Do you want total war? / Unleash the beast in man once more?

Total War - 8 Track Demo
2011

On this brand new demo Vancouver's Total War unleash eight tracks in just over nine minutes and it's all about raging hardcore punk. I hear similarities to such notables as World Burns To Death and Tragedy, as well as an apparent love for Japanese and Scandinavian metallic dis-core. It's unceasingly aggressive and anthemic yet somehow vaguely melodic. The pace is intense and seldom drops below whiplash speed but it never gets anywhere near boring; the songs simply aren't long enough to become dull. Each and every one of them is like a punch in the face, with lots of ripping metallic riffs and lots of bouncy d-beats. Nothing fancy just shit that gets the job done. Me likes.



Obsessor - Obsession EP
2011, Tankcrimes

Here we have two fairly short tracks of perfectly executed old school deathrash with a huge dose of crusty punkiness thrown into the mix. This is raging hardcore as much as it is metal and I keep thinking of British 80's metalpunk act Warfare when I hear this. This is a killer ep with a really cool retro-style of metal that's much in the same vein as that of Toxic Holocaust, only rougher and less frilly (and considering the almost complete lack of frills in Toxic Holocaust's music you know this is some rapid fire no-nonsense shit). The pace is frantic but never really blistering fast, just thunderous midtempo blasts with a huge Motörhead, G.I.S.M and Venom influence, with gruff shouted, rather than screamed, vocals. The production is kind of raw and rugged but it works pretty well even though it feels a bit too brittle at times. I'm pretty pissed off that there are only two measly songs on this thing. More! Now!



Suffering Quota - Suffering Quota Demo
2011

This demo blew me clear the fuck away on the first initial listen and that's not something that happens very often. These five short tracks are some of the very best I've heard in the genre for quite some time. It's a rare thing to have a blend such as this where really memorable grindcore bleed so easily into both hardcore and thrash as well as death metal and to have it played so astonishingly well is nigh on unheard of. The songs are all short but they are constantly moving forward, continually throwing in little twists and turns into the mix. I really dig the vocals as well, because they aren't the usual fare of high pitched shrieks and cookie monster growls. They rather remind me of Scott Hulls vocals for Pig Destroyer. In fact alot of the music on this way too fucking short demo remind me of Pig Destroyer. Perhaps that is why Suffering Quota's music clicked so strongly with me. I'm truly looking forward to hearing more from these guys.


All three above releases are available for free downloads. Just check the links and you'll find them.