†┼†┼

In sharp contrast to yesterday's happy-go-lucky post I bring you the latest wretched release from Finland's reigning mutacore legends. Not to be confused with their eponymous albums of 2005 and 2007, Loinen is the band's first non-collaborative full-length release since the suicide of primary vocalist Secundus in 2009. Information on the band is annoyingly scant (other than on this somewhat current page), solo vocalist Primus steps up to the plate with commendable aplomb but just doesn't have the tortured desperation Secundus conveyed with his ear-bleeding vocal assault. Still, the record doesn't disappoint. The opening two tracks are reminiscent of the Loinen of old; slow and pounding sludge that may or not still be played with two bassists (no liner notes on this one) - it's brutal and heavy as fuck. "Jerusalem" can best be described an experimental jam - probably influenced by a recent collaboration (2012's Mutajazz) with improvisational jazz outfit Paanin Kuoro - interesting but ultimately forgettable. "Rubber Jesus" showcases the band's faster, grindier talents while the 10-minute closer "Useless Animal" is the real star of the album. A miserable dirge of angst and despair, it plods along for the first half before exploding in a lo-fi feedback-laden tumult. Reminds me of the shit GG was doing on Suicide Sessions - absolutely raw as fuck and never boring - a true keeper.

Nauttia

Matt Mark Matt

Straight outta New Brunswick, NJ comes a post-grunge outfit "known for their dungeon master skills and lack of integrity who play rock music in the vein of Lita Ford and Quiet Riot." Well, I don't know all about that, what I do know is that 2011's Psychrockbullshit came out about fifteen years too late. Perfect mid-90's alternative radio indie fodder, the Dinosaur Jr.-esque trio blast through six sweetly melodic songs in sixteen minutes without devolving too much into their hardcore roots. This is the closest thing to "happy" music I've listened to in probably three months and it didn't disappoint. They have a few new-ish songs out there, all for free - check 'em out here. Enjoy.

Guitar Solos For Your Eyes

Twin Cities Subterranean

Originally released as a self-produced cassette in 1996, Twin Cities label Rhymesayers Entertainment ‎saw fit to re-release this local legend underground classic after nearly eight years of obscurity and it has never sounded better. Totally old-school in style and substance - this is the type of shit that got me into rap in the first place. Shit, when you got an album where the token "Intro" is fucking amazing you got a keeper. There are elements of Digable Planets, Pharcyde and Brand Nubian - a cool mix of quasi-freestyling lyrical style and fresh beats I've never heard before (or since). Well-worn vinyl scratches included. "Farward" is my favorite track - five years earlier and these guys would have been huge. Enjoy.

Returning To The Roots

Shitapple Driving A Shitmobile

One of the first albums I downloaded after discovering Bandcamp, Teeph spawn from the northern Butte County suburb of Chico, CA. Citing influences as far ranging as Converge to Frank Zappa, the band's 2009 debut is a whirlwind of groovy tempo changes, screaming, sick guitar work and the occasional jazz drum lick while not devolving into annoyingly technical mathcore. Tough to describe, the band calls themselves "heavy math rock/post-metal" but I think they're selling themselves short. They are definitely heavy and have a few Mr. Bungle-ish proggy breakdowns but it's still linear, coherent sludgecore with enough extra shit to keep it interesting. "Hipster Killers" is my favorite - and the killer opening chord progression in "Part II" is simply awesome. Check 'em out here and give generously.

So Sic!

Yeah Boy-ee

Zippyshare is running slow as balls so I needed something tiny to upload...

The holy grail of Anal Cunt releases. 53 hand-assembled copies pressed on vinyl. I'm amazed some astute soul had the wherewith all to rip it digitally. Recorded during the 40 More Reasons To Hate Us sessions, I'm sure this is the one Scott Hull wants to be buried with. "You Should Be Balding" is my favorite, in all its wonderful copyright-infringing glory. Enjoy.

Bald To The Bone

White Crosses & Coffee

Solid crossover thrash from these Michigan punkers - reminds me a bit of the Crumbsuckers. I picked up Gerry Louis Sucks My Ass! from Vomitose vocalist Skeeter many a year ago when I was buying up pretty much anything that had GG Allin to do with it. For whatever reason, the incarcerated scumfuc agreed to scribble new front cover artwork for the record's repress as well as pose for a few in-prison pics with the group. While it may have moved a few more copies off the shelf (mine included), the music is where it's at - a real surprise. They have another 7" floating out there somewhere that I would love to check out. Little help?

Grand Rapids

What's In A Name?

