[engl] The fourth release from this Chicago band, MOCK is a masterpiece of dark, raucous, noise rock. Oozing with soul, crackling with danger, MOCK churns along in blown-out glory, spiraling downward like a party on the last night on Earth. Moments evoke Nirvana's sweet, melodic annihilation; moments evoke the unhinged twang of Lollipop or Cows. Frontman Jason Sipe holds court with a formidable voice – a mix of power and pain, confidence and vulnerability, he commands attention with every holler and howl. On the album's two ballads, "Drag the River" and "Worn Out Party," he slays with a haunted croon that recalls Elliott Smith. "It’s just a collection of feelings," states Sipe. "I guess it’s my way of communicating with whoever might hear our music and my way of documenting and publicly expressing who I am and the way I feel at this point in my life.” In the words of No Echo: "The group's classic Sub Pop meets AmRep noise rock has built up into a lean and mean beast of an operation.” MOCK was mixed by Mike Lust at Electrical Audio and Phantom Manner. The cover art was created by Allison Schild. Drummer Brian Wnukowski is also known as a founding (and current) member of old-school Chicago noise rockers Big'n.

[engl] Party’s over. Madison, Wisconsin’s Sinking Suns have returned with Dark Days, their second album for Reptilian and third overall. The album title is an absolute indicator of what’s to be found within: a creeping unpleasantness elevated by confidence and strut. This is not the spastic, bookish end of the noise rock spectrum, nor an over-distorted wallow in 90’s kitsch, but an album of broad strokes and mature songwriting that cuts across genres – post-punk, post-hardcore, gritty rock, the clanging banging wallop of the Birthday Party and the tongue in cheek swagger of Lubricated Goat. It’s a nod to something more enduring. There’s a controlled swing to these nine songs. There’s breathing space in the maelstrom. The drums aren’t driving the songs off cliffs but cattle-prodding them forward. The bass isn’t saturating every song with discolored thud but pushes a groove. Dark Days is not a sprint through fire, it’s a long march to bloody victory chaperoned by Dennis Ponozzo’s irreverent vocal snarl over haunting chord progressions and exquisite guitar figures. Sinking Suns really nailed it with this one. Their finest yet. This is the sound of men who’ve received the news of social collapse and are steeling themselves to tell the rest of us about the dark days ahead.

[engl] "Erupting at two-to-three-minute intervals, the songs are steeped in dissonance, a fusion of driving melodies and eyes-rolled-into-the-back-of-your-head slow builds. Pointed and unconventionally melodic guitars combine with high intensity drums and unrelenting bass. The short sharp jagged boil of SUPER THIEF sets the air on fire, vocals jumping from spoken introspection to incendiary verbal detonations, blasting waves of intensity but never at the cost of a pervading melody or hook." – Paul Stinson "Students of the AmRep/Touch & Go school for noise rock, SUPER THIEF draw comparisons to bands like The Jesus Lizard, Hammerhead, and Tar, but their attack is more impenetrable, more persistent. There’s no lull, no restraint. When the band pull back ever so slightly from the carnage, it’s only to hammer in the reality of their earthquaking rhythms and rusted distortion." – Dan Goldin (Exploding in Sound, Post-Trash)

