BEYOND REDEMPTION

With most bands that I am very fond of I normally make the effort to get my hands on one copy of each of their records, even if I'm not necessarily fond of a particular album or two in their catalogue. This records acquisition would be an example of that attitude. In the grand scheme of things, All Our War's "Assassins In The House Of God" is a ridiculously superb example of crushing Metallic Hardcore fury, but it's probably the weakest album of their entire discography, hence why it's ended up being the last that I've brought into the collection. This record has been floating around on my want list for years now, and it's a cheap record to buy, I've just never had a good, affordable way of having it posted my way until the last fortnight.
Having not developed a proper interest in hardcore of this ilk until after the end of the 90's, I sometimes feel like I really missed this band in their proper heyday, and I would assume most of the older guys who were around during the release of the bands earlier works would agree. It's funny though how I feel that the LP that the band released after this one, "Into The Killing Fields" is easily their crowning work and the best album by any group of 2010. In fact I don't think any single album by any band has topped it since. I still spin it just about every single week. Wedge "Assassins..." then between that excellent last record and three genre defining LP's released between 1997 and 2003, and it's probably doomed from the very start. Like I said though, this is still a ferocious album, but when I feel like punching the face of God, I do it with "ITKF", "For Those Who Were Crucified", or "Condemned To Suffer" instead.
As disclosed, my interest in heavy hardcore hadn't properly developed until the beginning of the 2000's, and perhaps as a result my view of the majority of 90's hardcore is a little less than favourable. Apart from a few favourites here and there (the more obvious stuff- early Hatebreed, Buried Alive, early Biohazard, Turmoil, Ringworm, some Integrity etc) it all just seems like either horrendously executed metalcore (Disembodied), excruciatlingly overboard hyper PC bullshit (Trial [though I actually love their LP, whatever]), or a combination of the two (Earth Crisis). Though their first album suffered the same fate as the VAST majority of stuff committed to disc by any band throughout pretty much all of this decade, in a shitty shitty recording, All Out War are one of a very few bands that managed to escape all the trappings previously mentioned and just play demonic, brutal, heavy hardcore. It's been mentioned countless times by countless others, but to me, they're the only band whom A) has the balls to, and B) executes precisely the writing and playing of a perfect splice of Obituary, Slayer and Cro Mags. There is word of a new album due this year. I await the mayhem.

POETRY OF WORMS

Rot In Hell have certainly been quiet for the last little while, relative to their previous work schedule anyway. Psywarfare aren't a band that I have any prior experience with but a little research tells me that they've a solid discography that traces back to the mid 90's. This is their split LP pressed on white vinyl by Magic Bullet Records.
A slight departure for RIH, their three songs here experiment further with the acoustic, folk and noise arrangements first hinted at with their split with Horders and the limited "Studies In Emerald" tape. Again the bands guitarist and central composer, POI handles the clean sung vocal duties. I was really into their contribution to the Horders split, and this stuff is just as good. Psywarfare is the work of Dwid and is basically just a totally noise driven, power electronics soundscape. Hardly the kind of thing I am even vaguely familiar with, but it certainly sounds menacing played at maximum output on my stereo. I don't think the neigbours agree.

CHURCH BITCH

The s/t LP from Austin's Impalers probably should have made my 'best of' list for 2013, but for various reasons I just wasn't able to get my hands on a copy until recently. I've been paying MP3's of the record minimal attention since its release, but it wasn't until I could actually lay this record on the platter and play it at full volume that I realised just how excellent it is.
Thrashing d-beat punk pressed by 540 and Todo Destruido, featuring the identifiable vocals of Chris Ulsh, singer, guitarist and songwriter of popular Death Metal band Mammoth Grinder. From what I can gather, he may be the driving force behind this band as well.

MORE HUMAN THAN HUMAN

The first two CD's that my mother ever let my buy as a kid were Pantera's "The Great Southern Trendkill" and "Astro-Creep: 2000" by White Zombie. This LP is a record that I've wanted to get my hands on now for a few years, motivated mostly by nostalgic values. Originally pressed on release in 1995 by Geffen Records, I wasn't aware until this week that it had been repressed in 2012 by Music On Vinyl with licence from Geffen. Picked this off the back wall at my local record store, seen completely at random. Black wax is the wider press, accompanied by a 180g variety and a coloured version.
As dated as this album sounds in 2014, it's still a relatively solid performance from the band and the stuff of theirs that I'm most familiar with and fond of. I'm unsure of how correctly this version replicates the 1995 edition, but it is a shame that all of Rob Zombie's excellent full colour artwork that accompanied the CD version isn't available here.

