I Can Easily Destroy All the Things I Have Created!

Hailing from the Hellenic Reuplic of Greece, Dodsferd began as a somewhat typical one-man black metal outfit, eventually (inevitably?) expanding into a 3-piece by 2008's Death Set The Beginning Of My Journey. A welcome change from the tinny Burzum-esque guitar/drum machine loops of their earlier material, Dodsferd really matured into a legitimate band on this LP. While some of the songs drag on a few measures too long there are enough ample riffs stuffed into each of the six anthems to keep it interesting. "Suicide Was Created..." is my fave track - while never really letting up its rabid pace it manages some pretty cool breakdowns in the midst of the chaos. Vocalist (and founder) Wrath has a pretty good range - he's a bit screechy at times but all in all a solid howler - overdubbing his vocals in a cool crustcore style. My only complaint with the record is my neurotic gripe with black metal itself, the "trying to sound evil" vibe of the whole thing kinda comes off more silly than scary. But that's just me. Enjoy.

Hypocritic Shitfuckers Still Breathing

Kausing Much Damage

Suckin' down a 40 of Old E this Thursday evening has got me in an old-school frame of mind. Too bad most hip hop scholars' only clue to KMD's existence was frontman Zev Love X's cameo on 3rd Bass's subpar Cactus Album - a cameo that painfully confirms the lackluster rap skills of the two white boy frontmen. His tongue-twisting contribution to "Gas Face" saved that record from being completely forgettable. Since 99.9% of everyone reading this are newbies, a convenient intro to the group is their 2003 The Best Of KMD compilation LP. Culling tracks from Mr. Hood (1991) and Black Bastards (half-heartedly released in 1998), don't expect shades of 3rd Bass on this one. KMD sound like a lo-fi Brand Nubian (who actually turn up as guests on "Nitty Gritty") and are significantly more mean-spirited than the impression you may have gotten watching a young Zev Love spin around a lamp pole in the "Gas Face" video. Funny and cynical, it is amazing the band didn't make more of a dent in the scene before being dropped by Elektra due to their second album's controversial title. Sadly, DJ Subroc was killed on the L.I.E. before Bastards ever made it to record stores - Zev Love disappeared from the scene only to reinvent himself as MF Doom years later. I urge you to check out the full versions of KMD's albums - why don't they make rap like this anymore is anyone's guess...

This G gets the Gas Face man...

UKrust

Solid British mid-90's lo-fi crust from an era where hardcore was having a much-welcome resurgence after too many years of grunge, death metal and godawful hair bands. Never released or repackaged on CD, this a shitty mp3 rip straight from the 2nd pressing vinyl. What I dig the most about Incubation is the genre-crossing - one second they are playing powerviolence (there are some definite Man Is The Bastard influences) before crushing into some fucking awesome Dystopia-esque breakdowns. Awesome shit. If you dig the band, check out the blog written by the bassist - some fucking cool reminiscing of his old HxCx days as well as a link or two...

Let It Die

Lovecraft Worship

Solid 4-track E.P. (demo?) from an elusive RVA five-piece that I can barely find anything about. Fronted by attractive, well-tattooed female lead singer K.Z., I am unsure if the above I Am Providence was recorded by the time she joined the band in 2010, as the vocals sound significantly less screamo than their later albums. Actually, it makes me wonder if this E.P. is even by the same band as there's no mention of I Am Providence on any of the various bios I've found around the internet. Regardless, this is good ol' southern sludge with a definite Soilent Green influence. Heavy-handed with Lovecraftian references, my favorite track is the trippy, riff-heavy "Glossolallia." I was happy to discover the band is still chugging away and recently released a two-song cover E.P. - drop some duckets for a local DIY band here. Enjoy.

Stenchcore

Death To False Metal

Over twenty-five years in retrospect - it's amazing how absolutely cheesy this album (and basically everything Manowar touched) is. I can actually remember the conversation I had with my confused anti-hair metal friend (sadly he was very much in denial...) at Alwilk Records as he tried to convince me that Manowar were putting the "heavy" back into heavy metal and I had to drop an ungodly amount of cash for this CD (of which he only had the cassette and desperately needed the bonus track). At the time Manowar held the Guinness World's Record for loudest band or something unremarkable like that, I don't know what about this made them "good" or "listenable" - as far as I was concerned fucking Duran Duran could fill a stadium with amps and claim that title and that was fine by me. Pushing the boundaries of geekdom, Manowar channel their Excalibur-esque version of metal to such an extent that the laughable "The Warrior's Prayer" short story could be mistaken for trailer narration stolen from any number of 1980's sword-and-sorcery epics. As far as the music goes, it's token heavy metal cheese - ultra-obnoxious guitar solos (courtesy of Ross The Boss, 'natch), big vocal choruses and an ear-piercingly screaming lead singer that would do Dio proud. Seriously, the guy is basically a parody of metal singers he is so obnoxious. The album's title track is really the only one that rises above the muck - it's got such a ridiculously presumptuous swagger that it is probably exactly what Seth Putnam was channeling as Anal Cunt recorded cock-rock tribute Fuckin' A. Awfully boastful prowess by a band who likes to claim they "wear jeans and leather... not cracker jack clothes" although every press photo I've seen shows the guys oiled up and dressed in Viking-esque loincloths. It's too bad Manowar shot their wad so long ago - this generation's Game Of Thrones fanboys would have probably eaten this shit up. Still, a fun ride down memory lane.

All Men Play On 10

Be Ready Homeboy...

One of my weaker purchases back in 1989 was Arabian Prince's first solo cassette-single "She's Got A Big Posse." It was a simpler time where L.A. could do no wrong and I was blindly scooping up nearly everything remotely connected with Eazy-E and his Raiders hat-wearing crew. Had I realized Arabian Prince was the mastermind behind such forgettable N.W.A. album filler as "Panic Zone" and the execrable "Something 2 Dance 2" (seriously, did anyone ever not fast forward past that track?) I probably wouldn't have jumped at the opportunity to drop $5 for an arguably "four" song single. I've never heard anything since from the Prince so he gets a significant amount of beginner slack but for what it's worth "She's Got A Big Posse" isn't bad. Good grooves, samples and double entendres aplenty, he's got a solid voice and the lyrics fit in perfectly with what N.W.A. was doing at the time. Interestingly, I only just discovered Arabian Prince was a founding member of the Compton hip-hop quartet, only to be replaced by a young O'Shea Jackson upon his return to South Central from college. Good choice fellaz. The cassette rounds its running time out with an LP edit, radio edit, instrumental and the sample-heavy throwaway track "Now You Have To Understand."

Brother Arab

Miracle

A fucking insane mix of blistering Ministry-esque industrial (Psalm 69-era) with brutally misanthropic Middle Eastern black metal, Ayat's debut full-length absolutely blows away anything Al Jourgensen has created over the last decade and has quite possibly become my favorite black metal album ever. Steering away from the funeral doom influence on the "necro" black metal hailed by Anaal Nathrath and their ilk, Ayat sounds much more like a "real" studio band. Moments of Six Years Of Dormant Hatred are very reminiscent of Lard, Bile and Godflesh, it's interesting to imagine what bands the silly-pseudonymed band members were actually influenced by. Sadly they've never played live and are little more than musical pariahs in their home turf of Lebanon. They announced a follow-up LP in 2010 but since have remained silent...

Reverend Filthy Fuck

Sting... Sting...!

MCA was really scraping the Townshend/Daltrey barrel in 1987 when they finalized the last of their much-contested drawn-out contract with The Who. Keith Moon had been dead for nearly a decade and the band hadn't recorded anything new since 1982's It's Hard... MCA acquired rights to The Who's significant back catalog soon after (an ownership that continued until 2003) and not only re-released every legitimate album but started marketing era-appropriate obscurity compilations to keep the masses hungry for more. After 1985's Who's Missing chronicled most of the band's B-sides and random live "hits" there wasn't much left but to dig through lowly master tapes of long-defunct record label reel-to-reel archives. The result? Who knows if this is stuff the band would have ever actually wanted to be released but for enthusiasts there are real diamonds in the rough to be found here. Some sweet blues tracks - "Bald Headed Woman" and the incredible "I'm A Man" (a song I'll always love thanks to Mr. Hendrix) as well as a couple covers for Stone and Vandellas fans make this record impossible to listen to without a smile. Sadly, this LP did not get the gold certificate as did its predecessor - nixing the potential for a Three's Missing...

Wasp Man

You're Too Physical

For what it's worth I liked Pretty Hate Machine. "Head Like A Hole" and "This Is The Only Time" were solid and most of the other other tunes would make a mix here and there throughout the early 90's. Still, I didn't really like NIN that much yet I was one of the shadowy posers lining up with  two dozen proto-goth faithful at Oliver's one chilly Syracuse midnight slapping down $15 for the brand new halo five release. Twenty-five years later, broken remains my favorite NIN release by far. The influence by Ministry, Lard and other guitar-heavy industrial groups notwithstanding, Reznor was explicitly impacted by the sound of his live back-up band during the Lollapalooza I tour and decided to mimic that sound on record. The results are astounding - other than Land Of Rape And Honey, this is probably my favorite industrial LP. Ever. "Last" and the sweetly miserable "Help Me I Am In Hell" are standouts on the primary disc while the cover of Adam Ant's "Physical" on the bonus 3" CD is my all-time favorite NIN track (probably the best heavy industrial track ever recorded as well). And you gotta love the Krull sample in "Happiness Is Slavery". Amazing it was all done buy one guy in a studio. Enjoy an awesome throwback to the days where making a heavy electronic record wa't an app on your iPad.

Pigface

Dedicated to the late Brian Jones...

Yowzah! Another early 80's GG Allin single! Recorded at the almost-legendary Massachusetts-based Destiny Records with his brother and a couple of Jabbers (I only learned the other day that the "X"-ish symbol in the upper left corner are two knives "jabbing" each other - get it?? - thanks to Terminal Boredom yet again), GG turned up the glam and amped the party vibe for his second solo record. "1980's Rock 'N' Roll" is easily the more sophomoric of the two songs while "Cheri Love Affair" remains a guilty favorite of mine to this day. Both cuts are mixed differently from what would eventually end up on Always Was, Is, And Always Shall Be - the backup vocals are weirdly loud (as is the awful synthetic piano in "1980's") but it's all terribly charming in its quasi-serious amateurness and makes the LP versions sound like gold. 

Watch Me Girls