Lost in Sabbath

Neurosis

2011-07-28T16:23:00.002+02:00

the LOST IN SABBATH staff witnessed NEUROSIS yesterday in Dortmund.

setlist:
Locust Star
Given to the Rising
End of the Harvest
A Season in the Sky
At the Well
Water Is Not Enough
Belief
At the End of the Road
Killing Elk
Through Silver in Blood

music can be art. when it is perceived as such it is monumental.
NEUROSIS are/were urgent, intriguing, intense and immense.
nothing to add. everything has been said (before).

Time to get low with LOW PLACES

2011-04-29T18:30:00.001+02:00

Do you like your Hardcore rough and out of control? Do you like Sludge as well and do you have an affinity for raw and unpolished Metal? But after all you'd say you listen to Punk? If your answer to at least one of these questions is yes, you should keep an eye open for the new A389 signing LOW PLACES.

Just like their now-labelmates in Full Of Hell LOW PLACES combine wildly everything fucked up and heavy there is and spit it towards you with so much hate and anger you're running the risk of wetting yourself. I've had the chance to listen to a roughmix of their new output Spiritual Treatment and I'm super stoked about it. Imagine Neanderthal having sex with Eyehategod and early Napalm Death is watching the mating through the keyhole. Got the picture? This is how LOW PLACES sounds like.

This is some heavy, mean and aggressive shit, I know you'll love it. And I'm really glad LOW PLACES changed their logo. Just sayin'.

lowplaces.bandcamp.com

PS: This is my 100th post. Wow.

Interview with Samuel / SEED OF PAIN

2011-04-13T20:14:00.001+02:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Seed Of Pain are awesome, one of my favourite bands blablabla, they recently released a two song 7" on Cobra Records which is kind of a teaser for the new LP that is coming up. In the beginning they played music in the vain of "New School"/Post-Hardcore bands like BURN, 108 etc., from release to release they developed more and more into some kind of Post-Punk-Post-Hardcore-Post-Rock-Wave-Industrial kind of thing, which is very unique and: awesome. So here's an interview I did with Samuel, their guitarist.

Would you describe Seed of Pain as a pessimistic band?

I don't know. I mean, I can understand, if people see us that way. Especially, when they catch us live. We don't feel that it's neccesarily to thank the promoter on stage, speak out for certain values etc. The lyrics are mostly about personal and sociological problems, but they speak for themselves. And yes, we like dark music. Life - at least for me - is pretty boring and most humans I don't like neither. But on the other hand, you can have quite a fun time with us. We're not some Graveyard Goths. I sent some of the unmastered tracks from our upcoming release to some friends to ask them, what they think of it. One of the reviews we got is that the dark aspect of the music sometimes is a bit over-the-top. And even though, I normally couldn't care less about what other people think about our music, I can somehow understand this. Because, after all, it all just has to fit together the right way. And I really don't want to sound like a clichee.
We all know enough bands, trying too hard. Especially in the Hardcore scene. Upside-down crosses, some Illuminati-bullshit as well as one or two "Doom" bands, they came across on some messageboard. This pretty much seems to be all you need to start a new zeitgeisty band. Fuck that. Hopefully, we never get there...
So, bottom line: We may be a pessimistic band, I don't know, but we definitely don't want to force that image in any way.

Do you have an idea where this trend during the last years comes from? I mean, six oder seven years back it was hip to be into Nike Airmax und PMA and all this, now it kind of completely changed to a bunch of middle/upper class kids pretending to be as evil as possible.

I mean, I kinda lost track with a lot of new stuff. So I can't really say what's in and what's out. I just figured out, that playing Belgium or Germany, you almost every time play with the same kind of band, having the same image, topics and shirt designs. But I don't want to judge anyone. Six or seven years back, I've listened to BOLD and JUDGE as well. So, I think to change and evolt is something natural, especially while growing up. The only thing I ask myself is, why so many of them all change towards the same new style at the same time. It could all be a little more diverse.

Since the first time I've seen you, you've always done things different than other bands in that whole Hardcore-context. Your latest recordings can hardly be described as Hardcore anymore. Do you even feel yourself still as a part of the scene? Do you think that there is even anything like that?

Of course there is a scene, a network, a community. I can only speak for myself, but I'm really happy that I got to know some nice people through Punk music. On the other hand, I guess it's just the same with everything in life: You get bored, feel annoyed and begin to realise, that there is "something more". Like other music, other people, different points of view and so on. I don't see Seed of Pain as a Hardcore band. Still, most of the people listening to us, know us because of our Hardcore/Punk background. And it would be ridiculous to deny this. I don't really care, what kind of music people think we play, and I also have no problems if some Oi! Skin likes us. Though, matter of fact is: You will meet a lot of people during life without any clue about music. EVEN IN THE UNDERGROUNDxSCENE (I shit you not!)...

Are there people who are upset by your musical development?

Some! There could be more, though. But, we try our best. I reccently stumbled across a swiss Gothic/Industrial messageboard, where they were arguing about wether "true batcavers" might listen to us or not, since we also have some hard parts and after all, for them we are still a Hardcore band and not "real goths". Same with some Oldschool Hardcore Nerds. In they're eyes we're some sell-out-hipsters and whatnot. There are times, when we are frustrated about it, but mostly we enjoy our status. Or at least, that is what I do. Don't know about the others, since we hardly talk with eachothers about such stuff.

How can I imagine the typical SOP song writing process? Do drugs of any kind influence your song writing?

No drugs. A lot of songs are just ideas we get from listening to other music. All kind of music. Someone comes up with an interesting drum-beat or guitar effect. Mostly the outcome then sounds completely different than the initial idea. Sometimes we just fool around and something good comes to life. In the beginning of the band, it was mostly me who came up with an almost finished song and then tried to explain to everyone what they have to do. Luckily, this isn't the case anymore. By now, we're with six people. And who knows... maybe there are still more members to come. A lot of times, some of us just hang around in the rehearsal room and try out something. Then, it gets recorded on some shitty dictaphone and sent to all the comrades. Some other band member then may think, it sounds like crap, and then we start all over again. There is no classic way of songwriting in Seed of Pain, but most stuff gets put together in a very democratic way.
Drugs are bad. Stop the madness. Okay, maybe there were certain sessions....

Have some of you ever considered to play certain musical preferences in side projects/bands? Why did you choose to incorporate all these influences into one band, SOP?

Actually, there are other projects with Seed of Pain members like Evje, Youth+Laughter or Hollow Bone. As well as some more without names. The point with SOP is, once we started, we said to ourselves, that we would like to make constant progress. Even though, we didn't know in what way we would drift, it was an unspoken rule, that everything is allowed. Maybe we would have gotten more attention, if we would have changed the name with every release. There are people around who might like our new stuff but they won't even give it a try, since they think, we're a common Hardcore band. Or maybe we should have stuck with "new school 90ies hardcore", so at least we could get some shows... But nevermind, we like messing around with all this. I'm proud of my fellows, that we're still enthusiastic about music and that nobody of us is stuck in his niche. I'm pretty sure, that we will continue to make music for a long time. Without anyone noticing us. Just because we can, haha!

Why is it so hip these days to be into Joy Division?

Because, "classics never go out of style". I'm too young to say this, but still: Thinking of it, I can imagine, that the late seventies/early eighties had a similiar vibe in society comparing to the times we're living in. But yeah, it's obviously chic nowadays. I'm a big fan of Joy Division, and I think everyone who is interested in Punk music should at least know about the band. So, I don't think it's a bad thing. All those fancy boys and girls claiming to be huge fans probably don't even own records of 'em. They also won't know about other bands in the same vein. But that's okay. I don't exept people to be as enthusiastic about music as I am.

When did your enthusiasm about music start? Could you describe your personal musical development? What do you think is the reason that some people like you and me are kind of obsessed with music and everything behind and around, and others are just happy with listeing to the radio?

How should I know, why other people (don't) listen to music? I for example don't care about Soccer or video games. Why? I don't know and don't care. Music has just always been the biggest fascination in life for me. My father let me know about good music when I was still fairly young. A bit later I got to know some older dudes here in the area, who told me a lot about Punk, Hardcore and Metal music. I came in touch with bands such as SxTx, BL'AST or 7 Seconds. Later on I discovered all the good Revelation Records bands as well as the at the time almost dead New School Florida Mosh stuff. Besides that, I always had an open ear for other music styles, though most of the music didn't have an impact nearly as big as Hardcore and Punk music did.
The most music I listen to mostly today I still relate to the Punk-movement somehow (considering it's attitude and ethics). But some might see this different.

Next plans?

We got two records planned. One will be our second full length called "Red Suns". Two of the songs you can already listen to on our bandcamp page or on our 7" "Ruins of Men" out on Cobra Records. We recorded 10 songs for the album in January and are now busy with mixing/mastering as well as the artwork.
Then there will most likely be another - yet untitled - record with five songs we recorded just a week ago. However, we will have to rearrange some of the tracks, so we're yet far from finished. The five Songs definitely don't have anything to do with Hardcore or guitar music at all. I'd say it has a Industrial/Ambient feel to it. Personally, I've never been as exited about any of my own music as with this. Hopefully, it'll turn out the way we want it to sound.
We're currently without any record label and we're not really sure about this whole issue. Maybe we are going to release the new stuff on our own, since we're no "good selling" or touring band. Besides that, we have tons of ideas for the layout and most labels don't want to pay for all those great ideas we have, haha. I don't blame them.
And then, last but not least we might try to tour Europe, once the records are done.

What's the best thing about being in a band for you?

There are two things about it. For one, I just enjoy making music. There is no other thing in life that I've yet discovered, which gives me the same feeling. Currently, I pretty much work the least I need to, so I can spend the rest of the days and nights for jamming, recording or rehearsing with different projects and people. I know, this is basically a pretty hopeless cause and I don't feel like I may once earn a living off it, but I don't care.
Then second: I just have the best people around me for a band like Seed of Pain. I couldn't imagine anyone better. It's a pack of six idiots, all middlefingers up in the air and that's pretty much it.

Catharsis, Gehenna, Zegota - CrimethInc Bootleg Series #1

2011-03-21T20:27:00.000+01:00

My buddy Daniel hooked me up with a fucking rad live split CD that seems to be so rare even the bands didn't know it existed. Like the title of the CD says, it's a bootleg, but don't be confused: This isn't your bad sounding live bootleg, recorded with a walkman. The quality of the recording is actually really good.

I don't think the bands really need an introduction:

Catharsis shall be well known; I posted a compilation of relatively rare songs earlier on. If you don't know Catharsis, well, do your homework kid.

Gehenna is probably the meanest band ever, one of the very few bands that was/is able to combine elements of Black Metal and Hardcore without sounding whimpy. Stephen Miller of Unbroken drummed in an early incarnation of the band, Jensen Ward, now in Iron Lung, played guitar, they had a split 7" with Catharsis, A389 re-released their "The War of the sons of light and the sons of Darkness" compilation - there are many reasons to love/hate this band even without listening to it.

The music speaks for itself, most of the time fast, harsh and so full of hate it could ruin the best day of your life. The interview on youbleedlikerats.blogspot.com is one of the funniest things I've ever read: "Playing shows always sucks. Going to shows sucks. Hardcore sucks. Metal sucks. It's the same now as it was then, but now all of the posers can research shit on their computer and pretend to be into us. Don't get it twisted. Just cause more turds can download INFEST songs now doesn't make it better. If anything it just sucks more now. I feel like almost everyone and everything sucks except GEHENNA. That's how it's always been and how it always will be."

I don't really know where to put Zegota. I've never even heard of them before, I don't know if you can blame me for that. Anyway I think they're quite cool, they tend more towards a post-Hardcore direction, a bit melodic at times, I could imagine that fans of End of a Year and alike could dig it. You can find more information about Zegota on wikipedia. Quelle surprise.

Download the CrimethInc Bootleg Series #1 CD via mediafire

www.crimethinc.com

Cold Cave - Cherish the Lightyears (Review)

2011-03-09T15:37:00.000+01:00

Have I been waiting for the new COLD CAVE full length? The answer is: not really, because their first album, Love Comes Close, released in late 2009, still entertains me on a weekly basis, at least. So a new record by Cold Cave was something I definetely wished for, but nothing I desperately hoped and waited for. Anyway, in April Cherish the Lightyears is going to be released, and if in 2011 nothing exceptional happens, this second COLD CAVE full length will be my favourite record of the year.

Basically every band Wes Eisold played in gained a lot of attention, and besides the "ex-band-factor", due to his contribution in the hugely influental American Nightmare/Give Up The Ghost, the explanation for this may be quite easy: although none of "his" bands did something ground breaking or revolutionary new, all of them did it extraordinary good and arguably better than everyone else before or after. And COLD CAVE is no exception.

Post Punk and New/Dark Wave became a mainstream phenomena again, on account of super successful bands like Interpol, The Editors or The XX, all of them of course modern mainstream rock acts but maintaining that certain dark egde and attitude of their forefathers a.k.a. Joy Division and early New Order, The Sound, the early Beloved and so on. COLD CAVE was originally Wes Eisold's one man power electronics/harsh noise act. As time went by the band transformed into a four piece synth pop act, remaining Punk and controversial enough to retain credibility at the "underground", but at the same time being melodic and trendy enough so that pop music listeners and fans of the aforementioned mainstream rock acts could get into it.

Cherish the Lightyears is a bit faster than its predecessor Love Comes Close, and there are a few more "real" instruments on it. So you'll hear a actual bass in some songs, guitar riffs in others, and even trumpets in one. Most of the songs are very danceable, keeping a dark edge, think of early New Order or even The Cure. The biggest difference to the previous album are the vocals; Jennifer Clavin doesn't sing as much as on Love Comes Close, basically she's just doing a bit whispering here and there and really quiet background vocals. That's a bit of a bummer because I really like her voice. But consequentially Eisold is doing all of the vocals and he has definetely improved a lot. So you won't really miss Clavin that much, although I think that a bit more female vocals would have been nice, but that's just my opinion.

If you like to dance, dance, dance to the radio, think that boys don't cry, enjoy the silence now and then or feel blue on Mondays, there is no fucking reason not to be into this awesome record. You should be able to get it basically everywhere.

"It’s a love letter to the path that has lead me to where I am now, to loss and love and friends and enemies and the dizzied and blurred ways of the world." (Wes Eisold about Cherish the Lightyears)

www.coldcave.net

Urban Waste - s/t EP

2011-03-02T14:57:00.000+01:00

A few months ago I met a friend of mine, and I was wearing an URBAN WASTE shirt (classic logo, what else). After a while of chatting he said something like "Didn't URBAN WASTE play in Münster two weeks ago ?" (that's where I lived back then). At that moment a lot of thoughts ran through my head: First, I wanted to expose him in front of everybody else because he obviously hasn't that much clue about Hardcore as he always claims. Second, I thought that it's pretty embarrassing for him anyway not to know URBAN WASTE, so exposing him would have been too much. And third, a few hours later, I kind of thought that you can't really blame him for not knowing URBAN WASTE, I mean nobody knows every single Hardcore-Punk band in the world, and even though URBAN WASTE is a real classic you should know... that shit's nearly 30 years old.

Anyway, because there are probably lots of more people like my friend, here's URBAN WASTE's self-titled EP. UW came out of New York City and was one of the first "real" Hardcore bands from that area (alongside to Agnostic Front, Antidote, Heart Attack etc.). They released their only record, this 7", in 1983 via Mob Style Records, disbanded, and eventually reunited in 2002 and 2009 for a few single shows. So you could say, their "career" wasn't much different to those of a lot of other bands. But the 7" will have its place in the Hall of Fame of Hardcore, because it embodies so much what makes this music so great: short, fast and energetic songs, pointed songwriting and lyrics only pissed off kids can write, I guess Police Brutality is my favourite track. The singer sounds so fucking angry, you just couldn't fake it.

"Intense adrenaline blasts with some choppy, discordant lead breaks. Urban Waste create quite a guitar wall-of-sound, and the songs start to click after only a couple of listens." (Jeff Bale from Maximum Rocknroll #7, July/August 1983)

Download URBAN WASTE - s/t EP via mediafire

Beggars & Gentry - Abwärts (Review)

2011-02-25T10:45:00.001+01:00

Beggars & Gentry is a quite new band from Switzerland, with some ex-members of Fall Apart. It's a little bit funny, because all bands from Switzerland I know are pretty good in what they're doing. Well, to be honest I don't know too many bands from the land of cheese and chocolate, but that's just alright, it helps to maintain the perfect image of a country where there are only cool kids playing cool music in cool bands. Not to forget about Celtic fucking Frost.

OK, so Abwärts is the band's first proper release I guess, in 2010 there was "just" a demo. This full-legth was released by Take It Back Records and Wanne Eickel's infamous Cobra Records, so you know that you can expect a certain quality here. The artwork's really cool and coloured vinyl is avaible. So much for the facts.

Beggars & Gentry's music could be described as rocking Hardcore-Punk. Mostly in mid-tempo range those five guys play a kind of Hardcore that allows associations with bands like Poison Idea, Wipers or The Suicide File, always keeping a rough, grumpy Punk-attitude and sound. Cool guitar leads, that blend into the overall instrumentation, and sweet bass-lines make this record a quite interesting piece of music. Sometimes, while I listened to it, I thought that a little more speed here and there would do no harm, and now and then I thought that the record could risk to get a bit boring - but everytime Beggars & Gentry manage to come up with a nice break, a guitar lead, a cool line in the lyrics to turn it around and keep it interesting.

Speaking of the lyrics, they cover the whole range of post-modern twenty-something anger and frustration - isolation, alienation, broken dreams, solitude in our society - but political and social themes as well. What I totally dig about the lyrics that they're far from being pathetic or overdrawn but play a lot with cynism and bittersweet irony. And that makes them appear totally credible.

http://beggarsandgentry.blogspot.com
Beggars & Gentry on facebook

Buy this record directly from Cobra Records

YES, I made it, I really managed to write a 350-words-review about Abwärts without mentioning Fucked Up. This record sounds so much like early Fucked Up, the comparison would have been just too easy. On the other hand, this fact ensures a certain quality, doesn't it?

The Get Up Kids / Coalesce split 7"

2011-02-19T12:01:00.004+01:00

Circa around 2001 I became heavily obsessed with Coalesce. I can't exactly remember why so. Converge released their Magnum opus Jane Doe that year, and it was the first time I realised Converge as a band and the first time I've been exposed to "mathcore", if you want to call it that way. Needless to say, because of my interest in that genre I found out about Coalesce shortly after (mind the Holy Trinity Converge - Botch - Coalesce). Even today I don't understand Coalesce's music in its entirety and of course I didn't 10 years ago. That's the first factor that made this band so attracting to me. The second was (and still is) Sean Ingram's unique voice. I can't even imagine how he's doing it, those half-hoarse, half-guttural shouts, which aren't exactly shouts but walls of voice coming out of his mouth. So sick. Furthermore the lyrics are matchless when it comes down to bitter irony and criticism for "the scene". And the music's just ridiculously heavy and twisted.

What I'm about to say is, because of my obsession with Coalesce I tried to get all their releases at least in one version on vinyl. And I failed at that, although I could track down most of it. Whatever, one split-record in their discography stands out just because of the other band that's on the record: the "Burned Bridges/I'm Giving Up On This One" split 7" with their friends The Get Up Kids.

The cool thing about this split 7" is that both bands cover a song by the other: Coalesce picked I'm Giving Up On This One, originally released by TGUK on their Woodson EP entitled Second Place, TGUK choose the Coalesce song Harvest of Maturity (one of their earliest) and turned it into Burned Bridges. If you're aware of the greatness of both bands you know that they wouldn't just cover their choice close to the original song, but turn it into something that could be one of their own songs as well. Then again, with those two bands that sound so different, it wouldn't really work any other way, would it?

It's really hard to pick a "winner" here, both interpretations are outstanding; Coalesce's bulldozing version of a mid-90ies emo-song and The Get Up Kids' energetic and melodic emo song that once was a grooving, abnormally heavy Coalesce song. Both songs are, just like the bands, way too different to compare. Subjectively spoken, I prefer The Get Up Kids' side of this 7", just because I'm kind of more into it at the moment. The moment at minute 1:56, when Matt Pryor sings "harvest the crops of my past", right before the breakdown (right, there actually is a breakdown in a TGUK song), is purely magic. It's arguably my favourite TGUK moment of all time. And they have lots of awesome moments.

Download the Coalesce / The Get Up Kids split 7" via mediafire

Just to have the comparison, here are snippets of both songs in their original versions:

Coalesce - Harvest of Maturity (snippet)

The Get Up Kids - Second Place (snippet)

Been there, done that

2011-02-17T23:31:00.002+01:00

So once again I've been absent for quite a while, work and university kept me busy throughout most of the winter. Good news are, I've finally finished the latter, and even though my schedule's still pretty tight I hope to get back to blog on a more regular basis.

Life And Death Records reactivated
Two friends of mine asked me to layout a demo tape they wanted to release via Life And Death Records, a label one of them startet years ago to release the first Goldust 7". I said yes, and I also joined the label quasi as equal member. A little while later we released the Deathrite 2011 demo, meanwhile it's nearly sold out, which is cool. You may still have a chance to get it at one of these distros: XsentientX, Per Koro Records, Kink Records, Hardware Records or Walking Dead Records.

Band still active
Because we had to cancel a few shows, and a few shows got canceled by the promoter, we didn't play a lot during the last months. We did not rehearse on a regular basis. But we still have a lot of riffs to write and words to scream, so there will definetely be new songs in the future. To bridge the time gap there'll be not one, not two, not three but FOUR split 7"s that feature new songs by us. The first one's already released, it's a split with the newest A389 signing Full Of Hell. If you care tune in at goldusthc.com.

Anything else?
Well, that's it for now. Please check out Whirl. I enjoy this a lot at the moment.

