pay to cum!

It's hard to believe that this is the first time that this record is seeing it's first official reissue in more than 30 years. After a few bootlegs since 1980, this is the 2011 reissue of the Bad Brains single, "Pay To Cum!". This is red vinyl of 100 pressed by Bad Brains Records. 100 copies each were also pressed on green vinyl and gold vinyl. I think a far less limited amount was also pressed on back. I contemplated grabbing copies of the other colourways, but I only really need one.
The original of this 7" is arguably the most sought after of the entire BB catalogue. I don't even rate this actual song as high as alot of the songs on the LP, or even some of the originals on "Rock For Light", but in a historical sense of the word, I suppose this is the BB classic.
Having never actually seen the OG copy of this, I can't really tell you how true to the original this reissue is in terms of layout. I mean obviously the cover is the same...

...but I suspect that this insert is a new look for this version.

Someone sell me "Rock For Light". Did I say that already?

the regulator

Grabbed this from Lewis at No Patience a few weeks back, the s/t LP by Bad Brains. I doubt I need to go into a huge amount of detail about this band and this album do I? The album that started hardcore as you and I know it. Originally (as you probably already knew) this was released as just a cassette and subsequently reissued a few times over the years in vinyl form. As far as I know, this is the 1997 ROIR reissue. I may be wrong though, Flex may not be totally up to date. Black wax.

The band themselves just reissued the "Pay To Cum" single. I'll post about that tomorrow night. Someone sell me the "Rock For Light" LP.

devoured

Today I stumbled across a track from the forthcoming Soul Swallower LP, "Devoured". The title track infact. This has been on the 'up next' list at Painkiller for a good 5 months now, possibly more. Maybe one day it will happen? Anyway, a few weeks back I won a promo cassette of the album on eBay for $6. Pretty happy with that one to be honest. I'll post about it once it arrives. Until then, mosh to this...

DEVOURED

perfect health

Tonights soundtrack is the Crowd Control s/t LP. I know that I've spammed about this band alot this year, but it's been 8 months since I first heard this album, I still jam it at least twice a day from beginning to end, and every time I do it still feels like the first time. I can confidently say that this LP will be in my top five releases of all time. That's a big deal, they're from Ireland. Not Boston. Not Cali circa '91. Ireland 2011.

CROWD CONTROL LP

simplicity

Here's a band who's sound seems to have experienced a kind of 'modest' progression over the years, Finland's grind masters Rotten Sound. This is their s/t EP from a few years back, I picked it up at my local a few weeks ago for $10. I know nothing about it really other than the fact that it contains all previously released material from various records of theirs and that only 400 were pressed on this grey vinyl. From what I can tell this was more or less pressed by Spine Farm Records just as a promotional tool for the band on tour. Something like that anyway.
They've always been a grind band, they still are, but you can't deny how much more accessible they sound these days. The new LP is more or less an exact splice of early Trap Them and 'Diatribes' era Napalm Death. I can certainly understand how the new sound will appeal to fans of the more kind of 'mainstream' sound ala Deathwish inc etc anyway. This EP spreads across an era of this band before they really started to tread this new path though.
Simplistic, kind of sterile packaging. I know little about Spine Farm, but labels that use ugly barcodes must be kind of big. I've spoken of my distaste for that kind of thing before, I'd hope that most people would agree with me. Why you need a barcode on an edition of 400 is beyond me.
Regardless of my bitching, this is a good little EP and I'm stoked on grabbing it for the price I did. Band is probably at the top of the Euro crop when it comes to this Nasum styled metal/grind approach.

don't get stuck

Here's a record that has been getting a decent amount of rotation around these parts as of late, the new Stick Together 7", "No More Games". Straight up, no bullshit hardcore, I like to compare these guys to bands like United Youth and Free Spirit, being that they've been able to generate a huge amount of hype over the last 12 month from a relatively brief release schedule. Black vinyl. Back To Back Records.
They did a demo last year full of relatively short, angry straight edge hardcore anthems akin to alot of the self empowering approaches of most of the 90's NYHC bands. This record continues along the exact same path, just with a better recording, and what I perceive to be much better written songs. Catchier, hookier. This ain't no youth crew rehash though, this is just tough, fast hardcore. Think Krakdown mixed with something like Floorpunch and you'd be close.

New 7" out on Triple B this year.

spawn of pure malevolenze

Sweden's Repugnant existed from 1998 until the mid noughties. They played pure, driving European death metal. This is their only full length, the "Epitome Of Darkness" LP on black vinyl. Soulseller Records released this in 2006, though I was originally convinced that this was recorded circa '95 or something similar. It could have easily been from that era of metal. This one followed a string of self released demos and various splits, but it is by far the best of their total discography.
Now, I don't know about the scarcity of this album at all. I had been searching eBay for it for a few months with no luck, then one day it popped up for a $20 buy it now price. I snapped it up obviously and then the seller listed another one for the same price straight away. I haven't seen another one since that second copy, but I mean really, it's only been out since 2006, so I can understand if it's not overly chased. Like I mentioned though, I have no real idea of pressing numbers, and this is such an amazing piece of work that I'd hope that every fan of good metal would pine for this. Regardless, this one is getting stored away on a permanent basis.
This layout and design has everything I want in a death metal record. Skulls, old English font and type head, red and black colour theme, and a picture of the band in some grim pose.
There's only one or two other current death metal bands that I can think of off the cuff that play as good as these guys did. They did a reunion last year, I'm hoping they get around to recording some new material.

