Devil's Horns Zine

  Ministry-Moral Hygiene album review. FFO: well Ministry let's be honest. Ministry is an incredible band that for many of us was a strong highlight for the end of the '80s and the start of the '90s. They ruled live and their tracks floored the dancefloor in many alternative clubs I was a huge fan of. Whilst they have had a dip in album quality for the last seven albums, this album is certainly a return to form. Whilst some trimming of some songs would have made this a more robust album, it is solid enough to please most fans and seems like many tracks would slot perfectly between set faves. Alert Level, Sabotage is Sex (with the mighty Jello), Disinformation and Tv Song#6 is prime time Ministry with scintillating beats, industrial tone and samples, all with sharp sociopolitical wit. That is the most easily likeable part of the album and then you have less tempo obsessed tracks like Good Trouble, Death Toll and We Shall Resist that definitely build with each listen. The...

  Scarfold-We Shall Suffer album review. FFO: Old school, chunky Hardcore-This is killer!! What can I say, this is an energy-filled release of straight-up hardcore with huge riffs, groove and power. There is no wasting of your time-just simple, angry hardcore glory. From the first track, you feel you are in the pit with this band. Scarfold has been raging since 2015 and this fourth album seems to be the finest collection of all their skills honed so perfectly. We Shall Suffer is a huge release, it rips from the perfect opener Open Seizure that floors you with an earthquake of a riff backed up by abrasive vocals and killer bass and drums. Massive start to a killer album. Rotting Earth follows thru with the same no bs hardcore confidence that is executed on every track with sublime songwriting and destructively punchy production. Born Decayed slays as strongly but with even greater tempo and a real sense of suffocating tempo and as a bonus has one of hardcore's best vocals via...

  Mastiff-Leave Me the Ashes of the Earth album review. FFO: Nasty, Gritty extreme Metal/Hardcore.  Mastiff is a frankly stunning extreme metal band from Hull, U.K. that luckily a metal twitter comrade told me about. They epitomise what is IMHO the best resurgence of grim metal from that region of the world. The number of bands coming out with ridiculously top class releases is endless and it has a grimly appealing tone. This album is one of my fave extreme metal releases of the last ten years.  It is self-proclaimed miserable music that really reflects the current state of the globe in so many ways. At its foundation is a dark post-hardcore base that mixes sludge/grind/death metal, but the sound is also unique to this band. The riffs are massive, the vocals are harsh and the storytelling is perfect. The album starts with a distorted almost industrial build-up(the industrial feel is evident across many tracks) with the best opening track I have heard in some time with The...

  Seum-Live from the Seum​-​Cave album review. FFO: Dirty and groovy raw sludge/doom glory. We love this band immensely and raise our glasses to all of their fantastic releases. This lovingly dropped very recently as a thank you to their fans, this is a gnarly live set that features from both their killer first EP Summer of Seum to their album this year, the dirty masterpiece that is Winterized .  Now live albums tend to divide fans, but this like all masterfully captured live albums makes you feel you are at the gig and breathing in all the beer, smoke and distortion. The song selection is so spot on and a shrewd mix of their killer first EP and the latest album. Everything works well because it's as dirty and gritty as all their releases-but louder and more forceful. As with everything this band drops, it is utterly about distorted atmosphere and groove. It drips in gloomy doom and sludge but is quite punky and raw. This album is great for long drives, the gym or pretty much...

  Carcass-Torn Arteries album review. FFO: Goregrind, Death Metal, amazing riffs and brutally melodic riffs!. Carcass is an utter powerhouse of extreme metal through their early classic albums and of course the magnificent Surgical Steel. And this album takes all the elements this band are so masterful in and it's a showcase of how amazing this band is. Every track revels in riff worship and whilst I am quite obsessed about albums being dynamic, having decent tempo or tempo change and mood, this pleased me so much as a listener to see every one of these boxes ticked off. There is literally no negatives about this album that has just dropped. It has all the essence of what makes this band so essential but adds some elements that make this album significantly catchy and dare I say it, more fun. This element is really evident because whilst Bill Steer is and has always been the main foundation of this band, he definitely adds some definite blues stylings to his endless bucket of guita...

  Neil Bloem-Dying Earth EP. FFO: Dark, ambient soundscapes. This is definitely a different release for Aussie hardcore label Life Lair Regret Records. But in an absolutely great way and kudos to them for releasing this absolute ambient masterpiece. This is six solid tracks of music recorded during this wizard's (he is a very skilled musician and photographer) camping and hiking escapades in Tasmania and by utilising natural sounds from this journey. It is reflective, dark yet exceptionally relaxing in a moody and gloomy ambient style. There is a real essence of embracing the landscape and using it to reflect the way man has destroyed many parts of the natural world. It is sombre and mournful, but that is the purpose to this listener. Refreshingly I found this to be a calm and quite meditative set of tracks. This release is not defined by a genre, it may be slightly tribal in both indigenous and raw forms of musical structure/form, but it is very atmospheric and solemn. The album e...