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hardcore records on ebay — aggregated and examined
Another genre classic in limited picture disc form: here’s Kreator’s beloved Pleasure To Kill, an original picture disc pressing on Noise. Actually that’s not entirely accurate, this version of the record, for reasons I’m not entirely sure of, has an alternate title: “AFTER THE ATTACK”, and contains an extra song of the same name. For this reason it’s particularly desirable with collectors. I feel like it may have been pressed before the actual general release pressing of the album and thus was released in this slightly altered form, or maybe it was just done to confuse people into buying the album twice, but either way, it exists as an interesting variation. I may have mentioned it in a past posting, but typically these pressings of noise lps, as well as some colored vinyl pressings were offered through mail order catalogs that came inside most of their lps, and generally are supposed to be limited to between 3,000-5,000, which was a small amount given vinyl being the dominant format at the time, and that Thrash was hugely popular.
People tend to make a lot of the fact that Kreator are a German band, and that early German thrash is much more raw, and therefore more credible than say American bands coming out at this time. To me the difference has always seemed relatively negligible, although there certainly is some sloppiness on the part of many a German Thrash band, there are plenty from the United States (and the rest of the world of course) that are comparable. It’s true though, the vocal delivery on Pleaure to Kill makes none of the rudimentary attempts at staying on key that some of the bigger bands from the United States were at the time and maybe for that it gets a couple of extra “rawness” points, but other than that it’s a pretty technical affair. Most people drop it as a touch-stone for proto-Death Metal and a lot of the guitar lines and the overall speed of the music definitely make a case for that, it sounds sinister and grim and has enough percision in the execution that it’s only a down-tuning and gurgle vocal away from firmly treading Death Metal territory.
I got into Hardcore music when I was like 15 or 16, I heard Minor Threat, 7 Seconds, Youth Of Today, Warzone, Dag Nasty, and soon I was checking out as many of the local Straight Edge HC shows as I could. This would have been 1997 or 1998 I guess, which to many readers probably makes me seem really young. Hopefully it doesn’t totally obliterate my most likely questionable “credibility”. All I can say is “time and place”. If I hadn’t been diaper clad in 1981 in Northern Virginia, I would have been putting forth my best effort to catch those early Void gigs. Anyhow, I moved to Boston in 1999 to go to college and I was psyched on most of the Straight Edge type bands that were big there at the time, (although it seemed like they all broke up with in the first year I lived there). At that time my dorm was probably a 10 minute walk from one of the city’s big centers of commerce, Newbury street, where the original location of Newbury Comics still resides to this day. Newbury Comics is actually more known for stocking music than comics (their comic selection is actually pretty shabby), and so I’d frequently walk down and pick through the 7″s and lps looking for something hot.
This was a time in my life when I was basically willing to buy something that looked like it would be cool to me with no other information on what it actually was. I have no idea what about Talk Is Poison’s records looked cool, but I elected to purchase their 6 song 7″ around this time (1999 or 2000). I really didn’t have any kind of context for this stuff, besides “fast”, and “brutal”, and that’s all I really needed. The songs were fast, but not too fast, occasionally tuneful, and generally heavy. The bass cut through with a really distinct distorted twang, the drums were totally ace, and the vocals, really caught my ear as sounding great. I absolutely loved those vocals. Even though they were split between various members, they sounded identical. Very throaty, very angry, and completely raging. Anyhow this was one of the first instances of hearing a less polished style of hardcore where it just absolutely shredded my ears. I think it was a key moment in my formative years. When the breakdown in Right To Die (the first song on the 6 song T.I.P. 7″) drops, it’s absolutely beyond all criticism. It sounds frantic and maniacal, but controlled and deliberate. The riffing only slows down a tad so that the rhythm section can hit you a little harder in the gut, the drums switch to the toms, the bass gets plucked a little rougher, it’s thunderous.
The seller here is has the first Talk Is Poison 7″ on pink vinyl (500 pressed), and their split with Deathreat, containing maybe my favorite song by them, Isolation which has an instantly memorable chorus. The Deathreat side is no slouch either by the way, but that’s for another day. It’s kind of funny they have a split with a band I assume is named after a Citizen’s Arrest song, because T.I.P. certainly sounded a lot like Citizen’s Arrest (who’s 7″ I picked up around the same time period). Food for thought?
