Downsided issue 4

This is the cover for the next issue. It's been a while. Whatever. Interviews with Insurgents, Big Mess, Dead Kings and Get Destroyed. I should make it clear that this isn't ready yet. The next week or two. Issue 5 isn't far behind either. Interviews in that one with Vaccine, Jason Clegg (Think I Care/Dead Black/Eating Rats Records etc), Mob Rules, and The Kiss Of Death.

Capped

Posts coming soon I guess, plenty to yarn on about.

Concrete Cross demo

Stumbled upon this demo recently. Members of Disnihil, Indecision and Celebrity Murders, among others. Great, fast, raw hardcore with impressive vocals. This isn't my upload, but seriously, get into it. Very good stuff.

Concrete Cross Demo Download

Inner Conflict

Pete Steele passed away due to heart failure yesterday. RIP you diamond maverick, may your spirit live on forever through all of us.

Genuinely bummed out. 'Retaliation' by Carnivore is legit one of the best LP's to ever come out of NYC. If you don't know what I am talking about, then we can't be friends anymore.

International Record Store Day

I like popping into my local and picking up a few records. Do you? Then support Independent Record Store Day. This whole thing doesn't really have a huge amount to with hardcore, let alone Australian hardcore, but regardless I'll be at my locals dropping cash. Get down doggy.

RECORD STORE DAY

AUSTRALIAN PARTICIPANTS

"That guy's a goner"

Picked this up at my local today... a new pressing of the Flex Your Head Compilation LP. I've never ever been a fan at all of compilations really, but this is obviously an exception. Any self respecting hardcore kid should know what's going on here.
I'm rather fond of this new press on red wax. Like Craigos said yesterday, you can never go wrong with red wax.

DC's finest.

The new Defile demo tape. Good noisy hardcore from Chicago. This thing came in a week. Very stoked on the fast postage. Also marked with a return address to Raw Nerve. Connections there somehow? Doesn't surprise me really, it is a similar kind of sound.

Black ink on a black tape. I like that.

The new Taipan tape of 50. Pretty much the only band from Sydney that I get excited about that I can think of right now, besides Deathcage maybe. They sold most of them at a recent show in Canberra, but I was lucky enough to grab one of the left overs via the bands myspace. I haven't had a chance to listen to this yet, but if it's anything like the 7", I'm excited.
I'm thinking it may not be anything like the 7" though, if the liner notes are any kind of indication. Perhaps the band isn't happy with the end result?
And off topic a little, I bought this print from a dude on the B9 board. Authentic it is not, but awesome it is.
I was expecting a paper print, luckily though it's on really good quality canvas. The photos don't really give this thing any kind of justice. It's awesome, and massive. Something like $40 postage paid.
Pretty sure he does these to order. If you're at all interested, comment me here, and I'll dig up the dudes details.

Elitist Noisecore Assholes

I bought this LP when I was in Chicago nearly a year ago. This is the s/t one sided LP by Gulf Coast grind maniacs Insect Warfare, otherwise known as the 'Noisecore Assholes' LP, released by grind/PV/thrash mega label 625 Thrash Records. What can I say about this album? It's certainly a virtually impenetrable piece of plastic. 63 untitled tracks in about eight minutes. No guitar, just bass, vocals, drums, and noise. It's obviously only really for the greatly fond of this band. I don't even really listen to it that much, but I'm very happy to own my own copy. I gathered after reading the bands blog, that originally this thing was going to be a shorter 7" record. At least, that's what they were talking about at one point. I guess they decided to put it out like this instead. A perfect epitaph to a brilliant grindcore band. Amazing to eat a bowl of nails to... or something.

Anyway, I made a rip. It's rough as hell, but that's the way it should be. Go on, get to it,

ASSHOLE

Volcanic Slut

Members of Nazi Dust. Obvious influences aside, this is raging death metal by punks. Some dude upped it on B9. This is his rip. I know nothing of this band other than what I've already told you. If you know anything, help me out. I'd love to know the tracks names.

SLUT

He God has Favored Our Undertakings

This is the artwork for the new Ceremony album. I really think this band gets too much hate from clueless douche bags. Really goes over most people heads I believe. This post isn't much more than this, I just really like this cover. Dig it.

Good Friends And A Bottle Of Pills

Okay, these are available to order now. I got mine.

Far Beyond Driven LP Reissue

Did you get yours?

