CAUSE OF DEATH

The popularity that this S/T LP from Abuse. received amongst the powerviolence set late last year was definitely noticeable. Regularly this burly brand of hardcore is right up my alley, with many of the bands that have attempted this style over the years getting some sort of attention from me on this blog. And while the music here is certainly an entertaining listen, and one worthy of repeated plays from myself over the last few weeks, it's not quite hitting the same nerve that similar stuff has recently. Captured here are all the right ideas and elements; frantic, hasty blasts offset with slow, plodding dirge, distorted, choppy vocals, and a heavy, murky guitar tone, but the pure cleanliness, almost sterility of the recording is a little off putting at times. Such is the style that sometimes during the slower bits I am reminded of certain moshy B9 style acts, though I doubt for the most part that other fans would get that vibe, or that the band had intended it at all. I can't ignore it though.
On a positive note, the singer sounds heaps like Mickey from Perth group Suffer. Split black and brown press on To Live A Lie Records.

RESURRECTION OF THE WOLF

Reasonable hype has surrounded the release of this new No Warning 7", "Resurrection Of The Wolf". 500 copies pressed by the singers label Bad Actors on black vinyl, all of which sold out in a couple of days. The basic premise of this EP is that it was pressed to raise funds for the family of the bands previous part time bass player Zach who is currently serving time in prison. As such one new song was written and recorded, the title track- quite the expected NW stomper, as well as "Bloodsucker" a number originally by fellow 2000's Canuck hardcore bruisers Violent Minds. Some people seemed confused as to why NW chose to cover such a song by such a reasonably recent band, but it's because Zach fronted the group as vocalist for it's entirety. They've slightly altered a riff and a time signature with their interpretation, though only just.
Well worth it if you're a big fan of either NW or VM, though both songs are available online, so maybe it's not that essential if you're not a fiend. It's been made known that no shows will accompany this record, nor any further recordings. I heard rumours once of new Violent Minds material. Would anyone out there know anything about this?

INTO THE GREY

Seems fitting I guess that another record I grabbed on my recent trip to the UK would be the shredding LP from Nottingham fiends, "Face Up To It!". Certainly a foundation band of the 80's English hardcore scene, and arguably on of the bands that had some sort of influence on the early grindcore sound. A record that I've wanted to get my hands on for a few years now, this is a 2012 reissue on red wax by Boss Tuneage. Originally released in 1998 by In Your Face Records, it's been reissued a number of times over the years.

CRIMINAL BANNER

The amount of positive attention Boston's Chain Rank have received over the last two or three months can't really be over stated. A powerful debut in this demo tape, "The Grip" oozes Boston attitude. Despite the artwork massively reminiscent of the work of K. Crowley and NYHC forefathers, The Abused, the lineage that this band would lay strongest claim to is without a doubt Boston '82 ala Negative FX and SSD. All boxes ticked with this tape.

UNDER A SERPENT SKY

It was an album that spawned a few years of wholly plagiaristic and uninspired 'melodeathcore' in the 2000's, but "Slaughter Of The Soul" from Gothenburg's finest, At The Gates has always been an LP of upmost importance to me. During a recent trip to the UK with my girlfriend, this record, along with a small grip of others was a pick up at the excellent All Ages Records in Camden, London.
On my want list for several years now, every copy that has surfaced either on Discogs or eBay since around 2010 hasn't been listed for a price under $50-$60, a figure that coupled with usually exorbitant international postage rates, put's it out of my 'willing to pay for' range. Lucky for me All Ages were selling this off the shelf for the equivalent of $26 Ostralian dollars, a very reasonable and fair price. I snapped it up. Pressed a few times over the years, including bootlegs, this is the 2002 version of the record on black wax. A far more limited orange version was pressed at the same time.

KILLING FIELDS

Another Slayer reissue, this time the new American Recordings pressing of "Divine Intervention". Stumbled across this one at my local store this week. Essential thrash. Even without Lombardo.

