O. Children - Self Titled

This dreary morning feels like a post-punk kinda day my Maggots and as such I decided to give you something that, while fitting with the genre, isn't just another Joy Division rip off. O. Children, while obviously taking influence from the post-punk grandaddies, offer up an indie, almost Cure like atmosphere to their songs with each one's main focus being lead singer Tobias O'Kandi's booming deep voice (which is unique in and of itself). Don't let the indie tag I threw in there leave a bad taste in your mouth, these guys have way much more in common with their goth and post punk idols than say the Postal Service or Modest Mouse. Rather, they aren't afraid to be catchy and "poppy" (as much as their sound can allow them anyway) with their songs and one can easily see themselves hearing a few of these songs on the radio. That said, the whole album sounds like a grey rainy morning, complete with keyboards, simple bass-lines and melancholic lyrics. Catchy, dark, and beautiful all at once. Robert Smith would be proud and it's definitely something to check out when your done re-listening to all your Cure and Sisters of Mercy tapes.

I Am The Disco Dancer's Son

Corrosion of Conformity - Self titled

Here I give unto you my Maggots, the legendary C.O.C.'s newest album. This album finds the band without guitarist Pepper Keenan, but to be honest that seems to be a good thing. Without Pepper the band seem to have shifted gears away from their sludgy-southern sound in favor of returning to a more thrash oriented style ala their Animosity album. But for those of you enjoyed Peppers albums with the band (Blind, Deliverance, etc.) there is still a strong groove over the album. Only this time it's more of a doom kind of groove akin to the likes of Sleep/Saint Vitus as opposed to, lets say, Down. The band melds both styles perfectly, with each song containing elements of both so there's no real "Ah, this is there thrash and/or sludgy song" moment (With a few exceptions of course). Hearing another album done just by the classic lineup is a real treat also, and the boys do sound like they are enjoying themselves. It's awesome to hear Mike's vocals as the lead again and while not as angst ridden or ferocious as his younger days (and really, who can blame him?), the man can still sing very well. Here Mike goes the sing rather than shout route and his anger ridden croon comes off extremely well done and fits the mood of the music perfectly. The rest of the band is in top form also, the riffs are tight and the drums do a fantastic job with all the tempo changes. All in all this is just a damn good piece of metal, pick it up and down a few beers while these old timers show the kids how it's done.

What You Despise Is What You've Become

Christian Death - Only Theater of Pain

Sorry for the gap in posting my little Maggots, been busy as of late. Regardless let us continue our journey into the darkest corners of music with tonight's juicy morsel. I give you the album that pretty much laid down the guidelines for any and all Death Rock to follow. Regardless of what you think of Christian Death in their later years, little can argue the fact that this album captures the Death Rock feel and attitude to a T. You'll find both slow, menacing gothic ballads and plenty of mid-paced Death Rock riffs to get those dead bodies moving on the dance floor. The sound on this album is altogether mournful, painful, and oh so wonderfully depressive. Front man Rozz Williams is a god amoung the gothic sub-culture and on this album one can hear why so many revere him so much. His vocals are both crooning and downright borderline whiny but, amazingly, the man makes this work perfectly. The lyrics on this album are mainly anti-religious, but if you know anything about his upbringing, this comes as no surprise as this album was basically a response and rebellion to his parents religious ways. Yet, instead of sounding like some fifteen-year old basement virgin who hates his parents, Rozz's despairing vocals comes off as naturally as a man who is truly, deeply depressed and alone. He seems to let his emotions guide the flow of his voice rather than try and match it to the progression of say the bass or guitars, adding another layer of eerie atmosphere. Now that isen't to say that either of those departments (and drums for that matter) are laking, far from it. The drummer, George Belange, dose a great job of bringing both a fusion of punk rock and a bit of tribal style playing to the record, while Bassist James McGearty does Peter Hook proud by filling the album with melancholic yet catchy as hell bass riffs (Romeo's Distress is a perfect example). And then theres the guitars, done by none other than punk legend Rikk Agnew. If that name means nothing to you then I'll sit here and wait while you pop in the Adolescents' blue album and the first two D.I. albums.

Back? Good. Now we can continue with everyone on the same page.

The guitars on this album are exactly what goth guitars should be. Complimentary but not over-bearing but also not so ambient that it simply sounds as if someone is plucking single notes far in the back ground. Mr. Agnew definitely has the right feel for what he is doing, and it shows. Bringing his past punk experience to the table, Rikk bangs out Simple, eerie chords that ring out over a creepy, almost surf style distortion. They are solos, but they do nothing but add to the album as they are very tastefully done and are not drawn out in some attempt to show off the guitarist. The main ingredient on this album is undeniably the voice of Rozz but the band itself makes a perfect gothic soundtrack to show it off. Pick this up, burn a black candle and be prepared to bleed a bit for the grandaddy of death rock albums.

