December 11 - 20 (#346 - 355)

#346) Winters in Osaka - Mutual Collapse (2010) harsh noise. sick. 

#347) Crowhurst - Nihil (2011) 1st record. ambient/noise

#348) Von Goat - Septic Illumination (2010) harsh lo-fi black metal.

#349) Slogun - Sacrifice Unto Me (1996) "True Crime Electronics"

#350) Love Sex Machine (2012) doom/sludge from France.

#351) Boss-de-Nage - II (2011) 

#352) Birds in a Row - Collected (2011)  hardcore.

#353) Hypomanie - A City in Mono (2011) "blackgaze" 

#354) Nadja - Dagdrøm + Spectrum Sessions (2012) 

#355) Hilkka - Escalation/Objective (2000) meh...mostly instrumental "indie rock"

November 1 - 10 (#306- 315)

#306) Pygmy Lush - Bitter River (2007) 

#307) Red Harvest - Cold Dark Matter (2000) 

#308) Book of Sand - Mourning Star (2012) 

#309) Lifelover - Sjukdom (2011) "narcotic metal"

#310) Wolf Eyes with John Wiese - Collection (2006) collection of out of print eps

#311)  Author & Punisher - Drone Machines (2010) 

 #312) Korperschwache - A Fistful of Nihilism (1996) 

#313) Openwound/Antigama - Blastasfuck split (2004)

#314) Kowloon Walled City - Gambling On the Richter Scale (2009) 

#315) Drudkh - Handful of Stars (2010) 

October 1 - 10 (#275 - 284)

#275) Mz.412 - Burning the Temple of God (1996) 

#276) Akercocke - Antichrist (2007) 

#277) Mummifier - Advanced Mummification Procedure (2010) deathgrind about mummies, satan, and satan mummies

#278) Caïna - Mourner (2007)

#279) Dead Raven Choir - Cask Strength Black Metal (2005) collection of out of print EPs

#280) Nekrasov - Into the No-Mans-Sphere of the Ancient Days (2007) 

#281) Ghast - May the Curse Bind (2008) 

#282) Sun Devoured Earth - I Wish I Would Never Wake Up (2011) 

#283) Circle of Ouroborus - Cast to the Pits (2010) 

#284) Botanist - I: The Suicide Tree (2011) 

Carcass - Wake Up and Smell the...Carcass

Rot 'N Roll

#86) Carcass - Wake Up and Smell the...Carcass (1996)

 1.Edge of Darkness
 2. Emotional Flatline
 3. Ever Increasing Circles
 4. Blood Spattered Banner
 5. I Told You So (Corporate Rock Really Does Suck)
 6. Buried Dreams
 7. No Love Lost
 8. Rot 'N Roll
 9. Edge of Darkness
 10. This Is Your LIfe
 11. Rot 'N Roll
 12. Tools of the Trade
 13. Pyosisified (Still Rotten to the Gore)
 14. Hepatic Tissue Fermentation II
 15. Genital Grinder II
 16. Hepatic Tissue Fermentation
 17. Exhume to Consume

this is a collection of rarities and unreleased stuff. here's the breakdown:

when Carcass went into the studio to do Swansong they recorded 17 tracks. of those 17, 12 made it onto the album. tracks 1 -5 are the tracks that were cut. at the time there were rumors of an EP containing these tracks but it never happened. luckily they put them on here because they're really solid tracks and are probably the biggest highlight of the album.

tracks 6 - 9 are taken from a Radio One Rock Show session recorded in 1994. it's pretty much your standard radio recording, no real surprises, good audio quality. the only really notable thing is that the set includes Edge of Darkness, which is a Swansong track, 2 years before Swansong was released.

tracks 10 and 11 are taken off the Heartwork EP, released in 1993. This is Your Life is in the same vein as the other midtempo tracks off Heartwork and is a great track, while Rot 'N Roll is a little faster paced. not quite a shredder like Death Certificate or Carnal Forge but a rad track nonetheless.

tracks 12 - 14 are the Tools of the Trade EP which i talked about here

15 and 16 are off the Pathological comp, released in 1989, and features a reworking of Genital Grinder, off  Reek of Putrefaction,  and the original version of Hepatic Tissue Fermentation. the reworking is a really cool instrumental track. Hepatic Tissue Fermentation is pretty much the same track as what you hear on the Tools of the Trade Ep, the biggest difference to me was that the Tools EP had way better production value.

track 17 is taken off the Grindcrusher comp, released in '89, and also appears on Symphonies of Sickness. the big difference between these 2 tracks is that the Grindcrusher versions starts off with about 30 seconds of guitar noises before getting into the track, other than that it's pretty much the same track.