Woe : New album out on Candlelight Records

2010-10-14T14:46:00.034+02:00

I've just read that the Philly based Black metal band WOE recently released a new album entitled Quietly, Undramatically via Candlelight Records. Why should that be relevant to you? Because the band's first record, A spell for the death of man, is still an awesome record that brings a very freshening "non-style and non-image attitude" into a genre that sometimes seems to concentrate way too much on those things. Since I haven't had the chance to listen to the album yet there's not really much more to say about it; but I'll surely check the album out asap.

Get more information and listen to the title track on stereogum.com
myspace.com/woeunholy

Millenial Reign - Bones...Dust...Nothing (Review)

2010-10-08T10:01:00.003+02:00

This decent record could easily become a very sought-after collectors item, due to the fact that Damian from the almighty Fucked Up is doing the vocals. If that wouldn't be rad enough, Jordan from No Warning/Terror is playing guitar. So I guess this is enough all-star-line-up'ness. Millenial Reign's only goal was to worship Integrity, nothing more, nothing less. Well, they definitely succeeded in this, there's not much more to say about it. Heavy, Melnick'ish riffs, sick solos, Damian bawls the dark, metaphoric lyrics, so everything you'd expect from a Holy Terror worship is there and accomplished well. I mean there are many, many bands at the moment that try to do the classic Integrity sound, copying everything from A to Z and think nevertheless that they're the most innovative thing in the world. Millenial Reign copy everything, too, but, and that's what makes the difference, they never said they wanted to do anything else. And, as opposed to this whole "Holy Terror kindergarten", the lyrics are really worth to be read, and even come along with short liner notes. Conclusion: for sure not the reinvention of the wheel, but super well done and Damian is cool anyway. Go for it.

Hear it: myspace.com/themillenialreign
Buy it: A389 Records online store

Samiam / Texas Is The Reason - Your Choice Live Series 037

2010-10-07T20:50:00.019+02:00

Apposite to this time of the year, when the days are getting shorter, and few hours of sunlight every day are able to raise spirits to ridiculous heights, I came across this absolute must-have record for every fan of what we used to call Emo a few years back, before hordes of terrible made-up 13 years olds occupied the term. I have this CD on my shelf for at least ten or eleven years, I can't even remember where I bought it. Pretty sure I purchased it through some mailorder, though, because back then I was still living in the middle of nowhere where there weren't (and still aren't) record shops, let alone Hardcore/Punk shows where you could buy records from a distro or something like that. And I think the CD might have been on a cheapo list. The fact that this isn't a vinyl record, but a CD, one of the few CDs that I didn't sell/throw away, should tell you A LOT about how much this piece of plastic still means to me to this day.

So what do we have here: The label Your Choice Records, founded 1988 in Germany, released only live recordings of different Hardcore, Punk and Indie bands. This live-split was recorded at the "Räucherkammer" in Wiesbaden, Germany, at the 28th of May 1996. Samiam are featured with a very good abstract of their first five records: Stepson, Sky Flying By, Full On, Clean, Speed, Time By The Dime and Home Sweet Home. All the songs, and especially Home Sweet Home, come across super intense, due to the fact that Jason Beebout's voice is even a little bit rougher than on their studio records. If you love Samiam, you'll love 'em even more after listening to this record.

Afterwards, one of my favourite bands EVER, with some of the most meaningful lyrics and most awesome songs EVER written in the history of music: Texas Is The Reason. Their songs: Nickel Wound, The Magic Bullet Theory, Johnny On The Spot, Dressing Cold, A Jack With One Eye and Antique. What can I say: I like these live versions more that the studio versions - the intesity, Gerret's voice, the athmosphere, it couldn't be any better that this. My favourite moment on this record is during "A Jack with one eye", when the refrain bursts out for the first time and Garrent's just screaming "Yeah!"... it always feels as if my heart would explode at that moment, just pure and unfiltered emotion expressed in this beautiful music. For me this is one of the greatest moments of recorded music ever.

The only thing that sucks about this record is: Of all releases on Your Choice Records, this is the only one that wasn't released on vinyl as well. Bummer. The Cd's out of print for a long time, too.

Download "Samiam / Texas Is The Reason - Your Choice Life Series 037" via mediafire

Your Choice Records Homepage - all information about its releases, pictures and the whole concept behind the label.

Just in case you haven't noticed...

2010-10-07T20:01:00.001+02:00

... once again in my life I'm teaming up with Lars. From this day on he'll contribute to this blog every now and then. See his first post here.

Surroundings - Self-Titled (Review)

2010-10-07T18:17:00.051+02:00

So here is my contribution to Lost In Sabbath. Another old jaded dude.It doesn't happen often nowaways that a band really catches a glimpse of my eyes and ears. I finally figured out that my taste in music stagnated somewhere in time and only few bands that formed and released their shit after 2003 interest me much but every now and then you cross something.

I stumbled across the name SURROUNDINGS in a thread about the beef between their singer and Mr give-me-my-burger-usa-rules (Let Down. Mother of Mercy, soon on a European Tour again). Apparentely they played a show together and the singer of SURROUNDINGS was watching Let Down in the front row with a beer in his hand (nothing better than having a beer in hand and enjoying the show of a mediocre band) and got his keg of beer kicked out of his hands and getting called a whiny faggot afterwards. So this incident founded my sympathy and I have started my researches. The result was well this something, a split record called "World Darkness" between Pellinore and SURROUNDINGS. [Yes, the word actually is WORLD and not this fancy fashionshit like VVorld.]

I have to admit that Pellinore are great as well but SURROUNDINGS really did it for me. Besides this split they have released so far a nice 7" called "Monuments in Ruins". This year Surroundings have now unleashed their first long-player (I guess you can call it that way) which is simply-put "self-titled". So why did I claim that I rarely listen to any new shit. Well, the new shit I mainly listen to sounds like old shit, like the good old days. I will now quote the influences that SURROUNDINGS stated on their myspace and as you will see, besides the name-dropping, they cover a nice range of influences, at least in my book: Eyehategod, Neurosis, Unsane, Discharge, Nirvana, Earth and Discordance Axis.

And if this isn't self-explanairy enough, I will give you a short description: SURROUNDINGS are playing their own interpretation of hardcore: lightning fast, heavy and slow, down-tuned riffage, distortion and ear-piercing feedback and heartfelt screams/yells. Calling them powerviolence won't do them justice, neither are they a Mind Eraser rip-off. They remind me of Drop Dead and Siege a fair amount of times and they have this southern sludge introspective nihilistic element. The lyrics are harsh and tell us that this world and what man made out of it is just a huge pile of shit, the songs are short and grinding. When you expect it the least SURROUNDINGS will turn around the song structure and let the song fall apart in a gritty way. Then you have deal with an unpredictable feedback-infested muddy slowpaced swamp and the notes keep dragging and dragging. While most (let's call them evil, depressived, dark) bands stick to a well-ridden dark and depressed formula: Let's just play real slooooow and let nothing else happen and bore the shit out of everyone, SURROUNDINGS present a different approach with the sheer rage, compressed negativity and the brick to your face.
The guy has a voice that I envy and I jealously wish was my own. He has a great feeling when it comes down to place the words and how to fit them in. Most vocalists don't understand that their voice is an immanent element of a band, another instrument to be taken care of, another piece to keep it all together and they give the sound their own gritty character. SURROUNDINGS know how to do it and how to do it right.
I haven't been excited about a band coming from the hardcore spectrum lately and that's why you should be too.

Tracklist:
1. World of Failure
2. Virgilkapelle
3. Harvesting Dirt
4. No Seed
5. Man Has Failed
6. Dead Mass
7. Five Suns
8. Trouble In the Dunes
9. The Jar Is Empty
10. Walls and Wires
11. Gluttony of God

Hear it: http://www.myspace.com/surroundings
Buy it: http://www.freecakefreecake.com/bakery/product_info.php?products_id=86

A new dawn rising: six new bands

2010-10-06T09:38:00.003+02:00

When you're in a band that plays shows on a quite regular basis it's probably unavoidable that you get to know loads of new bands. Most of the time local ones that are opening, and more often than not those bands aren't that great - probably the reason why most of them never leave ther "local band" status. However, sometimes it happens that those new bands leave a good impression, may it be because they are totally rad people or the music and performance is really inspiring. Within the last few months we played with a couple of new/young bands that appealed to me in a way or another - so I decided to feature six new bands on this blog. The rules are easy: six bands, the same five questions to each band. Enjoy this and support the bands!

The bands are:
Lightbearer
Juggernaut
Infected
Coldburn
Mind Trap
Soultrader

Lightbearer are from Essen, Ruhrpott, Germany. We played their first show with them, and as far as I remember it was the best first show I've ever seen. In addition, their bass player Ansgar is one of the raddest persons I know.

When have you startet the band and what is your motivation?
Our drummer Marcel and I (bass) started the band almost one year ago. It took us a few months to find a singer and the guitarplayers. We started the band because we wanted to play heavy music that fits our taste and we needed an excuse to have some beers during normal weekdays.

Name three bands that influenced your music and/or attitude...
Speaking for the whole band I would say that Pantera is definitely number one. Next is Down and at the moment The Sword for one half of the band and High on Fire for the other half.

...and now tell what makes you unique.
We have really nothing that makes us unique. We are just a bunch of guys who like to play heavy music and drinking beer.

Your lyrics usually deal with...
Anger, Frustration, Destruction, and Death... keep it metal... haha. But I think we´re going in for Satan next time... hahahaha

Your next plans as a band?
Honestly speaking, there is no real plan at the moment. We just want to play some good shows and hang out with friends. Hopefully, we´ll find a label soon and have a 7" produced. We are also talking to some friends to have a split 7" in a few month and if we are lucky we can play a tour next year and have enough money to hit the studio again.

Download "Ready To Fall" by Lightbearer via mediafire
Lightbearer on myspace

A wild band from Vienna, Austria. Hard partying whiskey drinkers and hell raisers with the heart in the right place. Love 'em.

When have you startet the band and what is your motivation?
I think our first practice was some time around December 2008. We never had a certain goal in mind or anything, we just wanted to write some songs, have some kinda outlet, you know.. and yeah, that's still what it's about.

Name three bands that influenced your music and/or attitude...
I hate such questions, they're always pretty hard to answer as there are usually a billion of influences and they change on a daily basis. However, there are of course some constants, recently including mainly Cleveland/Holy Terror style bands, and a lot of Thrash and Death Metal classics, such as Kreator or Bolt Thrower.

...and now tell what makes you unique.
Well, we're still trying to find what you could call our own sound. As we develop as human beings throughout the years, so do our creations, and the more music we write and play, the more distinct our ideas become. In the last time, we tried to break out of that generic hardcore song structure our demo songs still had. I don't know if that makes us unique, but we actually just want to create music that we ourselves like at the very moment, the song comes into existence. Everything else would be kinda strange anyway, I think.

Your lyrics usually deal with...
The usual stuff: feeling confused, disoriented and misplaced in this world. This is of course very generalized but sums up everything quite well, haha.

Your next plans as a band?
As mentioned before, we're still working on finding a unique sound. Something that doesn't feel like the music we write actually came from someone else. This is our music, so we want it to sound that way. Of course we also want to do everything every band wants to do like releasing a lot of records, getting rich and never having to work again.

Download "Néant" by Juggernaut via mediafire
Juggernaut on myspace

Infected are from Saxony, Germany. We shared the stage twice. They instantly got my attention with their super heavy, no bullshit attitude. There are many bands doing the super-fast-meets-super-slow-thing right now, but Infected are able to scare you

When have you startet the band and what is your motivation?
We startet in fall 2007 as a side project, with honestly no expectations, but in early 2009 Infected became our main band. The only motivation was just to hang out, having a great time together and creating a beast that contains powerviolence, doom, metal and punk.

Name three bands that influenced your music and/or attitude...
Eyehategod, Mind Eraser and some 80's stuff like Depeche Mode, Phill Collins etc.

...and now tell what makes you unique.
Uhhh, hard question, don't know, we're just a band playing the music we like. The people who listen to our shit should decide if we're unique or not. We don't care.

Your lyrics usually deal with...
Disbelief & SATAN!

Your next plans as a band?
Artwork and master for the split with Mind Trap are finally done. Hopefully it will be released in November. Also in November or December we will recording a few new songs for another split with our mates from Dresden in Equality, if you're into Botch or Converge, check them out. And of course, playing shows as often as we can.

Download "Glamour and Gloom" by Infected via mediafire
Infected on myspace

To be honest, we've never played with Coldburn so far. A fact that sucks, because they're great. As easy as that. I know Christian, one of their guitarists, when we were touring together with his old band The Realness. If Coldburn can get their shit together, they could get big.

When have you startet the band and what is your motivation?
We started the band in autumn 2009 and our motivation was to play hardcore music the way we like it. I guess theres nothing more to say about it.

Name three bands that influenced your music and/or attitude...
Terror, HopeCon and Biohazard.

...and now tell what makes you unique.
I think its hard to say what makes a band unique in times, when there are so many bands around. Were definitely doing our own thing, but were also influenced a lot by music we‘ve heard, shows we‘ve seen and the lives we‘ve lived. We dont know if we are really unique and in the end its up to the listeners and show-visitors to decide if we are.

Your lyrics usually deal with...
Situations and experiences we had, made and learned from. Since most of the stuff which had huge impact on us were feelings like anger, letdown and hard times we shout out about that. However, we dont like to be considered as a negative hardcore band cause in the end were all pretty nice guys and our message definitely has a positive outlook. But to sing about being in love and partying wouldn‘t fit the musical idea.

Your next plans as a band?
We recorded songs for a 7inch which is coming out this winter on Worship Records. Apart from that we wanna play as many shows as possible, meet more great people on the road and hopefully go on our first tour next year.

Download "Catcher in the Rye" by Coldburn via mediafire
Coldburn on myspace

In a review of their demo I wrote that they remind me of a glue sniffing version of Infest. Well, they still do. Playing with them is always cool, and just like their friends of Juggernaut they like to have a nip of liquor now and then.

When have you startet the band and what is your motivation?
We started with Mind Trap in early 2009! Our motivation? It’s the best feeling when we see people going nuts and singalong to our music.

Name three bands that influenced your music and/or attitude...
Infest, Neanderthal and Mind Eraser.

...and now tell what makes you unique.
Well, each of us has a stunning, beautiful, cute and intelligent girlfriend. Be jealous!

Your lyrics usually deal with...
This fucked up place we call earth and these fucked up things we call humanity and religion.

Your next plans as a band?
At the moment we are playing a game. It’s called “Who in the band can be the laziest?”. But in the next few weeks a split 7” with Infected from Germany will come to life on Power Trip Records. Our plans for the next year are simple, release the first LP and play as much shows as we can. Thanks for your support. All of you should listen to Avalanche!

Download "20080509" by Mind Trap via mediafire
Mind Trap on myspace

My first impression of Soultrader, when we played with them a few months ago, was: "Damn, their intro sounds kinda like SOD." All in all, Souldtrader doesn't sound like SOD, but they're a good band anyway haha. They recently released a 7" called "Inner Universe", so check that out!

First of all we have to say that it's difficult to entirely answer these questions without neglecting some personal aspects because subordinating five individuals in one group never engenders an unmitigated result. Nevertheless, here we go...

When have you startet the band and what is your motivation?
We started around May 2009 after different other projects with the intention to create a personal escape out of reality and just beeing creativ. As a band and as five individuals we try to slip through the daily torture while making music and writing lyrics which just reflects the liaison of all of us.

Name three bands that influenced your music and/or attitude...
Hard to choose only three from tons of stunning bands out of over 30 years “hardcore/punk history”. We would say that we are influenced by many different genres which are mainly based in the hardcore/punk/metal movement. Especially the 90s took our fancy. Naming only three bands would cause a misrepresentation, so this has to be enough.

...and now tell what makes you unique.
Listen to our records and tell us.

Your lyrics usually deal with...
...personal emotions, problems, experiences and/or politics; both packed up in a garment out of metaphers and destined to make you think.

Your next plans as a band?
We try to play as many shows as possible. Furthermore SOULTRADER will write and record some new songs for a planned 10”. Therefore we search for supplementary labels (next to Demon Spawn Records). So hit us up.

Download "Inner Universe I" by Soultrader via mediafire
Soultrader on myspace

Back to interview list

Starkweather - This Sheltering Night (Review)

2010-09-17T14:17:00.003+02:00

Most of the time you pick up a record, listen to it two or three times, and maybe like it. You remember every song after the first listening, have your favourite ones after the second time, maybe already know some of the words. You understand the song structures, the riffs, the composition, if you like the record it gives you a good feeling. But sometimes you listen to a record that's very different - the music that beats down on you is so complex it's hard to follow the songs, with a shitload of riffs is packed into every single song, when you listen to the record for the first time you turn it off after three tracks because you can't handle it. If you knew Starkweather before their latest record on Deathwish (they're already around since 1989), you know what kind of record "This Sheltering Night" is: a complex, harsh, uncomfortable one. By the way, props go out to Deathwish for releasing awesome records like this and not only mediocre crap like Killing The Dream. So I think in a way Starkweather translated 70ies Prog-Rock à la King Crimson into (Post-)Metal, with all its weird riffs, chords, time signatures and guitar leads, all very heavy and very, very dark. The most outstanding thing about Starkweather is (and always were) the vocals though. It is simply unbelievable how one person can come up with so many different voices (and not sounding like someone who tries to fake them). From sung vocals to nearly guttural ones, screaming, whispering, it's all there and all good. As good as it is, I have to make clear that "This Sheltering Night" is definetely a record that demands a lot of time. I listened to it for quite some time now and still discover new aspects, new layers of guitar underneath the riff-storm on top or new sick breaks I haven't perceived before. So if you like to spend a lot of time with one and the same record, and wish not to get bored after two days, check out "This Sheltering Night", if you're looking for your rather generic Hardcore or Metal record, better stay away from this one.

Starkweather on myspace

Pulling Teeth/Shin To Shin split 7" (Review)

2010-09-17T11:57:00.003+02:00

When I read the news that Aaron Melnick of Integrity/In Cold Blood fame would release a split 7" with his new band Shin To Shin and Pulling Teeth on the flipside I was so amazed I couldn't sleep for three days. Aaron Melnick is definetely in the 5 of the most influental guitarists for me - I stopped counting the riffs I stole from him. As you might guess after this introduction, I really expected A LOT from Shin To Shin. But when I listened to one of the tracks online as soon as possible, I was quite disappointed. On the one hand I probably expected to much, on the other hand I didn't really know what kind of sound to expect. Of course I ordered the 7" anyway, and after it took a few spins on my record player I had to reconsider my opinion. I think what turned me off the first time was the fact that Shin To Shin's riffs aren't in the fashion of Melnicks "early works". The music hasn't too much to do with the classic Clevo-Hardcore sound, but, in my opinion, a whole lot with first wave Black Metal, think of bands like Hellhammer, early Celtic Frost and, most of all, early Venom. This, a little bit of Motörhead'ish rock and Discharge's wall-of-sound brutality is what Shin To Shin sound like, well, at least in my ears. And the more often I listen to it, the better I like it. It's different, it's not very Hardcore'ish, but it's hard, and that's the important thing isn't it?

On the flipside, like I mentioned before, Pulling Teeth. This song was already avaible online for quite some time, sounds like Slayer meets Integrity and is awesome, like all of their stuff. Nothing more to say. Oh well, one more thing: the artwork sucks, what's the matter with a bunch of bugs? I don't get it.

Shin To Shin on last.fm

Pulling Teeth's website

A389 Records

Hatewaves - Taste The Beast (Review)

2010-09-17T11:14:00.002+02:00

A while ago I received a five-7"-pre-order-package from A389 Records (what else...), but due to the fact that I fall asleep after 30 minutes at most after I come home from work, I haven't found the time to review that stuff. And if I keep up this rate I'll have all five 7"s reviewed in January 2011. Nice. Anyway, I'll start with the Hatewaves 7" because of all records in the package I like this one best. Hatewaves is another band with Dom from Pulling Teeth/A389 Records on guitar, so I knew already beforehand that this record wouldn't suck. Somehow this band reminds me of a faster version of Until The End, especially the style of the (backing) vocals, the production and, most of all, the super heavy moshparts. But don't expect this "mosh part during another mosh part"-thing Until The End celebrated in excess, Hatewaves keep it rather short, but nonetheless heavy. Throw in a few blast beats here and there, pissed-off lyrics (on this record is the first anti-facebook-song I know...), a bunch of catchy sing-alongs ("there's nothing free but death and air, I pay no taxes I refuse to share" <= I've had these lines in my head now for weeks) and you'll get a quite amazing Hardcore record. By the way, on the label's website it says "Brutal, stupid and awesome grind/hardcore". Now it's time for me to practise spin kicks.

Hatewaves on pahardcore.com

Morning Again reunion confirmed

2010-08-18T11:28:00.005+02:00

I realized a lot of people coming to this blog via google because they searched for information concerning the Morning Again reunion, so here's the newest info from Stuck In the Past:
It's true: Morning Again will play one reunion show this year: The show will take place at Churchill's Pub in Miami on Saturday, December 11 2010. More details will be released later this week but the following bands are scheduled to play:

Morning Again
Kids Like Us
All Hell Breaks Loose
Remembering Never
Knock Em Dead
Homestretch
Harbinger

The lineup for the band will be John and Steve on guitar, Jerry on bass, Kevin on vocals and Matt on drums.

More info: Stuck In the Past blog.

