ABUSE - Mordare 7" ep

This is some straight up, good 'ole face pounding raw noisy d-beat hailing from Sweden. The Mordare ep probably isn't going to make your top 20 raw hardcore records of all time list. Bands like this are a dime a dozen but this 7" ranks up there in that "Check this dollar bin destroyer I found!!!!!!!" category.

Naturally ABUSE has that unique Swedish raw d-beat sound going on. There are a few things that are atypical in ABUSE's sound. The guitars are more fuzzed out and noisy than a lot of your other favorite Swedes. Think ANTI-CIMEX Anarkist Attack. They also went to the other end of the spectrum for vocals. They ditch the deeper, guttural vocal and singer Zambone sounds more like Bob from DROPDEAD. Actually they sound identical.

Not to worry all the studs off your leather jacket yet. There is still enough MOTORHEAD inspired rocking d-beat to make you slosh more of that beer in your hand on the floor and your fellow punx than down your gullet as you mosh around like a drunk punk should. I could have skipped all this shitty writing and just said if you like CRUDITY then this is right up your alley. Why not be a pain in the ass though? Even though ABUSE is long gone somebody in the band still keeps an updated Myspace and Facebook page for the band if you care.

Mordare was released by Ben's pre-Armageddon label Crust Records in 1996.

MAKE NOISE NOT MUSIC

VENOM - Manitou Cassette

Somehow, it always comes back to heavy metal for me. Even when I was barely a teen trying to earn my punk merit badges, at least five of my toes were firmly planted in the cauldron of metal. I always deftly straddled the fence when it came to choosing allegiance to one side or the other. You gotta remember though, this a time when both heavy metal and punk, although microscopic sub-genres of the big picture in music, were still divided. Metal heads, which came directly from cro-magnon like hard rock fans, despised the punks and usually did anything they could to fuck with them (especially where I grew up). Punks on the other hand hated the head bangers right back, but having smaller numbers, didn't usually do too much to retaliate.

So what the fuck does this all have to do with the mighty VEMON you ask? Well. early on, they were the common denominator between both genres, for me. I don't mean that venoms music took me to some secret place in my head that wasn't understood or explored without them. I mean, this was the band that made NEITHER side (metal or punk) wanna kick your ass for what you were listening to. With the knowledge (and a few records) of bands like vemon and motorhead, you (or at least me) could navigate both crowds successfully and without being bloodied or bruised. I mean, it helped too that I was way into both scenes and had a better record collection than most of the lunkheads that wanted to beat me up, but I digress.....

So fucking VENOM, the retarded court jesters of metal. When I heard their first lp not long after it came out I thought, "fucking sloppy.drunken discharge". The noise, yeah NOISE, that came out of the speakers that first time almost made me blow a load in my pants. I couldn't believe the three guys on the back of the lp, who look like Swedish prog rock homos by the way, could pull off such a glorious din. It sounded like a pack of twelve year olds trying to play the first discharge single on newly stolen equipment. Every note on that lp was somehow, sloppily perfect and I proceeded to wear the fucking grooves on that lp to dust. I was hooked and thusly bought everything these geniuses put out (except the 6 live Lps that all came out within a year)

Eventually, the quality or their records got as thin as bassist Cronos hairline. I think it was a combination of them believing their own hype and learning to play their instruments, but "At War With Satan" was the last, truly great venom lp (their third of too many). Nowadays, every real and wanna-be corpse painted choad smoker, claims venom were the black metal "originators". I call bullshit on this theory. Look, there is no doubt vemon were pretty early in putting satan and metal together, but I'm quite sure it was just for the shock value and not to kiss the goat. These boys fancied a pint and some tits way more than any serious satanic shit. Probably even took a couple pages from black sabbaths "how scare people with dark imagery and still have time for a beer" manifesto. I guess if singing about satan (and pussy) the earliest gets you called originator, than so be it (I personally think it was BATHORY who blueprinted bm) All that "who created what" shit is totally subjective anyhow.......

