UNDER THE INFLUENCE

Picked this one up at the same time as last night's post fodder. This is the second EP from Chicago's Manipulation, simply titled "2". Black vinyl on Sorry State Records. This originally came out in 2010, and was kind of on my "to get" list, if just to check the band out really. Their first 7" which I made a very brief post about back in 2010 didn't really get me massively excited, I think in part due to the thin sounding recording, so I always kind of hoped that this would be better. It is I guess. The mastering is much louder which makes it more interesting, but the band are still playing the same kind of flat, singular approach to outsider hardcore, akin to the majority of their label's roster. Take it or leave it I think, this would certainly please fans of a heap of Sorry State and No Way! records bands, maybe even some less wanky Youth Attack acts.

CAN'T BULLSHIT A BULLSHITTER

A recent pick up at a distro at a local show, this Much Worse EP, "Absolute Nightmare" wasn't a record that I was actually on the prowl for. I'd heard the name knocking about in various circles here and there but I hadn't really thought hard enough to bother chasing it down (much the same could be said for a handful of bands at the moment, just don't have the time to check out every single thing that I probably should). Glad I decided to pick this up. Based off the cover art alone, you couldn't be blamed for assuming this was some kind of new Youth Attack release, and to be honest, with the sound that these guys have captured with this EP, it would certainly slot in pretty easily with that label, but no, this comes about thanks to the ever consistent No Way! Records. Black wax. The basic wrap that these guys seem to get is of the Japanese hardcore variety, and I hear them biting that style a little here, but it certainly isn't an overwhelmingly obvious approach, and I'd much sooner compare this to some early 80's outsider USHC band before anything like Deathside or Bastard. As I've said before, I'm no Japcore purist though and maybe I'm missing something?

FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE

I've posted a couple of times about Repugnant. Flawless, classic Swedish death metal. Of all of their stuff I'd say that this record "Hecatomb" is their outright best material. Originally unleashed as a 7" back in 1999 by To The Death Records, to be followed in reissue as a 12" by Unveiling The Wicked the following year, those original version often sell for upwards of $100, a price that I have never been able to bring myself to pay. Luckily, Hammerheart Records decided to reissue the EP as a 12" again this year. Mine is on red wax, I think a clear version was pressed also. Compared to the bands brilliant full length, "Epitome Of Darkness", this thing is considerably rougher in nature. One song from here went on to be re-recorded for that album, but a couple of the other songs could arguably be their best material no contest, namely the track "Rapturous Genocide". That song didn't actually appear on the original 7" version, it was only introduced to the vinyl format via the first 12" reissue after it's first incarnation on their early "Spawn Of Pure Malevolence" demo tape. It's a fantastic song that progresses through various stages and styles. Plenty of blasts, plenty of tremolo picking. They also manage to include a Celtic Frost cover here too, and they pull it off surprisingly well. Very happy to finally own this one, though I'd love to get my hands on an original 7" version too.

PRETENDERS

I first read up about Wolfsblood out of Winnepeg in a recent issue of Counterfeit Garbage. The interview and general things that the guys from that rag had to say about the band were enough to stoke some kind of interest in me. To date they've only got two demo tapes under their collective belts, both of the gruff east coast ilk. Think a pretty obvious Boston assault peppered with quite a few get low, slam bits. The first tape, here, is somewhat accomplished, though the vocalists pipes come off a little weak, as does the recording. To be honest, had I come across the band at a stage when this was all they had kicking about, I doubt very much that I would have taken much of an interest in them.

It's all about their second demo tape. The loud, thick recording reminds me heaps of the Violent Minds "Riot" single, though it is a little bit cleaner than that record. The band experiment with more slower bits than VM too, but in general I'd certainly say that both bands bite similar styles. Based entirley off this recording, I am really hopeful that the band does more. Great hardcore.

EMPTY THREAT

This is the Australian tape version of the Violent Reaction EP, put together by Thomo at Rain On The Parade Records. 50 copies only, it's very possible that it's sold out by now, but you might be better off asking him. Artwork by a Brisbane local, Jack Dyer, and as I have already stated, this is my favourite release of 2012, not an ounce of contest. I still have some shirts left with this exact artwork. Hit me up if you would like one. Selling at cost price.

SHUT YOU OUT

Hands down, THE record of the year is now in my paws. I've blogged a number of times about Liverpool's Violent Reaction over the last few weeks for various reasons so maybe regular readers know how excited I am about this? This is the bands s/t debut EP pressed by Static Shock Records and Quality Control. This record is part of the (somewhat limited) first press that is pretty close to being sold out (if it's not already). I think I heard that a second press would be happening soon. Straight up, driving, ugly hardcore from The North that takes pretty blatant cues from many of USHC's founding forefathers. Tip of the cap to the vast majority of the mid west across to the upper east coast with a bit of an Oi! sound thrown in too here and there. Now last year (or maybe very early this year?) I posted about the bands demo. I was really into that tape, but this just casts a massive shadow over that recording, and everything else released this year for that matter. As I've mentioned before, at the time of writing and recording this EP, VxR was the work of one bloke, Mr Pimlott handling all duties. As I type this though, I'm pretty sure while still being his baby, he's got a lot of help in various English punk chaps. Everything about this EP is perfect; every song is a banger, really catchy stuff with the perfect balance of fast and slow and slam, Tom sounds like an animal and the recording is spot on. I really can't speak more highly about this thing. I've been listening to the digital version non stop for weeks on end now, and I know I'll be spinning this platter for many more weeks to come. Essential hardcore.