No, this isn't a long-lost demo from your favorite Iowan nü metallers, it's instead the sole effort by a long-forgotten Connecticut hardcore trio. Bridging the crossover gap with shades of proto-grunge (the opener "Condemned" sounds a lot like what Kurt was doing at the time with Nirvana while "No. 9" reminds me of Excel) there's a lot to like about the six songs contained herein. The grooves and breakdowns are solid as fuck - I especially dig the vocalist Stiemy, he's got that ideal scream/yell/growl voice I wish I had. It's a pretty angry, overly political twelve minutes - in other words a perfect snapshot of late-80's hardcore thrash. Enjoy.

Hate In Blue

Nowhere To Run

Yep, another hip-hop CD maxi-single for today's lesson, this one culled from one of my top 5 rap albums of all time. I'm of course speaking of Gravediggaz's seminal 6 Feet Deep (or Niggamortis for all you Europeans reading) and its first single "Nowhere To Run, Nowhere To Hide". I'm pretty sure this was released both domestic and internationally - regardless I've combined the two CDs into one file. You get the album version, a radio edit, acapella, instrumental and two bonus songs I've never heard anywhere else. "Freak The Sorceress" is the closest thing the band will ever come to a sex rhyme (trust me, it's hilarious) and "The Reincarnation Of Freud" is a cool minute-long sample track - great to hear the original band at their peak in 1994. Enjoy.

Nowhere To Hide

Monchhichi

I know I posted the whole album a year or so back but felt the need to append it with this sweet CD maxi-single. Not only is it the two best songs on the record but is includes full instrumental versions as well for all you aspiring rappers out there stuck in traffic. Enjoy.

We Go To War

Somewhere In Jersey

Walk Among Us-era Misfits doing what they did best in the shithole suburb of Passaic, NJ. They had just shitcanned Bobby Steele and were now the lean and mean quartet of Danzig, Only, Doyle and Googy. Before the drugs and creative ownership issues tore the band apart, the devilocked punkers put on a great Christmas show for a drunken redneck crowd at the now-defunct Hitsville on Main. I first heard this show on the significantly shittier-sounding Evil Is As Evil Does 7" bootleg-of-a-bootleg - getting a taste of the whole gig is a real treat. Bobby Steele and the Undead fucking suck...

If You Don't Know This Song...

Tomato Babies

A few of you may remember Insomnia Isterica from the hard drive deadbeat posts a few years ago - while I successfully exorcised my back-up drives of anything to do with them, some of the B-side bands from their random splits escaped my mass cleansing. Introducing the aptly-named Compost from Rome, Italy. Absolutely banal lo-fi goregrind (my rips are supposedly at 320kbps - yeah, right - they sound like they were initially torn at a much much lower bitrate) but almost desperate enough to sleaze into the so-bad-it's-good category. First off, any band champions a GUT cover - set your expectations to low. That slight hiccup notwithstanding, it's a pretty painless seven minutes of grind - there are actually a few moments of enlightenment, especially the pretty rocking "Inferior Angiosperm". Too bad it just sounds so absolutely shitty.

Cinoist

128kbps?!?!

Tacky band name notwithstanding, this unnecessarily long-titled 2011 promo from Isle Of Man brutal death metallers Condemn The Carnivore is actually really good. And that's coming from one jaded motherfucker. Twelve minutes of absolutely sick double-bass breakdown brutal riffage, the band's biggest hiccup is the fact that their songs sound like they were shittily ripped on someone's iPod nano wicked loud and equalized up to the highest level possible. The fucking hiss and treble twang on the cymbals is nearly unbearable. Really a shame too since this band may have had a chance in the primordial brutal death metal world - "Sculpture Of Severed Remnants" is simply fucking amazing. Re-up that shit on bandcamp fuckers!

Oink Oink Ree Oink

Die Fucker

Jesus fucking Christ try googling this band and getting any goddamned info (or not get on some NSA watch list). Straight outta Kalamazoo, MI comes the unfortunately monikered Jihad which probably sounded like a fucking great name way back in 1995 while the band was tearing up the hardcore scene around WMU. The band was able to release a bunch of splits and singles throughout the mid-90's - their surprisingly original brand of 'core being kind of a weird mishmash between Boston snot and the crossover sound fronted by Biohazard and their ilk. Totally paving the way for the screamo scene led by bands like Eighteen Visions (or Throwdown, whom they oddly remind me of) a few years later, Old Testament is an amazing compilation covering the band's sadly short career. My favorite material is from the split with Inourselves although all of it is enjoyably hard and blisteringly fucking fast. Great breakdowns, great screams, lotsa bitterness and... well you get the idea. Enjoy.