Mysterium Iniquitatis

Clubroot - Self Titled 2009

I have something a little different then whats been posted so far for my little Maggots today. I give you all Clubroot's self titled album from 2009, a magnificent example of dubstep that doesn't sound like robots fucking on cocaine. Yes instead of say some Skrillex inspired hyperactive "Mosh-step" nonsense, Clubroot delivers the goods with some calm, spacy and sometimes down-right eerie ambient dubstep tracks. I can't overstate how well these tracks work as nightly listening material, each track give off this feeling of wandering in a grey fog in the woods, or walking the concrete jungle of a city at night, not particularly lost but with no intentional direction either. I'm sure a few of us know that feeling quite well. As I said the tracks are more along the ambient side, with the dubstep influencing coming from the pace and pattern of the drum beats as opposed to the loud booming bass its usually affiliated with. That's right, there are no bass drops to be found here, but to be honest that's a very good thing. Instead be prepared to sit back and slam that plunger full of musical heroine into your veins as Clubroot demonstrates what it truly means to "Dub" electronically.

Low Pressure Zone

Candlemass - Death Magic Doom

Got a guest post for my little Maggots, from fellow miscreant of the night "Beardo"


A bold and upbeat riff, reminiscent of the best aspects of NWOBHM and Sabbathian doom, thunders from the speakers, and the keening voice of Rob Lowe gives the call to the doomy faithful to come and partake:
“If I ever die, I'm begging you, please come with me
We're gonna groove, into the blue
All the parasites, oh just leave them, pigs can't fly
There's no tomorrow, no regrets, no goodbyes”
“If I Ever Die” is Leif Edling’s proclamation that Lowe’s contribution on “King of the Grey Islands” was no one off replacement, and the evolution of style was here to stay and reign, leaving behind one particularly afro’d pig.
For anyone who cares what the music actually sounds like, departing from band politics, what we have is Candlemass taking their gloomy and medieval styled doom and consciously beefing up the riffing, by turns recalling chuggy mid-paced thrash and moments that suggest an influence from more recent developments in the sludge scene. The result is a lively, headbanging performance. All of this, of course, is topped by Lowe’s sneers and wails, which to bring to mind a desperate and denim-clad drunk, rather than a pompous friar.
All the same, this is by no means a full break from the Candlemass that was. The yellowed and papery pictograph of the cover gives the impression of aged paper, giving what is held within an air of age, tradition, an apostolic succession of the mastery of the secrets of doom. Lowe-era Candlemass is the inheritor and developer of previous efforts, and a damn fine job of it they do. Highly recommended. - Beardo

Death, Magic, Doom.

Lycanthropy's Spell - Two albums for lunar reflections

I figured it was about time I fed you kids some Black Metal, so here it is. Lycanthropy's Spell was a two man project from Belgium with Sarmak doing all lyrics, compositions, guitars, vocals and bass while Inferis handled the drum department. Unfortunately, the band was only active about two years as Sarmak died of heart failure in 05, but not before he left us with some truly amazing pieces of depressive black metal.What we have here is some uber lo-fi but insanely melodic and emotionally charged black metal. While this obviously suffers from production quality issues, don't let that hold you back from giving it a fair and honest listen. In fact, the low-fi fuzz seems to only add to the feeling of loneliness and hate that fills these two releases to begin with. The first album, Glorification of the Night is hauntingly depressing as the tempos vary from your typical blasted bm songs, to slow almost doom metal like dirges. The title track is an elven minute long instrumental hymn that does exactly what the title states, pays homage to that certain time of the day of which we are all fond of, while the rest of the album continues on with themes of nightly worship and chaos.

The second album I have included, "Misanthropic Visions" does its title proud by being filled with melodic yet furious black metal songs about werewolves and hatred for your fellow man. The atmosphere on this album is fantastic also, filled with acoustic passages and sound clips of war and howling wolves, it really attempts to drag you into the black pit where Sarmak's mind resides. It even contains a cover song of "Spokoynaya Noch" from the popular Soviet rock band Kino, successfully making the song even more depressing and sad sounding than the original. It's a bit more crisp sounding than G.O.T.N. (and more melodic in my opinion) and is probably the more "listener friendly" of the two but don't let that fool you, it's still very much a basement black metal album. But as I stated earlier it's that very "problem" that (along with Sarmak's depressive screeches) gives these albums a truly mystical and misanthropic atmosphere around them. Both albums are a must listen to any fan of depressive or melodic black metal and go best (obviously) when listened to deep within the nocturnal hours.

Glorification of the Night

Misanthropic Visions

Pisschrist - Victims of Faith

I have a rather tasty morsel for my Maggots today and it comes in the form of Australian crusties Pisschrist's second LP. What we have here is just straight up, no bullshit d-beat infused crust punk. You can forget the sexy crust melodies of bands like Tragedy and Momentum, you'll find none of that on this beast. Instead Pisschrist turns up ferocity and unleashes 15 tracks of Raw, fast, brutal crust punk in just under thirty minutes. However, don't let that make you think the production on this album is that of Disclose's quality. Far from it actually, the album packs a nice clear punch but still has that great fuzz factor of anger we all know and love. A perfect album for a night in with friends and booze, or if you just need to get ready to beat the living hell of out something (or someone).

Punk Is Love