One On One With The GRIM 1

Bölzer is a band that's been on my Necro-Radar since their 2013 Aura EP, a pummeling  three tracks of black/death metal roaring against a relentless barrage of weird chord structures and blistering drums. I was even more impressed to learn  Bölzer's mammoth sound is created by a power duo. In this case, a drummer and 10-string guitar-wielding madman for a vocalist, Okoi Jones, who cranks out those bizarre melodies and tortured yells. Gruesome twosomes of this sort have become more common in extreme music lately, but Bölzer's  sound is certainly in a class of its own.  Their newest release,  Lese Majesty is a heavy metal quickie, with three complete songs and one instrumental interlude. It's also the first to be released on Bölzer's very own Lightning & Sons label.  Bölzer describe themselves as an artistic project, albeit an extreme one. Indeed,  Lese Majesty  plays like an abstract painting. It's filled with abrasive textures an...

If you crave martial arts and grindcore insanity, have I got the band for you. Formless Master is a new project from Japanese guitarist Takafumi Matsubara  (GridLink), in collaboration with members from US grindcore bands Deterioration and Invidiosus. These freaks call themselves black belts in Karate Grindcore, and hot damn, this stuff hits hard. Their debut First Strike  pummels like a thousand round house kicks to the skull. The only moment it relents are at the opening of each song, as they tend to begin with a martial arts movie sample similar to Mortician and Wu Tang Clan. First Strike  mashes primitive screams and growls with ludicrously fast blast beats. Matsubara's riff style is equally discordant and innovative, he unleashes the shred over each cacophony. Hell-o Takafumi! How are you? Hi!! I’m fine. Thanks for giving me a chance to talk about  Formless   Master .  What's your favorite song on the new Formless Master album? Of cours...

Turkey Vulture is a Connecticut folk rock duo consisting of Jessie May and Jim Clegg. Earlier this year, they released an EP entitled Boxer, along with a hilariously DIY music video for its title track. Now, the vultures are circling once again, this time to a rendition of the classic American folk tune "In The Pines." (Nirvana also covered this song as "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?") It's a quirky choice. Jessie May and Jim Clegg recently married. Yet their cover song plays on the themes of distrust and infidelity. Jessie May's voice delivers the lyrics in a call and response style, trading barbs as the boyfriend and girlfriend in a relationship that's clearly hit the rocks. Below is an interview with newlywed rockers, Jessie and Jim from Turkey Vulture. What made you decide to cover "In The Pines?"  Jessi: I’ve been trying to cover this song with a band for 15 years. This is the first time it’s actually been recorded or perform...

Chad Gailey is one of the busiest drummers in death metal today. He's the man behind the blast beats in Necrot, Mortuous, Vastum, all of which have put out albums in the last few years and regularly hit the road. Gailey also runs Carbonized Records, which you might recognize from my reviews of the new Chthonic Deity and  Deform/Mortuous  records. Last week, I spoke with Chad in a phone call as his band Necrot is currently on tour with Exhumed.  (Edited for length) HELL-O Chad. What's your favorite song of the Necrot album Blood Offerings? I'd say "Shadows And Light." It's really fucking pummeling with no chance of getting a rest. Nonstop from start to finish. It's just crushing death metal. Blood Offerings by Necrot What's the hardest song you ever had to learn and why? There's a lot of hard songs...I'd say when I was in Rude. Learning a different drumming technique was hard but I think I got it down. Some of the Mortuous stuff on Throug...

Botswana's Overthrust is a band that turns heads. These death metal cowboys are the total package, with a larger than life look to match their Earth-shaking metal sound.  Overthrust's 2015 debut album Desecrated Deeds To Decease is 18 minutes of insanity. Rumbling double bass drums, raw riffs, and vocals roared like an angry lion. It quickly catapulted Overthrust to the largest stage in the world, with an appearance at Wacken Open Air Festival in 2016. Overthrust's drummer, Suicide Torment, lost his life when he was hit by a car in December 2018, but the band moves forward to honor his memory. Their next album will be titled Suicide Torment, and it's certain to continue the momentum they gained since their debut. Svart Records cover art to Brutal Africa I conducted this email interview with Overthrust's vocalist and bassist Vulture Thrust below. HELL-O Vulture Thrust! Thanks for your time.  I really enjoyed the sound on Desecrated Deeds To Deceased. V...

Pittsburgh's sludgiest doom dealers Horehound are on the road in support of their new EP, Weight . I conducted this interview with Horehounds's vocalist Shy Kennedy, who also runs Blackseed Records and the Descendents Of Crom music festival. HELL-O Shy! How do you describe your music in Horehound in your own words? I’d describe Horehound as a heavy underground four-piece group that focuses on  channeling all of the negative and dark nature we encounter into an expression of  music. It has moments of psych rock and stoner rock but its pretty doom/sludge heavy  to someone who’s into heavier music. When someone who clearly doesn’t explore  those sort of depths of music I just say we’re like a modern day Black Sabbath.  What do you think the heaviest riff of all time is?  An impossible question! I am hoping I still haven’t heard it and it is yet to come because  nothing crushes your heart and then pumps it full of blood again like a heavy delicious...

A few words on Deform, a defunct death metal band most people have never heard of, but whose posthumous contributions still reverberate.  The death metal dynamic duo of Mike Churry, left, and the late Tim Ninerell. In 2015 I went out on a whim to see my friends in Bearstorm play Philadelphia, and it became "A Dangerous Meeting" that hugely affected my life. I arrived early to catch one of the opening bands, Deform.  Holy hell. The first thing I noticed about Deform was their drummer. I knew this kid was something special even before he took the stage, because he wore a baseball hat with a Morpheus Descends patch sewn on. Morpheus Descends is one of those cult death metal bands whose very existence is usually only known by the truest of bangers. Behind the kit, he played effortless double bass and blast beats like the second coming of Dave Lombardo and Pete Sandoval, but with his own chaotic flair. Their guitarist shredded on an old Ibanez RG model, rockin...