There’s a collection lp of these 2 releases, and the second Talk Is Poison 7″ on Prank Records who initially issued all of their records, and members can currently be found in Look Back and Laugh, Cali Love (still a band?), Needles, Warcry, and probably others I don’t know.
One of the earliest NYHC lp rarities is the first Damage lp - Sins Of Our Fathers. Damage have a pretty classic pre-’85 sound for NYC, somewhere between Victim In Pain, Adjustment To Society, and the first Reagan Youth lp maybe. The difference is, they never made it to an actual studio (as far as I know). Instead they released 2 albums recorded live off the board at CBGBs, this being the first and far more rare one on Gnarl Records. Another odd aspect of the band was that they had 2 bass players, which apparently wasn’t so unheard of in New York back in the day, as The Cavity Creeps had a setup like this too. Something like 300-500 of this lp pressed but at least half must have fallen into a black hole because you rarely see it. Cover and insert look to be in nice shape too. Seller has plenty of other key items from all over the board, from Japanese HC, to early post-HC, to South American Metal.
The early 00’s were a fine time to be hanging around hardcore shows in the Massachusetts area. Plenty of shows going on, new demos, new records; good times through and through. XfilesX were a mainstay in the area at the time. As much shit as they got for having a dumb name, you really couldn’t deny if you were there that they delivered live. This is a test press of their 2nd 7″, NBC Mayhem, for sale,which is really when they started to come into their own live and on record. There was a split from this time too, and it was followed by a 1-sided 12″ which is just an absolute crusher. Files kind of stood on their own at the time as far as Infest descended hardcore went, because just no one else (besides Think I Care for a little while) was doing it. Certain labels now churning out dozens of records in this vein like so many flapjacks at ihop were busy releasing either really bad shit-grind, or even worse “bandanna-core”.
Tasty jam from the far east today (for the Sox). Black Flag - My War; Japanese pressing on VAP. One of the coolest Black Flag rarities ever is this lp. I think VAP is a Japanese major, I know they licensed some other big name punk records like Discharge, Septic Death, GBH, as well as a lot of metal, and new wave. I believe this copy would have included an obi-strip if you bought it new, but other than that it looks to be in good shape. One cool thing about this edition of the record is it actually includes the lyrics to the album in English and Japanese. In the US you could mail away to SST for a special booklet of Raymond Pettibone art with the lyrics, but the lp didn’t come with a lyric sheet.
If you don’t know this album I don’t even know what to say. It’s one of the most controversial punk records ever, you either love it or hate it. Conventional wisdom at the time was that it was some kind of sellout, but listen to the infamous B-Side and tell me there’s anything compromised about what you hear. While it may not have been punk enough for purists in 1984, it has since been accepted by many as one of Black Flag’s definite masterpieces. I bought My War as a used tape when I was in high school and found it left me feeling sick to my stomach by the time the second song had started. The atonal leads colliding with Sabbath-esque sludge and minimal basement style production all pointed to one word. BLEAK.
Metal Monday vol. 13:
Here’s a lost classic: Absurd - Drained Of Bodily Chemicals(that’s Scam-017 for the careful reader). Before you protest: this is not the infamous German band with moronic political leanings. This is a should-be-classic Swedish Death Metal band with that muscular and agreeable Sunlight Studios sound. If they had delivered an lp it could have easily been held up with all the greats like Entombed, Dismember, Carnage, etc. Unlike many of the more incestuous Swedish acts Absurd’s members never went onto anything I’m aware of other than the singer doing some time in Expulsion. Originally Drained Of Bodily Chemicals was a cassette release, subsequently it was picked up by the Seraphic Decay/Skindrill guys, presumably for very little in return. One thing that stands out to me a bit about the recording is the fairly natural drum sound which is a little out of the ordinary for the time and place (even some of the stick clicks are left in), but helps inject a little extra energy in the recording. I’m pretty sure this is the first pressing for sale, the 2nd pressing has a pink cover (I THINK). This is definitely in my top 3 Seraphic/Skindrill releases just for overall quality of the songs and powerful performance, worth $40-$50 if you’re interested. B-Side track “See Through Me” is like a mini-Left Hand Path (the song), complete with ominous keyboard overdubs, and horror-movie-soundtrack style leads. All hail the BOSS Metal-Zone.