[engl] The Supersuckers had a string of great cow punk albums to their credit and had managed to keep their line up intact by 1999's 'The Evil Powers Of Rock 'N' Roll'. Their original drummer Dancing Eagle (Dan Seigle) lived in Austin and during this period I saw them about 8 or 9 times between '95 and '00 and they never disappointed. Bassist vocalist Eddie Spaghetti and co-lead guitarists Dan "Thunder" Bolton and Ron "Rontrose" Heathman, had the recipe for raucous rock n roll and spitfire live shows at their disposal. Album opener and title track, 'The Evil Powers Of Rock 'N' Roll' even fades out with a few seconds of Ozzy's 'Believer' riff, and that my friend in my book, is cool. 'Cool Manchu' is a stab at accessibility with a hummable vocal and catchy riff, but we all know having dueling lead guitar all up in your face leads it in another direction. When was the last time the shit flavor of the month pop crap had killer leads on it? Exactly. 'I Want The Drugs' is exactly what real punk is, save the melodic punk for the Target commercials. Featuring call and response gang chorus of "I want the drugs" "drugs, drugs, I want the drugs!" This song, while hardly poetic, amps up the guitar and makes it count. Love this song, pure punk genius featuring scorching lead guitar and humor, which is essential for a song like this. 'Santa Rita High', a mid tempo rocker with the trademark twin Gibson Les Paul gold top leads and 'Dead Meat' the boxing themed punker make way for the ultimate slacker love song, 'Stuff And Nonsense', a very believable story of a twenty-something relationship break up is refreshing in that it isn't sad, it just is, which you never realize until you're older and wiser. 'Dirt Roads, Dead Ends And Dust' is distorted, revved up blues. 'Fisticuffs' is a tale of drunken brawling and being in a band, I know, the layman has no idea what the hell is going on, there's music, a fight, someone is drunk, oh but it gets more complicated. I highly recommend this band and their catalog, but closing this album, billed as "13 new songs about liquor, women, drugs and killing", is in my opinion, the first Supersuckers epic. 'Hot Like The Sun', which I witnessed them do live at the lovely Club Deville in Austin, TX in 1999, is a 2 part, punk/rock n roll odyssey that proves they were miles above many of the wannabes of the '90's. Recommended for fans of kickasserey. - written by James Flores

[engl] Featuring the original line-up, this classic follow-up to "The Evil Powers of Rock-n-Roll" was originally released in 2003. Big riffs that barrel thru like Motorhead, Thin Lizzy hooks, Cheap Trick sing-along style choruses and punk rock attitude - the perfect storm of ROCK that clearly demonstrates that the boys deserve the title "Greatest Rock-n-Roll Band in the World"! Chock full of HITS, the recording has received a mastering update for modern pressing equipment and is ready to ROCK YOUR ASS! So grab a drink and chug-a-lug, have some sex and take some drugs!

[engl] A marriage made in Hell- THRALL has joined forces with the oh-so-evil Reptilian Records for what turns out to be one of the heavier slabs of mind twisting genius to come out of the noise closet in some time. Mike Hard, vocalist of the long gone sultans of strange The God Bullies, shows no signs of restraint- and the aggravated wall of rock that provides his musical backdrop ain’t too shabby neither! Delving into the dark pit of disturbed religious and conspiratorial tales that Hard has become famous for, THRALL’s new platter is a slice of delicious hate, tuned to the key of FUCK. Here are a few quotes to coax your wallet- “A marriage of heavy music, heavy drugs, and social commentary”- Bam “Madness coupled with disease, rage melded with fear, the grotesque intertwining of power and paranioa, Thrall create the soundtrackof the apocalypse”- Chicago Reader “...Hard growls and moans like his gut’s on fire, while the band’s guitarists rage away like the black plague” - Baltimore Weekly (Critic’s Choice) Doesn’t that just get your juicy little goat?!? THRALL’s sound is rooted in the same splurge and hiss that turned out some of the midwest’s finest underground action, including Killdozer, the Jesus Lizard, The Cows, and of course The God Bullies. The sound is tighter this time around, but by no means tamed. Chug down your favorite malted beverage, chew on a few of those adult vitamins, and give this little monster a ride in your stereo! “God Damn Devil” is right!

[engl] When a band from far flung Finland drops a recording like this on us, we’re all ears, especially when we know damn well the hearing in those ears will be ruined that much further by the recording itself. Throat is a four-piece from the land that held back Russian encroachment for thousands of years, and that same diehard, winter war room mentality is at work on Short Circuit, recorded by James Vuohi, Throat’s debut for Reptilian. It’s easy and a bit cheap to liken any and all modern noise rock to the Amrep catalog, and even though Throat tips the fur-brimmed hat in that direction, other important short-circuited touchstones include Trance Syndicate, and the early, raw nastiness churned out by both Blast First and Sub Pop, but with more groove, and more loud/quiet/loud/weird/loud dynamics. The lumberjack thud of early Tad, and the spatial bleakness of mid period Neurosis come to mind. Even the strangling abrasion of Big Black and Einsturzende Neubauten. But Finland is Finland. Finland is not Washington State, Berlin, New York or Minnesota. It’s even stranger. Full days of light. Full days of darkness. Midnight sun. Noon blackness. A nation and scene at the far edge of the world. It’s no wonder Short Circuit is as bizarre and hardcore as it is. With European tours in the works, Throat has already shared stages with Brainbombs, Unsane, Big Business, Church of Misery, Brant Bjork, and any and all Finnish bands worth mentioning. Now it’s America’s turn.