Vulgar Display Of Power and Cowboys From Hell are both available too. No TGSTK or Reinventing The Steel though dammit.

Black Meat

More Perth hardcore...
The Helta Skelta 'Parasite' tape. Blkout! were up here doing shows last week, and they were selling this. I like tapes, of course I grabbed it. This band sounds kind of like Black Flag. Well that's certainly the sound that they are going for I think.

This tape isn't amazing, but the band definitely have the right idea.

And the regular press of the Extortion demo 7". Collection is nearly up to date minus those two limited covers for the split 5", and of course various test presses.

More junk, though this badge is a different colour.

My Own Two Feet

I feel somewhat stupid posting about the following records literally three hours after Thomo already has tonight, but regardless I received my West Coast PV preorders today, and here I am talking about them...

The Extortion demo 7" with the preorder cover. Coffin Cut Records changed the story with this record more times than I have changed my underwear in the last week. First it was a 'Perth only' affair. Then there were 'limited' pre orders of 40 available worldwide that would be exactly the same as all the others, pre ordering would apparently just secure your own copy. Then just before they were due to ship the label decided to put this 'preorder only' pink sleeve on them. Now the label has shed the Perth only idea and is selling the regular version to anyone who wants one via their big cartel store. There's a total of 500 of these things, I'm betting that John and co. really thought that this was gonna be a shit hot record, with crazy demand or something. End of the day, it's just a reissue of a badly recorded demo from five years ago. If you're not a rabid collector of this band (like me), then the only reason to really buy this, is for the two bonus tracks on the end. I shouldn't talk shit though, at least he's done it.

Came with stickers, and badges and all that junk.

I also have a copy of the regular sleeve on the way too. Consumer right here.

The Suffer 'Lone' LP preorder arrived in this.

Both colours. Rohan Harrison artwork. I got a digital download with each copy too. Obviously I don't need both. Holla at me if you want one.
I'm also currently waiting on a test press and a tour press. I never set out to collect this band, but somehow it has happened. I never really set out to collect Extortion in the very beginning either, but at some point I realised I had a fair bit of their stuff so I rolled with it. Maybe it's fate for me to collect Perth PV? White vinyl below of 200.

Orange wax of 100. Liner notes on the dust sleeve.

They're up here next week. I'm excited.

Major Rager

I like to think that I have a pretty broad taste spectrum when it comes to angry music. If you're a regular reader of my blog, then you probably know about what tickles my eardrums the most, but there is alot of stuff that I don't really post about, mainly because I like to gab on about bands that choose to release their stuff on vinyl. I like alot of mid 2000's metalcore too, it just so happens that alot of these bands never put their albums to wax. Not the cheesy, cliche ridden fashionrite, 'deathcore' manure (Emmure, geddit?) either, just good bands that aren't afraid to get heavy. Seems I've been on quite the bender lately too. Here's what's wetting my whistle currently.

Between The Buried And Me- "The Silent Circus"

They just toured here, so that's probably why I'm listening to this so much at the moment. A brilliant meld of metal, funk, jazz, prog and stoner rock, Tommy's often experimental lyric approach always interested me a great deal and always seemed to meld seamlessly with Paul's often obscure fret work. Apparently they got alot better with their subsequent three albums. Seems I will have to check said CD's out.

Dead To Fall- "Villainy And Virtue"

A VIRTUOUS MIND DREAMS WHAT A WICKED MAN DOES. The band really started to develop a more experimental sound after this album, but V&V and the album before this, "Everything I Touch Falls To Pieces" are the two stand outs for me. Both just brutal, relentless, european laden metalcore. Such a great band. Big breakdowns, no shit singing, no fruity haircuts. After this one they started to get kinda progressive, and started to write really lame, joke lyrics. Lame as in good though.

Norma Jean- "Bless The Martyr And Kiss The Child"

No doubt I will cop some shit for this, like I care man. If crucial hardcore dudes can listen to christ-core via bands like Dry Rot, then I'm allowed to enjoy this album. Don't worry, I hate everything they did afterwards, but this CD... fuck man. Heaviest thing ever put to disc. Recorded entirely in the analogue format, with a strict three-take rule, Bless The Martyr makes me want to kill everyone and everything. Listen to this and tell me that the bass and guitar tone couldn't melt the face of satan himself. Listen to that snare sound. I am moshing, palm muted, single chord breakdowns and all.

