2021

Album Review: Feculent – “The Grotesque Arena” 8/10 (Death Metal)

Releasing on March 19, The Grotesque Arena is the debut album from Brisbane’s own Feculent, one of a number of fantastic bands to come recently out of Australia. This could almost be called a supergroup, if that term meant anything these days, as it features a whole slew of great musicians that you might know from other bands: Matthew Budge of Resin Tomb, Siberian Hell Sounds, and Consumed on vocals, Kaleb Doherty of thrashers Idle Ruin on guitar, Jim Dandy of Descent on bass, and master-of-all-trades Brendan Auld on drums. Auld is the mastermind behind grimy one-man project Snorlax, which put one of 2020’s most underrated death metal records, as well as a member of Resin Tomb, Siberian Hell Sounds, Consumed, and Necroseptic. He also does the production and mixing here for Feculent. Needless to say, this lineup is stacked, and boy does the music reflect that. […]

Brilliant Emperor Records

Interview: Brendan Auld (Snorlax, Descent & A Whole Lot More)

This week I got the chance to talk to one of Brisbane’s busiest but chillest musicians, Brendan Auld who is in a lot of great projects. He had a noticeable impact on the global underground with his recent release II by Snorlax but he is also a part of the awesome death/hardcore band Descent who are opening for Cattle Decapitation and Revocation in Brisbane on the 13th of Feb, Tickets Here. The following interview was transcribed from a phone call I had with Brendan and has been edited for presentation. It’s quite an insightful look into the motivations of the man behind Snorlax, a project that due to it’s dark sound and visual aesthetic along with the name, raised some eyebrows and perhaps even caused confusion. […]

2020 Albums

Album Review: Snorlax – II 8.5 (Black Metal)

Snorlax, besides the bubbly pokemon, is a not so bubbly blackened death solo project created by Brandon Auld, who is an Australian metal machine from my neck of the shit-woods Brisbane. He’s involved in numerous projects such as the death/hardcore band Descent and recording/Mixing as Black Blood Audio. Brandon also joined Siberian Hell Sounds and started Consumed in 2018, then started up Necroseptic and did a split as Snorlax in 2019. How do you know when you’re done? There’s a methodical nature to the creative process that ferments over years and almost always starts with a demo, from barebones to the whole damn skeleton, you can see the vision building. This is especially true with his solo project Snorlax which will confront you as harshly as any full band would dare. […]

2019 Albums

Album Review: Mental Cavity – Neuro Siege 8.6 (Death/Grind)

Do you like death metal? Do you like hardcore? The easy answer to both of these questions is fuck yes! And so you’ll quite enjoy this dark and gritty stomper of a release from Australia. We can’t make any kind of music without throwing a thick layer of sludge on it and that makes me really bloody happy. It’s the cheese of music, you can put it on almost anything. Considering there’s already the presence of hardcore and death metal stylings, this album is basically like locking a bunch of random neighbourhood dogs in a room that’s just got a grimed up tarp on the floor. […]

2019 Albums

Microdose: Ploughshare – Tellurian Insurgency (Sludge/Black)

Well that was unsettling. Ploughshare play a fucked kind of black/death/sludge metal that will make you feel physically unsafe even in the comfort of your own home. Tellurian Insurgency is their brand new EP through Aussie label Brilliant Emperor and it releases on the 29th of November. Not an album for the easily scared, if this is you, then turn your radio back on and continue listening to Kyle and Jackie-O, you clicked the wrong social media link. Happens to the best of us. […]