this fucking sucks and i love it
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i stole 1 iq point from everyone on earth and now my head is big and swollen and brainy and now i can play 100 games of chess at once and nothing else
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the great redneck hope @ the meeting house
i love these guys so much, if that wasn’t obvious by the username. i love this era of mathcore or sasscore or whatever you want to call it haha
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The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis
This might seem like a totally random question, but have you ever heard an album that you struggled to get into at one point, only to go back to it years later and really enjoy it, because you either enjoyed the band / artist more, or you got into their genre more? That’s happened to me with a few bands and albums from back in the late 00s and early 2010s. One album that comes to mind is 2010’s Option Paralysis by mathcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan. I remember first hearing them on an Alternative Press compilation in 2007, and Ire Works hadn’t come out yet, so the compilation had a song from 2004’s Miss Machine, but it kind of blew my mind. I hadn’t heard of mathcore yet, and the song that I heard was chaotic, intense, and weird (it was “Panasonic Youth,” for anyone wondering).
I’ve talked about in many other reviews that I only relied on what stores had when I was younger, so if a store didn’t have it, I didn’t get it. It took me a few years to get into them, because I picked up Option Paralysis when it dropped. It was one of those albums that I’ve struggled to get into over the years, because just listening to opening track, “Farewell, Mona Lisa,” you’ll hear how chaotic and strange the album is. I’d argue and say that was my first mathcore album, along with The Number Twelve Looks Like You’s 2009 album, Worse Than Alone (that’s another album that I’ve struggled to get into, but I enjoy it a lot now). Option Paralysis is still a really odd album, and my favorite Dillinger album is easily 2004’s Miss Machine, but I look back fondly at this album, mainly for the bit of nostalgia that I have for it.
In retrospect, there is a lot to like on this album, and a lot that could have potentially gotten me more into this album. There is a surprisingly large amount of clean vocals here, but the thing with mathcore is that there aren’t usually super accessible or straightforward song structures. Even now, I’m really into the heavier moments throughout this album, but when vocalist Greg Puciato starts singing, I’m slightly taken out of the album. He isn’t a bad singer, but his vocals don’t have much range, and a lot of the cleaner moments sound the same. I’m just waiting for something heavier to come back, and I hate to say that, because I’m not one of those “heavy music is the only good kind of music” type of fans, but the cleaner passages feel as though they’re supposed to be there, not because they need to be.
I usually end my reviews on trying to talk about who an album is for, because even if I don’t care for something, I still want to talk about who it could be for. Someone has to like it, right? I still enjoy this, but I’m not going back to this as much as I’d like to. I think longtime fans would like this one, and if you somehow can’t get to Miss Machine as an introduction, this album works, too. It’s a bit too uneven, and there are some strange moments that pop up, but it’s got that classic Dillinger sound, especially when the album gets unrelentingly heavy. Puciato is still a great vocalist, and guitarist / songwriter Ben Weinman is a very creative guy, all things considered. I may not go back to this album constantly, but I still like it. It does feel a little long by the end, but the album is a wild ride, so I still have a fun time with it. I may not go back to it all the time, but when I do, I enjoy it.
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“and i cannot stop shaking…because you can’t stop shaking,
and these chords they are trembling….because your words are bleeding….
and these holes in my hands are for you,
just for you.”
.
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ed gein live set idk where i got it from sorry guys, crunchy video but good audio!
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the best rekkids of 2025
Well … . ugh, I don’t even know what the fuck to say.
