War Desire

This is the latest LP by Italian crust/doom hessians The Secret. "Solve Et Coagula" is the name and a fast (almost grind most of the time) approach with a doom/sludge production is the game. This comes about thanks to Southern Lord Records.
Black vinyl of some unknown number, I am largely unaware if this thing is/was available on any other colours. I'm not too fussed either, this 180g wax is good enough.
Now this is their first release with Southern Lord, but they have previous releases with other labels. I've heard these releases and they border on boring, generic metalcore ala Norma Jean and the like. With this new LP and label they've taken a much darker, heavier approach and I'm willing to bet that you can thank Kurt Ballou's production job for much of this new energy. To put it simply: I like this new album alot and I don't like the old stuff at all. Any fan of current Southern Lord banter will surely dig this too.

Outcast

Possibly the most hyped demo of 2010 right here, the Boston Strangler "Outcast" demo. This originally came out in the beginning of the year in somewhat limited numbers. No Way Records decided to re-dub it this month. Something like 300 copies of this version exist.
Pretty clean package, I think the record label's original intention was to also release this with some Boston Strangler sticker, but it ended up being too hard to be done or something like that. Who needs a sticker anyway?
Alot of people are rating this as the demo of the year, and I'll admit that it is good. Most of these people sight it's likeness to the classic 80's Boston heavy hitters and again I'll admit that this thing certainly sounds like it was recorded in the middle of '82. For me though, that doesn't make it the demo of the year. I'll readily listen to the Reckless Aggression or Skrapyard demos before this one. Top five though, probably.

Came with a badge, as you can see.

An LP worth of material has been recorded and will be released in the beginning of 2011 I've heard. Very interested to see if they can keep a hold of this sound and energy that they've captured with this demo.

Vomit Hounds

Divisions were from Florida and from what I can gather they broke up last year, or possibly a little before that. Over the course of the bands life, they released a few tapes and this s/t 7". Black plastic, Human Crush Records. Procured via cash purchase along with their "Fin" Cassette (of which I'll post about at a later point, epic tape) from a dude on VLV.
I've heard all kinds of weird descriptions for this band. 'Elements of black metal' seems to be one that's used alot, and I suppose it's not too far off the mark, especially with some of their other material, but to me this record just sounds like noisy, fast, crusty hardcore. They utilise D-beat, one two beat, rough, shitty guitar bits and the odd doom bit here and there. For the most part the tempo runs at a faster pace, and the recording quality is probably the best of their entire discog. To me this is most comparable to some kind of fast-core, though without the stupid gimmickry/pussy shtick. Fans of California Love and possibly early Converge probably wouldn't be disappointed, along with some of the other harder Youth Attack bands.
So as I stated, I got this and their "Fin" tape in this deal, but I'm still after their demo tape and the "Disasters In The South" tape if anyone out there would like to help me out. That would be greatly appreciated.
Hand rubber stamp on the dust sleeve. As most of you probably know, I'm always a fan of shit like this. The tape is loaded to the brim with this kind of human touch stuff.

Life Rot

Another post, another Chicago hardcore band. This is a second press of the debut Vile Gash s/t 7". Cherry red kind of vinyl of 500 copies. Youth Attack Records.
After a series of roughly recorded (and very sought after) demo cassettes, this 7" is a moderate step up in the recording quality department. It's still quite a shitty sound though, so fans of their previous stuff more than likely won't be put off by this at all. My one gripe with the sound though, is it comes across as somewhat 'studio', while simultaneously possessing a kind of 'muddy' quality. While this is my favourite work of the band, initially I was a little surprised by the production values.
Very clean packaging, typical of course of Youth Attack. Matte sleeve, with the inner dust sleeve also doubling as the lyric sheet.

Drab, predictable black and white artwork that I can't decide if I really like or not.

This stuff could probably be pigeon holed as a somewhat mysterious guy approach, but in reality this is just rough, dirty hardcore with a messy production. The best Youth Attack release of 2010, I'd advise everyone to at least give this a try via download.

Fence Walker

One of the better demos of the year, this is the new Skrapyard tape. Straight outta Chicago, these guys play a blend of I guess what you could describe as 80's Boston/NY with a dash of OI attitude. I will admit that I found out about these guys through the last Youth Attack update, but that's not where I got this cassette. I had to secure it via Reckless Records in the windy city. They're primarily a proper record store, but they also have an online portion.
At this point most who read this blog would be aware of who is responsible for the artwork here. It's partially what got me into the band, and it's certainly the initial factor that made me take notice. Thank the one and only Meatdog for this monstrosity.
In the next week I'll be doing some kind of 'best of 2010' list, and I'll no doubt be talking about this cassette.

