Botch

Botch were a four-piece hardcore/metalcore band from Tacoma, Washington that formed in 1993 and broke up in 2002. They are considered to be one of the most important and influential bands in "mathcore", which is basically a really technical form of hardcore with a lot of odd time signatures and other progressive shit. A lot of their influence can be credited to their magnum opus, 1999's We Are The Romans.

This was their second and final full-length, and it's the type of album to knock you on your ass. Very few albums capture the level of intensity that Botch brought on this. The riffs are very intricate but still definitive, they're heavy as hell, and the instrumentation is tied so tightly together that even the most technically complex passages seem to flow smoothly, while still hitting hard. The performances here are clearly far from rehearsal. The band is fully equip to devastate, displaying some incredible musicianship and tightness within the group. This isn't all that shocking, considering this group of fantastic musicians all would go on to be a part of other incredible and well-known bands such as Minus The Bear, These Arms Are Snakes, and Russian Circles. The vocals bellow with ferocity churning out very interpretative lyrics that can be taken as either a personal catharsis or a social commentary. We Are The Romans is an absolute classic, and an essential listen within the realms of hardcore and metalcore.

Of course I can't let the remainder of their discography go unnoticed, since it's solid all around. There's a few things to note about the releases down below. The first is their debut LP, American Nervoso in 1998. The version below is a remastered version from 2007 that includes demos and such. The same goes for We Came The Romans, which was also remastered in 2007 and included a bonus disc of demos. The EP An Anthology Of Dead Ends was their final recorded material, released just after the band broke up in 2002. Unifying Themes Redux is a reissue of a compilation they put out in 1997, The Unifying Themes Of Sex, Death and Religion. The original featured all the songs on their two released EP's. The reissue features the same songs, plus all their material put out on splits, as well as some unreleased stuff. Finally, 061502 is a live album that was recorded at their last show (take a wild guess at the date). That's about it really, Botch are a phenomenal band, and one of aggressive music's best outputs. Enjoy.

American Nervoso (1998)

1. Hutton's Great Heat Engine

2. John Woo

3. Dali's Praying Mantis

4. Dead For A Minute

5. Oma

6. Thank God For Worker Bees

7. Rejection Spoken Softly

8. Spitting Black

9. Hives

Bonus Disc (2007)

1. Stupid Me

2. Spitting Black (Extended Version)

3. Hutton's Great Heat Engine (Demo)

4. Rejection Spoken Softly (Demo)

5. John Woo (Demo)

We Are The Romans (1999)

1. To Our Friends In The Great White North

2. Mondrian Was A Liar

3. Transitions From Persona To Object

4. Swimming the Channel Vs. Driving the Chunnel

5. C. Thomas Howell As the "Soul Man"

6. Saint Matthew Returns to the Womb

7. Frequency Ass Bandit

8. I Wanna Be a Sex Symbol On My Own Terms

9. Man the Ramparts

10. Thank God for Worker Bees (Remix)

Bonus Disc (2007)

1. To Our Friends In The Great White North (Demo)

2. I Wanna Be A Sex Symbol On My Own Terms (Demo)

3. Transitions From Persona To Object (Demo)

4. Mondrian Was A Liar (Demo)

5. Saint Matthew Returns To The Womb (Demo)

6. C. Thomas Howell As The Soul Man (Demo)

7. Man The Ramparts (Demo)

8. Saint Matthew Returns To The Womb (Live In Seattle 4-21-01)

9. Vietmam (Live In Seattle 4-21-01)

10. Transitions From Persona To Object (Live In France 11-11-99)

11. Hutton's Great Heat Engine (Live In France 11-11-99)

An Anthology Of Dead Ends (2002)

1. Spaim

2. Japam

3. Framce

4. Vietmam

5. Afghantisam

6. Micaragua

Unifying Themes Redux (2002)
1. God Vs Science

2. Third Part In A Tragedy

3. Inch By Inch

4. The Opera Song

5. Closure

6. Contraction

7. Ebb

8. Stupid Me

9. In Spite Of This

10. End Of Discussion

11. Wounded

12. Liquored Up And Laid

13. Leavers Take On Genesis

14. The Lobster Song

15. Frequenting Mass Transit

16. Sudam

17. Untitled

061502 (2006)

1. St. Thomas Returns To The Womb

2. C. Thomas Howell As The "Soul Man"

3. John Woo

4. Japam

5. Oma

6. Frequency Ass Bandit

7. Thank God For The Worker Bees

8. Framce

9. Third Part In A Tragedy

10. Rock Lobster

11. Transitions From Persona To Object

12. To Our Friends In The Great White North

13. Hutton's Great Heat Engine

14. Man The Ramparts

One Twenty Two (2022)

1. One Twenty Two