Devil's Horns Zine

  Realize-Two Human Minutes album as reviewed by Mark Jenkins. FFO: Energetic, grim industrial metal. Realize is a sick band that truly delivers Industrial Metal how it should be, free of bullshit and an unrelenting wall of crushing vox/bass and abrasive riffs. Two Human Minutes is their third release and it is staggeringly incredible. You certainly will adore this if you worship Godflesh, Fudge Tunnel etc. This is a terrific genre and the superlatives cannot run hard enough for this release. Realize's first demo/first Mini-album was intensely sick, and Machine Violence was wild but this sets everything on fire with napalm. Moody, dynamic and a gritty, yet antagonistic production aesthetic few get right. This crushing release is brooding, energetic and grim. And fuck me they get everything so right. And as a fellow industrial musician, I am well aware that is not easy to do. The 14 tracks don't overstay their welcome and everything fits well in a gnarly horroric soundtrack mann...

  VICIOUS INSTINCT-Demo review by Mark J. FFO: Violent, metallic hardcore beatdown, no mess, no fuss. Fuck yes, about fucking time that an Aussie band did beatdown hardcore proper, by that I mean the younger bands are energetic and full of beans; but it in Australia falls flat and generally sounds lame. And these bands come and go so quick, just a lovely trend for the fake arse lads to jump on. Xile from across the water in NZ get the vibe and has always done things perfectly. Now we have experienced heads joining the mighty 1054 Record family and this is seriously the best demo I have heard in years. At its very core is a metallic hardcore vibe stemming from Merauder, No Zodiac, Irate, God's Hate etc vibes, but very much in the Laid 2 Rest style pocket, also Moment of Truth, Bulldoze and Cold Hard Truth. So we are talking abrasive, acid-in-your-face vocals and riffs, aggressive song structure and all about hardcore brutal, face-kicking shit. This is so epic and hard AF.   (PI...

TVISB & Robbie Coburn-Womb EP review. FFO: intense Atmospheric Drone that goes deep. This writer first came across TVISB as an artist who offered to do a remix for my band, KNIFE. His work was amazing, and absolutely what a creative should do with a remix, redesign and twist it into the weird places we never envisioned. This new release is a collaboration and here is the dramatically accurate outline: Womb is a collaborative work of music and words by TVISB and Robbie Coburn. Robbie’s text, a poem in dramatic form, challenges the idea of self-identity and masculinity, while also exploring trauma, sex, violence, death and isolation. Dark, claustrophobic ambience surrounds the listener completely and provides an appropriate soundscape to the bleak and at times disturbing text. This is beautifully spot on and whilst drone is often hard work for the new listener, its beauty lies in the persistence and is far removed from the quick fix world we live in, and consume and listen/watch etc....

  Svalbard-The Weight of the Mask album review and interview By Mark J. FFO: Brilliant emotive, crushing and intense blackgaze/post-hardcore. Svalbard is a supreme force of a band and this fourth album and first on Nuclear Blast Records is a dark, atmospheric, haunting and cohesive extreme music masterpiece. Since 2011, this band from Bristol hasn't taken a step wrong and is a robust mix of the grim and the light; a mix of post-hardcore/metal, neo-crust and black metal. The dual vocals are very much in your face, sharp-as-hell songwriting combined with intelligent and super reflective lyrics that touch on personal and sociopolitical topics.  The mature band is obviously a super tight unit based on the never-ending vigorous riff assaults, a seismic rhythm section and a definitive sense of emotive balance across this album. The contrasts contained across the nine tracks are sublime and The Weight of the Mask succeeds where so many bands fail. Often bands that dip in or mix genre...

  Under the Influence(UTI)-Dragon Blood album review by Mark J. FFO: killer, classic hardcore with all the riffs, hooks and breakdowns you need. UTI is a hardcore/punk institution that it is hard to believe has been kicking for 25 years, that's wild. But the band is a brilliant case study of a heavy band progressing with each release, keeping at it and surpassing all expectations. Here's their bio: Under The Influence (UTI) was conceived at a Dapto high school in 1998, inspired by Dead Kennedys/Circle Jerks/AFI style street punk. 25 years later with hundreds of gigs, a bunch of EPs and 4 full-length albums under their belt, UTI have really honed their sound progressing to a heavy crossover of Punk, Hardcore and Metal. UTI has toured up and down the east coast of Australia playing gigs with international and Australian acts including Anti-Nowhere League, Bodyjar, Booze & Glory, Clowns, Frenzal Rhomb, Morning Glory, Strung Out, Strike Anywhere, Toe To Toe, The Bennies, The Ne...