EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: The Sound That Ends Creation - "Roses and Thorns and Dead Unicorns"

Chris Dearing, the mastermind behind Texas mathcore / grind project, The Sound That Ends Creation, has come a long way. After releasing "Fitting Through the Crawlspace Between Rhyme and Reason" less than a year ago and appearing on Mathcore Index: Volume 4, TSTEC is back with his 3rd full-length, and it sees some of best work from the solo artist yet. With artwork done by Connie Sgarbossa of SeeYouSpaceCowboy, one can almost assume what kind of music one is going to encounter here, but the album also briefly broaches some electronic elements and includes a small saxophone feature. "Roses and Thorns and Dead Unicorns" is immediately reminiscent of the glory days of MySpace, and with it's cut-out art aesthetics, harsh vocals, art-grind freak outs, and abundant audio samples (Trailer Park Boys fans, rejoice), all that's missing is that white belt hanging in your closet.

"Roses and Thorns and Dead Unicorns" drops June 30th 2018 on Bandcamp.

EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Snakehound - "Imitation Crown"

You may remember Kansas City's Snakehound from the video premiere we did earlier this month, and today we have the pleasure of bringing you an early stream of their new album, "Imitation Crown." Snakehound are a brand new band, but have already made waves in the online community with series of singles showcasing high-energy metalcore with earwig riffs and pull-offs aplenty. The album begins with the moshy "Dignified Rats," and as the band doesn't skip on the vicious hardcore riffs and breakdowns, it only gets better from there." "Gypsy Danger" playfully dials it back only momentarily before launching into "Guillotine del Toro," which aside from "Timberline" may very well be the best representation of the band's sound; Snakehound bring the energy of Converge with the technicality of Botch, and combine it with the groove and heaviness of their disciples in Every Time I Die, Norma Jean and The Chariot, and "Guillotine del Toro" is a delightful exhibition of these influences. "Snakes for Legs" is as off-kilter as the name suggests, and brings some sickly, chromatically descending diminished chords a la Daughters, but doesn't linger there for long, as it soon gives way to feedback and harmonics, which fades perfectly into “Timberline," the video of which being the aforementioned premiere. The record then has it's only moment of respite with the brief interlude, “28:06:42:12," before jumping back into the action with the albums first single "Autumn Driver," our first taste of what Snakehound had to offer. The next track, "Northern Viper," is seemingly ironically titled as it most features mostly southern rock riffs, but the band soon resumes a more serious assault with “Hornets for Hands" and "Bitter Tempest," which boast a few of the more technically impressive sequences on the album. The album's finisher, "Five Eyes," finally brings it to it's conclusion with a lurching, feedback riddled anthem.
Pre-order "Imitation Crown" now on Bandcamp.

EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: goner. - “goner.”

In recent years the metal and hardcore scenes, including their respective aesthetics, have become hopelessly intermingled. Along with their similar social, political, and anti-religious themes, the sounds of blast beats and breakdowns, circle pits and 2 steps, growling and shouting, now all exist happily under one larger umbrella, despite some waging a tireless war of classification, e.g., "that's not metal," or my personal favorite, "that's not grindcore," an expression I often hear pertaining to Myspace era bands. Goner are one such example of this current amalgamation that spring to mind. Hailing from Syracuse, New York, also home of legendary Ed Gein, it's no surprise that the three piece is somewhat genre defying, and given the rise of bands like Nails, End, Helpless, and other HM2 driven metallic hardcore and grind, Goner have picked a perfect time to carve out their niche in an ever evolving scene. "My Experience Has Molded Me Into the Failure You See Before You" begins the EP with fast and vicious riffing, and with the exception of one HUGE whammy breakdown in "The Great Deceiver" (the mixing by Outlier Sound / Pedram Valiani of Frontierer and Sectioned should be extremely evident here), the self-titled EP scarcely relents until the conclusion of "Caretaker."

Preorder the debut EP from goner. here.

EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Sense Offender - "I"

There has a been a huge wave of technical and filthy hardcore bands emerging from the UK in the past few years: Frontierer, Sectioned, Helpless, Leeched, Dark Habits, Bed of Wasps, and Gendo Ikari to name a few, and Sense Offender are certainly no exception either. Given the band features a member of another similar, more established act, Geist, Sense Offender already have a correspondingly established hardcore pedigree and know exactly which buttons to push. However, where Geist and Sense Offender diverge is the more acute sense of hopelessness and despair of the latter. Sense Offender have trimmed the fat in favor of more dissonant passages that are alternatingly more driving and heavy, pulsating and mesmerizing, in a way that recalls the misanthropic stylings of Cult Leader or their former manifestation, Gaza. The EP's first track is a sample laced feedback loop that is the setup for the EP's true opener, "Prophet-Less," which launches an assault of odd-timed chording before a turn-on-a-dime change into it's big d-beat riff, quickly back into dissonance (where this release most happily dwells), and finally wrapping up with a hypnotic, slower riff, illustrating the band does know how to occasionally let off the gas and exercise dynamics."Starving Pigs," the EP's single, boasts an off-kilter, pulling middle section which draws with the force of a black hole. "Anointed with Seizures" begins with punishing riffs that are a trademark of this release, before giving way to a clean interlude, though band does not tarry here long, as the song quickly launches back into it usually attack before the eventual throbbing fadeout of "Weigh My Pieces." If this EP is any indication of the musical direction this band is headed, Sense Offender are a band to watch. 

EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Aberrant Phase - "End Is Near"

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.

EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Cadence Fox - "Masses of Program"

Chicago has a long history of being a hotbed for underground music, especially in the 1980's with new wave, emo in the 1990's, and now a new generation of screamo, hardcore, mathcore and math rock. One band in particular, Cadence Fox, is certainly no exception, and today we have the pleasure of bringing you an exclusive stream of their first album in almost 4 years, "Masses of Program." The album successfully blends the aforementioned genres with some other daring experiments, including saxophone, heavier parts, and brings influences ranging from Every Time I Die, Fear Before (the March of Flames), Botch to more emotive but similar bands like The Number Twelve Looks Like You and The Fall of Troy. Cadence Fox also features Seb Alvarez of Tweak, meth., Split Tongue, Lower Your Head For the Treatment Machine, et al (his personal discography is another lengthy discussion unto itself), and they have brought us their finest effort yet with "Masses of Program."

*"Masses of Program" is out today on Bandcamp.

EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Kenaima - "Haste"

We are very proud to present this Mathcore Index exclusive stream of "Haste," the debut EP from Denver's Kenaima, one of the most exciting new bands in mathcore. Kenaima are one of the few bands touting The Dillinger Escape Plan and Converge among in their influences that actually live up to those expectations, and today they have brought us a stellar debut with "Haste." "Lifetime Original Movie," the EP's true opener, blasts it's way into your skull with off-kilter riffs and a staccato attack we all know and love, quickly yielding to "Revenge Fuck," which brings chromatically descending passages, Car Bomb-escque heaviness, and a Mike Patton injected mid-section. "From the Gut," the EP's penultimate track, begins with sickly, disorienting chording and goes off in a number of different directions, but most notably includes some of the EP's heavier moments and some great vocal trade-off. "Rock the Vote," the album's closer, is seemingly a reprise and revisits many of the motifs explored in previous songs before finally lurching to a halt. As I've mentioned previously, there is literally nothing I don't love about Kenaima.

*"Haste" is out 10/7/17 via Kenaima's Bandcamp.