What I'm currently spinning.

Things have been pretty hectic lately. But in between taking care of our one and a half year old son, house hunting and busy times at work I found some time to finally write a new post. These are the records that are currently on high rotation on my record player and I'll finish this post with two on-line gems
Let's go!

Devil Master - Manifestations - LP 

This must be the record I continually go back to the past few weeks. It got released at the beginning of this month on Relapse Records. It's actually not a new record but a compilation of two demo's that got released in 2016 and 2017. This is such an awesome band! Think of Japanese hardcore/punk mixed with the coldest black metal and some goulish death rock to finish this unique blend of dark music. The lay out of this beast is also great. It reminds me of the obscure lay outs of Les Légions Noirs bands but all finished in pink. My favorite song is 'Inhabit the corpse' The band is from Philadelphia and are releasing their debut full length on Relapse in 2019. I can't wait! They're playing in Baltimore in january with Integrity (DM's guitar player Francis Kano plays live bass in Integrity). Listen here or through YouTube:

The Frames - Longitude - Double LP

I got to know this Irish rock band through the legendary and greatly missed Belgian radioshow 'Duyster'. I already knew singer and guitarplayer Glen Hansard from his role in the movie 'The Commitments' from the beginning of the nineties. This double LP is sort of a best off and shows the variety of this band. Early songs have a slightly twisted side to them (kind of reminds me of early dEUS) and they grew to be a great indie rock band. My favorite song has always been 'What happens when the heart just stops' and I'm glad I finally have this song on vinyl. The artwork is a picture of a beautiful painting of Belgian artist Thierry De Cordier. I also learned from the liner notes that they recorded an album with Steve Albini. Didn't know that.

Shellac - At Action Park - LP

Which brings me to the next record: Steve Albini's Shellac! 'At Action Park' is probably the album with my favorite packaging in my collection. It's some awesome cardboard fold out package that's hard to describe or even take a picture of that does justice to this great record. Shellac is my favorite Albini band and this record is my favorite. It's from 1994 and you can clearly hear how influential they have been on a lot of bands. Albini is a great songwriter and the rhythm section of Bob Weston (bass and vocals) and Todd Trainer (drums and vocals) must be one of the tightest around. The overall sound of this album is so good. It sounds organic yet dry and heavy yet clear. Love this band and record!

La Muerte - Murder Machine - 12"

The last record I want to write about is a Belgian one. It's an EP released on Record Store Day in 2016 that I recently dug out of my collection again and listened to a lot because I want to see them live in january in Brussels. La Muerte is a legendary Belgian band. They describe their own music as 'Salvador Dali meets The Stooges'. They formed in Brussels in 1983 and released a couple of albums and EP's (and even a John Peel session!) before disbanding in 1994. They reunited with a new line-up (including Michel Kirby of Wolvennest, Length of Time and Arkangel, Christian Z of Length Of Time and Tino De Martino of Channel Zero) and original members Dee-J and Marc Du Marais in 2015. They play heavy rock/metal with awesome vocals. Marc Du Marais growls his way through the songs and performs live with a bag over his head. I really want to see this band live and have to get the old albums and EP's!
Je suis le destructeur!

To finish this off here are some things I really enjoyed online:

Integrity - Bark At The Moon

Integrity released this digital only single on Halloween. It's a cover of the classic Ozzy Osbourne song 'Bark at the moon'. Integrity proves again why they are the most interesting band in heavy music today, even after a career of over 20 years and Domenic Romeo proves why he is my favorite guitar shredder at the moment.

Joie De Vivre - April 2009 (Live at little elephant)

While talking on-line about the Mineral reunion with a friend and fellow emo-enthousiast he recommended me some newer bands I didn't know. One of them was Joie De Vivre. I don't like the band name but love their song 'April 2009'. It has everything a nineties emo lover wants. Glasses, checkered shirts, sweet riffs, slightly out of tune vocals,...

That's it for now! I plan on updating this thing more regular in the future so stay tuned!