Lazy post again (no new records, post is too slow because of fuckin' xmas!). Some pics stolen from various sources (a.k.a. the web) of medellin hardcore & metal bands from late 80s to early 90s.
When I've recently posted another Warsore interview, I went through all their records I own and I've decided that it's about time to finally complete my Warsore collection. One of the pieces I was missing is their split 10" with Autoritar from krautland. I got a copy when it was released but over the years I've ended up trading or selling it. Terrible mistake. Never sell anything from a band you like. At some point, you'll want it back. If we exclude the uber rare (and honestly, quite useless) split lathe cut with Egrogsid, this is the first proper slab of wax released by these melbourne grinders. Warsore to me is what Agathocles could have been if they didn't released tons of crappy and useless records. Even if this is not their best output (due to a poor mastering, comparing to "open wound" or the later split eps), this is grind/mince at its peak. Raw, simple and direct straight to your face political brutal grindcore. I'm intentionally not mentioning the band on the other side because I didn't like them 19 years ago and my opinion hasn't changed. Recently I've discovered a lot of people hate 10"s. Can't understand this expecially when you got way dumber formats like 5" & 6"....anyhow, I still need their split 7"s with Unholy Grave and Nee! Get in touch if you can help!
I've already said all I had to say about Wretched "la tua morte non aspetta" 12" here so I'll keep it short this time. Recently I got the opportunity to upgrade my copy with an original first press through a trade with a local record dealer and of course I didn't miss the opportunity. I'm not into owning tons of variation of every single record I like a lot but sometimes you gotta make an exception for something special. Now I'm indeed starting to think about tracking down the transparent wax version of the first press. Then I'll be done I guess. Not very happy about the cover conditions but all the copies I've seen over the years were in similar conditions...
Time for another Warsore interview taken from my personal archive. Classic australian grindcore from the 90s. Probably my fave in this genre. This one is taken from Ironia'zine #6 outta spain from 1998. Answers by guitarist Paul. My old band was interviewed in the same issue. Layout is a bit blurry but that's how computerized layout from the late 90s zines look like! Anyhow, still readable and very informative. RIP Erik & Mark.
When it comes to scandinavia, norwegian hardcore tends to be obscured by their more prolific swedish & finnish counterparts as well as from the legion of local black metal bands of course. If that's not enough, Barn Av Regnbuen seems to be a bit overshadowed by the cult status of other X-Port Plater classics such as Bannlyst or Svart Framtid. Well, at least this little attention kept the price of 1986's B.A.R. debut ep "Det E'kje Nåkka Artig Længer" (that translates to "it's not fun anymore" if I remember well) a bit more reasonable. Nontheless, this stands at the same level as the aforementioned norge classics. Same kind of sound and heavy production but with more peculiar guitar riffs. A very solid release, too bad their flexi from a couple of years later is not that solid (but still worth a listen).
1000 copies pressed on a great looking fold-out cover that has a poster on the other side. My copy came with a small insert with lyrics translated in english but unfortunately I've forgot to include it in the pictures...Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that band's name translate to something like "children of the rainbow" which for some reasons makes me think about T-Rex...
If I remember well, my first encounter with Disclose happened around 2001. It was via their split lp with Totalitar. I picked up a copy of that record from a distro at a show, mainly because of the swedish band. Their side didn't impress me a lot. It just seemed to me they were just another boring dis-band like the way too many horrible Discharge clones that were around in the 90s ("dis is getting pathetic", to quote Diskonto). Then, a couple of years later, I got their "Apocalypse of Death" 12". I immediately sold my soul to Kawakami. To this day it's still my favourite Disclose release. Especially the song "the war dead". It got stuck in my mind with its almost hypnotic repetitiveness. If I'm not wrong, this is where the "dis-bones" era started. Disclose added a more metallic approach (obviously influenced by Broken Bones) to their mix of Discharge & swedish d-beat. Over the year I've learned to enjoy also their earlier catalogue (with "Tragedy" being the peak of their early days), but the "dis-bones" era is still my favourite. Recently LVEUM repressed their last full length "Yesterday Fairytale, Tommorow's Nightmare". It's a collection of re-recorded version of some songs from their later period and it includes a 10 minutes long version of my favourite of their tracks, "wardead". Even if you own the original press, this is worth just for the in depths writing about their ill-fated 2004 US tour with Framtid by Stuart/GOTA (which is the guy who originally released this lp). Probably the very last influential punk band that shaped the last few punk generations and will continue to do it in the future. RIP Kawakami.
