Coffin Nail – The Hanged Man (2023) / 77%

Coughing up blood until my coffin is buried

This solo project of former Florida man Vok goes hard. It’s an amalgamation of different styles culminating in a take no prisoners assault for the body and the mind. Coffin Nail reminds me of the late Trap Them in how they’re able to mix hardcore/grindcore with metal genres like death metal without losing anything in the process.

Coffin Nail is like this really spicy cajun rub for chicken combining super chonky grind, death metal, hardcore punk but also some sludge, maybe extreme thrash/crossover, industrial vibes and hyper fast black metal (in spirit) as well. It’s unrelenting material with a dark, murderous era alternating between crushingly heavy slower stuff like the intro or “These Are Dead, They Feel Not” or just viciously fast like “Strangling Gallows”. There’s also a few nice surprises like the piano interlude of “Due Note in nero” or the saxophone solo of “Brood Parasites”. It’s full of catchy riffs (“Hammers and Chains” has an infectious one) and simple yet highly effective songwriting. The vocals are tenebrous snarling harsh vocals, quite fitting and well executed. The production is warm, natural and lets the violence shine. It’s sharp and fiery as a lightning bolt, I feel that the combination between aggression and thoughtful (enough) musicianship. Worth checking before going to the gallows.

Bandcamp

Metal Bounty Hunter: Volume 9

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Unru - Als Tier Ist Der Mensch Nichts (2016) / 80%

Oppressive incestuous post black

This German quartet's debut album (that we can translate to "As an animal, man is nothing") is a brief voyage into the oppressive minds of their songwriters. Rooted in both black metal and hardcore (crust, post hardcore...), the four songs managed to incorporate the pure hatred and violent conviction of all their influences. The drums are buried under the loud and atmospheric guitars but I liked the way they were recorded, it seems to be natural and fits the aggressive yet pensive identity of Unru.

I guess we could say that they're a post black metal band but there's nothing fancy, comforting or joyful about their music. The vocals are deep howls and combined with the instrumentation, it's like walking in an old post World War II disaffected military complex, it's cold and suffocating in the best way possible. If you like the numerous incestuous explorations of black metal and hardcore, this is a band to check out. The lengthy songs made this an exhausting but rewarding experience.

Dautha - Den förste (2016) / 83%

Sweden's new trad doom titanI do think that Griftegård only managing to release one full-length is a tragedy in itself but if we ignore this first world problem, I’m quite happy that Ola Blomkvist (guitars, lyrics, direction) is back with a new traditional doom project and it’s well worth the time for everyone who likes the style. While not reinventing the classic wheel of doom, the integration of some beautiful violins is refreshing in something else than melodic doom/death or goth metal à la My Dying Bride. After a brief intro (translated to “Adulterers should be killed”), we’re served two excellent mid-paced numbers with epic soaring clean vocals and terrific riffs. Definitely influenced by the medieval period and religions, Dautha’s music is classy, engaging and played by talented Swedish veterans. Let us rejoice when darkness thrive / Oh, this is Hell but we shall laugh This is a demo but the quality of the songs and the production made me wish it wasn’t. Unfortunately the handmade packaging limited to 78 copies is sold out but I’m sure we won’t have to wait too long before we get more material from these guys. Well, I hope so.

Nails – You Will Never Be One of Us (2016) / 97%
Nine Inch Cocks

Signing to Nuclear Blast definitely made Nails sellouts, right? Oh fuck no it didn’t. The Californian trio unleashed their longest album ever (still only 21 minutes) and it’s one of the perfect outlet for aggression and violence I’ve ever heard. The band got added to the Metal Archives due to this record and rightfully so, I could compare it to the movie Alien, a cinema classic classified as both horror and science fiction… Well, YWNBOOU borrows as much from hardcore as it does from metal. Nails puts classic grindcore, old Swedish death metal, powerviolence, crust, Slayer-ish thrash in a dirty blender and crush the mixture till it’s just perfectly bloody.