Just a quick one today, found someone selling a very respectable Japanese HC collection with all the big names past and present. What caught my eye was 3 big time genre compilations:
Lots of cool sampler 12″s came out of Japan in the 80’s and 90’s, and I really think all three of these are cool looking on top of that. Have a look –
Absolute clearing house for 90’s stuff here - the good, bad, ugly, and weird. You might want to take notice of this Cavity “Crawling” b/w “Perseverance” 7″ on Bacteria Sour. This one has a cool vellum cover, is on some colored vinyl, and is probably hand numbered and issued in some miniscule quantity. Cavity were a premier band in a somewhat extinct 90’s sub genre, 90’s Southern Sludge Metal(core). Maybe it’s not actually extinct, but it’s at least removed from hardcore more now. At one time this was an important part of any burrito punk’s diet, now, I’m not quite sure. I think it’s not quite as “in”, which is why you don’t really see anyone wearing Damad shirts anymore. Cavity were more or less a baby Eyehategod on their earliest releases like this one. Later on they got a little more rocked out and were less of a straight oozing sludge vibe, which would probably seem more annoying if a band today did it. You could tell they were originally involved in hardcore, mainly in how angry they sounded, the vocals are strangled and pushed to the max all the time, the music is more about being hard than catchy; straight-up Doom Metalers would just sound more stoned and not quite as aggro.
A classic way to start this kind of record is with a really quiet looped sound effect that’s kind of high pitched and abstract, then after like 30 seconds you kick into the lowest possible note (depending on tuning), with the drummer hitting extremely hard, and probably the vocalist doing a good ARRRGH. I can’t remember how Crawling starts but I bet it’s like that. Cavity had a few jams that took off like that. Another thing you had to be good at to play this style was feeding back. You want maximum feedback between every pause in every song and Cavity really had this in spades. Actually they were able to use it more effectively than most of their peers in my opinion because it seems at no point did they try and reel it in, even a little bit.
Anyway… Cavity, a Sludge Metal(core) favorite. Oh also that Hacksaw 7″ is worth your time if you’re a Swiz maniac.
Yes. A Double posting. Kind of just to get back into the swing of things here.
This dude is selling all kinds of Metal stuff, probably from a collection. Mostly decent thrash and death offerings.
One cool thing not too many people know about though, and a good candidate for a thrash metal sleeper is the series of Speed Metal Hell comps on the New Renaissance label. This one,
Speed Metal Hell IIIis my personal favorite of the series. Basically the label took submissions from new bands, and put demo tracks to vinyl, handing out “record deals” to the best or most willing to sign what was probably a bad contract. Some of these bands went on to issue cult favorite lps, like Necrophagia, Dream Death, Blood Feast, and Wehrmacht, but many of the tracks contributed by them were never re-recorded, making them exclusive. Some bands even make their only vinyl appearance on one of these comps (the excellent Papsmear for instance).
Speed Metal Hell III was issued at the total saturation point for Thrash Metal (’88 or ‘89), a few of the groups on it are already starting to veer into Death Metal-isms, and almost all of them owe a heavy debt to Slayer both in the style of riffing and vocal delivery/phrasing, but most also have something that makes them distinct among the pack. As stated in the past much of the best of this stuff is still limited by genre conventions, but even so it’s cool to see what can be done within those parameters. There’s also a couple gems like the Necrophagia track that have very little to do with Slayer, and much more with just sounding as ignorant and brain dead as possible. Seriously this is one of the least accomplished Metal songs this side of Bathory and Warfare Noise comps.
I’m back! Took an additional day to get here, but we got $800 in Delta vouchers to make it worth the while. So on my first day back I’ll share with you one of my favorite little known USHC ragers. Some may consider this blowing up the spot, but frankly, I already own the record.
Sewer Zombies - Reach Out lp is some of the most tasteless, tuneless, hard core music ever made in the United States, and, specifically Florida. Imagine some people from Chrome & No Trend getting together, getting high to a bunch of Finnish hardcore 7″s, and then improvising an lp’s worth of music influenced by that. This is seriously brain damaging. Although there’s only 1 dude playing on the whole recording it’s credited as a full band, and was released on Florida’s Subversive label. The drumming is primal, basic, and loose, and the riffs laid over it are at best semi-coherent. There’s not much of a question that there wasn’t much more than a thumb nail sketch of where the song would go before the recording started. Lyrically take some of the most miserable, sub-Flipper nihilism, and use your imagination to figure out what songs like “They Died With Their Willy Nelson T-Shirts On” and “Executive Execution” might be like. In the future I guarantee people into fringe freak music are going to be after this lp. True outsider hardcore.