If you haven't seen it yet, Rodrigo D. No Futuro is a brilliant 1990 indipendent movie from colombian director Victor Gaviria. A movie that deserves to be watched even if you're not even remotely interested in old colombian bands, a must if you're vaguely into medellin punk/metal in general. It's a crude portray of the life of a punk drummer (who happens to be the drummer/singer for Mutantex in real life) in the most violent city of the world in that period: Medellin. As it happened in real life, while stuck in a city besieged by a violent drug war, music played an essential role in keeping Rodrigo and his friends alive in such a hopeless environment. A lot of kids/gals involved in the late '80/ early 90s' punk & metal medallo scene took part in this movie: Olimpo Ordóñez (Mierda), Ramiro Meneses & Omar (Mutantex), Fredy “El
chino”(NN), Piedad & Vicky (Crimen Impune/Fertil miseria) and Cipriano
(Parabellum/HPHC). If that's not enough, there are also these bands playing live on a bloody roof: Blasfemia (!!), NN, Mutantex, P-Ne and a few more. What a great movie! Of course a movie like this couldn't have nothing but a solid punk and metal soundtrack, released in the same year of the movie. Along with "La Ciudad Podrida Vol. I", one of the best and most representative sample of what was going on there in that period. It didn't take it too long to become a cult item hunted by greedy collectors everywhere in the world.
Unexpectedly, "Rodrigo D. No Futuro" original soundtrack lp has just been repressed. Comes with a huge fold out insert with tons of pictures and infos about the movie and the bands featured here. While side A is side punk, B is the one with metal bands. What's amazing about this comp. is the fact that, with a couple of notable exceptions, almost all the well known names are missing here. Most of the bands featured on both sides made their only vinyl appearence here. Some didn't even release a demo. All their recorded material is featured here! Yet, this is one of the most solid compilation ever. Another proof of how good and unique this scene was. Of course some tracks have been cut off for a reason or another. Unfortunately one of them happened to be my favourite of the whole movie:
Parabellum/HPHC drummer playing solo an uber brutal noise/punk/hc track that last less than one minute. What a song! Just drum & voice, but more brutal than your stupid band for sure! Too bad this is the only incarnation of this project, I would have loved a whole Cipri EP!!
Here's the awesome Wretched's comics taken from TVOR#3 from 1982. For those of you that do not speak italian, it's all about the Wretched guitarist asking to turn up the guitar volume when it's already way too loud!! Something that really happened during one of their gigs. Caos non musica, indeed...
We already got some local documentaries about italian hc bands. While some were quite good (like the Cripple Bastards one), others weren't that interesting (Rome & Torino '90s scene). Of course it's just a matter of taste and how relevant those bands/scene were for you. But if you're even vaguely interested in local hardcore, this is the definitive movie. The one about italian 80s punk/hardcore. It was firstly announced at least 5-6 years ago. Then nothing. A trailer surfaced online two years ago. Then nothing again. At some point I guess that I've lost any hope about this being finally released and completely forget about it. Then, suddenly, last month F.O.A.D. announced it's imminent release.
