Friday 21 December 2012

Vile.

Picked this up alongside another tape pretty cheap. Vile Gash - Leech cassingle put out by Life-Rot in 2009.
Call me a total neophyte but this was my first exposure to Vile Gash. I'd heard the name thrown around a bit and when I saw this alongside the other tape i was buying i figured 'why not' so picked it up too. The recording on this tape is absolutely distorted as hell, i imagine the needles were buried heavily in the red. To be honest this worked for me. I think my exposure to a lot of black metal recorded underwater with dictaphones helped though.

What you get here is 3 tracks (Side B repeats) of blitzkrieg hardcore that are apparently not representative of the band, but having not heard their other stuff who am I to judge. My only criticism is that it is all over before you really begin to get a feel for the songs as the only track that clocks in longer then 50 seconds is the third track, a cover. From this tape I wouldn't say I was entirely sold on the band, but I certainly didn't hate it.

Tuesday 18 December 2012

Condensed Flesh


This, monoxide inhalers, is The Flesh Police rehearsal tape. Had this posted to me by the guitarist (and all round legendary bloke). Feat. ex and current members of a bunch of notable and upcoming Perth bands (Grandmother & Suffer to name two) and limited to around 20 copies send out to friends, affiliates and total assholes around the country. To put it simply this tape RAGES.


Flesh Police play that special brand of hateful hardcore with dirgey slow parts that tickles my fancy. With catchy, hooky riffs and an absolute rabid dog vocalist (Berkay of Slays4Days fame. Buy his excellent zine here) I think their own description of West Coast Grind Violence does the job nicely of summing them up. When they lock into a groove you can feel the sweat of a pit closing in. More obvious reference points are Crossed Out, SQRM and the new crop of Australian powerviolence influenced hardcore (you know who they are).

Rumour has it of a split 7" due 2013. Really keen to hear what these cats do next. Definitely a band to keep an eye on.

UPDATE: The CS is also available to pay your filthstained dollars for HERE.

Check out a recent set here:

Saturday 3 November 2012

G-Beat?

So i am sure i am not the only one to have noticed that so many rawpvnx have been crossing over into peacepunk/goth (why do we have so many sub-sub-sub-subgenres?) recently. I read an excellent article that dubs this newish "wave" Gbeat HERE.

On this note i picked up the Belgrado 12" from NoPatience recently. I described this record as female fronted non-angular (it rolls instead of stop-starting) post punk. This might make my top 10 the ammount i have been playing it of late. For fans of Killing Joke, Joy Division, 45 Grave.

Check out this track:



Then Buy the damn thing from Lewis NoPatience.
 

Saturday 1 September 2012

Innocence To Ignorance

Courtesy of a trade board i scored this absolute ripper. A first press of Extreme Noise Terror's 'A Holocaust in Your Head' put out by Head Eruption Records in 1988.


Having picked up the Kuro discography bootleg that has been floating around hearing E.N.T.'s blasting (although for some reason uncredited) cover of "We, the Helpless" was a pleasant surprise.

I had been reading about the recording of this (land speed) record and a brief biography of the band in Ian Glasper's excellent book on UKHC "Trapped in a Scene". In it he accurately describes the record as "Pissed off hateful noise with its roots somewhere between early Discharge and Disorder".

In a weird moment of serendipity i happened to listen to Hellbastard after listening to this record and was immediately struck with how similar the track 'Use your Mind' is to the Hellbastard track 'Pylons' released the same year.

 

Compare the opening rumbling bass riff and guitar counterpoint to the similar hellbastard part occurring at around the 1:08 mark below.

  

Now i am not accusing anyone of anything, it was just a moment of musical geekery that I felt was worth sharing. 


Monday 20 August 2012

You are lucky....to have us in your life.

Picked this up directly from Iron Lung Records. Grabbed it largely because it had unreleased Total Control (who contribute a brilliantly minimal Devo cover), Walls and Iron Lung tracks on it. I also figured the output of that label is largely of a high standard and I figured I might discover one or two new bands from it.