The Red Chord- "Fused Together In Revolving Doors"

Technical metalcore at it's peak with this release. People argue that their later stuff is better, but to me Fused Together is boundless. Heavy, techincal, experimental. They were often compared to BTBAM during the period of this album cycle, but I never really saw it. BTBAM were doing a much more prog thing, while these guys were just playing as technically and proficiently as possible. Heaps of bands have tried it since. Nobody's really pulled it off in my eyes.

The Black Dahlia Murder- "Unhallowed"

I touched on this last week with my epic wax post, but this debut album by this band is the best modern export of that mid 90's euro melodic death metal without any shadow of a doubt. So many catchy licks and leads. Every song is a banger, even if they do rip on At The Gates shamlessly. Their other albums are good, but nowhere near as great as this.

As Hope Dies- "Legions Bow To Faceless God"

By no means am I as fond of this band as the others in this post, but the first proper song on this album, the title track, is sheer mayhem. When I first heard it, I was at a relatively clueless stage in my life when it comes to heavier music like this, and it quite literally scared me a little. Just fast, misanthropic metalcore with melody and evil vocals. Black metal touches here and there too.

There you go, six metalcore albums that I still listen to on a regular basis. I tend to get alot of shit from certain people about the music that I used to listen to. Suck it dudes, I still listen to it.

Climbing Up The Social Scale

Service For A Vacant Coffin

Sometimes I honestly don't know why I blog. This post took so much work to get done. I use photobucket to host my photos (so I can make them larger, the large option with blogger is shit small), which means that I have to do alot of fucking around. Not to mention that moving around this many photos into the right order using the HTML mode is an extreme head fuck. I have square eyes after this, but I like it. Get comfortable...
First up, the limited cover of the Extortion/Septic Surge split 7". Fellow Aussie guys have already posted in length about this record, so I doubt I need to go into length about it. I assume it's just another way for Sandro and crew at RSR to get rid of some excess stock. I did hear somewhere that this was the second press though? There's nothing to indicate that it is anywhere on the record or sleeve. Black vinyl.

Numbered. Is that an '11'? I can't quite tell.

The second press of the Aerosols s/t LP out on Youth Attack Records. Mysterious guy hardcore represent. I've heard these guys described as PV of all things, though to me it's just noisy, messy hardcore. Typical of that Youth Attack roster at the moment. Killer stuff none the less.

Kinda of a dark, dark (almost black) blue wax with white smudge through it.

It came packaged with the bands fourth 7" aswell. Pretty sure it's all from the same recording session. Most of the bands catalogue has a very similar mix.
More second press Youth Attack stuff... the Cult Ritual LP. I love this band. Just more noisy, messed up hardcore with mid-west touches and alot of 'My War' era Black Flag tribute. This LP is a ripper, but I'll admit that their ep's are better.

Pink wax, it came with a large fold out poster as the liner notes.

The Virgin Witch one sided single out on Free Cake. Took me a little too long to get my hands on this 7", and I'm glad to finally have it in my collection. Two songs. One's a 3.14 minute dirge fest. Just slow, discordant metal with heaps of feedback and crazy shrieks, then it breaks into a pretty up tempo little number for the second track. I am really excited to see where these guys go with the next stuff. Grey and black smudge vinyl.

One sided with this two layer screen print on the b side.

Another Free Cake release, the Mature Situations 'Cracked Pelvis' 7". From what I've heard Colohan has something to do with this band? I'm not totally sure though. Just fast, pissy hardcore from Canada totally built around themes of senility. Lyrics, artwork, song titles, the whole bit. It's entertaining, but how long can a band continue of with shit like this? Time will tell.

Teal wax.

Now I have two copies of both this record, and the Virgin Witch ep. Long story short, I ordered a copy of each from Free Cake themselves months and months ago and they never showed up. I even emailed Free Cake about it, but they never replied. I assumed it wasn't coming, so I ordered both of the records from RevHQ instead. Of course both packages showed up within a week of each other, the Free Cake package dated to be sent out about a week prior. Annoying to say the least? Had the label just replied to my email, I wouldn't have ordered subsequent copies, and I wouldn't need to be flogging them on here. $10 each plus postage fuckers. Get at me.
Youth Attack Records second presses and I seem to be quite into each other. I have raved on about Nazi Dust, so here's their debut 7" on second press green wax.

The demo was better.

More weird guy stuff from Florida, this is the 'Fuck Off Away From Me / Shit Gait' single by Slavescene. Pressed by Deranged Records on blue vinyl. They sound like Void fucked the F.U.'s

Weird guy indeed.