Feel Like A Man

Cross yet another one off my top ten want list. Finally, here is the Negative FX LP. Easily my favourite 80's Boston hardcore record, I feel like this thing is often grossly underrated in favour of the more obvious stalwarts (SSD, DYS etc). This is the first press on black from 1984. Taang Records subsequently reissued this thing in '89 on a handful of various colours and then Reflex Records did it again in 2002 with a bonus live track.
This record didn't come with an insert, so I'm not sure if it was supposed to. If the insert is missing I suppose I am a little annoyed, though I'm still pretty happy with what I received. Near perfect condition, aside from the browning.

I'd listen to this over Chunks any day too.

Empire Of Idols

I've never been a huge fan of these bands, I have previous releases of theirs, but none of them have ever really got me really excited. I speak of Bad Seed and War Hungry. This is their new(ish) split 7" put out by 6131 Records. Black vinyl.
Because of my lack of enthusiasm for these bands previous works, I kind of slept on this split, until a friend of mine was speaking fondly of the War Hungry tracks recently. And these tracks don't disappoint at all. Pure 90's NYHC worship ala Biohazard and Life Of Agony. Heavy moshy bits with trippy riffage thrown in and some tasteful singing/crooning parts. Of course, this is what War Hungry have always been aiming at, but these two tracks here are just so perfectly written and executed, and the recording is damn near perfect too. Very hard to not love this stuff.
The Bad Seed song here is certainly not a bad effort either, as with most of their catalogue, I just don't get as excited about it, especially with the sheer calibre of the War Hungry tracks to weigh up against.

Worth the $7.

Internal Dialogue

This is a cassette that I've had for at least 18 months, possibly more, but I don't think I ever posted about with proper pics etc. The Mind Eraser demo tape from 2003. This is an earlier Painkiller Records release, PKR #1.5.

The band have made it rather clear about their general distaste for this recording and distanced themselves accordingly. With that in mind this demo is certainly not without it's charm. The recording is somewhat muddy, but many of these tracks appear on the following "Cave " LP and shred on that album. I can imagine hearing the band for the first time via this tape and being blown away. Cave was my first Mind Eraser experience though.
Think I Care and Taste Of Fear covers, they serve both tastefully. I'm rather fond of the TOF re-do of 'Pro Life, No Mind'. The TIC cover is from that bands first 7" too, so you know it's better stuff.

The Fall

Pretty hyped band, pretty hyped record, of which I don't think it lives up to really. This is the new Nomos one sided MLP, "Notes From The Acheron". Thank Deranged Records for this (but not for the three month postage time). Purple vinyl of 100.
Now this isn't a bad record by any means, but I very much do prefer the demo/7", and even the tracks on their split cassette with The Men. What's going on here though is much the same thing... fast, no bullshit hardcore reminiscent of the 80's DC era, and with a reasonably clean recording aspect, perhaps a little too clean.

Four panel poster/liner notes/lyrics insert thing.

And the etched B-side.

Worked On

Mob Rules from the UK are a band that I got really excited about at the begining of this year. With their debut EP, and split 7" with Crowd Control they played a fairly solid meld of metal, mosh and PV influenced hardcore, obviously the stuff that I find the easiest to enjoy. This is their new LP "The Donor", a split release betweem Zandor and Grot Records. Red wax of 100 copies.
This new material sees the band taking a reasonably directional sharp turn in sound, easing back from the straight up tempo changes, blast beats and mosh bits of earlier material. With this new album they seem to be experimenting alot more with (what I interpret as) free jazz and the like. It may sound wanky as, but fear not, they still heavily employ their earlier metallic leanings. There seems to be just alot of what almost seems as improvisation with the fret work and the like. There's still very much structure to these songs, but it's obvious that the band has made a conscious decision to remove themselves from that PV equation.With the new direction in mind, at this stage I am having trouble getting into this as much as I did with the two previous releases. It's alot less predictable, and with that, alot less memorable aswell. Give me a week or two and maybe I'll change my mind (as has been proven many times in the past), but right now, I'm not feeling this as much as the old stuff. Some people have said that this is the UK release of the year, but I'm going to have to disagree with that one. When it arrives, I'll be posting about what I consider to be the UK's LP of 2010.