Just like “Unsilent Death” or Abandon All Life, most of the tracks are short motherfuckers who will slam your head and make you jump everywhere. They never forget to write compelling and truly awesome riffs such as in “Into Quietus” and end the album with a monstrous eight minutes track containing everything they ever been known for. Slow pummeling riffs, spiteful vocals and fast destruction. I was really happy when they played “They Come Crawling Back” live as it’s one hell of a track. The best extreme album of 2016.

"VIOLENCE IS FOREVER"

Pillars – Pyres and Gallows (2016) / 70%

The Baguette Doom Series pt. XVII: Nice

The quartet from Nice (not pronounced like you think) plays heavy as hell doom metal without turning into a stoner band. The vocals of Clément Flandrois are rough, sort of harsh and would fit a southern metal band. The dude has a lot of range though and shows how good he is on the 10 minutes title track.

Many French bands actually sound like they’re from the American south and I’m not totally sure why (check out Glorior Belli and their southern black metal sound) and Pillars are definitely one of them. I mean, it’s subtle, don’t expect to hear some classless Hellyeah worship here, it’s still trad doom with obese riffs and a sad lyrical approach. This debut extended play has no obvious problems, it’s honest, well written and even has this blackened feel not usually present in this style of metal. Nevertheless, they could streamline their compositions a little and there’s a certain lack of memorability on there.

Deathbringer - From Silence Was Born The Sound of Death (2016) / 75%
Unsilent death/black

Montréal’s Deathbringer plays a savage and natural sort of death/black metal. Their debut full length, a short affair sounds like a demented Immolation at times. There’s an obvious focus on riffs and the album is full of great catchy ones. The production job was kept willingly raw and when I first heard a track from the album, I wasn’t quite sure it was the right decision but now that I’ve heard the full thing, I do think it fits the atmosphere they were going for.

Vocal wise, there’s a mix of cavernous growls, high pitched screams (both apparent on the last track “Bone Weaver”) and also some cleans (“By the Will of God”). The singer is one of the best aspects of Deathbringer, it adds to the dual identity of the band and their fluid back and forth between death and black metal. Even if they’re Canadian, they’re not really war metal, their core is death metal and there’s even doomy influences at times. War metal for me must be black metal with additional elements coming from death and grind.

All in all, it’s a strong debut for Deathbringer, they understood that riffs are the primordial element to make your band worthwhile and even though they kept the mastering and mixing lo-fi and raw, it makes the songs shine in the darkness.

Yautja – Songs of Descent (2014) / 96%

As powerful as Shea Weber's slapshot

This trio from Nashville is fucking insane. I've seen them live recently in Montréal when they toured with Magrudergrind and while I was familiar with this album beforehand, I really was flabbergasted with their stage presence. I've been spinning their debut full length since then and it's a marvelous tour de force full of turns and crossovers.

Their genre on the Archives doesn't come close to how vast their sound is but it's also difficult to pinpoint it effectively. Simply by looking at the three dudes, you could think that there's no cohesion to be found here but you'd be wrong. Their bassist was wearing an Aura Noir shirt and looked metal as fuck, their guitarist looked like he could play in Car Seat Headrest and their drummer would fit right at home at a Grateful Dead community worshiping acid. For some reason, the three dudes combined together simply works like a charm.

Sure, there's grind here but there's a lot of other stuff like mathcore, death metal, experimental and a big dose of sludge. It's almost like a southern appropriation of the US East Coast's hipsterism. In some ways, they're Tennessee's chaotic answer to Krallice or to early Mastodon, they have those odd rhythms while keeping the heaviness as an integral part of their identity. While there's an interesting variety of tempos, all of supreme quality, you never get lost with Yautja. They're taking you places that you wasn't quite sure were real. From the grind might of "Blinders" to the weird epic sludge of "Faith Resigned"(a song that sounds like Crowbar who suddenly became a forward thinking band), it's as a varied as you'll get for a grindcore band. They do feel like slowing things down quite often and it adds to the immense weight of the album, a song like "(Path to the Ground)" just messes around with a slow grind riff for ninety seconds but it doesn't affect the pace of Songs of Descent at all. The bass is thick and loud and the guitars are super interesting with the way it alternates between a super fast and crushing sound. Tyler Coburn has to be one of the best drummers I've ever seen live, the moustachioed gentleman is a beast on the kit. He's good at everything and also alternates between the blastbeats and a more traditional style. Supremely good musicianship.