The reissue of the 'Severed Survival' LP by Autopsy on Peaceville Records. This is a classic hands down, and I kinda just stumbled upon it at my local. Snatched up. Blue wax.

Massive poster insert. How good is that artwork?

Gatefold sleeve, with what you'd expect on the inside: a collage of photos and art etc. This is undoubtedly a great record, but I think it's fair to say that 'Mental Funeral' LP cannot be topped. I'll have to get my hands on that one certainly.
Probably my favourite arwork of any record in this post, I finally own the Black Breath MLP, 'Razor To Oblivion'. Black vinyl. This release is fucking great Motorhead worship. I'm a slave to anything with Motorhead or Sabbath riffs. I have the digital of the bands new album, and without giving too much away, I will tell you that they have progressed a great deal since this record. Still working with the Motorhead styled riffage, but also using a heap of euro death metal ala Autopsy, At The Gates and early Entombed. Even later Entombed too.
Don't think I need to go into too much depth about Government Warning? Everyone seems to be into this band, though I'm only just really starting to dig them now. Little late to the party I know. The second best band on No Way I'd say, behind Life Trap. This is their latest LP 'Paranoid Mess' on black plastic.

Rumours of an Australian tour this year.

And their 'Executed' single.

More No Way stuff, the Socal Circkle 'City Shock' LP. More black vinyl. They sound a heap like Black Flag with a little of the Adolescents or something. Fast, snotty, good. They can't spell though.
Fellow blogger Thomo inadvertently turned me onto Nightstick Justice when he posted about them a while back. Good, Boston kind of stuff. Fast, tough, to the point. I stumbled upon their s/t LP at a distro at a show recently.
Also nabbed their 'Mindless Violence' 7". More of the same. Good, hard, fast. I've also got their other records on the way, though they are taking a little too long to arrive.
I loved this bands first album. 'Unhallowed' by The Black Dahlia Murder was a perfect execution of that mid 90's classic melodic european death metal ala At The Gates etc. That album is flawless, and I have the vinyl for it. So when I spotted this 'Deflorate' gatefold LP I had to grab it, even if I'm not into the bands later stuff.
Blue vinyl, with some crazy smudge shit through it. I'm not really into crazy colours like this, but it is Metal Blade Records, so I'm not surprised.
The new Nails album 'Unsilent Death'. Six Feet Under Records. Unsilent isn't even a word. This is Todd Jones or whatever's new little solo thing. I'm pretty sure that I've talked about this band before. It sounds like Trap Them except not as good. I don't take this band as seriously as I should I don't think. Mid rate material, it's barely 10 minutes in length, just like his last 'LP'.
Eh, I rip too hard on it. It is okay. It's fast, heavy as fuck and just dripping in the normal kind of shit that I like. I think I just can't get into it cause it's Todd Jones, the dude who's been in so many bands I hate. Whatever.
Wow, punch yourself in the head, Skeletonwitch! Can't believe I've slept on this band for as long as I have. I haven't been this excited about a more 'mainstream' metal band in years. Crazy good thrash metal from the states. This is their demo 10". This is the first stuff I heard from the band, so I had to grab it. They've also got two great LP's. Looks like I'll have to get my hands on said albums.

Black wax, Prosthetic Records also did a few other cool colours.

I only really liked the first Cursed album, and even then I didn't like it that much. I grabbed this though, the bands last 7", the live one or whatever. It's cool, but there isn't much to it: it's four live tracks.

Second press red.

Local band Headaches demo tape. I'm not even really that into this kind of stuff (Good Riddance, H20 worship etc), but I grabbed it anyway. And it's not too bad at all.

Numbered man.

I won this little ditty on eBay. It's not the first ep design, but this Knife Fight shirt will do. Landed it for something like $10 including postage. Pretty sure it was Dobek from Crucial Times selling it.
Canberra's I Exist were up here touring a couple weeks back. I needed a singlet for the gym, I grabbed this.
And last but not least, new Perth zine Freedom Is Free. It's not too bad. It has quite a minimalist approach, with deliberately simple layouts etc. I like that idea. Interviews with Suffer and Extortion amongst a few others. The interviews are a little too simple, but I like where this thing is going. The editor seems to have good taste in music.
And there you fucking go. Quite possibly the largest post I have ever made. Now go outside and get some sun.