BLACK CLAD RIDER

The brand of epic power metal that bands like Stone Dagger and Eternal Champion play is a largely vague field to me. The established older bands that would lend most influence to these younger groups would also be of a wholely unexplored variety. With the imminent release of the vinyl version of the Eternal Champion demo and now the issuing of this demo tape, "The Siege Of Jerusalem" from Boston's Stone Dagger, I'll have to admit that it's certainly a genre that I need pay more attention, because both of the aforementioned releases are strong examples of a finite and precise exercise in plain old Heavy Metal.
Stone Dagger consist of various members of the masterful Boston hardcore scene. Most notable amongst the rank to most would probably be that of the bands vocalist (and central writer) B. Radigan and his now almost completely identifiable vocal traits. I would assume that regular readers of this blog would be familiar with the guys multiples forms of output in bands like Rival Mob and Magic Circle. Following the latter, it probably shouldn't be of any surprise then that he would choose to front a band of such nature. Any doubts of his proper singing abilities would probably be squashed with these two tracks. Sold out in as little as three days, a vinyl version of this release approaches a release date in February.

PRIME

Possibly the best way to kick off the new year for me, with the new tape release from Mind Eraser. This was sold on their tour of the UK with Rival Mob late last year in reasonably limited quantities. I was pretty keen on getting my hands on this for a few weeks, and I pounced on it on Discogs when the email came through one morning that someone was selling it on there.
It's a compilation tape of a heap of their more obscure and unreleased material. A handful of it has already seen proper releases on more limited things over the years, and some of it hasn't seen the light of day to the general public until now. As most would know, this band is one of the best in my opinion, so anything they do will get two thumbs up from me. I heard talk of one last LP. Here's hoping?

BLENDING IN

One of the more solid albums to come out of the 80's DC hardcore scene was this "Joy Ride" LP from Government Issue. This is a 2010 reissue of that album from Dr. Strange Records on black vinyl. I really feel like this album and band really don't quite get the attention and recognition that they deserve, but maybe I'm wrong. Their sound had started to develop beyond their original three chord structures somewhat by the time this record came out, but it's still solid, belligerent USHC.

BIG BROTHER

Later 1986 release from Melbourne's own Depression, the "Big Brother" 7" on Cleopatra Records. By now the band had really started to turn to a faster, heavier sound, though by comparison to other metal of the time, this recording is still very punk. Some of my favourite material of theirs. A couple of releases followed this one and then they split up.

CRUMBS

Picked up this split 7" between Evolved To Obliteration and Taste Of Fear a few weeks back along with some other records. This cost me less than $10 which I find surprising. Released by Bovine Records in 1996, while Taste Of Fear is certainly a name that most punks and metal heads should at least be familiar with, I really feel like history hasn't been as kind to ETO. Early, almost foundation Power Violence that a lot of bands play these days without ever paying proper homage to this group. I guess it's probably because the missed the original first wave PV explosion of the late 80's/early 90's.

PIGS SUCK

I'm certainly no Disrupt scholar by any means of the word and I'd never heard or heard of Destroy! before I bought this split 7" of theirs a few weeks back. There is some Disrupt material that I find myself very fond of, but this record isn't it. Nothing terrible going on here, but all it really is, is badly recorded crust hardcore punk from both bands. As a relative newbie to each group, you could blindly lay either side down to play, and you wouldn't be able to pick which band was actually playing unless someone told you. Maybe Destroy! up the tempo a little more here and there, but that's about it. Pressed in 1991 by Adversity and Break The Chains Records. Someone sell me the Disrupt/Sauna split. That's the good stuff.

2013

Favourites of the last 12 months. Certainly a strong year for LP releases.

IF Photo- SIMH

LP's
Violent Reaction- "City Streets"
Iron Lung- "White Glove Test"
Magic Circle- s/t
Hatred Surge- "Human Overdose"
Mammoth Grinder- "Underworlds"
Bone Sickness- "Alone In The Grave"
Rival Mob- "Mob Justice"
Entrails- "Raging Death"
Machetazo- "Ruin"
Autopsy- "The Headless Ritual"
Agents Of Abhorrence- "Relief"
Powertrip- "Manifest Destination"
Disma- "Towards The Megalith"
Out Cold- "A Heated Display" (waiting on my copy in the mail)