This cassette was released right around the same time as At War.... with a bonus song not on the vinyl and the interview. Fuck, the interview is the only thing that makes this worth sharing (alright, the songs a pretty good too). I love how Neat records, who put this out, totally make the "not our views" disclaimer in the liner notes. Probably because venom talk so much shit about other popular metal bands of the day, mainly manowar. This is venom at their dumbest, drunkest and best. Like the cool uncle that used to come to your house for the holidays, drink too much, call your mom and dad assholes, make up, drink more, then slip a fiver under your pillow before he left............

Many punches and kicks......... Refreshed Link 1/15/14

THRASH OF THE TITANS I - LP Compilation

Through the mid 90's and into the early 2000's metal-core/mosh and fast thrashy hardcore bands were the thing to do. There really were not a lot of bands doing anything different. This record is of the fast thrashy hardcore nature.

This is also a period of time when many people felt putting out comps. was irrelevant with the internet now in many households around the world. Getting your hands on media could be achieved with a few strokes of the keyboard. For fucks sake I am writing this on a blog! Zines weren't exempt from this phenomenon either.

I ask, how many mix-tapes or cd-r's do you remember making during this time period? Compilations are a record label's mix-tape and in threat of dying at this time. Even now they don't seem as common or as relevant as they were in 1984.

I still like seeing comps. around and mix trading with friends. Thrash Of The Titans is a great example of why compilations are still relevant. This is a showcase of a ton of raging bands on one platter.

Thrash Of The Titans I was put out in 2000 by Know Records with 1,000 pressed I believe. Here are what bands graced this comp. with some songs.

DS-13
CAPITALIST CASUALTIES
BEYOND DESCRIPTION
ANAL CUNT
SCARRED FOR LIFE
RUIDO
DEAD NATION
HIRAX
STRONG INTENTION
LACK OF INTEREST
INSULT
D.R.I.
MK-ULTRA
FLACHENBRAND
CRIPPLE BASTARDS
FUCK ON THE BEACH
TRAGATELO

http://www.mediafire.com/file/5ov5cibat8fssiu/Thrash%20Of%20The%20Titans.rar

COLERA - R.I.P. Redson

There was always a plan to post about COLERA here. I didn't really want the reason for showing some COLERA love on here to be because of somebody's death.

Edson "Redson" Pozzi formed COLERA in Sao Paulo, 1979 making them one of the first hardcore punk bands to come from Brazil. Through their lifespan COLERA released numerous albums, a few EPs, a split LP with RATOS DE PORAO and appeared on tons of compilations. They did three tours of Europe and remained active from 1979 all the way through to the present day. Thus making them one of the longest running hardcore punk bands from Brazil.

Unfortunately this may have all come to an end . Lead vocalist, guitarist and founding member Redson died today from a heart attack at age 49. A blow to the punk world for sure.




In honor we're all gonna blast some fucking COLERA for Redson, fuckers! Below I have uploaded their split 12" with RATOS DE PORAO and their live European Tour album.
Rest in punk Redson.

RATOS SPLIT
LIVE IN EUROPE

CHEAP TRAGEDIES live from Cleveland

Now that I have upgraded computers, converters and camcorders I am back to getting videos on line. Plus Youtube allows files up to 20gigs now. No more chopping live sets into a billion different videos to keep the quality. I will be doing sets as a whole and may even take down all the old posts and upload them again as one piece. So here is the first of 130 some odd sets I will start tackling.

STRETCHHEADS - Five Fingers, Four Thingers, A Thumb, A Facelift And A New Identity LP

The most bizarre punk noise band to ever come out of Scotland and probably best punk band from Scotland ever. I am pretty sure these guys were a bunch of spazzes suffering the most severe case of ADHD. I don't think Ritalin was part of their diet either.