DESPERATE CRY

More (early) 90's mainstream metal in the form of this OG press of the 1991 Sepultura essential, "Arise" on Roadracer Records. I honestly don't know why it took me so long to get my hands on this one. Regardless of where the band went with later material, I'm of the solid opinion that this is one of the most important metal albums of all time.

BROWN SUGAR, BROWN LIQUOR

Somone tell me more about The Wastoids. I know nothing other than the fact that they did a demo tape and then an EP. Where can I get this EP? Does it exist in hard format? These songs are great. Thank you.

CARNAL LEFTOVERS

Here's the brilliant first demo tape release "Premature Autopsy" from the legendary Nihilist. Doubt I need to go into much depth about the band really? I hope not anyway. Swedish. Pioneered Swedish death metal and the Sunlight Studio sound. Went on to become Entombed etc. This came out in 1988 and for a tape of such age, this copy I recently procured on eBay is in great condition. As I mentioned, this was the bands very first release and as a result the songs here possess a kind of thrashy sound, thanks largely to LG's vocals still being in that somewhat developmental stage. It wasn't really until the bands last demo "Drowned" that he really nailed the low end that helped epitomise the bands trademark sound. Heavy traces of a driving death metal sound soon to come are still very apparent here though, and two of the tracks on this tape did go on to re-appear on the first Entombed album. This marks the second of the three Nihilist demo tapes that I now own. I posted about the tape that followed this, "Only Shreds Remain" at the end of last year. All I need at this point it the aforementioned "Drowned" demo and it's a complete set. I suspect though, that that tape may be the hardest to get my mitts on, it's certainly regarded as their best stuff.

ALTERED STATES

Another notch in the belt for fine Irish hardcore, here's the debut demo tape from Disguise. I knew nothing about this band until Static Shock Records recently upped this tape in the web store for sale, to my surprise to an extent, as this band features members of another Irish group that I am obsessed with and I am normally all over the members numerous projects. The best way to describe this band would be to use various Bastard and Japanese punk comparisons. It actually reminds me heaps of the demo by Japanese band Sex Messiah from a few years ago. Simplistic, mid paced stuff with a semi rough recording, nailed together by heavily delayed vocals. If you liked the reverb and delay apparent in the vocals in previous works of this bands members, you'll certainly be into this. Nine songs here, this thing could easily be pressed to vinyl. I suspect that it may be at some point. No evidence to support such an idea, but I really wouldn't be surprised if it happened. Really really great demo. Heaps of really catchy bits.

DEATH RATTLE

The next Pantera reissue, their final output, "Reinventing The Steal". This album was released just before I left high school, and it certainly had a different effect on me at the time than their previous stuff did. You see, all of their albums leading up to "The Great Southern Trendkill" had been released before I actually took an interest in them and before I'd really discovered heavier metal like this. I think I missed the initial release of that album by about six month or more, so as a kid when I discovered them, I think somewhere in my head, subconsciously I put all their older work up on some kind of pedestal automatically, and instantly regarded them as classics. The fact that I'd never really heard anything so aggressive and something that I connected with so strongly as well was certainly a large contributing factor. So when RTS was unleashed it didn't hit me with quite the wallop that the older stuff had. As an adult though, when I rack up all of the their 2nd era releases, this one would have to be one of my favourites. Simultaneously walking that wire of accessible by the mainstream, while still retaining a pretty anti social approach, behind TGSTK, this was probably their darkest album. A degree of irony also has to be observed though in the track "We'll Grind That Axe For A Long Time". Certainly a response to the wider speculation by the media and fanbase about inner turmoil within the group, citing Phil's alienation from the rest of the band, they were to split less than 18 months later.

WAR NERVE

Pretty sure I've mentioned on this blog before my roots in popular metal of the 90's. The first aggressive bands that I ever took interest in were typical 90's Roadrunner groups like Fear Factory and Machine Head. I still remember the day I bought my first ever metal CD's with my own money. They were "Astro Creep: 2000" by White Zombie (a record that I plan to obtain at some point), and this, "The Great Southern Trendkill" by none other than Pantera. Two years ago I posted about the reissues of the bands albums "Far Beyond Driven" and "Vulgar Display Of Power" when they were initially released, but to my dismay I wasn't able to speak about this record as it didn't get that reissue treatment at the time. Well Rhino Records finally decided to give this thing another shot this year. Beats paying upwards of $100 for an original. Not sure how this edition differs to the original, as this comes as a 2 x LP in a gatefold sleeve but I know that for the first time the track "Suicide Note Pt.1" has been included. For whatever reason it was omitted on the vinyl version the first time around. Probably a censorship thing, I remember being aware when I was a kid that it ruffled some feathers at some sort of corporate level.

