bidhardcore.com

Hello and welcome to a possibly reoccurring feature: Metal Monday (vol. 1?). I know this site is called bidhardcore, but I feel through the years there have been numerous intersections and cross pollinations between the 2 genres, and in fact a lot of hardcore bands aren’t much more than punky metal. This is probably the most blasphemous thing I’ll do today as most of the rest of it will be spent wrapping presents, eating treats, and watching Jingle All The Way, none of which should I be admitting to on the first Metal Monday. Oops. Well I may yet listen to the Misfits 12.25.79 performance.

Also - I have to appologize to AJ - I know making a metal themed day on bidhc is kind of like Hank Hill finding out Bobby wants to go to clown college, but I dunno, I’ll make up for it and be the best college educated clown I can.

Spotlight on a record that I still need, but won’t be bidding on this time around, the Demigod/Necropsy split lp, which compiles a demo from each of these Finnish Death Metal bands onto one 12inch and is the only 12″ vinyl I know of on Seraphic Decay/Skindrill (though there may be one or two more, and there’s at least 1 cd). Getting into death metal in the last 5 years (as I did), is kind of like getting into Star Wars in the same time frame. They already ruined the hell out of that shit. The giants are all crumbled and spent. Mark Hammil is old, Anthony Daniels could not save those abominable new films. Entombed are like Nas where they’ve sucked longer than they been good now. No, just kidding, Nas is still good, he just makes bad records, and Entombed aren’t the only Death Metal band to write an all-time classic followed by a boatload of diminishing returns. I mean, it’s basically the name of the game. This is why I (through DFJ’s guidance) love Finnish death metal. You might say it’s the NJ Hardcore to Sweden’s NYC. I mean NY will always have Victim in Pain, but it can’t not have Riot Riot Upstart as a result, whereas, it will always be cool to talk about Fatal Rage. The short run demo only releases, cult vinyl pressings, name changes, bands that pre-date others, it’s all much better than “here’s their 3rd lp on Earache”. Not to suggest there aren’t tons of cult releases from Sweeden (just as there are from NY) and also not to suggest that there aren’t Marquee bands from Finland (like the ones from NJ), I’m just trying to get a point across, in other words, Finland though somewhat less talked about, is probably cooler. The lo-fi limitations of 8-tracks, and tapes dubbed onto tapes just lend themselves better to such esoteric sounds. The day Death Metal found drum triggers, was a sad day, and I’m sorry to have to blame Pete Sandoval for that.

Necropsy and Demigod are both groups of the cult sort, and are two of numerous Finnish bands to get demo material pressed to vinyl on Seraphic Decay records, a sketchy little imprint based out of Ohio, known for cutting 7″s that were 8+ minutes on a side, xerox covers, and of course, not sending the things people ordered. More than a few of the most classic cult death metalists got the Seraphic Decay treatment, and chances are if they’re on the label and you haven’t heard them, they’re still good. Unless we’re talking about… like… Killing Addiction.

 Also interesting from the same seller

• Macabre -Grim Reality: early gore grind (not very grindy though) I guess. Not very good but I sold a copy for $100 this year. Maybe the first US band to try this? I think this is the repressing though. The original band released copy (which is the money maker) has red and white hand written labels.

• They’ve sold a lot of other cool stuff too like the first Necrophagia lp, a Bolt Thrower test, Carcass Peel Sessions lp on red… have a look

Here’s a quick bullet list I found just as I was about to post the above. The Bathory s/t lp is obviously not a true first press because the goat is not yellow…

• Bathory - s/t lp & The Return -2 of the most classic (duh). These are the black mark pressings, so they’re worthwhile to own I’d say. It’s still a mind blower that the drumming on the 2nd lp is worse than the first. 1st one is obviously the best punk/metal lp ever.
• Beherit - Drawing Down The Moon lp A real black/death cult favorite. So hated in their time, but well liked now (at least this phase of the band).
• Dissection - Storm Of The Light’s Bane piclp… I guess this is desirable. Note that it’s not a repress. 

So til next time try not to bang your head against the stage too hard, and always look… TO THE MOON.