G&P review: ASRA

ASRA
The Way of All Flesh
Black Box Records
ASRA snugs up next to Assück on my MP3 player, which pretty much tells you everything you need to know about Black Box’s latest grind signing. Not to be confused with the American Recreational Skiing Association or the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Alleged Satanic Ritual Abuse channel Florida’s finest grinders circa Misery Index, adding in dollops of Discordance Axis, Insect Warfare and maybe just a smidgen of the severely underrated Asterisk*. Not that ASRA can’t mix it up a bit. Putting an exclamation point on this short albums are closers “Loathsome” and “Enclosed Enemy” descant the insalubrious spirits of Earache era Entombed’s thunder and Bolt Thrower’s chug.
The production is punchy and the vocals descend from tonsil grinder Jon Chang screams to the stygian death growl depths that would have done any of the 90’s "–tion" bands proud. Though ASRA ably ape and update classic second run grind, but it’s that death metal core, which peeks through in the longer, sludgier songs that differentiates the band from a bazillion other blast beat freaks weaned on Napalm Death, Repulsion and Phobia.
From Jethaniel Peterka’s beautifully rendered and somewhat blasphemous artwork to the punchy, crunchy mix by Chip Karpells (mixed by the ubiquitous Scott Hull), The Way of All Flesh tidily sews together several by now familiar elements into a fresh and consistently listenable package. Speaking of packaging, as with Tombs, Black Box is selling a deluxe edition that includes The Way of All Flesh on both CD and nice thick clear vinyl (which reminds me of all those Isis remix albums I never listen to).
For a debut album, the way of all this flesh pleases me greatly.

G&P review: Tombs

Tombs
Tombs
Black Box Records
A decade into his musical career, we can confirm Mike Hill is Not A Happy Camper. In fact, the guy has a channeled a lifetime of grey skies into some of the most abrasive music burned to disc and scored to vinyl and the beatings have not let up with his latest project, Tombs.
The second gen noise monger has been a busy d00d since dissolving the singularly cathartic Anodyne, debuting three new bands with a fourth – his power violence reunion with Dave Witte – King Generator expected this summer.
But the band at hand, Tombs, almost literally picks up where his previous project, the short lived Versoma with LickGoldenSky six string strangler Jamie Getz, faded out. Swirly riffed lead off track “Fountain of the World 666” captures and extends the vibe of Life During Wartime closer “Come in Alone,” proving nobody kills like a white man from Brooklyn with a guitar and a massive chip on his shoulder. Hill frosts the moody, squonky cake that is “Fountain” with a layer of Slayerish double kick at the end, courtesy of drummer Justin Ennis.
While many of the Tombs tracks were penned for Versoma, the new band is clearly not content to rehash past projects. The songs may roar along a similar rusted, guttered and frazzled subway track for a guided tour of NYC’s benighted boroughs, but overall all Tombs has a much harsher vibe than the astonishingly hummable Versoma work.
Not since Helmet’s Paige Hamilton has a musician funneledthe seething grime and claustrophobia of Scorcese’s festering Big Apple like Hill. Though he has filed down Anodyne’s rougher angles, Hill’s guitar work still creeps along on mathy parabolas of and sine waves of melody and dissonance.
The triple threat songwriter/producer/label owner has more than a little in common with basement lurking isolationist korpsepaint commandos. Though Hill recruits other breathing bodies to round out his sound, his work is always the product of his single, focusesd – but extremely jaundiced – artistic eye. Far from his career’s epitaph, Tombs bodes well for Hill’s progression and I can’t wait to see what emotional graves his robs next outing.
Bonus Review: On a wholly unrelated packaging note, Hill has issued both the Tombs and Asra (more on them soon) albums in deluxe versions that include both the heavy grade vinyl and CD formats for those who may be on the format fence.

G&P review: Sino Basila

Sino Basila
Sino Basila
Black Box Recordings
Mike Hill is the Justin Broadrick of second gen noise rock.
Hill’s name many not carry the cultural currency of Remix Master J’s, but follow me here.
Both men took the foundation of what had gone before (Broadrick’s Swans obsession, Hill’s obvious familiarity with Unsane, Helmet and the AmRep catalogue) to make staggering, uncompromising music that was scathing in its social and emotional impact. Godflesh set the bruising tone for what would become industrial and experimental music while Hill scraped some of the most abrasive music of this early century out of the grime and rhythms of his native NYC in the truly ferocious Anodyne (co-conspirators Joshua Scott and Joel Stallings are currently getting their grind on in Defeatist).
Both guys also got all contemplative later in life, the godly Mr. ‘Flesh cranking out divine ambient drone in Jesu while Hill teamed up with former Lickgoldensky six string strangler Jamie Getz to channel their inner Robert Smith in Versoma.
But here’s where the comparison breaks down. While Broadrick has settled into a pastoral Green Acres existence in rural England, Hill quickly relapsed into newer and more scathing musical outlets. While Hill’s latest project, Tombs, has been getting tons of press and praise, let’s not overlook Sino Basila in the rush to crown the newest Anodyne
The third release from Hill’s own Black Box Recordings, Sino Basila presents two tracks of gargantuan, ponderous instrumental sludge stretching out over 25 tar pitted minutes.
Though Hill’s catalogue of AmRep releases is surely near and dear to his heart, first track, “Draconian,” shows the man didn’t miss out on those limited edition Melvin’s 7”s while he was at it. The 18-minute thud and drone of “The Iron Ghetto of Man” could easily sit along side Khanate’s first go-round or anything from the Grief catalogue in your record collection.
While the man of the million muses has already moved on to Tombs, it’s well worth picking up this hand-numbered, limited to 100 release.