Time to get low with LOW PLACES

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.

Beggars & Gentry - Abwärts (Review)

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?

Virgin Witch - s/t 7" (Review)

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

Keept It Real #9 (Review)

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!

Keep It Real Fanzine Issue No. 9 out now

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).

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

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

Interview with A389 Records

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

Lost in: Siege

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.

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

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

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.

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

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. 

Please note: I deleted all the downloads a while ago, but if you know how to use Google you should be able to find everything quite easy.

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.




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.




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.



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.

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.

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

Lost in: The Facts

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. 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

Alpinist - Minus.Mensch (Review)

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)

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

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.

Ignorance Is Strength Fanzine (Review)

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

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.

Toxic Revolution/Magnicide split 12" (Review)

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.