Pale Creation - s/t 7" (Review)

2010-07-30T21:02:00.002+02:00

When I heard that Pale Creation were about to release a new 7", I was more than stoked. I mean their last record was released in the last century, who would expect to get the chance to listen to new Pale Creation songs at all? Not me. And of course my expectations were quite high - to me, the Twilight full length is one of the most outstanding records of the 90ies. Surely rooted in Clevelands Hardcore scene, Pale Creation managed to create something really unique. It's not just Hardcore mixed with Metal, so way deeper than that. I'm not sure if Neurosis was an influence, but I think the comparison is not too odd. The factor that really made me an Pale Creation addict are the guitar solos: They're not of the Thrashy kind like those of Integrity for example (which are, of course, awesome as well), but more atmospheric, with loads of delay onto them, and a very smooth neck-humbucker sound. It's the kind of solos that let you shiver.

To make a long story short: the new 7" doesn't sound exactly like the Twilight record, which isn't too surprising when you consider the timespan in between, it sounds different but still awesome. I'd say it's more a mix of the (split-) 7"s and the full length, soundwise, and the songs are just plain great, really, there's not much more to say about it. The song on the A-side, "Rose Colored Haze", comes with an super spheric intro, then the guitars all of a sudden start, and you get washed away by a whirl of harsh vocals, double bass, and the heaviest riffs pressed onto vinyl in 2010. The solo ain't missing as well and it completes the song in a way only Pale Creation solos can. The song on the B-side, "Wake Of temptation" starts calm, with sung (!) vocals, and leads to the chorus, where Dwid Hellion is doing guest vocals. And whereas I still don't like his vocals on the new Integrity full length, here he's doing an awesome job. All in all, I think "Wake Of Temptation" is arguably Pale Creation's best song ever, and for damn sure the best song released in 2010 so far. Seriously, I'm addicted to this song. It's emotive, it creates a tense atmosphere, it's heavy, dark... I don't know, it's hard to describe music in words. Just go get this 7", and if it's the only 7" you buy this year, so be it. There's not likely anything better to come.

Pale Creation:

palecreation.com

A389 Records

Black Breath - Heavy Breathing

2010-07-27T20:53:00.004+02:00

Black Breath got my attention sometime last year, when they got featured in the same fanzine like my own band. They had one record out, "Razor To Oblivion", a 10" I purchased shortly afterwards. A heavy, solid record for everyone who likes rough Hardcore and Swedish Deathmetal (so obviously this record was made for me, haha), giving you a good 50/50 mix of both genres.
Their new record entitled "Heavy Breathing" was released via Southern Lord Records, somehow I missed to order it directly, so one day I checked the SL-site again when the vinyl version's gonna be released, and found out it was already sold out. Bummer. But Per Koro Records from Germany got some copies shortly afterwards, so I finally got mine. And, as you've probably heard somewhere else, this record is fucking awesome. It leans definetely more towards early Swedish Death Metal, sound- and songwise, a.k.a. Entombed "Left Hand Path" era, Dismember "Like an everflowing stream" era, or, not so Swedish but for sure influental for those, Autopsy. Heavy, groovy Death Metal riffs, uptempo beats but not ridiculously fast, that's the way it goes. Add a good dose of Motörhead and Discharge, put a Boss HM-2 pedal between guitar and the old Marshall, there you go: Black Breath. The vocals are the main factor reminiscent of Hardcore, but don't get me wrong: "Heavy Breathing" for sure eyes more towards Metal than the previous record.
The first Black Breath full length should complement everybody's record collection (if available haha) who likes his Death Metal "Stockholmish", his Hardcore raw and/or his hair long. Amazing record that leaves me longing for more.

Black Breath:
Myspace
Facebook
Southern Lord Records

Agalloch - Wooden Box 7xLP

2010-07-20T20:23:00.005+02:00

I've waited quite a long time for this. But after I saw the massive box, I knew it was worth it. What more can I say, check out the pictures, and if you haven't yet, check out Agalloch, especially their latest record, "Ashes against the grain".

The box

Logo detail

The open box

Booklet (contains all lyrics) detail

Booklet detail

Slipmat

The four records (three of them are double LPs)

Box detail

Call me a nerd, I think it's beautiful and totally worth its price.

The box is exclusively available through the Viva Hate Records webstore.

www.agalloch.org

www.vivahaterecords.com

Integrity - The Blackest Curse (Review)

2010-07-04T12:45:00.002+02:00

The latest Integrity output called "The Blackest Curse" was maybe one of the most anticipated records in 2010. And 2009. And 2008, or since the date it was scheduled for the first time, when ever that was. Because of the growing attention towards the classic "Holy-Terror"-sound (whatever that term means, nobody really seems to know that, even bands that use that term to describe themselves don't know it; I'd really like to know what the idea behind Holy Terrorism is, if there really is one) during the last few years, a lot of people look at the originators Integrity and what they are doing within this sub-sub-genre. And, to be honest, I was quite curious myself. Would Dwid surprise/piss off a lot of people again by doing something different like Integrity 2000, would Integrity do a second "To Die For" record, or would they even go for a more "classic" Integrity sound à la "Humanity Is The Devil"? The truth lies in between the latter two options. The riffs are huge, the solos are awesome, the songs are all heavy and dark, in general they are a lot more raw and unpolished than those on "To Die For" - of course, due to the awesome, rough production, that even adds a punk-feeling to the sound. So song-wise, "The Blackest Curse" is definetely a winner. But not everything's good about this record: the total lack of any information about who actually played on that record, no lyrics, no credits, just nothing, could be interpreted as the artist's idea of focusing the listener to the music, but basically it pisses me off. I mean I'm not a fan of liner notes that are longer than the lyrics themselves, nor of never ending thanks lists, and I see that those would be pretty displaced in an Integrity record anyway. But at least some basic information about the record would have been fine, if all records I buy would be like this one I'd stop paying for them and download everything. I mean if you don't miss anything by downloading a record instead of buying it, why do it then? But the fact that makes "The Blackest Curse" just a good, and not an awesome record is Dwid's vocal performance. The vocals are monotone, too deep, and way too gargling, in a way they even sound a bit bored, you know, just sung somehow - no comparison to the grandness of the early Integrity recordings. After a while I really feel annoyed - and keep in mind, this is written by someone who "likes" the vocals on Napalm Death's "Enslavement" record for example.
To sum it up, if you dig the early records by this band, and don't need a super high-end sound like they had on "To Die For", you'll probably like "The Blackes Curse". But because of the substandard vocals and the lack of information I'd only give this record a 7 out of 10.

Integrity on myspace
Deathwish Records

Sleep - Dopesmoker

2010-06-23T12:11:00.002+02:00

Everytime the temperature climbs above the 28° C mark, I feel the urgend need to allow me tons of Stoner Rock or Sludge. I think there’s barely any other music that fits droisy, dirty and sluggish heat more than the tunes of Electric Wizard, Grief, or also more modern sounding bands like Kylesa. During the last few months (which was, if you know how super shitty the weather was here until like two weeks ago, winter) I started an ever growing relationship with Sleep. I mean I knew their "Holy Mountain" record for quite a longer time, but during my Christmas vacation I discovered their definite masterpiece of weed admiring, slowness celebrating, ritual-like, one-song full length Dopesmoker, which is also known under the title Jerusalem. This fucking bastard of a song last for 1 hour and three minutes, which is even longer than most other "normal" full length records there are. There seem to be differences between the Dopesmoker and the Jerusalem version, even though it’s basically the same song, Dopesmoker is a little bit slower (which is hardly imaginable if you know the Jerusalem-version already), and due to this, longer. The band wrote this track roughly about four years and recorded it in about two months. The recording session itself was a little bit complicated, because the band usually recorded live and on analog reel-to-reel-machines – a reel-to-reel only takes about 22 minutes. Anyway, they managed to do it, and I think one could say, it’s more of a monumental, riff-based ritual than just a song. It gets you totally lost in trance, if you listen to it loud enough and try to concentrate on the music. Even without the influence of weed. The lyrics are a quite unique mixture of marijuana glorification and mythology pertaining to the Old Testament, some excerpt: "Creedsmen roll out across the dying dawn/Sacred Israel Holy Mountain Zion/Sun beams down on to the Sandsean reigns/Caravan migrates through deep sandscape/Lungsmen unearth the creed of Hasheeshian/Procession of the Weed-Priests to cross the sands/Desert Legion Smoke-Covenant is complete/Herb bails retied on to backs of beasts". So, summer’s finally there, it’s hot outside, start melting your brain with the neverending riff celebration of Sleep’s Dopesmoker. "Drop out of life with bong in hand...".
For more information about that record and the circumstances of its recording I recommend Decibel Mag's Albert Mudrian's book "Precious Metal - 25 extreme Metal masterpieces", there you'll find a chapter about Jerusalem/Dopesmoker, besides tons of other nerdy "who did what when and why on which record"-information.

Sleep - Dopesmoker via mediafire

New records arrived, reviews soon

2010-06-23T11:55:00.002+02:00

This month I received the new Integrity and Starkweather records from Deathwish, got the Black Breath full length finally on vinyl and I'm still waiting for the new Palecreation 7" to arrive. As soon as I get that one I'll do a decent review update here. So far I can say, the new Integrity record is quite good and the new Starkweather record is really, really uncomfortable to listen to (but great!). Maybe I'll do a post about how to ruin your JCM 800 amp, depends on today evening when everybody else is watching soccer.

The Love Below - Reproductive Rights 7" (Review)

2010-06-04T23:22:00.002+02:00

The beginning of the first track reminds me of Napalm Death’s „Enslavement“ record, just because every record that starts with a bass drum with lots of reverb does so. Well, not the worst first impression I’d say. The Love Below are quite hard to classify, which isn’t a bad thing, somehow they sound like a tougher version of Left For Dead, which is a stupid thesis anyway because Left For Dead were tough as fuck. Next try. The Love Below combine the heaviness of bands like early Blacklisted and the rawness and riffs of bands like Left For Dead or the more Hardcore-ish songs of The Swarm, with vocals that remind me of spazzy Hardcore outfits like early Some Girls or even Swing Kids. The lyrics are quite personal, quite pissed, and more in the vein of Hardcore ca. 2001, but without all the sadness-thing. On their myspace page they state their influences the following: "godlessness. drug abuse. adult situations". I guess that sums it up pretty well. The more often I listen to this, the better it gets, this record is definetely a grower. At first I thought something like „well, another Hardcore record, not bad, but not exciting as well“, but after a few more turns this record get’s damn awesome, and proves that you just can’t go wrong with A389 Records. Oh, and on the cover artwork there’s a lot of pink. Hint, hint.

The Love Below on myspace
A389 Records

Virgin Witch - s/t 7" (Review)

2010-06-04T23:06:00.003+02:00

Here we have a cool Hardcore item on a small label I unfortunatly haven’t heard about until now, Free Cake Records. In Virgin Witch, Dom from Pulling Teeth is filling on the bass and guitar duties, so I knew beforehand that this shit’s gonna rule. So what music can you expect from a one sided 7“ with two songs, the flip side of the record with a silk screened pentagramm on it, and a cover artwork that has everything what’s good (boobs, skulls, devil horns)? Let me say it like this, if the number of the Os in the word doom correlates with the slowness of the music, the first track is definetely a dooooooooooooom song. Sludgy, with nice twin guitar harmonies here and there, and realy slow, mean vocals, you know the deal. Nothing to bring you into an happy mood, though, like Grief when they had a really bad day. The second song is faster, not really super fast but a solid midtempo, a good Hardcore song in the vein of Pulling Teeth (sorry for the unoriginal comparison), and the solo is one of the best Dom has done so far. It could very well be on one of the earyl Angel Witch recordings as well. I love Angel Witch’s solos. Virgin Witch is probably only one of Dom’s many side projects, but a very good one and I hope that there will be more tunes of that band sometime soon.

Virgin Witch on myspace

Free Cake Records

Nails - Unsilent Death (Review)

2010-06-04T22:56:00.002+02:00

Does anybody remember the movie 28 Days Later? In that film humans get infected by a virus, that is basically like to pure rage and turns its victims into some kind of zombies („some kind of“ because they are able to run and climb, something a normal zombie doesn’t). Why am I mentioning this? The first time I’ve listened to this LP, I thought that this record was pure rage pressed on vinyl. And I still think it is. At first I wanted to make the usual Dropdead-meets-early-Terror-comparison, and it still would describe pretty good what’s going on here, but this morning, on my way to the bus, I suddenly knew of what band Nails, especially the new record, reminds me. I think Nails are like a Hardcore-interpretation of Terrorizer (speaking of Terrorizer I only speak about their masterpiece „World Downfall“ of course, I never even listened to the second record because everybody kept telling me how shitty it was). Nails have the same „all go no slow“ meets unseen brutality attitude, a lot of blastbeats, typical Hardcore-rythm parts, with 20 Boss Heavy Metal pedals between instruments and amps, add the hardest moshparts since Hatebreed's "Satisfaction..." record, there you are. The angriest vocals on earth screaming some of the most pissed off lyrics in Hardcore's short but angry history: "Bow to no man, no pig, no book of myths/tolerate no deception, no ignorance/I'm not your fucking servant" ("No Servant") or "Show your true self/Your loyality runs thin/You want to be liked by everyone/Two-faced faker, fucking traitor/Your feet are firmly planted/On both sides of the drawn line/Coward" (Traitor). A lot of "me against the world"-attitude, which is cool if it's authentic like in Nails' case. Now I probably should write about who’s playing in this band, but I don’t think Nails really need that. This thing was recorded at Kurt Ballou’s Godcity Studios, but don’t expect something rather slick like the Carry On full length (no diss towards Carry On, I love that record), the production is really noisy and dirty, still super heavy and, well, brutal. What more can I say... this is one of THE Hardcore records in 2010, if you’re into bands like [namedropping mode on] early Terror or Hatebreed, Terrorizer, Mind Eraser, Dropdead, Entombed or Napalm Death [namedropping mode off] you’ll be blown away by Nails.

www.sixfeetunderrecords.com

Keept It Real #9 (Review)

2010-05-26T08:15:00.002+02:00

Maybe you remember this post from March - I finally found the time to read this whole thing and write a review about it. First of all, the guy who's doing this zine, Apostolis from Athens, Greece, seems to be a very nice dude, so I didn't buy only one zine but six, so if you're from Germany and want to have one of those babies, drop me a line. Price is three Euros plus shipping haha. But back to the review. First thing you realize when you pick this up is of course the artwork, and this one looks really cool, as you can see on the picture to the left. It was done by a guy named Peio. Second, the paper is quite thick, especially the cover, but the normal pages as well, so reading this thing is also a haptic experience, which is cool. Zines that are made of this super thin paper (like MRR for example) always tend to annoy me after a while, because the pages get ripped up quite fast. No diss towards MRR intended by the way. Content-wise, this zine offers a good mixture of bands, and from a subjective point of view, of bands I can relate to. I especially enjoyed the interviews with Pulling Teeth, Poison The Well, Vitamin X (I didn't know Wolfi of Tangled Lines fame is drumming in that band now, I did an interview with him like five years ago) and above all (and to my own surprise) Greg Bennick of Trial. He has a lot of interesting things to say, and manages to do it in an entertaining way. The let downer is IMO the Lewd Acts interview, due to the LA-guy's laziness to come up with a little bit more interesting answers. The questions in all interviews are above the average you usually get to read, although I wish that Apostolis would have pressed on certain topics a little bit more. Then there's an article about Krishna consciousness, not something groundbreaking new, but on the other hand, 90 percent of today's Hardcore kids surely don't know about the connection between Hardcore and Krishna anymore. Personally, I always thought it was kinda strange, and this not only due to the fact that Krishna also involves some kind of organised religion, and with that, religious leaders, something that doesn't go to well hand in hand with Hardcore in my book. The other side of the coin is that I'm still siked about hanging out with the guys from 108, especially Vic, three years ago or something when we had the chance to play with them. Vic is cool, and for sure wouldn't be the person he is without all that Krishna-rave. But back to the Keep It Real zine, well, there's not much left to tell you, there's also a photo report from last years Fluff Fest, I never understood what's so great about festivals, because this is not what keeps Hardcore alive, but I can understand that a lot of people appriciate the chance to see a lot of good bands in a very short time. In addition to this content there are a couple of record reviews as well, I know people who only read the record reviews in zines. Whatever, to bring this to an end, this printzine is definetely worth your money, all in all it's nice to read, looks great and seems to be the perfect match with a hot summerday by the swimming pool, hanging out, drinking ice tea, and reading a zine.

For info, orders, trades etc. pp.:

myspace.com/keepitrealhc

And like I said, I also have a few copies flying around, if you're interested, let me know!

Zero Mentality - The truth about the Let It Burn showcases

2010-05-23T16:17:00.002+02:00

Yesterday we played the last one of seven Let It Burn showcases, more important than the facts about way too long drives and not too many people showing up, is that it was cool to hang out with the other bands a few weekends. Besides getting to know our new Austrian friends of The Cassidy Scenario I especially enjoyed the experience of witnessing the parallel universe called Zero Mentality first hand.

All bands were supposed to write journals about the first two showcases, to be released in the German Fuze magazine. But only The Blackout Argument's and our's actually got printed. ZM released their journal on their myspace blog, and it's the most hilarious thing I've ever read. I really recommend to everyone who's able to read German, check this: Dat is ZM, dat raffste nie.

New layout

2010-05-18T20:32:00.002+02:00

Today I had an interview for a pretty cool internship, I can't really say how it was. I mean, it was a pretty nice talk, but I think I talked too much bullshit all the time haha. We will see. Hopefully I get the job and hopefully it'll help me to find some kind of direction after my studies. Anyway, afterwards I felt some kind of motivation, so I decided to "relaunch" the layout of LIS, looks pretty cool IMO, I guess all the woodcut stuff is a little bit worn out since every jack ass-wanna be-holy terror band, and not even those, every Hardcore band that tries to be "dark", uses woodcuts. Whatever. I have a bunch of stuff planned in the near future, stay tuned for that, until then:

chill.

Systral - Black Smoker

2010-05-17T23:44:00.005+02:00

Germany, the 90ies, Bremen - if Germany ever contributed something good to any music genre, it'll be the so called "Bremen sound" in the 90ies, with Acme, Carol, Mörser and Systral. Those bands, especially Acme and Systral, were some of the very few European bands with a Hardcore background that got some attention in the USA as well, with their super heavy Grind meets Screamo (when Screamo didn't mean douche bags with dyed black hair and make-up) meets Death Metal Hardcore Punk. Bands like Converge definetely were influenced by those German mad men, if that means something to you. Besides the Acme compilation "... to reduce the choir to one soloist", Systral's second full length "Black Smoker" is my favourite record of that sub genre, if you want to give it that name. It's dirtier, rockier and heavier than their first output "Fever" (which still is awesome), adding a lot of "Wolverine Blues" to the mix, and blasting out sheer brutality. Super down tuned guitars, distorted bass, mean, growled vocals, chaos, heaviness, you got the picture. Here and there there are also short guitar leads flying in, I wish there'd be more of that, because they're cool but way to short. In Europe the record was released on Chrome Saint Magnus (the label was founded by the Acme drummer), and on Edison with a different cover in the USA.

In the German edition of Vice magazine there's a pretty cool interview with Denny (voc), so if you're able to understand German, be sure to check that out.

Systral - Black Smoker via mediafire

Morning Again reunion

2010-05-17T19:06:00.003+02:00

You've probably heard about that: Morning Again will reunite for a bunch of shows in the US and Europe. I probably won't go haha, but it would quite rad to see them playing songs like "God framed me" or "Martyr"

Info found on xStuck in the pastx.

5/16/2010, It's never never never coming back.

2010-05-17T18:45:00.007+02:00

Today morning I was checking my mails and social networks (uh...), just to find out that Ronnie James Dio died of cancer yesterday. I mean people dying is always sad, and to be honest, if people I don't know in person die, well, sometimes it affects me more, most of the time it's more like, "ah, ok", but those bad news of Dio really affected me. I guess you could say, they made me sad. The thing about Dio is, I was on tour with my band two weeks ago, and I listened to Black Sabbath's "Heaven And Hell" record (for those you don't know anything: the first Sabbath record with Dio singing) a lot of times, I mean I was into that record before, too, but during that ten day tour it really, really clicked, I love everything about it, the artwork (three angels playing cards and smoking weed, how awesome is that?! I even have a big backpatch with that artwork on my jeans jacket), the perfect Iommi'esque songwriting that bridges the gap between 70ies Sabbath doom and NWOBHM sounds, the production, and, above all, Dio's voice and lyrics. Most people around me like Sabbath, but "only the stuff with Ozzy", but I think they never listened to shit records like "Never say die" (although the artwork is insane on that one), and never gave "Heaven And Hell" and "Mob Rules" a chance. Of course Dio's style is totally different to Ozzy's, that's because Dio could sing (of course I also worship the stuff with Ozzy, you have to be pretty silly not to do). Or, in Henry Rollin's words: "The post-Ozzy Sabbath with Dio and Gillan was a big deal for Greg Ginn. He got ahold of "Heaven And Hell" and the first Dio album simultaneously, and once Ginn got into something, man, that was it. He'd play "Heaven And Hell" every minute. When I heard it, I felt like 'It's gotta be Ozzy or nobody', but they played it in the van so much, I eventually realized, 'This stuff fucking rules!' I was a convert." (from American Hardcore, p. 66) If it's good enough for Black Flag, it's for damn sure good enough for you.

Besides those two Sabbath records, the stuff with Rainbow and Dio is excellent as well, you can think about Ritchie Blackmore what you want, but there aren't many guitarists in rock music that are as influental as he is. And the young Dio singing, awesomeness in full effect.

And theeeeen, Dio. Holy Diver. Fuck yeah, this record embodies everything that Heavy Metal should be.

What else can I say, the metal world has lost one of its most prominent and influental figures, best singers and writers, and, as far as I can judge from interviews I saw and read, nicest guys.

Look out! The sky is falling down!
Look out! The world is spinning round and round and round!
Look out! The sun is going black, black
Look out! It's never never never coming back, look out!

