Ending 2017 with Massa Nera

Last post of the year, so some pretty cool stuff came around this year. Plenty of fresh new bands in this dying DIY scene and plenty of trash to add on tie side. I've been pretty tired from work and my days off are the days I hang with my GF so I haven't really sat down or even bothered to buy records and shit. So I am back with Massa Nera. What can I say?

This band is from New Jersey that I discovered last year. The band put out a 3 song EP (Which seems more of a compilation than a debut EP since 3 songs were from compilations) called Will it be enough for you to keep going? I really liked this release. There is a second EP in spanish called No estamos separados which refers to "We are not separated" It is another EP which both were released by the now defunct label Parking lot records. Both EP's released last year offer what Massa Nera is all about. This year though the band released a debut vinyl under Middle man records and other lables like my boy David's Zegema beach records. After hearing the LP (About a week ago) I kinda digged it although I felt there was too much post rock guitar ambiance going on which reminded me a little of Thisismenothinkingaboutyou. Other than that it was a excellent release. Massa Nera can't be exactly described as "they sound like..." besides the post rock elements I heard on the LP. This is a band I like to see more for 2018. The record comes with a cool "classic" insert. I am a bit confused with the artwork of the cover but I guess I have to imagine to myself what it is. Nonetheless it is cool to see my peoples do some spanish thrown in screamo out there. To see 5 labels back up this release you know its serious shit and a record to look forward to. If you haven't heard of this band right now its a good time to pick up this LP. Middle man records is selling it for 5.00 right now (as of this posts date) it is worthy of adding to this years collection.
Bandcamp
Will it be enough for you to keep going? EP

No estamos separados EP (Both tape versions)

Los pensamientos de una cara palida

The longer we stray from the light

3rd short review, I found this band specifically interesting because not only Shawn (Coma regalia/Ache Emelie/Middle man records) is in this but also AJ from Adobe homes is in this. Really fucking rad. So this band released their debut self titled tape on MMR (Another favorite release from that label this year) This sounds like what you would imagine. Coma meets Adobe. It is simply pure fucking genius. Shame not many spoke about this release or from what i saw from other peoples aoty list (Or the fact Sophie's floorboard missed out on this beauty) I am just really glad I had got a tour version of this cassette and a shirt under my favorite color that is a dark red/maroon. This is the 3rd tape i would recommend to add to your storenvy list out on MMR. Again, the quality is beautiful like usual and it is just one to have on your collection.

S/T

Ghost Spirit

I've been away for a while due to finals and my job giving me a hassle. I honestly been just really busy overall with life but now that I am back I want to talk about a new band that hit this year with a debut release. Ghost spirit is a band that sounds familiar to The new yorker and Lord snow. Now that i mentioned those 2 it really sounds identical to both. Ghost spirit (A band that is from my area) released a 7 track self titled on 12" and Cassette. It is another cassette made by Middle man records (2nd release from that label that made it to my top) Ghost spirit does not shy out to what it does. If you like screamo in general Ghost spirit is just simply fucking good. Since I have bought a few cassettes from MMR in the past I can say that the quality is excellent and worth your money to invest. MMR has put my faith back in good quality and good price cassettes. It is surely one you want on your collection. I am too fucking lazy for mediafire shit for Terry Green although the bandcamp offers it for free. GS doesn't and while I do have the mp3s to this tape i will simply just put them up here, please do support the band and labels though.

Ghost spirit

Terry Green

Upon running into this band thanks to MMR for giving people the heads up of releasing a EP of theirs I was able to discover this band. After pre ordering the bands tape simply known as "LP" (Kinda odd) I just easily fell in love with this bands style. I wouldn't say it has its own signature. It sounds something straight from a mid 00's screamo/mathy-ish myspace era. Terry Green proved to me that they are also top contenders for 2017 with this Cassette. Middle man records still has copies of those so get down there and buy some. I believe Zegema beach records has the vinyl format. The band also has a debut EP and a split on their bandcamp. While the band has been around since 2014 it looks like they remained silent for about a whole year until this came out in August of this year. If you do not recognize this band it is sure as hell not one to miss out on. Cassette sounds nice overall, it has some great sound quality worth picking up from Middle man records.

LP

Celebration

This release practically sneaked up on everyone, I spoke about Celebration sometime on here with their debut EP tape called Sompting and when they released a split 7" with Under a sky so blue under my favorite dead label. Shook is a EP that was recorded live that sounds a little loud and rough but a slower pace of an early Capsule. II think overall it sounds fantastic. The only downside is the love this release isn't getting due to it being randomly released with little to no advertisement. So here i am bringing this release up. You can download it on their. Here is another release of this year. bandcamp.

Underoath- The changing of times

I wanted to take another quick pause from reviews, I have about 3 more reviews which will be the final 3 posts of this year. I have been going to fingerprints and I was able to get about 5 CD's from there the past 2 weeks... And... This is one of the 5 (I will get to the other 4 next year) Yeah it is Underoath but I honestly like this album the most. It is in fact the only one I can dig from this band. Vocally strong and instrumentally pretty decent. While the band fell into a huge disappointment after this album and ended up sounding really poppy with the other vocalist once Dallas left (Say what you want but we know Underoath now isn't the original Underoath from back then) The changing of times is truly the signature style of what I knew Underoath was all about. I can't throw much out there but I do really dig most songs from this album. I find the liking of this band odd because while this is their 3rd album it is the only I like. I couldn't get into the first 2. Normally I either prefer early or later releases rather than in the middle. I did a fine 320 kbps mp3 rip of the CD for anyone that checks this blog.

