted to combine our influences in a way that felt authentic. As much as we love brutal/slam death metal and that is the core of our sound, we were equally as big into power violence and goregrind which had way more of a tongue-in-cheek vibe. Bands like The Afternoon Gentlemen and Spazz played intense, serious grindy-punk music while having song titles that were all about drinking, in-jokes and nerdy stuff that we thought made it way more fun, so we wanted to combine that with brutal death metal and the end result was Party Cannon.
What new music are you guys listening to at the moment, metal or otherwise?
Chris: I’ve actually been listening to a lot of new brutal death metal at the moment, I tend to go in cycles with my listening – 3 weeks I’ll listen to metal, then 3 weeks I’ll only listen to punk, then 3 weeks I’ll just listen to depressing stuff, it just seems to organise itself like that! Newer releases I’ve been jamming at the moment are Peeling Flesh, Brodequin, Torture, Despondency, Virologist, Gorgasm, Dying Fetus, Wormed, Severe Torture, Nithing, Stabbing, Impalement, Snuffed On Sight, any band that ends in -Ectomy. I think it’s important to keep listening to newer stuff in the scene and get that fresh perspective, as much as I love the classics like Cranial Impalement and Reek of Pubescent Despoilment there are only so many riffs I can steal from those albums.
Who has the worst music taste in the band and what is it?
Chris: It’s definitely me. The rest of the guys in the band listen to all the standard boring normie-metal bands and I like to think I’m above that, however I literally spend my time willingly listening to gorenoise demos and Eurodance. If you have a band camp release that sounds like an explosion with gabber kicks please send it my way.
The band will be touring the UK later this year with some great bands. Are you looking forward to it?
Chris: I can’t wait, it took a lot of effort to get that lineup together and it was definitely worth it. I can’t think of a better cross section of the UK’s most ridiculous and insanely heavy bands. Having Party Cannon, Pintglass, Street Soldier and Foetal Juice on the same tour package is equal parts bold as it is irresponsible. Initial reactions and ticket sales have been great, I reckon this will be one for the books and there may be a few arguments in the crowd.
Chris: You’ll just need to come to our UK tour and find out haha!
I’m definitely way more of a death metal guy but feel both genres have their merits each could learn from. Death metal for me is way more interesting and intense musically whereas hardcore is a lot more energetic live and has a much more engaging community. If the underground death metal community were as active as the hardcore crowd we probably wouldn’t have legendary bands playing to empty venues! Plus I’ve never seen anyone put through the merch desk at a death metal gig, maybe it’s time to sort that out.
If you weren’t in Party Cannon what do you think you’d be doing?
Chris: More than likely living the ‘work, sleep, beach holiday, repeat, die’ dream. That, or I’d have expanded my collection of anime body pillows to a concerning extent. It’s hard to give a genuine answer, if it was to end tomorrow I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. I’m sure a lot of people who pour themselves into a touring band will feel the same way, it’s such a big part of your life and consumes so much of your energy that you’d feel lost without it. However I do have a lot of unbuilt Lego and unopened Switch games that seem more appealing each day.
The one man black metal machine that is Mizmor has been steadily trudging through the mire of the underground for some twelve years now. This enigmatic individual known as A.L.N is behind some of the most thought provoking and atmospheric black metal I’ve heard in a long time. Set to take to the UK stage for the first time this November this could well be a breakthrough year from a man with vison and a plan.
The band has just been announced as playing Damnation festival's 'Night of Salvation'. I understand this will be your UK debut. What's taken so long?!
Yes, we are touring the UK and mainland Europe for the first time this fall and I'm really excited. It sure has been a long time coming. Everything with Mizmor has been really gradual. The project started in 2012 as just me in my bedroom recording on my laptop, making music intended just for my ears. After learning others wanted to hear it, I made it available online. Then I learned people wanted hard copies, so I made CDs. I continued to release DIY music until I learned people want to see it live. In 2016 I put together a band and began accepting invites for festivals and one-offs. This turned into realizing there was a need for taking the music around the country to people in their home cities. In 2019 we toured for the first time and only just last year in 2023 did we do a full US tour. We've played Roadburn twice and Soulcrusher once (both Netherlands fests), but it finally feels like a full tour of Europe can wait no longer.
Are you familiar with any of the others' bands on the bill? Are there any that you will be checking out?
I'm familiar with plenty of the other bands playing the festival, but we will only be there for one night. I'm sure I will watch some music but honestly, there's so much work to be done scrambling around before and after we play that it can be hard to be an audience member and really enjoy the live music. We shall see.
Damnation Festival has a growing reputation for bands playing full albums or otherwise special sets. What record (if any) of yours would you like to play in full and why?
We will be performing a mixed set of tracks off of Prosaic, Cairn, and Yodh. Since it's our first time touring the UK and Europe, we want to present an array of material that spans a few years.
I understand you record as a one man show. Is it challenging getting musicians who share your musical vision to play live with you? Do you have a consistent live band?
Correct - Mizmor is a solo project that gets translated into a full live band experience. It is difficult to find the right people. It has to be a special mix of musicianship, friendship, and professionalism. Obviously I need people that can play my style, but it's equally important to surround yourself with people you like being around since you spend so much time together. I've had a relatively consistent live band. We've had to switch out a member or two here and there over the years as things come up in life. The members are always personal, trusted friends that I've played music with before. Some of the dudes are childhood friends who I've been playing music with for many years. I'm extremely lucky to have some of the most talented, skilled, and kind gents in the game. The live line-up is currently Andrew Black, Jesse Shreibman, and Blake Ferrin.