The lyrical subject matter covers topics you are likely to hear from the mouth of your favorite schizo crackhead bum. The vocals have best been described as "reminiscent of nothing so much as Sesame Street's Grover with electrodes affixed to his genitals". There is a definite KILLDOZER influence and super choppy guitar riffs with Rimbaudesque drumming bring CRASS to mind as well. STRETCHEDS has managed to take both those influences and play them heavier and faster. I'll be damned if you can tell what the guitar is playing, if anything at all, through 90% of this disjointed noise bomb. The bass, although heavily fuzzed out, is enough to keep your bearings on the riffs. There are even some studio effects and trickery tossed in. Something that sounds like a phone ringing, bursts of electronic hum and some free jazz saxophone.

STRETCHHEADS have a solid spot as one of the quintessential twisted avant-garde punk bands. If you disagree I think you're dumb. Now go blast this and have a seizure.

1,000 copies released in 1988 by Moshka Records

IF IT'S NOT SCOTTISH IT'S CRAP!

RUPTURE - Split 7" Picture Disc

This is RUPTURE......the disc in question is a split with another band, but they suck so why bother to mention their name. This is RUPTURES best record.....it's not "in my opinion" rather than it's a fuckin' fact. RUPTURE has loads of records that are all worthy of your goddamn time. You may have read or heard some negative shit about these fuckers....it's all true. Who really wants to listen to shit approved by politically correct scene police fanzines anyway? What'll that get you, two steps closer to emo faggery?

These 7 inches and 4 some-odd minutes of scorch are the only things that made me crack a sideways smile on this turd heap of a fucking shitty day........Get fucked

PS: This record was released by so and so on blah blah.....

Have a shitty day, fuckhead....

METAL DUNGEON - Blut Summen cassette

This could be and should be the score for every slasher gore genre film from the 70's and 80's that wasn't going to make it out of the grindhouse. METAL DUNGEON's minimalist industrial is the most dark, evil, stark sounding shit I have ever heard. Not only is this noise creepy as fuck it is punishing and harsh. Maybe they watched Rose Mary's Baby drowned out by white noise trippin on shrooms one too many times.

Largely inspired by Maurizio Bianchi METAL DUNGEON have made themselves indentured servants to his sound. MD is unrelenting in their paying of homage to Bianchi with continuous output that always bares his influence. I am even guessing that Blut Summen, loosely translated to Blood Hum, is also a nod to to MB's Blut Und Nebel (Blood And Fog) remix series.

That being said, the first thing that always comes to my mind when I listen to METAL DUNGEON is Riz Ortolani. Well the songs Adulteress' Punishment and Massacre Of The Troupe Ortolani composed for the infamous film CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST. Only METAL DUNGEON removes the orchestral parts from Ortolani and cranks the drone to unsurpassed brutality with electronic hell screams layered over top. Seriously there are sounds coming out of this cassette that are like cows writhing in knocker boxes at the slaughterhouse as they suffocate on their own blood!

All total you get 27 minutes of demented and evil sounding shit released by the defunct Nurse Etiquette cassette label. I can't recall when this was released exactly... 2007? There is also a mystery number run of Blut Summen. Somewhere in the land of 40 to 70 copies.

HORROR AND MAGNETIC TAPE

Crash Worship - What So Ever Thy Hand Findeth, Do It With All Thine Might 12"

Look, I'm no hippie sympathizer......I'm not talking about the yer average cheeb smoker with long hair and a beard. Nope, I speak of the tie-dye wearin', liberal cause havin',outdoor festival attendin', hackysackin', patchouli stinkin', drum circle jammin', freak variety......Just thinking of these peace loving "free spirits" makes me wanna shoot up goddamn Coachella or fucking Bonnaroo fests. Fucking Hippies........

"Jesus Surly, where ya going with this" you ask? Well this record I'm posting has a little to do with the rant above. You see, this slab of wax has its roots in some kinda that hippie culture bullshit. But, after one too many bad trips and the realization that the peacenik act was pretty vapid and could only score you so much free love with the little flower chicks, something went wrong.......horribly wrong. What started out as "free and loving" turned into a dark sound track for the Bacchanalian orgies that occur right after the High Priests chant and satanic rituals have been performed.

