bidhardcore.com
hardcore records on ebay — aggregated and examined
Well if you’re a collector of early Revelation items you know this is one of the top 5 rarities - Gorilla Biscuits 7″ w/ Todd Youth B-Side label. I’d assume there was an excess of A-Side labels, and so the plant just ran them out with leftover War Zone B-Side labels on the vinyl. I thought these were numbered somewhere but I can’t see it in any of the pictures. The dude selling this tries to make something of the fact that the lettering is purple. There’s really no way to verify what’s more rare though. These were probably the last copies from this pressing sold, and I’d imagine they were just slipped into whatever sleeves were around at the time.
I used to really love this record, now I’d probably turn it off after the first 2 songs. Most of it is kinda poppy which is a good gateway to hardcore for a lot of kids, but the first 2 songs have a pretty straight up NYHC sound like Token Entry or, actually the first War Zone lp. It’s cooler than Start Today (the GB lp) anyway, which at one time was probably my favorite record, and now only makes me cringe. That thing pretty much serves as the blueprint for over-polished octave laden pop-punk/HC hybrids, although I guess it’s directly descended from the first Dag Nasty lp. I’d rather just hear Break Down The Walls… or Breakdown “both demos”… or Break On Through (To The Other Side), honestly. I’m still straight edge though which is more than I can say for some.
If you’re into this, frankly the Buy-It-Now price is probably worth it. These were breaking $300 US a couple years ago, and given the weak state of the dollar, the fact that it’s driving up the price of nearly all hardcore records, and that Gorilla Biscuits are one of the most popular straight edge bands ever, it’d be a sound investment.
I like COC for a lot of reasons. One is that they have one of the all time coolest skull logos. But probably the number one reason is the Animosity lp. It’s kind of Crossover, but it’s still mostly Hardcore, and has been a standard in my rotation for years. It’s not your usual Crossover fair though, as the metal it crosses itself with seems to be more of the ominous doomy variety than your typical Metallica/Megadeth aping found on most “going metal” records of the 80s.
Side A opens with Loss For Words which begins with a roll across some roto-toms and a quick succession of palm muted 16th notes, immediately telling the listener this will be a progression from previous COC records. After some effective start-stop-start thrashing, the band drop into a heavy mosh riff that sounds like something Suicidal might have written if they were a better band. It’s got the same party-mosh beat that Suicide’s An Alternative cultivated, but with a much more menacing atmosphere and a deeper groove. COC doesn’t sound like speed freaks, they sound like pot-heads, and that’s meant to be a compliment. If there’s any doubt in your mind just wait til they shift down to first gear again to Sabbath type sludge, and a gloriously loose atonal solo, that sounds like the 2nd cousin of a classic Greg Ginn run. If there’s such a thing as Stoner-Thrash, this has to be it. Mike Dean’s vocals howl and growl their way into paranoid, angry oblivion with worlds more expression than previous “singers”, Eric Eycke and Benji Shelton, sounding absolutely sinister and disturbed. If more crossover bands had been able to display the kind of versatility that COC does just in the first 5 minutes of Animosity, maybe it wouldn’t have died such a quick death as a subgenre.Next up is Mad World, a reworking of a song originally on the No Core comp with a more rocked out delivery, and more manic vocals. Guitar player Woody Weatherman (great name!) tears a wild solo sure to make the likes of Bubba Dupree proud (or jealous) and Reed Mullin keeps the pace under control playing a little behind the beat for a more savage feel. Side note: I called Reed’s parents house from the number listed in the No Core comp, and while he was not available at the time, his mom was really nice. Consumed is track 3 and it opens with a heavy call response section between the bass and guitar before taking off with the main riff. Holier and Positive Outlook move things along well with some good gang back-up portions, and mind-melting riffs-a-plenty.
Side B of the album is in some ways an entirely different beast. Specifically, it’s from a very different sounding recording session, and while both sides have a heavy sound, Side-B is much more raw. The drums and vocals particularly have a lot of added distortion, the vocals even sound like they were probably sung through a distortion pedal. It’s sort of crazy to think that think that a record released on Enigma/Death records in 1985, that was trying to appeal to a wider audience would have had this sound for the b-side, but there it is. Things open with the album highlight “Prayer” which has Dean at his most demonic sounding, and one of the most menacing breakdowns ever with Dean and some backup shouters repeating the line: “Pray, pray, pray for power” against a riff half way between Pentagram and Discharge. The next song, “Intervention”, starts with some unaccompanied growls and rasps, sounding like someone spitting blood up, and then enters into a circular noodling bassline which eventually gives way to the full band. Most of the songs on this side sound like they were probably written before the songs on the A-side as they are a little bit simpler, and dirtier in their presentation. It makes me wonder if there might be an entire lp’s worth of tunes from this session. Kiss Of Death and Hungry Child flesh out this distort-o nightmare version of COC, and definitely cement Animosity, Side-B, as their most crazy sounding material. The album closes with an instrumental title track, a heavy dirging jam on a couple of sludgy endless riffs. It’s a good way to finish things out.
Reviews from the time tend to complain about the more metallic and “heavy” elements that COC introduced on this album, and I’m sure there are some purists today who still feel their best work is their first lp, Eye For An Eye. Looking retrospectively at their career and where this album fit into the larger hardcore and metal landscapes though, I’m fairly certain that this is their best work, and their most original work. Eye For An Eye is a good hardcore album, but Animosity is just a great album. You could call it hardcore or cross over, or maybe even metal, but I just know it’s extremely ferocious and brutalizing.By the way an added bonus to this album is that it features early Pushead art from before he’d developed his, at this point, extremely tired, dotted skulls+ swirly backgrounds aesthetic. Instead you get an angry bearded man, and some torn up pages from a calander? Hey, I just know it looks cool.
Metal Monday - 22
Black Sabbath Bloody Tour shirt
Iron Maiden 1984 tour long sleeve
PS: Tip of the hat to Nick from Prema. I posted some of his auctions a couple weeks ago and definitely laid into his former band and 90’s HC in general, he emailed me though, and was a good sport about it all. He’s currently busy doing mega-deluxe metal vinyl like a Rotting Christ boxset, and a gold (yes actual gold) Mayhem lp. I have no idea where you even order something like that but as soon as I know I’m moving to exclusively release records on that format.