I believe "Stained With the Blood of an Empire" (Init Records) is the debut release from Battlefields, and it certainly gets me curious as to where this band is going to go. Be not misled by the appearance of only four tracks, as each song tops seven minutes and the total running time of the disc nears 35 minutes. Opening with shimmery clean guitars and abstract ambient hums over sparse percussive rolls before drying out a bit and becoming more riff-oriented, everything finally builds up to distortion and a dual vocal attack of fierce midrange sneers and lower "growls" (for lack of a better word) some five minutes in – reverting back to eerily reverberated clean guitars and distant hums less than a minute later (this time with vocals, however). That pretty much sets the stage for the type of ever-shifting dynamics that make up this listening experience as a whole, from bright smatterings of those "post-rock" textures and stripped down clean passages to surging power chord rhythms and even the occasional surfacing of borderline sludgy, Sabbath-esque "doom". I love the atmosphere of the music, especially some of the darker clean passages (which actually tend to dominate several of the compositions), which are not only the most striking elements, but also work the best with the spacious and natural warmth of the recording. It's sort of weird, because certain aspects of the recording are fuckin' great, but the distorted guitars could definitely use a little more oomph in terms of filling out the mix and adding contrast – though it's possible that with all the back-and-forth they intentionally tried to keep the distorted passages from being overpowering, I'm not sure. The bass could use a hint more prominence as well, though, because it certainly doesn't jump out at you, and there's plenty of room in the heart of the mix for that additional low-end throb. But aside from those minor nuances, this is a nice little release. A damn solid start, and most likely the best is still to come…

Battlefields "Intimations of Antiquity"

Make the grab if you like what you hear:

@ Init Records
@ RevHQ

Also new from Init Records is "Freak Out Squares", the debut full-length from Building Better Bombs, which taught me – yet again – that you really can't judge a book (or a CD) by its cover. Having never heard of this band before, the outer artwork of the digipack gave me the distinct impression that I would probably not enjoy this album very much. Well… oops… 'cause this is actually pretty god damn good! 13 tracks, about 28 minutes, and loads of super energetic and, well… surprisingly original material that tears through all kinds of hardcore/punk influences with an indie twist. There are some straight up old school-ish three chord hardcore runs; lightly melodic, rocked out power chords; noisier surges of lightly chaotic textures; a little ringing post-hardcore dissonance; and an absolute ton of other little bits and pieces strewn about throughout (including some totally raging basslines). Hell, there are even a few scattered little hip-hop sounding fits of glitchy beats and shit!? And the vocals, while largely dominated by lightly distorted yelling/shouting/screaming, also hit on a few shockingly catchy moments (as well as some truly effective bursts of near-singing), so… yeah, fuck it, this is some good shit right here. That's all there is to it. Hey, the artwork may not be my thing (though the inner spread of the 12-panel booklet that's covered in handwritten song titles, lyrics, and other insanity looks awesome), but what can I say? This is actually a killer record. Never saw it coming. I'm impressed. Bonus points for having a song titled "Kid Tested, Motherfuckin' Approved", too!

Building Better Bombs "Bottle Rocket"
Building Better Bombs "No Handouts"

Definitely recommended, so pick one up if the samples intrigue you:

@ Init Records