Liers In Wait - Spiritually Uncontrolled Art EP

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. 

Update on the The Swarm post

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"

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 on myspace.com

Instilled - Unfinished Business

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.

Mourningside - Confessions Of Disbelieve

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

Seed Of Pain - Blindfolded And Doomed (Review)

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)

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