Shit Liver - "Hitting The Fan" Review!!

To end the month, here is our 106th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, as we're taking a look at local/St. Catharine's grindcore trio Shit Liver's second studio album and third total release "Hitting The Fan"! Released on March 13th of this year on digital formats and on vinyl records (with no planned CD copies), this is the follow-up to their 2014 self-titled debut album, and was recorded at "The Shit Haus" in St. Catharine's in February 2017, with mixing and mastering handled by Matt Alvarez, who plays fiddle in their bluegrass side project Dirtfight. "Hitting the Fan" again features their original & current lineup, including guitarist Josh Penno, bassist Mike "Ralph" Kyle, and drummer Matt Baic, with all three sharing vocal duties. You can buy this album for $5 on their Bandcamp page or $20 on vinyl via mail order, at their concerts, or presumably at The Rad Zone, and while you can stream it for free on Bandcamp, consider buying it to support Shit Liver's work!

With 10 songs running for only about 22 minutes in length, let's begin our review with the first song, "Evacuation", which opens with a fake Emergency Alert System notification that takes up for the first 1/5th of the song's runtime, but adds to the sinister mood! The song has a bit of a slow burn to any part with vocals, with the crushing instrumentation building well into the first verse (past the track's halfway point), with all three guys getting moments to shine with their distinct growling styles, with Josh and Mike handling most of the gruntwork. The cowbell cymbals are a little overdone, but the guitar and bass pound through nicely, and this is an effective opener!

Second is "Makes Me Sick", which gives Mike a solid bass solo to open before the full band kicks into high gear. Josh and Matt largely trade off vocals here, with Matt getting a nice showcase on drums to go along with it, and there are some nice screams peppered in! This is a relentless track that's plays by Shit Liver's existing playbook very well, with nary a wasted moment of crusty aggression, though I think a guitar solo would have been welcome for variance. Solid overall though! Third is "Just Take It", which runs for a whopping 13 seconds in length, and it's not even the shortest track! Featuring Josh on lead vocals, the song is another speedy, brutal composition, but it's just a quick onslaught that doesn't stand up well on it's own (though in grindcore circles, it's par for the course.) Note that the Bandcamp copy ends too soon, with the last second starting the fourth track.

That's followed by "It Won't Change",  which has a slower, more deliberate opening that calls Nirvana to mind a little bit (if that's fair), with a quote by late hardcore punk singer GG Allin laid in with the music. When the song fully gets going, the ferocity of Shit Liver is back on full display, with Josh trading off with his bandmates effectively on vocals, and the cymbals are more consistent and suited to the song structure here. The pounding guitar riff and gang chorus vocals are effective, and this is another quality track on the opening half! That's followed by the relatively long "Liverated", whose first half notably features an extended verse from Matt on vocals, as well as the album's first true guitar solo, which sounds good, if a little abbreviated. The second half's pace is somewhat slowed down at points, but the track is a consistent wall of grindcore at it's peak, with Mike's bass having some nice clear moment late! Another solid track, though it does sound similar to some of it's predecessors on this album.

Shit Liver's new album continues with "Cirrhosis" (a alcoholism-related disease of the liver, naturally), with sampled audio of a police siren and breaking news reports of everything from oil and nuclear spills to the Hindenburg disaster, before oddly ending with a quote about making lemonade. The band proper slowly begins playing during this sampled section, but it doesn't solely focus on them until the 80 second mark. The verses here feel like three different songs sung by each band member stitched together in parts, aside from the guitar solo, which sounds like Josh is trying to play like a buzzing bee. It works surprisingly well overall, and it's a bit of a change of pace from the wall of sound that they've had on prior tracks! Then we have "Matt Got Beat Up By Cops", a live favourite that runs for just 68 seconds. Matt's low growl is naturally the lead vocal here, with the guys collectively screaming the song title in the choruses. The song is quick but relentless, giving Matt arguably his best vocal and drum showcase on the album, and the the riffing adds to it nicely!

Song #8 is the six seconds long "Livin' In Shit", whose runtime basically consists of the guys screaming the song's name three times while performing at their usual thunderous pace. Not much to say here, it gets the job done if you love Shit Liver, but remember that all but one of the album's other tracks are at least 11 times longer, which is far more bang for your buck.