Regardless of if I still pay much attention to this band these days or not and aware of how they're generally looked at by most punks as uncool, they'll always be a band that I regard highly. The ethos of the title alone dictated a massive part of my life as a youngster. Whether the band members themselves were just big rockstars making a good amount of cash or not, at the time I think I was too young to really understand the music business (do I "understand it" at this point?) and so as a result I hated just about everything that I regarded as the mainstream. To this day that attitude still resonates within me quite a bit and is likely the main reason why I'm so attracted to things like punk and anti social forms of music. I don't at all maintain any kind of a hero worship mentality when it comes to any bands that I love, but if there's any one musician that I would give a left nut to meet before I die, it would be Phil Anselmo. He wasn't a rockstar, just a social fuck up. He still is. I bet (and hope) he came up with the title for this album.

BRED TO LOSE

A recent acquisition is the new EP "Paranoid" from our own Kromosom. Arguably Australia's most recognised punk band on an international level at the moment, Holy Terror Records recently released this. My copy is on black wax, and as far as I know a few other colourways also exist. This would have to be the bands roughest recording at this point, just blown out, crusty hardcore. I don't really know what else to say. I don't know a massive amount about this kind of hardcore, I just know that I like this, and that the band is fantastic live.

BALL AND CHAIN

Another split, and what could possibly one of my favourites of this year, the Coke Bust/Vaccine split 7". Two labels can be held responsible for this, Refuse Records out of Europe and Drugged Conscience from the US. Now I thought that there was going to be an equal contribution into this record from each label resulting in a single press with both labels names on it. It looks like though, that each label is doing their own presses respectively. This is the Euro version on green wax that was recently sold on the bands Euro/English tour. I think it was a relatively small press and is hence sold out now. I may be wrong though. I have a friend over in England who grabbed me a copy. The Drugged Conscience press is still to materialise, and from what I can tell will be in a larger edition and available more widely once it's eventually pressed.

I've loosely followed Coke Bust and their output since Headcount Records pressed their demo to 7" years ago. I wouldn't say I've ever been the biggest fan but they're one of those bands that I've always just managed to pick their stuff up with a deal of ease. I think their songs here are probably my favourite of theirs at this point. I mean they don't really differ at all from any of the bands previous material, it's just straight up, fast, loud hardcore, but these tracks have a really great, really loud mastering job and as a result are really punchy.

Much the same can be said for the Vaccine tracks. Good, loud, clear recording. Again, exactly the same kind of stuff that the band is already well known for; spastic, misanthropic, bursts of blast violence. I really thought that the band wouldn't be able to impress me any further after their stretch of previous great records, but I'd argue that at this point, this may be my new favourite Vaccine material. It's a bit of a toss up between these songs and the stuff from the demo. I was a little daft and didn't realise that on the previously mentioned Euro tour Vaccine were also in fact selling copies of the Euro version of their new 7" EP "Dead Inside" pressed by Cut The Cord That... Records, so I didn't ask my mate over their to nab me a copy. Bugger. Painkiller are handling the US edition very soon. Will post about once it's in my hands

WILL BY MOUTH

Lack of updates lead to massive backlogs. I've been lazy blah blah blah and now I've got a shit tonne of material to wade through. To start, here's this new split 7" between Converge and Napalm Death on what Deathwish Inc has described as 'vinyl bong' colourway which I gather just basically means it's a press of all random coloured stuff like the last Converge split with Dropdead. Two tracks from each band, a new one and a cover from Converge and two new ones from Napalm Death. The ND tracks are extras left over from the recording sessions of the LP they put out this year that sucks, so to be honest I haven't really given these songs much attention. The one or two listens I've given them is enough for me to know that I'm not really into them. Rather typical of modern ND I suppose, but they suffer with a really boring recording, much like the new album of theirs.

The Converge stuff doesn't really thrill me that much either. Like their songs from the other small record releases they've been a part of over the last 18 months, they're recorded somewhat roughly (in Converge terms anyway), but in a good way. They cover an Entombed classic with a pretty on point approach, but it's not the best Entombed song out there. Their new song doesn't even exceed a minute long and shows massive potential with a really cool, knuckle dragging build up into what sounds like will be a great break, but then said break doesn't really follow through with the thick, groove that gets my fists clenched. I don't know, I am all for short songs, but when your only new material on a new EP barely exceeds 50 seconds, I take it as a bit of a cop out. I'll always back Converge no matter what at this point though. I'll always buy their records and I'll always lord their older material, but I worry that post 2004 Converge is really just an overhyped rehash of their glory days (Jane Doe). With that said though, they launched the orders for their new LP "All We Love We Leave Behind" this week along with a new, really cool song, so maybe they'll prove me wrong?