Botch

Botch myspace

Hardcore got really weird in the 90’s. A lot of bands shamelessly incorporate more and more metal sound in their music. I’m not talking about thrash/crossover bands like DRI or Corrosion Of Conformity, but bands that do the whole drop-tuned chugging riffs thing. A few bands definitely pulled off this style well and even managed to make interesting music, but for the most part I think this style was played out and boring. Looking back at it, so many bands sounded like a nu-metal band.

Botch was part of the 90’s scene, for the most part. They spent their lifespan as a band mostly during the 90’s before calling it quits in 2002. We Are The Romans was the band last full-length and probably their most accomplished work (although I love Anthology of Dead End Ep as well).

Botch plays a unique brand of metallic hardcore, focusing a lot on rhythms and dynamics. Although every single member of the band was definitely talented, it’d be hard not to notice guitarist Dave Knudson and his riffs first. Dave plays a lot of off-kilter pull-off hammer-on start-stop riffs with unusual time signature not unlike their contemporary, The Dillinger Escape Plan. If DEP’s riffs are brutal and chaotic, then Botch’s are groovy and tasteful. Botch sound was relatively new at the time. They’re not afraid to mix up their song structures or to write an 8+ minutes song. To me, they bridged the 90’s hardcore sound and the early 00’s era when metallic hardcore blew up.

Obviously this band is not for everyone. Some people might find that Botch music strays away too much from what hardcore usually perceived as. But then again, by this notion about 70% of the 90’s bands did too.

Converge post #2

Converge myspace

Okay, so it's obvious that i'm rather fond of this band. I always think of Converge as one of the more relevant hardcore bands out there. I mean there are a lot of other hardcore acts out there, but how many would you say have their own sound? How many of them can make you go "hmmm what bands could i compare them to? i'm not sure". Don't get me wrong, i'm all for bands paying tribute to old bands that have paved the way, but wouldn't you rather have a band that took influences from those bands to create something new, something original, exciting, unpredictable and relevant? Hell, most bands who cited Black Flag or Bad Brains as their influence don't sound remotely like them anyway.

Converge has been actively involved with the scene from the early 90's and hasn't slowed down since. Chucking out a handful of full-lengths and splits, they continued to reinvent themselves in terms of musical direction while still having a recognizable, distinctive sound. Their early albums such as Petitioning... and When Forever...display a lot of thrashy, chungky riffs while Jane Doe and You Fail Me has more of a "mathy", chaotic sound and atmospheric production, thanks to Kurt Ballou's Godcity Studio.

Axe To Fall, their new album is due to drop on October 20, 2009. So far, 2 new songs has been released. The first song is called "Dark Horse" and it honestly has left me feeling indifferent. The main riffs sounded like something Mastodon would've written and that to me, is not a good thing. Obviously its just one song and the rest of the album might not sound like that. Converge are currently touring across the states with Mastodon and Dethklok and i'm not sure what to make of it. I'm just not a big fan of those bands i suppose.

The second song, "Axe To Fall" however kicks so much ass that i felt like someone just ripped my soul out upon first time listening to it. The drumming is the highlight with it's d-beat influence driving the song at breakneck speed. Ballou's twiddly hammered-on riffs also really makes up the song, giving it a really chaotic crazy foot-stomping feel. So far, one good song and one okay song. I can't wait to hear the rest of the album.

You can listen to "Dark Horse" on their myspace. You can download the track "Axe To Fall" HERE.

Converge

Converge website
Converge myspace

I remember when i first bought Jane Doe on cd in 2003. It was my first exposure to Converge's music and i remember hating it upon first listens. I hated it as much as i didn't "get" it. The chaotic music, the dog barking vocals, the odd time signatures were too much for me. However, just like most of my favorite albums, it grew on me. Big time. It ended up changing my view on what extreme music could possibly offer. Jane Doe still remains as one of my favorite albums until today.

Converge once described themselves as "hardcore kids with leftover Slayer riffs". And that gives you fairly an idea of what they sound like. Converge started in 1990, and their sound were greatly influenced by what was going on around that time. Nineties hardcore is known as an era when a lot of bands incorporates elements of metal into their sound. Besides being influenced by metal bands such as Slayer, Anthrax, Entombed and a lot of crossover bands (D.R.I, Suicidal Tendencies), Converge also taken cues from noisier bands such as Today Is The Day, Starkweather and who i believe to be their biggest influence, Rorschach.

Fast forward a few years, they have since released another two excellent studio records, You Fail Me (2004) and No Heroes (2006). They also put out Unloved and Weeded Out in 2003, which i believe is a compilation of demos and live tracks. It's about time they come out with a new album, which is pretty much the main point of this post because they just posted 2 videos of them playing a new song.

The first video is of them playing the new song in a studio. Its just intrumentals but my god it's good. The pull-off's riffs, the d-beat drumming, the crushing slow part at the end. What's not to like? The second video features a short interview with Nate (bass) and bits of them playing a recent show in Philly. It has parts of them playing "Plagues," "No Heroes" and of course the new song with vocals. I also put up my video of them playing "Concubine" in Brisbane 2 years ago just because.

CONVERGE New album out soon on Epitaph/Deathwish