Sunday 29 April 2012

Debauchery "The Ice" Lp, 1988



I got this one totally by chance in a distro a few years ago. The bloke was basically getting rid of records he didn't really enjoy anymore and the Debauchery Lp was one of them. I had heard of Debauchery and knew that they were part of the late 80's UK crust scene but that was pretty much it, just one of many crucial side-notes in my punk brain. At that time, the current "metal-punk" trend hadn't started yet and neither had the "Metal Punk Death Squad" non-sense. Today, quite a few bands try to mix punk and metal with varying degree of success, but I would argue that none sound quite like Debauchery on this Lp. In the late 80's, blending punk and metal was quite common, but when compared to their crusty counterparts, Debauchery had a slightly different take on the matter. They did not favour dark heaviness, like Hellbastard for instance, so much as rocking heaviness.




I would be lying if I didn't tell you that the cover is slightly... off-putting. Well, unless you love cheesily shitty drawings of fish, polar bears, crabs and beach-goers all getting mental at the very sight of an ice-cream. To be honest, I find it quite funny in retrospect, especially when you compare it with all the very dark record covers of crusty bands at the time. Back when they were a mere name to me, I expected them to have that sort of typical apocalyptic imagery that has always been a part of the crust canon and not goofy cartoons. Well, at least Debauchery seemed to have been made up of a merry bunch of lads who liked a drink and a laugh! That this Lp was put out by Loony Tunes Records, Active Minds' label, is both a bit surprising since AM have always been dead serious about things, and completely sensible since the label released some brilliant UK hardcore records and seemed to have a good Northern connection as they also put out stuff from Mortal Terror or Generic.




However, don't take Debauchery for a Toy Dolls cover band, apart from the two songs that close each side, we are definitely in crust territory in terms of lyrics. Songs about the pointlessness and the horror of World War One, against religious indoctrination, about alienation in the industrial wasteland that is the North of England (the band was from Gateshead, near Newcastle and Hellbastard). Musically, this is excellent, rocking and heavy metal-punk music between bands like Onslaught, GBH (for the vocals) or English Dogs, early stenchcore stuff like Antisect, Nausea (anachronistically) or Hellbastard and proper metal bands like Venom or Warfare. The sound is powerful but remains rooted in punk territory, no mean feat considering that the line is thin and tricky indeed.



A fun fact about this record that you can use in a punk trivia is the presence of a Hellbastard cover, "Dark side", which can also be found on Hellkrusher's "Wasteland" Lp (Hellkrusher and Debauchery actually have the same drummer). A brilliant, if slightly depressing, song. On the whole, this is a great record, rather well-produced, and a must-have if you are into the mid-late 80's English punk sound and if you have enough sense of humour to go past the cover (I do!). For more information about Debauchery, I suggest reading their chapter in Trapped in a Scene.




Top notch!





Wednesday 18 April 2012

Senile Decay / Canol Caled split Ep 1989






This record is as obscure as one can get in the British punk realms. Released on Fflach records (based in Wales I presume) in 1989, it offers two quite different bands, something not uncommon at the time (see the Generic/Mortal Terror split Lp for instance), Senile Decay and Canol Caled. There is a small ad inside for Acid Stings records, a label that released Hellbastard's "In grind we crust" cd in 1999 as well as Apostles and Astronauts records. If it doesn't come as surprise that the ad promoted the Apostles and the Astronauts,  the presence of Tibetan jewelry and tapes of secret chants of lamas on the list made my day.

