Man Crush

I have a collective crush on the band Dead Kings. They play good metallic hardcore akin to that of groups like 7 Angels 7 Plagues etc. Early 2000's semi technical/melodic metalcore. Originally Morgan from the band and the groups manager Patrick were the only two I knew, but I did get to meet the rest of the guys this weekend when they did a mini tour here in South East QLD. I'll be honest, I sweat these guys bad, It's quite embarrassing. Anyway, I grabbed a shirt from them. My GF also grabbed a singlet, which I may get around to posting later on down the track.

I love burgundy.

Back And To The Left

Things that fucking frustrate Sean (well, one thing):

Knowing that I have a load or records on the way, and yet they don't turn up. What makes this situation even worse is that my PO Box is on the other side of town (I've been too lazy to change it since I moved more than year ago), and making the trip to a post box full of zero wax is fucking pointless. Fuck you vinyl. Anyway, for the sake of this blog, I made a trip to my local record store this week and picked up a couple LPs. Well it's not like I didn't want them in the first place, I just really needed to feed my addiction.

Texas Is The Reason "Do You Know Who You Are?" LP. I've never been a massive emo/post hardcore fan, but if there's any band in the world that I can really get down to it's these guys. Such a great album, the track 'Back And To The Left' blows my mind every time.

Obviously not an OG press, but this will do me fine.

TUI "Secrets Of The World" gatefold LP. The bands first 7" was hard as fvck, and while I'm not hating on this album, I'm not mad raging on it either. Thought i'd just grab it none the less... you know, sooth those urges.

Clear with black smudge.

And, this book. I can't get enough books about hardcore at the moment. I'm hoping that this is better that any of Rollins own works, hopefully Stevie Chick can put together a good story.

Honey Stomachs

The following may seem a little off topic, but bare with me as I allow you a small insight into the world of a record collector.

I'm a chef, and in recent years I have come to the realisation that it is very rare that I come across another chef who doesn't have some sort of substance addiction/crutch. In eight years I think I've met maybe four chefs who don't smoke cigarettes. In the same time I've met maybe one who doesn't do any sort of drugs on a regular basis. There is always something... nicotine, alcohol, recreational drugs etc. Our standard industry magazine, which doesn't really ever circulate outside of hospitality runs anti drug ads on a regular basis (hard drugs I might add, speed, heroin etc). I've worked with three separate intravenous drug users in the last two years, track marks, sunken eyes and all. It's what the stress of the job does to you. We all need something. The thing is though, I've never really had any kind of addiction to any substance. Sure I drink every now and then, and I do enjoy it, but if I was told tomorrow that I could never drink again, I would have absolutely no problem with it at all. So I have always wondered why I don't abuse anything like this? Why I have no need to write myself off week after week. Then it occurred to me, my addiction is to that of the wax. Now I toy with the theory jokingly with friends often, but it really is true. Well, there are a few things that get me through my day... thoughts of relationships with certain people definitely help me the most, but nothing beats the feeling of popping open the post box at the end of a long day to find a packet of new records. It makes the day that much better. Posting on here really has become somewhat of a hobby for me too, I hope it's worth the effort for my readers. Anyway, what I am getting at is the fact that I realise how much cash I drop on records. My last post is certainly proof of this, and this post here is about to back up the theory even more so. Yes, I spend way too much money. Vinyl junky indeed...

First up is the new Dry Rot LP, 'Philistine'. For a simple hardcore kid like myself, it doesn't get much weirder than this. Noisy, fucked up shit, from christians.
These two records are by a band named Hunter (clearly). The first one is '4' and the second one is '8'. I've glanced at both of these countless times in the last few months at my local record store, but never thought too much about it. I always new that the guy from Alexisonfire drums for them, so maybe that's why I never tried them out. I figured it'd just be some overly clean, moshy, boring crap. But it just so goes that my GF loves Alexisonfire and she wanted to hear Hunter. So we tried them out online, and to my surprise they're not too bad. Yeah, somewhat polished, but interesting none the less. It's fast (quite fast in some parts) and hard.
Organized Crime Records has gone about reissuing the first Integrity 7". It's on blue wax. Not sure of the numbers. They also plan on reissuing pretty much the entire Integrity catalogue over the next 12 months from what I've heard.