The Iron Lung Mixtape Volume 1 cassette put out obviously by Irong Lung Records in 2011. This tape is now sold out, but I have seen copies popping up here and there and it's well worth the time finding one. Every track on it is (or was at time of release) unreleased. Especially worth it for the Slices track "Bottom of the Barrel" a mid paced bruiser that careens along steadily until veering out of control in the closing seconds and the Walls track "Blinding Light of Truth" that drags itself mournfully through it's length like a shambling bog creature. Good stuff. You can buy a digital version (or listen to select tracks) of this over at the Iron Lung Bandcamp here.


Saturday 18 August 2012

Gus Chamber.

Rupture. The band that continues to divide fans of fast obnoxious hardcore worldwide. For a great overview of their career read the back issues of Seven Inches to Freedom that give an interesting and informative overview of their varied career highs (and many many lows). This is one of a glut of releases (of varying quality) that have seen the light recently.


This is the limited to 60 (30 black, 30 clear) 'Shat From the Tomb" 5" Acetate cut by Rest In Punk records in 2011.  I really dig the design on this release. The black on the thick clear plastic looks really great. The same label also put out the Disease Process tape (R.I.P. records having a member involved with that band) using the same look and it looked just as good on their tape. Both of the songs on this release are covers given the Rupture treatment. Side A being "What the Fuck" originally by Black Easter and side B "Job" by The Nub. Listening to the originals you can see how Rupture would have taken influence from these bands as both tracks are obnoxious, rude and straight forward no bullshit punk. Not their finest material (IMHO the'Lust and Hate' or 'Corrupture' LPs) but definitely worth tracking down.

Tuesday 14 August 2012

Merchandise Merchandise

Scored this in a trade about 8 months ago, but really wanted to post about it as this band rose quickly to being one of my favourite bands. Merchandise - Strange Songs in the Dark. Put out as a dual release between Katorga Works & Drugged Conscience in 2010.


Heard about them through excellent and worthy blog I Could Die Tomorrow around the time of the release of the Schoolyard Remix 7" (2010) and that song hooked me immediately. One of the few songs in which I prefer the remix to the original. Beautiful pop songs buried beneath layers of noise, at times reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine in approach as much as sound. The combination of vacant yet tuneful buried vocals and shimmering noisy guitars has echoes of the better side of the 80s underground. Go and do yourself a favour and buy this record (bigcartel currently down). You can also download almost their entire discography thanks to their label/blog gods ICDT linked earlier.

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Death Before Dishonour. Dead by Dawn.

With an order from Coffin Cut Records recently they threw in this:
A test press of their upcoming Chickenshit - Death in Battle 7". Forming in 93 and being over and done by 98 Chickenshit were just a wee bit before my time (but not a lot before) but being a bit of a Perth hardcore historian I was planning on picking this up. The 7" is half unreleased tracks (Side A) and half of a live set (Side B) previously available (good luck finding a copy!) on the "Live at the Castle" cassette released by Pagan Waste Tapes in '95.

They describe themselves as being "influenced by the sounds of anarchy and violence, Japanese Blastcore, old UK Crust & Scandinavian Hardcore, cold beer and a good time" which I think sums their sound up pretty nicely. Thrashy, chaotic and fast crusty hardcore. I might spend some effort tracking down their other releases (I already own the split with UG Man) as i really dig what I have heard.

I got a kick out of the run off groove pictured below which reads "CCHC 1% A Toohey Red".





Saturday 21 July 2012

Petrol Sniffer

Was very happy to grab this from The Bay recently. The Self Titled 7" by Sydney rippers Taipan. Notoriously violent live, this 7" attempts to capture that raw intensity. I prefer the material on this to the much better recorded and produced "Ten Day Dawn" 7" of last year.

Many people make a big deal about the supposed "black metal" influence in their sound, no doubt encouraged by stunts such as the Darkthrone aping cover art of their demo. Personally though I wouldn't say I hear 'Black' per se but I definitely hear Death. Especially on the raging 'Khanate' with it's melodic trem picked riff, very reminiscent of Dismember's 'Override the Overture'.

