NEW MUSIC FROM F*CKED UP, JULIE CHRISTMAS, GALLHAMMER, AND A FREE TECH-METAL COMP

Though Fucked Up, Made Out of Babies vocalist Julie Christmas and the annual free tech-metal comp Mecha Organa are completely unrelated in just about every way, they all concern heavy music and they’ve all got new tunes. So:

• Fucked Up play old-school hardcore punk more in the vein of Bad Religion, Husker Du and the Dead Kennedys than Madball, Terror or even Trap Them. They’ve been around since 2001, and though I’ve never paid them much attention despite the urging of many friends I’m now realizing the mistake I made. Don’t do what I did, so make sure you go and listen to their new album David Comes to Life which is streaming in full at NPR. I was skeptical when MS reader Steve Bergquist sent us an email urging us to check out the album, but I’m 5 songs in so far and I’m completely hooked. The vocalist’s gravely, slightly tonal bark reminds me of the Mighty Mighty Bosstone’s Dickey Barrett.
• Somehow we missed the boat when Coextinction Recordings released two new songs by Made Out of Babies singer Julie Christmas this past March. It’s only been a few months since Christmas released her solo debut The Bad Wife, but more Christmas more often is never a bad thing. Candiria Guitarist John LaMacchia, who also works with Christmas in Spylacopa, co-stars with her again here. Preview the track “He” above, and purchase it along with “Spread for Hiding” from Coextinction Recordings for just $2.99. It’s lamentably been almost three years since Made Out of Babies released The Ruiner, an MS staff favorite, but this release does a good job of tiding us over for now. [Thanks: David Scandura]
• Japanese female doom duo Gallhammer released their third studio album The End yesterday via Peaceville Records. Check out the entire thing over at Invisible Oranges. This sort of sloppily played, lo-fi doom is not for me, but presumably some of you will enjoy it.
• Our friends at The Apparatus have been putting together annual and sometimes semi-annual Mecha Organa technical metal compilations since 2009, all available to listeners at absolutely no cost. With their fifth comp, Mecha Organa stays true to its history of offering technical metal from across the entire heavy spectrum. If you think “weedily weedily” sweep-picking when you see the words “technical metal,” don’t; these comps are always varied, and include “Mathcore, Math Rock, Technical Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Post Grind, Avant Garde and everything in between.” In other words, if it’s got some degree of technicality, it’s eligible, and since almost all of the bands included on every edition are complete unknowns, it’s a great opportunity to discover new music. My pick from Volume V is Bay Area group Izeovasis, who I had the pleasure of seeing live last year. Download Volume V for free here.

-VN