Ronnie, R.I.P.

Russian Circles - Station

2010-04-13T17:02:00.003+02:00

Post-(fill this blank with any music style you want) is very popular these days, so I wasn't really surprised when I read the label post-metal the first time, and that was in connection with Russian Circles (although I'm pretty sure that Neurosis was labeled this way years before Russian Circles even came to existence). Station is their second full length, it was released 2008 on Suicide Squeeze Records, and it's imo their heaviest output so far. At first I thought it was pretty ridiculous, the term "post-metal", I mean post-rock is weird enough in a way, since post-rock is not exactly what's happening after rock, it's rock music anyway. But if you fill the name post-rock with content, like longer compositions, more athmospheric sound scapes, influences from psychedelic- and stoner-rock genres and what not, I can live with it. Ok, post-metal, like I said, at first I thought that this is a quite unnecessary term. But if you listen to Russian Circles, it makes sense. It's definetly heavier than post-rock outfits like Explosions In The Sky, even though both bands mostly stick to an almost classic instrumentation. That's a fact I like about Russian Circles anyway, all you hear is guitar, drums and bass. Of course you have some effects on guitar and bass, but that's mostly reverb, delay, a little less or a little more distortion here and there. You won't find any super fancy effects or instruments like in bands like Godspeed you! Black Empreror for example. And of course, Russian Circles is all instrumental, no vocals at all. But, to quote Depeche Mode, "words are very unnecessary". Russian Circles are able to create such a tense athmosphere, they nearly drown in sound spheres. You just listen to that record, thinking at every single riff how the song will evolve. And they have HUGE riffs. In addition to this they manage to bring a certain mood across, so this is the soundtrack for urban isolation, anger and depression. How pathetic hahaha. Get it.

Official Russian Circles site
Russian Circles on myspace
Russian Cirlces - Station via mediafire

Keep It Real Fanzine Issue No. 9 out now

2010-04-08T00:56:00.006+02:00

My friend Apostolis from Greece asked me to do a post about the newest issue of his print-zine, because it just got released. Well, I don't know a lot about it now, because I haven't read it yet, but since I ordered a few copies I will review the zine later on.

For now I can tell you what's inside: Interviews with Greg Bennick of Trial, Birds Of A Feather, Lewd Acts, Confronto, Vitamin X, To Kill, Pulling Teeth, Poison The Well and Despite Everything. Especially the combination of Pulling Teeth and Poison The Well is fucking rad, I wouldn't have thought that somebody except me likes both bands haha. Besides that you'll get a six pages photo report of Fluff fest '09, a thought provoking article concerning Krishna Hardcore Consciousness and the usual reviews.

There will be 500 copies, Din A4, price for this baby is 3 Euros plus shipping. You can contact Apostolis at hxf_prodaxionz@yahoo.com (also for wholesale and what not).

Are we still alive?

2010-03-31T15:27:00.002+02:00

Uh, sorry for not posting anything for like, months. I'm quite busy at the moment with writing my thesis, and listing to harsh Black Metal like early Mayhem, or to sorrowful tunes like Slowdive. Sounds weird? Well, welcome to my world.

Destroyer|Borderlines is about to be released in two days, and for the last few weeks a lot of reviews came in. It's funny to see that either people seem to really like it, or think it really sucks. Only very few reviews are in between those two poles. That really makes we wonder how things like "taste" work. I mean, how is it possible that two persons, listening to same same record, come to totally different conclusions?

One thing that seems to be important is, of course, the scene or subculture the listener feels hisself connected to. Like, there was this one review from this dude whose favourite bands are Children of Bodom and Blind Guardian. The "commercial metal" kind of guy. Of course he didn't like our record. He said something in the meaning of ambitious, but not executed. Other people, who I'd say also came to our shows before and in general belong to same sub-scene or hardcore like we do, like the record. Of course. They understand the different influences, the whole concept behind the album, and they don't expect us to sound like Lamb Of God or something. Then you'll find a lot of reviews written by people, who, sorry for that, don't seem to know A SHIT about music at all. Not necesserilly Hardcore, or extreme Metal. Just no clue at all. One review said "Old School Hardcore with youthcrew melodies" or crap like that. Come on, we might sound like a lot, but Old School Hardcore?! What's that anyway? It's just like names like "Indie" or "Heavy Rock". It sais SHIT about the music, it doesn't mean anything. And "youthcrew melodies", fuck, that's even worse. When I think about youth crew I think of bands like Youth Of Today or Chain Of Strength, Gorilla Buscuits, you name it. And even though those bands are kinda melodic, it's definetly a different kind of melodies than we do. When I read the review I knew what the kid who wrote it looked like: White flesh tunnels in his ears, red, checked shirt above a Go It Alone t-shirt, tight jeans, New Era Vans. Am I right? I'm sure I am. How do I know the Go It Alone shirt? Because that was the only band he compared us to. None of us ever listened to that band. The only effect reviews like that have is that the reader realizes that the writer doesn't know shit.

One guy thinks the production is bullshit, everybody else thinks it's good. Weird. Even though the cultural studies tell me that every media reception is linked to cultural influences, I don't understand how it works. Maybe the wide range of reviews tells at least one thing: Destroyer|Borderlines is a record that is not just black or white, but releases different feelings in everybody who listens to it (unlike records like "Reign In Blood" everybody loves haha), and call me pathetic: that's the only thing you can hope to achieve by playing music.

On the other hand: Do I really give a shit? Reviews mean rating music, and that doesn't make a lot of sense anyway, it's just a part of music business. I mean, when I write a review, I want to support the band (that is why you only find good ones on this blog). But a lot of reviews are written because some guy writing for some zine/blog gets it and has to review it, because he's part of the whole music-consume-machinery. Although he's writing for nothing but fame for some non-profit blog. I don't exactly know what I want to tell you haha. Just make up your own mind, listen to what you want, fuck everybody who want's to tell you what to listen to, including me. Culture belongs to you, so use it the way you want it.

Backstabbers Inc. - Kamikaze Missions

2010-02-22T17:48:00.003+01:00

I've seen this band play four years ago or something at the Trainspotting Fest in Schweinfurt. I've never heard of them before. They came on stage, four guys with cheap Epiphone guitars. As they begun, they unleashed hell. I have NEVER seen a band before or since then playing so tight, so aggressive and brutal like Backstabbers Inc.. The drummer needed new sticks after every second song and killed his basedrum head. Later I found out that Backstabbers Inc. basically started out as a side project of some guys from Unearth. There is also a connection to the band The Red Chord, just in case you care. Two guys from Backstabbers Inc. later went to form Trap Them. Enough name dropping? I think so.

Backstabber Inc.'s music? Well if you dig bands like Left For Dead, His Hero Is Gone, Nasum or, who'd have though that, Trap Them, you'll definetly like the Backstabbers, as they manage to walk the thin line between Hardcore-Punk, Grindcore and extreme Metal, without ever leaning really much towards one side only. Especially the lyrics deserve your attention, to be honest, I think these are some of the angriest lyrics ever written without getting to much into moaning around about personal shit. "You've had your chance, and you wonder how you fucked it up so bad. Years of smoke-screens and you have the nerve to ask why the children are the way they are. It's because they haven't seen shit. Now it's our turn, and they'll be shown the world they really live in, the one that none of you want them to see. The'll feel the rage that we feel. They'll ask, "what can we do?", and we'll tell them to fight for it. We'll give them bricks for every window. Torches put in each and every little fucking hand. They'll be shown the sweet spots on the hill to watch as every skyscraper burns. Burns to the fucking ground. You want your war? Now you've fucking got it." (Ask, Answer)

This band was fucking awesome and I'm glad I saw them by accident, otherwise I would have probably never heard of them. This record should be still available on vinyl somewhere around, so get it!

Kamikaze Missions via mediafire

Backstabbers Inc. on myspace.com

How can a band destroy...

2010-02-22T17:05:00.003+01:00

... nearly everything you ever loved it for? Maybe playing a "one time re-union", then another, and then, quelle surprise, another one. In between saying "... the more I thought about it I didn't want to do it. It felt wrong to me for some reason. Aside from (...) not being there to play, some of us weren't straight edge anymore, and we were just kind of different people." But who cares anyway? We live and die with our opinions, have fun in London.

Sorry but: another Goldust interview

2010-02-18T16:43:00.003+01:00

That'll be the last post about my band for a while, promise. Maybe until the pre-order starts haha. Last Wednesday Jan interviewed us for the German Fuze magazine. I liked that he took a two hour train ride to Münster just to talk to five idiots, and the fact that he was obviously good prepared, informed about what's going on and had some good questions. I'm definetely not jealous about transcribing that whole shit hahaha. If you're able to understand German you can check out the interview on Jan's myspace blog (part 1 and part 2). Good dude.

Goldust interview on Dust will never settle

2010-02-17T16:10:00.004+01:00

Samuel SOP did a pretty cool interview with Lars for his blog Dust will never settle, you should check that out here.
"You see, we have got Robert on guitar who listenes to nearly everything from the 80s and 70s, hell, I don't even know what Robert favors."

New GOLDUST track online

2010-02-09T17:18:00.003+01:00

So now I'm acting pretty much for myself: We've just uploaded the first new track christened "Passage" from our upcoming new album DESTROYER|BORDERLINES. The album will hit the streets at April 2nd, Let It Burn Records will release the CD, Apil Records the LP version.

Daniel Ehrlich did the artwork once again, and this time he seriously outdid himself:

You can check "Passage" out here:

myspace.com/goldusthc

myspace.com/letitburnrecords

And all you web 2.0 fanatics can add Goldust as well on facebook and last.fm.

Liers In Wait - Spiritually Uncontrolled Art EP

2010-02-05T19:44:00.003+01:00

Death Metal time again, today: the only official release by this Swedish band called Liers In Wait (which was released in 1991). I believe they named themselves after that line in "Abominations" by Morbid Angel: "Liars in wait, priests of the night/Make images to burn by the moon/Robbing the spirit, raping gods law/Send up our hate to burn heavens gate" and changed the A to an E. But that's only a guess. Liers In Wait have musically way more in common with what was happening concerning Death Metal in the USA at that time than with the "typical" Stockholm- or Goteburg-style. I'm thinking of bands like Morbid Angel (obviously), maybe Cannibal Corpse and Deicide above all. You know that means we're more on the technical side of things. Loads of riffs, sick harmonies, strange rhythm patterns, you name it. What makes this record so awesome is that Liers In Wait managed to keep their songs technically, catchy, groovy and super heavy at the same time, not to mention the superb production. The band came to live after the break up of Grotesque 1990; their main songwriter Kristian is also the dude behind the songwriting in LIW. Whereas two other guys (Tomas and Alf) of Grotesque went to form what would become one of the best known Swedish Death Metal (and, not their fault, quasi proto-metalcore) bands ever, At The Gates, LIW never really made it, although they definetly had their chances. I'm very curious to listen to their other releases, their seems to exist a demo and even an unreleased LP, but none of it seems to be findable anywhere in the depths of the internet. So if anyone has this stuff or knows where to download it, write me! Most information given here is taken from Ekeroth's book, what else.

Liers In Wait - Spiritually Uncontrolled Art via mediafire

Update on the The Swarm post

2010-02-01T19:53:00.001+01:00

Just in case you haven't noticed, I've uploaded three exclusive compilation tracks from The Swarm. Just hit this post, scroll down, there you go!

Judas - s/t 7"

2010-02-01T18:07:00.005+01:00

Judas is a band from California, thrashing out some of the heaviest Hardcore imaginable. You already know what to expect just looking at the dark, disturbing artwork, which looks really awesome and contributes a quite big part to the overall violent and dark atmosphere. The lyrics get spitten out in short phrases, not unlike bands like Dropdead, but way sicker. "I am here/From the depths of hell/City streets I dwell/Control this world I shall/Judas lives" (Ascension). That's one song. So as you might guess, the songs are rather short, burning out in an explosive mixture between Powerviolence and Sludgecore, taking no prisoners.

At first I wanted to order this record directly from the label (16 Oh), unfortunately I never received my 7", nor any replies to my e-mails. So I bought months later from a mailorder in Germany, being glad I wasn't a cry baby not buying the record again haha. Because this shit rules. I wonder why there isn't much more rave about this band.

Judas - s/t EP via mediafire

Judas on myspace.com

Instilled - Unfinished Business

2010-02-01T18:04:00.002+01:00

If you're one of those people who think that American Nightmare should have split after their first 7", Blacklisted lost track after their first full lentgh, and the Frostbite EP is one of the best 7"s ever, this record is for you.
"Unfinished Business" (released on State Of Mind Recordings) delivers seven songs of hard hitting, tough, fast and passionate Hardcore, just like the aforementioned bands and not of a worse quality, sound and songwriting-wise, the last song, "Looks like rain" for example is catchy as hell.
It's really a bummer this band split up without any further releases; if they've kept going (or if this 7" would have been on a bigger label like Bridge 9) they surely would be one of those cult bands. But sadly enough that didn't happen, so Instilled remained largely in the underground of Hardcore. Which isn't a bad thing anyway. After the split up some members went to form a new band called Depression, but they split up not too long afterwards as well. I don't know if Depression ever recorded anything, maybe a few demo tracks.
Thanks again to Chris from mosheisley for ripping the vinyl!

Instilled - Unfinished Business via mediafire

Mourningside - Confessions Of Disbelieve

2010-01-30T16:06:00.002+01:00

One day my friend Lars showed me the myspace site of a band, that, in his words "is a total Disembodied worship", Mourningside AD (actually I don't know if they have that AD now, or not anymore or whatever, because on the cover of my 7" there is no AD). Although Disembodied is probably a huge influence for this band they also remind me of other great 90ies bands, Mean Season for example or even Chokehold. Saying that, you should know what to expect: grooving, hard hitting Hardcore with a super heavy, metallic edge. The lyrics cover mostly personal topics, with a depressed but always combative undertone and a relation to political topics as well: "...we must come to the conclusion that we're on the brink of destruction. Liberation must be gained. Until we're free." (from "Life Deceived"). The production is perfect, not to "vintage sounding" and far away from beeing too slick, just as your favourite releases from New Age records for example.
Maybe Mourningside AD can't stand the comparison anymore, but it just fits so well; if this 7" would have been released 1995, it would be a sought after item now. Excellent stuff which makes me waiting for more! This 7" (released on Hard Press Records) should be avaible at your favourite mailorder or record store, get it.

Mourningside AD on myspace.com

Prevent This Tragedy Compilation Vol. 1

2010-01-30T14:44:00.012+01:00

I've uploaded this 7" compilation mainly because it features an exclusive track by The Swarm, I thought this might be of interest. Besides this track you'll find (also exclusive) songs by rather unknown bands like Suicide Note or Diehard Youth, all dealing with the same topic: skateboarding. I think there are three or four follow-up compilations, all on 7", all on Element Records.
This one comes with a nice booklet, just check the scans, then grab your deck and hit the streets (or at least feel tough and play Tony Hawk's hahaha).

Prevent This Tragedy - Skate-Core Compilation Vol. 1

Seed Of Pain - Blindfolded And Doomed (Review)

2010-01-30T13:52:00.002+01:00

I already own this record for a while and wanted to review it all the time, but I always felt (and in a way, still feel) too incompetent to express this piece of art in proper words. A record of this monumental greatness isn't easy to describe, because it offers so much in so many layers, you really have to take your time and dig deep into it to discover everything. Anyway, I'll give it a shot:

Seed Of Pain from Lucerne and Zug (Switzerland) is a band I was into since the first time I heard of them. We played with them in Mannheim, and at that point (which was in late 2007 or something) SOP perfectly played Hardcore in the vein of Über-bands like Burn and 108, and I was always impressed by Samuel's guitar playing (and his collection of effect pedals hahaha). And although they, even at this time, were (and of course still are) better musicians and song writers than most other Hardcore bands, they have kept such a refreshing "don't give a fuck" attitude. They don't have 12 different shirt designs and, most important, they don't act as if they want to be the next big thing by any means. Although they easily COULD, and that makes them great alone.

The gatefold LP (released on Cobra Records) looks from the outside like a Hardcore LP, like a good one though, just a b/w picture, you can't see really much, some fingers, something that looks like black paint spilled over the photograph itself, that's it. Open the gatefold, now it doesn't look like a typical Hardcore, or Metal, or Punk record at all. Just the lyrics, printed black on a plain white background, and nine photographs that look as if arranged by accident, showing things like an embryo, a hand, a foot, a brain, a box, and some stuff I can't perceive. So the inside of the gatefold makes you think about it, at least it does that for me, why those pictures, what's the relation to the songs etc.?

Describing the music without perverting it is nearly impossible; you can still hear that the backbone of it is Hardcore like the aforementioned Burn or 108, the second mainstay is heavy music like Neurosis for example. Those two components are fused and held together by elements of Post Punk, Industrial and Shoegazing, add loads of samples, countless layers of guitar tracks, reverb and delay effects (among others) and sometimes instruments like a piano or a mandolin to get at least a small picture of what to expect.

The record starts with a poem by Gottfried Benn and builds up a tension that lasts until the final, fading notes of the last song. My favourite track maybe "Blindfolded", because it features vocals of Remo Helfenstein from the Swiss Post Punk outfit Les Yeux Sans Visage, whose voice perfectly matches the music and athmosphere, so perfect you'll get the chills.
If those four (sometimes five) guys would give a fuck about it they really could be big, not necessaraly in the (anyhow quite limited) Hardcore scene, but really in bigger spheres. They are one of the most exciting, refreshing and greatest bands anyway.

Seed Of Pain on myspace.com

Blind To Faith - The Seven Fat Years Are Over (Review)

2010-01-30T12:24:00.002+01:00

Although I'm not a big fan of "featuring members of...", in Blind To Faith's cause it's somehow justified, since we have here dudes of Rise & Fall, Amen Ra, Reproach and Insult, so you know that these guys know how to play Hardcore. Uh, I forgot, in an interview I read that BTF don't like Hardcore (...), so, they know how to play Punk Metal. And in fact they really do.
This 12" was released on Holy Terror Records, comes with sick looking artwork and is played from the inside, which may cause trouble on certain record players. At least the needle doesn't fall off at the end of each side (which it does for example on the first Dropdead LP haha).
The music could be best described as the bastard child of early Ringworm and Eyehategod - mean riffs, the speed varying from super fast blast beats to super slow sludgy rhythms, venomous vocals, a heavy, raw and dirty production - this is certainly the ugly face of Hardcore that has nothing in common with 99% of what is labeled as such, in so far it's really more Punk Metal that Hardcore. After 16 minutes it's all over and I know you'll flip over the record once again to repeat this nightmare.

Blind To Faith on myspace.com
Holy Terror Records

Acrid - Bombs Of Death Split 7"

2010-01-28T15:06:00.003+01:00

Just in case that you brush you teeth with a steel brush, and stick large nails up your nose because you "somehow like" the feeling, this is for you.
Acrid should be known; their musical output is the meanest and ugliest way to play Hardcore, in a way they are to Hardcore what early Mayhem were to Metal: a punch in the face. The production's super raw, you barely hear any riffs or anything remarkable, most of time you just feel like getting hit by a train. The songs on this split 7" are not any different; before you realize what's happening to you, it's over. Your daily dose of "poisonfree powerviolence". IMO more interesting, due to the fact that those two are the only songs they've ever recorded: Bombs Of Death. BOD are basically Spazz, Assück and Struggle members, kicking out super heavy, mean Thrashmetal-Hardcore-Crossover, musically not unlike current bands like SSS or Municipal Waste, but without the "fun" content. Everything's about heaviness, darkness and brutality. It's really a bummer that those two songs (clocking in at 3:10 minutes) are everything this band ever recorded. I'd love to have at least a full EP of that.

Download the Acrid/Bombs Of Death Split EP from mediafire
Info about this split on the No Idea records site

Overstand - Kali Yuga (Review)

2010-01-28T14:40:00.004+01:00

First post in 2010, I'm sorry I've been a bit lazy the last weeks, but on the other hand I'm not so lazy in dealing with the rest of my life (that basically means: my studies), I don't know if that's an excuse but I'll try to update the blog a little bit more often again. I still have tons of decent records flying around here that deserve a post, and some ideas of bands to interview are stuck in my head as well, so there are still things to do.
For now, I'll concentrate on the first CD that was sent to me to review since the glorious Final Expression times, which is a cool fact alone. The band: Overstand, from New Jersey, with three members of Charge, if that means something to you. As far as Shawn informed me, this CD features songs that were originally released on a 7" on The Essence Records from the UK in 2008, on a Split 7" with SIRENS from Germany on Cobra Records, and five new jams. The label GAOTU (Grand Architect of the Universe) Records is Overstand's own label, that get's them 10 DIY scene points from my side already.
So let's focus on the music; as a nice coincidence, just in the very moment I'm sitting here and writing this, the sun shines through my window for the first time since, I don't know, September 2009 or something haha. And Overstand's music perfectly fits the mood I'm in now. The foundation of Overstand is classic, tight Hardcore á la Cro Mags and Bad Brains, mixed up with loads of cool stuff from quite "unpunk" music like reggae or funk, infused with a lot of bluesy rock riffs, so that the result sounds like Bad Brains jamming with War Hungry. Maybe a weird comparison, but I think it fits. The production's perfect for this music, with a warm guitar sound, groovy bass, clear drum sound, so nothing to complain here either.
The CD comes in a really cool looking case made out of screen printet paper, with a big, copied inlay with nice live shots from the band and the lyrics. Another 10 DIY points. I love that.
The lyrics cover different topics like skateboarding, politics, friendship, being yourself, freedom etc., and a lot of lyrics seem to inspired by Rastafarianism, that's at least my impression when I read words like "Babylon System", "Jah love" and stuff like that. So there's definetly some religious content to the lyrics, but not in way it would disturb me. It's more about being positive, and making the best out of your life, and even though "Jah" isn't my cup of tea, a can accept it, as long as it doesn't mean dedicating yourself to organized religions whatsoever.
To sum it up, if you're into eclectic hardcore and miss that so many bands don't have a positive message these days, go and try Overstand, you probably won't be disappointed. When I listen to this stuff I want it to be August, my skateboard, and a decent skate spot to destroy. And not too many records give me that desire anymore.

