First up here is Fuck the Facts. More ripping death/thrash from this ever changing Canadian band, cranking out three relatively quick tracks. After a solid instrumental called "Secret Asian", "Another Living Night" tosses in a couple of subtle melodic Swedish death metal influences, while "No One Remembered Who Started" is much chunkier and flirts with a little bit more of a discordant metalcore vibe in some ways. The recording is unbalanced since the shrieking vocal screams are entirely too loud and the drums can sound clicky and dominant, but the riffs are fucking awesome and I really dig the energy of the songwriting. They need to give the bass more definition and clean up the guitars so that they run the show as opposed to the vocals and drums, but as players and writers these guys are definitely progressing nicely. The only thing I actively dislike about these three tracks is the vocals, which definitely fall on the irritating side and distract from the music. Were they able to even out the mix that might not be as much of an issue though, as I don't think I've ever been bothered in the past. Subcut (Brazil) follows with six tracks of fast and pissed grinding hardcore/punk with indecipherably barked vocal shouts as well as sneering screams. Their recording is sort of thin and lightweight, but were it heavier a lot of the grindcore influences they're drawing on musically would be a little more evident, so it might be cool for them to try a slightly heavier guitar tone in the future to add a little more ferocity to their work. There's not much variety to their approach, so expect plenty of speed with very few breathers, and short songs that come and go right quick. The record is pressed on clear red vinyl and comes in a standard black and white sleeve devoting half of the packaging to each band. Only Subcut includes lyrics (in Portuguese, but they seem to deal with socio-political topics), and I'm not really that into the design here as it just looks kind of bland and doesn't draw you in at all. That's no big deal, though. In the end this one's a little rough around the edges to totally win me over, but both bands have a solid foundation to work with.
[Bucho]
Running time - 10:00 (approximately), Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Another Living Night, Em Nome De Deus, Nutrindoo Esperan?a]
Bucho Discos - http://www.buchodiscos.kit.net
