Staff Infections – February 2019

Welcome, dear readers, to the February 2019 edition of Staff Infections. Here’s hoping you weathered the polar vortex without incident. Personally, I find winter’s lack of sunlight provides enough of a mental struggle. Throw in dangerous driving, shoveling snow and potentially lethal cold and, well, seasonal affective disorder doesn’t sound quite strong enough to describe how a feel. I prefer fuck this season disorder. And really, is it a disorder? I think loathing darkness and cold is pretty natural. After all, it’s only been a blip in evolutionary time since the whole of human endeavor was spent preparing to stave off the potential doom that every winter presented. Those who lived in warmer climates were perhaps spared, but many of them had to deal with an equally hellish dry season, not to mention crocodiles, lions, and all manner of biting insects. I guess it all evens out. Hell, if you are homeless, poor, infirm, or you live some sort of subsistence lifestyle in the far north, winter is still a very real threat to your existence. Fuck winter, is what I’m getting at, I guess.

So, friends, how do you combat the winter blues? Do you embrace the season with the icy sounds of Immortal, or do you combat it with the warm haze of Kyuss? Let us know in the comments, whilst sharing your playlist.

There weren’t too many common threads in the staff playlists this month. First place is a tie, and there is no second place. The new portion of first place is Chambers of Deprivation, from Huntington Beach, California death/grind duo Encoffinized, which is due out this week. Perhaps a review is in the offing, you’ll have to check back. The other half of first place is Age of Quarrel, from legendary New York hardcore/crossover band Cro-Mags. Enjoy a sample from each below, and until next month, stay warm.

 

• Zach Duvall
  Sentenced – Down
  Deicide – Legion
  Human Remains – Using Sickness As A Hero
  Alice In Chains – Dirt
  Neil Young – Le Noise
  Funkadelic – Let’s Take It To The Stage
• Manny-O-War
  Gutless – Mass Extinction [demo]
  War//Plague – Into the Depths
  Encoffinized – Chambers of Deprivation
  Sentenced – Amok
  Twisted Tower Dire – Wars in the Unknown
  Cro-Mags – Age of Quarrel
• Captain
  Eternity’s End – Unyielding
  David Bowie – Let’s Dance
  Tears For Fears – The Hurting
  Embrional – Evil Dead
  Wishbone Ash – There’s the Rub
  Eric Dolphy – Musical Prophet
• Danhammer Obstkrieg
  Funereal Presence – Achatius
  Hecate Enthroned – Embrace of the Godless Aeon
  cv313 – Glass City Sessions
  Jeff Ballard – Fairgrounds
  Mono – Nowhere Now Here
  Bill Evans – Turn Out the Stars: The Final Village Vanguard Recordings
• Ryan Tysinger
  Traveler – Traveler
  Sabïre – Gates Ajar
  Metal Inquisitor – Panopticon
  Vomitory – Raped In Their Own Blood
  Encoffinized – Chambers Of Deprivation
  Thin Lizzy – Fighting
• Andrew Edmunds
  Hatred Surge – Human Overdose
  Autopsy – Mental Funeral
  Bang – Bang
  Dismember – Dismember
  Candlemass – Candlemass
  Solitude Aeturnus – Alone
• Konrad Kantor
  Solstice – White Horse Hill
  Clandestine Blaze – Fist of the Northern Destroyer
  Scorpions – Blackout
  Insted – Proud Youth: 1986-1991
  Mansion – First Death of the Lutheran
  Slayer – Hell Awaits
• Chris Sessions
  Faith No More –  Discography
  Harry Nilsson – The Point
  Failure – Discography
  Sick Of It All – 88-96 stuff
• LoneWatie
  Symphony X – Discography
  Thought Industry – Mods Carve the Pig: Assassins, Toads and God’s Flesh
  Cro-Mags – Age of Quarrel
  Steve Hackett – At the Edge of Light
  Robert Rich – Tactile Ground
  Jill Scott – By Popular Demand
• Jeremy Morse
  StarGazer – A Merging to the Boundless
  Gary Moore – Victims of the Future
  Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli – Quintessential
  Morbid Angel – Blessed Are the Sick
  Ritual Necromancy – Disintered Horror
  Judas Priest – Sad Wings of Destiny