Overstand on myspace.com

Total Negation - Zeitenwende (Review)

2009-12-21T22:37:00.004+01:00

At first this review was planned as a part of some kind of "best of 2009" thing I wanted to do, but I decided that those lists kinda suck, because you get bombed by them in every TV show and magazine around this time of the year. But since I have the opinion that this IS one of the best records of 2009, I'll review it.

"Zeitenwende" was released in I think April 2009, and the first time I listened to it (or to a CD-R, because it wasn't avaible in January, obviously) was while we drove to a show we had to play, and outside the sun was setting, and there was snow, and everything looked quite empty, calm and cold, and now everytime I listen to those four songs (with a total length of about 40 minutes all together) I think of that situation, because it all fit so well. So this is some totally misantropic, cold and depressing piece of Black Metal art. There’s only one guy behind the band, who played all the instruments and recorded and mixed everything by himself. But don’t expect some basement-sounding, raw and numb (and boring) shit, this record is really fucking epic. Besides the excellent, diversified drumming I really love the many different effects and sounds Wiedergänger (that's the alias of the guy) used for the guitars, everytime there is some athmospheric, long part and you think, "shit, this is atmospheric and intense as fuck" the guitar sound changes a little bit, or some chorus-like effect hits, or the guitar starts to „cry“ (I don’t know how to express it any other way, I’ve never heard anything like that), so that everything gets even more intense. But don't get me wrong, this isn't some shoegazing influenced easy listening (and boring) Black Metal, it's still heavy, with loads of double bass and mostly fast as hell, the difference to many one-man Black Metal projects is, that this record is perfectly composed. The lyrics are in German, and I really think they are like poems. Although they're written in simple words, they have such a heavy meaning, and you really realize that there was put a lot of time into them. If you read them while listening to the record, you kinda get sucked in by the athmosphere and darkness, and you could be in a room full of people, you'd feel desperate and lonely anyway. Even though Wiedergänger probably hates the comparison, if you dig Black Metal like Wolves In The Throne Room (music wise) there's quite a big chance you'll like Total Negation. But basically I just don’t know any band that sounds like this, it's really outstanding, intense athmospheric and thrilling music that demands your attention and is, like mentioned at the beginning, one of my favourite records released this year.

Total Negation on myspace.com

Temple Of Torturous (the label that put "Zeitenwende" out)

Juggernaut Demo (Review)

2009-12-21T22:02:00.003+01:00

Austria, the second! At the beginning of December 09 we played a show in Wermelskirchen, Germany, and besides playing with this really, really aweful Metalcore band (fuck DON'T ask how much they sucked...) we got to know this new band from Vienna, Juggernaut. The guys of Mind Trap mentioned their name a few times, so I was curious to see them, and now I wonder if somebody dropped a talent bomb on Vienna. First thing, those guys are really chill, it was cool to hang out with and talk to them, it was kinda like as if we knew each other already for a while (this kinda sounds like a real romance haha). Second thing, although they had some bad luck with the PA sound, they were hard and awesome live. Third, their demo rules. I think everybody in Goldust bought or traded one haha, and that definetly means something. It starts off with a really hard, mid-tempo drum intro, evolving into the first mosh part (and there are loads to follow). On some songs (I think there are five all together) you'll get awesome guitar leads, and all in all this shit just rules. It's kinda like in between hard, grooving NYHC and Cleveland Hardcore, so you know that you have to expect some heavy shit. What I really like about their songs is that they get a hard and brutal sound just by writing hard and brutal songs, unlike so many bands these days that try to sound heavy by tuning down to dropped C and drowning in mid-tempo bullshit. Juggernaut definetly have this regular, fast Hardcore riffs, good breakdowns and moshparts, so what more can you ask for? I always like it when bands have moshparts that allow you to bang your head and/or smash the dude standing next to you, and Juggernaut have loads of these moshparts. I guess if this demo would have been released by some Belgian or Dutch band 5 years ago, they'd be on Reflections now, no shit. If they manage to keep up delivering the goods, this is gonna be big. The sound of the demo is quite raw, and sometimes you can hear some strange interference from the metronome or something, but whatever, it's a demo so it doesn't have to sound like recorded at Godcity. File under "must have".

Juggernaut on myspace.com

Juggernaut's blog

Mind Trap Demo (Review)

2009-12-21T21:41:00.003+01:00

When we played in Linz (Austria) at mid-November 09, we played with this really young Austrian band from Vienna called Mind Trap. The first thing I saw were their shirt designs, and they used a font very similar to that of Mind Eraser, so I was hoping for something similar awesome. And what can I say, I wasn't disappointed! Imagine four really young kids (well, at least in comparison to old farts like us) blasting out some seriously ripping, hard and brutal as fuck Hardcore not unlike your favourite 90ies Powerviolence band or, if you're born after let's say 1990, not unlike bands like Trash Talk. They played so out of control, so wild and with such an fucked up attitude, imagine a glue sniffin' version of Infest and you'll get the picture. Their demo was already sold out, but they handed out sheets of paper with the download adress on it, so I downloaded it as soon as we were home again, and fuck man, the demo blew me of my chair, no shit. The songs are really powerful, well played and the production really kicks ass, I wonder if anybody will put this out on a 7", because the quality of the recording and the sound are so awesome. And what I think is so refreshing about Mind Trap, they don't seem to be like those suck ass trendy kids who are into Ceremony and Trash Talk but know shit about the roots of this kind of Hardcore, just the opposite. They've definetly done their homework and know how to deliver some raw, fast and brutal shit. You'll find the download link to their demo on their myspace page, so check that ouououot!

Mind Trap on myspace.com

Mind Trap's blog

Damnation A.D. - st EP

2009-12-08T11:06:00.003+01:00

I guess I have mentioned often enough how much I love Damnation A.D. So no more talk about that. What I've uploaded here is Damnation's self titled 7" (at least I think it's self titled, since the cover only says "3:59/3:54", which are the durations of the two songs). This 7" was recorded in September/October 97, so I guess it was probably released in late 97/early 98, and that means in between the Misericordia 10" and the Kingdom of Lost Souls full length.
What's god about this 7": the little picture on the cover of Hillel playing his Flying V and wearing a gasmask (click on the picture to get the full resolution), the two songs ("The Mortal" and "Hasn't happened yet"), which are nearly as rough as the ones on Misericordia, but bringing up the heaviness of the "Kingdom" material, and the pessimistic lyrics. What sucks about this 7": Like of most releases on Victory records at that time, the artwork of this one's a fucking joke. Besides the picture of Hillel.

Ok, the lyrics:

Damnation A.D. - st EP via mediafire

Eyelid - Bleeding Through EP

2009-12-08T10:47:00.003+01:00

Sometimes I wonder why there are so many good Hardcore bands from the 90ies that are mostly ignored or forgotten today. I mean every band that recorded a shitty demo in a basement, even it is the worst shit you've ever heard, is considered cult and a "must-know", just because it's from the 80ies.

Eyelid is one of those forgotten bands from the 90ies; the strange thing is that they had the best chances to be remebered: former members of Strife, records on Indecision and a quite unique sound.
On this 7" (released by Phyte Records) you'll find three tracks that were also released on their 1995 demo. The songs are a lot more straight forward then the stuff they did later on, especially on their "If it kills" full length, and they're really damn good. You'll get grooving 90ies Hardcore, not unlike early Earth Crisis for example, but with that certain "westcoast-vibe".

One funny thing about that 7": as you can see on the backcover it says: "available only on summer tour 1996", but in fact that tour (which should have been with Strife) never happened, so the 7" wasn't avaible until Eyelid toured in 1997. Thanks to Chris from Mosh Eisley for ripping the vinyl!

Eyelid - Bleeding through EP via mediafire

Old Integrity Interview on xStuck in the pastx

2009-11-25T22:23:00.003+01:00

Just a short notice: besides tons of other great stuff related to 90ies Hardcore there is an old Integrity interview from the 90ies on xStuck in the pastx. Dwid's spitting hate towards new wave douche bags wearing Smiths shirts, which hasn't lost any of its relevance hahaha. Check that out here.

Interview with A389 Records

2009-11-25T14:32:00.003+01:00

If there's one label at the moment, where I could buy blindly nearly every release, knowing that it will be good, it's A389 Records from Baltimore. The label's basically done by Dom, who's probably best known for his guitar playing in Pulling Teeth. I wanted to do an interview, and the first thing that came on my mind was A389, so I asked, and here it is. Enjoy.

To start, could you please tell me a little bit about the beginnings of A389 Records? I came across the label shortly after the release of the first Pulling Teeth 10", was that the first release? What was your basic idea behind the label at the beginning?

The label started in 2004 as an avenue to put out records I liked by my friend's bands. My band at the time Slumlords was playing a lot, and it was a good way to introduce people to a lot of bands from home that didn't get to make it out as much. Our first release was by a 7" by a baltimore band called Bring It On. Kinda sounds like Sheer Terror/Breakdown type stuff. I remember the artwork on that one being pretty cool.

Are you doing everything completely on your own or are there other persons involved in A389?

I handle the majority of everything label related while a revolving door of people pop in and out to help whenever they can with mailorder, assembly, PR work, whatever. The longest standing other person involved with the label would be Dwid. He's been involved on the design end of the records pretty much since the beginning and is still a huge help with every release.

Ok, jack-ass question: where does the name A389 come from? What does it mean?

Once again going back to the time I was playing in Slumlords, we all used to work for this eviction company which is how the idea for the band first came about. When performing an eviction in Baltimore, if you are securing an abandoned property with a padlock, they keycode we had to use at the time was A389. I always thought that sounded cool, and was a funny nod to all the people I worked with by day.

How hard is it to manage playing in an busy band like Pulling Teeth, doing a well running label and doing a "real" job besides that? (I assume you have to do so?) Do you even have any time left for anything else?

Days go by really quickly that's for sure. 2009 went by in the blink of an eye. I pick up random p/t jobs when things are slow, but feel like I'm wasting time. I could be doing so much more. So right now I'm just doing the label and bands f/t. It gives me time to spend with my girlfriend and my cats...aaaaaaand work on side projects.

So are there any side projects you want the world to know about or is it more like top secret?

Virgin Witch has a record out on Free Cake. Hatewaves just recorded it's 'Taste The Beast' Demo, a few others with no names yet ...

Could there be an A389 Records without Pulling Teeth and reverse?

There was an A389 before PT was even a band, and there will probably be one after PT is done. But PT is definitely the flagship band on A389. I like to think they go hand in hand to an extent though. I love the way all the first press PT records turned out.

Are there any labels that are role models for A389?

I always admired Back Ta Basics records growing up. The records were nothing fancy but you got to check out a bunch of cool bands that Rick would come across on tour. I loved that it was so barebones and all that mattered was the music, not the layout. On the other side of the coin, I admire labels like Deathwish and Robotic Empire for stepping up and doing the exact opposite and presenting more of a complete package with artwork and music. Throw in the mysterious nature of the Dark Empire Record Co. and you've got a recipe for awesome.

Would you say that music and artwork are equally important? Or what counts more in your opinion?

I'd say music more than artwork, obvious if you're in a situation where someone is playing you a song or you're listening to an MP3, you can focus on the song and nothing else. But if you have a physical record in your hand and it looks bad, it kinda cheapens the experience.

What do you expect from a band you release? Is there a typical "A389 deal"?

It's always nice when a band takes initiative and plays shows and hustles records on their own. Touring or at least being an active band doesn't hurt either. The two newest bands I've picked up Seraphim (from MS) and The Love Below (from CA) are both really enthusiastic new bands and I'm stoked to be working with them. As far as a typical A389 deal there really isn't one, it varies on the project.

Besides releasing records by new(er) bands A389 also rereleases records that have been long out of print or never had a release on vinyl, I wonder how that happens? I mean for example the Gehenna or Ringworm 12"s, did the bands come to you and asked if it would be possible and so on or did you ask the bands? Have there ever been any problems with the labels that released those records in the first place?

I usually approach the bands in situations like that. There hasn't been any licensing issues with any of that stuff. I do my best to make sure no one is being left out.

So far A389 only released vinyl, do you think that there'll be CD releases in the future as well?

Probably not. I think the Gut Instinct discog will be our only CD release. Maybe the Day of Mourning discog if I ever get around to it.

You've released a lot of records by bands that are/were somehow linked to the Holy Terror/Clevo Hardcore thing, what's your connection to that scene and what makes that music so fascinating in your opinion? Do you see any chance to rerelease records by the more obscure bands of that era like Pale Creation, Asphalt or Mayday?

It's been my favorite style of hardcore for as long as I can remember. Hearing Systems Overload for the first time in my life when I was just out of high school was a life changing experience for me. I grew up listening and going to see those bands as often as possible and just became friends with a lot of them. I would love to do a Mayday discography. I've tried a few times but had a hard time getting it together. PT was going to cover Staplegun at one point, but that never ended up happening. That Asphalt CD was pretty neat from what I remember, it's been years. And Pale Creation is so much more than a band.

What's exactly the problem with the Mayday discography, is it just hard to get the master tapes?

Pretty much yes. Last time I tried it was just too hard to pull together, but you never know what can happen...

If you could choose whatever band you'd like to release on A389, which one would it be and why?

An unreleased Haymaker record would be the ultimate for me.

Most bands on A389 are located between Hardcore and Metal, could you imagine to release records by, lets say a post-punk or indie band for example?

Sure. I just put out whatever I think is cool. I think there is somewhat of a typical A389 sound, but there have been some random offshoots in the catalog that may not make sense against most of the releases (Supreme Commander, Pala etc). I like those bands and those records so whatever. We're doing a Roses Never Fade LP next year and they're like a neo-folk group. Good music is good music.

Which A389 release makes you proud the most and why?

Well the PT 'Paranoid Delusions' 12" was definitely the coolest looking record I've ever been involved with. Getting a 12x12 lenticular hologram cover made is as big of a pain as it sounds. I love all every release for different reasons. The Everyday Dollars pre-order 7" that came with a 3-D cover and glasses was pretty rad....The invisible ink on the Rot In Hell LP....I guess just getting to release records by my favorite bands of all time still blows my mind. Integrity, Ringworm, Gehenna...Bottom line is I'm stoked. Across the board.

What are the future plans for A389 Records?

Seraphim from MS. They sound like Mastodon/Baroness and are awesome. Love Below from California sound like Left For Dead/Haymaker. That lost Millennial Reign recording will finally see the light of day. Roses Never Fade. New Integrity + Pulling Teeth jams. Oh and more Gehenna.

Thank you!

A389 Records

A389 Records on myspace.com

Back to interview list

Lightbringer - Inhumation 7" (Review)

2009-11-25T14:00:00.002+01:00

Wow, first post in quite some time, I'm sorry I was a bit lazy the last weeks. But there are a lot of uploads planned, plus the first interview I did for over a year or so. Blablabla.

Flashback: April 2009, after nearly three weeks of touring Europe, and a few let downs here and there, we're playing Brighton with a new band called Lightbringer. Guitar leads, the singer screams into the PA-cabinets, In Cold Blood cover. Fuck yeah. Now: what I got in the mail yesterday was the preorder of Lightbringer's debut 7", and this is probably the best 7" by a new band I've listened to this year. Lightbringer are more or less from Brighton, England, and some of its members played in a band called The Break-In, and if you know their "Unbowed" album you could probably guess what direction Lightbringer is taking. I mean, the musical influences are so obvious, just take your favourite Clevo-style bands, put in even some more hard-as-nails moshparts, and there you are. But I don't want to lessen Lightbringer's musicanship, they are definetly able to put their very own stamp on this style of metallic Hardcore. The singer's voice sounds like spitten out by the throats of hell, the songwriting overall is excellent, just take the title track: Inhumation is nearly 6 minutes long, with quite a lot of different parts, but they're all melted together as if they would have been thrown into the lava of Mount Doom. Damn I should get a life... One last thing I have to mention is the awesomeness of the lead guitar. Seriously, everytime a solo is being thrown in (and there a plenty of them), I start to play air guitar immediately. Although I know how fucked up that is.

Some words about the artwork: it was put together by Richard Shiner (who plays guitar in Lightbringer), who may be best known for his artwork for the Pulling Teeth/Frightener split 7". And imo the artwork looks pretty neat, not your typical Dürer woodcut or something. Oh and the 7" comes in a real gatefold, which isn't that common as well, so it's cool.

The lyrics are dealing with misanthrophy, hate, death and so on: "I've been down for years, since I was born of this cold, I've walked a crooked mile, and life stripped me of a soul". Nothing you would write in a loveletter, so to say.

F.f.o.: Integrity, Ringworm, Mayday, In Cold Blood. This band gave me back some hope that there are still pissed off, dark, dirty and heavy Hardcore bands whose members don't look like fucking, douche baggish American Apparel models with a completely studied choreography.

Shiner Design on myspace.com

Lightbringer on myspace.com

The Final Plan - Dead End Nights

2009-10-29T11:40:00.015+01:00

This 7" was released years ago on the now defunct Dead By 23 Records, a small label that put much work into every detail of its releases, so that some of the 7"s (I think they've only released 7"s) became quite valuable collector's items. Besides this one the Frostbite 7" is my favourite release on DB23, I guess I'll post that record some time soon as well.But lets talk about The Final Plan. Like so many times, I don't know anything about this band. I think the only release they had besides this 7" was a split with a band called My Luck. But if you listen to this record you'll know in second in what time it was released - a time where American Nightmare and Panic were the real deal. This record sounds really a lot like Panic on their first two 7"s, especially the vocals. But The Final Plan were definetly able to stick up from the countless AN copies at that time, by bringing in a little bit of a Clevo-feeling, with a little bit of double bass here and there and some sick guitar solos similar to bands like Integrity. Sounds weird, but the music speaks for itself, I really think this is a very underrated record, by a very very underrated band that managed to fuse 2k1 "Bridge 9" Hardcore with Clevo brutality.Thanks to Chris from mosheisley for ripping!

Download The Final Plan - Dead End Nights via mediafire

Lost in: Siege

2009-10-29T11:07:00.006+01:00

Siege from Weymouth, Western Mass were arguably one of the most influental bands for the first wave of American (and to a certain extend surely European) Grindcore and Deathmetal bands, and definetly coining for 90ies Powerviolence, although they were surely a Hardcore-Punk band.

But due to the fact that they were probably the fastest Hardcore band at that time, and had those really slow, mean breakdowns, they are often cited when it comes to the beginnings of extreme Metal and Grind. They were around from 1983 to '85, only released a six song demo and three songs on the infamous "Cleanse The Bacteria" compilation. All those tracks can be found on a compilation that was released the first time in 1998. You can download that Compilation via mediafire here.

Like I said, the music's extremly fast, almost blast beat tempo, I mean there's not much missing, the lyrics are angry as fuck and nihilistic, and the overall feeling is comparable to the early Napalm Death or Discharge.

On youtube you can find some videos of Siege like this one:

I guess they all were shot at a school band competition or something, which explains the blank white room hahaha. Pretty weird but pretty cool.If you can't have enough of Siege live, there are also two live sets, one from '84 and one from '85, but don't expect too much. At the '84 set from Hartford, CT all you hear is noise and someone screaming his guts out in the back. The '85 show from Stamfort has a little bit better sound, but still you don't hear much of the music. But hey, it's Siege.Besides that I have found a short interview that originaly got released in Suburban Punk Zine.

SIEGE from Suburban Punk #6, spring '84
A relatively new band on the local scene is Siege. Although they haven't done a Boston gig yet, this intense 4 piece have been making waves with their aggressive, gripping live shows in Western Mass. and Providence. They have a 6 song demo out now, done at Radiobeat in February. Siege's sound could be likened to a train going around a curve at top speed, about to derail but never quite going completely out of control and going off the track. Andy and I talked to Siege outside the Living Room following their gig at the Punk Festival. Siege consists of Screaming Kev Mahoney (vocals), Kurt (guitar), Henry (bass), and Rob Williams (drums).

SP: Let's start with a typical question--a short band history.
Rob: We've had this singer, Kev Mahoney, for about 6 months and that was the turning point for the band. I'd been jamming with the 2 guitarists, Kurt and Hank, for a period of about 2 1/2 years, which was shit until we got Mahoney and we auditioned him and knew he was our man.
SP: Where you guys from?
Rob: Weymouth and Braintree.
SP: Why haven't you played Boston yet?
Rob: We've tried, but they're unwilling to accept new bands in town. We're doing our best. $5 for 2 bands at the Channel is too much.
SP: Are you happy with the way the tape came out?
Rob: Very happy. Lou (Giordano) was extremely reasonable. He took a lot of time to make it sound good. We're very pleased with the outcome.
SP: "Grim Reaper" is a lot different from your other songs. Are you planning to do more songs like that in the future?
Kurt: We want to branch off a bit.
Kev: We're basically a thrash band. We're into power. That was somethig that started off experimental. We did it on the spur of the moment and it was so well received that we decided to attach it to each of our sets.
SP: And you played sax in the studio on it?
Kev: Yeah. It was sick. I played sax in a ska band for about a year and a half.
SP: What kind of message are you trying to put forth through your music?
Kurt: We're trying to save the world.
SP: A minor mission.
Rob: We think there a lot of atrocities in the world, a lot of bad shit and it looks pretty bleak, it's out of our hands. There's really nothing that can be done by you and I about nuclear war.
Kev: We like to speak our piece, nonetheless.
Rob: We're holding a mirror up to society. Anything that pisses us off.
Kev: We like singing about things we hate 'cause then we can channel the hate of the subject into the performance.
SP: Saying it is one thing, but doing something is another.
Kev: We're doing more than saying it...
SP: Do you feel ambitious enough to change things you hate?
Kev: Definitely. We're not just saying it. Every song is from our heart.
Hank: We see it happen and then we write it.
Kev: Yeah, like Kurt wrote a song, "Life Of Hate," after he was working on a job with all these bigots, hearing racial slurs all the time.
Rob: You hear a lot of bands say shit about what their political stance is and we're trying to breathe new life into it because, in some people's opinion, it's become run of the mill. We're trying to change that with high energy live performances. We're musicians before we're political activists.
SP: Why did you pick the name Siege?
Rob: It means attack. We came across it on a huge list. We sat around for 2 hours to think of the best name.
SP: What's your most memorable gig so far?
All: Tonight. Western Mass., too.
Kurt: I'd like to say the WMass scene is cool. I think a lot of Boston kids shouldn't stick their nose up at it.
SP: What are your future recording plans?
Kev: Maybe vinyl by the summer if we come up with some cash.
SP: What are your influences?
Kev: DRI, Discharge, Void, Black Flag.
SP: Anything else you want to add?
Rob: I want to say I enjoy Suburban Punk!
SP: Check's in the mail!

