Issue 003 CRUNCH YOUR ESSESNTIAL GUIDE TO ROCK AND METAL DISGUISED MALIGNANCE REVIEW ON PAGE 9 2023 roundup Final Gasp review on page 6 omnivortex review on page 9
announcments OceanSleep I Passed Out On Dev Green and Woke Up In Corp Smokers Hello Readers! Thankyou for bearing with us with this release. We have decided to move back to the original plan of monthly releases. We are still operating as usual! absolutely ripping their latest single. I Passed Out On Dev Green and Woke Up In Corp Smokers, is a masterpiece of modern hardcore. The lyrics are hard hitting and emotional. With fearful vocals with a feature from the vocalist from Call of Charon. Massive credit to Rain City Rehearsal and Recording Studio who absolutely wiped the floor with the mixing and mastering on this track. Hailing from the Steel City, Sheffield is spitting out amazing bands at the moment, these guys are destined for greatness. Already rising and popular on the local hardcore scene. Get your music and ads in ready for the Christmas release! Love you all, The Crunch Team. The raw power of the instrumentation, and the emotional playing makes for a spiritual wall of sound that hits you like a freight train. The melodies and rhythm is perfectly guided and destructive to make this musical feat. I struggle to put into words how amazing this single is. Please go check this out. Sulpher Aeon Seven Crowns and Seven Seals “We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far” H. P. Lovecraft. Sulphur Aeon beg to differ, and aim to take you on a blackened death voyage into the cosmic seas. Almost five years since their last studio effort they are back with probably one of the best musical representations of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos I’ve ever heard. Shimmering leviathan waves of guitars threaten to envelope you in their tentacled grip. It’s almost as if Cthulhu himself has awakened and arose from his deep slumber in the ancient city of R’lyeh to appreciate this level of worship and musicianship. Listening to this at seriously obnoxious levels I almost felt like I was on a tiny decrepit seacraft and heading towards hurricane maws with the constant blastbeats in the background. The album is unfathomably dense but has immense hooks in places making it easy to digest; the central section of ‘Usurper of the Earth and Sea’ has a spine-tingling melodic motif that is simply genius, and the solo work more than matches the rest of the music. Furthermore this opus has amongst the best black metal style vocals I’ve heard in a long time with a sprinkling of David Vincent-esque moments, and is always intelligible. The Ancient Ones would indeed look favourably upon this and I urge you to take the voyage. Set sail on cosmic seas and realise you may not be dead but merely dreaming of the terrible vistas ahead. Immerse yourself in this and become part of the cult. Last word is that this could be an album of the year contender for me...yes it’s that good. Review by Wesley Want to write for CRUNCH? e-mail: alex@crunch-magazine.co.uk for more information Howell
Dead Demons Trial by Fire To say I was excited for this EP would be an understatement. These guys are local trailblazers for the NWOTHM movement. The skill and experience these guys have is so evident. Track one, Devil may care. This is probably my favourite track on the EP, with the building verses into an amazing song, good lyrics and Mark Hales amazing voice. Track two, Time is your enemy. Very Sabbathy/ Maideny intro. Love to see it. Into a hard hitting riff. The song is very much a love letter to the heavy metal of the 80’s with that driving distortion we all love. If you are a 80’s Metal fan definitely check this out. Chris Weatheralls solo is insane. Hales high pitch harmonies at the end that go into a shout pushes the song over the finish line. Quick mention of how awesome the cover art is. Onto track four the title track. The riff is lovely and clean, very trad. I love how Dead Demons maintain complete originality while wearing their influences on their sleeve, something a lot struggle to balance. These guys have it down. An amazing EP, with two other tracks I haven’t covered here. Go check this out now, and go see them at the greystones in December. 9/10 Review by Alex Holmes.
Final Gasp Mourning Moon For a debut album, Mourning Moon by Final Gasp is up there with some of the greats. A Death rock/punk hardcore band from A dark debut Boston, MA and their first album has been on the shelves for less than a month. Described as a harrowing journey through all things Hardcore, Metal, and Goth the album drags the listener through the dark in 12 thrilling tracks (Bandcamp) Fusing dark rock and metal, one can pick out their influences without difficulty. The gothic vibes reflect Unto Others who I spotlighted in issue 2, but there is also an undeniable synthesis with Killing Joke. A great addition to your playlist as we approach Halloween, the dark and ethereal vibes will send an eerie shiver down your spine! The album had an excellent opener in “Climax Infinity” which is reminiscent of ‘Be quick or be dead’ by Iron Maiden in setting the tone for an audio feast to follow. Review by Darren Holmes Gozer The Path Always Leads to the End After last years debut release, I was anxious to listen to what is going on at the Gozer camp. The music these guys can out out is nothing short of ingenuity. The EP really builds on what ‘An Endless Static’ made, picking up where it left off in a fresh and better articulated way. Gozer makes music that resonates with your soul, and you fell it in every fibre. That is what is so great about it. It is like a ‘soundtrack’ to your life, whilst remaining a piece of them. Enough said, lets get into the EP itself. Track one ‘The Beginning’ is a dark prelude to an astonishing EP, and sets the scene for the sludge/post metal that ensues. Its siren-like synth makes you alert and wonder what’s beyond, with great anticipation. Going to track two. The song is absolutely what I would have expected these guys to put out. A strong, heavy sludge number. Its vocal harmonies and the contrasted shouts make a powerful wall of noise and cascade on your ears. A Sheffield outfit, Gozer definitely carry that post industrial depressive tone through their music, which is heard evidently in track three: ‘Gone Away’. Its slow, almost robotic noise track that is possibly even a bit creepy in its vocals and effects. The song is definitely Gozer, yet has a distinct ‘noise’ feel. It is very welcomed, but different all the same. Finally the last track. When I say I listened to this about 15 times when I first heard it I am not exaggerating. The stream/river noise at the start with a slow build up of a stringed instrument and clean vocals. Then drums and a bit of guitar come in, all slowly building. Then the electric guitar comes in, still building up. Gozer have mastered tension in songwriting, the whole EP has been building up to this point. Finally it occurs. It was worth every bit of clenching and eyes watering. The drop has a creepy synth line, and some samples and noise effects, making a giant sound that you would think is not possible by a few people. I won’t say too much about the song as to ruin it. But it is perfect. Overall these guys have taken their last album, and built on it with an amazing EP that I intend on buying the second it gets released on physical. 10/10 Review by Alex Holmes
Sour ittusk Kick in. Another Sheff’ Band (I absolutely love this city) Their facebook bio best describes their sound: “a cross between motorhead and clutch”. This high octane power trio have absolutely ripped with this single, pulling no punches (or should I say kicks, haha) The single has a classic rock n roll riff, and an even more rock n roll bassline. The lyrics are very fun and I can imagine a crowd singing back to the band in the chorus, aiding the bands big sound. I need to catch these guys live, as do you! Kick it in gives you everything you need from a rock n roll band and I consider my thirst quenched from this track! Easily a 9/10 for this one, Well done lads. Crunch will return.... 06.24
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