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One of the better slices of KBD here on the ebay machine:

The Authorities - Soundtrack For Trouble e.p.

2 different tracks on here were comped on the original Killed By Death anthology, and I have to say it’s not a surprise those are the better of the four songs by a long shot. The opener “Achtung!” is in my opinion spotty at best. For almost the first minute it doodles around with a surfy intro reminicient of the Wipers that just doesn’t work for me. In the hands of another band it could be frantic or sinister, but here it just sounds dry and unnecessary. Something to pad out this side of the record. When the main riff kicks in it doesn’t have much to do with the intro portion, and instead takes a simplified Dead Kennedys kind of approach with a decent overview of the problems that were facing Reaganized America at the time. Again what could be a great spiraling start-stop hardcore track is left limp in the hands of the Authorities. The vocals are trying too hard to stay on key, and not hard enough to sound pissed, the riffs sound circusy. Basically this is a terrible start to a highly collectible EP. Sorry folks that’s the truth from my perspective, this song is unremarkable in its blandness.

Track 2 is a hit though - “I Hate Cops”. The opening lines: “I hate cops/They’re all fuckin’ piggers” is sung with such obnoxiousness that you know this dude really does hate cops, as opposed to his half-hearted “lets drop the bomb”-s in Achtung. The chorus, a simple “I-Hate-Cops” set to a great melodic and speedy riff. In addition to being on Killed By Death vol. 1, this song was on 2 different Mystic records comps. It’s a one-hit-wonder style classic.

Flip over to the B-side for “Radiation Masturbation”, the other “hit”. This song is great goofy punk wave, like a bunch of striped shirt fools hopped up on goofballs. It’s total nonsense and I’m a little lost as to how it fits with the vibe of the other songs on the record, but it’s catchy and that counts for a lot. It’s also the archetypal KBD style punk song. It’s mildly offensive, a little bit goofy, melodic, and energetic. The last song “Shot In The Head” tries to work a half decent call/response setup around a couple 2nd tier riffs that kind of ensures you won’t remember this song. 

I say you’re fine with just a copy of KBD 1. It’s got the 2 songs you’ll actually care about heaing a 2nd time.

Hello - just a little foreword here, my daily schedule is in the process of a revamp, and as such, I’m still figuring out when I can hit the blog scene. For the time being I’ll hit it whenever I can, and hopefully I will get a routine down. Also, for the time being, if you want to read my thoughts on home recording once a month, check out the Basement Screams column in MRR. This is strictly for the amateur lo-fi/no-fi/beginner crowd. I will not be reviewing the latest guitar center gear, nor will I be giving you tips on the safest way to dumpster dive.

For now - Pick Your King on clear

It’s a classic but also a starting point for one of the most prolific and important music careers of the last 30 years. Jamming it now as I type it’s still a shocker how stripped to the bone everything is. One guitar track without much distortion on one side, a fuzzed out bass on the other, a meaty snare drum behind them, and hoarse shouts in the middle. Riffs are just a few chords crashing into each other, Discharge style simplicity and speed, with the snot nosed obnoxiousness of early Black Flag. 13 songs that just blow by in their speed and simplicity but already have the beginnings of Poison Idea’s tuneful and “song-oriented” approach that eventually came into full bloom later. Observe “Pure Hate” which injects some mid-paced rock ‘n roll tendencies into their otherwise thrashed out tendencies, or the noodling goof-off verse of “Reggae (I Hate)” (one of the best song titles ever). Don’t be fooled though, there’s plenty of 30-60 second string grating throat shredding slammers like Think Twice, Thing Called Progress, or Cult Band.

The original pressing of Pick Your King is on clear vinyl, and comes in a white sleeve. The sleeve itself is one of the best examples of the hardcore “found art” aesthetic. One side has Elvis, the other Christ, and both pose the challenge “Pick Your King”.

Added a link to CC’s favorite posts on the left panel.

Also:

• Gavin Ogelsby jacket at Radio Silence.
• Free Spirit demo available for free download here –> Free Spirit demo
• New Breed tape comp.