That's followed by "Wait", which was notably this album's first single and has it's own music video. For the first 1:30 or so, this song is at it's usual blistering grindcore pace with all three guys trading vocals roughly equally, with crushing riffs and speedy drums galore, but the last 30 seconds does take things in a doomier, AlgomA-esque pace. I'd be curious to hear them try this more often on newer originals, but it does shake things up a bit at this late stage, and the song lives up to prior standards! The album closes with it's title track "Hitting The Fan", and like on their debut, they're closing with the longest included track, running for just over 5 minutes. Mike's screaming vocals kick things off in high gear, largely staying on familiar territory for the first minute before slowing the pace down and giving some guitar shred time for Josh, then taking things into unusually soft, deliberate territory for a bit midway through, showing some new depths for the guys... until the grind returns for the final two minutes.

On the latter half, Josh gets some chaotic guitar soloing time, and the song eventually takes on more of a groove metal pace, before ending on a fast paced, grind-heavy note. Everyone is on their musical form here, and the song nicely dips from their usual wheelhouse into (relatively) new territory musically, helping make sure that a long song (for them) never gets boring. This is one of my highlights of "Hitting the Fan", and recommended if you like Shit Liver, but want to hear more than just 2-3 minute grindcore onslaughts! So, what are my final thoughts on "Hitting The Fan"? Well, comparisons to their 2014 debut will be inevitable, but I think that they have definitely matured as songwriters in the past 4 years, and this is an overall tighter and more fully realized record! It is shorter overall, but 5 songs here exceed 2:31 compared to 2 last time out, and unlike on that album, the longer songs aren't automatically slower and more deliberate, so they've definitely improved at pacing themselves.

The guys are more comfortable, with all three delivering vicious vocals where needed, while Josh Penno's blistering riffs, Mike Kyle's solid bass work, and Matt Baic's relentless drumming were a high quality compliment! I will say that Mike could have been more of a solo vocal presence, but for this style of singing, all three did their part. Songs like "Makes Me Sick", "Cirrhosis", and the title track are among my highlights, and the production lives up to the ferocity! It's not a perfect album though, with the cowbell-sounding cymbals often overdone on some tracks, the two sub-15 second songs not really standing on their own, and the minimal guitar solos didn't help either, but I will say that listening to these songs in short succession still reminds me of how many of their songs blur together thanks to their similar styles, aggression, and pacing. Diehard fans will have nothing to complain about, but I'd love to see more doom or groove metal-styled sections.

Overall though, "Hitting the Fan" is a clear improvement on Shit Liver's debut album, and while this crusty punk/death metal hybrid isn't for all tastes, genre fans will definitely want to pick up a copy of this album, especially if you have a record player handy, and you can do so at the above links! I hope you guys liked this month's CD review, and as for next month? Barring a sudden high profile album release, I am leaning towards reviewing local black metal solo project Abhorrent Forest's March EP "To See Eternity" on the site this month, so look for our next review at some point in May, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next month! Thanks everyone!

New Albums From Shit Liver & Mike McCleary, Plus A Dire Setback's Album Plans!

We're back with a new news post for your Friday morning reading, and we're almost entirely focused on new albums today, including 2 (well, 3-ish) new albums on sale this week, plus one more now underway, so here's what you should know on those and related topics!

Local/St. Catharine's grindcore trio Shit Liver released their second full length album "Hitting the Fan" as scheduled on Tuesday! Yes, this fan favourite metal group have finally unveiled their sophomore studio effort via their Bandcamp page, and you can now buy it there for $5, while vinyl record copies of the album are also now on sale via mail order! They have 550 hand numbered discs in red vinyl stock, with a poster and lyric sheet in the package, and they are taking orders before they hit the road. "Hitting the Fan" on vinyl costs $20 + shipping, so e-mail shitliverbooking@gmail.com if you must have a copy of the album before (or if you can't attend) their tour! The album proper includes 10 songs, namely "Evacuation", "Makes Me Sick", "Just Take It", "It Won't Change", "Liverated", "Cirrhosis", "Matt Got Beat Up By Cops", "Livin' In Shit", "Wait", and the title track, which just about covers their remaining original material that hadn't made it to their debut CD!

