Let's talk extremes. No not those extremes like Mild Extremely Severe i.e. E0. But extremes of media taste, in my case, music. I post a lot of stuff on Facebook and elsewhere that gets universally ignored so why not do it here too. Although this is a post with a purpose. Sometimes I wonder if I like extreme music through habit, or for the sake of extremity itself, or to keep playing the role as "that sociopathic weirdo who likes devil music". And then I hear some pure banging evil filth on my MP3 player and am headbanging to it at the wall or gym, and know that it's genuine. So in the spirit of that, here's some of the more extreme tracks I have genuinely loved recently and every time I hear them:
Kilbourne & Plexøs - Pain Becomes Pleasure (at 1:51:50 in video)
(Skip to 1:51:50 because fuck blogspot's inability to embed timestamps)
Only available as part of Kilbourne's mixes (including a better quality example here: https://soundcloud.com/discwoman/discwoman-94-x-kilbourne , an excellent mix overall). This is my headbang-of-the-year track, I can't resist it any time. In an era when a lot of hardcore is trying to be too clever with samples drops and chopping up tracks, this is refreshingly direct and banging as fuck. In fact it's as much like double speed techno as it is normal gabber. Fresh bleeps and stabs carried by relentless kicks and it works perfectly for me.
Leeloo - Sexta
Also heavily featured on Kilbourne mixes. Christ, this track. This is the sort of track I heard partway through a mix and had to do a double take when it comes out of nowhere. Just listen to the melodic intro, this is the 1% of hardcore that is so fresh and invigorating. Uplifting and mesmerising and paired with beats that are bewildering and hard-hitting (do they run at 220 bpm.....or 440 bpm?!). Pure beauty and the beast vibes. I love it.
Terrorcore (for those poor uncultured oafs who don't know) is a harder faster version of gabber (and actually used to be called speedcore before that got even faster) and is often a bit purposeless and pointless for me, speed and hardness for their own self-referential purposes. This 13 minute epic, rolling at 250 bpm after an intro longer than most actual pop songs) is NOT, it's a flagship example of extreme dance music that is properly crafted, atmospheric, melodic and constantly evolving as well as furiously intense.
The Satan - Gangzta Cash
One of the anthems of the year thanks to PRSPCT records continued good taste and output, it's been featured in many of their mixes, and gets me grooving every time. In particular the organic wood-style breakbeats, a nice throwback to older gabber in which breaks were an important part of the flow energy. Throw in some bouncy bass, ravey stabs and a clear crisp production, and it's irresistible. As a bonus the artwork is brilliant.
Monolog - Hook Echo (End.user remix)
Another absolute gem that I first heard on a PRSPCT Quaranstream mix, from End.User himself. He applies his notorious breakcore skills to Monolog's dark EDM / DnB styles, and the result is fantastic. As soon as I heard it in the mix I knew I had to get it, and after a listen in the car I knew why I loved it so much - both the hugely expansive swirls of crystal clear sound, the wall of crisp breaks.....and the drop at 4:50, jesus fucking bass. Otherworldly sci-fi dnb masterpiece!
Dom & Roland - Beach Bum
Well this might be a bit of a cheat as not only it is a fairly tame track by the consistently excellent DnB legend who created such ferocious masterpieces as Imagination, Maximus, Jungle Beast, etc, the main reason I like it is for the pure mellow surf twang vibes of the intro. Okay so the rest is pretty gnarly with a "grizzly bear with indigestion" bassline and militant beats. But it's the combination with those guitar licks that gets me. Who says harder DnB can't be fun??
...And Oceans - Cosmic World Mother
I'm not really a black metal fan, and I'm pretty not sure I'm not a symphonic black metal fan, so these Finns have done something pretty damn amazing to make this my album of the year. I listened to a bit one evening, thought it was promising, then listened to half the album on headphones in bed, and was mesmerised. A couple more listens in the car confirmed it: this album is a hell of an experience with the intensity starting immediately at 00:00 and finishing at 47:30. It does evolve somewhat from the starting blitz to a beautiful finale, but the wall of sound built from machine gun blastbeats, frenetic yet catchy guitars and soaring keyboards is epic, relentless, and to me, thrilling.
Ingested - Where Only Gods May Tread
Kings of SLAMchester!! I don't usually feel much affiliation with the city in which I skulk, but I'm happy to be sharing it with these guys. They sometimes get called slam metal or deathcore, but fuck it, I'm calling them the most reliable modern death metal band around. The whole sound is spot on, fast, heavy, varied, crunchy riffs, melodic leads here, blasts there, bassy drops now and then. But for me the vocals stand out - yes of course they're shrieked and growled, but Jason not only has a broad enough range to make you believe there's 2 or 3 vocalists at work, the vocal pacing matches the music perfectly, much better than most other death metal I hear. Having that extra "harmony" of sound, vocals used as an instrument as well as a weapon, it's great.
Disentomb - Collapsing Skies
A short but perfect intro to their "Decaying Light" album (with it's general high quality death metal and great cover). I just love the epic riff at the start of this, heavy and haunting. Throw in some methodical blastbeats and extra lead melodies, and it's pretty much perfect. 2 minutes is not enough!
Konvent - Puritan Masochism
I've got an entirely predictable "thing" for women doing extreme music, I find it particularly enticing to hear brutal sounds created by the so-called "gentler sex" (is that even a thing any more? who knows, who cares). But of course the music has to stand in it's own right, and bloody hell does this track and album. Mid-paced doom-death built on riffs, riffs, and, well, you've got proper vocals from the abyss and a lovely guitar tone with fuzzy distortion like a gentle caress of barbed wire, but....riffs!! Catchy as absolute fuck. If you're not head-nodding immediately.....there is no hope.
*BONUS*:
Technical Itch - Creature Of War VIP
Okay I had to stick another DnB track in to balance things out, albeit an older one from a few years back. This is utterly ferocious and that's pretty much why I like it. It's still recognisably drum and bass with all the rhythm and complexity that entails, just turned up to a level of intensity that perfectly befits the name.
Finally. If you like any of this stuff, go to Bandcamp or similar, search for it, buy it and more. Support these guys and girls, they're putting the effort in to creating amazing sounds.
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