While recently perusing the mathcore tag on Bandcamp, I discovered a great band from my very own city of which I had not yet heard. Given the dearth of such music in the Bay Area, I was astonished to discover a band of like-minded musicians who weren't playing black metal or crust. Aberrant Phase are that band, and after quickly getting in touch with the members, today we have the pleasure of bringing you an exclusive stream of their new EP, "End is Near." The semi-eponymous first track is not unlike The Dillinger Escape Plan's ballad "One of Us Is the Killer," the tremulant vocals guiding the soft instrumentation into the final breakdown's crescendo. The EP then kicks into a higher gear with "Dementia" and "Ghost Farm," finally slowing to a lurch for the finale of "Storms," all of which are reminiscent of "Jane Doe" era Converge, and throughout this record (and moreover their whole discography) there is an air of the 90's and early 2000's that very much recalls other seminal bands such as Botch and Cave In, the proto-mathcore / "math rock before the twinkles" band, Dazzling Killmen, or even their contemporaries in Seizures or Fero Lux.
tl;dr: if you remember the word "noisecore," this will probably be your new jam.
Aberrant Phase are to release their new EP, "End is Near," February 27th.
After various delays, complications, and delinquent submissions, we decided to finally bring you our 2017 year end lists in article form, despite the fact it's absurdly late. Better late than never though, right?
Full-lengths:
10) Worry - "A Celebration of Suffering"
Ex-The Great Redneck Hope members illustrating just how much Colorado knows heavy.
9) Artificial Brain - "Infrared Horizons"
Brooklyn's best angular death metallars give the plethora of other Gorguts acolytes a run for their money.
8) Czar - "Life Is Way No Way to Treat an Animal"
Czar are keeping the lost art of jazzcore alive.
7) Puncture - "Form and Void"
Those of you complaining about Cult Leader's stylistic change after Gaza should immediately investigate this highly aggressive album.
6) Cleric - "Retrocausal"
An absolutely expansive masterpiece that took a long time to truly digest, given the sheer magnitude and ambition of the song writing.
5) Yowie - "Synchromysticism"
Speaking of expansion, Yowie's latest mind-expanding release is their magnum opus, and is as challenging as it is infectious.
4) Mico - "Segunda Muerte"
Columbia brings one of the most inspired yet conversely under-recognized hardcore albums this year, with a seamless darkened tinge that could be compared to Plebeian Grandstand.
3) Helpless - "Debt"
One of Holy Roar's best signings ever, Helpless appear on Mathcore Index: Volume 1, and show with this effort that they can deliver a masterful full-length performance that is filled with earwig riffs and Gaza-laced evil passages.
2) Converge - "The Dusk In Us"
Big surprise, right? Not even being lazy here, just genuinely jammed this a ton, according to both Last.fm and Spotify.
1) The Heads Are Zeros - "The Heads Are Zeros"
The Heads Are Zeros' self-titled full-length is both their magnum opus and their swan song, and bands like this are the reason I started "writing" about music.
This is the 17th episode of our podcast, in which we discuss Friendship, Tweak, Solitary Subversion, Ki the Tree, Telos, Almost Hell, KnowSuffer, Sense Offender, Professor Caffeine and the Insecurities, The Unnecessary Gunpoint Lecture, new Juan Bond, and struggle to enunciate the words "two thousand and eighteen."
