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Über-Photoshopped cover aside, Eminem's first wholehearted venture into hardcore hip-hop via the persona that would soon make him famous is a cool cultural snapshot of the ripple just before the storm... somewhat like the people who saw the hidden potential in Nirvana's Bleach. The EP that would get Dr. Dre's attention and soon catapult the name Marshall Bruce Mathers into the household vernacular is not nearly as good as the Slim Shady LP that would follow two years later but is also not quite as self-aggrandizing as his major label debut. You'll recognize most of the tracks - "If I Had...",  "Just The Two Of Us" (a.k.a. "'97 Bonnie & Clyde"), "Just Don't Give A Fuck" as well as their "clean" radio edits - the real gem of this album is "Low Down, Dirty". A huge, sluggish Too $hort-esque beat backs up some of the most ridiculously twisted lyrics from Detroit's soon-to-be-favorite son. Surprising how this one escaped Dre's souped-up production. Silly skits aside, the other notable track on this one is "No One's Iller" - somewhat forgettable but featuring a bunch of guys who I think turned into D12. Nothing epic but always cool to hear proto-Eminem before he was doing fucking GMC commercials. Enjoy.

 Murder, Murder, Murder, Kill, Kill, Kill

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

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

Y-Town's Stompcore Pimp Daddies

From waaay up north in Ypsilanti, MI (home of the EMU Eagles - thanks NCAA Football 09!) comes the working man's deathcore outfit Kitchen Knife Conspiracy. I discovered them many a year ago while desperately perusing the painfully now-obsolete mp3fiesta.com in search of any metalcore band I hadn't yet heard (little did I know my discovery of PtDB was only weeks away but that's another story). In comes KKC and their fourth (and final?) album, the witty A Friend In Need... Is A Friend To Kill. While some of the movie samples go on way too long, the album is a fun walk down death metal memory lane and stays pretty listenable today. I mean it's almost a decade old and completely derivative of Vision Of Disorder/Carnifex but who back then wasn't? The token humorous song titles belay the groovy breakdowns and tight riffs of generally good tunes. My only complaint is the low vocals seem to be mixed a tad high - the obvious overdub can be distracting. Other than that, a solid thirty minutes by a band stuck in a shitty college town worshipping My Chemical Romance and the Foo Fighters. They still seem to be around and are re-releasing remastered versions of their stuff soon so show some Michigan respect and keep up with 'em here.

Envy The Dead

How To Survive A Vicious Cock Fight

Pretty decent mathcore/screamo debut from Bay City, MI denizens See You Next Tuesday (C-U-N... aw, you get it). Solid über tempo-change deathcore all pulled off at a breakneck pace, the songs are mercifully short (the entire album running time is a scant 20 minutes) so the schizophrenic cacophony never gets a chance to really fray your nerves. The band recorded a second album, the surprisingly typical death metal-ish Intervals in 2008, a disappointing musical departure from their debut. They promptly disbanded within a year.

Insert Witty Song Title Here

Cacodemonia

Pretty solid EP from obscure (and defunct) Michigan four-piece The Virally Enthroned. Fast as fuck technical brutal death metal recorded with a drum machine. The album doesn't really get going until the third track "Necrotic Desecration" - I'm fucking digging the brutal breakdown riff in the middle while the two vocalists trade off crust-style. Enough to satisfy your late afternoon metal-fix. Enjoy.

Catharsis

What's Up?

Ah, good ol' Fatlip. Sportin' the diaper, trenchcoat, wine and Walkman. Debut single from the ex-Pharcyde wordsmith. The title track is the hook - a hilariously self-depriciating rant about himself that is as smooth as it is funny. The other two tunes are hit and miss - an epic ode to the female ass entitled "Goldmine" is pretty good while the instrumental "Edy's Groove" is just sort of dull. Oh well, two outta three ain't bad. Enjoy.

Oh Shit

Good Ol' Detroit Scumfuckin'

One of the nicest guys I've ever dealt with via U.S. mail was fellow GG Allin fan Skeeter Rider - some might remember him as one of the first audience guests to stand up (and give ol' J.C. props!) during GG's infamous appearance on the Jerry Springer Show. Alongside running the definitive GG Allin Mailorder, Skeeter also sang lead vocals for Michigan rockers Vomitose - monikered in honor of the ex-band primitively tattooed on GG's chest. Also featuring Jay from Wheelchair Motherfuckers and Dan and Ted of Soiled Betty, the "new" Vomitose (seemingly still around per their website) planned to record some hand-selected tunes with GG during the summer of 1993 for a retrospective CD. As typical luck would have it, the recording session never came to fruition ("too bad Mark Hejnar picked him up from jail") and GG was dead by the end of August. Per Skeeter, the "tunes were still fresh in our heads so we said 'let's go ahead and record 'em anyway'" which they did New Years Day 1994. What you get are 13 tracks spanning GG's career covered by a band who obviously loved what they were playing. The cassette was remastered and officially pro-dubbed later in 1994 but this is the raw, original version complete with tape hiss and hilariously bad between-song samples. With an exclusive 5-minute interview between Skeeter and GG to finish it all up. What a great record and big thanks Skeeter for all the great merchandise over the years. And I am happy to report that he is still at it - check out his massive webstore here.

In case anyone's interested, the original Vomitose supposedly consisted of Jeff Collins (guitar), Jeff Standford (guitar), Brent Dupont (drums), Matt Lane (bass) and GG (screaming animal) and never got around to really doing anything. Allin claimed they were together for about 10 minutes while Bloody F. Mess recalled GG "beat them up" after a brief stay in his Hated In The Nation #2 zine. Check out the only artwork I've seen actually acknowledging the band (thank you Mr. Mess) here.

You've Been Warned

 
Currently watching: Girl In Gold Boots

Currently listening to: Nine Inch Nails Fixed