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Colin Tappe has been really non-busy as of late. How non-busy? He’s been playing a Final Fantasy 1 marathon and sending me long emails updating his progress. I love this guy.

Colin’s December UK82 roundup: 

Hiya, I know I tend to only write about UK stuff on this site, but what can I say, I follow the bargains. This time around I found a US seller offing a batch of cheap, but essential, UK82 singles, and if, like me, you worship at The Steamy Temple of Combined Shipping, then you can recognize a good thing when you see it. I should clarify that I have no idea who this guy is, and just found these auctions through saved searches, so I don’t want to be accused of cronyism or anything. Here’re the highlights from what he’s got up:

• Attak: These guys are best known for being kind of a little brother band to Blitz, but to me they were on even more of an inept Motorhead trip than a hard oi! style. Basically all their songs sound like that Blitz track “Don’t Need You,” but worse, and with waaaay dumbed down drumming. I mean, make no mistake, I LOVE this band, and I actually think their LP is better than their singles (a RARE occurrence in this game, folks),  but they’re super retarded sounding in the best of ways.
• Charge: Anyone I know is probably sick of me hyping these guys up, but I can’t say enough good things about this band. I’ve loved everything I’ve heard, but this ep “Destroy the Youth” is their finest hour. Musically this ep blends the vitriol of anarcho punk, the tom-based, gloomy rhythms of the best bat cave/4ad bands, and the momentum and energy of UK82. Couple that musical approach with great songwriting and production and you got a full blown classic on your hands. I’m also reminded of early Proletariat, namely in the vocal department, but it’s obvious both bands were drinking from the same well anyways. And, as if that weren’t enough, you also get four tracks on this one, making it even more of a no-brainer, especially since this one won’t break $10.
• Exploited: Listen, I’m an unrepentant fan of the Exploited, but they had one major flaw, which was a lack of quality control. I mean, with 3 LPs and 8 singles between ’80 and ’83 you’d have your fair share of duds too, and unfortunately sticking to the singles won’t necessarily keep you out of harm’s way with these guys. I mean, if I never hear “Barmy Army” or “Singalong-a-Bushell” again, I’d be okay. But “Dead Cities” is a sure bet, all around. The a-side, “Dead Cities,” would be a strong contender if you had to explain the “generic UK82” sound in just one song. It has that bouncy, pogo pace to it, an instantly memorable sing-a-long chorus, and the power to instantly turn off any egghead boner who think’s Nick Cave’s “deep.” On the flip, “Hitler’s In the Charts Again” starts with an intro bass riff lifted off “Warriors,” and follows through with a similarly mid-paced fist-banger. I really like the delivery of “it couldn’t happen here” during the hook, too. “Class War” is kind of an afterthought, but it’s short, sweat, and has a great shouted chorus.
• Angelic Upstarts: I’m a recent Angelic Upstarts convert, and I gotta say, I’m a fool for sleeping on these guys this long. To me, their first single “The Murder of Liddle Towers” is kind of like the UK “Pay to Cum,” in the proto-hardcore sense. Stateside, people generally don’t consider bands like GBH and Exploited hardcore, and think of the “Leather, Bristles, Studs and Acne” crowd as “punk” for whatever reason, which is ridiculous considering the sizable percentage of people who swoon over Buzzcocks and the lot, but thumb their noses at all the Riot City bands and their ilk (then and now, by the way). To me, any of the early 80’s UK bands who weren’t consciously doing a retro-’77 thing (like Erazerhead or Anti-Nowhere League, for instance) were hardcore, period, and bands like Angelic Upstarts and UK Subs (check out their essential “Stranglehold” single this guy has for sale) who adapted and survived from the ‘70s into the ‘80s are analogous to bands like DOA, Misfits, Black Flag, etc. who formed in the punk heyday, but stayed relevant to hardcore audiences. I love the a-side of this single, with its ripping Townsend style leads, but it’s the flip, “Police Oppression,” that bridges the gap from ’77 to ’82. I mean, I like the Stranglers and X Ray Spex and shit, but I’m into hardcore, y’know, so as far as late ‘70s UK punk goes, it’s the harder edged bands like Angelic Upstarts who I can really connect with. As is often the case, this is the Rough Trade version of the single, which goes for way cheap, so check it out.

That’s all I feel like writing about now. All the singles this guy’s selling are fuckin’ solid, though, so if you need to fill out the meat and potatoes of your UK82 collection, have at it.

