Short and Quick - March 2025
Hi and welcome to a new column on the blog, Short and Quick! I wanted to create this column to be able to just talk about some records and songs in just a few short sentences, without feeling the need to find a big concept for an article or do a full fledged discussion on them. I also feel that some records deserve a mention here, but don't really warrant a full article dedicated to them. Most records featured here will be ones I've recently listened to for the first time or have recently rediscovered; they don't have to be records that have recently been released, although often they will be. So without further ado, enjoy the first edition of Short and Quick!
Phlebotomized - Immense Intense Suspense
Death Metal Progressive Metal Symphonic Metal
Avantgarde Metal
This was a record I was meaning to listen to for a while and now that it was still at my record store after I hadn't bought the last few times, I decided to pick it up. When I saw people talking about it, the main thing mentioned was how weird this record is. Knowing that this is a death metal record I was expecting something along the lines of Gorguts more distorted stuff like Obscura but I was sorely mistaken. This is more like a mix of pretty usual death metal riffing and Dream Theater-esque progressive metal and it slaps. This record is just so much fun, every song feels dynamic, fresh and like the band just had a blast making it. It feels like being thrown into some psychedelic wonderland where something new and surprising is waiting for you every step of the way. You'll hear a beautiful acoustic passage and the next moment you'll be in the middle of a brutal death metal riff with some clean vocals over it, only to be met with some gang shouts that wouldn't be out of place on the latest New York hardcore record. I can only recommend this to anyone that's into death metal and is looking for something adventurous, and I'll certainly keep listening to it until I get bored, which will probably take a while.
Playboi Carti - MusicTrapRage Pop Rap Cloud Rap
The most obvious record to talk about at the moment, which will probably go down as one of the biggest commercial successes of the year. I was not really aware of Carti's music until 2023 when I first gave Die Lit a listen and hated it. But since then I have come around quite a bit on it and records like Die Lit or Whole Lotta Red are frequently in my rotation or I should say songs from those records are constantly in my rotation. Carti never really worked for me in an album context and his records always felt more like playlists where I would really fall in love with a few tracks and when I got bored of them I might start liking a different one but I would almost never go out of my way and listen to the full record. MUSIC for me has the same dilemma of being boring as a full record experience but having a bunch of great songs on it. In this case it feels more deliberate though, like Carti is just throwing a bunch of songs at you to keep you with enough material until he decides to drop again.
Godflesh - StreetcleanerIndustrial Metal Sludge MetalNoise Rock
I pretty quite sure I've listened to this record before, but I'm not quite sure if it was the full the record as I didn't have it catalogued anywhere. Anyway, I was familiar with some Godflesh as I'd picked up their self-titled EP on vinyl earlier this year and I'm a huge Jesu fan especially their record Every Day I Get Closer to the Light from Which I Came, so I when I saw this at the record store this week I couldn't resist picking it up. And this record was pretty much what I expected - a pummeling, aggressive mix of industrial and sludge Metal with Justin Broadrick angrily screaming and growling about the state of the world. Probably the best track here is Like Rats the first song on the record where you can practically feel the hatred in his voice as he screams "You breed like rats / Bleeding / Stylize / Deformity / You drop like flies". The rest of the record follows the same pattern and is also pretty good, but the record lost some of my attention in the second half with how repetitive it was and I honestly can't remember anything from those songs, although that may change with repeat plays. Still, this is a pretty great record if you are looking for some extra punishing industrial metal.
Now for some Songs !
Car Seat Headrest - GethsemaneIndie Rock Rock Opera Art Rock
Car Seat Headrest are back in full force, after their poorly received 2020 record Making a Door Less Open they are coming back with a full length record called The Scholars and Gethsemane is the first single from that record. When this was announced I wasn't super excited as I hadn't really warmed to MADLO either and somehow felt that maybe the band had run out of tricks and the same magic from Will Toledo's teenage years just couldn't be recaptured, but well, I was wrong. This is different from what the band has done before and at the same time it gives me similar feelings to their older stuff reminding me of songs like The Ballad of the Costa Concordia or Famous Prophets (Stars), while exchanging the rougher slacker rock production for a much cleaner one and honestly it suits them well. Let's see what the whole record will sound like!
yeule - SkullcrusherIndustrial Rock Alternative Rock
After dropping one their most poppy singles in a long time, with Eko, yeule returns with what is probably their heaviest song today, Skullcrusher. And I have to say I quite like it, even though it's quite short, apparently being the outro of their upcoming record Evangelic Girl Is a Gun, it gives me a lot of excitement for the record and I'm looking for to May when I'll be able to listen to it all.