Instead of centre labels both sides have an amusing hand scrawled note:
"This ain't it sucker"
"Gross, not even in a fun way"

Here is some footage of Taipan getting themselves into a lot of hot water. Total chaos.

Enter the realm of chaos, your nightmare has just begun.

One of the bands that helped introduce me to grindcore (and extreme metal in general) are England's mighty Bolt Thrower. I really lucked out and picked up first presses of both Warmaster (1991) and the gatefold edition of Realm of Chaos (1989). Both records are absolute masterpieces of their style and arguably their best material.

Guitarist Gavin Ward's dense crushing tone and vocalist Karl Willetts' guttural vocals form the backbone of the classic Bolt Thrower sound, perfected on these two records. Hitting a great mix between the fast blasting material and a slower death metal influenced riffing style are what make the band so unique. Riffs like the epic and catchy "Eternal War" and the grinding mid paced "World Eater" are hardly bettered in the world of extreme metal.

'Realm of Chaos' had the original lyrics booklet featuring the lyrics aside artwork taken from the world of Warhammer 40k, obviously a massive inspiration on the band. For closeups on select pages see below. The dark unforgiving world depicted really adds to the whole experience of the band and the original artwork is infinitely better then the recent CD release. For an interesting read as to why they had to change the artwork and how the band feels about this (VERY displeased) read the Ask Earache blog here.


Tuesday 17 July 2012

Gene Mutation

So this is the Kromosom demo released by singer Yeap's label Hardcore Victim in 2010.

I don't think I really need to talk about this too much as most of the people who read this blog would already be into this band. I will just say I like this band more then I liked Pisschrist.

For bragging rights I also have a copy of the "Official Bootleg" version released by Total Fucker for the US tour. It basically looks the same except the cover is orange. So i figured it wasn't worth a photo, plus i am feeling slack tonight. Mine is hand numbered 14/50 for those who want to geek out with me.

Distort Finlandia

Caught these cats live a while back with The Zingers and they absolutely blew me away. Total Finnish hardcore worship of the highest order. Soon as i got home I sourced a copy of their demo from Magick Crowbar. Since then i have seen copies floating around at Missing Link and distros here and there. I can't recommend seeing them live and picking this up enough.

Unique aggressive screaming/yelled vocals and wailing guitar, self described as a mix between Discharge, Disclose & Disorder this should appeal to fans of Kromosom. No big surprise seeing as they have an ex-member in their ranks (Matt for those curious).

 

You can read a short but interesting excerpt of an upcoming interview with them from 'Stitches in my Head' zine here. Amusingly the first time i stumbled across that zine was the day after i received 8 stitches to my head after an Extortion show that they happened to be reviewing. This tape has got me wired to hear the Flexi when it comes out. Brisbane fans if you dig you can catch them on tour June 15th (Animal House) and June 16th (Squatters Arms) with all round great dudes Vaginors.

Saturday 23 June 2012

Subhumanoid Worship

Found this little gem in Missing Link and snapped it up immediately. The Dead Ends - Artificial Unintelligence cassette put out by N.H.S Records in 2000.


The Dead Ends were a Misfits and Ramones worshipping punk band from Perth circa 2000-2003. They sound pretty much as you would imagine they would sound with those influences. Fun and infectious. I caught a few of their shows as a youth at the local theatre (The Pit Theatre) that was putting on all ages punk shows back in the early 2000s. As is the case with a lot of local bands their stuff (especially the cassettes) is pretty hard to come by these days. All the tracks reappeared on the odds and sods collection "Dead & Buried" released on CD by Rabbit Records 2003 and now re-released on their Bandcamp. Listen and purchase here.

As seen in the pic below mine was 31/100. I don't know if every copy has this but on the information insert the drummers name is whited out (originally said Goonie?) and Tristan hand written in. Can anyone shed any light on this?