"Initially starting as a studio project, Crash Worship soon learned the power of a live audience. During performances, the band's members (or often provocateurs) would manipulate the crowd, involving them more deeply into the show, ultimately eliminating any boundaries between spectator and performer. The musicians would also mobilize their instruments on and off the stage into the middle of the audience (or outside), lighting explosives and hosing down the crowd with various liquids, including piss and blood and creating an atmosphere of celebratory abandon and mirth. Epileptic strobing lights, nudity, mysterious liquids, sex and smoke filled rooms (at next to zero visibility) were all a part of the average show.The chaos of these events often invited unwanted attention from cops who would later forcibly shut down most if not all of their show". Yeah, thanks interweb......

Got to see em' live twice and by fucking god, they lived up to the above hype. Loud, pounding and DANGEROUS might be a few words to describe what I witnessed on those occasions. Mind you, I may be a bit biased, as I was cruising the atmosphere on a fistful of mushrooms each time. Never have I been to a show that scared me more than just a little (King Diamond not withstanding) These events in question involved thick, almost choking smoke from various combustibles including shellacked wood, plastic baby dolls, clothing and various furniture. At its pinnacle, it was like swimming in vaseline. Where there's smoke there's fire they say and these shows had it in spades. Fire in corners, fire on the ends of swinging staffs the "band" wielded, in multiple containers, people lighting stuff, including fireworks, it was just everywhere. At one point, when the fire fog dissipated, I was hypnotized by watching this ugly hippie goddess with the most amazing Waylon Jennings (tits) dancing. As I gawked, for what seemed like an eternity, my trance came to an abrupt halt by a 2 ft. fireball sailing about an inch past my face. It seems some overzealous reveler decided it was a good idea to kick small metal garbage can filled with fire. Fuck, in my heightened state of conscience, I couldn't help spending the rest of that show imagining I might be on fire and looking and patting myself down. Add to all that, ear-splitting volumes and band members, running around with partial (and very portable) drum sets inciting the willing audience into a sheer mouth foaming frenzy. Look, I've been to a shitload of shows in Cleveland, but the Crash Worship shows I saw made that place and its antics look like a fucking catechism class in Sunday school.

So ummmm....This record is a far cry from the live shows I saw. Not because it doesn't accurately showcase the bands vibe (or sound), but because the vibe WAS its live show and can't be duplicated by listening to mp3s on your stupid Ipod. You want the full (i.e. closest) experience to Crash Worships live show? Take these mp3s and burn them on a cd. Then, borrow your little sister's boombox that she inherited from your Dad and take it into the bathroom. It may help if you huff some spray paint or glue at this point. Turn all the lights off and light two gasoline soaked bath towels on fire. Flame up a pile of your old G.I. Joes and let em' get good and smoky. Push play on the boombox and turn that fucker all the way up. With one hand, swing both flaming towels above your head and with the other hand flick the light switch on and off. Repeat, repeat, repeat......... This will probably give you a ball park idea of what this bands VIBE was......

REGIE SATANAS!

ANANDA - Habeas Corpus 12"

There was a time before loads of suburban mallrat sceney-boppers all sporting girl jeans, eyeliner and pixie cuts existed. You know who I am talking about. These 17 year old know it all shitheads you just want face smash every time you see one. This new generation of "emo" and "screamo" kids. The ones that somehow distorted the genres of emo and screamo and dragged it through the mud without ever hearing an emo or scremo band into their entire lives! Thanks dicks.

How did emo go from RITES OF SPRING, EMBRACE and RAIN to platinum albums and garbage like TAKING BACK SUNDAY and PARAMORE? Things are so bad that some don't even know it as music. Many only know "emo" as fashion. The same thing has happened to screamo with current puke like HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS, THE USED and STORY OF THE YEAR. This annoys the shit out of me if you haven't noticed. It's not just the shitty music. It's mislabeled shitty music. I'd be as quick to want to beat some ass if the masses believed zydeco music to be baroque. (Not that Zydeco or Baroque are shitty.)

