Underdog Morsels Volumes 1-4

Dave Fungalpunk madman or genius? He is releasing 100 volumes of 4 track Cd's to give bands a

 bit of coverage and support the d.i.y. scene. I will answer my question at the end of the reviews,he does a great website for reviews,interviews etc check it out here http://www.fungalpunknature.co.uk Right here we go with volume 1 with 11.26 minutes of pure mayhem!!

First up is AFS-"The Protest Song" Good punky stuff with a nice growly vocal and great backing vocals. Great sentiments too,to many people haven't a clue what they are on about half the time!

The Despondents-Got Nothing to Lose" another cracking track,this band sounds really like 70's U.S. punk before hardcore came into it,good sound!

Citizen Keyne-"Punk not Fashion" Pure punk not anything else here but great stuff for it! This is a really nice put down on the posers and the "take the money and run" bands that pollute our scene. I heartily agree with all the sentiments in it!

Harold Shitman-False Hardcore Creates Rapists" Great title and a mighty fine blast of thrashy hardcore.

All in all a great start to the series 7/10

Right its onwards to volume 2- 12.53 minutes of punk rock heaven!

First up is the mighty Mongrel with "Bound to Crash" a nice bit of metal punk from a really strong band,good track not there heaviest but a goody all the same.

Thracia-"Sea of Tediocrity"  A nice slab of thrashy punk from a band I really must check out more.

Septic Psychos-"Buy Some Shit" Nice bit of good old punk rock,really good singalong chorus too.

The Red Eyes-"This is My Life" This is a nice bit of poppy punk really well crafted and a topping song,loved this one.

Another cracking release with a nice diverse mix of bands 8/10

Here we go with 8.38 minutes of volume 3

Obnoxious UK-"Cadava Doll" a good track to start this release with,a mix of poppy/punky well done with great backing vocals.

St.Tantrums-"Call the Nightmare" Another mid tempo song that mixes genres a bit with a touch of metal a bit of punk and a wee bit of glam!! Good song!!

Animal Train-"Meltdown" Pure punk this one,nice slowish tempo to it kind of reminds me of anarcho style punk,good grinding based riff to it.

Colin Farrell-"Lollo is on Cortisone" Fast,catchy punk with an accent!!! I know sweet f.a. about this band but this is a good track.

Another wee treat from fungalpunk a bit poppier than the first two. 7/10

Volume 4 with 15.15 minutes of pure punk.

Asezawallas-"Needle" I hope this is the bands name as the font on the cover was a bit difficult to read! Good catchy song with a nice noisy guitar/drum combo.

Kybosh-"Sunday Afternoon Drinking" Great title,a pastime I don't indulge in much anymore and i kinda miss it!! Feel healthier without the demon drink tho!! This is a neat punky ode to the great Sunday tradition of roast dinners, footy on the telly and drinking on a Sunday!!!!

Skudpuppetz-"Political Dystopia" A band I have heard of but have never heard,my loss as they are a cracking band!! A great infusion of punk,ska and a wee bit reggae,cracking track with great vocals and a really catchy chorus,shit hot track!!

East Town Pirates-"Ship Ahoy" Good riffy stuff and its pirate based punk!! whats not to like? really good metally/punk and a great chorus.

Another winner here 8/10

Well at the start I asked the question Dave Fungalpunk madman or genius? I think the answer is probably a bit of both!! One things for sure though his heart is in the right place and he is one of the good guys in our scene and one I listen to when I read his reviews. The series has started really well and I am looking forward to the rest of them,it has done what its meant to as I have started looking for material by bands I didn't know anything about,this has to be good news! Best bands for me V1-Citizen Keyne, V2-The Red Eyes, V3-Animal Train, V4-Skudpuppetz. Kudos to you Dave and more power to you,this is a great idea of yours and you are a stalwart of the D.I.Y. scene and all round good guy.