TOASTED

The official release date for the first Shackles full length, "Forced To Regress" is today, though I received this in the mail from Resist Records near the beginning of the week. Limited blue wax of 100 copies. Certainly the hardest working band in Australian hardcore right now, these guys have built up an intimidating catalogue over the last two years and have toured relentlessly in support of it. It's not hard to see why Resist were interested in releasing their album. In terms of sound, this thing doesn't stray at all from the sound they've developed in the last 18 months- abhorrent, mosh peppered metallic PV of the loudest order. Mark's vocals are at their burliest, and the sound that engineer Chris Brownbill has captured would easily be the nastiest example of the band yet. I think this will please a lot of Australians.

HEAT DEATH

The last in the impressive catalogue of Boston's speed violence pushers Vaccine is this split 7" with sister band No Faith, pressed by Vinyl Rites. Perhaps a strong if predictable way to go out, Vaccine produce five tracks of uncompromised, break neck, bitter hardcore, exactly what you'd expect. This brings the bands entire recorded output up to about 20 minutes. Excellent.
From what I can tell No Faith is comprised of 3/4's of Vaccine. Their previous LP was extremely comparable to Vaccine in terms of sound and recording quality, with plenty of hasty blasts, though broken up with many more moments of plodding doom and electronic induced noise. Sharing lead singers certainly creates a very similar feel too. Their one track here though runs around five minutes and is comprised entirely of a sluggish, drab, noisy soundscape punctuated with a powerful riff and snarling vocals. Perhaps a polar opposite to that of their split mates. I guess that's the point.

LIFE IS BUT A DOORWAY TO THE INCINERATOR

The sheer scope of the Boston scene is on display again with "Life Is But A Doorway To The Incinerator" from Torture Chain. I've only had the pleasure of blogging about this no-fi Black Metal outfit once when I posted about their only foray into vinyl last year with the LP issuing of "Across Great Landscapes To A Legacy of Blood". This tape here would certainly be my favourite material of the bands though, utilising the biggest and loudest recording of their entire catalogue. One track that nears 25 minutes in length, but boring it never gets, as the song progresses through multiple sections distinct enough that they could have easily been divided up into more shorter tracks. As the music stands though, the progressions make for a drawing listen. I'm rarely so taken with music of this style, but there's something about this tape of the bands in particular that is fascinating. Each section has it's own feel and amazing hook. It also definitely takes the cake for one of the best release titles ever penned.
In 18 months I've only ever seen this tape surface on Discogs once, and that is how I managed to land this copy. With postage from Europe it wasn't a bargain at all, but still worth every dollar.

CROTCH ROT

2010 No Way! repress of the shredding s/t 7" from Chronic Sick. This was originally committed in 1983 by Mutha Records. Not a band that I've researched heavily, all I really know is that they were around for a brief period in the early-mid 80's and that they liked to get a little 'edgy'. It seems that they've probably developed more of a fan base in the three years since this was pressed than when they were actually active. A record that I've been slightly interested in getting my hands on since then, finances have always permitted otherwise. Stumbling cross it recently in a record store rectified the situation.

OUT OF HAND

The latest in this long line of metal classics that Earache Records seem so determined in reissuing in the 'full dynamic range' is a fresh repress of the mid era 'coming of age' Entombed album, "Wolverine Blues". This is the 'rotten soil' press of 300 copies, now sold out.
The album of their entire catalogue that seems to really divide fans of the band the most for long discussed reasons, being a manic for their earlier proper Death material, I still enjoy this album to a plentiful degree. I do believe that it's probably held in a little too high esteem by the hoards of current Entombed-core fans thanks in large to bands like Trap Them and Converge and their cover of this albums title track though.
Original pressings of this record regularly sell on sites like Discogs and eBay for sums exceeding $100, a figure that in the past I have been more than willing to fork over for original copies of the bands older works, but have never been able to justify dropping for this. A great record though, perhaps it's a bit of a shame that Earache have been too lazy to give it the real treatment it deserves, opting to press on cheap, flimsy vinyl, and issue with a sleeve constructed of cardboard with the consistency of that found in a cereal box, an issue that all of these recent reissues have suffered from. The question also remains, do the band see any income from this??

I'M NO FUN

Just a ripping EP from a ripping hardcore band that existed for a while in the middle of the 2000's. "Petroleum Man" from St Louis' Civic Progress would certainly be considered one of those modern classics and one of the better releases amongst the No Way! Records stables. Totally what you'd expect of a band from that label, this is simply shredding, brooding, stripped down hardcore punk that draws a perfect lineage back to classic east coast 80's USHC.

ONLY LIFE

A record that I was particularly interested in getting my hands on but that eluded me for a number of years is this split 7" between the mighty Iron Lung and one of Britain's finest examples of outsider hardcore noise, The Process. An extremely limited 2007 pressing made for IL's tour of the UK had been the main reason for its scarcity, but when The Process made their way to the US last year, Iron Lung Records decided that it was due for a repress and hence it was suddenly made more widely available to people like me. All copies were committed to this dark maroon colourway and the artwork was updated slightly from a previous photo version of the cover picture.
Three tracks from Iron Lung in the exact vein that you'd expect; crushing, disjointed affairs in modern PV disfunction. The Process produce a single track of around six minutes of chugging, depressive sludge not dissimilar from some of the slower moments on their full length album, though with a slightly more suiting recording.

FLESH PRISON

This blog has seen a distinct lack of Column Of Heaven related posts over the years due in part at least to the rates that the USPS charges these days to post to Australia. The last and only time I've spoken about the band was in the middle of 2011 when their demo was under the spotlight. They've only been moderately active in terms of releases since then, unleashing a few short run tapes, an LP, a split 7" with Radioactive Vomit, and this new 7", "Holy Things Are For The Holy" on Iron Lung Records.
Sacrificing the more PV orientated sound that they've displayed so far with previous releases, this EP presents two tracks of droning, plodding noise that can only be described by this blogger as something closely resembling some kind of industrial crunch. Not really surprising I suppose when you consider the people involved with the group and their history within other well known punk and metal related acts. Spanning the six minutes of each side, the two songs here offer nothing that could be considered consistent in terms of vibe or even tempo. Their are moments of blasting, frantic pace that are then offset with crushing, downtrodden noise. There are also moments that could be considered pleasing to fans of more traditional hardcore punk, thick guitars and snappy percussion in tact. But for the most part, both sides of this EP just utilise a depressing, industrial landscape. Not the kind of things that I listen to regularly at all, but still worth playing loud at silly hours of the night/morning.

RAT RACE

A band that have never seen attention on this blog for one reason or another are Brooklyn's Creem. This is their new s/t 7" pressed by Static Shock Records. Following a 7" single and an LP, the four songs here would certainly be their best to date, incorporating a fairly obvious mix of Mid West and Boston styled hardcore with an up to date recording. Probably one of the better (and more popular) bands doing this style currently.

AMPUTATED

I say it with each subsequent post, but Melbourne's Sewercide just go from strength to strength with each new release. Their new split 7" with Italy's Presumed Dead (previously Glory Hole) is a perfect example of pin point accuracy in brutal Death Thrash, and probably the strongest specimen coming out of this country at the moment. Presumed Dead play a similar style, utilising more of a Death influence though, most obviously in the vocalists more guttural approach and the not so crisp recording. As Presumed Dead they have only this release to claim, but their history under their old name presents an impressive discography of a few tapes, and EP and an LP. This was pressed late last year by Unspeakable Axe Records.

PROBLEM SOLVED

In general I hate using the term ironic for anything, but I suppose it would be apt when it comes to how I acquired the following LP. "Domestic Violence Kept The Neighbourhood Quiet" from Sydney's Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) is I suppose the jewel in the bands crown and the last thing they released before they split up in 2009. I landed this record at All Ages in London last month. Sighted by some as one of the strongest bands to come out of the Sydney scene during the 2000's, they were a band that certainly didn't pander to any trends of the time, playing a largely caustic brand of punk that took a properly misanthropic and individual stance against the more mosh orientated bands coming out of the scene at the same time. I wouldn't pretend that I have ever been a fiend for this band, but I do believe that if you're a record collecting hardcore fan in Australia, this LP is essential to the library. I'm a little embarrassed that I've only picked it up this year.