Evenworse | Goldust split 12" EP preorder

2009-10-15T01:10:00.005+02:00

Finally these songs will be released on vinyl, which is quite awesome since these are easily the best songs Evenworse ever recorded, and our own songs (one new, one Evenworse cover, one song from the Noir 7") are worth to be heard, too. Haha, quite funny to say things like that. You can check some songs out here: http://www.myspace.com/finalexitrecords.You can preorder it at http://finalexit.bigcartel.com/ or by writing an e-mail to finalexitrecords@web.de.

Eyehategod - Southern Discomfort

2009-10-09T11:38:00.002+02:00

October may not be the perfect time for listening to Eyehategod, I mean it's way to cold outside for that. I always think of a dirty, hot, huge city with traffic jams, motorcycle-gangs and drugs when I listen to EHG, not of Münster full of students, bikes, and a nice October sun. Anyway, this morning, around 7:45 AM I was on my way to work (!) on my bike (!!) and it was about 10° C max.(!!!), which is not the situation where I would choose to listen to Sludgecore kings EHG. It's like listening to old Darkthrone while lying on the beach. But today I had my Ipod on shuffle mode, and suddenly Dopesick Jam, a 15 minute monster of a song got pumped into my head, and that gave me such an intense feeling I decided to upload that record.

Basically "Southern Discomfort" is a collection of rare songs; Tracks 1-6 are demos from the "Take As Needed For Pain" (which is probably my favourite full length by EHG) era that ended up on "Ruptured Heart Theory" 7" and on the two split 7"s with 13. The tracks 7-9 were preserved on tape during the "Dopesick" sessions. Although it's a collection, it's a really good album to listen to, the sound's not very different from track to track, and you get some of EHG's best songs like Depress, Ruptured Heart Theory or the mentioned Dopesick Jam. I guess I don't have to tell anybody how EHG sounds like. If you're into sick, dirty, drug and alcohol fueled, Sabbath-worshipping Sludgecore, you can't go wrong with EHG. Together with Buzzoven and Grief they basically invented that genre. Dopesick.

Eyehategod on myspace.com

Eyehategod - Southern Discomfort via mediafire

The Swarm a.k.a. Knee Deep In The Dead

2009-10-08T13:46:00.033+02:00

The easiest way to identify a true Hardcore kid: ask what's his/her favourite "Chris Colohan band" is. If the answer is "who is Chris Colohan" the conversations over before it even begun. If the answer is Cursed, chances are good you're talking to someone who bought a Cursed CD because he/she saw it at the Deathwish e-store. I mean, not the worst person on the planet, but you know, if the answer is Ruination or Left For Dead, the person is REALLY cool and worth your time, and most probably true to the bone. But if the answer is even The Swarm, you've found a dead true Hardcore kid with a great taste in music. To be honest, this is quite subjective, but I can't think of any other 90ies Hardcore band being that influental for me, besides Unbroken of course. But there're even two things The Swarm and Unbroken have in common: Slayer riffs and the straight edge. Well, now I'd go for the Slayer riffs haha. So it all makes sense. Take the heaviest breakdowns, the most brutal speed, the meanest Thrashmetal parts, the most insane vocals, and you may be able to picture out how The Swarm sounds like. I've uploaded everything I could get my hands on in the internet, since I do not have the equipment to rip vinyl myself. I know that there is some stuff missing, for example there is a track by The Swarm on a 7" compilation called "Prevent This Tragedy - Skate-Core Compilation Vol. 1", which was released on Element Records from Cleveland by the end of the 90ies. But like I said, I cant't rip it. And then there may be compilation tracks, or demos I don't know nothing of. So if you know (or even have) some tracks that aren't uploaded here, please let me know. Please click on the pictures to get them biiiiiiiiig. So here we go:

Old Blue Eyes Is Dead
Arguably my favourite record by The Swarm. Sick production, insane packaging (you have to flip the head on the frontcover away do get the inner sleeve out and fancy stuff like that) and top song writing.A killer record everybody should have.

The Swarm - Old Blue Eyes Is Dead via mediafire

Parasitic Skies
I guess this 10" is nearly as perfect as the OBEID 7". Only "nearly" because the packaging isn't that insane, and I think the songs on the 7" are a little bit more to the point. But still an awesome record for damn sure. We even paid an homage to the cover with the cover of our first full length on vinyl.

The Swarm - Parasitic Skies via mediafire

Split 7" with Mörser
This split 7" was released on Per Koro Records from Germany, and symolizes the clash of Canadian brutality and Bremen's insanity. Both bands deliver something completly unique, The Swarm their known fast Hardcore meets Slayer meets darkness madness, Mörser their Grindcore meets Bremen Hardcore. Mörser features members of 90ies bands like Systral; imagine their music mixed up with Terrorizer to get the picture. Although not the best songs both bands ever recorded, definetly above the average other bands have set. Great artwork as well, so this is definitely an item to get your hands on if you get the chance.

The Swarm/Mörser split 7" via mediafire

Split 7" with Force Fed Glass
Well, to be honest this is weakest release of The Swarm I know. In general the songs are a little less metallic and lack the sick ideas of others. The Black Flag cover (Revenge) is pretty cool anyway. Force Fed Glass are ok, but there were (and are) better bands imo.

The Swarm/Force Fed Glass split 7" via mediafire

Compilation tracks:
This track called Lament was released on a compilation called "The Sound And The Fury" on a label called Redstar records (that has nothing to do with the New York based label Red Star), that features also songs by Chokehold and Another Victim plus a lot more of bands I've never heard of, most of them playing some kind of metallic Hardcore. I've decided to upload only the track by The Swarm anyway, which is actually really good and could've been released on the OBEID as well, so it's definitely worth a listen. On the same compilation is a hidden track also by the Swarm, just a few seconds, just for fun haha. Thanks to Daniel for sending me that compilation!

The Swarm - Lament via mediafire
The Swarm - Hidden Track via mediafire

Another exclusive compilation track can be found on the Prevent This Tragedy Vol 1 Compilation (like I mentionend above). I've uploaded that here. The song itself is rather simple, only 40 seconds long, and the lyrics deal about the Ollie impossible. Yeah.

Lost in: The Facts

2009-10-07T14:11:00.025+02:00

After consuming quite some decent red wine and quite some decent Iron Maiden records I've finally decided to do the world's first and only special about an infamous and notorious band called: The Facts. The Facts were a Hardcore band from Münster/Oelde (Germany), which only released a demo and split 7". So you may ask, there are thousands of bands that only release a demo and 7", what's the fucking deal? To explain that, I have to tell you a little bit about myself. After graduating from school I moved from the small village I grew up and lived in to Münster, which is about 800kms from where my parents still live. Of course Münster isn't a huge city, but it had (and still has) a quite vivid Hardcore (or more general: music) scene going on, mainly due to the fact that a lot of students live here. So one of the first bands I could get in touch with on a personal level was The Facts. Another interesting fact (LOL) about The Facts is, that the other band on the split 7" was a band called The Swords, which featured members of Ritual, a band every single Hardcore kid on the planet knows, or should, at least. The Facts basically broke up after their first real tour; their bass player Lars left the band shortly before, one of their guitarists, Manuel, during that tour. They finished that tour with Ritual's guitar player on bass if I remember that right. The bass player went to sing in my band, Goldust, The Facts' singer Marc had (and maybe has) various Hardcore bands, Manuel became a roadie for German's transitory indie band Madsen and later played a short time in a band called The FA, but that's already years ago. Ebbing and Waddim (drums and guitar) are still around, chances are good you've already saw them when they where on the road with Ritual.
What can I tell you about The Facts' music? Obviously it was heavily influenced by Some Girls and Unbroken; further influences probably were American Nightmare and Daughters. Their style of Hardcore definitely was fast. I mean, really fast, fucking pissed and it had that weirdo attitude bands like Some Girls had. But I'd say you download the one and only The Facts discography to get the picture yourself. Contained are the demo tracks, the songs from the split 7" with The Swords, five unreleased songs from the same recording session and the promo recordings they did 2006 after their disastrous tour, which weren't released as well. I'm not sure about the line up they had then, I guess Mark, Ebbing and Waddim still were in the band, but I don't know anything in detail. Thanks to Christoph for giving me those promo recordings, I think those are the best songs The Facts ever did. Another interesting fact about the pictures in this post: they were taken by Robert, who later played (and still plays) guitar in Goldust. I think in some pictures you can even see me, looking like a cunt haha. But who doesn’t look like a cunt in these pictures? The interview posted here was done for Final Expression Fanzine #2 by myself after the show where the pictures were taken, which took place at 3/11/05 at a show where The Facts supported Sex Positions at the Baracke in Münster.

Who still doesn’t know The Facts from Münster/Oelde should remedy this ASAP. At least if you’re into fast, true, emotional and modern Hardcore. I’m into it, how couldn’t you like a band that covers Limp Wrist?! So we did this interview after a Sex Positions show in the Baracke in Münster where The Facts were opening. The interview was done with Mark (M), Lars (L) and Manuel (MA) by Robert (R) and me (C). Shit talking galore, check it out:

C: Ok, what do you think of Sex Positions that played just before? (laughing)
L: I think we have the same opinion.
M: Well, I enjoyed watching them, but it didn’t knock me out or something.
R: Perhaps they still were a little bit tired.
M: Yeah they had a long flight and everything. (Manuel’s joining)
L: Hey dude, what do think of the Sex Positions show?
MA: Quite alright, but not like on the records. But I guess it’s hard to play it live like on the records.
R: The sound was a little thin I think.
M: Usually they have two guitarists, but one of them stayed at home.
L: I think there’s only one founding member left.
M: Who’s that?
L: The singer… no the guitar player… I don’t know. Well two days before the tour the second guitar player said he wouldn’t do it, he wouldn’t be into it anymore or something like that. Anyway, we wanted to talk about the show. I thought the dancing style of the singer was quite funny.
R: Would have fit to Righteous Jams as well.
L: Yeah but also to…
M: David Bowie. (laughing)
MA: David Bowie is cool!
M: He’s awesome!
L: Well, it was ok, but they’ll have to come up with little bit more.
M: They have another chance in Bremen; there they’ll play as well. I’ll check them out there for sure, too.
C: Ok, so if you’d tell me who everybody is and what he’s doing in The Facts?
L: I’m Lars, I play the bass and… I’m into the thoughts of the band as well.
MA: Manuel, guitar.
M: I’m Mark, the singer.
C: Manuel, you haven’t played in the band from the beginning, have you?
MA: No we started to rehearse together around January the first, because they needed a second guitar player. Because the song writing should evolve.
L: I think we’ve done that quite well. And we played our first show with you in Münster as well I think.
MA: No our first show was in Recklinghausen.
L: Yeah with the complete new line-up with Sidetracked and The Swords. Anyway, Manuel is a very good addition to the band… no, he’s even more, he’s really doing much more for the band.
M: And he looks good doing this.
C: That’s important as well.
R: For the appearance of the band at least.
L: A little bit of slutiness is definitely ok… (laughing)
C: And how have The Facts been running before Manuel joined?
M: At the very beginning The Facts only were two people, me and Waddim, I also played drums on the demo. Of course we needed someone to play the drums live, so Ebbing joined us, because he also plays in my other band Dead Man Walking, then I asked Lars if he’d be into it, and later Manuel joined us as well. Now we’re a complete band, we want to rock this year [he really said that…], get something done.
C: Yeah you’ve mentioned a 7”…?
L: We’re going to release a split 7” with The Swords, which is basically people of Lotus [which was pre-Ritual] playing some kind of Swing Kids–vegan mosh you could say, the record should be released by the end of April.
MA: More like May.
L: Yeah May, on Goodboys Records.
C: Who’s writing the lyrics, you? (to Mark)
M: Yes I wrote all the lyrics for the new 7”, at least of the three new ones, I wrote all the demo songs and five new lyrics have been written by Lars.
L: Basically we’re sharing that. If one of us has a cool idea we’re looking at it together, work on it, add something or erase something. I think Mark and I complement pretty good. I guess what we put down to the paper is worth a look.
C: The lyrics are quite emotional and personal, is that something you do intentional, that you want to write about stuff like that exclusively, or could you imagine to write about different things as well, politics for example?
M: We even have a political song on the new record; I think it’s really important to have political content in the lyrics. One song always has to be a little bit different.
L: The basic ideals are anti-homophobia, so you could say we’re homophile, go veg, v-e-g, vegetarianism definitely, the opinion about straight edge differs a little bit. Oh and although it’s no part of the lyrics we’re definitely anti-sexism. But the question was about emotions. It’s like that, I deliver a big part of the lyrics and… I couldn’t write about something else but things that affect me. I always try to keep it as complex and abstract as possible, so everybody can get something out of it, and I hint things pretty often. You wouldn’t find that latest suicide-chic trend openly in our lyrics. That’s nothing we want to support as a band. But in general the mood we want to get across is quite desperate.
MA: But I think we’re always getting put into that pigeonhole, suicide-scarify-core or something like that.
L: Yeah I even read the definition lately “…at the next arterial-cutting club” or something like that. I think that was in the latest Green Hell catalogue, for the new Suicide File record, “if you don’t have all the 7”s you can buy the LP and impress everybody at the next arterial-cutting club”, something like that. But that’s really not cool. Suicide isn’t something cool and shouldn’t be glorified.
C: Another question, your influences are quite obvious, you can tell by listening, the cover songs you’re playing are speaking for themselves I guess?
MA: What do you think our influences are?
C: Well stuff like American Nightmare, Some Girls definitely, Unbroken, bands like that. Am I right or completely wrong?
MA: Waddim and I are writing most of the music now, before that there also was a lot of Trash influences. The new songs are heavily influenced by American Nightmare and Frostbite, Some Girls, too, but good Rock music as well. I also listen to good Rock music and that influences me, too.
C: Ok, now a quite generic question, what bands have been the most important for you the last few years?
L: Dude…
MA: I’ve been waiting for that question my whole fucking life!
C: Ok, go on then!
R: In the last five to ten years maybe.
L: I’m about to say Atomic Kitten, their break-up hit me quite hard…
(nobody’s talking anymore for a while)
MA: I won‘t begin, you’ll have to, I’m still thinking.
M: Should we do a top 5?
MA: Everybody a top 5.
L: Top 5… dude how long will that tape keep running?
C: Like half an hour or something.
L: Ok, let’s think about it some more…
MA: American Nightmare is definitely on top, I listened to a lot of Refused, hm, now I have to think again… Foo Fighters were quite influential, and besides that… at the moment I’d say… no I won’t say that. Please, you should go on, I’ll name two more afterwards.
M: Straight on top Guns’n’Roses, no contest. I grew up on their music.
L: Within the last five years?!
M: Oh, the last five years? Come on, let it be a little longer. Then, AN definitely, but to be honest that didn’t hit me that hard, I mean, was about time wasn’t it?
MA: It’s not about breaking up, isn’t it? Just about bands in general.
M: Anyway… Suicide File was hard, Panic… I don’t know. Got the records too late to see them live. Whereas Panic never even were here. [I don’t think Mark really got the question]
L: Yet!
M: Yeah they’re coming, so I can check them out. And besides that Some Girls most definitely, awesome.
L: So it’s my turn I guess, first: Genesis. I love Phil Collins, Phil Collins is God.
R: You know you’re about getting stigmatised as a yuppie?
L: I don’t care! Phil Collins because Genesis was my very first CD on my very first CD-player. Second, pretty cliché, American Nightmare. Unbroken really blew me away when I first heard Absentee Debate around 2000 or something. Count Me Out was very influential for me, at least the last two years. And Texas Is The Reason.
MA: Ok, I still have Highscore to mention, I can’t forget them, because I love Highscore. And… hm…, I want something really old… it’s between Chain Of Strength and Judge, can I take both?
C: Yeah.
MA: Fits anyway.
C: OK, last question, what do you want to reach with The Facts?
L: We’ve been to the studio lately to record nine songs, three of them will appear on the split 7”, three or four, that’s not so sure yet, we don’t know yet what will happen with the rest of them.
MA: We’re also on a sampler on Horrorbiz records.
L: Oh yeah, three songs right? [I don’t think that sampler ever got released. If so nobody bought it]
MA: Exactly. And then we want to release all those songs including the demo on a proper release. We’re looking for a label to do that right now.[Never happened]
L: Then we want to play lots of shows, not only regional ones, and to go on tour.
MA: Yeah, touring, I’ve got nothing else to do anyway.
M: We really wish to play a lot, to do a small tour for 10 to 14 days this winter, and we hope to get support from labels or booking stuff.
L: Hey we have a myspace profile, that will happen all on its own.
MA: Yeah, the world goes myspace. [those were the times…]
C: How did your connection to The Swords happen by the way? Because you’ve also shared the stage here in Münster a while ago.
MA: And before that in Recklinghausen. Well, they’re cool guys, we talked with them, Mark spoke to their singer in the parking lot, we said we’ll do a split 7” and that’s the way it was.
L: I know the guys from The Swords a little bit longer because of their other band Lotus, which is pretty cool, in the meantime they’ve become really good. The new songs are sooo good. I’m in contact with Phillip, their drummer, and he told me he had a new band, sent me a demo, and I think it’s incredible.
MA: The demo’s amazing. I’m curious about the 7” songs, they’ll be hard, those guys are amazing.
C: OK, if you have any shout outs, go!
MA: Be sure to check out Some Came Running [another breeding ground; their guitar player is now Goldust’s bass player, their bass player Nico did Blacktop Records and now plays bass in Storm and Stress, just to give you two examples], check out Short Fuse from Münster, who else needs to get checked out… November 13th from Hannover, cool guys definitely.
L: I think you always should take a close look at a band, what kind of people you have there.
MA: Support your own scene, not only US bands. Although we’ve just played for an US band haha. Support local bands not only hyped ones.
L: A little less Metalcore would be good, too.
MA: More Old School and Punkrock. More Reggae haha.
C: You’ve just mentioned hyped bands, which bands are overrated in your opinion?
MA: Justice. Just can’t understand that. Righteous Jams as well. I can understand the hype around Dead Stop and Restless Youth, they’re really good. And Short Fuse is good as well.
C: Ok, thanks a lot for the interview!
M: We have to thank you! L: How did you like the show today?
C: I think it was really good, no shit, one of the best shows the last months.
L: I was afraid nobody would show up because of Converge.
MA: I don’t know Converge, I only listen to Hardcore… THE BEATLES! I FORGOT THE FUCKING BEATLES!!! Fucking shit man, I’m waiting my whole life for that chance…
L: Just erase Chain of Strength. Or better, Chain Of Strength-Slash-Beatles.
MA: There’s no band that’s better than the Beatles, everybody who says something against the Beatles can fuck off out of my whatever fucking something.
C: So we’re done? Thanks, good night!
L: Thanks.

The Facts - Discography via mediafire

Back to interview list

Knives Out - Heartburn

2009-10-06T13:52:00.008+02:00

This is one of the most underrated, unknown and ignored records that ever saw the light of day on Deathwish Records (thanks Lars) . It was released around the same time when bands like American Nightmare, Panic or Some Kind Of Hate where the bands to know, but somehow Knives Out never really made it, although lyricwise it perfectly fit the zeitgeist, and musicwise it's not too far from the beforementioned bands. But at the same time it's something on its own. The music somehow sounds like a mixture between 2k1 bands like Horrowshow or Frostbite and San Diego bands like Drive Like Jehu or the Swing Kids, with an emphasis on the first ones. The lyrics are about loneliness, death, isolation and so on. All in all the athmosphere is very depressing and cold, just perfect for the upcoming winter days.

Knives Out - Heartburn via mediafire

Boulder - Ripping Christ

2009-10-06T13:30:00.007+02:00

This is a best of compilation of a band called Boulder. To be honest, I don't know very much about this band when it comes down to basic facts. Metal Archives tells me that this band played "Heavy Metal", was formed in 1991 and had a shitload of releases. But I've heard that there is a connection between members of Boulder and the early to mid nineties Cleveland Hardcore scene, but again: no hard facts. Musicwise this band has way more in common with Hardcore bands like Iron Age or War Hungry than with your average Heavy Metal band. I mean the vocals are heavily distorted (not unlike Eyehategod) and screamed, and you have tons of grooving parts, and the songwriting is in general more Punk than Metal, means short songs, and most of the time simple structured. The tracks on this compilation that have been originally released on their later records are even a little bit chaotic, maybe like a stoner version of Coalesce. Or something like that. So no more blabla, if you dig bands like the above mentioned and have a certain affinity to Sludgecore in general, you can't go wrong with Boulder.

Boulder - Ripping Christ via mediafire

Alpinist - Minus.Mensch (Review)

2009-10-06T12:26:00.006+02:00

Alpinist is a band from Münster, Germany. If you'll ever meet these guys, get the chance to hang out with them, visit one of the shows they do with others at ND12, you'd say they're the nicest dudes you'd ever met. If you see them on stage, playing their downtuned, pissed off, heavy, bulldozing dark Hardcore, chances are high you'll shit your pants because of plain fear. And this record is not any more harmless. When I listen to it I get a certain picture in my head: it's me, standing with clenched fists on the edge of a cliff at night, in a thunderstorm, with 15 meter high waves clashing against the rocks, but I just keep screaming against the thunder and all the noise. This is a record for the unloved kids, for the alienated ones, for people who don't know where to go and where they belong, for the ones who wake up every day being mad at the world, for everyone who feels anger rising up when taking a look at the world. You need more? Ok, if you like the following keywords you'll probably like Alpinist: downtuned guitars, blastbeats, morbid melodies, heaviness, From Ashes Rise, His Hero Is Gone. I really recommend you to listen to that band, chances are good they play your living room within the next few months, so there's no excuse.

Alpinist on myspace.com

Perth Express - Harrow and Wealstone (Review)

2009-10-06T11:57:00.006+02:00

When it comes to Perth Express (from Germany) I'd have to slap myself in the face, yelling "better late than never". I don't know why I ignored that band during the time of their existence (they broke up 2009) but I did. Today I received an order from Bis aufs Messer, and because they couldn't deliver everything I ordered they gave me a CD version of the Perth Express record for free. Which is cool anyway. But usually I don't even listen to CDs at home, let alone free CDs. But this time I did and it was like "Fuck. I missed something awesome". This record is so great, I'll have to get it on vinyl for damn sure. The music's a combination of everything what makes Hardcore good. For the most part, it's fast as hell (check out that drummer, insane guy), but not a simple fast. The guitar work is excellent all of the time, bringing fine melodies, the vocals are super heavy and harsh as fuck, the lyrics (in German and English) are really good as well. Overall the music's pissed, dirty and angry. Just how I like it. Do you know the song "Buried but Breathing" by Converge? Imagine From Ashes Rise would play that song with Chris Colohan of Cursed doing the vocals and you'll get a rough impression of how this record sounds. But to be honest, you'll have to check that band out by yourself to get the whole picture. This record was recorded at the Tonmeisterei in Oldenburg, a studio where nearly every (better) German Hardcore band records, but I don't think this record sounds like most of the others. The guitars sound really crisp and cristal clear, although they are downtuned as fuck. Which is cool. Excellent record, nothing more to say here.

Perth Express on myspace.com

Void - Potion For Bad Dreams

2009-09-14T13:22:00.006+02:00

Many times you'll read about Void that they were ahead of their time with their Metal influenced Hardcore-Punk, but I'd rather say, they were completely out of everything. Their "Condensed Flesh" demo and their side of the Void/Faith split is just so far beyond everything any other band has ever done, it's no surprise that Void became one of the real cult bands of the early 80ies Hardcore movement. The screams, the wild, chaotic lead guitar, the insane speed, for sure a must-know for everybody who listens to Hardcore. But what's that I've found quite some time ago in the depth of the internet? The demos of the unreleased second Void LP (or first LP, depending on if you'd say the split is a real LP) "Potion For Bad Dreams". To be honest, it's not that great haha, I mean Void went the same way a lot of bands went from that era: slowing down, more rock, less punk. Of course you still can tell it's Void, the vocals are still quite crazy, and all the rock leads where there before as well, but now they are played cleaner (and, if you want, a little bit better). Somehow this sounds like Void trying to play Mötley Crüe songs, and in a way it's cool (because it's Void) but really, basically it's the demo for a average rock album. So don't expect too much, but listen to it anyway, you know, for the record. Some of the songs break off suddenly, the sound itself is pretty good, I guess they were recorded in a proper studio.

download Potion For Bad Dreams via mediafire

Vader - Necropolis (Review)

2009-09-12T18:10:00.007+02:00

Fuck all Deathcoreposerbullshit, fuck breakdowns and girlpants, fuck everything. This is the new Vader record and if you don't start to bang your head with the first note of the first song, you're not worth reading this blog one minute longer hahaha. Seriously, this piece of vinyl (of course there's a CD version as well) is so brilliant, it's the best Deathmetal record that got released 2009 so far. I mean, Vader are into this nearly as long as I live, so they know how to do it. But in difference to other bands that are "in the game" for that long which perhaps start to experiment with other influences and stuff like that, Vader just kill. I mean, just kill. The vocals sound so fucking mean, like a witch-priest or something like that. The music's just the perfect. Hard. And fast. And heavy. And dark. And heavy and heavy and heavy. Did I mention the perfect vocals? Nobody sounds like that. Except Satan himself maybe. My favourite song is probably "Impure". It makes me want to thrash myself, my room, my neighbours, their families and friends. I can't fucking wait to get to see Vader live by the end of September, it's gonna be so good. I'm blown away.

Ignorance Is Strength Fanzine (Review)

2009-09-12T16:57:00.008+02:00

This is the first issue of this new printed zine (A4), done by Wouter from the Netherlands. As far as I've read in the introduction it's not the first fanzine he's doing, and you can definetly see that. A few general things about it: All the questions to every single band are really good, well prepared and you realize that Wouter put a lot of thought in them. Now one could say, well, that's what someone who's doing a zine is expected to do, and that's probably right, but it's surely not happening in most interviews you'll read in hardcore fanzines, or on websites about that topic. Very often it's all like "what do you think about Have Heart, what shoes do you wear, when will your new record be released blablabla". But I'm getting off topic. Like I said, the questions are good, it's not your standardized small talk bullshit, and on the other hand Wouter's not trying to talk about issues that are too far off the track, something that sucks most of the time as well. Another thing he did very well is the artwork. It's all cut and paste, but good structured and in a great layout, so it's easy to read and looks cool, and that just how it should be.
To the content, basically you'll get two kinds of: interviews and some kind of columns in which various people write about certain song lyrics that have a special meaning to them, which is a great idea since most people tend to write so much boring bullshit in columns if they get to write about whatever they want. But first about the interviews, you'll get: Black Breath, Blind To Faith, Cold Snap, Cornered, Feed, Foundation, Goldust, Keep It Clear, Mindset, New Lows, Oathbreaker and Vivian Girls. The ones I enjoyed the most were Black Breath, Cold Snap, Cornered and the one with my own band haha, just because it's so cool to have interview over more than one page in a zine like this. I'm not really into the Youth Crew type of bands, it's just not my cup of tea. But to be fair, without bands like these and people who support them there would be even less printed zines, so that's totally fine. While reading the interviews with Blind To Faith and Vivian Girls I kinda asked myself what's the point about agreeing in doing an interview if every answer is shorter than the question, I mean, if I don't want to say anything why am I doing an interview? Quite strange, but ok. As much as I like Blind To Faith's music, all they say is that Hardcore sucks and Gehenna and Iron Monkey are cool. I mean, although they might be right at some terms, it seems to be quite a lot of "we know bands way too underground for you". Ah whatever, it's not that I'm never doing this.
When it comes to the columns, I have to give special prominence to two of them: the one of Aram, where he talks about 108's "Killer of the soul". To be honest, I didn't know the lyrics until now, but the aggressivness and words really gave me goosebumbs, I think they are some of the best pro-vegetarian/vegan lyrics I've ever read. "Killer of the animal, only a demon could dine on the flesh of the dead". That's so hard. Awesome. And how Aram writes about how this song touched him, although he was vegetarian for a few years when discovering the lyrics, is great, because I kinda felt the same now.
The second column is by Arne, who's doing arguably Germany's best zine: the Dawk Fanzine. The song he choose is Supertramp's "It's raining again". It's not that I can connect to his thoughts and feelings about this song as good as with Aram's, but I simply love his writing. If he'd write a book, I'd buy it.
Besides those two there are some people writing about Youth Of Today (pretty generic stuff if you ask me), Cap'n Jazz, Modern Life Is War and what not. Good mixture of people and bands and lyrics. I like stuff like that, because it always makes me think about what song I would have choosen to write about and why and what I'd say about it.
So what can I say? If you're hungry for a good fanzine (completely in English btw.) better get a copy of this one by dropping Wouter a line at ignoranceisstrengthzine@gmail.com.

Johnny Angel - They Have Lift Off

2009-09-12T16:19:00.006+02:00

So, today I've decided to upload a rather obscure record. That means, not that obscure, but at least obscure enough that not everyone who should know it knows it. The most valuable fact about this band that will make you read further (or stop reading at this very moment) is that this was the band Dave Claiburn of Unbroken played in after their break-up, and I've heard that he played guitar in Johnny Angel. But I've also heard that he sang, but I don't really know, the vocals don't sound like him at all, so I guess I prefer the guitar-playing version.This record was released on CD by Bloodlink Records, and I have a 10" vinyl version here that was released on a German label called SNC Empire, but I guess there also exist a US pressing. That's all the basic facts I know. When it comes down to the music, one band has to come to your mind, especially when you know in band what Eric Allen played in after Unbroken: the Swing Kids. The music of Johnny Angel is, at the first hearing, so much like the Swing Kids that they could be easily mistaken for them. Of course, after listening to this a few times more you can hear some slight differences, Johnny Angel is a little bit more aggressive, maybe a little bit more punk, and a little less jazzy than the Swing Kids. But sound-wise, especially vocal-wise, it's really similar to the Swing Kids. So if you like the them, you'll most definetly like Johnny Angel, if you get turned off by spastic 90's screamo, you probably won't like it. I love it.

Johnny Angel - They Have Lift Off via mediafire

Toxic Revolution/Magnicide split 12" (Review)

2009-09-11T14:26:00.007+02:00

The first vinyl appearance of Toxic Revolution, and just how I expected it to be: awesome. Their side of the split 12" (released on TVG Records) is named "Short - Fast - Loud", and that sums it up pretty good, even though it may sound cliché to some people. But clichés are clichés because they work, and like I said, these eight songs ARE short, fast, and loud. This is really great stuff, written under the influence of Powerviolence, Grindcore and Hardcore bands like In Disgust, Spazz, Infest, early Napalm Death and so on, you name it. What's so great about these songs is that Toxic Revolution manages to bring in loads of own ideas and an own style (music wise), so that the result sounds really unique. You can hear their passion and love for extreme music throughout every chord and drumbeat. Of course this stuff is played good, the production's perfect (not too basement, not too clean) and the artwork shows a bunch of zombies. You just can't go wrong with zombies. Oh and there a quite lot of samples in between the songs, but they really match the atmosphere of the music, so that's cool as well.
On the flip side you'll get Magnicide's songs, nine in total. Although the music from these Singapore grindheads is located in the same genre like Toxic Revolution, it's different, not as varying, a little less inspiring. But if you dig music like that you're probably not searching for diversity anyway. For damn sure this is brutal and fast as well, fans of the genre won't be disappointed for a second. So if you like your Hardcore fast and raw, and worship MOSH 8, get this record.

In rememberance to "Deutschlands beschissenste Skateparks"

2009-09-11T13:56:00.011+02:00

I hope some of you remember the Boardstein Magazine, the only German skateboard mag you could read without getting turned off by glossy, money grabbing, high end-styled poser bullshit. After the demise of the mag they continued to do a website at least, which is cool. Whatever, in the mag there always was a short rubric called "Deutschlands beschisstenste Skateparks" ("Germany's most fucked up skateparks") where readers could send pictures of really misbuilt, misplanned, totally fucked up skateparks. I always planned to send some pictures of the "skatepark" from the village where I grew up (they built it a few years after I left), because it's literally a fucking joke. I mean... look at the picture! It just doesn't make any sense! Since I always forgot to take the picture when Boardstein was still running, here you are:
No, this ain't a fucking joke, this is basically all there is, except some kind of a curbbox, which is pretty impossible to skate anyway.
So if you ever survive a plane crash in the middle of nowhere (means: Lower Bavaria), and strand in a village called Triftern, you could check it out by yourself. But you probably wouldn't want to. LOL.

Hey fellas have you heard the news

2009-09-11T13:19:00.003+02:00

Ah quite some time without an update, sorry for that. I've been on vacation for the last two weeks, but I guess there are going to be some posts the next days, including reviews of the Toxic Revolution/Magnicide Split 12", the latest Vader record, the latest issue of the Ignorance is Strength fanzine (a real printed zine, no shit!), a short story about this year's Trainspotting festival and maybe some uploads. So stay tuned!
Chris

Black Sabbath - Radio One Session (1970)

2009-08-11T11:22:00.011+02:00

I guess everybody who ever listened to any kind of "rock music" knows about Black Sabbath. Everybody who listens to any kind of Metal has to worship them, and even every Hardcore kid should at least accept the fact that some of the greatest Hardcore bands were heavily influenced by Black Sabbath, for example Black Flag, Void or Integrity. Although I love most of the stuff they did with Ozzy, and like some of the stuff they did with Dio, I can understand that, especially people with a Hardcore backround, don't like the stuff with the latter, because of his voice. Well, Heaven & Hell is much better than some of the later recordings with Ozzy, but that's just my opinion.
What I uploaded here is a Radio session Black Sabbath (with the classic line-up Osbourne/Iommi/Butler/Ward) played at April 26th 1970 for John Peel's "Sunday Show" on Radio 1. The songs are "Black Sabbath", "Walpurgis", "Faries wear boots" and "Behind the wall of sleep". "Black Sabbath" lasts 9:25 minutes, is played a little bit different and slower than the album version, and way heavier. Especially when Ozzy says "oh no please god help me", I mean it's already quite frightening on the LP, but here you really see Satan sitting behind the desk, and not John Peel. Ozzy's vocals are great throughout the whole recording, by the way. "Walpurgis", the "pre-Warpigs", comes up with slightly different lyrics, one of the best Sabbath songs anyway. With "Faries wear boots" one of the "lesser" known songs is also there, probably everybody knows it anyway, but you know, it's not exactly "Paranoid". "Behind the wall of sleep" is faster than on the LP, and the arrangements are a little bit different as well. Fuck I love Black Sabbath. The sound of the recording is bit "dusty" but I think it fits the mood perfectly, very necro and heavy.

download via mediafire

Bloodnation

2009-08-06T20:15:00.008+02:00

The year 2004. While visiting an old friend of mine we drove in his car somewhere, and he put a tape in, saying something about a collaboration between two of my favourite 90ies Hardcore bands, Damnation AD and Bloodlet (in Damnation's case, one of my favourite bands in general). 4 years later I remebered that, but forgot the name of the project (which was pretty dumb of me, since "Bloodnation" makes perfect sense), I forgot if my friend said if this was ever regular released, everything. And he moved far away and we don't have any contact anymore, sadly enough. So after some research on the internet all I could find was this one track, "Flesh of another", in a ok but not amazing sound quality. I don't know anything about this project, neither when it took place, nor if there exist more than this one track, nor if it ever was properly released, nothing. So if anyone has any information about this, please comment!
The track itself is awesome, of course. Quite weird of course, but really a perfect mixture of the two participants, dark, moody, emotional music with a slight Jazz influence. Not the music to make some sweet love to, but music to drown in. So once again, if you know something about this, comment!

Bloodnation - Flesh Of Another

The Hope Conspiracy - True Nihilist (Review)

2009-08-06T19:39:00.008+02:00

Fuck yeah! I was suprised to find this 7" from Deathwish in the mail today, I kinda forgot I pre-ordered it a few weeks ago. After listening to those three songs for about an hour non-stop, all I can say is: They still know how to do it.
But let's start with the packaging: The cover is actually a small poster, full-colored print on the front and on the back, printed on thick, rough paper. On the back you'll find the usual infos about who did what and so on. To be honest, I was quite surprised to find out that Jacob Bannon did the artwork, I don't know, I wouldn't have expected this "style", but I mean, it looks amazing.
So the music - I really like every single song THC did in their existence, I love every record and listen to them on a regular basis. I was really happy when they released the "Death knows your name" full length after their break, and I still think it's an amazing record, but in my opinion "Endnote" is really their "Sgt. Peppers", a record everybody who claims to be into Hardcore should know. For everybody who thinks the same about this, here's the good news: I think those three new songs on this EP sound a lot more like "Endnote" songs than "Death knows..." songs. Of course they have a little more rocking feeling, so I'd say soundwise it's 70 % "Endnote" and 30 % "Death knows...", which is great, at least in my book. The production's good as always, drums, bass and guitars sound great, the leads are amazing, and the vocals are just... perfect. Pissed off, emotional and angry. When speaking of perfect things, I have to mention the lyrics as well. War, death, religion and pain are the main topics I'd say, but you have to read the lyrics yourself to get the clue. Just a small example: "Dark days are here/The chaos is the prayer/and your hell/religious persistence/Christ bastard son of heaven/we believe in nothing/only the strength of self" (from "The dismal tide"). So, final words: Can't wait for more + I hope for at least one more Europe tour so I can see them once again.

The Hope Conspiracy on myspace.com

Interview with Even Worse

2009-08-03T15:30:00.012+02:00

I did this interview for the now disfunct German skateboard magazine Boardstein, but since I don't know if the interview got really released in the last issue they did, and if so it was a very shortened version anyway, I decided to post the unshortened version here. Of course they haven't released a new record until now, and the split with my band is still on hold, but they recently did a Europe tour with At Half Mast, which was cool, as far as I've heard.

Chris: OK, I’m sitting here with Daniel and Benni, may you please introduce yourself, who you are and what are you guys doing in Even Worse.
Daniel: (laughs) That’s so fucking stupid!
C: Do it!
D: I am Daniel… hmmm… (laughs again)
C: And you do the vocals.
D: …am 22 and do the vocals.
Benni: I’m Benni and I play the guitar.
C: Cool.
D: Delete that with the age if Benni isn’t doing it as well.
C: It was planned to have Brandon here with us, too, but he’s at work right now. And you (to Daniel) and Brandon are the two guys who are left from the very first line-up, if I got that right. But now you’ve been playing with the current line-up quite a long time, so who’s in and do you still like each other?
D: In the band’s also Danny on drums.
C: Who’s sticking drum sticks in his eyes.
D: Who’s sticking drum sticks in his eyes, but we’ll come back on that issue later if you like. Next to me is Benni and Brandon is playing bass. Should I start to list ex-members? Wouldn’t make much sense I guess…
C: No, that would take too long. But the line-up’s solid the way it is?
D: The foundation’s done, yeah.
C: If I compare your first Demo to the recordings for the split LP (with The F.A.) I realize sound-wise quite a big progression. How would you describe that progression?
D: I’d say, from shitty to awesome. The demo - we still were quite young at that time and more influenced by trashy Hardcore stuff. We just thought the main thing is playing fast, nagging vocals and stuff like that. And now, well, you grow older and we wanted to carry other influences in, not only speed. That’s it basically. We wanted to stay fast, but at the same time progress, because everybody listens to more than fast stuff only.
B: But of course we’re still fast.
D: Yeah!
C: And which new influences came?
D: (thinks for a while) Vader!
B: Our music definitely became darker. And harder.
D: Yeah definitely. During the song writing process for the split we found ourselves in a real development phase, and brought a little bit of everything into those new songs. The new songs have more breaks, and are more pissed. I think “pissed” fits better than “dark”, because “dark” is more this cry-baby-hardcore-stuff, we’re more like “no, everything sucks”.
C: Would you say that your motivation to create music and go on tour has changed over the last years?
B: I feel way more motivated in general. Also at rehearsals for example, there’s just much more going on now. When we write a new song now, it just flows faster than earlier on.
D: Yeah definitely. Earlier on we often fucked around on one single riff without getting a song.
B: A riff with three chords!
D: Haha, yeah exactly. But now we’re all totally productive. I think, because of motivation and playing shows and stuff like that, that’s a thing that has definitely changed. In the past we played just everywhere, it didn’t matter where, and were completely fine with it. I mean, basically we’re still fine with that, but when you start to compare yourself to other bands, which are up for maybe a year, and those bands can play where there want and get hyped everywhere, and we’re still creeping around and still have to really work hard to get our tour dates complete and fixed, that’s when I realise that I really do care about it all, and that it is more than just “well, whatever, I don’t care”. I mean we’re putting time and money in it as well.
C: Well, there will always be bands that get quite a big dose of hype, primarily due to the internet. The question remains, if you like that or not.
D: So so. Most of the time it’s justified I guess, sometimes not, I don’t want to name any bands now.
C: What do you think about the fact that there are bands, mostly from the USA, that just have a demo out, and go on a full Europe tour with that? Do you think that this is a good thing, that also small bands get the chance to play big tours, or do you think that the quality of touring bands suffers because of that?
B: I think it fucking sucks. Big time. We, as a band, haven’t had the chance until now to see a lot of Europe, only Germany. But those bands… I don’t even know where they get the money from, do you know that Daniel?!
D: (laughs) No, I don’t know that.
B: Do they pay everything themselves? I think it sucks.
D: I think it’s mainly because of hype. A lot of bands only play standard music, there are copies of copies of copies, and those bands still get hyped, that’s so fucking lame to some extend. Then there are these kids who say “yeah, that’s the new shit”, and you just think that all this stuff was already done in the 80ies or 90ies, and get bored by everything.
B: Of course it also depends on how long you’re into that certain type of music. Because the kids that start to get into that shit by now really get into it by listening to the current bands. And only because of that many of those bands are successful.
D: So, to get back to your question, it all depends on the band. There are some where I think it’s really justified, and others where you just get turned off by.
B: But there’s definitely more bullshit coming over that sucks, then bands I like.
D: It’s all a question of taste.
B: Yeah, of course.
D: If it would be a new Death Metal band you’d like it.
B: No, probably not. The scene’s getting completely polluted by all that myspace crap.
D: When you start to occupy yourself with all that stuff you start to realise how meaningless most of it is. Most of the new bands are done by young kids, they hop on a rolling train and do exactly the same, write some songs with “positive” and “yeah” and “we have this and that inside”, I mean that gets boring pretty fast.
C: I think it’s even worse (ha-ha) if a band is always doing what’s hip at the moment, always hop onto the latest trend and modifies its sound that way.
B: (enraged) That’s the reason why I hate Schweinfurt! Because of that I hate all the local kids here, I mean, those kind of kids are probably in other cities as well, probably even more than here, but that’s exactly their thing. They only rip others off, have no own opinion about nothing, they don’t deserve to live, no shit.
C: Another thing that totally sucks these days is that there are rarely US-bands touring Europe on their own and maybe take a smaller European band as support with them. Most of the time there are packages now with three or even more bands that nobody can pay anymore. The only ones who can afford those packages are bigger promoters, who also have to raise the entrance. In addition to that, I don’t want to watch five “main acts” at a show.
D: Yeah and the bad thing about this is for example what happened at the Have Heart/Bane/Ceremony tour last year. Have Heart was the shit on that tour, and although Bane is doing that shit for whatever more years, they got kinda ignored on most dates, as far as I’ve heard, and everybody was just sucking Have Heart’s asses. And basically it’s just lame when you have to pay 15 Euros for a show with three US-bands, when you only want to see one of them.
C: On many of your shirts, stickers and stuff like that you have the slogan “the strongest of the strange”, is there any connection to that skate video?
D: Yeah, for sure. Basically, there is this skate video called “The strongest of the strange” by Pontus Alv, that guy’s just incredible, and the video is maybe one of the best I’ve ever seen. And at the end of that video there are spoken words by Charles Bukowski, which are sooo good. And we just took it from that, because it fits so well. We even called a song after that, and after the release people kept telling us how good that song is, and the intro of it (where there are some of the spoken words as well). So I begun to use that phrase everywhere in designs and stuff like that. And it just fits. I mean, it fits us especially.
C: Topic skateboarding, are there any further connections to skateboarding?
D: Three of us still skate. Danny has tried it, but he always tries everything and stops soon afterwards. Brandon is the one who skates the most and hardest of us. He’s our mini ramp ripper, who destroys everybody and himself. When we’re on tour we’re always afraid because of him, ‘cause he always tries new tricks, and of course he slams from time to time. But he just keeps skating all the time, until he’s just a bloody mess, but he keeps skating anyway. He’s pretty tough.
C: So when you’re on tour you always have your decks with you?
D: Yes, definitely. Everybody except Danny.
B: Yeah he always “forgets” it.
D: Exactly, he always “forgets” it. He’s more into sticking drum sticks in his eye.
C: Daniel you have designed skate decks for Little Wheels, haven’t you?
D: Yeah, Little Wheels, that’s a skate shop ran by Bernhard Küppel, he also has a homepage http://www.litte-wheels.com. And he just asked me to do a few designs for him. And I just agreed with him, I didn’t like the old designs anyway, so I just thought about doing some good ones. I asked him what he wanted to have, and he was into skulls and some crazy shit, and since I can draw skulls while sleeping, I did it. And now there’s a series out, limited to 250 pieces, and it looks awesome.
C: Yeah, that’s true.
D: And of course it’s good wood as well.
C: Are there any cool spots in Schweinfurt you should check out when you come here?
D: Well, we got a new skate park last year. Actually it’s a funny story; all the kids permanently complained at the mayor’s office that there is no proper skate park. And the city was complaining all the time about skating kids, because they would destroy everything and shit like that. Then all the kids started to get active, collecting signatures and so on. Finally, a skate park was built by IOU Ramps under the Max-bridge. The problem is, and I am not the only one who’s saying that, that the park is really boring. I mean, there are enough kids riding it anyway, but a lot of kids keep their distance. There are mainly banks, and a mini ramp. The mini ramp is pretty good, actually. It’s quite a street park, quite smooth, but it gets boring pretty fast. Besides that we have a Plaza here, which is quite cool for street skating, with a lot of flat, a small set of stairs, really cool. And for some people the Stattbahnhof is still the spot to skate. It’s really small, just a small quarter and a real lousy funbox, but people like to skate it anyway. And around the city, in all those small suburb towns, there are loads of parks, but nobody rides them, besides maybe some small rollerblading kids who fall on their asses and can’t breathe afterwards.
C: What are your upcoming plans with the band?
D: We had planned to prerecord a full album this summer.
B: Of course we haven’t done that until now.
D: Right now we’re writing the songs for an album, maybe around 14 songs, and we’ll try to get at least the prerecording done until winter. And then we want to get it released as soon as possible.
C: Do you already know who’s going to release it?
D: No. We’re looking for labels. Good labels. Not those kind of slacker-labels. So if anybody… (stops talking for a while)
B: Just shut up.
D: No, we don’t have a label yet. This time we definitely want CD and vinyl, because a lot of people keep asking us for CD’s. Besides that we plan to release a split EP with Goldust. Like I said, if there are labels that like us just drop us a line, we’re nice.
B: Sometimes.
C: Ok, so would you please tell the story of Danny and the drum stick?
D: One second, I’ll just get the bag. (Leaves the room and comes back with a brown paper bag). This is the “Bag of Dullness”. We played with our side project DetöNation in Nuremberg and in the backstage area there was this brown paper bag lying around. And that fit the head really good. But of course there weren’t holes for the eyes. And usually, if you are a normal thinking human, you would mark the spots for the eyes, pull the bag off your head, put in some holes and put it up on your head again. Danny had a different opinion about that, he just left the bag on his head and applied a drum stick, right where one of his eyes was beneath. And we just watched that, completely fascinated and just thought, “no, he wouldn’t do that”. But he sat there, with the drum stick, applied it to his eye, and rams it in. You could see how the stick dipped in the bag, than dipped even a little bit deeper, and a hundredth of a second later you’d see the head yielding and jerking back. Of course everybody laughed his ass off, Danny lifts the bag from his head, and his eyeball was blood red, because the idiot just rammed a drum stick in his eye without even thinking about it. I kept the bag, just as memorial for humanity. That’s just “the strongest of the strange”. Although you could say “strongest of the lame” as well.
C: Ok, is there anything left you want to tell us?
B: Yeah, lock Niederwern (a small town near Schweinfurt) up, surround it with a wall!
D: Niederwern must burn!
(Now there’s a 5 minute monologue from Benni about the coffee drinking kids from Niederwern and why they deserve to die)
D: Well, thanks for the interview, check out the bands Goldust from Münster, Grace from Kassel, Tackleberry from Kiel and Deny Everything from Cologne, Germany has good bands, check them out, they’re good.
C: And Vader.
D: Vader!
B: Vader from Poland dude…

Even Worse on myspace.com

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Nirvana 2002 - Disembodied Spirits (Demo)

2009-08-03T15:14:00.006+02:00

To be honest, I wouldn't know shit about this band without Ekeroth's book about Swedish Death Metal. But since he mentions this band a few times, and how great they were and so on I decided to check them out, which is quite easy it times of the internet. They never released a real record, only a bunch of demos, and this demo was released in 1990, has a powerful production, awesome songs, sick riffs and great vocals. I mean I am surely not the biggest expert of Death Metal, but I do know about good music, and this IS good, definitely at the same level like the early Entombed/Dismember/Grave stuff. Be sure to check this out, otherwise you'll miss something.

download via mediafire

Catharsis - s/t

2009-08-03T15:03:00.008+02:00

Do I really have to tell anybody anything about this band? Their influence? Their sound? If so, please check this interview out and get educated. Seriously, everything this band did was awesome, yes, even the reggae influenced track on "Passion". To be honest, I don't really like what Brian was doing in Requiem and with his new band which is so aweful I forgot their name already. But Catharsis have recorded enough and is deep enough to keep you entertained for years (that's what this band did for me). I uploaded the s/t record, which contains the first 7" and some rare recordings/songs, including a really awesome Breakdown cover. If you don't like Catharsis you're definitely reading the wrong blog.

download via mediafire

Asphalt - 357 Knock Out

2009-08-03T14:46:00.007+02:00

This is one of the rather obscure records that came out on Dwid's Dark Empire label (he's also doing guest vocals on one song). Unfortunatly I don't know really much about this band, only that Asphalt was formerly known as False Hope with Sal LaPiccollo (bass), Hawthorne Smith (guitar) and David Nicholi Araca who died shortly after the recordings for this full length due to a brain aneurism.
The music itself is far beyond everything that kids nowadays know as "Clevo-Hardcore" or Holy Terror sound, when they talk about bands like Rise and Fall or Shipwreck (...). This record is really dark and sick, I mean, it has a really sickening feeling to it, which is hard to describe. And the music goes way further that your typical Integrity clone-band, it shows influences from Post-Hardcore, Black Metal, Stoner and what not, with strange time signatures and a really good production. If I had to come up with a mixture to describe it I'd say it sounds like a mixture between Pale Creation (on their Twilight album) and Shining's "Halmstad". Especially the vocals remind me a lot of times of the latter. Of course this is not nearly catching how Asphalt sounds like. So I really recommend to everyone to download this, open a bottle of redwine and just get the feeling.

download via mediafire

In Cold Blood - st EP (1997)

2009-08-03T14:31:00.006+02:00

This 7" by Cleveland's In Cold Blood is the heaviest sounding stuff these guys ever recorded. I mean, I love pretty much everything this band around the Melnik brothers did, but those three songs are so hard, it's unbelievable. I think every single one appeared (rerecorded) on one of the other records they did, but on this EP the songs are played slower, and the vocals are way more brutal, like really deep, nearly gutteral. Of course you should get the Hell On Earth full length as well (the CD got released on Victory records back then, I don't know if there ever was a vinyl release) and of course the 12" that got released on A389 Records which contains the mentioned 7" besides some demo and live recordings.

download via mediafire

Black Flag - My War Demos 1982

2009-08-03T14:12:00.005+02:00

Some undeniable classic here. Since every dickhead in the world talks about Black Flag as if he'd knew Greg Ginn personally but only knows the Damaged LP (and maybe the First Four Years Compilation), I decided to upload this masterpiece of Hardcore-Punk, in my opinion the best stuff Black Flag ever recorded: The 1982 Demos, recorded in between the "Damaged" LP and its follow up "My War". These songs were recorded while Black Flag were entangled in legal battles with MCA records and couldn't release any "real" recorded material. So this stuff isn't available as a regular release, but got bootlegged many times, so it should be pretty easy for you to get this on vinyl or CD.
Like I said, this is a masterpiece. We have here the only recordings with the classic 5-man Black Flag line-up, consisting of Henry Rollins (vocals), Greg Ginn (guitar), Dez Cadena (guitar), Chuck Dukowski (bass) and Chuck Bisquits (drums). The sound quality is quite good, but the feeling is amazing. The songs sound a lot rougher than on the regular releases, and heavier, and more nihilsitic, and more fucked up, seriously, soundwise I think it's by far the best Black Flag record. I always thought that the production of the "My War" LP is too clean and watered down, here you can hear the songs like they really should be, heavy and mean sounding, with tons of feedback, and a manic Rollins screaming his guts out. You don't know SHIT about Black Flag if you don't know this record.

download via mediafire

Unbroken live video

2009-08-01T17:29:00.008+02:00

These videos are from the same dude who uploaded the Mayday videos, so you should thank him for that. It was shot at the same festival 1995, but in another room (with a "real" stage, actually). Wait for minute 2:40 in part one, that's so cool. I kinda like that video a lot because it shows Unbroken more as what they were: a Hardcore band, and not those quasi-gods they seem to be for lots of people today. For sure one of my top-5 bands ever. Oh and, of course, raw footage = punk. There must exist a third part, but it's not on youtube yet, so here are the first two parts:

Mayday live video

2009-08-01T17:20:00.006+02:00

What did I write about the problems with live videos in the Napalm Death post? Intense athomsphere but bad sound und pictures? Well, here's a pretty good example for that. But considering the fact that this was shot in the pre-digital age, and the room where Maday plays is like the worst imaginable for a show it's still quite cool. And fucking hell, it's Mayday, you rarely see pictures, let alone videos of that band. Check out the hairstyles of the kids and the vocalist's and guitarist's overalls. I mean, 1995, what else can you say?

Annihilation Time will disband

2009-07-29T11:38:00.004+02:00

Just read that on the AT-homepage, some of you probably already know:

"First of all, we have to thank everyone who made Chaos in Tejas possible/fun. TImmy H., Dan Moore , C-Vok, Alicon and Emily, Amber (for putting up with us for a whole week!), Emo's and AMEBIX and EYEHATEGOD (for Slaying). Killer fucking time and if you missed it you're fucking bummed cuz as you may have heard, those shows were our last US shows for possibly ever! The rumors are true, Jimmy is leaving us and were putting the band to rest. BUT, the rest of us are sticking together to start something else with a new singer. We just don't know who... were still waitng to hear back from David Coverdale.

Anyhow... we're headin' out to Europe for a couple of weeks to play on a boat in Sweden with the Misfits. Sounds....interesting. That will also probably be our last shows in Europe for maybe ever, so catch us if you can.

-chris (5-29-09)"

What a fucking bummer, I only hope to see them when they're here in Europe the last time.

Official Annihilation Time site
Annihilation Time on myspace.com

Crowbar - Existence Is Punishment

2009-07-29T10:50:00.010+02:00

If you aren't yet, better get into it.

I gave my heart and soul to you my friend
You let me fall
If you could only see what's in my heart
You'd take my hand
I've lived this life as a man would do
Why's it so hard to find the truth?
My faith is strong within myself
I bleed of pride
Inside
I won't forgive
You can't take it back now
It's too hard to swallow
No words
No conviction
I've found the truth inside myself
But I am still doing time
Opened my eyes to what is real
This world is hard
It's cold
It's agony

Official Crowbar Site
Crowbar on myspace.com

Iron Age - The Sleeping Eye (Review)

2009-07-28T15:05:00.011+02:00

Man I've waited for that record for so long, since the release of their first full length "Constant Struggle" to be exact. In between those two LPs Iron Age released only two 7"s, and the first one, the "Burden of Empire" 7" never really made it to Europe I think. The "The Way is narrow" 7" came out like months ago and really made me expecting nothing but the best from the new record, "The Sleeping Eye".
First of all, the record comes in a really thick gatefold cover (at least the US-pressing on Cyclopean Records), as double LP, with all lyrics and a small poster. The artwork itself is quite weird and not exactly "nice". In fact it looks more like done while tripping on LSD or something. Maybe that's not too far from the truth. The good thing is, in this case you can judge a book by its cover.

It still sounds like Iron Age, no doubt about it, but I think they manage the approach they had from the beginning way better than on the first record. What's left is the same unique mixture of Thrash metal, Stoner rock and Hardcore, but whereas some of their earlier songs kind of didn't really know where to go, every single one on "The Sleeping Eye" is perfect. You have really long, slow, even psychadelic parts, fast parts that totally remind me on "Kill em all"-Metallica, and a few but really hard moshparts, which will make your head bang harder then a train approaching you from the behind. The riffs are excellently played, with lots of "twin-tone" harmonies, and Iron Age is one of the few Hardcore bands which are able to play more than 8 riffs in one song without getting boring or causing the impression of bad song writing. As if this wasn't enough for a great record, they implemented some quite unusual stuff (at least in a Hardcore context), like a synth-intro in one song, or what I call a "monk-choir" in another.
The production is quite good as well, I mean it perfectly fits the music. It's warm and "earthy", the record sounds as if they recorded it out in the desert. Which maybe isn't too far from the truth. While sounding that warm, it's still crisp and tight, of course.
The lyrics, in addition to the music, help to build a very epic feeling throughout the whole record. Want to try? "Once below, now beyond/Ascending in time/The Entrance I Seek/Is the hidden devine/Towers of untold height are anchored/In the sin of hell beneath/If I ignore them, they will pass. Dispossessed/by all I used to need" and so on.
My advice: go and get this record, at least if you don't get turned off by songs that are longer than two minutes. This is as heavy as it is beautiful and for sure one of the records 2009.

Iron Age's blog
Iron Age on myspace.com
Cyclopean Records

No Comment #1

2009-07-28T14:02:00.013+02:00

Here's a pdf-file of the first issue of No Comment. If you're interested in getting one of the few printed issues (I have a few left), just drop me line at nocommentfanzine@arcor.de and we'll work something out. My favourite page is the one with the Terrorizer quote, definetly a song that hasn't lost any of its relevance. Get the pdf here

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Interview with Magrudergrind

2009-07-28T12:07:00.008+02:00

Done over a year ago, too. The band's still very active, and they have released a few records in the meantime. Worth your time!

I picked up Magrudergrind's latest LP „Rehashed“ at the record store and was literally blown to pieces by the merciless Grindcore that came out of my speakers. I did the Interview via email with Avi, the vocalist, in September 07. Short and fast, how it's supposed to be.

Magrudergrind is up for some years now, if you could just tell me which were the most important steps in the history of the band for introduction, that'll be cool.

Avi: I would have to say the most important steps for us was touring in Europe and being able to put out a record on such a great DIY label as Six Weeks Records.

You've toured the US and Europe, next year you'll even tour Japan, South East Asia and Australia, is it the first time in those countries for you? In comparison: Touring Europe or touring the USA?

Avi: Yes, it will be my first time and our first time as a band in Japan, SE Asia and Australia. As far as comparing Europe to the US for touring, in Europe promoters and people involved in DIY ethical punk/hc/grind whatever take it much more seriously. In the US it is rare to even get a meal, yet in Europe its almost a mandatory requirement for a band, small things like that make it a lot easier on the road, when your touring for months at a time.

Are the lyrics from "The final pollution" about a real incident? Is physical violence against nazi scum an appropriate way to deal with those shitheads, even if it doesn't make oneself better than the nazis itself?

Avi: Yes, the lyrics from that song are about a true incident which happened at a show at my old house, when I lived in a group punk house. I don't see physical violence as a means of solving problems, usually, but being the third generation descendent of 4 Holocaust survivors (all 4 of my grandparents), I DO NOT take neo-Nazism jokingly, and as it says in my lyrics, "seeing the insignia" (the swastika) tattooed on the back of this guy's neck could have led to his death, had we beaten him any worse. With intellectual people, you could have a discussion, maybe change one's point of view, but with ignorant persons, uneducated enough to have a tattoo of hate in this day in age just needs to be dealt with in a more serious manner, by any means.

What importance has vegetarianism/veganism for you as persons and as a band?

Avi: For my self, I was vegetarian for 6-7 years, but I had given it up this past summer, my personal choice. The other guys in the band are vegans.

A lot of your lyrics are about two faced people, the scene and stuff like that, I'd like to know if the scene in your hometown Washington DC is that fucked up? Or is it more like the hardcore/punk/grind whatever scene(s) is in general in such a bad state in your eyes?

Avi: The scene in DC is decent. The lyrics referring to two faced people have to do with "friends" who turned their backs. I love hc/punk/grind scene but there is SO MUCH bullshit which exists, it's a great outlet. Before it was a place where no one judged you and you could be yourself, today personal opinions about others overwhelm everything, whether it be someones politically correctness or simply dietary choices, people judge you on stupid choices like that, instead of respecting your opinions and beliefs (besides prejudices and hate) which you have.

Quite many people that are somehow related to the punk and hardcore scene have like really fucked up problems with their lifes, personal problems or suffer from psychic illness, and that's not a new phenomenon at all. Can you imagine what the reason for that is? What is it that attracts those kids or persons to hardcore/punk?

Avi: I see many fucked up people, either from drug abuse or personal issues turn to this type of music as an outlet. I see nerdy ass people who turn to punk because it's the only community that will accept them. As for myself, I see these people with no other interests in life, people need to look to more ways of expression and hobbies to help progress their life in a positive direction, not just dwell around being angry at society and the main stream. Don't try to put down the world because you're angry or depressed, fix your own life and try to become a better person by looking at the positive aspects of this world.

How do you think it's possible that bands like Converge for example are able to sell thousands of records and that death/grind bands attract hordes of black haired tight pants eyeliner scumbags (yeah I know, most of the time those bands don't look any better...)? What's the reason that the mainstream media shows such a big interest in a genre which intention was at one time to react against the mainstream?

Avi: It's all about the marketing tactics. Big labels and businesses see these bands as an outlet of revenue and profit. You could take the shittiest metal band in the world, market them correctly and give them hype in many media outlets and they will be an instant hit. Look at all the shitty music people actually listen to on the radio as a perfect example, people will listen to what's put in their face.

You'll release a split with Yacopsae next year, how came that you team up with them?

Avi: We're great friends with these guys, have done a couple tours with them and decided a split would be a good idea.

Please finish the following sentences:

Terrorizer's World Downfall is...
...one of the greatest and influential grindcore albums in the history of grindcore along with Scum.

Playing without bass guitar rules because...
...it's easier touring with three people and less equipment.

The worst band I ever saw live was...
...many bands.

Work sucks because...
...it's something you don't enjoy doing.

DIY for me is...
...people working together.

Infest rules more than any other band because...
...they we're one of the originators of fastcore/powerviolence.

I don't know how...
...come I'm still answering these questions because I have to wake up for class in 6 hours.

I wish I could...
...have spent more time at the beach in Europe last summer.

Ok last question, it's for a survey I'm doing, where is the best place to read fanzines? If you wish to add anything, take the chance. Thanks for giving me the chance for this interview, I really appreciate it!

AVI: I guess on the toilet when your taking a shit or in the van on long rides. MRR and Short, Fast and Loud. Thanks for the interview, check out our tour dates at

Magrudergrind on myspace.com

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