Yautja is the name of the alien species in the Predator series and Nashville's NHL team is named... the Predators, not a coincidence! Like the invisible master hunter, the trio kills you with a combination of intelligence and pure aggression.

Yautja on Bandcamp

Local Sounds: Volume 3.0

 

Tonight's volume is all about bands with some post hardcore elements who are mixing this with a bunch of other styles. There's 3 bands from the glorious city of Montréal and one from Drummondville, enjoy and don't be afraid to send me recommendations! Thanks to Pascalou and Étienne for some of these recommendations.

Atsuko Chiba – Jinn (2013)

One of the best bands in Montréal, Atsuko Chiba (a character in the anime series Paprika apparently) plays a visceral and super interesting blend of experimental rock, post hardcore, post rock with a mix of explosive and atmospheric guitars. It starts with a 5 minutes psychedelic introduction with some flutes and a lot of Gilmour-esque guitar explorations before. There's not a lot of vocals and there's barely a need for them but it's used sporadically and it works well. “Qvox” has this excellent At the Drive-In influence with these almost rapped, almost screamed vocals. The instrumentation is rich, ranging from acoustic guitars to keyboards, there's a lot of stuff going on here. It's mostly contained in short songs for the genre(s) except for the final track “One Big Happy Family” and its 23 minutes length reminding me of the project of Rodríguez-López and Bixler-Zavala formed when ATDI ended, the mighty The Mars Volta. While it drags a little, the instrumental song has a wide array of emotions ranging from almost metallic guitars to softer moments. I have yet to see them live and I must fix that!

Atsuko Chiba on Bandcamp

The Expectorated Sequence 

First Juice [Power] of the Shit (2014) + The Prolonged Disaster (2011)

These dudes are playing some sort of super heavy grindcore with hardcore, screamo and experimental touches. Their songs are obviously short with a devastating production and vicious vocals. First Juice, their fourth album, is more streamlined and angry than the the excellent The Prolonged Disaster which explored post hardcore, screamo and even metal at times more thorougly (listen to a track like “Scum of the Earth”). The francophone quartet (all their lyrics are in English though) has nothing to envy their American rivals, their sound is dark, brooding and has plenty of heavy riffs intertwined with soft, spacey sporadic moments. Both albums are highly recommended but I prefer The Prolonged Disaster due to its versatility. It's insane music that makes you feel good!

Expectorated Sequence on Bandcamp

Nous étions – La manière noire (2014)
Il a des trous dans le ciel!
The screamo/hardcore/post hardcore Nous Étions (we were in English) are about to start recording their debut full length after two pretty good Eps and I'm sure it will be extremely interesting. Their approach is quite lovely, melding harsh but understandable vocals (with poetic French lyrics) with heavy guitars full of feeling that are still incisive enough. There's a lot of introspective moments too like the beautiful “Le Journal De Ricardo Lopez” and while the vocals are constantly on the hardcore spectrum, La manière noire (the black way) is a surprisingly soothing release. The melting pot of genres (minus black metal) isn't quite far from what Deafheaven did with their seminal and future classic Sunbather. 
 
Nous Étions on Bandcamp

Politess – Politess (2015)

The project from Drummondville is, based on their own description, “Everything your mom doesn't like” and unless your mother is into experimental hardcore/crust/rock/grind/metal, they're probably right. Their self titled debut full length is one hell of a trip into their musical dementia. Simply by looking at the songtitles, you know you'll spend a special moment with these guys, songs like “The New Chicken”, “Everything I Touch Turns Lesbo” or “Give Me Back My Virginity” are totally bonkers. They're certainly silly but they know how to compose cool stuff with a lot of tempo changes, groovy riffs and screeching vocals. One of the best bands out of Montréal and recommended if you like a huge dose of what the fuck in your music. There's even some saxophone on “La patère” and this adds a Naked City feel to the whole thing. Politess definitely did their homework while listening to Mr. Bungle and Anal Cunt and I'm giving them an A+.

