Hummune is a contraction of the words human and immune, meaning immune to humans. Perhaps this British trio should have called themselves Trendmune as their retro post-hardcore is a galaxy removed from most other hardcore derived dross saturating the scene these days. The most obvious influence across these three tracks is Helmet, but here there elements of Prong, Neurosis as well as a healthy respect for doom and sludge.

Groove is king on these seething slabs of stripped down hardcore, which grab you from the first bar and mesmerise with their hypnotic swing. There are moments of aggression and melancholy, and enough complexity to keep you coming back for more.

I couldn’t be more pleased that there’s a band out there making music like this – it’s utterly refreshing. It’s particularly impressive given that Hummune only formed later last year and they already sound this mature. Also, don’t be fooled by the M.R.S label, this EP is self released and is all the better for it. All three tracks can be downloaded for free from their Myspace. This is already one of my favourite releases of the year, go check it out.

It may not be very metal to admit this, but I’ll pretend to be kvlt and not give a f*ck what you think – I go running several times a week. It’s a pastime that I actually quite enjoy. I do it as much for getting rid of anger and aggression as the calories I accrue from regular consumption of booze and lard, and for this reason heavy music is the perfect accompaniment to this solitary activity.

However, not any old heavy music will do for a good power jog. I listen to music while running for several reasons:

1. Distraction – it really helps me to forget about any pain or exhaustion and get into the meditative state
2. Noise – I find hearing my own breathing is a real reminder of the energy I’m expending which makes it feel more taxing
3. Passing the time – simply, it makes the time pass more quickly
4. Keeping rhythm and pace – it’s this I want to discuss in more detail

The music best suited for running needs to be a fairly constant, driving mid-tempo. This is because I tend to subconsciously match my pace to the beat of the music. Too slow and the effect is lost, and I generally find slows me down overall. Too fast and I risk tiring myself out too quickly, or simply not being able to match the pace. So Cathedral’s Forest Equilibrium is out, as is Slayer’s Angel of Death. Also, a very changeable tempo renders the overall effect useless. Subtle tempo shifts across longer tracks, or between tracks are very welcome (especially if you’re doing aerobic/anaerobic alternation), but spazzy stuff like Grindcore or the constant ebb and flow of Opeth is simply not up to the job, no matter how much I like it at any other time.

The other attribute I find helps immeasurably is aggression. Yes I could stick on a dance mix and achieve roughly the same effect with regards to tempo, but nothing beats balls to the wall angst to get you pounding the pavement.

What I’ve discovered is punk/hardcore is great for running to, as well as standard old school heavy metal and some hard/classic rock. Avoid anything drone or extremely down tempo and most doom, stoner, death, black.

Here’s my playlist for a 25 – 30 minute power jog. I start off slightly down tempo to get warmed up, and slowly wind up – this is how I like to structure my run (I find it easier to push myself at the end when the endorphins are flowing). The idea is to match your footfall to the tempo of the track.

The moderate start

High on Fire – Fury Whip

Ghost of a Thousand – Bright Lights

The mid-paced midsection

The Dillinger Escape Plan – Milk Lizard

Refused – Summerholidays vs Punk Routine

The sprint to the finish

Carcass – Heartwork

Black Sabbath – Neon Knights

(Disclaimer: I’m neither a fitness expert nor a personal trainer. I accept no responsibility for any damage you may do to yourself while using this playlist during recreational exercise. If you’re not an experienced runner, you should probably try and find other tracks of a similar tempo to tracks 1 and 2)

If anyone else has any recommendations of songs to run to then please let me know!

It’s perhaps suprising given my constantly developing taste for ever more complex and ponderous music that this album arrived into my life several weeks ago and was filed in the “too damn daunting for where my head is at currently” pile after a single listen. After a several week long odyssey into drone (Earth, Sunn O))), Boris) this suddenly didn’t seem so intimidating any more, so I gave it another whirl.

Apparently lumped into the post-hardcore bucket with the likes of *shels (who also don’t belong there) The Pax Cecilia wafts evanescent over the sorry arse of any dreary musical subgenre they damn well please. Labelling them anything containing the epithet ‘core’ seems painfully beside the point. These slow building arrangements melt effortlessly from from folk to caustic hardcore to sparse drone to proggish melodic interludes. Anyone sampling opening track The Tragedy would be forgiven for thinking that this isn’t even rock music. These lengthy tracks are peppered with baroque strings, soaring guitars and subtle melodic vocals which occasionally erupt into a harrowing scream.

The sheer array of ideas and undisguised talent on display here is astonishing. That this band have done little to bother the popular consciousness is both a testament to the bravery of this album and a self fulfilling prophecy – The Pax Cecilia may well have “too damn difficult for their own good” chiselled on their tombstone, something that wouldn’t be said for the aforementioned Enio Morriconeists *shels who have the potential to really break through.