[engl] Italian noise-rockers embrace prog and psych on new album "Unsavory Impurities" Italy's The Turin Horse announce the March 24th release of new album Unsavory Impurities. The album will be released on the legendary Reptilian Records in the US and Italian label Invisible Order in Europe. Named for the historic city in the north of Italy where they formed, The Turin Horse consists of guitarist/vocalist Enrico Tauraso, formerly of Dead Elephant, and drummer Alain Lapaglia, ex-MoRkObOt. With one untitled EP under their belts, Tauraso and Lapaglia come tearing out of the gate on Unsavory Impurities. Eyes wild and teeth gnashing, the two operate in a zone of pure abandon, bashing out caustic noise rock then drop-kicking it into other dimensions. First single "Blissed Out" serves as a perfect introduction. Ear-scraping guitar tones carry a somber melody, as frenetic drumming and a whirr of psychedelia pull the song forward. Injecting freedom and chaos into a genre known for its austerity, The Turin Horse play with prog-level exuberance and lace their raw, blown-out songs with left-field sounds, including saxophone (courtesy of baritone sax player Alessandro Cartolari of Anatrofobia and Extrema Ratio) and an arsenal of samples: "Synths, classical music, field recordings, pocket fans, data-bending files, circuit-bent machines, vegetables, anything we deem useful for our purposes," states Tauraso. The band's liberated approach to abrasive music brings to mind the maniacal sludge-punk of Karp, by way of the unchained experimentalism of Today Is The Day. Tauraso states: "If we had to make a list of influences I think it would be endless... Personally I would include Today Is The Day. I've been a fan for many years and have always enjoyed their uncompromising vision of music. I've always found it cathartic." While honoring those who have inspired them, The Turin Horse really march to their own beat and no one else's. As Tauraso puts it, "The thing that has conditioned us the most is the need to try to express ourselves freely. We already have to mediate with society for a good part of our daily lives and we like to think that music is our hour of fresh air." The band's singular sound is thanks in part to Tauraso's homemade rig: "We couldn't find a bass player and I chose to see this lack as a creative opportunity to customize my guitar sound by building a large part of my gear." Unsavory Impurities was recorded by Massimiliano Moccia and Enrico Tauraso at Nomad Studio in Turin and mixed by Tauraso at his home studio. It was mastered by Arik Victor at Creep Studio in Philadelphia. The cover art was created by Mow Skwoz.

[engl] Founded by long time friends and co-combatants Chris Spencer from New York noise stalwarts Unsane, and Steve Austin, Today is the Day’s human guided missile system, UXO are decorated survivors, veterans of countless insurgent noise rock tours and wars, campaigns waged from the early nineties through the approaching collapse of the western world. In the summer of 2013, Spencer flew out to Austin’s compound in wooded Downeast Maine, where the two wrote songs and cut demos for what would eventually become UXO’s debut album. The duo recruited Ironboss drummer Patrick Kennedy (who’d previously played with Steve Austin in Taipan), picked up Boston bassist Aarne Victorine (Whitey), and recorded a proper album. After sifting through a laundry list of names, they settled on UXO, a military acronym short for Unexploded Ordnance. It seemed fitting. The results are as loud, heavy and abrasive as the band’s pedigree might suggest. Austin and Spencer split vocal duties, and both lay down heavyweight guitar riffage – Austin’s forced death march through Fripp-ian fret heroics over Spencer’s malevolent, neckbent twang. But as much as UXO delivers exactly what the listener might hope for and expect, there are sonic surprises, too, from the Joy Division styled synth blip in “Everything’s A Mistake”, to song passages that blend the uphill trudge of Neurosis with the churning rhythms of the Jesus Lizard. From the slow burning torque and traction of “Bitter” through the hammered-skull frenzy of “User”, UXO’s debut serves as a stark blast of intent: this is not a side project, this is a band for now and a band for the future. Recorded by Austin, Spencer and Drew Mazurek, across four time zones, the album was then trucked to Northern California, where it was mixed and mastered by engineer Tim Green (Melvins, The Fucking Champs, Cutthroats 9). The cover painting comes courtesy of acclaimed tattoo artist Thomas Hooper.