Politess on Bandcamp

Local Sounds: Volume 1.0

Here's the first volume of a series highlighting the best non metal music of Montréal, Ottawa, the province of Québec, the province of Ontario and their surroundings has to offer (hardcore, rock, punk, post rock and more). All of today's picks are free downloads (or pay what you can) on Bandcamp so there's no reasons not to support and listen to these great bands.

She Serpent – She Serpent (2015)

This Montreal quartet formed in 2014 and released their first extended play in February of this year and it's superb. The four songs release is full of heavy bass licks and thunderous guitar riffs evocating the coldness of 80s post punk, the psychedelic/kraut repetiveness of Loop and the modern contributions of Interpol, Savages or even Bosnian Rainbows. The vocals of Melanie Brenda are the highlight here, they're powerful, entrancing and possess this sort of androgynous quality befitting of the post punk style. A super great discovery, I must see this band live!

She Serpent on Bandcamp

Pluum – Pluum (2015)

Pluum (based on the word "plum", a tasty fruit) released their first EP in July and it's a pretty damn cool piece of music. Influenced by the likes of At the Drive-In, it's emotional post hardcore with some clear atmospheric and shoegaze moments. The vocals of Xavier are purely in the harsh screamo territories and it creates a sort of dichotomy when confronted with the clean guitars.The three songs are short, packed with a lot of energy and diversity and never boring. It's heavy (listen to “Monday”) but it's always quite beautiful and has these pleasing lush melodies. A very mature first effort from these guys.

Pluum on Bandcamp
Next gig @Turbo Haus

Durs Coeurs – Durs Coeurs (2015)

From Ottawa, this punk rock band formed by Patrick Pageau (the ex drummer of doomsters Cauchemar and the guitarist of the now defunct trashers of Bastardator), Durs Coeurs is frankly awesome. Even though they're the only band not from Quebec featured here, they're the sole one with French lyrics and that's pretty cool.I'm not a big conoisseur of punk but I dig their old school approach, there's also plenty of rock & roll in Durs Coeurs (hard hearts) and I freaking love the guitar tone of Pat. The vocals are manly and the lyrics are simple, well written and downright fun to sing. If you like the poppy, super fast and melodic punk of Ramones, you'll like this demo a lot. Dan Lee, the drummer of the black/thrash band Occult Burial and heavy metallers Iron Dogs drums on this and the speed he brings certainly fits their sound. Highly recommended, I just can't stop listening to this.

Durs Coeurs on Bandcamp

Angles - Lysergic Eucharist (2015)
Formed by Sean Arsenian of The Great Sabbathini (sludge), the leader of Animal Ethics (punk/hardcore/noise) and the drummer of IRN (sludge/doom), Angles is somewhat of a Montreal super band and their first release certainly proves that their collaboration is one of quality. The six minutes release is a mix of powerviolence, non metallic grindcore, some doom (the closer "Brautigan's Gun") with some sort of psychedelic/spacey vibe that's covering the whole thing (just look at the three eyed undead Jesus on the cover to have a visual summary of that). It's nasty, fast as fuck but it's not savage, it's intelligent and nowhere near sloppy. It reminds me of Kylesa but mixed with the impressive power of Nails. Bonus points for their great song titles like “Tampons In September” or “Alcoholic Cousins”. I feel bad for missing their first gigs, I'm sure it's something special!