teeth

I was never really into the Vile Intent demo, just kind of seemed a little boring. This 7" is a fair bit better though. Canadian powerviolence. This is there first 7", "Shadow Of The Skull", pressed by Choking Hazard Records. This came out mid last year. Black vinyl.
What's to say? I always dislike having to describe PV bands. Stop/start tempo shifts. Blast beats, dirgy bits. Duh. They sound like Crossed Out okay. They're good.

New 7" is up for pre-order now at Diseased Audio Records. You should probably get it.

sick society

Here comes arguably one of the best records to come out of the late 80's New York hardcore scene, probably the best in my opinion, the self titled 7" from Krakdown. Common Cause Records, black plastic.
I've seen this go on eBay a few times for more than $4o. I managed to land this for one bid of $10, the main reason I believe being the condition of the sleeve. As you can see, it's certainly seen much better days. Regardless, I am very happy to finally own this, I've lost out on it about five times in the last 18 months I think.
These guys didn't sound like most of that late 80's scene. Much more of a tougher, kind of chug sound. Very tuneful stuff though, with some really catchy rhythms. I feel sometimes that this band in massively overlooked within the grand scheme of that decade in that city. I don't know, I may be wrong, but yeah, I don't often hear many people talk about this band or this record with the same kind of fondness displayed for some of the big hitters. Had these guys released this in '84 and had the chance to do an LP I think they would have ended up being alot bigger.

stay up, stay alive

Another cool Triple B Records band, this is the debut Dead End Path 7" "Death Walks Beside Us" on green vinyl. These guys sound like early Biohazard or Crown Of Thornz or something equally as thuggish. Lots of single chord chug, but hints of metal here and there with the odd creative lead. I'm digging this alot.

This wont turn haters of this style, but who cares? Perfectly suited to Triple B I guess.

Guest vocals by that dweeb from that Eulogy band The Warriors. That band went to shit didn't they? Their first LP was great though. (Edit- Turns out it's the dude from Mother Of Mercy, don't know how that got passed me. Thank you blog commenter).

dull lifeless visions

I've posted about Crime Desire before. I've got a couple of their earlier records, one of which I'm not into at all. "Id Music To Combat The Superego" is just a weird meld of noisy, messy outsider punk. I don't like it. Another of their releases, the "In Lucifers Grip" 7" is much more in line with my tastes and I raved about that EP. There's one or two other records between that 7" and this new 12"EP "Alone In A Dream", but it's safe to say that they are still playing raging, rough house hardcore. Life's A Rape Records pressed this. Black wax.
Minimalist layout and design, I think you could almost bracket these guys into some kind of 'mysterious guy' kind of hardcore vein. Their sound isn't hugely removed from alot of bands like that and that's a good thing, in this case anyway. There's less pretension here though, more window smashing, trash can kicking, fast, raw hardcore.
I don't think that fans of bands like Slices, Cold Sweat, Walls and the like would be disappointed with this record. The band certainly has that moody, uncomfortable kind of sound.

downpour blogspot

The band started one. Follow em. Better than facebook.

DOWNSPOT

death agonies and screams

Seeing as record stay has passed us now, I may as well post about this score. The only thing I actually could be bothered getting my hands on with this occasion, this is the "No Peace/War" comp 7" that has been getting heaps of hype. This record was pressed on two separate colours, this being the international yellow version. A blue version was also made available to USA residents and sold exclusively at Reckless Records in Chicago. I grabbed this at my local, Kill The Music, the shop that I posted about a few days ago. Thank/blame Organized Crime Records, the label that's doing all of these Integrity reissues at the moment.
There's somewhat of a story to this record, of which I don't really feel like going into a great deal of detail about. Basically it's been told that Dwid has had this in the pipeline for something like 20 years, and only now it's come to fruition. What you get here is five holy terror bands doing covers of Japanese hardcore classics. The main reason I grabbed this is for the Rot In Hell track, their interpretation of 'Over The Line' by S.O.B. It's a good recording, made better by the inclusion of Tom of Mob Rules dropping some guest vocals. The other bands on this comp are Gehenna doing G.I.S.M, Integrity doing Zouo, Cape Of Bats doing Danse Macarbe and Vegas doing G.I.S.M. All the tracks are pretty achieved, rather rough recordings. The Integrity song could have been easily recorded in the 90's and the the Vegas track is almost an exact replica of the original (Death Agonies And Screams). I didn't expect them to do it like they have, but yeah they have, and it's great.

Black matte folded sleeve with this obi strip, hand numbered 92/185.

End of the day I think this thing is solely for the nerds out there (like me). All of these tracks would be attainable online for free, if not now, soon. Like I said, I just grabbed this for the RIH song. As you guys probably know, I'm a bit of a slave for that band.