Also, belated apologies for erroneously indicating that "Unabomber" was their own song, it was originally by the band Macabre. You can also buy "Hitting the Fan" on vinyl at The Algonquin Pub on Friday, April 6th during their local tour stop, but there has been a lineup change, as local indie/hard rock quartet Id Iota have quietly replaced Vol. on the bill for unannounced reasons, though note that Vol. never publically acknowledged this event. Hopefully all's well in Vol.'s camp, and Id Iota's addition maintains the widely varying genre spread for this concert, so see above for more details on it! Speaking of which, Shit Liver also announced the entire run of tour dates in support of "Hitting the Fan" on their Facebook page yesterday, which confirm that they will kick off the tour right here on April 6th, before heading out west to British Columbia, then across country to the Maritimes, before finishing up in Quebec and Peterborough in mid-May, with only Newfoundland and P.E.I. not covered among the 10 provinces.

Note that if a Soo encore was to be scheduled, it'd have to take place on April 26th between their planned Thunder Bay and Timmins dates, but that is strictly a hypothetical scenario on my part. It's surprising that they don't have a St. Catharine's date on the tour (granted, they tend to play there more often enough), but it's great to see everything shaping up well for "Hitting the Fan" and their upcoming cross-country trek! See above for more details, and look for our CD review next month!

Next up, here's another new album release of sorts, namely local hard rock solo artist Mike McCleary's revamped debut album "In Ruins"! Originally released in June 2017 to streaming services before being taken down for revisions (including re-recordings, new cover art, and track removals), this self-produced and recorded album now features the songs "Lost", "Naive", "Childish Leaders", "Aylan", "Disavowed", "Introspection", and "Bad Hand". Of these songs, only "Naive", "Disavowed", & "Aylan" were on the original version of "In Ruins", unless Mike renamed certain tracks, with the other songs (including all acoustic variants) being removed or shifted over to his prior full length album "Weight of the Truth." Despite being his original first album, Mike noted on his Facebook page that he considers "In Ruins" to be a sequel to his January EP "Hourglass", and as such, has released the two albums in a special combined release called "Weight of the World" also!

That release also contains one bonus track not on either prior album, an instrumental named "Bismarck" that Mike teases is a preview of styles to expect on his next album after these. "In Ruins" is now on sale on Bandcamp for $5, with "Weight of the World" going for $8 (which is cheaper than buying it's source albums separately), and you can stream both there as well! That all said, don't expect a review of either album until August at the earliest due to our 6 month anti-bias buffer, but "Weight of the World" is my preference for it's amount and exclusive track. Mike's working at a fast pace on his new material, so check out his talented array of music above!

Finally, I can't put this off any longer: Local alt-punk trio A Dire Setback have begun pre-production for their debut album, and YOU can help make it a reality! The guys have launched a Patreon page to help crowd-fund the album, but unlike Kickstarter, the aim isn't necessarily for one goal, but to support ongoing creative work, with exclusive perks and content for paying regularly each month (Theatre of Night attempted a page there back in 2015.) A.D.S. indicated on Patreon that Treble Charger guitarist Bill Priddle is producing the album, and all proceeds from Patreon will go toward mixing and mastering their debut, with individual song releases expected when ready, plus they implied that help will be needed when picking album artwork and making music videos. If you donate even $1 a month, you'll get exclusive content on Patreon, but giving up to $30 could get you first crack at tickets, autographed merchandise, exclusive offers, name credit in the liner notes, and more.

A Dire Setback have begun work on click tracks and setting tempos for their originals, and while "exclusive video access" for Patreon backers is teased, they did post one public video to their new YouTube channel on Thursday, which features Chris, Matt, and Nick playing "Catastrophe" in studio (and in black & white.) Raw and unpolished, but the guys are on their way and very serious about getting this album complete! It's surprising that they're moving so fast despite playing live just once with this lineup so far, but hopefully this crowdfunding campaign takes off where prior local music ones didn't! See above and below for more on their album plans!



That's all for today, but stay tuned for this month's poll results and our new poll on the site next! Thanks everyone!

LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS (Shit Liver, Soundcheck, And Tym Morrison), Plus An Upcoming New Album Release!!

I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day! It's now time for another batch of weekend concert previews on the SMS, and while things are quiet on the hard rock spectrum, both of this weekend's performing hard rock acts have SHORT NOTICE LOCAL CONCERT ALERTS to address as part of them! To round things out, we have one more huge new concert to address, including a new album alongside it, so here's what you should know!

