THE DEVIL'S MONTH: July 2024
Rounding up some of the finest releases of the previous month - now including Andy's picks too!
Sliding downhill along the final half of 2024 already, navigating the ungodly heat of late-stage humanity Summer, abruptly switching mindsets between, on one hand, the good bits of the Olympics, while on the other fascists roam the streets openly and transphobes and other kinds of human faeces apparently also decided to watch the Olympics this year. We used to say that music will see us through, but to be honest, I don’t know anymore. Fuck it though, we’ll still hum tunes until grave time comes regardless, even during the months where there are fewer releases, such as July when there’s seventeen festivals every weekend and no one’s buying any records. Not that anyone’s buying any records anyway, but you know.
In any case, TDM’s picks for this Devil’s Month - as always powered by the lovely people at MONDO NEGRO record store - are a little black metal-heavy, which makes sense because as you know black metallers spend all Summer months holed up in their caves with the blinds all the way down so they don’t even know what the weather is like and they keep on releasing records. Our lovely Andy Cairns, on the other hand, could actually be arsed to scour the scuzzy punk underground and come up with his usual unpolished pearls of fist-in-the-air musical wisdom. Thank you Andy, we love you.
And hey, if you’re reading this, and you haven’t pondered lately if female African boxers who hit really hard might secretly be men or whatever, then what the hell, we love you too. The bar is that low.
Enjoy the mixed mess of this month, and do share with us your own July favourites too. And FREE PALESTINE!
Heaven
4-Track EP
(Iron Lung Records)
It’s on Iron Lung, right? So you can just press play without reading any of my bullshit, you know it’s good. Heaven are from Austin, but if I told you they’re from Japan or Sweden you’d believe it too because all the best things about those iconic d-beat/crust/hardcore scenes are in these four muffled, straight-down-your-throat tracks. It’s under eight minutes of anti-fascist chaos, awesome riffs and unhinged vocals, sounding like it was thrown together by a horde of enraged monkeys during feeding time. Just how we like it.
Nifelheim
Unholy Death
(Darkness Shall Rise Productions)
Muffled chaos and unhinged vocals, you say? Okay, here’s a bit more of that. Only difference is (apart from one being black metal and another crust punk, but haven’t those extremes always touched each other very satisfyingly sleazily?), this demo was originally released back in 1993, when most of you weren’t probably even born. As a sort of homage to a band that unfortunately is no more - though the Nifelheim spirit is in some way carried by Hellbutcher’s new self-named band - Darkness Shall Rise have reissued that legendary piece of poorly recorded filth, and added a few more really cool bonuses to it, which is a really brilliant idea with perfect nostalgia timing. “On top of the 4 songs from the demo-tape this compilation features 4 other original songs, 2 intros and 2 covers (MOTÖRHEAD and BATHORY) from the same recording-session. In total, Unholy Death consists of 12 titles with a running time of almost 40 minutes,” is how the whole thing is described, and I can’t recommend it enough to wash modern mediocrity off your ears. Read all the info on the reissue and pick up a copy here.
Scarcity
The Promise Of Rain
(The Flenser)
I don’t know what kind of holes Jonathan and the rest of The Flenser dig to keep unearthing the sort of musical anomalies they do with alarming regularity, but yeah, here’s one more. Not exactly an absolutely new thing, as their debut album ‘Aveilut’ was already released on tape back in 2022, and it featured Doug Moore whom you might recognise from Pyrrhon among others, but the founding duo of Moore and Brendon Randall-Myers (who did all instruments in the debut and is now focused on guitar) have dramatically raised the bar on that already pretty interesting release in just two years. Now armed with a full band that includes Lev from Krallice and a million other bands and Moore’s Pyrrhon bandmate Dylan DiLella, ‘The Promise Of Rain’ is a creeping, slithering collection of oddities, from the surprisingly claustrophobic production that really augments the effect of the labyrinthine guitarwork to the seemingly constantly climaxing way the songs progress - it’s like everything is always at the absolute peak of straining, as if it only took one more scream or one more soaring lead or one more beat and the band would physically break down. The blurb on their Bandcamp calls it a “sweat-drenched album”, and that really is a perfect way to describe it. An exhausting, perplexing, but tremendously satisfying listen and by far one of the best and most adventurous black metal albums of the year.
