Drear // “Welcome to the Real World”

Here is a quick one for you today. Doom metal can be a tough nut to crack, no doubt. Not only does the intensely dark music take some getting used to, but many times doom metal artists aren’t really in the business of keeping things brief. One of the most shining examples of the genre, Sunn O))), craft tracks that approach the 20-minute mark. Yeah, good luck just jumping into that.

UK doom metal band Drear dabble in doom metal no doubt. Just listen to this bone-crunching guitars and the toxic sludge-coated vocals. The band sent me this recently-released this 2010 track that they had sitting around. If you’re looking for a quick shot of some quality doom metal here it is at only 4 minutes. Sure it has some rough edges, but in truth it’s a demo. To make things more interesting the band changes things up by stirring in some noise and punk rock influence. It’s a sign that these guys seriously know what they’re doing and they’ve got my attention for whatever they toss around next.

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HOMEPAGE | BANDCAMP | MYSPACE

 

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Veils // Clarity

Hardcore is a tricky genre these days. The way I see it, is that there are typically two schools of thought on the genre. There are die-hard skate punks that cling to the genre’s past and relive it through their raw, spastic music. More heinously however, is the other school that is largely a cesspool of regurgitated ideas that act as little more than an excuse for breakdown after chugging breakdown. There are kids that will blindly accept music that is nothing more than this just so that they can throw down. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this, it has gotten unforgivably stale.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I heard Clarity the newest EP from UK hardcore band Veils. At first listen this EP has the best of both worlds. Their production style is so polished, you feel it in your chest when the bass drum hits, and the guitars sound so clean that it smacks of current hardcore trends. However, their songwriting is inherently old school. Tracks like “Caves (Anxiety)” have the signature rapid fire snare hits and the borderline shouted/screamed vocals. The passion is right there on the surface and it’s felt on a visceral level. It’s such a breath of fresh air how Veils brings the past and the present together and it blows my mind that the band is less than a year old.

You can stream or buy Clarity on their bandcamp page. The EP is also out on vinyl through Tangled Talk Records. You might end up stretching your funds a bit if you’re going international, but this thing is definitely worth it.

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BANDCAMP | TUMBLR | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

 

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Spectral Park // Factory Peeled

Sorry for the double dose of music this weekend, but I have a ton of good stuff that I really want to share with you guys. Actually no, I’m not sorry because Spectral Park is way too good not to share no matter what day it is. I actually found my way to his bandcamp via Twitter. With no previous knowledge I began to listen to his five-song EP Factory Peeled and I was quite instantly hooked.

It’s important to note that this is all the work of one dude named Luke Donovan because of the sheer weight of his music.  There is an immediacy here that acts as a sort of instant gratification that you can sink your teeth into, but it’s not until you sit down and really listen to these songs that you realize how tight and densely constructed they actually are. He writes these really classic pop hooks but he buries them in a treasure trove of ambiguously familiar noise. I know there is some heavy sampling going on here, but he weaves it so seamlessly into the rest of the music that it really gels together into one satisfying whole. I could keep rambling on about just how great this EP is, but I’m just going to insist that you download it for free and listen to it instead.

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BANDCAMP | SOUNDCLOUD | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

 

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