DeSalvo -- Demo

Here's a new band featuring former members of the Stretchheads. This is their 4-song demo from 2003 which I found on Soulseek. They've got an LP out now, which I'll probably post before long as well. Sounds like they've been listening to Mastodon.

224 kbps

Stretchheads -- Five Fingers, Four Thingers, a Thumb, a Facelift and a New Identity

Scottish punk band from the late '80s and early '90s that fit it around here rather well, although they're fairly new to me. Falls somewhere between Deep Turtle and Arab on Radar -- abrasive, fast, a tad whiny at times, but mostly top notch. I bet they were amazing live. Perhaps they're even good enough to let the rest of the world forgive Scotland for that I would walk 500 miles song by The Proclaimers.

Some of these guys are currently in a band called Desalvo, whose debut album will probably be up here before long, so stay tuned.

224 kbps

Mass -- Mass

One and only release from German stoner rock/post-metal band Mass. Released in 2000 on Man's Ruin. It's very difficult to find any information about this band, so, on a completely unrelated note, you may be interested to know that there are people searching online for the phrase "sword in pussy" almost every day. Without a blog called Velvety Sheath, Glistening Sword, on which is posted an album by the band Harry Pussy, I would never have known this.

192 kbps

Bloarzeyd -- Delirious Insane Ventilator of Bloarzeyd

So here's the 2006 debut from New Haven, CT noisemen Bloarzeyd. Sounds not unlike godheadSilo, and the song titles even reveal a similar sense of humor.

Fucking white people.

320 kbps

Dreams of the Drowned -- Thanatotropic Principle

I've figured out what I don't like about most black metal -- there's little to no rock. The buzzing guitars and tortured screams are dramatic and moody, but then so is Nine Inch Nails' music. I need some rock in my metal, but for the most part these silly BM dudes are content merely with being a slight evolution from the goth-rock histrionics that I've hated since high school.

Dreams of the Drowned, on the other hand, know how to kick ass. Yeah, they're steeped in black metal, but they're talented enough to play more than just washed-out sheets of sound that go nowhere. They also get props for making their music freely available -- I'm just re-posting the link of their first full-length album. They're French, by the way.

320 kbps

Imahoritsuneoyoshidatatsuya -- Territory

More spastic fuckery from Yoshida Tatsuya, the mastermind/drummer behind the Ruins. This time he's paired up with Imahori Tsuneo, guitarist of the Japanese prog outfit Tipographica. You'll have to wade through some onanie-style wankery to get to the good stuff, but when you do, it will feel good. I promise.

256 kbps

Ulcerate -- Everything Is Fire

Brutal, technical Kiwi DM. Thanks to Josef for this one.

VBR @ 256+ kbps

Cherubs -- Short of Popular

Posthumously released miscellany from Austin, TX noise rock stalwarts Cherubs.

VBR @ 256+ kbps

Hella -- Hold Your Horse Is

For whatever reason, these guys have a lot of hipsterdouchebag fans, but don't let that deter you -- this is some truly innovative, unique music. Spastic drummer Zach Hill provides the melody here, or at least what passes for melody in this kind of music, while guitarist Spencer Seim just tries to keep up. They never were able to recapture the vibrant freshness of this album on subsequent releases, but at least we can still listen to this, their debut from 2002.

VBR @ 256+ kbps