Four more albums as the cherry picking goes on (and on and on), this is a non-stop operation and there is no time for an editorial at the top of the page, we have places to be, paint to throw, holes to dig, more music to listen to. Last Friday, an ordinary day around here, saw 176 pieces of music submitted by bands, labels and their PR people. We do listen to everything, we do cherry pick though, and well sometimes question things, we could actually do a lot more of that if there was time and yes I know this was all said last week but who reads the bit of the top? Go explore the music, here’s the new Rustorm album…
Rustorm – Gravity (self release) – Says here on this piece of electronic paper that “the new album from the ethereal doom-core titans Rustorm – the band formed by ex-members of seminal 90s alt-metal band Pulkas – is released on March 7th 2025” and so here we are again, digging more holes to the pit of our souls while the new album featuring Rob Lewis (guitar, vocals and programming) alongside Jules McBride (bass and programming) delivers what they claim is “an orgy of frequency-defying low-end guitars, gravel-filled vocals and hypnotic earth shaking bass-lines interspersed with strings, synths, piano and atmospheric samples”. Fair enough, they kind of hit their own nail on the head right there with that description, not sure it is an orgy though? Does two guys making a whole load of doomy noise constitute an orgy? How many people do you need for an orgy?
Rob and Jules first moved mountains together in Pulkas, the band that released their much-loved album Greed through Earache Records in 1998 – then split up! Just over 20 years later the pair teamed up again as Rustorm to create their own unique blend of atmospheric, groove laden, ultra-heavy music, a sound they describe as ethereal doom-core”. Actually it feels a little to bright to be shoved in the corner marked doom, I mean it is doomy, it is far more than that though, they touch on post rock, maybe a slight hint or two off Godspeed Your Black Emperor in there with slight touches of Meshuggah, and yes, they do still sound a lot like Pulkas with all that blackness closing in, they are still digging holes, if Suzie The Swimmer was still around then she’s be swimming in this. Yeah, we go a long way back with Pulkas, before the Earache thing there was us lot here at ORG Records, all that early stuff still sounds good to us and so does this. Song titles like Blackening, Low-Down, Drown It Out and Collapsing Time give you more than idea, they’re still about a great big riff, they still deliver it with that attitude that made them popular with the UK Hardcore crossover crowd back there for a while, they’re still punching things out.
Rustorm released their Death Valley Speed Trap EP in 2020 and debut album Razed To The Ground in 2022. “Now they are proud to unveil their latest full-length work Gravity” (and proud to be to be releasing it independently). Says here that For live work, Rustorm have “recruited the legendary Anti-Nowhere League drummer Dave ‘NATO’ Hazlewood”. This latest album is as darkly intense as anything Rob and Jules have done,they’re as heavy as ever, yes it is doom flavoured, it is a lot more than just that though, it is once again a beautifully brooding set of things, good things, big things, once again, as we said last time, it is Pulkas and at the same time it isn’t, which is of course just what we want from Rustorm… (sw)
Gravity is out on March 7th 2025, no doubt they’ll stick it on their Bandcamp page in a minute. Here’s their Facebook page, their Instagram feed and their website…
Mondo Wave – Gonzo (Monster Zero) – Well it took a little time to suss out where this lot were actually from, they finally told us via social media that they’re a “punk band from Mars, via Bristol” although you do wonder why the hell a rather raw rather DIY flavoured angry punk band (from a social aware place like Bristol) are sending us as email asking for coverage and only offering us a link to bloody Spotify as a listening option?! “What’s going on?!” screams yer shouty punk rock frontman, we might ask you the same damn question mate! Tell me this you so called punk band from Bristol (and we don’t believe the Mars bit for one minute), tell me why I can listen to the whole album (via the only link you bothered to damn well send) on bloody Spotify and only after doing a search can I find it on the far more band-friendly/listener-friendly Bandcamp. But on there on the reasonably (relatively) band-friendly thing that is Bandcamp, we can only listen to three of the ten tracks?! Send us the bleedin’ Bandcamp link and let us hear the whole damn thing on there, bollox to bands only sending us Spotify links, especially self-declared punk bands (whatever damn planet they claim to be from). If my Samoan accountant was here he’d be outraged, he’d need to have a dive into the trunk of the red shark before the bats swooped down behind us again and It isn’t like the album’s release date is way off in the future, it came out last week for gawdsake, stick it all on Bandcamp and never mind the Spotify bullshit. But then why should we care? If you bands and small labels are happy to just let Spotify treat you like muppets while they pocket all the money and take large amounts of piss while dishing you out a couple of pence a year then it really is a no skin off our noses, I mean, if you’re happy then why should we care about saving the women and children first or any of those violence sirens or the garbage pale kids that no one ever loved? Nah, we don’t care if you don’t, not very punk rock of you is it though? We’ll happy build Spotify playlists and listen to your music on there at your expense if that’s what you want, no band ever did anything for us, why should we be bothered if Spotify are taking the piss and pocketing all the dosh and nothing’s ripping me away, I’ve no need to cut anyone any slack. Ripping Me Away is a blistering track, so good I’m going to stick it on our next Spotify playlist, stick it in pole position in a feather boa with all those triceps and all those things other things it is so hard to focus on. Gonzo? Gonzoid? Searching for the Mint 400 and the falling off the dream while no one was driving? No, that was Amebix, shall we start a new paragraph now and ain’t you heard of the starving millions and give me some words before I go insane or he does, or did he say give me some worms? Dead inside? Words or worms? Gone all ska on us in a crusty punky free festival kind of way. Mondo Wave are actually pretty good at this feisty bitey heard it all a million times before punk rock thing they’re doing, they sound like they’d tear it up at the 1994 Deptford Free Festival, can bands from Mars time travel? Yep, Mondo Wave do the business, they’ve got ‘it’ and you can’t kill that defiant spirit, but it ain’t 1994 any more and maybe leave the rap to those who can? Lanes to cross? Bonzo’s been out for half an hour, I lost you there, la de da, violent sirens, someone’s definitely getting hurt.
