The Willowtip Files: Kalibas – Product of Hard Living

By Saunders

Pennsylvania-based independent label Willowtip Records was established by Jason Tipton in the late ’90s. From humble beginnings, the label has stood the test of time, becoming one of the most respected and highly regarded record labels in the extreme metal scene. It takes something special to create a label with a consistently unfuckwithable roster of quality, innovative artists while retaining long-term integrity and durability. Willowtip is the self-proclaimed forward-thinking label, releasing a slew of modern classics and top-shelf albums that may have a lower profile but are more than worth your while.

This feature focuses on a pivotal early period in the label’s history that had a huge impact on my own extreme metal tastes. As such, I am highlighting some outstanding albums released by Willowtip between 2001-2006. Some are lesser-known; however, I will argue are must-listen releases from the label’s early golden era. I will skip over a couple of particularly pivotal albums from the period more suited for Yer Metal Is Olde honors; otherwise, it’s open slather. Welcome to the Willowtip Files.

Off the back of an especially gnarly, high-quality year for death metal of experimental, dissonant, and abrasive varieties, what better time to venture back into the vault of The Willowtip Files? The subject of this latest edition is none other than now-defunct New York tech-deathgrind powerhouse Kalibas and their intelligent and violently unhinged debut LP, Product of Hard Living, released way back in 2002. Reflected in the inspirational timeline of this feature’s focus, these were productive early years in the label’s storied history. However, through the passage of time, certain underground gems can be overlooked and fall into obscurity, despite being inspired albums of the time. Particularly suited to listeners who got on board with the latest albums from the likes of Pyrrhon and Replicant, those who enjoy the grindier, techier, and dissonant styles of death metal may find something to dig here. Kalibas stood out as a unique force to be reckoned with.

Featuring a talented cast of metal musicians and ex-members of bands including Lethargy, As the World Burns, and Agiel, Kalibas had a short but potent career as underground anarchists armed with a belligerent, serrated collection of weaponry, where tech, grind, disso-death and hardcore collide in ugly, challenging yet deceptively infectious ways. The choppy, technical, and challenging music within the Kalibas experience retains cohesion through the controlled chaos. Although far from accessible, the raw, yet well-defined and punchy production, coupled with the band’s penchant for unleashing jagged, deceptively catchy riffs and curb-stomping grooves, graft a surprisingly catchy edge to the album’s sneakily addictive streak. Of course, the album is devoid of more conventional songwriting structures and traditional songcraft. However, regular exhibits of deranged, infectiously riffy madness on grind-driven delights like the wickedly unhinged “All of Japa,” or swaggering grooves and drop-on-a-dime time changes and dynamic shifts of closer “Reroute the Foul” to drag you back for more.

Elsewhere, opener “Smells Like Menopause” hits like a sledgehammer upside the skull, leveraging blasty pummels, grindy screams and propulsive rhythms, with knuckle-dragging grooves and sharp technicality. Product of Hard Living is a clever, intricate beast that adroitly interlocks its brainy, dynamic songwriting and harsher escapades with the right amount of down-and-dirty deathgrind nastiness. Careening through filth-riden and tactful shifts, from thrashy deathgrind salvos and brain-scrambling attacks (“Floating in Concrete,” “Take the Plunge”), to noisy, sludge-riden hardcore rumbles (‘Rundown”) and ample terrain covered between, it’s an album chock-full of unpredictable twists. Product of Hard Living just breaks the thirty-minute barrier, and like similar extreme albums of its ilk, forms a near-perfect runtime to digest the abrasive shards of extremity and unconventional songwriting approach. without completely overwhelming the senses.

Product of Hard Living twists, contorts, and hurtles forth in a myriad of strange and artistic directions within the harsh paradigms of the extreme metal lens. Undeniably brutal, Kalibas’ debut album remains an underrated jewel in the early Willowtip canon, skillfully integrating harsh dissonance, abrasive textures, aggro intensity, and bone rattling grooves into intelligently constructed arrangements, featuring a fiercely inventive, oddly infectious songwriting streak. A challenging, though deeply rewarding listen.