Reworked art, but they also included a copy of the OG slip, so you get the idea.

Six Feet Under Records has just put out this Pegasus ep. SFU seems to be pretty 'on the pulse' most of the time. I like what they're doing. Pegasus sound alot like Life Of Agony, wild vocals, with plenty of mid paced, tough as hell hardcore.
Gern Blandsten has just reissued the two Rorschach LP's as a double LP gatefold deal. Seems that the last 12 months has seen a shit load of older records being re-released, but have we needed all of them? I mean I did want this, but really? Anyway...There isn't much to say, it's exactly what you'd expect, gatefold, clean, with some old unearthed photos etc.

Limited to a press of 1000 copies, I got number...

United Nations s/t LP. This band is comprised of a few guys from a few notable bands, though none of that needs the mention here, search it out by way of the google if you need to...
It's a little tricky for me to describe exactly what these guys are doing. I've herd them labled as PV of all things, though that comparison is pretty far off if you ask me. It just sounds like noisy, scrambled hardcore, with some 'screamo' influences. The vocals remind me a heap of the second Fear Before The March Of Flames album, before that band went totally shit anyway.

Red wax.

Last up, something that isn't a record. The Anthrax Club bio. Very keen to get into this.

Mindless Mutant

Okay here comes an epic post. Following is the stash I talked about the other day. The first four records I received in the mail recently though, everything following those four is stuff I grabbed in Melbourne...

Infest 'Slave' LP. This is the Draw Blank/Deep 6 reissue from way back when. Red vinyl. I actually had a stab at an OG pressing of this on eBay a couple of weeks ago, but I definitely didn't have anywhere near enough cash for it. This only cost me $40 though, from someone on a forum I use. Good deal I like to think.
This is the Mob Rules 'Donor' 7" on black. The one and only Pabst Benedickt posted about these guys a few weeks ago, and in turn I thought I'd give them a try. Raging PV kind of moshy stuff from The UK. Pretty brutal indeed.
And this is their split 7" with Crowd Control. CC play a similar style of hardcore I suppose, maybe a little less metallic. None the less they're a great band too.
And when I ordered the last two records, Jamie from Suburban Mayhem was kind enough to throw in this Burning The Prospect/Bacchus split 7". Both of these bands play a kind of doomy d-beat. A mix of scando and maybe a little burning spirit.

Both bands are also from the UK. Bacchus are from Ireland to be precise I think.

Shank LP. Thrashy, sloppy PV. This album is quite the ripper. This bands claim to fame I suppose is their split with Iron Lung from a few years back. The material on here is better than their split stuff.
Brainkiller demo 7". Deranged put this out last year and followed it up quickly with the bands s/t 7". I can't decide which one I like better, both are crazy good. Bastard worship, though a little rougher.
Landmine Marathon/The Funeral Pyre split 7". LM are certainly getting bigger now. Grindy metal/hardcore with female vocals. It's good stuff. The Funeral Pyre play thrash/melodic/black metal. Lots of tremolo riffing actually.
The s/t record from Canberra's Eye Gouge. Purple wax with blue smudges. I think I got a limited cover, it's hand numbered. Thomo, help me out?
Cannabis Corpse 'The Weeding' MLP. Cheesy as hell death metal, that sounds like it was ripped right from Barnes era Cannibal Corpse. I'm not even that fond of this shit, but they've got members of Muni Waste, the idea is amazing, and the cover art is even better. Pink wax dude.
I thought I was buying the new Wasted Time LP when I grabbed this one, then I got home and had a proper look to find that it's just the reissue LP of the bands two previous 7"s. Damn my tunnel vision. Said 7"s were great, but I have heard that the new album is much better. Someone offer me cash for this, I don't really need it.
Disnihils s/t LP. I have raved on about this band before I believe. Great d-beat from actual clean punks from Brooklyn. Saw them live, they were great. Black wax.
The Skin Like Iron 10". Kind of wierdo, noisy hardcore. I think they released this record themselves, don't quote me on that though. Free Cake has also released stuff for them before.

Red wax.