Struggle

Garlic And Oil

For guys who were pushing 30 at the time there's a lot to respect about releasing a snotty hardcore EP right when the world was hoping for another Ill Communication. With a 11-minute running time the songs are in the NYHC style of "Heart Attack Man from the aforementioned Communication - it's too hard to dislike any of 'em since they're all so fucking fast. What I really dig about this album are the fucking solid breakdowns at the end of a couple of the tracks - "Brand New," "Deal With It" and especially "I Can't Stand It" - that song alone is worth the download. In case anyone cares I included "Soba Violence" from the Japanese release and "Light My Fire" (absolutely awful - for completists only) from a poorly-ripped Australian 2x7" vinyl. Enjoy.

Sabrosa

XIII

Relentless down-home Southern sludge from a NY-based female power trio in the spirit of early-90's behemoths like Corrupted and Noothgrush. Only around long enough to release one single and appear on a few vinyl splits, 13 never managed to record a full length - I'd love to see a CD comp of all their work as their individual records have become somewhat elusive twenty years after the fact. Regarding this 1993 release, while both songs crush, the Corrupted-esque "Hollow" is my favorite of the two. Guitarist Liz Buckingham has gone on to have a rather prolific musical career, after 13's breakup she played with fellow sludgers Sourvein for several years, then moved to the UK in 2003 to join seminal doom unit Electric Wizard.

Hollow/Bound

The Song Of Mary

I first became aware of Krzysztof Penderecki from his inclusion on Kubrick's The Shining soundtrack (easily one of my favorite flicks) but it was the deleted segment "Neverwhere Land" on the long-awaited Heavy Metal VHS release that really got me interested in his work. The deleted scene (evidently cut for pacing purposes as well as being stylistically darker than the rest of the film) traces the Loc-Nar influencing evil throughout the ages, from prehistoric time through WWII. Backing the crude animation is Penderecki's "Passacaglia" which I would later learn is the fifth section of his 1975 opus Magnificat. Written between 1973 and 1974, the orchestra is a deeply minimalist soundscape of discord and misery. At best it is what I would imagine Hell sounds like; pained chorals and prolonged, drawn strings. Really amazing stuff - definitely worth checking out.

As He Spoke

Total Fucking Slam

My first introduction to Wild Rags Records was this sophomore demo from Long Island mosh heavies Internal Suffering. Having gotten in touch with guitarist Chris Pervelis somehow or another (incredibly nice guy by the way) he hooked me up with this amazing 4-song introduction to his band and what would eventually be termed "brutal death metal". Slow, slamming death metal with crunching guitar riffs and breakdown after breakdown, the EP is a moshpit junkie's wet dream. Seriously, if the vocals were modernized (or degraded, depending on your point of view) into the "reee reee" of today's brutal death, there would be little difference - and these guys were doing it in 1994. While the opener, "Anointed In Servitude" is admittely my favorite, all of the crushing, groove-heavy tracks have something to offer. After going on hiatus in 2004 to focus on things like family and careers, I am happy to report the band is back at it and primed to release their new album this fall. Keep up with them at their impressively polished website here.

Extreme Malevolence

In Gnod We Trust

Mesmerizing drone that I can only classify as shamanic tribal chanting. Based in the UK with an ever-changing list of band members, the group's recorded output is as varied and frequent as the influx of new musicians into the fray. Hard to describe other than as a musical collective much akin to the psilocybin-laced drum circles you may remember from college twenty years ago. Needless to say, this album is a perfect companion for your next venture into the hallucinogenic world. The band's founder (and only consistent member), Paddy Shine keeps a few websites active with news about the band and their releases/gigs/whatever - check 'em out here and here.

We are many, they are few

Clotted Symmetrical... uh

The band's finest release, this epic two song 7" showcases this seminal Japanese nutball grind band at their very best. Don't write these crazy fucks off as some token noise cacophony, they are absolutely channeling 50's beach rock/spanish flamenco into weird grindcore hybrid 5-minute rock operas. While the opener "Shake It Up Bokan" is killer (especially the ridiculous ending - perfect for the last scene of El Mariachi), it's the 4-part(!) "Diversion Of Former Customary Trite Composition" whic really shows how talented the band is. I don't even know how to describe what your ears are in for - what starts as a very Tokyo-sounding rock song degrades into a strange grindcore miasma which is simply stunning for the fact that it sounds like it was all done in one take. Bravo gentlemen. C.S.S.O. would continue on until 2004 when they split for greener pastures...

