RAW BANGER: Heavy User - Demo

This past winter I was lucky enough to catch Heavy User's first show. As the initial notes of their set rang out, a basement packed with degenerates* went wild. While some bands may fumble their inaugural performance, Heavy User commanded the room with ease. One young punk in attendance worked themselves up into such a frenzy they over-exerted themselves into a regurgitative spell.

Heavy User's demo is out now! It's a pummeling deceleration about being fed-up. Equal parts retaliative and antagonistic, this demo is the perfect soundtrack for putting jocks and creeps in their place. Driving d-beat rhythms lay the foundation for pissed guitar riffs and searing vocals. Grab a copy while you can.

HEAVY USER. Glen Iris Laundry. Birmingham, Alabama. March 20, 2016. https://heavy-user.bandcamp.com/album... http://fourteen76.com/

*We here at DIY Birmingham self-identify as degenerates. We use the word in a loving tone.

NEW RAGER: Fad - Demo 2016

Just in time for their Summer tour (dates are listed below), Fad has dropped a 2016 demo. It's been two years since their last recorded offering so we're quite happy to have something to listen at home after countless killer shows in Birmingham over the past few seasons. Their most recent demo finds Fad delving further into angsty punk-rock that's snotty and unapologetic. Moody keyboards weigh-out alongside ripping guitar riffs and a furious rhythm section. Get with it.

GLOOMY VIDEO: Black Hole Kids live @ Saturn

Wandering Burden is from the album Easy Masks - blackholekids.bandcamp.com/album/easy-masks Video by Jaysen Michael on April 15, 2016. Other performers on the night in question were Man or Astro-Man? Fad - fadisfab.bandcamp.com All People - allpeople.bandcamp.com

On April 15 Black Hole Kids performed at Saturn with Man or Astro-Man?, Fad and All People. Video by Jaysen Michael.

NEW MUSIC From The Dearly Departed

Part of my pride as a Birmingham native stems from the lush output of fantastic locally based music. Friends and I have often joked that if Birmingham had a better geographic location so many of the bands here would blow up. That quip may hit closer to home than I’d like; but the truth is I see too many acts that don’t make it out of the deep-south before they dissolve.

Holiness Church of The Valley

Holiness Church of The Valley

Grandaddy Ghostlegs and Holiness Church of The Valley are two groups I would have loved to seen more out of. Despite both having logged some time on the road out of state neither got the recognition they deserved.

Interestingly, both bands released posthumous material this past week. Both offerings are fantastic, which makes it all the more somber that the music in focus is from defunct groups.

Holiness Church of The Valley’s Joy Relents, Reality Demands is a total ripper. These songs are stark and uncompromising. If dirges had blast beats, this is what it would sound like. Plastering vocals linger over dark melodies reminding you that pain is real and unavoidable.

On the flipside GGEP from Grandaddy Ghostlegs bring less bleak compositions to the table. While there are some bits of melancholy woven through Ghostlegs’ repertoire it almost seems playful at times. The music is dense, catchy and undeniable.  Thick-ass riffs give way to scorcher licks backed up by a water tight rhythm section. Listen to this shit and raise hell.

As much as we want to though, we can’t linger in the past. We must look to the future. Members of Holiness Church of The Valley and Grandaddy Ghostlegs are currently playing in Bulging, nnAnn, and Null. I wait eagerly to see what they ante up.

Grandaddy Ghostlegs

Grandaddy Ghostlegs