the version of the cd i have also comes with a bonus dvd. i'm not gonna get too into the dvd but it contains:
music videos for Heartwork, Corporal Jigsore Quandry, Keep On Rotting in the Free World,
Incarnated Solvent Abuse and No Love Lost. the videos range from cool (Heartwork, No Love Lost) to unintentionally funny (Incarnated Solvent Abuse) to lame live footage with the studio track playing over it (the rest.)

a live set from The Gods of Grind Tour recorded at the London Astoria, March 18th 1992 and another set from the Grindcrusher Tour recorded at Nottingham Rock City, Nov 14th 1989. the sound isn't the best on either sets but it's not overwhelmingly bad and it's slightly better on the Gods set. 

the cd was a great collection and definitely worth checking out.
after 6 1/2 hours of audio and over 5 hours of video my Carcass journey is over. what a great fuckin band.

Carcass - Swansong

Consumer Or Consumed Your Life Is Cheap

#85) Carcass - Swansong (1996/2008)

 1. Keep On Rotting In the Free World
 2. Tomorrow Belongs To Nobody
 3. Black Star
 4. Cross My Heart
 5. Childs Play
 6. Room 101
 7. Polarized
 8. Generation Hexed
 9. Firm Hand
 10. R**k the Vote
 11. Don't Believe a Word
 12. Go To Hell
 13. Death Rider Da

Carcass' 5th and final album is basically the Carcass equivalent of Metallica's Black album. there are still a lot of great riffs but the songs are pretty straight ahead verse/chorus/verse affairs. it's not really a "mainstream" album  but it's definitely not as, i don't know, challenging maybe, as some of their other stuff.  even the band has stated that this is more of a straight forward "rock" record.  like i said before, there a some great riffs here, and Keep On Rotting In the Free World still remains one of my favorite songs, but having heard their back catalogue i just feel like the record is missing something. i'm not knocking the album, i actually really like it and it holds a special place for me as it was the first Carcass album i heard (the 2nd was Heartwork, which i listened to like once and i recall not being into it, apparently i was an idiot) back in like '98. i listened to it a ton until it was stolen out of my friend's car a couple years later and i haven't heard the album since. it's still a solid album and it was great to hear it again.

Today Is the Day - Today Is the Day

I Am The Serpent

#74) Today Is the Day - Today Is the Day (1996/2008)

 1. Kai Piranha
 2. Marked
 3. Bugs Death March
 4. A Man of Science
 5. Realization
 6. Black Iron Prison
 7. Mountain People
 8. Ripped Off
 9. The Tragedy
 10. She is in Fear of Death
 11. I Love My Woman
 12. Dot Matrix
 13. Hands and Knees
 14. Pipe Dream Zero

TITD's 3rd album was originally released in '96 and then remastered and re-released with 2 bonus tracks in '08. the bonus tracks, Hands and Knees and Pipe Dream Zero, were originally released on the Clusterfuck '94 split with Guzzard and Chokebore.

to me this is where TITD started to really draw away from the more "noise-rock" sound. overall the songs are heavier and more experimental than the previous 2 albums (1993's Supernova and 1994's Willpower.) it's also the first record to feature electronics more heavily. this is due to the fact that while TITD had always been a 3 piece, on this record Austin didn't use a bassist and instead got a keyboardist, Scott Wexton,  to round out his sound. it's unfortunate that he was only on this album because i think he complimented Austin's songwriting/guitar playing very well, especially on tracks like Bugs Death March and the odd but awesome Black Iron Prison.
i really dug this album and i think it was a perfect lead into the experimental metal radness that is Temple of the Morning Star (for my thoughts on that record go here, as this was also our first Crossover deal you can check out adam_biedermann 's thoughts here.) and the bonus tracks are dope as well. Hands and Knees is your usual rad TITD jam while Pipe Dream Zero sounds like Austin's take on weird 60's psychedelic rock.
all in all a great re-issue, definitely worth checking out.

Harvey Milk - Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men

My Broken Heart Will Never Mend

#49) Harvey Milk - Courtesy and Good Will Toward Men (1996)
     
       Disc 1
 1. Pinnochio's Example
 2. Brown Water
 3. Plastic Eggs
 4. My Broken Heart Will Never Mend
 5. I Feel Miserable
 6. The Lord's Prayer
 7. Sunshine (No Sun) Into the Sun
 8. Go Back to France
 9. A Good Thing Gone
 10. One of Us Cannot Be Wrong
 11. The Boy With Bosoms

        Disc 2
   Live at TT the Bear's
 1. Pinnochio's Example
 2. Merlin is Magic
 3. Come and Spit
 4. F.S.T.P.