The Acrid/Bombs Of Death split 7". It's always seemed to me that Acrid have been riding the 'Colofan' tsunami ever since their split with Left For Dead. There is merit here though. Good doomy, dark hardcore. Though their half of the LFD split is better than the stuff here. Bombs Of Death play more straight up hardcore (well, compared to Acrid anyway).
Total Abuse 'Sex Pig' ep. 'Flag influenced, noisy hardcore from the US. I suppose you could compare these guys to modern day classics like Sex Vid or Brain Handle.
More 'Flag worship here, this Born Bad 'Moron Music' 7" is nearly flawless. It's cleaner than Total Abuse, but it sounds like they've still got the same idea. I tried to order this from RevHQ months ago, but for whatever reason it didn't work out. I was happy to pounce on this when I saw it.
Another record I have been very interested in getting my hands on for quite a while now. The Fashion s/t 7". This is four Aussie guys living in the UK, playing Clevo scum worship ala 9 Shocks Terror etc.
I know for a fact that the bands drummer Penky has returned home now, and it's possible that other guys have too, so I doubt we'll see anymore from Fashion. Shame really, crazy stuff.
This LP isn't mine, it's my mate Chris', I'm just minding it for him, but I figure I'll post about it. This is the Ringworm 'The Promise' reissue on 'abortion' coloured vinyl. I pre ordered this one months ago, and got it on red/yellow vinyl. Mine also came with the Ringworm demo 7", the Gluttons 7" and a fat booklet of photos etc. This version did not.
Rounding it up, here are some photos of zines I have recently laid my hands on. The first lot here I got at Missing Link. All of these are fucking great.
Distort issues #26 and #27. I have a sub obviously. Don't need to talk about Distort here I don't think. Most people should know what's up. The best this cunt-ry has to offer.
And a handful of cheesy Euro zines that I bought at a show recently. Seriously, Euro kids are weird, but cool at the same time.

The end.

Record Collector Dissector

I spent this last weekend in Melbourne seeing Mindsnare live with a slew of other good bands. I also got to hang out with some good friends whom I haven't seen in over two years, and I was also fortunate enough to make some new ones. As part of this trip I made my way to Missing Link Records for the first time ever, and spent way too much money. Keep me away from good record stores for fucks sake. Anyway, I had planned to publish a post tonight about the scores that I made, but I've got something like 25 photos to share with you, their upload is taking quite a good deal of time and I've got an early start at work in the morning. So I'll try and push out the record post tomorrow night (time permitting, I've got some other plans), or the next. In the meantime though, I'll treat you to this:

It's an OG work by Rohan Harrison. This is the cover of the next issue of Downsided, issue #4. He didn't draw this for me, originally it was for 731's demo tape back in the day, but they never got around to using it (I think because they broke up). He publishes all of his work on his blog, that's where I saw this, and I hit him up for it, as it seems like the almost perfect cover for the zine. As you may be able to see in the photo, there's a few small errors in the work, but he touched all of that up for me with the digital version for the cover. When I finalise one more band for the next issue I'll up the final draft of the cover, though I've made zero changes really, I've just added a very simple header. Gimme a couple weeks and I'll get that done and I'l have more details on the zine itself.

Anyway, I'm framing this.

Thräsh Böëckmän

Slow times here at Skull Fucked. Hoping the flood gates open soon, I do have a good chunk of stuff on the way. Here's a trickle...

Vaccine shirt. Printed on Hanes. Great fit. Pretty sure it's a home job type thing, the ink gets real thick in the bottom right corner. Not a bad job though. This will be a regular wearer. I've raved on and on about this band, If you still haven't paid them any attention, you and I are no longer blogger buddies. I'm still chasing the demo tape, someone hook me up.

Mammoth Grinder "Goes To College" demo tape. They've got a considerably different sound going on these days, but it's great to hear where such a shit hot band started. Plus the fact that I'm a little bit of a nerd for this stuff. Three more tapes to get though, and they're all rarer than hens teeth.

This is of 30, won on eBay from Chris (of the band). Ghost Hunt pays attention to detail and this tape is the proof. The cassette has been hand painted I am pretty sure and it looks the bit. Think I wanna start a little tape label that does stuff like this. Pity the lack of local bands who I'd wanna release.

Crank Teeth

I blogged a while back about In Disgust posting new tracks from their upcoming split LP with Pretty Little Flower on their website. Well they've taken those tracks down now and put up two new ones from the same split, along with a tune from the split 5" they have coming out with SFN. Go check. Great band.

IN DISGUST