Local classic/hard rock cover quartet Soundcheck will return to The Rockstar Bar stage for one night only TOMORROW NIGHT, with their apparent Water Tower Pub debut following THIS SATURDAY NIGHT! Apologies for the short notice on these shows, the former was announced via their Facebook event page on Monday, and the latter was briefly noted on the Sault Music News Letter Facebook page on Tuesday. However, note that Soundcheck have not publically acknowledged either show on their own Facebook page at press time (or posted there in almost a month), and the Water Tower Pub haven't mentioned it either that I've seen. TOMORROW'S Rockstar Bar show will be the Mourning Wood successors' first at this venue since January 19th, and while it's not clear why they didn't get a double booking for there this weekend, SATURDAY'S Water Tower Pub show will fill in the gap in a rare solo hard rock appearance there from a local band!

An act of Soundcheck's style isn't unprecedented for this Great Northern Road venue, and hopefully they deliver a solid set on SATURDAY, assuming that the show is still on! These gigs are likely 9:30 PM affairs both nights, you must be 19 or older to attend, and there are no advertised cover charges. Check the above links for more details, and nope, no public Soundcheck videos yet! We'll let you know when any turn up!

Next up, prolific local hard rock singer/guitarist Tym Morrison has new nighttime gigs at Room 21 above Low & Slow TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT to go along with his ongoing Gliss Steak & Seafood matinees that take place earlier those same days! Again, apologies for the short notice on the Room 21 shows, Tym only announced them via their Facebook event page on Sunday (concurrently with his Mark's Breakfast Plus gigs earlier this week.) These will be Tym's first stops at this newer acoustic-heavy upstairs venue of 2018, last having played there in September, so if you liked seeing his unplugged hard rock favourites there last fall, here's another chance! Likewise, his ongoing long-term arrangement at Gliss continues for two more matinee shows this weekend, so if you want an earlier and more intimate night of music, you have those options once again too!

These four shows (including at Room 21 TOMORROW & SATURDAY NIGHT) have no cover charges, and while the Gliss gigs are at 6:00 PM with no firm age limit, the Room 21 shows are at 10:00 PM with a 19+ age limit. Click here and visit the above links for more details, and here's Tym live!



Also, here's one more new show with lots of advance notice, and it's a big one, as local/St. Catharine's grindcore trio Shit Liver are coming back home for a headlining concert on Friday, April 6th at The Algonquin Pub, with their new album in tow! Last seen here at The New A in September during the "Trading Faces" split release tour, Shit Liver will make their way back north in support of their second full length album "Hitting The Fan", which never even made our "Where Are The New Albums?" posts because they never publically and firmly acknowledged studio sessions for it. In their album announcement on their Facebook page yesterday, the guys indicated that this is completely a DIY release that they recorded and are releasing themselves with no label assistance, so that may have helped explain the quiet recording sessions. "Hitting The Fan" will be released on Tuesday, March 13th, with local physical copies following at the show on April 6th, but how can you hear it?

An online release is expected for next month (presumably on Bandcamp), but physical copies appear to be limited to vinyl records with no CD pressings implied. If true, this will mean that all three of their studio albums have came out on different physical formats (should we break out our 8-track players for album #4?!) This pressing is apparently limited to 550 hand numbered records, with coloured vinyl, a lyric insert, and a poster, so keep that in mind come April 6th! In terms of that concert, local punk trio Stegadeth will open in their second show of the year, while there will be a third band to be announced. Stegadeth are a solid choice to compliment Shit Liver's punk influences! Promoted by Six, Two, Oh. (who also put on their show here last fall), a 9:00 PM start time is advertised for this 19+ concert, which has an $8 cover charge, and while prices for vinyl copies of "Hitting The Fan" are not out yet, their friends in AlgomA priced their vinyl splits for around $20.

I had no idea that things were this far along for Shit Liver's sophomore original album, but this is huge news, and I know fans will be eager to hear their new originals in studio form next month! Stay tuned for more on the digital release and price, track listing, and more, and assuming there's no release hang-ups, our next three CD reviews are set for the site! Given that Mike McCleary and Telephone & Address have new albums already on sale, that may bump "Hitting the Fan" to an April review, but certainly no later than that. Keep in touch for updates, and for a new news post this weekend, hopefully with Big Wreck and Pop Evil fallout! Thanks everyone!