Angles on Bandcamp

Primitive Man, Opium Lord, Powercup & Basalte, July 18th 2015 @ Bar le Ritz PDB, Montréal

On this very humid Saturday evening, the colourful Bar le Ritz PDB on Jean-Talon street in Montreal was the host of a special and varied evening organized by Extensive Enterprise. This place, formerly known as Il Motore is rapidly becoming one of my favorite places to see gigs in Montreal since the sound is pretty good, the venue is just the right size and their choice of beer is excellent. Before the gig, I ordered myself a pint of the great Farnham IPA and met some buddies. Including the three gentlemen who were opening the night.

BASALTE is a newcomer to the scene and I really like what they play. I thought their debut album was quite solid (read my review: here) and their quality is easily transferred to the live setting. The trio doesn’t have any bass, only two guitarists and a drummer but it’s hardly a shortcoming for them. The three members all sing and this creates a cool contrast between the different styles used. Laurent, the drummer, is using a deeper, almost death metal influenced voice while the two guitar players intertwine between a sort of post hardcore/screamo influenced approach and a more traditional atmospheric black metal shout. Their first track was a new one and it was mixing their black metal roots with a lot of dissonant elements and a healthy dose of varied styles of hardcore. It’s refreshing and quite unique in the Quebecois metal universe. Their (too) short set was great and I can’t wait to see them again. Keep it up, guys!

8 volcanic rocks out of 10

POWERCUP is a local powerviolence/grindcore duo and they’re a fun bunch. They played a brief but enjoyable set (ten minutes with like ten songs?) and they kept making jokes about the city of Trois-Rivières (apparently they had friends from there in the crowd). The drums plus guitar duo played an energetic array of short songs full of catchy grind riffs and fast paced drums fills. Their non-metal grind approach is lovely and I’d take a thirty minutes set of their music anytime. They were perhaps more of a fit when I’ve seen them with Nasum and Brutal Truth some years ago since they were more in their element but they were a surprising addition to this lineup and in the end since all the other bands do include some forms of hardcore music in their formulas. They call their genre «renovation grindcore» since they have lyrics about house renovation and that’s a peculiar, hilarious theme befitting of their stage antics.

7,5 tasse de puissance out of 10

OPIUM LORD from England played an interesting blend of extreme music. They were quite solid, the slow sound of the more extreme side of doom metal felt right at home with the hardcore inspired sludge metal. They seemed too numerous for the music they play though, I don’t think they need two guitarists to make their point across.They had some more atmospheric moments but they’re not exactly Cult of Luna or Neurosis! Nonetheless, that’s a slight criticism, they had interesting tempo variations and their singer was a vicious and powerful beast at the mic. They were definitely a good touring companion for the headliner since they both share a liking for a hard hiting wall of sound approach.

7,5 «this sounds like the name of a stoner rock band into weed» out of 10

PRIMITIVE MAN, the headliner of the evening played a thunderous set completely full of nihilistic bass grooves and athletic yet pummeling drumming. The three piece completely obliterated the crowd with their blackened noisy sludge/doom metal. The members are in total harmony with each others, the guitars are acting as the older brother to the bass but together they crush during the slow (and very misanthropic) moments and they throw everything they got at your skull during the fast (often short and sporadic) moments. During these outbursts of aggressiveness, a small but dedicated part of the crowd went wild and created a moshpit. The drummer is the one who ties everything together and he’s rightfully placed in the middle. He’s not the fastest not the heaviest but boy, he’s impressive and moves so well. Their set wasn’t even more than a hour but it completely drains the energy out of your body.

Their music and their art are thoroughly linked since it’s all done by their frontman Ethan McCarthy and it’s brooding, dangerous and horrific, just like their music and I wouldn’t want it any other way. There’s just this peculiar feeling with the band that you don’t get with anyone else, from the mystical tattoos on Isidro Soto‘s (drums) body to the pictures of James Brown on their amps. They’re a band to experience live.

Their music just reeks of darkness and hatred for mankind and sometimes, it’s precisely what you need to end a Saturday night alongside some sweaty friends, cold beer(s) and a possible hangover with the obvious headache the next morning.

P.S., it’s fun when bands do have shirts for fat dudes like myself and their designs and prices are really cool, paying 25 dollars for a CD and a shirt is pretty rare (and rad) nowadays!

