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Awww jeez - another leave of absence. Here we are again though ready to roll out this hits in the frozen hellish tundra of Boston MA. Today - feast upon Slaughter’s blasphemous “Strappado” lp. If you are a poser you might confuse this fine album with the work of that late 80’s hair metal band of the same name. I’ll save you the embarrassment dude. Canada’s Slaughter were one of the earlier metal bands to really push some of their tempos to the extreme. Proto-death metal, etc. Honestly they’re a little tame by our standards today, kind of in the same way Venom can be for the uninitiated, a little more cartoony, a little less serious, and with rudimentary recording and playing.

For me this makes Slaughter all the better. When the yell of “make way for the Incinerator” hits, and the worlds stupidest drum beat kicks in, it’s impossible not to laugh a little, but as you may know, I’m of the belief that primitive delivery often suits metal better than the more well known approach of precision and technical proficiency. Slaughter actually has kind of a punky vibe, and this song is a perfect example. Basic riffs, basic drumming, and simple lyrics, but they come together for the kind of low brow fun I love. Slaughter kind of sounds like a less grinding Repulsion to me, maybe less Slayer and more Venom in the mix. Although a lot of these songs were several years old and had been on a number of demos, Strappado didn’t actually hit the street til ‘87 on Diabolic Force Records. A little late in the game for songs like Fuck Of Death, or Tales Of The Macabre. By that I only mean that the metal masses had already moved onto stuff that was more extreme and over the top, I just think the timing was wrong for a big breakthrough.

 That said this is one of the greats, and the only album Slaughter actually managed in their time, though I highly recommend you download all of their demos too.

State - No Illusions

I mentioned this one last week in the Ron Asheton post, and now here it is for sale. The State - “No Illusions” 7″ on their own Statement Records. This is definitely one of the 10 best USHC 7″s from ‘80-’83 in my book. State were from Ann Arbor Michigan, not quite the hotbed for loud fast noize that Detroit is known to be, Ann Arbor was still the town The Stooges called home, and as such at least has a place in the formative history of punk and all rock music thereafter.

No Illusions opens with a blast of over-driven guitar muscle and plays like a more rocked out, but no less hardcore version of Discharge’s “State Control” (the song State took their name from, and which they were also known to cover). The vocals are delivered in a hard rasping style that reminds me of Rollins circa the SOA 7″, all throaty snarling. The guitar playing is fast as any hardcore band of the day, but works in the kind of loose ragged leads that the Stooges helped to pioneer, and plenty of other Michigan based groups fleshed out. Esentially that’s what makes this work. Hear Nothing era Discharge with thuggish American rock n’ roll undertones. New Right is a speedy Reagan era protest, while Attention has a pretty good call response thing going on and seems to focus on the military. Hardline, which closes out the a-side is one of the earlier instances of militant straight edge type sentiments, although these guys didn’t really stick to it in the end (no surprise).

The title track, which is the most rock out on the whole record opens up side b, and it has a pretty standard anti-religion message, which is well summed up in its title. Police State is another fast one, with a catchy breakdown. The lyrics are pretty self explanatory. Girl Violence closes the second side with a tale of getting beat up by a girl. There’s a really loose slow part that gets followed by a good thrash part in this one.

As far as USHC circa ‘83, you could totally sum it up with this record. It’s a perfect archetype. Muscular, lean, thuggish, and ut of control. Everything you need. This is a sharp looking copy too, with the fold out insert and a clean looking sleeve. Absolutely worth your money. By the way if you want to get the bargain version, there’s an ace reissue on Havoc Records that has a slightly modified sleeve, and a minorly different mix (seriously hardly noticeable, it’s not a shitty modern sounding remix). You can pick these up for a whopping $5 almost anywhere, and if you’ve never heard this record I absolutely demand you make the effort.

State started playing again a few years ago and has actually issued several records recently that are pretty solidly in the tradition of No Illusions. They did one lp in ‘86 that was a brief reunion attempt but despite its cool looking cover, it’s mostly weak goth tunes. There’s also a CD on the shitty Grand Theft Audio that you should download containing No Illusions, a demo session circa ‘83, an earlier demo session featuring Ron Asheton on guitar, and song live cuts. I actually played on the same bill as the State a couple years ago in Boston and they were relentless and awesome. Totally worth it if you get the chance.

A couple years ago I was flipping through the 7″ bins at Amoeba on Haight st. and yanked out Ice 9’s 1979 KBD shocker, “Out Out Out” b/w “Revolting Mess” // “27.3″. Marked at $5 it was clear that someone had screwed up and thought they were pricing a record by the mid-90s Rorschach influenced band (of “split-with-Charles-Bronson” fame). Ice 9 were a pretty good rockin’ punk band imortalized (ha!) on one of the KBD comps (was it 9? 11?) from Portland OR. One of the members, Count Vertigo, also had a solo record I think. I’m not a huge KBD’r and so I fuck up on some info like this. Because there’s a number of variations of the record, I ended up emailing the people at Discourage records, Portland’s main squeeze for rare punk/HC/garage/rock and/or roll/etc. The following is excerpts from 3 emails that I got from Abe, one of the dudes who keeps Discourage running smooth.

Hey Chris,

There are 3-5 variations(depending on how you count them) of original circa 1979-80 band made picture sleeves that we know of.

1st edition were screen printed on white paper.  We’ve seen blue ink, green ink, and a blue-green ink.  When they either ran out of or got tired of screening these they had a print shop run more off (several hundred i’m sure).  These 2nd edition are litho printed, not silk screen, and are done with black print on green paper or yellow paper.  We’ve seen green more than yellow.  About ten years ago when we got in touch with the band we got i guess 25-45(?) 2nd ed. green picture sleeves and perhaps 5-10 yellow sleeves. 

We also got maybe 50(?) sleeveless copies for which we xeroxed new sleeves in the fashion of the 2nd edition (green, yellow, and also blue paper i think).  These are new xerox made copies and have always been sold as so (for about 1/3 the price of the sleeved copies).  You can tell the difference because xerox ink sits on the surface of the paper.  It makes a crack line when folded and the ink doesn’t bleed through the paper (isn’t really visible from the blank side).  If yours is a white paper screen printed copy you are a lucky guy.  If you think it is a 2nd edition and you don’t want to crease it to find out then you can try scratching a little of the black ink.  If any flakes off then it is one of our xerox made covers.  If not then lucky you again. Also look on the back and see if some of the printed ink has bleed through the paper.  Finally, most re-issue sleeve copies also either have our rubber-stamp or some hand writing stating that they are a xerox on the back.  Hope that helps.  Just out of curiosity please let me know what you found.  -Abe

After a little bit of clarifying we determined that I’d picked up one of the 2nd edition copies from the original batch circa 1980. This also seems to be what’s for sale here. Out Out Out is a great A-side cut, super nervy the way they all sing “Out Out Out” together. As if to prove my affinity for juvenile hardcore though, I ended up trading this record for a copy of the Together comp w/ all the inserts. I’m sure I’d get kicked right off the bus to the collector scum convention, but that’s just how I roll.

“How many Mondays that serve me with evil, I know not. / My empires has no limits.”

Metal Monday vol. 45

I’m trying to get back to numbering these posts, and though “I know not” for sure, I’m pretty sure we’re on 45 here.

Today, an Earache classic: Godflesh’s - Street Cleaner. You probably know this album even if you’re not much of a metal fan, because it’s been adopted by hardcore, indie rock, and post rock, fans alike as an acceptable piece of kill your mother type music on a label best known for being the original home of bands like Napalm Death, Entombed, and Carcass. Unlike those groups though, Godflesh is a band beloved by idiots who think a record can only have artistic merit if it involves brooding things like… questioning oneself and other such difficult ruminations on humanity. This is no fault of Godflesh (on this album Justin Broadrick and GC Green, with some additional contributions from Paul Neville), but it gets kind of rough when one record is appropriated by so many bespectacled dorks and hateful mortains. Of course to make up for it, my roommate who spends 2-3 hours of the day at the gym, and wakes up everyday at 6 AM, wears a Godflesh sweatshirt while he watches the discovery channel and eats chicken. So yea, there are cool people that like this cool band too. But enough about that. What’s the appeal?

Street Cleaner is basically a post death metal version of Big Black “Songs About Fucking” +  Swans “Cop”. Mechanical drum machine smashing, guitars that sound like a steel mill, deep dark reverb drenching everything, and bleak, miserable lyrics. The vocal approach is deep and guttural, and that, combined with Broaderick’s ex-Napalm Death status, was enough to get them a featured player status on some of the major Earache tours of the time (I think the US version of the Grindcrusher tour). Maybe because of that, Godflesh never made another album like Streetcleaner, preferring to experiment with, ahem, “electronica”, “shoegaze” and “dub” elements on most of their subsequent recordings. Here though they’re all monolithic, monochromatic focus. Each track works a slow crawling tempo against a wall of guitars. Sometimes there’s notes, and sometimes there’s just feedback and scraping noises. It’s oppressive, and harsh, like a prison planet run by robots in the horrible and inevitable future. For all the metal bands that refer to themselves as harsh or cold, I don’t think there’s any colder than Godflesh on this lp. They’re a lifeless, emotionless void that will envelope you. It’s a simple formula, but it can’t be stated enough how perfectly they do it here.

• YOUTH OF TODAY - Live In Buffalo from Larry Ransom via Double Cross.
• CC probably craps on this record, but I always had a soft spot for these two Circle Storm songs via 7 Inch Punk.*
• http://killfromtheheart.com has seen its first update in like 3 or 4 years. This has been an invaluable HC resource on the web since it appeared in 2001. Chris (the guy who maintains it) needs help working out some web issues, if anyone out there is able to lend a hand they really should.
• Zen and the Art of Face Punching has a good piece on the Another Wall 7″, and digs up an unreleased track from the session.

* = a note from CC: I actually like the Circle Storm 7″ better than the 2nd Chain 7″, I think due in part to the fact the songs were written/recorded before the 2nd Chain 7″. The vocals aren’t great but I do have this on my ipod. Also yesterday I realized I have the Statue “Something to Say” demo on my ipod. Not sure why? The Circle Storm 12″ sucks though (for the record). Unlistenable.

Early in my hardcore career I heard Infest’s classic Slave and Mankind records and of course fell in love. It was soon thereafter that I heard the legend of the lost Infest lp that was supposedly recorded in 1995, and had languished, unfinished, and unreleased ever-since. It seemed to good too be true, but there was a real-audio file (HA!) of one song from it (Nazi Killer) posted on the Deep Six website for ages. Still nothing could prepare me for the fateful week in August of 2002 when an album titled “Infest - No Man’s Slave” showed up in the weekly Ebullition distro update. When I finally got my paws on No Mans Slave I couldn’t even believe it. The wait was over.

I remember there were copies at a show in New Jersey (courtesy the Dead Alive Distro - Jon Collins R.I.P.) that Think I Care was playing (back when they had some Infest in their sound) and I found the whole band standing in a circle with a copy of the lp. I bought one and took it home to my parent’s empty house in Virginia the next day, cued up my Dad’s stereo, and blasted it about 6 times straight through, which wasn’t too hard, because the running time is less than 15 minutes. No Man’s Slave is a funny record in some ways. Like the other Infest records it has a picture on the cover that’s been used on other records before, and after. The live photos in it are all of a late 80’s/early 90’s vintage (Joe Denunzio decked out in a sick Larm shirt). Most of the songs have 2 different titles. One on the back cover, and a different one in the lyric sheet. I still haven’t figured out the reason for any of this other than, “it’s Infest”. But that aside, this is simply one of the best “comeback” lps ever made in hardcore, or otherwise.

In the Infest cannon it has its own place too. For one the production sound is updated a bit, but doesn’t lose what made the band great to begin with. It still uses just one guitar and one bass track (like the Mankind 7″), presumably run direct, accounting for how saturated they sound. They’re a bit crisper than earlier recordings, but it gives the record a certain sharpness that Infest never had before. Gone is the original rhythm section, with Visual Discrimination journeyman R.D. Davies holding down the drums quite swimmingly, and founder Matt Domino doing the bass tracks Dale Nixon style. Joe Denunzio returns essentially the same, although some of his lyrics like “Sick Man” and “Contact” get into darker waters than previous releases. Many of the songs are the shortest, most direct numbers Infest ever dreamed up, in some ways answering the extremities other bands had gone to since they dissolved.

All of this is part of what makes No Man’s Slave its own unique entity. While it’s true to the classic Infest releases, it keeps its own flavor which helps it to be more than just a reunion record, and of course has kept it in my rotation since it dropped 7 years back (well 6 and a half). Some of these tracks have even become, ehh I guess you could say, fan favorites. I’ve seen cover renditions of Cold Inside and  Peace Test more than once in recent years. Even heard of some band named after the album. Of course I don’t think you could dispute the finest track being My World My Way. Originally it was played as a slow Melvins/Gore style instrumental on Infest’s 1991 KXLU radio appearance (later released as a live lp on Deep 6), but it takes on a new level of power on No Man’s Slave, with Denunzio adding a touch of lyrical accompaniment. This is probably the longest Infest song ever, and the perfect way to end their final record. 5 minutes of crunching sludge, and long sustained notes.

When this record came out there were supposedly 100 copies on blue for mailorder and 100 band only copies on yellow. I’ve never seen a yellow one, but I’ve been assured they exist. Anyway this thing has been getting more and more expensive over the years. Glad I have one.

Lightening up a tad today, here’s Adrenalin O.D.’s debut lp, the masterpiece known as “The Wacky Hijinks of Adrenalin O.D.”

A.O.D. were a jokey band yes, and it’s common knowledge that joke bands suck, but honestly this band is no joke. I mean they’re funny, but they shred with the best of them. Need any proof just give a spin to A.O.D. vs. Godzilla, the album’s opening cut. An absolutely furious thrashing intro which my outside consultants (DFJ, Cooch) agree has the fastest straight forward (i.e. non-blast beat/paddle beat) hardcore drumming ever. By the way aside from being fast it has a great riff, and eventually gives way to an awesome mosh part too.

Most of the record holds down a similar feel, sometimes tuneful, often thrashy USHC with some really hard mosh parts for a band singing about like, White Castle burgers and shit (the song White Hassle is mandatory HB-Struting). I mean it is a goof-off fun-time album, but if you’re looking for deep meaning in every hardcore record, you’ve got this shit all wrong, (and you’re probably a really jackass in real life). Still though, there’s something about Wacky Hijinks fixation on daily banalities and American Junk Culture that’s truer to the spirit of the “Reagan Era” than your Dead Kennedys lps, or what have you. The truth is hardcore moved out of the cities and into the suburbs fast, and in the suburbs nothing that crazy happens. You go to White Castle, you drive around in your shitty used Trans-Am, you watch TV. No one in the ‘burbs is really rebelling or fucking with the system, least of all by listening to a “serious” recording. So in that way, A.O.D. just laid it down the way it was.

This is the original pressing from 1984 of course, on NJ’s own Buy-Our-Records label. It also got reissued this year as a 2xCD on Chunksaah this year which I highly suggest buying. The second disc has their 1st 7″, some comp tracks, and a live WFMU set from ‘82. One of the few CD’s I am actually willing to pay for at this point. Oh and in case you’re behind them times you can check out this famous you-tube vid of Darkthrone’s Fenriz wylin’ out to A.O.D.’s Rock n Roll Gas Station.

[CLICK]  (skip to about the 8 minute mark)

Well, Ron Asheton, founding member of the Stooges was discovered dead this morning. He was 60. Given the kind of drug consumption the Stooges were known for, it’s a wonder he lived this long. Asheton’s loose guitar mangling was a huge part of the foundation that the first 2 Stooges lps, 1969’s self-titled debut and 1970’s Funhouse exist on. In some ways he’s the first guitar player to really matter for punk, and by association, hardcore. He’s definitely the first guitar player that I care about whose abilities were minimal, but whose technique and creativity were limitless, a concept that a majority of the bands covered on this site owe a debt to. 

In the context of this site, the importance of the Stooges can’t really be understated. The Bad Brains “I” is essentially a re-write of Funhouse’s “1970″, which was covered on the first Damned lp, another (massive influence on the Bad Brains). Black Flag frequently name checked Fun House and Greg Ginn’s free-style guitar  shredding owes a large debt to the path that Asheton helped blaze before him. Negative Approach, were always proud of their Detroit rock roots, and were known to play Stooges classics like “I Got a Right” at gigs. John Brannon additionally had a pre-NA band, Static, that was said to have been heavily indebted to the Stooges. Ron Asheton himself was even briefly a member of cult favorites The State. When the State’s classic No Illusions 7″ came out in ‘83, Asheton himself was the producer of the sessions. (Side Note: No Illusions is #8 on my top 10 USHC 7″s ‘80-83. ) The reason I’m bringing all this up, is just in case there’s any question as to whether this shit matters here. It does. It matters a lot. You can draw a pretty clear line from the Stooges to any formative hardcore band, and at the end of the day it’s all Rock n Roll to me, and the Stooges were about the best there was for a minute. 

Then the drugs caught up with them. That and poor sales. Almost no one got the Stooges in their day. In fact the word is that the label wanted to drop them after their first lp tanked, but they were kept on Elektra because Iggy was considered as a potential replacement for Jim Morrison (his departure one way or another, already anticipated by ‘70). Thank god for that, because they were able to work up the material to Funhouse in that time, their finest hour for sure. After Funhouse sold even worse than their debut though they did get dropped, and they were all screwed up on dope, which is a bad way to be if you’re looking for work. It took 3 years to piece together a new album and get a record deal. By that time Ron Asheton had been demoted to bass, with the vastly inferior (though still competent) James Williamson now filling the guitar slot, and also the primary song writing position. The differences between Funhouse (Asheton’s finest musical moment), and Raw Power (a better known album that is about half as good) are massive. It’s full of sleazy shimmy-shake glitter garbage, that’s as good as the best Dolls shit, but when you put it up against the mean as hell insanity of say, TV Eye (which has possibly the best opening rock riff ever put to tape), it’s a fucking joke. Say what you want, but Williamson’s sheen and polish just don’t have the same kind of fire and menace that Ron Asheton did. I’ll save the side by side comparisons of pre-Williamson/post-Williamson Stooges for another time, both have their merits, but I’m of the firm belief that Ron Asheton was the only guitarist the Stooges ever really had. R.I.P. 

Welcome to 2009, hope all your holidays went well.

Anyway, back to the ‘ol Metal Monday feature that almost no one but me loves. I was going to do a Saint Vitus entry until I realized there were no good Vitus records for sale right now, and then I found this lost Finnish nugget:

Necropsy - Never to Be Forgotten 7″ on my favorite, Seraphic Decay records.

This one is absolute head-spinning death metal insanity. Real skull crushing power, that just lends itself to my theory that Finland is the most brutal death metal locale in Europe. First of all the vocals on this one are just absolutely first rate growling, throat shredding, and evil. Reminds me a bit of Johnny Hedlund from Unleashed, or at least in the same ballpark. Very deep but still very full and expressive sounding, not at all the kind of whispered gurgling employed by bands much shittier than this.