What can I say? This is definitely worth a view. A LOT of the main characters from back in the days had been tracked down and interviewed in this movie. Everyone, from the main bands to the most obscure ones, got to say something. While
most of the most well-known bands got a fair coverage (Negazione,
Indigesti & CCM), there could have been way more Raw Power (there's just a
brief part about their US tour). But if there's someone missing here,
well that's goddamn Wretched for sure! Zambo appears briefly only two
times and that's it. There's NO Wretched live footage. Not sure if the
band didn't want to be in this movie or what happened. All I can say is
that the most iconic band from that period needed more coverage in this
movie and, without them, something is definitely missing.
This doco lasts almost two hours. The fist part of this movie would be an awesome introduction to those unfamiliar with this kind of music. You know: first influences, squats, DIY and so on. Perhaps it's the most boring part. The second hour is way more entertaining, with lots of funny anectodes (expecially in the part about the gigs). Generally, a great retrospective view about that period, with all its values & contradictions. This movie also confirmed me that, while big cities scenes tends to be over-politicized (a.k.a. boring), people from smaller towns seems more genuine and down to earth. I would indeed gladly hang out with the guys from Impact, Upset Noise or Chain Reaction and I'm sure I'd have a lot of fun. Not sure if I can say the same thing about the few uber militant PC people feature here. The lovehate80s logo appears on the upper right corner for the WHOLE movie. Honestly, it's quite annoying. Anyhow, as I've already say, a very good documentary about a magic period when italian hardcore was absolutely the best in europe. Order a copy now!
The older I got, the less I'm interested in new bands. Not sure about the reasons but I don't feel anymore the need to keep myself updated about new bands. Today I simply prefer to waste my energies on something else. If it wasn't for a friend that gave this to me for free, I would have missed this one for sure. Well, for sure Sinnacion is not the most hyped band of the moment, but being a sucker for everything that came straight outta Medellin, I'm a bit surprised that I've missed this. So yeah, this is fast and raw hardcore that somehow follows the roots of the most well know colombian bands from the past. The reverbed vocals give it a finnish touch but I don't think they are working well with this kind of stuff. Also the guitar sound is too clean for my taste. Something heavier and more distorted would have worked perfectly here. There's still room for improvement but this ain't a bad debut release for sure. Co-released by many labels, something that unfortunately in these years always happens more and more rarely.
When talking about certain records, it's hard to find the right words. Expecially if the band has the legacy of being the very first black metal band ever. Not sure if this is true or not, but they certainly are one of the first and most influential south american extreme metal bands. I'm taking about Medellin's Parabellum since recently I've scored their second 12" ep "mutacion por radiation". Music was written in 1984 but this ended up being finally recorded & released only three years later because of money problems (just like it happened for their debut 12" "Sacrilegio"). I guess this band reached a cult status thanx to Euronymous claiming them (as well as their town mates Reencarnacion) as one of the main Mayhem influences. And you can definitely hear it. This is some of the nastiest, most brutal, disturbing & raw music ever recorded. Something that would make Celtic Frost or Venom sound like your regular early 80s' metal bands in comparison. But I guess that labelling Parabellum simply as black metal is too reductive. Their unique sound is more like a strange hybrid between speed/thrash metal & hardcore/punk. Something so unique that I'm not sure the band had completely control in its inception. Like indeed for all the medellin punk/hc bands that came a few years later, I'm pretty sure that the lack of proper equipment & resources got a big role in shaping Parabellum's sound. But that's not important. What matter is the fact that they've been able to record some of the tracks they wrote over the years and to release them as two separate 12" ep as a testament of a very important moment for extreme music.
As you can see, the copy I just got has tapes all around the edges of the cover. Quite annoying especially if you consider that originally this was a fold-out cover and that the edges don't look in such terrible conditions. But I guess this was made to preserve it since it's printed on thin cheap paper. Plus there's nothing printed inside so no big deal in the end. Of course the insert was missing but I've already remedied with good scans and a printer. The vinyl has some surface noise but overall it's playable & in great condition. Normally I think I would have passed up a record in such condition but when it comes to colombian stuff, it's very hard to find them so you gotta take what you got offered. In the end I think I've payed a bit too much for it but no regrets since I don't know if another copy will ever cross my path again...