Hey, Tonny!

Brown Town

Man, one of the best things about Ween in the 90's was the amount of material they released. Calling them prolific is almost an understatement. From soundtracks to guest appearances to non-US singles, the wealth of songs and remixes the band released outside of legitimate albums is impressive. Unfortunately, as with most "underground" band discographies, compiling all that stuff can be elusive. Thanks to Ween being early friends of the internet, various mp3's of the material surfaced with relative frequency on FTP servers, albeit of varying, often extremely rough quality (were talkin' muddy 32kbps rips here). More recently, thanks to the innovation of music-ripping software (as well as the speed of the internet), a few good souls have dusted off their extensive Ween collections and made available excellent new rips of the material - resulting in a compilation entitled The Brown Sides: Official B-Sides. From sources as obscure as the Australian CD-single of "Push Th' Little Daisies" to their Sub Pop released "Skycruiser" single, the record compiles original, non-LP tracks by the band. Some are hits, some misses, my favorites are the instrumental "Bakersfield" (from the "I Can't Put My Finger On It" CD-single), the heart-wrenching "I'll Miss You" (from the Beautiful Girls soundtrack) and amazing "Mountains And Buffalo" - a dropped track from Quebec which is probably my favorite song by the band. You can't listen to this without finding something you'll love - play loud and enjoy.

Jambon ou deux Schweppes, bebe

Songs For Clay

Yet another movie soundtrack that far exceeds the quality of the movie it represents, Less Than Zero was curiously released by Def Jam Records (soon to be Def American) and helmed by none other than producer extraordinaire Rick Rubin. While the film suffered from a healthy blanket of late-80's cheese that simply does not age well with time, the accompanying music has some nice surprises, at the time unavailable anywhere else. Def Jam veterans Public Enemy debuted "Bring The Noise" (later released on the seminal It Takes A Nation Of Millions) and L.L. Cool J contributes his smooth talking "Going Back To Cali" - showing a much more mature side of the rapper after his sophomoric BAD album earlier that year. Slayer covers Iron Butterfly in a solid, blissfully 3-minute version of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" played at their typical breakneck speed. For the top-40 crowd, the Bangles offer their version of Simon & Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade Of Winter" (of which I'm sure everyone remembers the video), Aerosmith covers an old Huey Smith tune, Poison invokes Kiss, and Roy Orbison croons through the dark "Life Fades Away" (penned by Glenn Danzig no less!) Speaking of Glen (sic) Danzig, he does his best Elvis impression on the amazing "You & Me" - performed with the oddly-monikered "Power And Fury Orchestra" (evidently the original lineup of Danzig with George Drakoulias playing bass for Eerie Von who was clashing with Rubin on the song's arrangement). Probably the Lodi, NJ native's most heartfelt tune and the high point of the record. There are a couple other tracks on the album (mostly R&B) but I'd be lying if I said they ever graced my stereo speakers. It would be interesting to see Less Than Zero remade in today's graphic, dark Requiem For A Dream-esque style - some rumors claim Quentin Tarantino is trying to do just that.

Rip

Milking The Sick Farce

Blindly bought by my 13-year old punk ass thanks to a cool album cover and the fact that it was released on "Death Records", this crossover EP by Raleigh hardcore mainstays Corrosion Of Conformity reflects a definite style change for the band. Gone were the manic punk anthems of Eye For An Eye - Technocracy boasts much more cohesive songwriting (probably an influence of new vocalist Simon Bob and the fact that the songs are longer than 90 seconds) and the music is surprisingly both well-produced, structured and incredibly tight. I'm sure for fans of their older stuff it was somewhat of a letdown but up to that point I hadn't heard any C.O.C. and and was solidly into the Venice, CA thrash movement (Excel, SxTx, etc.) so this cassette was a welcome addition. The opening track and "Crawling" are my two faves - as is the strange "Ahh Blugh" bonus at the end which was proof to my unnecessarily stern parents that hardcore bands had a sense of humor. Corrosion went on to further adjust their musical style as years progressed - they entered the post-metal world with Blind in 1991 and beyond. I've actually never heard anything by the band from the more recent era - instead having gone backwards to enjoy their past catalog.

It's All For The Better...