The changing of times

Thisismenotthinkingofyou

Another review on the way, TIMNTOY was a band I fell asleep on until The limbic system hit the US sometime last year. It's a screamo band from the UK that sometimes does some odd ambiance between some songs. While in other terms it is known as "Emo violence" (I honestly think that whole aspect of whatever that is sounds really silly I just consider it as emotive hardcore in general. Because it really is without the dumb hip terms) They are short, loud and aggressive. I was lucky that I ran into The limbic system. Shaun who runs Adorno records is part of this band. There are a few more (actually a good handful) of other releases this band put out. I will start of with The limbic system. It's a 7" that I can say qualifies as its own sound. I don't know how to put it in more words. TIMNTOY has its own sound (Or at least for that matter since I don't really listen to a whole lot of todays screamo) I feel that the 2nd wax 7" release entitled "Thalamic Incongruity" is the continuation of The limbic system and is rather shorter since it is single sided and all the songs rounds up to about 5 minutes. Since both 7"s have similar titles which refers to parts of the brain so I would say both are relatable. Now for Obstructive sleep.. I know the newest release is a 2 track EP called Swollen tongues but Obstructive sleep appears to be as an LP. Oddly I want to say the 12" is rather more of a compilation. Side B contains a few earlier releases that did not make it to wax. While there are a few other releases that are missing I still think it does a fine job keeping up as a long play. The LP rounds up around 20 something songs. It's all loud but also quiet in some areas here and there. You can't expect steadiness from this band. It is one thing i like. While a lot of the louder hardcore bands like to go out with a bang and end this LP ends with its signature of ambiance as if it is taking a break and goes all loud again. Honestly this technique pumped me up while hearing the entire record. It was fucking enjoyable and nice quality too. The only small downside is the LP did not come with inserts so as much as I wanted to vibe with words I didn't find myself getting emotionally with the songs but I did get a hard kick though. I do recommend picking up all 3 records for you US people off from the coolest label Middle man records. I do believe Shawn has all 3 on his label right now. For sure Obstructive sleep is on there since it was part of a split release between MMR, Adorno and Dingleberry I believe. If you live in Europe then pick it up from the other Shaun at his label Adorno. If you haven't heard of this band then be prepared to have something to enjoy over the weekend because this band has made a ton of songs. Short ones but its a handful of this bands signature style.
Buy Obstructive sleep from MMR
The limbic system
Adorno records

The limbic system 7"

Thalamic incongruity 7"

Obstructive sleep 12"

Other releases (Up to date)
Swollen tongues EP
La dague d'encre
Split songs
Silence On Medicinal Street

Loudcat (Another obscure band from 2008)

Here is another band that hit obscure in 2008, this was one of those tappy math rock fun bands. Loudcat honestly had their own thing going on. At the time this stuff was very odd because there weren't many bands that did this. These kids lived in the middle of nowhere in Michigan by some lake. That is all there is to it too. They existed between the same time as Sleep Patterns. They had released a 3 track demo CDr called Proudcat then released 3 rough demos afterwards for myspace and the band completely disappeared. I believe the vocalist went on to form another short lived band called New Rosewell that also released about 6 songs. I left the bandcamp link on here so you can check it out (Both EP's are for free on bandcamp) I don't think anyone else ever went on to make anything else.


Proudcat EP (Light weight demos included)

Someone emailed me about the band Sleep Patterns

I will hold my album reviews on pause. So either today early morning I got an email regarding of the band Sleep Patterns, the wonders of this short lived obscure band from my myspace days. From what I remember is that the band hardly lasted a year within 2008 and released a 7 track CDr EP called Parmi Les Rois (I believe 40 or 50 were handmade with different covers) The band was surrounded by other cool bands at the time like Native, The Reptilian, Loudcat (Another obscure band from 2008), Lion of the north, Boy problems, Merchant chips, MANS., etc. I heard the vocalist/bassist had some anxiety so the band had quit. Luckily there is live footage from one of my favorite songs from the band on youtube. They also recorded a song for a compilation that never came out so I will also add that in this file. I believe I spoke of this band years ago on my old ass blogspot. There isnt much else to say other than that about these guys. The band was going to have a reunion show for some charity work but some dickhead(s) ruined that so the band never got to play. I don't remember the band ever having a actual last show or mentioning about a break up, they just disappeared.

Parmi Les Rois ("Slumlord" also included)

Foxtails lll CD

So like now to get some of this years releases out of the way. I am still waiting on 2 12" records to arrive but for now I will get started with what I have. So back in 2015 I digged this bands first album which is up here. This band released a 2nd full length entitled "III" which is the 3rd release by them (not counting the split they did) So I ended up going with the CD format rather than the cassette version. It was cheaper and I got tired of cassettes (I bought a handful this year) So like this band does more of what was brought up to the bands 2nd release which was that EP. There is more yelling involved and what not. I am glad this is a jewel case CD since it is easier to replace the parts. Sadly there is no lyrics sheet but the whole aspect of these being handmade that includes a thank you card makes up for it. I don't really like mathy/"twinkly" bands but I will admit this is one of the few that are actually good and I surely recommend to pick up a copy of the CD. I can't get into a lot of detail with the format because it is simply a CD and doesn't offer much to look at but considering these are for 5 dollars with free shipping that comes with a cute ass thank you card makes it worth getting. I am just glad this CD looks so good next to their other release. I would love to see this on vinyl next year that is for sure. The production on this album is amazing and deserves it.

III CD