Todesstoß
Das Liebweh-Dekret
(I, Voidhanger Records)
Todesstoß have actually been around for a long time, almost 25 years, during which main man (and amazing artist too) Martin Lang has been exploring the outer reaches of black metal through numerous releases. We hadn’t heard from the project since 2017’s haunting ‘Ebne Graun’, however, so it’s good to have them back, especially when armed by another supremely bizarre mountain for us to climb in the form of this record. “Nightmarish” has always been a good way to describe Todesstoß’ music, but ‘Das Liebweh-Dekret’ (“the love sickness”) really goes the extra mile in apparently rudimentary, disorienting discomfort. The unpredictable, almost intrusive basslines help further mess with your head, while the three-pronged vocal attack is vicious and often bordering on the psychotic, which added to the fact that all lyrics are also in German immediately brings to mind the darker works of Bethlehem, especially during the Rainer Landfermann-fronted era. The riffs themselves range from sharp neck-slicing nasties to esoteric apparitions that seem to dissipate as you try to grasp them. All in all, a perfect Summer record, right?
Wormwitch
Wormwitch
(Profound Lore Records)
Not that there was anything wrong with the crust elements Wormwitch introduced in the black metal in their beginnings, but they’re pretty much all gone on this self-titled fourth album, which seems to be a sort of crystallisation of what is really essential about the Canadian band. It really works, and hindsight will probably confirm that it is their strongest effort so far -from start to finish, with no frills and unnecessary detours but nevertheless never boring or even repetitive for one second. The crust punk might be absent from the sound itself, but not from their attitude and approach - you can feel the conviction and the absolute fucking rage these guys put into the songs, and after the 41 minutes that it takes to roll over you are through, you will be thoroughly converted.
Irked - Irked EP (Wrong Speed Records)
Wonderful tuneage from the North East of England. Tight, spikey guitar lines not afraid to lean into dynamics, ear worm melodies and essential lyrics facing the world head on looking it straight in the eyes. ‘Backstreets’ must surely be one of the tracks of the year and ‘Lanzarote’ chops and changes like Black Flag’s Greg Ginn jamming on an early Wilko Johnson cut. Lovely, lovely stuff.
Mexican Coke - Mexican Coke (Convulse Records)
Absolutely deranged punk, fuck me, this is exciting. Blown-out, nasty noise with warped vocals. For music so obstinately bent out of shape this is strangely catchy. Tracks meld, melt and blur into one another and at moments the vocalist sounds like he’s chewing his way through the fabric of time itself. Every track on this is a ripper and the messed up samples of what sound like country music radio in between some tracks only adds to the experience.
Negative Gears - Moraliser (Static Shock Records)
Locked in rhythms and space-echoed head-fuckery on the vocals from this bunch from Sydney, Australia. I’m hearing bits of Wire, Die Kreuzen, Total Control (whose Mikey Young mastered this record) and even Hawkwind. Caustic energy, chanted backing vocals, high-end bass thrills and off-kilter guitars propel this superb record into the Cosmos. ‘Ants’ has a Killing Joke vibe and ‘Pills’ is akin to Neu! 75-era Klaus Dinger atop deathrock guitars. Fantastic record.
Party Dozen - Money & the Drugs (Temporary Residence Ltd)
I can’t wait for the full album ‘Crime In Australia’ (out September 6th) as the tracks I’ve heard so far have been outstanding. ‘Money & the Drugs’ has everything, Funhouse-era Stooges with hints of Can, Bushpilot and Radio Birdman. This is amphetamine party music and impossible to sit still through while it blazes away. No choice but to surrender to its groove. A behemoth of a track.
Sex Swing - Kings Romans Casino (God Unknown Records)
This taster from forthcoming album ‘Golden Triangle’ (released October 4th) has one of the most spectacular riffs I’ve heard in a while, a big, belligerent, bendy bastard that slaps and sways from side to side, dive bar to pavement with Buttholes/Jesus Lizard vocals muttering, yelping and moaning over the top on a relentless quest to get the party started. Big tune.
Subdued - Abattoir (La Vida Es Un Mus)
London’s Subdued with a breathless barrage of visceral, righteous hardcore. Stinging, ringing guitars, galloping drums, melodic bass runs and vocals pitched perfectly between rage, despair and defiance. The tracks ‘Who Dies if England Lives’ and ‘Deserve Anarchy’ are perfect for the shitfest the U.K. is currently living through.