9 nihilistic dudes from Colorado out of 10

Extensive Enterprise has some of the best shows in Montreal, see you all at Sumac (edit: CANCELLED) and Thantifaxath who will destroy the same venue on August 2nd!


Originally published in French and English on Ondes Chocs: here's the link

Abyss – Heretical Anatomy (2015) / 84%

Dive the Deepest Abyss

I discovered Abyss last year at Montréal's extreme metal and punk festival RRROOOAAARRR (yes, named after the Voivod's album) and they were pretty impressive. Their latest release at the time was a blistering fourteen minutes live album (it has the same name as this first full length album, this is a tad confusing) and we were due for something else from the Ontario natives. Some tracks from this live album are making an appearance here as well. They're getting more and more noticed right now as they signed a contract with 20 Buck Spin (a label full of excellent bands) and they recently opened for Bolt Thrower's gig in their home city of London!

Speaking of the English legends, Abyss aren't too far from what they play or were playing. It's high octane death metal combined with crust and hardcore and it's nasty as hell. It's on the short side but like Nails' exceptional second album “Abandon All Life”, the twenty minutes or so is thoroughly enjoyable, crushing and fast as a shark. They intertwine between brief numbers like “Flesh Cult” and its fifty-five seconds or so and longer, more intricate numbers like the nearly death/doom number “Thrall of the Elder Gods”. It's quite varied for a short album, really.

Abyss, despite their generic, unoriginal monicker are quite fresh in the metal landscape, their blend of old school death with a very clear punk approach is akin to Black Breath's infectious groovy formula full of HM2 pedal and Entombed worship. They mix the precursory days of death metal, the era where the boundaries of every styles weren't set in stone (see Repulsion or Carcass) with the flair of modern hardcore, you know the recent style that was able to navigate through these solid boundaries and explore metal as well (see Martyrdöd, Wolfbrigade, the aforementioned Nails or vocalist David Kristiansen's other band Column of Heaven). I can also hear some Slayer in this, especially the “Reign In Blood” era. Some song have this ultra fast thrash sound and it's also reflected in the vocal department. It's harsh but somewhat well enunciated and has this crossover/powerviolence appeal.

Throughout the eight tracks and the twenty minutes voyage through hell and back (look at this gloomy cover art), you understand the primal urge found in these guys' music. It's intense, uncompromising art. The guitars are incisive and even though the tracks are short, they still take the time to deliver short (or long!) dark & sweet leads. The drums are a war machine and they sound like two or three tanks destroying their way through Belgium. The extremely tight production (mixed and mastered by Joel Grind of Toxic Holocaust) definitely help the record in its apocalyptic quest. Abyss explores the primitive eras of metal and managed to vomit an excellent debut album full of spite and mega riffs. Plunge into their abyssal might.

Listen/buy the album here

Mulletcorpse - Disinfect (2012) / 15%

It's only 25 minutes... It's only 25 minutes...

That's the thing I constantly told myself when I was listening to these guys, god it's a style I never learned to liked. What style is it, precisely though? Well, hard to truly say since they probably don't know what they're doing and which direction to take themselves. They label their music as “death/grind” possibly because they fear the dreaded “deathcore” tag but that's what they are with a mix of other genres they don't really know how to integrate. 

The whole thing has obvious brutal death metal influences but it's not as sick or deranged enough to truly be something enjoyable. It's basically a mix of that with pseudo grind written by some dudes who think Dying Fetus is the epitome of the genre and think that Napalm Death aren't heavy enough and some modern djent tripe influences that are as disposable as the little poop bags I used when I walk my dog.

 The vocals are decent, more in line with actual death metal than grind or brutal death and they're possibly the only thing I actually liked on Disinfect except the integration of metalcoreish shouting such as in the closer “Posercrusher” (dudes, pretty sure you'd have to crush yourselves). The lyrics are uninteresting rambling about death but not gory, nasty or smart enough to be compelling for the genre(s) they play. 