Fine Malt Lyrics

Hot off the heels of Nevermind (and, to a lesser extent, Gish) Butch Vig was the producer of the hour in 1992. It wasn't too much of a stretch to combine his grunge rock skills with a rap group - Anthrax and Public Enemy had already basked in significant success with their "Bring The Noise" genre blend - House Of Pain was riding high on the strength of "Jump Around" and was a perfect contender. For the second single to the platinum eponymous debut, House Of Pain brought on Vig to remix "Shamrocks And Shenanigans" into a ridiculously titled "Metal Mix". In actuality, it's more crossover and works pretty well for the most part, partially since the original song is a tad dull. The CD-single version has a few other mixes - DJ Muggs from Cypress Hill offers a pretty smooth version much truer to its hip hop origins and Salaam Remi (later to work with Nas and Amy Winehouse of all people) has a solid offering. While House Of Pain would never really match the success of their first album, this remix clearly paved the way for the metal/rap collaborations on the Judgement Night soundtrack (including one between House Of Pain and Helmet) in 1993.

Get Your River Flowin'

Prog Sludge

A decade or so ago, while completely immersed in the throes of greatness that was The Abominable Iron Sloth, I was pretty much buying any album remotely linked to the band, whether through Amazon's generated "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought..." links or such now-antiquated means as AIS's Myspace friends. One way or another I ended up with LA's Intronaut in my shopping cart and upon excitedly throwing it in my CD player expecting Abominable II I was somewhat... disappointed. And by "somewhat" I mean "extremely". Don't get me wrong (and Intronaut purists out there put down your AK's), Void is not a bad album for what it is - actually I'm sure in the heavy prog metal world it's regarded as a landmark achievement, it's just not my style. I was never a Tool fan, not into Perfect Circle or even Mastodon for that matter. I was hoping for minimalist bone-crushing ear-splitting sludgecore and unfortunately, this album was void of that. Closing point, if you are into any of those aforementioned bands you will fucking love this.

Teledildonics

Welcome To 1994

It's tough not to like Craig Mack. A hard-hitting Jersey boy who sounds like a mix between Redman and ODB, his debut album is essential in any serious rap library. No-frills, solid beat fucking old school rap at its finest. While he did enjoy a bit of success with his "Flava In Ya Ear" single a couple of you may remember (and notable for being the first release on P. Diddy's Bad Boy Records), "That Y'All" and "Real Raw" are my favorite tracks on the record. Mack split with Bad Boy soon after and couldn't keep the fan base, his second album and his career faded into obscurity a few years later.

MC EZ

Enough Pussy Shit

Heavy music-wise, 2000 was either awesome or terrible depending on your genre affiliation. Having blown the metal world open with Issues (muchos kudos to their crossover South Park episode) Korn really fueled major label desire for bands of their 7-string ilk. And pouring in they came... in an effort to not sound too much like the group they emulated, most bands could only bring an arguably "melodic" version of nü metal to the table. 40 Below Summer, Taproot, Primer 55, Project 86... the list goes on and on. Out of Westchester, NY came Dry Kill Logic whose debut album I bought solely because of band picture on the back cover. The fucking Terminator-looking dude smeared in blood/filth is actually lead singer Cliff Rigano who earns an A for effort on this one (on a couple songs they left his unedited bitching as the music fades in or out. Vocals have shades of Primer 55's J-Sin who was also breaking out at the same time so it's no surprise the two duet on the aptly titled "Give Up, Give In, Lie Down." I dare ya to tell 'em apart. Y'know when it comes down to it, I always tell myself I'm gonna delete this CD off of my iPod but when a song from it comes up in shuffle I rarely skip it. It's been 14 years since the album came out so I guess I 'd better shut the fuck up.

Hinge

The Devil Made Me Do It

It was the only album in the pathetic "Rap - MISC" section of my local mall's Alwilk Records that I didn't have - I grudgingly slapped down $12 for a rapper named after the fucking French capital. Man, what a surprise. Ignoring the fact that nearly everything he says on the album is a not-so-veiled hatred of my white suburban ass, Devil Made Me Do It got some serious rotation on my CD player during my freshman year at college (to my loser upstate-NY metalhead roomate's eternal agony). The tone of the record is incredibly dark, beats are definitely Public Enemy-influenced with a cool bass-heavy synthesizer in the background. Paris incorporated what fellow Californian Ice-T was popularizing at the time, adding some sick guitar licks to a few songs, namely the amazing title song. "Brutal" is probably my favorite track; and I can't tell you how many times I sampled the beginning of "Scarface Groove" into awful homemade rap songs that (fortunately for the world) have long been taped over. I've never actually checked out any of Paris's other albums - I know he's had some controversy associated with them; as far as I'm concerned this album is more than enough. Enjoy, crackers.

This Is A Test