I Just Broke Up With Jim O'Croce

"Formed in Detroit, with unholy blasphemies on Easter Sunday 1993. Started performing live desecration rituals in 1994. Vowed to never play live again in 2003. Reunited in 2007 and played 2 shows (Chicago/LA). Re-vowed to never play live again 2008. Actively recording terror/metal/noise. New songs coming soon!!!" (from their rarely updated Myspace page)

Same old pathetic story, the only reason I found this band was blindly searching "anal" or "cunt" or whatever orifice I could think of on Tower Records' website (a la Porn) many a year ago; the Rats had a song called "Anal Cunt Is Gay" so welcome to my CD collection guys! Still, "Last Day Of The Sun" is a great fucking 45 seconds. And I've always just assumed that cover artwork is from that Mr. Bungle guy...

Fanning The Flames Of Fire

 
Currently watching: The Last Exorcism
Currently listening to: Human Infection Infest To Ingest

Live Jihad

Man, the first half of the 2000's was fucking awesome for Ween fans. Starting with the wonderful White Pepper at the start of the millennium, the brothers built up to the incredible Quebec in '03 amongst a bevy of rare live CD releases through those sweet years. Additionally, Deaner jump-started his long-quiet side project Moistboyz and let loose two releases in '02 and '05 (the later Moistboyz IV easily emerging as their greatest achievement) as well as the above DVD, Live Jihad. Mickey and Dickie (a.k.a. Guy Heller whom astute Ween fans will recognize as the vocalist on Pure Guava's "Flies On My Dick") channel the Stooges to a tee in their amazing 75-minute audience assault. Recorded at NYC's Bowery Ballroom, the boys tear through 18 choice tracks showcasing their entire back catalog, including some of the primitive drum machine epics ("Carjack", "U Blow") from their days on Mike D's long gone Grand Royal Records. Man, how punk is that? Anyways, audio ripped direct from DVD, blah, blah, best quality I can figure out how to get. I would love to hear a Moistboyz V someday, shit man, just as they were getting interesting...

Mickey and Dickie

Currently watching: The Disappearance Of Alice Creed
Currently listening to: Proclamation Advent Of The Black Omen

Third Time's A Charm...

First off, my lazy non-posting ass got burned for being lazy and not posting. I had planned to upload Pathology's brutal Awaken To The Suffering tonight but discovered both The Living Doorway and Slamming Brutal Death beat me to the sucker kidney punch by a cunt hair. Like my bank account these days, a day late and a fucking dollar short, no? So I decided to fall back on a guilty pleasure - the final statement by Boston rapcore homiez Reveille - 2001's Bleed The Sky. I've waxed poetic of Reveille in the pages of this blog before; easily my favorite rap/metal band; to me they had enough of a snotty Bah-stun punk vibe to make their oft-cheesy nü metal sound work. And the guitar playing is hands down amazing. Their riffs fucking roll up and down the neck like nothing I've heard before or since. I caught Reveille opening for fellow nü-metallers Primer 55 at a club downtown many a year ago (on the fucking Wednesday before Thanksgiving, no less) and was amazed by how damn young they were! Christ, I was almost embarrassed shaking their hands after the set, worried they'd be like "who the fuck was that old dude?" But enough of whatever quarter-life crisis issues I was dealing with at the time - this album absolutely rules. Poetic, heavy, kitschy and weirdly Irish (listen to it and you'll kinda hear what I'm talking about), Bleed The Sky is an amazing 70 minutes. "Plastic" has got to be in the top 10 of the most amazing songs ever recorded - it is that epic and easily worth the download. 

Hope Wears Away

Currently watching: Dexter (Season 5)
Currently listening to: Luigi Russolo Die Kunst Der Geräusche

Best. Compilation. Ever.

The thing about comps is they tend to let you down. Yeah, you buy it for the one band on it and end up clicking the "next" button a lot. Occasionally you stumble upon a diamond in the rough, though. The incredible Apocalyptic Convulsions 10" (this blog's first post and a watershed album for me), Judgement Night soundtrack, and hell, even the Easy Rider soundtrack. Included on that exclusive list is the above double 7" comp released in 2001, Twin Threat To Your Sanity. Whoever decided to compile these four sludge giants on wax deserves many a free bar tab in my book. Dystopia open with a soundcheck take (maybe before their oft-bootlegged KJFC show?) of "Diary Of A Battered Child,"  Noothgrush follow with an amazing live cover of Celtic Frost's "Procreation Of The Wicked," Bongzilla adds a live version of "Gestation" to the mix, and the godly Corrupted close this slab of smear with the epic "Nieve." Unbelievable bands, fantastic songs, easily one of the best releases of the last decade. Enjoy then kill yourself.

