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Download/debut: Handshake Inc. & Alternative Tentacles Sampler

DOWNLOAD HERE

Our 6(66) Days of IO Christmas have come to a conclusion, but we have one final holiday surprise for you folks to enjoy: a free compilation of music from Handshake Inc., Alternative Tentacles, and Mutants of the Monster. Some of these songs come from 2013 releases, but several of them are making their debut here.

The big catch here is the new song by grind powerhouse Gridlink, whose final LP will come out via Handshake Inc. in 2014. This song is our first look at the album, and it augurs well. Gridlink have always been unusually focused on melody and catchiness by grind standards, and “Ketsui” hammers its compressed hooks into your head almost instantly. The sleeper hit for me came courtesy of Greece’s Dephosphorus, whose name I’ve heard but whom I haven’t checked out until now. They’re way the hell up my alley, though — stomping hardcore collides with churny Gorguts dissonance halfway through its runtime. I anticipate their new LP with great interest.

The comp also features previously unreleased songs by Handshake grind artists Inhabitants and Diseased Reason, plus older tunes from Wake and Total Fucking Destruction. (There’s also an audio excerpt from an interview with Jim Morris of Morrisound Studios from Misery Index frontman Jason Netherton’s upcoming book on underground death metal history.) The Alternative Tentacles side includes decidedly less metal new tunes by Peace Creep & Ani Kyd, plus an older song by Ultra Bidé. The MotM material is all 2013 favorites — Jucifer, Terminus, Mainland Divide, Sumokem, The Sun Through the Telescope (reviewed here), and a live Rwake cut from their excellent concert film.

Download the comp here if you haven’t, and get ready to annoy your relatives. Enjoy, and don’t forget to tune into our East Village Radio show tonight at 10pm EST for Scab Casserole’s Xmas special.

— Doug Moore

Handshake Inc. main man David Hall, whom you may remember from his colorful coverage of the Housecore Horror Film Fest, asked that I include the following message with the comp. It includes release info for all of the upcoming Handshake and Mutants releases as well.

As the year comes to a close it’s easy to get lost in year-end list mania and what’s-coming-next hysteria. The fact of the matter is, in my opinion anyway, the underground scene – music, art, film, publishing – has never been stronger, and so, in some corny way, we – fans of good shit – are all winners this 2013. Every breath is a victory, right? Well whatever. Here, for all to enjoy – or ignore – is a compilation of songs from various releases by the labels Handshake, Inc., Mutants of the Monster and Alternative Tentacles. 7 degrees records is also represented here, as two of Handshake’s North American releases (WAKE’s False and Dephosporus’s Ravenous Solemnity) are 7degrees babies, and released in Europe by those fine people.

This comp is a collection of music released in 2013, and some coming attractions from 2014. Thank you to everyone who supported our labels this year, and also to the bands who trusted us with their music. Happy holidays, and here’s to 2014.

Handshake Inc – upcoming 2014 Releases

Dephosphorus, Ravenous Solemnity 2xLP/Digital Download (co release with

7degrees Records) – January 2014

WAKE, False (with film ‘False by Wake’) cd/dvd combo – February, 2014

Gridlink, Longhena LP/Digital Download – February 19th, 2014

Inhabitants, Self Titled LP/Digital Download – March 2014

Extremity Retained: Notes from the Death Metal Underground by Jason Netherton. Softcover, 450 pgs – April 11th, 2014.

Diseased Reason, Recombinant digipack/Digital Download – April 2014

Mutants of the Monster

Sumokem – EP – TBD 2014

“A Stone, A Leaf, an Unfound Door: Rwake live at MDF X” – Netflix, March 2014

Rwake, Xenoglossalgia: The Last Stage of Awareness, reissue LP

Wicked Mantra, The World of Gong LP, digital download. February 2014.

*Notes on some of the bands/releases:

Gridlink, “Ketsui” is from the forthcoming and final Gridlink album “Longhena” which will be out on February 19th on vinyl and as a digital download in North America, and on CD in Japan (Disk Union) and CD in Europe (Selfmadegod.)

Inhabitants is a grind band collective featuring Dorian Rainwater (Noisear, Phobia, Excruciating Terror etc.) Adam from Winters in Osaka, and Molly from Bloody Phoenix.

Diseased Reason is a grind/crust band featuring Eli from Plutocracy.

Wicked Mantra are a space/psych/stoner band from Vancouver

Sumokem are a doom band from Little Rock, Arkansas.