Musically Necropsy kind of tow the typical Finnish line which is a little bit darker/less melodic version of the typical Swedish/Euro death metal sound. Probably the best known of this style is Amoprhis (and their precursor Abhorrence), so if you know them picture a bit rougher version of that. Another thing that sets Necropsy apart for me is that their blasts are noticeably quite fast, although there isn’t a ton of blast beats on here, when they do use them they really dig in at top speed. Some of their earlier recordings made a little bit more use of blast beats and were a bit more influenced (at least in the drumming) by grind bands of the day.

Necropsy never managed a proper lp release, which is a goddamn shame, because I think it would have solidified them as a major contender in their day. They do have a split lp with Demigod (another of the Finnish greats), also on Seraphic Decay, and a slew of great demos which REALLY should get the discography treatment sometime before the end of this decade. Anyway, Never To Be Forgotten is one of the few records on Seraphic Decay that doesn’t look like a total bootleg (has a 2 color sleeve, and isn’t pressed on scrap vinyl), although from an email I got from one of the guitar players not too long ago, the “label” never bothered to actually give the band copies of it.

After about a month of deliberating with myself, this is my final word on top 10 CD/vinyl releases for this year. I know you were just dying to find out what I liked. Thanks again for the support in 2008, we’ll be getting back to the regularly scheduled programing next week and we’ll be introducing some new features as the year unfolds. Enjoy your sparkling apple cider tonight.

Top Ten 12″/CD releases” 

1. Breathing Fire - Years Of Lead (Painkiller) 
Yes, this is on my label, but I still think it’s the best album of the year. One of the clearest misanthropic visions I’ve ever been party to. The busted sounding Traynors and tape hiss and shredded vocal chords are as dank and real as it can get.

2. Running For Cover - Dark Well(625/Art of the Underground)
This took 3 or 4 years to come out but it was worth the wait. Some of the wildest bass shit I’ve heard on a hardcore record and with much feeling. Almost on a No Comment level here.

3. Harvey Milk - Life Is The Best Game In Town (Hydra Head)
I am not a Harvey Milk O.G., but this album is great. Probably the best “white blues” lp this year. Just stinkin’ sludged out booze soaked shit kickers here. Def. better than the new Melvins.

4. Motorhead - Motorizer (Steamhammer/SPV)
Their 2nd best this decade, but a very good lp on its own. If you don’t like Motorhead, you’re dead to me.

5. Outlaw Order - Dragging Down The Enforcer (Season Of Mist)
Out of nowhere this one comes. 4/5ths of Eyehategod doing an album pretty similar to Confederacy Of Ruined Lives era EHG. Mike Williams hate-screams are still pure catharisis.

6. Sex/Vid - Communal Living (Dom America)
Couldn’t get away from these dudes this year if you follow hardcore, but they deserve the attention. Tearing apart at the seams, thrashing punked out HC tunes. Get your Deep Wound, Aspirin Feast, Neos, type fix, and thankfully they aren’t slowing down yet.

7. Extortion - Sick (Deep 6)
Absolutely 100% the best band on the planet for Ripcord/Voorhees/CapCas(early) skull in a vice style hardcore. Each proper release has improved on the previous for these guys and this is a fucking great hardcore lp. One of the best blast-beat heavy bands you can hear these days.

8. Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Primary Colours (Goner)
I guess this is my curve ball pick. Enjoyed this band’s other recs, but I can’t stop playing this one. Totally foot-tappin’ UK DIY vibe. Kinda pubby and kinda twee, but the tunes stick in your head and that’s what counts.

9. Midnight - Farewell To Hell + bonus 7″ (Nuclear War Now)
Even though Midnight is kind of punk, they’re my favorite current metal band. Perfect Venom/Fingernails/Warfare type stuff.

10. Walls - 1-sided 12″ (Iron Lung)
Kinda regressing for these guys, bringing some more speed and hardcore parts, but I think it sounds good, definitely more intense than their album from last year. Some Rorschach shit, some Unsane shit, the right amount of angular moments and pure HC fury IMO.