Saturday 16 June 2012

Savory

From time to time my local record shop has had a few gems hidden in it's second hand bins. Picked this up pretty cheap:
The 1994 City Slang pressing of Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart. To my knowledge this is the first press (although they pressed quite a few copies, so that doesn't really mean anything) and i am pretty stoked. Classic record that I didn't own a copy of in any format. Came with the original insert and the record, sleeve and insert were all in excellent condition. Being a crate digger pays off sometimes.

Saturday 9 June 2012

"This won't hurt a bit..."

Picked up the Nazi Dentist demo tape from Delayed Response a few weeks back. This is from the first run of 50. I don't know whats going on over there but the Brisbane scene has been killing it recently with Nazi Dentist joining the ranks of bands to watch alongside Last Chaos (see previous post), Sick People and Heroin SS.


Nazi Dentist play a tough style of straight ahead hardcore with dual female/male vocals. I particularly like her parts, really agressive. She sounds like she is going to knife anyone who comes near. None of the tracks are named instead being identified by roman numerals. Track VI stands out for me, hitting a good mix of dirgey mosh parts and typical hardcore speed.

A second run has been released which you can pick up from either the band or Delayed Response. You can download it here but i highly recommend you pick this one up. A band to keep an eye on.

Monday 4 June 2012

Crystal Lake Legacy

In my opinion Voorhees are the best UKHC band of the 90s. Picked up a first press of their debut full length 1994 record 'Spilling Blood Without Reason' with a bunch of other records, which i will post about in coming weeks. Plain Black vinyl.


Absolutely awful cover art. The guy getting his throat cut has a really huge misshaped nose which bugs me whenever i look at it. Voorhees make that perfect form of mid-paced hardcore that makes me want to jump into a pit instantly. I got into Voorhees through the singers (Ian Leck) newer band Meatlocker, who play a very similar style of hardcore.



Final Distort

Last Chaos' 2011 'Wild Men' demo.


Downloaded this on a whim and absolutely loved it. Japanese inspired distort hardcore. Really simple Discharge inspired riffing and completely blown out reverb drenched vox. Almost missed out on a physical copy, luckily all round legends Coffin Cut Records had one left in their Distro.


Saturday 26 May 2012

Mansonic Parasites!

Helta Skelta have been kicking around for several years, but only seem to have become more organised and active this year with the release of their self titled LP. I did catch one of their early shows but haven't had a chance to catch the rejuvenated band live yet. They play a mix of fast, loose, punk influenced hardcore. There is such a great fun vibe to this band, the riffs are so catchy and some could easily have slipped onto one of those garage punk records that were so popular 2 years ago. I have a complete (to my knowledge) cassette collection of theirs:

From left to right: Alternate Cover of Parasite, Parasite Demo and the Cassette version of the LP (available in limited numbers when you ordered the LP). Purchase the LP over at Helta Skelta Bigcartel & download the Parasite demo here.

Aquatic Equine


Drowning Horse are quite simply one of the best bands in Australia at the moment. Absolutely punishing live, they play a mix of drone/doom. Think Grief, Corrupted or Ocean. I picked up their live tape a while ago and I continue to listen to it on a semi regular basis. Perfect cacophonous and epic doom. Comes on a very cool pro-dubbed purple cassette (pic below).

  
Musicially this release reminds me heavily of Buried at Sea (whose 2007 Ep 'Ghost' is highly recommended). You can download pretty much their entire discography (including this tape) over at Drowning Horse. While you are there make sure you download "Live at Seizan". For a taste of the live experience there are a few performance clips on youtube, but it loses some of it's power without the experience of a live setting. I urge you to check them out if you get the opportunity. I also urge you to bring earplugs.   

Friday 4 May 2012

All In Deep Shit

Picked this up on Ebay along with a couple of other cassettes:
I had been hoping to add this to my collection for a while, but it kept blowing up out of my price range. Highly recommended raging fastcore bordering on grindcore featuring future and ex-members of a whole bunch of great bands (inc. Extortion, Jaws). Read more (and download) over at Dullsville.

Inside the J-card is an amusing handscrawled note to Dan: