CAN'T BE BEAT

Violent Reaction- "Dead End" 7" (Rain On The Parade) 
First Australian press, 2014 
Black Vinyl /200
Test Press /13

New Australian pressing of the latest Violent Reaction EP thanks to Rain On The Parade Records from Canberra. New artwork by Australian hardcore stalwart Brett Eberhard. I've spoken about the UK press, and the US press previously.

Thomo from ROTP was also kind enough to send me a copy of a test press too, complete with Rose Tattoo rip off cover of 13 copies.

LIGHTING HER FIRE

Magic Circle- "Scream Evil b/w Lighting Her Fire" 7" Single (Hell Massacre)
Second Press, 2014
Black Vinyl /500

The mastery of Magic Circle has been covered extensively on multiple blogs and websites over the last 18 months. Various members of the very prolific Boston hardcore nu-scene giving the long hairs a serious lesson in Doom Metal of the highest order. Their debut LP was arguably one of the best albums to surface in 2013. This is a recent reissue of their first single originally pressed in very limited numbers in 2012. Until this version came about, original copies of that first press were selling for dumb numbers on Discogs and the like, Hell Massacre's decision to reissue this has stemmed that to an extent. This version has been pressed from the same stamps as the original, the largest difference with this one being a printed sleeve with artwork. The original was released in only a dust sleeve. Two songs as the title suggests, the lead track appearing on the LP, the B side only being made available here.

SWALLOW

Caged Grave- "Swallow // Unforgiven" 5" (Asbestos Death)
First Edition, 2014
Black Vinyl, Lathe Cut 47/50

Melbourne's Caged Grave and Asbestos Death Records from Perth continue their respective assaults on Australian hardcore with this freshly released 5". Lathe cut to a number of 50 copies only, it sold out in around a day. Two tracks that run in at less than two minutes in total, the first has existed since the end of 2013 as a download on the groups band camp page, the second first saw the light of day as an inclusion on a recently released power violence tape compilation in Europe. Those familiar with and fond of the band already know what to expect; indignant, resentful, misanthropic hyper blast driven hardcore. Being a hand cut product, the tracks are slightly roughened, but that does nothing to dampen the mood, if anything it suits it perfectly. May the band and the record label continue their grisly barrage on the Australian music landscape.

YOUR KIDS ARE RACIST

Castigated Records just made available to order the debut demo tape, "Life Is Corrupted" from Brisbane's Shitgrinder. Members of Shackles and Idylls playing abhorrent grind violence.

SHIT ASSAULT

UNTOLD DEPTHS

Contaminated- "Pestilential Decay" Cassette (Self Released)
First Editon, 2014

Contaminated from Melbourne are a down-tuned Death Metal act of the Finnish variety. Previously a one man effort, L.M. has recently relinquished drumming responsibilities to Christoph Winkler, skinsman for various current and previous Melbourne Grindcore groups. Obvious lineage could be drawn back to bands of the late 80's and early 90's like Abhorrence and Demi God, and in the context of the majority of the more hardcore orientated stuff covered on this blog, very obvious comparisons could be made to Boston's Innumerable Forms. Fans of that band would surely find something to enjoy about Contaminated. Heavy, slow, guttural Death Metal, peppered with blasts beats. This is the bands debut release. Four ungodly cuts in under 20 minutes or so. More stuff to follow soon I have heard.

WAR AT THE EDGE OF THE END

Eternal Champion- "The Last King Of Pictdom b/w War At The Edge Of The End" 7" Single (Hell Massacre)
First Press, 2014
Black Vinyl /500

Austin's Eternal Champion are a band that have been receiving regular repeated plays on my iPod for the better part of 13 months now. I briefly spoke about them last year following my discovery of the digital version of their debut demo tape, "The Last King Of Pictdom". I missed the release of the hard copy of that tape and I've been searching for it ever since. Hell Massacre (Painkiller imprint) Records has just released the vinyl pressing of the demo so it fills that need for a material copy of this music for now.
It is worth noting that the singer for this band is Jason Tarpey, the vocalist of now defunct Texas cross over legends Iron Age. As I mentioned last time I spoke about the band though, the evolution that Tarpey's vocals have taken between the two groups is substantial and Eternal Champion's brand of Epic Heavy Metal is more or less completely removed from the experimental thrash that Iron Age made their swan song with. Though there's only two songs on offer here, to me this thing is certainly the pic of the recent batch of stuff that PKR just released, and it's a strong contender for my favourite EP of the year. A split with Gatekeeper is due early next year.

DEAD WEIGHT

Peacebreakers/Waste Management/Boston Strangler- "Stompilation" Cassette (Stupid)
First Edition, 2014

Boston Strangler, Peacebreakers and Waste Management did a short tour of the UK a couple of months back, and as part of the tour, Stupid Records did a small run of this "Stompilation" cassette, a three way split between each of the bands. There was only two shows on the tour as far as I know, so they didn't sell everything, so Static Shock Records put some up for order in their webstore a few weeks back. I grabbed a copy.
New music from all bands. Six previously unreleased tracks from the Stranglah, plus a Waste Management cover. Two new tracks from Peacebreakers, a re-recording of one of their demo tracks, and a handful of live tracks. And three new jams from Waste Management, along with a few re-recordings of songs from each of the EP's, and a Cause For Alarm cover.
Pretty solid release if just for the new music from each of the bands. The BS tracks are of the rather rough variety and I'd wager that they'll end up being on the bands next LP. The new PB songs sound like left overs from the EP recording sessions, and all the WM stuff is excellent, with the re-recordings being of arguable better quality than their original versions.

WASTE OF SPACE

Violent Reaction- "Dead End" 7" (Painkiller) 
First US press, 2014 
Random 'Camo' Vinyl /200

The US version of the latest Violent Reaction "Dead End" EP finally arrived after various delays. Same music as the UK version, just differing artwork and flimsy-ass gloss paper glued sleeve and low grade wax. I prefer this artwork though. Camo vinyl, and what discogs labels as 'Range in color from gray marble to a puke green colour.' Australian pressing due soon on Rain On The Parade Records. New LP on Revelation eventually.