This album is made to be loved and cherished and played alone on rainy days (perhaps on long train journeys like the one from which this article is being written). This is not a happy album, and not one that you will truly grok in few listens, but like all truly exceptional albums it’s worth the effort. What’s more astonishing is that an album of this quality is being given away free. Yes, you heard me right, if you want to grace your world with this work of loveliness then it can be downloaded in its entirety for free here. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

The vast majority of unsigned bands out there are either shit, superfluous, disposable or just copies of another band. Unfortunately, the race for a record deal is usually won by those bands sprouting in the better watered plots, and the rest of the seedlings will wither and die – such are the strains of being in band. So when I come across a band that’s really decent but is lurking in the shady, untended parts of the musical garden I immediately get a bit nervous – if someone doesn’t sign them soon, they may stop what their doing and get a proper job, which would be very bad.

New Zealand’s Photonic are one such band. Photonic is really one guy called Craig. His music has nothing to do with much of the other music out there today. Somehow he has crafted a set of tracks that is both forward leaning and backward looking. It’s also totally unclassifiable.

So where do we start with this brilliant, self-published, motley collection of vignette’s and vast-scapes he’s dubbed Recorded Contact? First and foremost, this is not metal, at least for the most part. There’s no predominant style here other than perhaps sparse, indignant hardcore reminiscent of Fugazi with post-rock tendencies drifting into Mogwai territory. However, the spirit of this collection is as much rooted into the petulant lo-fi of 90’s alt icons like Pavement and Guided by Voices, and the psych-pop-metal of Pixies.

Photonic’s songs veer between half-complete ADHD experiments and fully formed post-rock mini-epics. Vocals sprinkle this album almost at random, and styles change mid-song. On the first couple of listens (and I’d listened to most of these tracks on the band’s Myspace, like, 5 times, before buying the album) you really don’t know what’s coming next.

The production is stripped back to the point of being resolutely lo-fi, which constitutes a sizeable chunk of this album’s charm. It’s difficult to tell whether this sound is intentional or the result of having too little wonga to afford a decent recording. However, let’s keep our man Craig away from Pro-tools lest he be tempted – the production here is just perfect as it is.

Photonic are another one of those bands that mix a bunch of my favourite styles in magical ways, but what an unexpected mix this is. It’s impossible to know where to place this within the modern skewed-spectrum of *cores. Craig describes Photonic as “a rock metal power-chord psychedelic beats party” and appears unable or unwilling to classify the band himself – indeed there is no-one else out there is recording music like this, at least to my knowledge. Given this, anyone who signs Photonic will be gambling on a band that damn near impossible to market. This is the travesty of the music industry, where conformity is rewarded and individuality is ignored.

Shit, someone better sign Photonic, otherwise I’ll start a record label and I’ll do it myself!

In the meantime, I implore you, give Photonic some of your money and time (check out most of the album on their myspace here). This seedling needs watering, as the world will be a duller place without it.

You have to wonder whether the title of this much anticipated comeback EP is a reference to the backwards leaning tendencies contained herein. Like a little smorgasbord, these 4 tasty tid-bits are both familiar but also fresh.

Cayman’s Tongue lurches into the post-hardcore territory of Perfect Pitch Black while also referencing the space rock majesty of Jupiter. We then take a complete left turn into the pounding Retina See Rewind – a forceful yet melodic punk frenzy.

The Red Trail is pure ferocious hardcore of a kind becoming less common if these days of monotonous Deathcore and pretentious crabcore. This is new ground for the ephemeral Cave In, and is a style that suits them well, but we’re used to them pushing boundaries, which aren’t being pressured much here.

Finally Air Escapes is has a robotic pummel reminiscent of Queens of the Stone Age and provides the most melodic moment of the quartet.

What’s missing here are the yearning melodies of Cave In’s middle period. The is progression here but overall this seems like a band finding their feet again, and consequently doesn’t stand up against their best. Cave In need to decide who they’re going to be next; as a transition work this is an entertaining bask in former glories, but a glorious comeback it ain’t.

The EP is currently streaming in its entirety here.

(3.5)

A track by track breakdown of British post-[hardcore|metal|rock] act Fall of Efrafa’s third full length album would simply read ‘epic’ 7 times. The majority of tracks on this vegan opus clock in at between 10 and 17 minutes. This is the final instalment of Fall of Efrafa’s 3 albums that  re-imagine the story and themes of Watership Down in a quasi-political polemic – an effort that makes Coheed and Cambria’s Star Wars wet dream seem half hearted.

Inlé takes it time. There’s little room for subtlety here, but there are moments of wistful beauty interspersed with bludgeoning hardcore which elicits The Ocean and Neurosis. The vocals are a monotonous roar which occasionally breaks down to a Frank Carter-esque rasp while the guitars cast a doomy air across these rhythmically sparse soundscapes. Highlights are the doom-core of Wonderwort and the final track  The Warren of Snares which wraps up this series in spectacular style surging and and waining before culminating into a pummeling finalé.

Fall of Efrafa should perhaps be congratulated for being the only band in history to base their entire career on rabbits and their dedication is commendable. However, Inlé is perhaps too ponderous  for it’s own good – Efrafa may be labouring a point here, and they’re certainly labouring the music. I’ve no doubt that this album will blossom it’s purposeful beauty after repeated listens, but time is precious, and you have to wonder whether Efrafa are in any hurry to spread their message.

I’ve not heard the rest of their back catalogue so I can’t say whether this is a fitting end to the saga, however, it’s a diverting listen which is heartfelt and passionate. It can be downloaded in its entirity (as well as their other releases) here.

(3.5)