Mass Grave Circle Jerk 6 Way cd

Well what have we here? A 34 track 6 way split cd that covers the mighty genre of goregrind. There are 6 different labels involved in this project so here we go,I will score each band individually instead of an overall score.
First band up are a two man band from France and they do just one track but its an epic one in this genre must be about 5 minutes long!! It is split into an intro and then the song which stops and starts into various bits,really mental drumming on it too! The song is called "Cum Gurgling Regurgitasound" and pretty good it is too 6/10
Next up are MDK a three piece band from Brazil,they have a more traditional feel to them, the vocals are mental and it sounds like all three guys contribute to a variety of pig squeals,grunts and growls! My fave tracks are "Brutal Assassinatos" and "Parafilia" 7/10
Diseased Maggotectomy are the next on this disc and are from the U.K. and have 10 tracks on here. All the band have aliases for  names and there are three guitarists,a bass player and drummer!!! The tracks are a mental mix of pure thrashy,noisy madness!! And with 3 guitars you know that the guitar work is going to be totally crazy! They are my fave band on this and one I hope to check out some more,best tracks for me were "Rectal Cannibal" and "Anal Armageddon" but they are all pretty decent to be honest. 8/10
PUS are the next band and are from Holland and Spain and are a 3 piece.They contribute 4 tracks to this disc and again are a more traditional gore/grind band. Really heavy guitar and pig squeal vocals make their tracks pretty damn decent!! They are quite doomy in bits not all out thrashy stuff,my fave tracks are "Mucosas Salpicados De Sangre" and "Escreto Maligno" snappy titles eh? 7/10
The next band to come on is a one man outfit from Brazil with the great name of Hemorrhoidal Anal Suffering. He has 10 tracks on this disc and he does produce some class goregrind,he is pretty decent on the guitar and my fave tracks are "Biohazard Inferno" and "Abiogenesis" he produces some interesting stuff and I would like to hear more from him. 8/10
Last band on are Cativeiro from Bolivia and they are a 3 piece band who contribute 5 tracks to this project. The guitars are quite low in parts and the drums tend to slightly drown them out at times but that doesn't detract from them. The vocals are a mix of real growly to shrieks!! Best tracks for me are "Blood and Guts of Dead Gore" and "Poisoned Deep Inside With Fucked Up Cocaine!! great titles. They are a decent outfit. 7/10
All in all a mighty fine Goregrind cd,I liked it a lot and all the bands are off a decent quality. I don't know how easy it is to track this release down as i got it in a trade, cheers Nick! If this is your bag I would definitely try to get my mitts on a copy but one things for sure you ain't getting mine!!!

WINDS OF GENOCIDE-"Apokalyptic Death Crust"

This review is of a band I love!! Winds of Genocide are a crust/metal leviathan of a band and this release is a cassette release of a rehearsal/demo limited to 200 copies and released by Witch Hammer Productions from Thailand. I got my copy from Kat the lead vocalist and it only cost a couple of quid so was an absolute bargain!!
What do you get here then? Its a 6 track release that's as rough as fuck but absolutely class stuff. Its easy to see that the band have been around since 2006 as they are as tight as a gnats chuff and sound as heavy as fuck! The line-up is Kat on vokills, Glynn on guitar,Linus on drums and Dan H on bass. The sound is a mix of crust and Death Metal and thrash but this doesn't do them justice as they have their own sound. I don't have a favourite track as they are all shit hot and its as close you will get to a live gig without being there!! A word on the artwork for this release too,its top notch as well!! Worth tracking down for fans and for new converts alike to get an idea of how good this band is,look out for a review of the e.p coming here soon! Songs tend to deal with the apocalypse,doomsday etc, cheery stuff !! catch the band here- www.myspace.com/windsofgenocide
8/10

SORCERY-"Master of the Chains"

This review is of Swedish Death Metal band Sorcery,it is a 3 track cassette released by Nocturnal Blood Records and limited to 300. This band have been around since the 80's but recently reformed in 2009 and glad we are that they did!! The band is-Ola Malmstom on vocals, Paul Johansson on bass, Jocke Olofson on drums and Henrik Lindenmo on guitar. The trouble with it being 3 tracks is it over way too soon and you are just getting into it and its over!! The tracks are 1-"Master of Chains", 2-" Heaven Lies Dead", 3- The Rites of Sacrifice 09" and I have no favourite track as they are all goodies1
They sound really well honed on this release and play a slightly doomy DM with a nice touch of thrash,perhaps harking back to their older days when they were a more out and out thrash band, its a good mix of fast and slower tempo stuff that works well for me! The vocals are good and growly and the guitar playing is top notch with really ripping stuff on here! The back line of bass and drums hold their own and all adds up to a really good band that hopefully I will get to hear more off!
Catch them on their own website www.sorcery.com
7/10

WAN-"Wolves of the North"

Here is a review of Swedish black metal band WAN,this release is a 13 track cassette released by Nocturnal Blood Records and limited to 100 copies. This Swedish cassette only label is a personal favourite of mine and they do release some top notch stuff.
Well what have we got on this cassette,a 13 track Black Metal album that's a bit different from the usual BM releases in the fact that 13 tracks is unusually many for such a genre. The band comprise of Tsjud on vocals,Aganaroth on guitar and Isongrim on bass. The sound is proper BM bit punky in parts and a wee bit thrashy in bits too but not overly, I assume its a drum machine that's used as no drummer is mentioned, but it doesn't detract from the sound. The vocals are raw,raspy growls and the guitar and bass are both done very well.
The tracks are a sung  in a mixture of English and Swedish and the words can be heard quite easily,topics seem to be the usual fare,not that that's a bad thing!, all things Satanic,anti-religion and misanthropy. I enjoyed the whole album but my fave tracks are probably "13 Sons£of the Dead","Kingdom of Wan", "Ulvhall" a song dedicated to Quorthorn, "War of the Unholy" and "Wolves of the North" but in all honesty there is no bad tracks on this cracking wee tape. They sound a very tight band who produce good BM and I will certainly be checking them out for future releases. Check them out on www.myspace.com/theunholywan
8/10