music Home > Record Reviews

As in most music genres in 2010, the finer bands in heavy music aren't providing many proper surfaces on which to stick labels. Punk isn't just punk; hardcore isn't just hardcore; black/death/sludge-metal isn't just black/death/sludge-metal. News at 11, sure, but it makes for a good starting point with local four-piece Surroundings, spewing out sludgy drug-punk/hardcore for bloody noses, raw shins, and that ear ringing that just won't fucking stop. This one, off their forthcoming debut LP, enters in a brief, creeped-out soundscape of electronic whipping before punching through a few layers of pure screaming hardcore hell-cum-DIY laryngectomy.

E-mail Michael Byrne