Tetsu Arrey

I can’t front like I know lots about Hardcore from outside the USA, but I do know a couple things. I know that Tetsu Arrey have a well deserved place near the top of the Japanese HC/Punk hierarchy, and a lot of the reason for that falls on their first lp which is just a powerhouse of riffs, licks, and power top to bottom. This is POSSIBLY the most memorable song for song/riff for riff 17  song lp ever. By that I mean that for an lp with that many songs, there’s an awful lot of hum-able, stick to your ribs riffs, and not as much blurry thrash as you’d expect. As a sidenote, Tetsu Arrey are also kind of infamous as being one of the most feared groups of men in the Japanese punk scene. They’re well known to be involved in some criminal elements in Japan, and their name roughly translates to Barbell.

The opening track on this lp is called High Way To Hell. I have no idea why, because it’s not a cover song, and frankly, it takes some cajones to name your song after an AC/DC song, but goddamn this is a band that can do it. What a way to bust out on your debut lp. Huge drums start building up, and might I add, these drums sound GREAT for like 1989 or whenever. When the guitars come in its with a busy little riff halfway between Motörhead’s Iron Fist era and Kill ‘Em All Metallica. But when the song gets going, there’s a curve ball, the drummer takes marching style beat. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever heard. Skull cracking, biker Motörpunk, all with classic growling Japancore vocals laid on top. The speed kicks in by the next song and the sound basically maintains the same Motörhead (’82) + Metallica (’83) + Systematic Deth (’86) style… or just Motörhead about 2 times faster, either way, it’s no joke. Everything about the sound and performance is serious and classy. The guitars have a perfect Marshall crunch and sound like they’re played from amps as big as a house. The bass has a pretty much identical to Motörhead fuzztone. The drums are thick and natural sounding. Perfect production, and great songs, I don’t know what’s more to say.

Anyone have the story on why this was pressed in such a low quantity in the first place? I can’t imagine it was cheap to produce. This thing is hard as hell to turn up and I expect a bidding war, especially this close to Xmas. May the deepest pockets win…

Metal Monday, thou hast not been forsaken… Mercyful Fate - “Nuns Have No Fun”:

Mercyful Fate, is one of the greatest of all time. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. As far as pre-thrash power metal goes, their brief reign, before vocalist King Diamond went solo, is unmatched. They nailed 2 perfect lps in the early 80’s, Mellisa, and Don’t Break The Oath, each full of mom-scaring Satanic sing-alongs, wild guitar duels, and spooky fx. But before either they also had a small indie release, a 4 song MLP called Nuns Have No Fun, and while Melissa and Don’t Break the Oath are 2 of my all time metal favs, I think my number one Fate song is actually the lead off track on the b-side of Nuns: Doomed By A Living Dead.

Nevermind the odd wording in the title, they’re from Denmark after all, but just listen to this song open up. Starting with a powerful galloping riff courtesy of Hank Sherman (one of the greatest metal players ever to walk the earth) a few cymbal crashes later you’ll find your self in a neo classical spin cycle of a solo. When the King’s unmistakable vocals kick in it’s in his soulful mid-range, but only for a few lines, because he’s soon working his creepy ear splitting falsetto. It’s not as refined as he was able to get later on, with some some straining and cracking audible, but I don’t think that takes away from anything, sometimes imperfections can make things better after all.

What really takes this song all the way for me though, is that million dollar chorus.

“No way, to suuuurvive this evil nighh-ight. If the dead won’t leave you aloooo-oone.”

The first time I heard this song the chorus stuck in my head for weeks. It’s perfectly crafted multi-layered, and touched by none, and between this one and the next one you get an unbeatable (except maybe by Tipton/Downing) duel axe workout from the aforementioned Hank Sherman, and the equally talented Micheal Denner.

The other 3 songs are almost every bit as good. The title track has a slow grinding riff and total shock rock lyrics that must have driven more than a few moms to throw the record in the trash and ground their deviant sons. Corpse Without A Soul and Devils Eyes both shred and screech with the best of them. All of these tracks were studied the world over by hundreds of metal maniacs looking to start their own tasteless, but technically proficient Satan worshiping rock bands, not the least of these maniacs was of course the original Metallica (no relation to the one that made the best comedy album of 2008), but there are hundreds more that owe a lot to the King and his men here.

Back cover pictured because this is a family blog: