Publication:
MaximumRockNRoll

Author:
Felix Von Havoc

MRR #232
OK, here is a long serious column about the political situation in the Middle East. Bah, fuck the Middle East- that shit’s all fucked up. This column is about hardcore vinyl! It’s summertime and tons of bands are on tour; we’ve been having shows almost every night in Minneapolis. In fact, there have been too many shows to go to and still be able to do things like write columns for MRR and research the fucked up political situation in the Middle East. Instead of war, racism, and oppression, how about a Summer Record Round Up!

If you asked me today what my favorite new record was I’d say Diallo’s new one on Yellow Dog, “Diagram of a Scam.” If you ask me next week I’ll say something different, but today this one is on the top of the heap. Brutal heavy hardcore/crust from ex members of React and Kontortion. I’ve seen these guys twice now and they are a devastatingly powerful group. Check these guys out if you get a chance and look for another 7” coming soon. I’ve got a tape of it and it’s raging.

Tragedy-7” and Vengence LP. OK, so here we take Bastard-style hardcore and mix it with Born Dead Icons’ fusion of later Amebix and Motorhead, then add this epic melodic quality to it. This is really wild stuff, crushingly powerful, yet hauntingly melodic. I think the Vengence LP would be a great soundtrack to a post apocalyptic road warrior punk movie. Anyone out there casting for Mad Max 4 I’m available, cheap, and we can work on Tragedy for the sound track. The only problem with this record is that Tragedy can execute this style perfectly, but if every garage crust band tries to pull it off it’s gonna get tedious quickly. I should note too, that Tragedy go out of their way not to use computers in their record layouts, which is cool since computers have made a lot of records look the same. Am I the only one who gets angry at records with fuzzy pixilated photos and text that looks like it was printed on a 1982 dot matrix printer? Some free advice to the DIY record aspirant: if you are going to do layout half-assed anyway, a good photo copy is better than a bad scan. Don’t use Jpegs you downloaded off rotten.com for your cover art. Not only do Jpegs look like shit when printed, but every other idiot used the same artwork for their cover. Just because computers exist doesn’t mean you HAVE to use them for everything. There are lots of options.

Bomb builder is a new band with most of the ex-members of Gordon Solie Motherfuckers. They have a 7” out on Negative Tom’s Crucial records (check out his zine of the same name) which also did the Dystrophy 7” a few months ago. Bomb Builder actually sound to me more like Nine Shocks Terror than GSMF but you will have to get the record and decide for yourself. Features covers by Systematic Death and Terveet Kadet if that gives you any mystery clues. Very raw recording, like it was recorded from outside the practice space because the engineer was worried about Sharkey sticking a mic up his ass or something.

Self Defense is another band from CT who play with Diallo a lot. They have a 7” out on Ernesto’s Uncle Slam records. This beautifully packaged rager is a non-stop barrage of fast core fury. I’d compare these guys to Tear It Up, Down in Flames, Dragnet and Lifes Halt. But you’ll have to pick it up and see what you think.
Another Oppressive System is also from CT and they have a 7” out on Skit records. This is heavy crust core that has a distinct Swedish influence. Dark and blasting raw HC, these guys also did a split with 3 way cum.

Crossing Chaos is a Swedish hardcore band with a new 7” on Yellow Dog. If you like bands like Victims and Wolfbrigade, you’ll be jumping up and down, throwing empty bottles out your window, and screaming at the moon when the needle hits this one. Hammer!

Also from Sweden is Besk, who play typical Swedish style raging crust core. I can’t get enough of this stuff and if you can’t either check out this new 7” on Arson records.

On the same label and I think from the same part of Sweden is Totalt Javla Morker whose name means “total fucking darkness” which is what they have in northern Sweden half the year. These guys play fast but dark and heavy Swedish hardcore. They have a few other splits before this and I’d have to say they are one of the most over-looked bands in this genre. Their new one is a split with They Fear the Reclaim.

Fucked Up is a new fast hardcore punk band with a 7” out on Deranged. I was a little disappointed that this was only a two song 7”. Not because it wasn’t a good value for my punk dollar, but because I want to hear more, more, more hardcore! One of the kids in this band does a zine “Breakout” which is really good. The last issue has one of the best articles on Dangerhouse I’ve ever read.

Bridge Nine just put out like 10 7”s and I’m sure they are getting a lot of press elsewhere, but I personally really like Striking Distance and their new 7”, “The Fuse Is Lit” is a rager. Tough SE hardcore that is raw, fast, and pissed off (as opposed to boring contrived and slow, like a lot of current SE bands)

Punch in the Face have a 7” out on a label run by some guy named Kid Ice. I think he’s a famous breakdancer or something. Anyway, this is fast, pissed off hardcore with Ebro of Ruination and Dave of Reagan SS. I saw these guys recently with 14 or Fight, which is a new Chicago band with ex-members of MK Ultra- two great bands from Chicago, which seems to finally have recovered after losing the Great Midwestern Hardcore War to Minneapolis in the 90’s.

World Burns to Death is a sick 80’s-inspired hardcore band with members of Spazm 151 and Severed Head of State. Very raw and thrashy like something you’d hear on the PEACE comp. Their new 7” has the ultimate crust record title “Human Meat Tossed to the Dogs of War”. Did I say this was sick hardcore?

Severed Head of State have a few new 7”s on the block. Most accessible is probably the “No Love Lost” ep on that emo label Ebullition, run by that surfer guy Kent. Really brutal raw hardcore. The COC cover is priceless. Reminds me of a sweaty night at the Wilson center in 1984 when they showed up and I figured they had to be cool because their set list was three flyers long.

The Awakening are a Bastard/Tragedy influenced hardcore band from Ohio with two 7”s out. “Burning Wind” has a beautiful gatefold cover (how often do you see a gatefold 7” these days) and the “Final Feast” 7” is also rad as fuck. These guys are on tour about the time this issue comes out, so why are you sitting there reading this when you could be bringing the mosh?

Holding On from Minneapolis are my favorite local band and they have a new split 7” out with Coalition on Martyr records. I’m still trying to figure out who the guys on the cover are.

Shotgun from Japan have a new 7” on Rampage records. Fierce Japanese hardcore that reminds me of being body slammed by a sumo wrestler at the bottom of an elevator shaft.

Remember tough SE Hardcore bands like Judge and Project X and fast NY hardcore like Krackdown and early Sheer Terror? So does Knock Down who deliver a TKO with their new 7” on Young Blood. The layout on this is really cool, total late 80s SE style. Where did I put my white construction gloves?

New Granada and Melee both have new 7”s out on Lengua Armada. Buy the first copy you see as these will probably be out of print by the time this zine comes out.

Epileptic Terror Attack just toured the USA with Def Choice from Chicago. To celebrate the occasion they released this “We Are the Attack” 7” on Deranged. Fast skate thrash that is over the top. “I’m a Bore” is a critical song.

From Moshtown, Iowa is a new band Modern Life Is War, who have an excellent self released 7”. This is an awesome cross of SE hardcore and the textured and melodic yet pissed off hardcore bands of the 80s like Articles of Faith, Proletariat and Husker Du. Last time I saw these guys the singer did a flying leap over the drummer and drum set into the pit. An impressive display of thrashnastic ability.

Born Dead Icons from Quebec are back with a split 7” with Coma on Busted Heads. If you like Monolith-era Amebix and Motorhead and newer Tragedy, you gotta get this sucka.

Def Choice are a fast SE Hardcore band from Chicago with a new 7” on Underestimated. They just toured with ETA. After they stayed at my house I got this cool Necros shirt. Unfortunately the next time they played here they remembered and I had to give it back.

Artimus Pyle just toured the USA to support this sick as fuck 7” on Prank. Pulverizing industrial meat grinder hardcore which is sort of like trying to mosh inside the trash compactor on the death star. Crushing!

Kylesa is a metal-tinged brutal hardcore band also on Prank who were supposed to tour with Aritmus Pyle before their van broke down. Nothing to fear, they bought another van, and it broke down too. When they aren’t buying and selling used vans, Kylesa plans to do another tour this fall. In the meantime, there is an LP and 7” on prank and a split 7” with Memento Mori on Hyper Realist. This features Phillip from Damad, but I like it more than Damad as it seems a little less spooky and metal and little more riff heavy and brutal. The Prank releases have some excellent artwork by the master himself, Pushead.

Ruination have upstaged the Locust and all emo bands who produce funny shaped records with their shaped 7” which takes the form of these United States. I played it on the fourth of July and it filled me with so much American Pride I had to polish my boots and dig out my bleached jeans and suspenders. Critical hardcore that I think totally surpasses their earlier work. Side two reminded me of a skud missle attack on downtown Toledo during a tornado. This is on Youth Attack records, which is run by this kid who I heard started doing wacky limited edition records just so he could pay for this “special” operation he wants to get.

DFA is a sick crossover band from Toronto. At least it says sick crossover on the sticker. This is really good like 1987 all over again. Now when you say “metal hardcore” people think you mean Bane or Brothers Keeper. Remember when metal hardcore meant the Accused, Cryptic Slaughter, Dr. Know or English Dogs? Well if you miss those days check out DFA’s Lp on Ugly Pop.

Dread 101 are an awesome D-Beat HC band from Czech who remind me of Doom crossed with Swedish Discore. Check out their new split LP with Social Insecurity on Insane Society records.

Kontrovers from Sweden have an LP out on Putrid Filth, which is some dark and heavy crust core. It sounds like these guys went into a deep dark cave like Luke did in Empire Strikes Back, and there they embraced the dark side and wrote some brutal heavy Swedish hardcore songs to express their allegience to the Sith lords.

Acursed also have an LP on Putrid Filth Conspiracy. I swear these guys used to play a lot faster. This sounds like Skitsystem after some Quaaludes and Night Train. Brutal and punishing crust core grinding slowly and powerfully towards you like a mile long train full of coal pushing its way up a mountain and through a dark tunnel.

One of my favorite bands in the 80s was Icons of Filth. I think these guys got overshadowed by Crass, Conflict and Discharge. Along with Anti-system they were blasting out some mad HC in the early 80’s to protest Thatcher and Breznev’s inevitable rush towards mutual assured destruction. Their demo is a lost classic and personal favorite of mine going back to when I mail ordered it in 9th grade. Finally the full demo sees the light of day on vinyl thanks to Italys’ Get Back records. To tell the truth I almost bootlegged this as a 12” back in 92 but didn’t after talking to some people in the UK who said it wouldn’t go down well with the ex-members. I still have the DAT master I made from the tape and a quote from the pressing plant in my files.Not that I would ever advocate bootlegging a record when it is so easy these days to track down ex-members and do a legit re issue from the master tapes, which is what we have here. Don’t let the “demo tape” origins of this record fool you. This is excellent early 80’s UK anarcho thrash power. I must note that since it was recorded Brezhnev is dead and Thatcher long out of office so clearly it was effective!

Speaking of anarcho punk, Selkkaus is an anarcho punk band from Finland who will please those who miss pissed off raw punk like early Conflict and early Oi Polloi. Total steel toe in a cop groin aggro punk from these guys. Like a 1988 issue of Class War set to music. On Kamaset Levyt, who also have released some great stuff by Viimenen Kolonna (interviewed in this zine a few months ago)

Down in Flames are on tour with Tear It Up right now, I can’t wait for their show here on the 28th. Until that day there’s the new LP on 625 to keep the pit going in my living room. Fast hardcore a lot like Tear It Up or Dragnet. Now that the Snobs are going we can’t pick on these guys for being young anymore.

Speaking of the Snobs, check out their new 7” “Control” on My War records. The ultimate expression of underage skate angst. Hopefully their interview will be in this issue. I was stoked to see these guys at Posi Fest; I wanted to see them before they were corrupted by adult influences. Raw, fast 80’s hardcore which reminds me of JFA and the Faction but mainly because the kids in the band are so young and pissed off and skate to destroy. You know these guys are dedicated when their dad had to take them on tour because they are too young to drive!

How about some seriously delirious pissed off tough hardcore from the streets comin at you with a meat cleaver and some brass knuckles? Sound cool, sounds like the A Team, who remind me of Shark Attack in a rumble with Big City comp era Sheer Terror. On the aptly-named Stab and Kill records.

Scholastic Deth have a third and last(?) 7” out on 625 called “Killed By School.” I like this one more than “Revenge of the Nerds”, but not as much as the first 7”. Still great fast energetic thrash core from these over educated Bay Area ragers.

Well, the buzzer at MRR hq is going off, telling me I’ve maxed out my column allowance once again. Arwen brings the ruler down onto my desk and snaps me out of my stream of consciousness record ramblings. Fuck, I was supposed to be addressing the fucked up situation in the Middle East! Well, I might fail political science this semester at MRR, but I’m going for straight A’s in thrash! I’m off to the record store. I heard this one band put out a new 7”….

Publication Date:
January 1, 2001

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