“Congratulations, you've just been nominated the world's biggest wannabe”

Well, ok!

The band began to annoy me immensely me when the guitarists decided to stop playing riffs and branch out into djent/modern “metal” territories with these noodly and totally obnoxious riffs composed for a generation who grew up listening to all the wrong things. The songs are all around three minutes and they're constant attacks of badly written breakdowns and generic blastbeats and combined to the dual vocals, it's just unbearable. The musicians aren't the problem here since they're not bad, the songwriting and the melting pot of genres are what ruined this first full length

I'd rather listen to Periphery since at least they have a cohesive vision of their craft, Mulletcorpse are all over the place and can't seem to find a way to actively combine their wide of uninteresting musical genres.

Like mullets, the music of these Ontarians is ugly and for people with poor taste.

Bandcamp

Tribunal - Green/A\thouille (2013) | 75%

Guilty for being fucking weird

Their bandcamp is decorated with a whale in a boat wearing a multicolored cap and holding a baseball bat and a megaphone, a ombie puking and a rainbow saying ''pop métal'' .

While I'm not a fan of brutal death metal, I reckon that the genre successfully pushed the boundaries of extremity and that it has its appeal. Montreal's band Tribunal really likes to push the limits of good taste but they're doing it with originality and they're really fucking weird.

After a tongue in cheek introduction where the band members talk about their own project. The one minute and a half song is garnished by vulgar, obnoxious comments and a reggaeton/pop song playing in the background. I didn't really knew what to expect after this, I was awaiting really awful pornogrind but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked their sound. Maybe it's something in our beer but the grind and brutal death scene here is pretty strong. The band will play with Mesrine in July and I'm guessing it's gonna be insane.

Musically, the band play a form of death metal/grindcore with some hints of brutal death, deathcore and more extreme forms of grindcore. It's of course decorated by some experimentation such as the ''what the fuck is that ?'' moment on ''Suck la marde pour une tuerie'' (Suck the shit for a slaughter), it's a funk/ska/hip hop break with clean almost rapped vocals. It's eccentric and definitely not for everyone. The music is not so fast, there's lots of slower breaks reminding me of a band like Cattle Decapitation. Their lyrical themes are nowhere near the vegan or anti human themes of CD though. They're all sung in French and it's pretty fucking absurd, as weirdly written as local comic heroes Les Denis Drolets, they sing about dragons, ass cracks or whatever subject they found in their basement while drinking Colt 45 and watching hardcore Japanese uncensored porn. At least, they made me smile and that's something I can't say about all these goregrind bands talking of dismembering women and eating their livers. I suppose you can Google translate the lyrics and laugh with me (and them). They're an important part of the band's identity, irrevent and giving no fucks about anything else than pushing their complete madness down your throat, self-mockery is their friend. 

Even though the lyrics are pretty bad in a humorous way, the music is quite catchy. The singer, Laurent Bellemare is very competent (he joined up and comers death metallers Chthe'ilist as a live vocalist this year and he's in Impalement). The diversity of his growls is enjoyable, deep vocals that are quite understandable if you force your ears. The aforementioned clean spoken vocals are mostly done randomly by the other members.The instrumentation is quite fun, cool drums that are not your constant blastbeat engine, some cool bass licks and a well produced double guitar attack. While there's breakdowns, it's not in a jumpdafuk matter and it remains rooted in metal and not your usual core kiddie stuff. They can definitely build  nice songs and have the necessary talent to make them interesting. They could be even better if they want to, they have a shitload of potential, they probably should tighten their sound a little without changing their sound and themes too much.

Their image is fucked up, the album art is...I have no idea but their logo is quite awesome ! Weird as a Japanese band, Tribunal will be judged for what they are, a fun experimental death metal band singing about weird retarded stuff for their own amusement. Check it out if you're not yourself too seriously.

Check out their 2 other singles released in 2012, ''Fleur Bleue'' and ''À la prochaine fois'', both very good tracks at well and perhaps not as fucked up.

Tribunal's Facebook