Model / Actriz - CinderellaDance Punk Industrial Rock
Another Model/Actriz release another masterpiece. This song feels like it could have been come straight out of Dogsbody, a record that i thoroughly enjoyed. It has that seem feeling of intensity through restrain that a lot of their material has, with Cole Haden sometimes nearly whispering his lyrics over the increasingly manic instrumental. Anyone that enjoyed Dogsbody or their previous work should definitely check this song out as well.
The most obvious record to talk about at the moment, which will probably go down as one of the biggest commercial successes of the year. I was not really aware of Carti's music until 2023 when I first gave Die Lit a listen and hated it. But since then I have come around quite a bit on it and records like Die Lit or Whole Lotta Red are frequently in my rotation or I should say songs from those records are constantly in my rotation. Carti never really worked for me in an album context and his records always felt more like playlists where I would really fall in love with a few tracks and when I got bored of them I might start liking a different one but I would almost never go out of my way and listen to the full record. MUSIC for me has the same dilemma of being boring as a full record experience but having a bunch of great songs on it. In this case it feels more deliberate though, like Carti is just throwing a bunch of songs at you to keep you with enough material until he decides to drop again.
Godflesh - Streetcleaner
Industrial Metal Sludge Metal
Noise Rock
I pretty quite sure I've listened to this record before, but I'm not quite sure if it was the full the record as I didn't have it catalogued anywhere. Anyway, I was familiar with some Godflesh as I'd picked up their self-titled EP on vinyl earlier this year and I'm a huge Jesu fan especially their record Every Day I Get Closer to the Light from Which I Came, so I when I saw this at the record store this week I couldn't resist picking it up. And this record was pretty much what I expected - a pummeling, aggressive mix of industrial and sludge Metal with Justin Broadrick angrily screaming and growling about the state of the world. Probably the best track here is Like Rats the first song on the record where you can practically feel the hatred in his voice as he screams "You breed like rats / Bleeding / Stylize / Deformity / You drop like flies". The rest of the record follows the same pattern and is also pretty good, but the record lost some of my attention in the second half with how repetitive it was and I honestly can't remember anything from those songs, although that may change with repeat plays. Still, this is a pretty great record if you are looking for some extra punishing industrial metal.
Now for some Songs !
Car Seat Headrest - Gethsemane
Indie Rock Rock Opera Art Rock
Car Seat Headrest are back in full force, after their poorly received 2020 record Making a Door Less Open they are coming back with a full length record called The Scholars and Gethsemane is the first single from that record. When this was announced I wasn't super excited as I hadn't really warmed to MADLO either and somehow felt that maybe the band had run out of tricks and the same magic from Will Toledo's teenage years just couldn't be recaptured, but well, I was wrong. This is different from what the band has done before and at the same time it gives me similar feelings to their older stuff reminding me of songs like The Ballad of the Costa Concordia or Famous Prophets (Stars), while exchanging the rougher slacker rock production for a much cleaner one and honestly it suits them well. Let's see what the whole record will sound like!
yeule - Skullcrusher
Industrial Rock Alternative Rock
After dropping one their most poppy singles in a long time, with Eko, yeule returns with what is probably their heaviest song today, Skullcrusher. And I have to say I quite like it, even though it's quite short, apparently being the outro of their upcoming record Evangelic Girl Is a Gun, it gives me a lot of excitement for the record and I'm looking for to May when I'll be able to listen to it all.
Model / Actriz - Cinderella
Dance Punk Industrial Rock
Another Model/Actriz release another masterpiece. This song feels like it could have been come straight out of Dogsbody, a record that i thoroughly enjoyed. It has that seem feeling of intensity through restrain that a lot of their material has, with Cole Haden sometimes nearly whispering his lyrics over the increasingly manic instrumental. Anyone that enjoyed Dogsbody or their previous work should definitely check this song out as well.
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