ANGRY SAMOANS - INSIDE MY BRAIN

Man these days there’s an endless glut of snotty 2 chord clean guitar hardcore/punk bands that go for the irreverent perfection of the first 2 Angry Samoans 12″s, and unfortunately they basically all miss the point. Still this will not tarnish the sugar coated greatness of Inside My Brain. On this original version (pre-bonus trax) Metal Mike and company take the seeds of early LA HC & Punk but fit them to their already existing 60’s punk fixations. It wasn’t just biting off bits of the Damned, the Ramones, and the Dickies that formed the basis for their sound, but also but also all that inept suburban garage rock found on the Nuggets compilations. In this way, despite all the “fucks” in the songs, the Samoans had a secret pop edge that few bands at the time could match, and few of their imitators since have really been able to grasp. The Right Side Of My Mind, Gimme Sopor, You Stupid Asshole, Get Off The Air — these songs never leave you once you hear ‘em. Gold plated million dollar choruses, it’s too bad they made a stack of bad records after the early 80’s because it’s the only thing that can dim the radiance of these jams. Really not too much to say about this one other than that. It would make could cruising music for spring if the weather didn’t seem intent on staying below freezing at least 4 days a week where I live. Maybe I can pogo to stay warm.

“Brutal” is an adjective that folks throw around wily nily these days. It’s no big deal to a lot of people. Brutal this, BRUTAL that, FUCKIN’ BRUTAL SLUDGE RIFFS BRO, etc. It’s really overused y’know? Brutality, when it’s real, is something that’s primitive and savage. It feels violent at its core, no matter what “it” happens to be (a song, a word, a building). It’s governed by something that’s neither modern, nor refined, nor civilized.

Showing or suggesting a disposition to be violently destructive without scruple or restraint.

Follow me?

YDI - A Place In The Sun (1983).

The cover is a black and white shot with a coarse film grain. The scene is a WWI battlefield littered with dead bodies. One is being picked at by a wolf. Might be a dog actually.

A Place In The Sun opens with a distorted guitar line, much like you’re used to, but also not at all like you’re used to. It sounds like the band was using an older amplifier that didn’t have an actual distortion channel to record with. They compensated for this by cranking the gain knob to its loudest volume, but finding this was still not distorted enough, elected to record the guitar with the mixer actually peaking into the red so as to further distort the sound. It produces something much thicker, much more abrasive, than anything I’ve ever heard. Like Blue Cheer - “Vincebus Eruptum” trying to kill you.  It’s a unique, uncivilized sound, with serious weight and presence. The drums and bass come in bashing in a way that almost equals the guitar sound. Reckless and LOUD. 

When vocalist Jackal makes his entrance it’s clear that he’s on par with the rest of the racket. He snarls and intimidates and growls and howls and seethes all the way through each song. His teeth sound clenched and his sanity questionable. Thuggish doesn’t even begin to describe it. Unsafe might would be an understatement. A Place In The Sun is of the same tradition as No Policy, and Can’t Tell No One. Though it may not have been as ground breaking or historically important, it’s every bit as good. This is the sound of real violent youth in a post apocalyptic world. This music is physical. It crashes against your body with measurable and seismic force. Wood breaking glass. Metal striking concrete. Bricks hitting bones.

Chew on song titles like “Out For Blood”, “Mad At The World”, “Get Up and Fight”, “Not Shit” — YDI (I should have mentioned before that’s pronounced WHY DIE?) are as blunt as a baseball bat, and as capable of inducing trauma. It’s 1983, you’re standing up front, Jackal is wearing a studded leather vest and a Damaged t-shirt swinging a mic at you. There’s a good chance you’ll leave missing teeth or with glass stuck in your scalp.

Brutal.

Turning this Metal Monday over to Stuart Schrader of Shit-fi dot com. Check it out it’s a good ‘un.

V8 “Luchando Por El Metal” LP
By: Stuart Schrader

V8 was the first true heavy metal band from Argentina and arguably the first from South America. Like the classic Argentine punk band Los Violadores, V8’s first LP was released by the independent label Umbral in 1983. “Luchando Por El Metal” is a landmark record, and it’s a shame it is not more well-known outside Argentina. It’s such a classic in Argentina that one can hardly walk down the street without encountering headbangers pledging allegiance to V8 (pronounced VAY-OH-CHO).