DNBC

 
Currently watching: The Other Guys
Currently listening to: Disgorge Forensick

Take A Chance Kid

I thought I'd drop a sequel to my last post showcasing another band that was a tad "too little too late" for the saturated U.S. pop punk scene yet became a huge hit across the Pacific. Zebrahead hailed from Orange County, CA and made a bit of a stir with their nü-metally/punkish Waste Of Mind in 1998 (which I still think is their best album). Thanks to the explosive pop punk oversaturation led by Blink-182 in the coming years, however, Zebrahead all but faded into obscurity on this side of the pond (I'm sure it also didn't help their albums were way down in the forgotten "XYZ" section at most record stores, but that's just me). Yet, like previous post Insolence, Japan thought these fuckers were huge. They remain huge in the land of the rising sun - records consistently go gold and their tours are massive. Which is why I decided to post the audio to 2003's concert DVD release The Show Must Go Off! Recorded at the House Of Blues in Anaheim, CA, the band amply tears through a respectable sampling of their releases, my only question is: "why record the show in California?" Why not somewhere in Japan where you have a way more solid fan base? It gets tiring hearing vocalist Justin Mauriello's constant attempt to pump up the crowd; he actually gets booed ad-libbing the "Fuck Fuck Fuck" tune from Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back. I woulda told the crowd to fuck off, taken their parents' cash and headed back to my mansion in in Kyoto. I'm sure it was a homecoming event to them and all that but go where the bread and butter is my friends and fuck the locals. Regardless, I think it's a great 80 minutes, enjoy.

Jag Off

Currently watching: The Lost Continent
Currently listening to: Beastie Boys Hot Sauce Committee Part 2

Irie Motherfucker

I'll admit I had a soft spot for nü metal in the mid-90's. Korn's Life Is Peachy was a benchmark release in heavy music, followed by Deftones Around The Fur and going full circle with Slipknot's self-titled album in '99. And, like most musical styles that eventually collapse under their own popularity, the saturation in the genre overshadowed a lot of bands bringing something new to the scene... a case of being too little a fish in a big pond. San Jose's Insolence had been bouncing around California since the early 90's and had cut a few local albums mixing up the nü metal groove with a refreshing reggae vibe. Thanks to the popularity of the genre they secured a record deal with Maverick Records (home of the Deftones) and spit out 2001's Revolution, a somewhat less-reggae, more-raprock statement which probably would have gone platinum had it come out a few years earlier. Instead it faded into obscurity after the endless radio play of semi-ska bands like Crazy Town and Papa Roach dealt the nü metal genre its final fatal blow. But in all honesty, Revolution fucking rocks. While there are a couple tunes I'm not so into (not surprisingly they happen to be the more mellow ones) once you make it to "1-2, 1-2" the rest of the album is a fucking rage. "Sick" is easily the best track - the breakdown at the end seriously makes me want to go punch a brick wall just to wallow in the pain. Insolence followed up with Stand Strong in '03 and I seriously thought this would be the album of the year after hearing the amazing opener "Operation Irie," but sadly the CD grows stale after that and never recaptures the same energy as the opener. Most bands would have faded into obscurity after losing their major record deal (and genre) but Insolence pulled a Spinal Tap and resurfaced as a massive hit in Japan, continuing to be huge there up 'til today. Good for them - enjoy their essential release Revolution - an album that will never get the recognition it deserves on this side of the Pacific. I also tacked on Stand Strong so everyone can get a taste of their (d)evolution within an extinct mini-genre. Those who love Stand Strong will probably hate the songs I love on Revolution and vice versa. Enjoy.

This That

 
Currently watching: Welcome To The Jungle
Currently listening to: Ice-T Original Gangster

Cunty Cunty Cunty Cunt

Drunkenly searching "cunt" in the iTunes Store many a year ago I stumbled upon a curious 65-song album aptly titled The Cunt Chronicles: The Best Of Shat. Most of the songs barely eclipsed the one-minute mark, for once iTunes' preview window actually gave a good indication of what to expect. Ten bucks and thirty seconds later I was introduced to the world of Jeff Wood, an ex-singer for the Dillinger Escape Plan (which had I known at the time I may have passed... not a big math metal fan) who was still reeling from a near-fatal gunshot wound to the head that seemingly skewed his world view into a murky miasma of sleaze, shit and snatch. In a word: amazing. Cunt Chronicles is as much a punk album as a comedy show, each song a hilarious routine ("I Fuck My Pillow" a personal fave) but pulled off totally straight-faced by a competent band able to switch styles from parody to punk without missing a beat. Shat actually stopped by Richmond in support of their Cuntree release; playing a pathetic little sushi (!) restaurant for barely 10 people, the boys still got dressed in their Sticky-the-clown-gone-bad dildo costumes and ripped an awesome show, giving it all they had for what probably netted them $15 and a couple warm California rolls. Amazingly they made it back to town last year, this time in some dilapidated pool hall trying to attract new customers by masquerading as a punk club (update: they failed), for their Cunt-A-Doodle Doo tour. I wormed my way through many a redneck to where Jeff was selling his Shat-gear and I gotta say he came off as an incredibly nice guy. Actually ended up chatting me up for a while - this from a dude gearing up to don a G-string and dildo helmet in front of 20 drunken strangers armed with beer bottles and pool sticks. Anyways, here's the album of that night, the aforementioned Cunt-A-Doodle Doo featuring 50 new tracks of cunt-hearted goodness. Cell phone. Wallet. Keys. That's all you fucking need. He's selling the CD for a paltry $5 here (motha fucka's gotta eat!) so man up and buy the shit. Pretend you're donating to New Jersey flood relief and write it off on your taxes you cheap cunt. 

Give Cunt A Chance

Currently watching: 54
Currently listening to: Too $hort Get In Where You Fit In