Horsewhip "Consume and Burn"

LP - $17.25 / CASSETTE - $7.00
LP UPC: 724399772194
STREET DATE: 11/10/23
CAT#: IOD-46
LABEL: Iodine Recordings

Spawned in the dark swamp-scapes of Tampa Bay, Horsewhip has established itself as one of the most formidable and heaviest underground acts in hardcore. The environment that shaped them resonates in their sound -- dark, ugly and furious.

Their new full-length LP Consume and Burn is an uncompromising sonic odyssey. Horsewhip merges together the darkest corners of hardcore punk, screamo, and metal into their own vision of annihilation. Comprised of members of Reversal of Man, Combatwoundedveteran, Sutek Conspiracy and a myriad of other acts, it's an album that shows the band's pedigree in writing heavy music. But more than anything, there's a clear hunger to push the genre forward with each song.

Horsewhip shows moments of dissonance and unexpected beauty amid the oppressive weight of their sound. Songs like "Buried" offer brief respites of melody to create a forlorn sense of dread before redoubling their efforts. The aptly titled "Pain" shows its subject matter through multiple lenses, opening with a reflective riff before plummeting into breakneck speeds and full-throated chaos. Their strength lies in the raw, unadulterated fury that few can truly tap into.

The band's punishing new focus is thanks to a change in lineup, adding Dave Teten on guitar and allowing for a delta in riffage, as well as moving Shaun Drees to main vocals and Jeff Howe on back up vox. Consume and Burn calls to mind His Hero Is Gone and Disfear at their most disgusting, or Neurosis at a sped-up RPM. Each member is a master of their craft, drums guitar and bass all synchronizing into an aural mugging of heaviness. It's a testament to the depth and richness that can be found in anger, and why hardcore is at its best when it's mean.

Consume and Burn was tracked and mixed by John Howard at War House Recordings and Mastered by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios. Album art by Christopher Norris at Steak MTN.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Cutting Through
  2. Dissolve
  3. Buried
  4. Dark Matter
  5. Pain
  6. Plague Machine
  7. Full of Fury
  8. Circadian Rhythm

MARKETING POINTS:

  • First full length since 2020's "Laid to Waste"
  • Featuring members of: Reversal of Man and Combat Wounded Veteran
  • Recent tours with: Jeromes Dream, SPY, City of Caterpillar, and Portrayal of Guilt
  • Performing at The Fest in Gainesville, FL w/ Strike Anywhere
  • Press handled by Atom Splitter PR (Hatebreed, Killswitch Engage, Refused, etc)

FOR FANS OF:
His Hero Is Gone, Tragedy, Converge, Jeromes Dream, END

Official Site | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

Ex Everything "Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart"

LP - $15.95 / CD - $9.60
CD UPC: 795154141227
STREET DATE: 11/10/23
CAT#: NR127
LABEL: Neurot Recordings

LP - $15.95 / CD - $9.60
CD UPC: 795154141227
STREET DATE: 11/10/23
CAT#: NR127
LABEL: Neurot Recordings

Our world has been gradually falling apart. This may seem like a bleak point of view, but the collapse we’re all witnessing inspired post-mathcore outfit Ex Everything as they created their eruptive debut Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart.

“Everything around us–politically, socially, environmentally–seems to be stretching and breaking,” says guitarist Jon Howell. “Our record sits in that terrifying place where you’ve been watching it happen.”

The Bay Area quartet boasts current and former members of Kowloon Walled City, Early Graves, Mercy Ties, Blowupnihilist, Less Art and others, but listeners shouldn’t mistake this for a short-term project or side band. This is a priority, every member focused and committed, and it only takes a few minutes with the album to understand how serious they are.

“This band is completely its own thing,” says Howell. “It addresses the part of us that wants to write fast, chaotic, knotty, messy, pissed off music.”

Started initially in 2018 between Howell and bassist Ben Thorne, drummer Dan Sneddon joined in 2019, solidifying the core of the band. After going through the usual growing pains, spiked with a global pandemic, they recruited vocalist Andre Sanabria who understood what the band needed and delivered it with a fierce dedication. Cut to the band heading into Sharkbite Studios with Scott Evans–whose engineering credits include Yautja, Town Portal and Ghoul–and the band was finally able to hear what they’d accomplished.

Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart is a near-perfect fusion of Dischord-influenced math rock and noisecore, a nuanced rage that refuses to accommodate the passive listener. Howell’s percussive, angular playing is as impressive as it is baffling, with malformed chords and abstract melodies that still burrow effortlessly into your brain.

Sneddon’s drumming is a stampede of frenetic time signatures, deceptively understated patterns and anthemic bashing, while Thorne’s bass roils underneath like a ship’s hull scraping the ocean floor.

The band’s true skill, though, lies in how their instruments interlock, the structuring of movements that grow songs from rotted dirges to triumphant war cries, rhythmic tension building until a riff explodes it into something unexpected and completely satisfying.

Sanabria screams like he’s trying to tear the songs apart, though he manages to find moments of almost zen-like contemplation. It’s a deft and mesmerizing performance, aided by his deeply thoughtful lyrics about, as Howell says, the steady dismembering of the things that bind us.

“I don’t know what we can do, except try and channel this terror into the music; add to the conversation by showing its face and saying how it makes us feel.”

First in the practice space, then at the studio, Ex Everything is now ready for Slow Change Will Pull Us Apart to be showcased at full volume on stage. “We want these songs to move people the way they move us,” Howell says. “Because this band is nothing without that.”

TRACK LISTING:

  1. The Reduction of Human Life to an Economic Unit
  2. Exiting the Vampire Castle
  3. Detonation in the Public Sphere
  4. A Sermon in Praise of Corruption
  5. Slow Cancellation of the Future
  6. Feral City
  7. The Last Global Slaughter
  8. Plunder, Cultivate, Fabricate

MARKETING POINTS:

  • Features members of Kowloon Walled City, Early Graves, Mercy Ties, Blowupnihilist & Less Art

FOR FANS OF:
Kowloon Walled City, Converge, Neurosis

Dead Bars "Regulars"

LP - $14.00
LP UPC: 724399772392
STREET DATE: 11/3/23
CAT#: IOD-54
LABEL: Iodine Recordings

The Seattle Punk quartette returns with "Regulars"! Produced by Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney). "11 Emotional singalong anthems - perfect for screaming along after you've had a beer, or five." -- KERRANG! Iodine Recordings is excited to present the second pressing of Dead Bars' 2019 sold out release on three new variants!

Dead Bars began in Seattle when punk drummer John Maiello ditched the sticks, picked up a guitar and started writing short blasts of no-bs-power-punk-rock in 2013. Soon after, NJ punk drummer C.J. Frederick joined to play drums and guitar. They quickly recorded and released five 7-inches, toured all over & made festival appearances, and eventually recorded their debut album, Dream Gig in C.J.'s home kitchen which saw a release in 2017. At the time, DIY punk zine Razorcake wrote of the album, "Dead Bars make something impossible to duplicate look so simple and attainable."

The next phase of the band introduced Jon Oddo from Kansas City on bass guitar. The three started making their next album Regulars which was released in 2019. Shortly after, Elliot Thordarson and Paul Davis came in to fill out the lineup on guitar and drums respectively. The group continues to consistently release new singles, mixtapes, live material, and most recently a new EP titled Sinkhole that is packed with "bruised romantic tunefulness," according to Stereogum.

2023 marks the 10-year anniversary of the group and starts the next phase of the Dead Bars story. The future is unwritten. The family is growing, and the universe is vast. Dead Bars Forever.

TRACK LISTING:

  1. Freaks
  2. I'm a Regular
  3. Pink Drink
  4. Producto Toxico
  5. Time Takes Away
  6. Rain
  7. Lucky
  8. No Tattoos
  9. I Need You
  10. Another Day
  11. You Never LeftMARKETING POINTS:

FOR FANS OF:
Bouncing Souls, Menzingers, Dillinger Four, Iron Chic, Off With Their Heads, Lucero

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