The online heavy metal archive site Encyclopaedia Metallum is full of effusive praise for V8, as is the South American metal history site Metaleros, which includes a great history of the band and Argentine metal in general. To really understand where the band was coming from, you need to know about Argentine guitar god Pappo, whom I’ll get to in a minute, but this riff-driven LP really just sounds like a mixture of Motörhead and Judas Priest, with a dash of Black Sabbath. It’s not NWOBHM, it’s FWOAHM. Some of the faster (and better) songs even have a feeling akin to metal-influenced UK hardcore of the early 80s, unfortunately minus Discharge’s drumbeat. Think GBH. (Fans of Canada’s Inepsy would probably love this record.) The production is perfect for this type of music, without any fancy embellishment: guitars prominent, bass drum and vocals next in line.

“Luchando Por El Metal” is not particularly rare because thousands were pressed, but it had zero distribution outside Latin America when it was released as far as I know. Also, Argentines do not have much of a collecting culture, meaning “mint” in Argentina is quite different from “mint” here in the land of Puritanism, and the flimsy stock used for the jacket doesn’t lend itself to durability. In addition, one listen to this LP will demonstrate why it tends to be in “partied-on” condition. It’s a ripper.

Like Los Violadores’ first LP, “Luchando Por El Metal” includes a printed inner sleeve with lyrics. And what lyrics they are! True headbanging fanatics will derive great pleasure, if not goosebumps, from songs like “Brigadas Metálicas,” “Tiempos Metálicos” (lyrics: “Basta de hippies / basta de rogar / estalló el tiempo del metal”), and “Hiena de Metal”—yes, Hyena of Metal! About that last one, which closes the album, V8 collaborated with their hero Pappo on this one (he plays the solo), which I found surprising because it’s the shortest and fastest tune on the record. It actually reminds me of Chelsea’s guest solo on that one Selfish song, if that helps: the whole band concept was inspired by this virtuoso and when he collaborated with them on a song, he threw a curve ball, unlike anything he’d done before. Anyway, the lyrics, as far as my rudimentary grasp of Spanish tells me, combine the dumb dark “poetry” typical to metal since Sabbath with cheeky irreverence, as in the song about a visit to a torturador known as the dentist! (In a country where people were actually being tortured and killed by the military dictatorship, such a joke probably came across as tasteless to both sides.)

To digress on Pappo (né Norberto Napolitano), who died in a motorcycle crash in 2005, this guy was without peer. He was a hero to millions, especially those who saw him as a working-class rocknroll outsider type, the perpetual underdog. He released over a dozen LPs and even more singles throughout his career, which began in the late 1960s. His group Pappo’s Blues, which released seven albums in the 1970s, was a pioneering hard-rock/psych/heavy blues-rock act. In 1977, he formed Aeroblus, another heavy blues-rock band. And in 1980, influenced by AC/DC, he formed Riff, which is the band of greatest interest to me. (I haven’t heard all of what he released, but Riff seems better than either of the previous bands.) Veering more toward heavy metal, away from blues rock, Riff is a band quite worthy of its name. Fans of riff-centric rocknroll would do well to check them out (obviously). I saw a few copies of their records in Buenos Aires; the first, “Ruedas de Metal,” is pretty cool. Don’t pay much more than US $20 for it because thousands of copies were pressed. Psych collectors seem to think that Pappo’s Blues Vol. 3 is the most desirable of his 70s albums, but it doesn’t move me much. Vol. 7 from 1978 was recommended to me as much heavier than Vol. 3, but this one seems to have some sort of “Southern” rock influence, with a bunch of slide guitar. It’s got some cool, slow riffs, but overall it’s not really heavy or ballsy in comparison to what was happening in the UK or Australia at the time. Headline: “Southern rock meets the southern cone: Scumbags rejoice, ride motorcycles, drink maté.” Oh yeah, most Pappo’s Blues songs are instrumentals. You’ve been warned.

Anyway, if you’re not ready to delve too far into Argentine 70s–80s rock, the only records you need from this site’s perspective are V8’s and Los Violadores’ first LPs. “Luchando Por El Metal” is on eBay relatively frequently for buy-it-now prices around $80. That’s too much, in my opinion. But I say you ignore this record at your own peril. One listen and you too will become a hiena de metal.

What the fuck is wrong with people? This is not even a real record. It’s a toy. Also the same seller (Max Ward - of Spazz) is selling a bunch of other Spazz stuff. My rule of thumb: buy any Spazz record for $5 or less, there will be a good riff on it, but there will be some samples from school house rock every 15 seconds. I still dig La Revancha. 

I’m surprised the goons in that band Straight Edge Kegger haven’t tried to release a 7″ bootleg of the Spazz 1″ yet. I’m sure they will.