Hey look, that overdue new paragraph has arrived and they could be any bunch or riotous punks from any town in any place and when they switch to ramming speed (copyright Conflict’s Paco) and step away from the rap, then they’re damn good at being any any bunch or riotous punks from any town and there flip all else going on on a Friday and we’re all just looking for some action, a bit of satisfaction, it gets you down, like working and if I can’t get up you can’t get me down. My race is run here, I can’t see the door, we can’t be too far from somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the cup of tea began to take hold and that line’s tone and content suggest that the album will be filled with bizarre and unpredictable things, it also signals that the narrative will be filtered through the subjective and often unreliable perspective of the narrator, when what we have here is a pretty decent rather raw pretty basic slightly crusty punk rock album from some band from Bristol who almost certainly have never been to Mars and are probably going to get way too over excited if they ever get as far as the nosebleeds of London’s bright lights… Excellent band, great album, I lost you there, go check them out on Bandcamp (or here’s the Linktree)
Crymwav 24/7 (ElectricPuddingRecordings) – Los Angeles band Crymwav sound like the very real deal when it comes to that raw no messing NWOBHM sound that kicked in over here on this side of the water as the 70s became the 80’s and heavy rock got a little more raw and stripped down. A sound from the things got a touch more streetwise and slightly punked up in terms of that do it yourself attitude. Surfing in on the tails of bands like Thin Lizzy and UFO, it was the stripped back rawness of the new Wave of British Heavy Metal bands like Tygers of Pan Tang, Raven, Fist, Chevy, Angel Witch and many (many) more that really did kick the slightly tired whole heavy rock scene up the arse. No one talked of heavy metal back there, it was all just heavy rock and Crymwav sound like they’ve stepped directly out of somewhere like the Ruskin Arms or the Walthamstow Royal Standard and are ready to make for Wardour Street and the Marquee for a gig with someone like Samson or maybe More or Weapon if you get the drift. This ain’t 1981 though, the Marquee has long since closed and the Royal Standard has been knocked down, hang on though, Crymwav are leaving all the American Carnage behind and walking barefoot over glass to play the East End of London and the Cart and Horses in a couple of weeks, a gaff that’s steeped in NWOBHM history and if all that sounds like your cup of tea and you know that Spider’s tea urn was always better than Saxon’s and Maiden were best when Di’anno was out front then well, as Kim from Girlschool likes to yell, ‘ere yer go! Crymwav have an album for you, if what we’ve said sounds like your thing then they do it authentically well… (sw)
Crymwav at the Cart and Horses at 28th March 2025.
and….
Spoiled – Collapse (Gruesome Records) – What we have here is the debut album from Italian Crossover/Thrash Metal maniacs Spoiled. Pure thrash metal at hyper speed for fans of S.O.D, Municipal Waste, D.R.I, Slayer, Crumbsuckers and the rest. They’re the real deal, they do it rather well, the (awful) artwork is just right in terms of the sound and the timeframe, they don’t let up, there are no ballads (obviously). If Crymwav are the Marquee in 1981, then this is around the corner at Shades Records in 1986 with Rip Cruncher ranting in your ear about Suicidal Tendencies being a pop band and Onslaught being the start and end of absolutely everything. Fifteen or so tracks, most of them under two minutes, a nonstop attack, all in the sounding the same just as it should be, hyper speed indeed… Bandcamp / Facebook
And while we’re here….
THE ORGAN 