Aural Devastation, August 2013: Russian Circles, Touche Amore, Modern Life is War

AURAL DEVASTATION is a regular column about heavy rock music. This month, Russian Circles teases with a new song from a new album, Dead In the Dirt introduces themselves to the world with a fury, plus new songs from Weekend Nachos, Touché Amoré and Modern Life Is War.

+++ FULL POST + AURAL DEVASTATION COLUMNS + ALL MUSIC COLUMNS

Russian Circles – “Deficit”

Let’s be honest here; if you are reading this column you are well aware of the destructive bliss that is the Chicago based trio Russian Circles. The band has consistently improved with each album they release, and lucky us, because their new album Memorial hits the streets on October 2,9 courtesy of Sargent House. “Deficit” is both ends of Russian Circles jammed into one song. It starts out as big and wide open as the night sky over the African savanna before shifting into a rampaging slaughter of the Serengeti halfway through. As Russian Circles generally does, the song punches and it punches hard — for quite a while.

Modern Life Is War – “Fever Hunting”

Like all good bands nowadays, Modern Life Is War‘s hiatus was luckily a short-lived one for the hardcore community. The quintet originally hailed from Marshalltown, Iowa and pretty much slayed the nation for six years, churning out three albums in the process. Now, after a six-year break, Fever Hunting hits eardrums on September 3, thanks again to Deathwish Inc.. Modern Life Is War’s desperate take on hardcore hasn’t changed. If anything, it has gotten smarter, more concise and more emotionally packed.

Dead In the Dirt – “No Chain”

Oof. Sometimes that is the only way to describe most grind bands. The debut of Dead in the Dirt, out now on Southern Lord Records, is 24 minutes of straight oofs. Savagely chopped up throughout 22 songs, The Bind Hole is a very strong introduction to a band that already shows more fine-tuned grind chops than half the bands still trying to create that chaotic sound. Like all good grind acts, Dead In the Dirt is just three members creating the noise that seemingly takes ten to create. Stream the entire record on Bandcamp.

<a href="http://deadinthedirtsl.bandcamp.com/album/the-blind-hole">The Blind Hole by Dead In The Dirt</a>

Weekend Nachos

There are bands with irreverent names, and then there is Weekend Nachos. Don’t let the slightly juvenile, nonsensical name fool you; Weekend Nachos are harder than the hardest come. Courtesy of Relapse Records, the band has a new album coming out entitled Still — but that isn’t hitting the streets until November 8. So instead of doing what other bands do, releasing album artwork, tracklisting, etc etc etc, Weekend Nachos have thrown out two of their songs to stream. They are as angry as a starving wolverine with the punch of Mike Tyson. Dance the summer away.

Touché Amoré – “DNA”

Earlier in August, Touché Amoré played their new album Is Survived By in its entirety to support the Bridgetown DIY space in La Puente, California. A well-filmed video hit YouTube soon after, and its polished look goes along well with the polished sound of the young band. Is Survived By hits stores on September 24 courtesy of <href=”/tag/deathwish-inc”>Deathwish Inc., and if I was a betting man — I would say this is the album that makes Touché Amoré as close to a household name as post-hardcore bands can get.