Funfact: Derek Scace’s wife released the mysterious Spazz/Slobber split. I heard there was some 90’s beef over it.

Here’s a crucial slice of early NYHC, No Thanks “Are You Ready To Die” on red vinyl. Though the seller seems to think it’s a mis-press, it’s seen around from time to time, but is definitely more rare than the black vinyl. According to the band’s singer there were 5,000 pressed on red, which is impossible given how infrequently you see it.

So it was sometime in 2005 and I was on tour with Mind Eraser. As it was the first tour I’d ever booked, it was quite poorly done, and by that I mean, the dates were a total clusterfuck. As such we had a day off in Berkley which shouldn’t be a place you have trouble finding a show. At any rate though, it happened, and somehow (I don’t remember how) Cooch got word that the singer of No Thanks, Donna Damage had surfaced in Berkley and had been on the internet claiming to want to do a reissue of their elusive 7″ E.P., and even to have original unplayed copies. An email was sent, and miraculously a reply came from Ms. Damage that we should meet her that afternoon at her apartment. I felt like one of those punk rock detectives on the Break My Face website. When we showed up Donna was there with her roommate, a former member of a later lineup of No Thanks as well as her metal band Navigator (they have a demo that reminds me of  Détente , another female fronted metal group). They were both definitely in the Berkley hippie mode, and offered to get us stoned, which of course we politely declined because being straight edge is cool. Without missing a beat, she offered us some carrot cake instead (it was not “space cake”). I wish this happened more often, but it’s the only time in my life that it has. Usually people just get bummed I don’t want to get fried. Fucking jerks I say…

The cake was delicious and following that Donna pulled out a box full of photos from hardcore’s early days on the Lower East Side. There were also a few cassette tapes, and yes, a handful of copies of No Thanks’ “Are You Ready To Die”. We flipped through the photos for a while. Early pictures of the Nihilistics and the Undead, a shot of teenage Harley Flannegan, maybe some early Sonic Youth or Agnostic Front shots, great material. As we rummaged Donna told us stories about living on the Lower East Side during the first hardcore era and stop to note things like “that’s my old living room” in photos. She played us the No Thanks demo (which is absolutely killer, and possibly the fastest hardcore released in ‘81), and told us about the troubled release of their 7″. The engineer didn’t like the band or take them seriously, the original front cover art was lost or destroyed, the label was sketchy with their treatment of the band, etc. All the usual shit. After an hour or two we thought it might be time to make an exit, we’d made plans to further discuss doing a reissue of the 7″ and demo after tour (eventually this got bounced to Gloom records, before finally coming out last year on Lengua Armada), and I politely enquired about purchasing one of her copies of the 7″, which at that point was already a 3-digit item. Donna instead offered to give me a copy, and then offered one to Cooch too. In probably the least selfish moment of his life he declined, saying he already had one. Immediately I could read the collector scum remorse on his face, but it was too late.

As soon as we got in the car the first thing he said was “I can’t believe I turned down a free copy”. I’m sure I said something like “yea what the fuck is wrong with you”. Still we were psyched on our experience, and at that point anyway were looking forward to the first reissue on Painkiller. Of course that never happened, and basically every other reissue we’ve attempted has been foiled in some way since. “Wahhhh”.

Regardless No Thanks were a great early hardcore band. I think they’re probably most similar to the punky scuzz of Urban Waste, but a little heavier in terms of protest lyrics and politics. Donna is probably one of the hardest female singers I’ve ever heard. Absolutely great vocals. Ladies take note: sing like this in a band instead of trying to copy Penelope Houston. Are there any females even reading this blog?

Hey real talk - pick up the lp reissue of this stuff on Lengua Armada, it’s well done and worth your time if you dig early NYHC.

For its day, The Zero Boys “Vicious Circle” lpis a bit of a curiosity. A lot of the songs are bouncy Middle Class style thrashers that are just tuneful enough to stick to your ribs, but there’s also a fair amount of rockin’ mid-paced material that really sounds a lot like Leave Home/Rocket to Russia Ramones with big 60’s melodies and crunchy guitars. Actually the guitars on this one have that unmistakable early 80’s stereo chorus. I read that Vicious Circle was basically recorded live, and so in place of a 2nd guitar track I’d assume they just had the guitar player do his thing in stereo through a chorus pedal.  Despite that dated piece though, this one’s pretty timeless. One of my favorite Midwest (Indiana) HC/punk lps that there ever was.

