Best of February 2024
We’re trying a new feature here at MoshPitNation, given that we can’t possibly properly cover everything we come across that we like (unless someone wants to match my teacher’s current salary to write reviews). Instead we present to you a list of our favorites from the past month.
Andrew Dana
2/2/2024 – coma regalia – Aul Taemacea – Screamo/Post-Hardcore – Middle Man Records – USA
New coma regalia means a beautiful collection of ripping, melancholy hardcore that’s over too soon. One of the pillars of North American screamo for over a decade, and they still have it.
2/2/2024 – meth. – SHAME – Noise metal – Prosthetic Records – USA
meth. continues in the tradition of noise rock bands that take the general syntax of modern metal – pounding double bass drums, chugging, downtuned, palm muted guitars, and shrieks, and recontextualize these things in ways that are actually ugly and actually scary.
2/2/2024 – CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP CHOP/Doom Beach – Split – Noisecore/Cybergrind – Redscroll Records – USA
CHOP(X7) brings a side which (allegedly) contains 91 songs (if I’m adding correctly) in about 12 minutes – 52 of which are “about dead cops”. Doom Beach’s side provides some sonic contrast, featuring thumping drums and laser-pointer guitar drones in a way that is less chaotic and more menacing.
2/16/2024 – Porcelain – S/T – Noise rock/Alternative Rock – Portrayal of Guilt Records – USA
Featuring members of the excellent noisy Austin band Exhalants, Porcelain picks up where that band left off with a less heavy palette. The versatility of this band makes for a great set of songs, each of which shows a different shade of their melodic, dark sound.
2/26/2024 – Intercourse – Egyptian Democracy – Hardcore/Metalcore – Redscroll Records – USA
Intercourse has been in many adjacent heavy music zones for a while, and this new EP via Redscroll records (the same Connecticut store that released the noisecore split above) manages to be tasteful and interesting while still carrying the energy of pissed-off 90s hardcore.
2/26/2024 – Rotting In Dirt/The Holy Ghost Tabernacle Choir – split – Metalcore – Salvaged Records – USA
Rotting In Dirt’s side is a total ripper, a great slab of metallic hardcore. The Holy Ghost Tabernacle Choir only has one song on their side, but it feels like three – a doomy intro, a riff-laden metalcore groove section, and an emotive finish that recalls the band’s screamo roots. This all makes for a politically charged, cathartic whole.
2/26/2024 – GXLLIUM!/ONEWAYMIRROR – split – Mathcore/Screamo – Zegema Beach Records – USA
GXLLIUM!’s side in this split is unhinged monster music. The hyper-compressed mixing makes this whole thing feel crushing, and the riffs are shockingly extreme.
Onewaymirror’s side, in comparison, is a cool drink of water, in spite of still being wildly intense, featuring more melodicism and vocals that occasionally reveal they are not being produced by a beast. Both of these bands have been very promising with their previous releases, and this release only serves to continue that hype.
Hayduke X
Here are my favorites from February. Plenty of black metal, of course. Lots of Fiadh Productions (no surprise). Some big name releases (Job for a Cowboy, for instance). Some very unknown releases (Have you heard of Genital Shame?) Some decidedly not-metal (The Wretch, which are post-breakcore…think strangely wonderful electronic music). All in all, I present another varied list which should provide options for everyone. Enjoy the digging!
2/2/2024 – Askel – Cycles of Ruin – Sludge Metal – Independent Release – Finland
2/2/2024 – Brigata Vendetta – This Is How Democracy Dies – Punk – Pirates Press Records – USA
2/2/2024 – Crushing The Scepter – Inhumed – Black/Funeral Doom – Transylvanian Recordings – USA
2/2/2024 – Ghoul – Noxious Concoctions – Thrash Metal – Tankcrimes Records – USA
2/2/2024 – meth. – Shame – Industrial/Noise – Prosthetic Records – USA
2/2/2024 – Obsidian Tongue – The Stone Heart – Black Metal – Independent Release – USA
2/2/2024 – Smoking Mirror – Live For The Blade – Death/Thrash – Transylvanian Recordings – USA
2/2/2024 – Soulmass – Principality of Mechanical Violence – Death Doom – Independent Release – USA
2/2/2024 – Terzij de Horde – In One Of These, I Am Your Enemy / Exposed, Barren and Often Windswept – Black Metal – Fiadh Productions – Netherlands
2/2/2024 – The Complicators – The Complicators – Punk – Pirates Press Records – USA
2/2/2024 – Troy the Band – Cataclysm – Doomgaze – Bonebag Records – UK
2/2/2024 – Wolven Daughter – Gospel of the Claw – Black Metal – Fiadh Productions – USA
2/6/2024 – Volp – Vortex – Metallic Hardcore – Tomb Tree Records – France
2/9/2024 – Hulder – Verses in Oath – Black Metal – 20 Buck Spin – USA
2/9/2024 – No Sun Rises – Harmisod (re-issue) – Post-Black – Fiadh Productions – Germany
2/9/2024 – Raw War – Total Raw War – Crust – Sentient Ruin – Canada
2/9/2024 – Spectral Voice – Sparagmos – Death Doom – Dark Descent Records – USA
2/12/2024 – Nate Cøllins – æsean (EP) – Drone/Noise – Independent Release – Australia
2/16/2024 – Ponte Del Diavolo – Fire Blades From the Tomb – Black/Doom – Season of Mist – Italy
2/17/2024 – The Swaggerlies – Undoing – Punk – Pirates Press Records – USA
2/23/2024 – Genital Shame – Chronic Illness Wish – Black Metal – The Garrote – USA
2/23/2024 – Gonemage – Spell Piercings – Nu Metal – Lilang Isla – USA
2/23/2024 – Job For A Cowboy – Moon Healer – Prog/Death – Metal Blade Records – USA
2/23/2024 – Maurda – Cultus Brachypter (reissue) – Black/Death – Sentient Ruin – Germany
2/23/2024 – The Body and Dis Fig – Orchards of a Futile Heaven – Noise – Thrill Jockey Records – USA/Germany
2/23/2024 – They Came From Visions – The Twilight Robes – Black Metal – Eisenwald – Ukraine
2/26/2024 – The Wretch – Embers 2004-2024 – Post-Breakcore – Fiadh Productions – USA
2/26/2024 – The Wretch – Filaments – Post-Breakcore – Fiadh Productions -USA