EP's/Singles
Barge- "No Gain"
Vile Intent- "Skin In The Game"
The Flex- "Scum On The Run"
Death Camp- "Teenage Nightmare"
Perspex Flesh- "Ona"
ZOM- s/t
Shackles- "Disposed Of"
Violent Future- s/t
Strong Boys- s/t
Sick People- "Fakes Rule"
Obliteration- "War Is Our Destiny"
Rats Blood- "Punks Is Mutants"
No Warning- "Resurrection Of The Wolf" (waiting on my copy in the mail)
Peacebreakers- "Everyday Battle" (limited release at Not Dead Yet, wider press due soon)
Koward- s/t (waiting on my copy in the mail)
Wastoids- s/t

Splits/Comps/Reissues
Innumerable Forms/Blessed Offal- Split LP
Abused- "Loud And Clear" reissue on LP (waiting on my copy in the mail)
Mindsnare- "Hanged. Choked. Wrists Slit." LP reissue 
Vaccine/No Faith- split 7" (haven't ordered yet, postage sucks man)
No Warning- "Ill Blood" LP reissue
Slayer- "Seasons In The Abyss" LP Reissue
Slayer- "South Of Heaven" LP Reissue
Breakdown- "Runnin' Scared" Reissue (waiting on my copy in the mail)

Tapes/Demos
Vile Faith- Demo Tape
Coffin Birth- Demo (it never received a hard release, but the digital is local grind mayhem)
Social Damage- Demo II
Eternal Champion- "The Last King Of Pictdom" Demo (limited releases suck. getting a vinyl reissue next year)
Caged Grave- Demo
Genocide Pact- Demo (waiting on the vinyl reissue in the mail)
Ya Te Veo- Demo (no hard copy yet as far as I know)
Torture Chain- "Mutilating Astral Entities" (limited releases suck)
Chain Rank- Demo (waiting on my copy in the mail)
Battle Ruins- Promo Tape (limited releases suck)
Stone Dagger- "The Siege Of Jerusalem" Demo Tape (waiting on my copy in the mail)

New confirmed EP's and LP's to look forward to in 2014 from Shin To Shin, Internal Rot, Shackles, Oblivionation, Battle Ruins, Eternal Champion, Perspex Flesh, Boston Strangler, Bone Sickness, Disguise, Innumerable Forms and more I would assume.

LOG BASE

I know nothing about Rapeman other than the fact that the band was the work of Steve Albini before Shellac. I know even less about this EP. It's a live recording and I think it's a bootleg. It's interesting stuff, but the main reason I grabbed it was for the interesting artwork.

TOTAL CONTROL ZONE

This ripping new addition to the archives is the new EP from Boston's Green Beret, "The Cult Of State". Side Two Records, black vinyl. Those familiar with the bands previous efforts will not find themselves alienated here at all. Just more hasty, distorted, skandi influenced hardcore. A lightly cleaner recording than the last release, but hardly a large difference at all.

CURTAINS

I knew nothing about this new "Live on KXLU 1992" 7" release from No Comment until RevHQ put it up in their store. Admittedly it seems that Deep 6 (responsible party) emails have been going direct to my junk folder now for the better part of six months without my knowledge, and we all know that Bob and co don't really succumb to the arm pit that is social media, so that may have something to do with it.
I doubt that this thing would have much appeal to anyone outside of the fan base of the late 80's/early 90's Californian PV scene. Live recordings have never been a massive crutch of mine, and the thick layer of hiss that permeates the entirety of this recording here does nothing to alter that opinion. You can't ignore it. The fact that it's literally an exact live remake of the "Downsided" 7" may have something to do with it also. No real variance in energy, mania or aggression from that iconic 7", though I suspect this may entertain potential fans that for some far fetched reason haven't heard it. The sleeve doubles as a big fold out two sided poster though, featuring plenty of obligatory live shots and show fliers. For fan boys like me this is an essential addition, but I suspect that that's all it may be.

ON THE RUN

Rabid, crusty, hyper hardcore punk mixed with some sort of gruff Oi approach may be a way to describe Gas Rag and their 7", "Human Rights". Another product of the ever intimidating Beach Impediment Records and subject to their fair share of excitement amongst various circles at the moment, this is just well done, messy punk. All of the songs are of the faster variety, all based around simple chords and a d-beat.