The title track opens things up in a swirl of dizzy call responses and it’s over in under a minute, which segues into the first mega-classic jam Amphetamine Addiction. This one has that great Ramones style that I mentioned before. Catchy and memorable til the last, this song will be bouncing around your skull til you die after you hear it. Definitely not a drug glorifying song, which I suppose was the style at the time, but it’s so energizing it’s like a virtual amphetamine shot in your arm. Next is New Generation, then Dirty Alleys Dirty Minds, and then my fav track on the A-side Civilization’s Dying - a classic anthem for the 80s, or now. This song is just such an expertly crafted piece of pop injected punk (the good kind we like, not the bad kind on your tv), it’s almost hard to describe. The chorus is solid gold, it ought to have been honored by some official body of musical achievement. It’s a peace song I guess. The opening lyrics: “Civilization’s dying/and no one’s realizing/The position of hate stuck inside the gun ” are a decent summation of that. This is probably the best, and most recognized Zero Boys song, not to down play their many other great songs. Closing out the side they revisit “Livin’ In The 80’s” from their giga-rare single, and then do “Drug Free Youth”, which predates the Abused song of the same name and actually was the reason I purchased this lp in the first place.

The B-side while not quite as perfect still has a fair share of hits, and probably leans a little more towards the hardcore side of the Zero Boys’ sound. Down The Drain, Outta Style, and You Can Touch Me last about a minute and change each. Forced Entry has a good call-response and is a tad longer. Hightime returns to the mid-paced rock side of things with vocals by I think the guitar player. This one’s a totally under rated NY/Detroit style rocker, there’s even a “Hey Ho Let’s Go” thrown into the lyrics. Not sure where it fits in with Drug Free Youth but it woulda made a great single A-side for its pogo-a-bility. Charlie’s Place is a second teir jam, but that’s still pretty good if it’s the Zero Boys. Trying Harder is the big Rock N Roll closer running at 3 minutes, and even more Ramonesy than than anything else on the lp. It’s definitely teir one sugary punk though.

Original pressings of Vicious Circle are on Nimrod records, and supposedly were kind of hard to find even back when they hit the streets. There were several represses, first on Toxic Shock, then Bitzcore, then Lookout, and most recently Secretly Canadian (who also released the odds and ends anthology The History Of The Zero Boys). This is one of the original Nimrod pressings, and it’ll probably run about $100, maybe a little more or less, but it looks pretty clean in the pictures.

I Was going to finish this post at home last night, and wouldn’t you know it, our internet was down most of the night. So here we are Tuesday morning, revisiting my Metal Monday. For this particular Monday of Metal, I give you the fairly hard to find Ripping Corpse - Dreaming With the Dead on Maze records. This is pretty easy to track down on CD, but since it was released in 1990 the vinyl doesn’t turn up too often, and was probably mostly relegated to Europe anyway.

Ripping Corpse took their name from an early Kreator song, and for the first part of their existence (the demo phase) were basically sub-Kreator/Slayer/Dark Angel evil-thrash. A bit techy, a bit predictable, but good mosh parts. While I’ll always prefer their Splattered Remains demo recording, Dreaming With the Dead is still a great chunk of not quite Death Metal tech-Thrash. You can tell that by the time they got to record this album, the Thrash thing was already waning, Death Metal and Grindcore were on the rise, Metallica and Slayer were long gone from the underground, and Ripping Corpse were basically obsolete. Their solution is basically to get a little more technical (like Kreator “Extreme Aggression”), try and sing a little harder, and kind of just cover up for the fact that they’re not really a death metal band. Maybe that’s an inglorious view of the whole thing, but lets be real, I’m probably not far off. Rift Of Hate, a holdover from previous demos now contains sections that are much slower and more sinister sounding where previously there was just a heavy slam section. Unearthly death grunts and shrieks are now added in places for emphasis while Tom Araya style “high-notes” are gone.

Part of what makes Dreaming With the Dead kind of awesome though is that it really could have only been made at this one point in time. When a New Jersey thrash band was trying to adapt itself to new extremities and depths that they couldn’t have been expected to predict. Erik Rutan’s notable guitar shredding helped them through to at least gain minor notoriety in metal circles, but there was no place for a band like Ripping Corpse by the time this album came out.