#Agiel #AmericanMetal #AsTheWorldBurns #DeathMetal #Deathgrind #Kalibas #Lethargy #ProductOfHardLiving #Pyrrhon #Replicant #Review #Reviews #TechMetal #TheWillowtipFiles #WillowtipRecords

The Willowtip Files: The Dying Light – The Killing Plan

By Saunders

Pennsylvanian-based independent label Willowtip Records was established by Jason Tipton in the late ’90s. From humble beginnings, the label has stood the test of time, becoming one of the most respected and highly regarded record labels in the extreme metal scene. It takes something special to create a label with a consistently unfuckwithable roster of quality, innovative artists while retaining long-term integrity and durability. Willowtip is the self-proclaimed forward-thinking label, releasing a slew of modern classics and top-shelf albums that may have a lower profile but are more than worth your while.

This feature focuses on a pivotal early period in the label’s history that had a huge impact on my own extreme metal tastes. As such, I am highlighting some outstanding albums released by Willowtip between 2001-2006. Some are lesser-known; however, I will argue are must-listen releases from the label’s early golden era. I will skip over a couple of particularly pivotal albums from the period more suited for Yer Metal Is Olde honors; otherwise, it’s open slather. Welcome to the Willowtip Files.

Despite their established pedigree, including a line-up of members that had served time in the likes of Dim Mak, Cattlepress, and cult heroes Ripping Corpse, the Willowtip debut, sophomore album, and final recording from New York’s The Dying Light was an underrated force in the Willowtip canon. Featuring an early production credit from Erik Rutan, The Killing Plan has held up exceptionally well in the intervening years since its original 2005 release. Sadly, it was the short-lived band’s swansong, but they went out with a bang, and The Killing Plan remains an underappreciated and unique entry into The Willowtip Files. So, what better time to shine a spotlight on this unheralded gem, to help garner the recognition it sorely deserves?

The Killing Plan falls under the death metal banner, however, remains a difficult album to pin down. Technical, without being pure tech death, it boasts a bruising, gritty edge, its deathly core livened by clinically precise thrash, blackened impulses, and progressive qualities. For all its muscle and substance, The Killing Plan is done and dusted under the half-hour mark, making for a compact, efficient, and consistently gripping outing. Scant length could ordinarily be an issue, yet the brevity and jam-packed-with-ideas album never leaves the listener feeling empty or unfulfilled. The territory The Dying Light cover remains impressive. Joe Capizzi and Brandon Diaz’s razor-sharp riffs and densely packed axework traverses varied, rugged terrain and diverse genre touchstones. Influence-wise, later-era Death, along with the slashing, thrashy death qualities of the affiliated Ripping Corpse, occasionally springs to mind, but The Dying Light’s unique identity stands out, especially regarding their deft splicing of death, tech, prog, thrash, and blackened elements.

Due to the album’s consistent songwriting standards, highlights are plentiful and tend to chop and change. An instantly memorable opener, the title track marks a bruising encounter for the uninitiated, harnessing a brutal mix of curb-stomping grooves, complex twists, vicious vocals and blazing bursts of speed. The Dying Light deal out snarling, gnashing thrash and an aggro temperament on tough, gritty songs like the vicious “Jaws of Dis,” and the taut, blackened assault of “The Bodiless.” However, it’s the way The Dying Light morph and blur the lines between thrash, death, and black throughout the album that greatly impresses. Progressive turns and an adventurous, techy edge bubbles underneath. An ominous acoustic build-up explodes into an icy gallop and blackened death bluster on “Freezing the Spirit”, as drummer Brandon Thomas’ (ex-Ripping Corpse) hyperactive percussion goes fucking haywire. Later album gem, “Haunting Recollections,” encompasses all those cool aforementioned elements of The Dying Light’s formula into a beastly instrumental jam.

Another aspect of note is the album’s killer atmosphere: cold, dark and calculated, but by no means devoid of deeper feeling or emotion, it boasts a bleak, dystopian vibe and nerve-rattling intensity that adds character to the final product. The production is by no means perfect, but it holds up remarkably well, and its breathable mastering job was in contrast to the brickwalling standards of the time period. Guitars are crunchy and well-defined, blackened snarls and deathly growls carve through the mix with authority, and Thomas’ excellent drumming performance is bolstered by the forceful tones of his thundering bass drums, complimented by snappy snare and bright cymbal tones. The Killing Plan may be a lower profile entry into The Willowtip Files, though remains a finely aged gem in the Willowtip repertoire, well worth seeking out.

Link to Check

#2005 #AmericanMetal #BlackenedDeath #BlogPost #Cattlepress #Death #DeathMetal #DimMak #RippingCorpse #TheDyingLight #TheKillingPlan #TheWillowtipFiles #ThrashMetal #WillowtipRecords