There’s a reason my bands new album is called “the irredeemable age”. eh? That year was fucking bullshit.
as usual.
well, that was a given, right? 2026 is already beyond redemption, and that was a given, right? (black people told you it would be like this)
anyway, 2025 was a year of growers, so it actually did in fact take very long (also, I am falling into a depression where nothing is exciting again).
before I drop the main list, here is everything else I liked in 2025
Hooded Menace - Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration
Hateful Abandon - Threat
LABYRINTHINE HEIRS - Labyrinthine Heirs
Chepang - Jhyappa
Fange - Purulences
Proscription - Desolate Divine
Devouring Famine - A Man Whispering with the Dead
Innumerable Forms - Pain Effulgence
Smearing - Acts Of Service
Crossed - Realismo ausente
Sorry… - Fragile
Scalp - NOT WORTHY OF HUMAN COMPASSION
Theatre’s Kiss - Desolat / In the Depths of Despair
Mclusky - the world is still here and so are we
Stress Palace - Paradise
Compulsed - Amalgamated Anguish
Iron Lung - Adapting // Crawling
Tombs - Feral Darkness
Kontusion - Insatiable Lust For Death
Rancid Cadaver - Mortality Denied
OROMET - The Sinking Isle
Bleeth - Marionette
Cemento - Bad Dream Songs
Rwake - The Return of Magik
Sulfuric Cautery - CONSUMMATE EXTIRPATION
Discordant Meditation - Tragic Creature
Deliquesce - Saviour / Enslaver
Street Sects - Dry Drunk
The Ominous Circle - Cloven Tongues of Fire
Westside Gunn - Heels Have Eyes 3
Open Mike Eagle - Neighborhood Gods Unlimited
The Armed - the Future is Here and Everything Must Be Destroyed
Armand Hammer & The Alchemist - Mercy
Lebanon Hanover - Asylum Lullabies
Chat Pile - In the Earth Again
Lord Snow - Have You Heard of the High Elves
Nuvolascura - How This All Ends
Soulfly - Chama
BoriRock - Infinite Wave
Ransom & Conductor Williams - The Uncomfortable Truth
FEEL WORSE - This Will Weigh Heavily On Your Annual Performance Appraisal
Cronos Compulsion - Lawgiver
Projector Fires - Projector Fires
Carthage must be destroyed - Ex Nihilo
SICK DESTROYER - Sick Destroyer
Cataphiles - Shadow Self
shedfromthebody - Everything Out There Has Teeth
Westside Gunn - 12
Bore - Feral
Kaothanasy - Metagonism
Lifegaurd - Ripped and Torn
De La Soul - Cabin in the Sky
Mercy Ties - Reflections and Criticisms
Home Front - Watch It Die
Clipse - Let God Sort ‘em Out
Conway the Machine - You Can’t Kill God With Bullets
Zeicrydeus - La Grande Heresie
Sallow Moth - Mossbane Lantern (which, full disclosure, I have a guest spot on)
Skinhead - “It’s a beautiful day, what a beautiful day”
you see how much hip hop is in there?
Guys, when people said that battle in 2024 (you now the one. where the rapper I was iffy on but thought he had a couple cool tracks basically dissected the trash rapper I knew was trash from day fucking one in front of the whole world?) was the start of something big, I thought maybe they were exaggerating … but then we got some of the best mainstream hip hop albums in years. Is the radio playing Clipse? well okay, I know which songs they probably play (ie; all the ones I skip)
anyway, here go the EPs. I only had 15.
now, the albums of the year.
remember I said 2024 was doom year? maybe 2025 was too. It kind of wasn’t post punk year, or brutal death metal year, but hey… . mathcore title was taken early into the year by the comeback of the year. You already know who the comeback of the year is.
let’s start.
39. Ainsoph - affection and vengence
37. Natures Mortes - Blind Submission
36. ByoNoiseGenerator - Subnormal Dives
34. Imperial Triumphant - Goldstar
33. Intercourse - How I Fell In Love With the Void
31. Gloombound - Dreaming Delusion
30. Wreck and Reference - Stay Calm
28. Yellow Eyes - Confusion Gate
27. Blood Monolith - the Calling of Fire
26. Evoken - Mendacium
I finally get this band now. I don’t remember what I heard that year they opened for Wormrot, but I didn’t like it as much as I like this. Perfect combo of dISEMBOWELMENT and …name a doom band that has a lot of synths.
20. Author & Punisher - Nocturnal Birding
19. Ethereal Wound - Defile | Demise
There’s another band that allegedly sings about Berzerk. I think this is the better band that sings about Berzerk . . by a large margin.
