Authors: Gavin Hoffman
Silva Illustrations: Sharpies, Self-Portraits and Suicidal Tendencies
James Silva has been a presence in the Salt Lake City punk and hardcore scenes since before time began, or so it seems. Following a stint as a tattoo artist, Silva’s impatience got the best of him, and he traded in his tattooing equipment for … Sharpies—as in the tried-and-true, everybody’s-got-one, black markers. To most, that would seem like one hell of a downgrade, but to Silva, and those who have seen what he can do with a Sharpie, it was one of the best decisions he ever made. … read more
CLC Artist: Jorge Arellano
“I started doing stencil art with my friends,” says Arellano. “At that time, we didn’t have an option to do silk screening, so spray painting was the easiest thing to do, and the easiest way to spray paint on clothes was to use a stencil.” Upon moving to Salt Lake, Arellano abandoned stencil art for many years until he created a few pieces for his band All Systems Fail. He began creating stencil art again, quite secretively, but his talent and love for the art couldn’t be hidden forever. … read more
Reviews: Void Meditation Cult/Sperm of Antichrist – Sulfurous Prayers of...
What essentially amounts to a split release by the same band (Void Meditation Cult was previously called Sperm of Antichrist), the first side of Sulfurous Prayers of Blight and Darkness is Void Meditation Cult and the second side is Sperm of Antichrist—confused yet? … read more
Reviews: Watain – The Wild Hunt
I don’t quite understand why it is that Watain has become such a polarizing band in the metal underground—people either love them or absolutely despise them. … read more
Reviews: Nunslaughter – The Devil’s Congeries, Vol. 1
Ah, Nunslaughter—my favorite “collector’s-fucking-nightmare” devil metal band. To the uninformed, these Pittsburgh natives (now residing in Cleveland) play absolutely filthy, blasphemous metal, and they have more releases than there are shitty “reality” television shows about people I don’t give a fat fuck about. … read more
Reviews: Dead in the Dirt – The Blind Hole
This is one of the most angry and downright filthy releases I’ve heard in many moons, managing to stuff 22 songs into roughly 20 minutes. … read more
Review: Tier Instinct
Released by Salt Lake’s own Slaughterhouse Records, the third release under the Tier Instinct moniker by a high-ranking member of the Church of Satan, Volume III is described as being dedicated to the Satanic Perspective, is a death knell for the project, and is a notably bleak and disturbing listen. … read more
Review: The National – Trouble Will Find Me
Disclaimer: I really wanted to like this release. Second disclaimer: I fucking loathed it. … read more
Review: Nunslaughter / Antiseen – Split 7in.
After my initial thought of “What the fuck?” regarding Nunslaughter and Antiseen releasing a split 7”, I immediately realized how much sense it actually makes. … read more
Review: MB – Mental Machination Musing and Hic Omnia Ur-Aizib
I’ve always been on the fence regarding musicians/artists who mesh noise with dark ambient or soundscape-type material: Sometimes I absolutely adore it, and sometimes I simply throw the physical copy in the garbage. … read more