Lets go back to the land that time is forgetting and stop the bitching. Remember when screamo was indeed screamo? Myriads of bands like MOHINDER, ONE EYED GOD PROPHECY, SAETIA, REVERSAL OF MAN, ORCHID etc. This is right where the lesser known ANANDA sits. While ANANDA did achieve some recognition in the punk and hardcore scene (and metal later on in their career) a lot of people have still never heard of them. So this post is to shed a little light on their existence.

ANANDA formed in 1994 just outside of Paris France. In their infancy ANANDA was a screamo band with great female vocals. After two releases under their belt, 1995's La Masque and Habeas Corpus they switched vocalists in 1998. This would mark a drastic change in their sound from screamo to heavy gloomy hardcore sludge. ANANDA played out all over France and managed to tour Europe. Their aforementioned obscurity may be attributed that, to the best of my knowledge, they never toured outside of Europe. Sometime in the early 2000's they disbanded or have been extremely inactive.

Habeas Corpus is still a stellar screamo 12" despite the lackluster production. The record is quite scratchy with lots of high end. I do believe several years later a remastered Habeas Corpus was released on CD. I would love to hear this if it is out there. By all accounts I can find Habeas Corpus was recorded in 1995 but not released until 1997 by Unfortunate For The Fortunate Records.

EMO FAG

CHEVEU - Belly Blade Visions Demo

Is it drugs? Is it because they're French? Who knows or cares. CHEVEU is all over the map on this demo just as they are with every release they have. CHEVEU pushes and bends the confines of minimalist lo-fi genius. Casio drum beats and quirky guitar riffs are the main force driving in their vast repertoire of styles. With their fingers dipped in waters of post punk, industrial, garage, punk and even forays that beat on the door of hip-hop.

To sum it up CHEVEU is fucking weird and out there. Despite that fact this trio is far more than approachable. This is an odyssey of sound that is easy to get sucked into and walk away from while still shadowing your memory forever. Especially when some of this is so damn catchy with juxtaposing respites of noise. There is nothing tedious about this.

I had to upload this with CHEVEU rolling through town next week on the 20'th @ El Club. Hopefully this will inspire some of you to get out to the show.

Sadly this demo came with no track listing. I didn't bother to try and tag them either because only a few of these songs have been officially released. So I have no clue what the name of 98% of the songs are.

Self released cd-r, 2006

Parisian weirdness.

TIME HAS COME - s/t 7"

The straight edge jocks in the sing along cover image and the band name itself scream predictable youth crew snooze fest. The throwback posi youth crew and modern era hardcore sound (that didn't really exist yet) usually don't work for me. Despite the foreshadowing album cover I knew somebody from FACE VALUE was in TIME HAS COME so I went out on a limb.

That whopping $1.99 gamble I took ended up being worth it. TIME HAS COME ended up a pleasant surprise. This record lands them in no mans land of their contemporary hardcore bands. TIME HAS COME has the aggression and speed of DOWN IN FLAMES, LIFE'S HALT and 97a meeting the burgeoning new era hardcore akin to BETRAYED, THE FIRST STEP and CHAMPION. The song writing is not entirely predictable nor the lyrics full on cheesy nonsense. They lean more toward the side of modern hardcore sound but overall there is just enough mixing it up to make this a great ep. It is no surprise a record of this nature would appear in the middle of a trend shift in hardcore. The anomaly here is that TIME HAS COME totally nailed it somehow.

Despite this nice debut release TIME HAS COME never received much attention. Getting lost in the fray means great things for you record scroungers. Keep those eyes forever peeled in the dollar bins. TIME HAS COME did another ep and couple of CDs after this. It's been a while since I listened to those but I can't recall them being of the caliber of the s/t.

Released in 1999 in CI Records. 500 copies pressed.

X UP