First, my favourite of the split, Senile Decay, a name they must have taken from the Venom song. Though information about them is rather scarce (they didn't even make it to "Trapped in a scene", in fact there is only one Senile Decay occurence in the whole book), they were apparently from the North of England (Tyne and Wear) and judging from the cover on their side, they were rooted in the crusty side of things as the drawing is strongly reminiscent of some Doom or ENT artworks. There are five songs from them, quite fast on the whole, with lyrics about conformity and alienation and other joyful facts of life. Musically they remind me of their fellow northeners Mortal Terror (their first record), Debauchery and Hellbastard (not as heavy though), with also a touch of Deviated Instinct and Electro Hippies, especially on the faster parts. Needless to say I think that their songs are excellent and that Senile Decay are bound to enthrall all the stenchcore maniacs. I wish they had recorded more of this old-school crust (is there a demo that I don't know of?).



Canol Caled were from Wales and they actually sing in Welsh, which is great since it is not a language I am very likely to hear daily... Musically speaking, there are two songs of dynamic hardcore punk. I suppose if the Anhrefn had played hardcore or if Cowboy Killers had sung in Welsh, the result wouldn't have been too dissimilar to Canol Caled. A great record. 



PS: the similarity between Senile Decay and Hellbastard is in fact no coincidental as I realized reading the excellent "Armed with anger" that Scotty from Hellbastard/Hellkrusher also played in Senile Decay at some point and that there was a bloke from Mortal Terror on drums as well. Who said incestuous?

Friday 6 April 2012

Pro Patria Mori "Where shadows lie" demo 1986





Pro Patria Mori, meaning "to die for your country", formed in Wokingham, Southeast of England in 1984. Though they never released any proper records, they still recorded two demos of which "Where shadows lie" is the second and this is just unbelievably good. In fact, and I am not even exaggerating here, I had two reactions the first time I heard this tape: I couldn't believe how good it was and I was angry that no one had told me about this band before and how good it was.

Being a huge sucker for the British anarcho punk sound, I can say without hesitation that this demo is a jewel and would have deserved the record treatment. While the political lyrics (from what I can understand) and the overall atmosphere of the songs are distinctively rooted in the anarcho tradition (you'll find haunting spoken words and dual vocals), the atmosphere of the songs is much darker and gloomier than the first wave of anarcho bands, an impression reinforced by the cover depicting a part-wizzard, part-judge dodgy-looking geezer staring at skulls and screaming heads. This imagery is also paralled by a great, dirty metal influence typical of mid-late 80's UK bands. But if metal was indeed influential here, the anger and rage are firmly ensconsed in pissed-off punk tradition (you probably won't be disappointed to hear that Odin, the hammer of Thor or black magics aren't on the Pro Patria Mori programm). The guitar sound is aggressive and mean, the dual vocals reminds me of an angrier, harsher version of Anti-System or Antisect's. The pace is fast with heavy mid-tempo parts. Awesome stuff to be sure, strongly reminiscent of the mighty Antisect, Anti-System, AOA or mid-late 80's Oi Polloi, with a bit of Concrete Sox and Anihilated for the riffage. Yes, it really is that good.

It is a shame that these brilliant songs haven't made it to vinyl (yet? If one is to believe their interview in the excellent book "Trapped in a scene", in which Pro Patria Mori has a section, the demo might hopefully be reissued at some point).


Sunday 1 April 2012

(A) Book Of Daedra (E)-Black Sacrament


This is my new band(Pugsly) A lot better than Mosquito eater I think lol. Anyways it is just a few tunes Ian and I threw together in a few hours it ranges from punk to black metal. Our shit has gotten a lot better since this shity lp but anyways its worth a listen you know.

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?qm6xgzwa4m446kv

Disposer-Demo 1


Five track demo from Japanese noisy punk band Disposer. They're similar to Dust Noise, Dislike, Screaming Noise, etc. I think this is their only release, but if someone out there has more I'd love to hear it.I dunno anything else about them.

As the comrade wrote above, this is good distorted punk-rock paying tribute to Disorder (as one can readily notice by watching the cover!) with a bit of Swankys thrown in as well from 1999, ten years before everyone started playing that style again.

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?8mt7ikh6gkc6x6y

Misanthropic-Open up and take your bullett

"The debut 7" from this now defunct crust/grind band from Arizona. Amazingly rage filled gutteral female vocals that cross with equally spiteful male vocals in a perfect way, steamrolling its way through a musical style that is like a healthy mix between Assuck and Antischism, creating a totally intense and orginal sound"-Catch phrashe records. In my opinion this is prolly one of the best examples of crusty shit I have ever heard, Cannot get more beautiful than this record here. This download also has previouslly unreleased tracks I am nothing(best song ever) and Heretic. Enjoy.

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?mpbfy2pmrg8h1b7

Mosquito Eater-My lame ass birthday chuck e cheese

So this is probably the worse band I have ever heard. Well mostly because I was the guitar player for a short amount of time. We never played any shows never officially had a release this is just the old my space tracks i decided to put on disc and call it my lame ass birthday chuck e cheese. Download it and like it or hate it. This band was a joke.

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?ditwe8392ha59gy

I am the liquor

Oh boy... Where to start. So this band reminds me alot of the whole riot girl scene. They started in 2006 and I am guessing disbanded sometime in 2010 they are from Oakland/Chicago. The only way I can describe them is well.... I would call it Femviolence. Honestly I do not know how to classify them other than Punk. Don't waste your time reading my poor description. Download and you be the judge.

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?uo8uma8h3zakxoc

Raein- Il N'y A Pas De Orchestre

Let me start by saying I have always had a soft spot for Skramz music. Real Skramz not that shity ass Under Oath or Norma Jean shit kids listened to in 07. This is Raein, Prolly one of the most legit Skram bands aside from Page 99 and Me and him call it us. So if you are looking for something a little different I would suggest checking out this record. It seriously is the shit. I love these guys. Anyways I should probably say something about them. They started in 2002 in Italy(most good Skramz is from Italy or France) and have a lot of records out most are now out of print(outside of blogspots and slsk) Anyways I hope you all like this record as much as I do.
Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?ixch998058kmcmg

PS: some intensive linguistic search tends to show that "il n'y a pas d'orchestre" means "there is no orchestra" in French.

avskyvärld-jag är lagen





 ok so I know I have said a few times that I don't know a lot about a band on a few occasions but this time I mean it. These guys just popped out of nowhere in my music collection and the only thing I know about them is they play some raw Swedish hardcore. the vocalist reminds me to the vocalist from Aktiv Dödshjälp. I would have to say this is worth downloading.


Doanload: http://www.mediafire.com/?d32ma28nzxe5hxh

Ajudanti Di Papao Noel

So here we have this awesome grind band called Ajudanti Di Papai Noel.
They are kick ass enough said. Well simply because I know very little to nothing of this band. I know they play some sick ass grindcore and they are from Brazil and here we have both demos 1&2 other than that all I can say is they kick ass.

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?rbcae46naa1aeax

Ramlord-Stench of fallacy

Here we have Ramlord,They are from New Hamshire, honestly it’s like Insect Warfare meets Dystopia meets early Darkthrone. Just overall innovative in every which way possible, making for one hell of a listening experience. This is their 2011 Stench of fallacy album and to be 100% clear all I have to say about this album is you WANT it. These guys kick some Major asshole! They also have a split with Condensed Flesh Ill try and post that as well. 


Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?7n7ehtghv3kjep1

Deterrorformed-Temple of no gods

Ok so this was a bit hard to track down on the ol blogspot sites.... In other words it was not on any of them(trust me) So after 2 years of trying to find these guys I decided the only way to get this shit is to actually go out and buy a copy of it.

Hailing from Portland Oregon comes some Crusty ass D-beat fueled by hatred and Discharge! I do not know much about these guys other than they are from Portland Oregon and played from 2000 to about 2005. If your looking for some great in your face pissed off D-beat that will D-beat the shit outta yer ears this is just for you. Id check out the double song feature " Nightmare Leviathan"

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?k6aq9jsr272p5td
Enjoy.