(now someone start a band that sings about Gundam that isn’t deathcore)
18. Scorpion Milk - Slime of the Times
17. Boldy James & Nicholas Craven - Criminally Attached
16. Veilburner - Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy
14. Deterioration - Prepare For the Worst
13. billy woods - GOLLIWOG
this man barged into my top three rappers in one damn year. If I would have heard Church when it came out, it probably would have made that list. This one, the horror themes just keep bringing me back to it.
12. Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services
I was not happy at 17-18 when I found out from the WVKR dj that this band had broken up only month after discovering them (and then he put on Converge, and I was happy again). So, go fig in the worst year of our lives so far, Deadguy return with an album that sounds like 2.0 (and I’m a 2.0 guy. I might be the only 2.0 guy on earth.) never happened.
11. Terror Corpse - Ash Eclipses Flesh
10. Nyre Dolk - Barndommens Hjem
This would be filed under the “things you might hear on Radio Fenriz, if that show still existed”. This album went on the “driving to a show” playlist.
09. Type: Armor Unit - Revolutions in Saecula
You might remember I talked about this album. I said it was “the first great grind release of the year”. It certainly held up, even with …well.…you’ll see what happened. Everything I said in that post still stands.
08. Earl Sweatshirt - Live Laugh Love
My big 3 is Earl, Boldy James and billy woods at the moment. and as you have seen, they ALL appeared in this list. I wondered if I would even be that into this because you know “he’s not depressed anymore”. It doesn’t matter.
07. Primitive Man - Observance
Primitive Man also represent the mood of the time. I don’t know wht all the funeral doom in particular was hitting for me this year. Why could that be? This was definitely my favorite doom release of the year.
06. Fed Ash - Rotting Exuberence
They had been on a run of split releases since 2020. I had no idea this was coming. It’s my favorite thing they’ve done.
05. Pissgrave - Malignant Worthlessness
it’s their final album (allegedly), and it’s their best album. Go fig.
so, like, Type: Armor Unit came out in January delivering everything that people that miss Gridlink needed, and then during the summer we found out that the final Gridlink lineup had basically continued under a new name with Mitch “Maruta” Mitch. Ended up a pretty good grindcore year.
03. Floating - Hesitating Lights
This was in the fight for top spot a long time. The waves have teeth really caught my attention, and I new this was a band to watch. The death metal/post punk combo is perfected further here, with unexpected ragers like “grave dog” (should have been the opening track, which is one of the best songs of 2025) that bore their way inside your head and never leave.
02. Strigiform - Agonite
This barged in in November, to take the dissodeath 2025 title.
01. Kostnatění - Přílišnost (Excess)
By the end of the year, you had about 5 records in a casino battle royale for this spot. It was tough, but this thing was just climbing the list. Kind of a dark horse, really. I like Upal just fine, but I didn’t listen to it anywhere near as much as this. Who else did this much in just a little more than a half hour? It goes so many places, and never overstays it’s welcome in any one place (there’s even a Soulfly type song in here, bro. Ya know what? leave the nu metal revival to people that play death/black metal. between this guy and Garry Gonemage, it’s clear who needs to handle this.). It is never dull. It figures, this was another November drop. In a year of growers, this was one of the quickest.
um….
Yeah, I’m done.
Be safe, and junk.
The month has been a little slow (outside of new underground hip hop anyway), but some bands have announced including Converge (in like 2 weeks?) and dir en grey (who will be clowned and suspected of using AI for the rest of their career sadly…but oh well, gen x creatives, right? goth kids know what I’m talking about.)
peace
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1.22.26: Errorzone - Vein
released: june 22, 2018
genre: metalcore, mathcore, nu metal, alternative metal
favorite tracks:
- Virus://Vibrance
- Broken Glass Complexion
- Demise Automation
- Doomtech
thoughts:
HOLY SHIT!!!! unique and fiery. listened to this while doing my homework and i kept getting distracted by the music. had to just stop, sit with my hands in my lap, and just listen. real good.
(also, didn’t realize that some of the guys from this band are in fleshwater. the more you know!)