Do you have any more shows in the UK this year?
Yes, we are playing a handful of dates around the fest including Bristol with Dool and London with Inter Arma.
In the past you've described the music you play in Mizmor as a way of coping with your loss of spirituality. Is that still the case or has that idea evolved?
That's still the backdrop but the idea has definitely evolved. I've been working through my loss of faith via the music of Mizmor since 2012, so I've undergone a lot of growth and acceptance at this point. Although it was a slow transformation, I've been an atheist for a few years now and don't find myself constantly grappling with the idea of the existence of god anymore. Nowadays, my music addresses the issues left behind in life post-belief; things like consciousness, morality, the influence and spread of ideas, purpose, work, and the absurdity of life. Using Mizmor as a form of therapy to process my emotional issues has definitely done a lot of healing in my life and remains a powerful outlet in dealing with whatever is swirling around in my mind.
Your (2022) record with Thou is probably my favourite album of yours. How did that collaboration come about?
Thou and I are old friends. I met them through playing and touring with the band Hell back in 2013. I think the original idea came about through some joking social media comments. I pitched the idea of a split, but they were adamant about the collab. Early on it consisted of trading emails and sound clips. Then a few video calls to learn/teach parts. Finally, I flew to New Orleans on three separate occasions for writing and recording. I'm super proud of what we made and had so much fun making something ridiculously heavy with some of my favorite people.
Are you open to working with other established musicians in the future? Are there any that you think would be a good compliment to the Mizmor sound?
Of course, always open. For me, finding the right collaborator is less about sound (though that's important too) and more about personal connection. So far I've only collaborated with people I'm personal friends with, known for years, and have shared in music with in some form. Then the proposition just kind of naturally comes about - 'hey, you wanna make something together?' In fact, I'm currently deep in the recording process of another collaborative album - Mizmor & Hell. It will be released by Gilead Media later this year and I can't wait for y'all to hear it.
The London based noise rock duo Modern Technology create one hell of a racket in the best way possible. The band have slowly but surely craved a niche for themselves in the UK scene the lads took some time out to talk about their influence, their tour with Chat Pile and the legendary Steve Albini.
You guys recently toured with Meth. and Chat Pile. How was it?
Ah it was amazing! We’re big fans of both those bands, so getting invited to join them for this tour was a real honour. They’re also all super humble dudes and it was really nice getting to hang out and chat about life in the UK and US scenes. A few of the Meth guys hadn’t ever been to the UK before and we’ve yet to play the US, so it was fun comparing tour stories and sharing notes!
The Electric Ballroom was easily all of the band’s biggest UK shows to date, so we had some shared anticipation on that one. It went really well all round and the reception was amazing! We also had lots of people coming down to the shows early for our sets, which was a lovely surprise and great getting to introduce new people to our music.
You also have a slot at this years Arctangent Festival in Bristol. Are there any bands on the bill that you ll be checking out whilst your there?
Yeah we can’t wait for that on too! Another first for us and getting to share the Friday bill with the likes of Show Me the Body and Meshuggah is pretty mind blowing.
Would definitely recommend a few of the other bands from our label Human Worth who will also be at the fest – Kulk, who are opening the Bixler Stage on the Thursday, and TORPOR, who are opening the PX3 Stage on the Saturday. Both incredible and very loud bands, who we’re sure will blow the ATG crowd away!
Our pals Codex Serafini are also playing the Saturday too, straight after TORPOR – some nice psychedelic relief after the crushing wall of doom.
If I'm correct you’ll be opening the Bixler stage on the day. Is there any added pressure knowing you ll be the band to kick everything off and set the bar for everyone else to follow?
Ah not really, it actually feels like less pressure than having to follow other great bands. In a way we’re the underdogs and we’re sure not a lot of people will know what to expect, so it’s going to be fun hitting people with our noise at that time in the morning, ha!
Do you have any plans for the follow-up to last year's "Conditions of Worth" or are you concentrating on touring at the moment?
We’re just focusing on these shows for now and enjoying bringing our new record to people. Although we’re always jamming between set rehearsals and a few interesting new bits have already started bubbling up that we’re excited about – so watch this space!
For two just two lads you manage to make a hell of a racket! Did you always plan on being a duo or did things just work out that way?
It’s funny as Owen’s last band was also a two-piece – it’s a setup that seems to fit well, in that you can really lock in and you have less band members to contend with when you’re arranging a practice, haha! But for us it was a really natural thing – just two pals who chatted for a while about getting into a room for a jam, and when we eventually did it just locked in.
Moving forwards we haven’t really thought much more about bringing new musicians in – we quite like the limitations that the two-piece setup brings and enjoy working within those parameters. It’s nice having some creative boundaries and once you know what they are you can find ways of pushing out to the edges.
Steve Albini sadly passed recently. I can hear alot of Big Black and Shellac in Modern Technology. Was Albini an influence?
Ah yeah, that really knocked us for six. We actually heard about it when we were at rehearsal the evening it happened, and it definitely put us in a bit of a tailspin. When we did eventually get back in the room it made us play that bit harder and louder that’s for sure. Shellac was a huge early influence, as was Albini’s approach and ethos – he was a one of a kind and is already greatly missed by many!