While front cover is quite boring & a bit generic, I love the cheesy artwork in the back! Total ultramedallo classic style. Check their interview I've previously posted here.Now if you can help me to get a copy of their "Sacrilegio" lp, please get in touch since I need it badly!
Another japanese hardcore classic secured here at the PM headquarter. Nightmare "s/t" debut ep from 1988 released by Selfish Records. Along with their first full length "give notice of noghtmare...", their best material for sure. And this time the cover doesn't suck like the lp one. I'll keep it short this time since I've already said enough about Nightmare here. Scored this copy in decent conditions for a fair price. Not a mint one but since I'm not that anal about record conditions, I'm very happy with it!!
Here's a short but informative interview with obscure clevo band The Mormons. Their one and only ep is one of my favourite outta Cleveland. Essential. Taken from Distort 'zine #13, from 2006 or 2007.
When I visited japan in 2011, one of the main reason for that trip was record shopping to check if all the stories I've heard over the years about japanese record stores were true. And they bloody were! Tons of crates full of hard to find stuff for decent prices. I gave myself a budget and I quickly spent it all in the first two shop I visited in Tokyo (Shibuya & Shinjuku's Disk Union). I was able to cross off so many japanese stuff from my wantlist that I could consider myself satisfied. In my compulsive buying, I also got a couple of amazing used shirts. One of them turned out to be too small for me (the best Judgement shirt I've ever seen) so a few days later I went back to the shop to see if I can change it. Of course I couldn't but no big deal since I knew I could sell it easily for good money back home. While there, I spotted one record that I wanted badly but couldn't find in my early visits. Confuse "nuclear addicts" flexi. In great condition and for a great price too. I was looking for it for a long time but somehow I convinced myself to do not buy it. "It's not that hard to find for this price" I told myself. Of course the price kept increasing so it took me four more years to find another copy for the price I wanted to pay for it. To make it short, the lesson is: fuck money, when you find a record you want badly and the price is alright, just buy it. I don't think this flexi needs more words. If you're reading this blog you already know how awesome it is. Primitive distorted punk/hc with great fuzzy sound and iconic artwork for a legendary band that is the definition (well, at least to me) of what japanese hardcore was in the "pre-Selfish Records" era. This is their best effort and still very influential even if it was released 31 years ago. A genre defining release for sure.
You might have noticed that the legendary Chaos Produzioni is back in action, officialy re-releasing almost the entire Wretched catalogue. No, the band hasn't reformed and I don't think it will happen anytime soon. But they instead decided to make all their old material available again, in the same way they did back in the early 80s: totally diy. It's good to see that more than 30 years later they are still loyal to the same attitude of their wild years! Check their facebook page if you need to contact them.
"Libero di vivere, libero di morire" is their first and only proper full lenght and for sure their most well known release. Perhaps the most iconic 80s italian hardcore release thanx to the incredible artwork made by none other than Stiv of TVOR fame. I must admit that I have a love/hate relationship with it. I've listen to it for the first time in the mid 90s, when the scene was so PC that it just bored me. Sure the music was good, but the lyrics were just annoying me. Later I've learnt to love their early noisy material and the later gloomier stuff. But this one still remains my least favourite Wretched release. Over the year I've come to the point of seeing it as a transitional record from their early wild days to the more introspective later stuff. A solid effort for sure, it just not always works for me. That being said, I might not shell out the amount of money asked for a first press in these days, but I'm glad to have secured a copy of this official repress for cheap. Perfect reproduction of the original one with the insert printed on the dust sleeve. Comes on transparent vinyl for normal people or urine yellow wax for golden shower crusties.
Another big want crossed off. And this is a weird one, an obscure gem that came out from this boot shaped penisula around 1985. I'm talking about the elusive Agonia/Hydra split lp. This record is so filled with boring pacifism propaganda that it still amazes me how much I love it. Half of the running time of side A are spoken parts that deals with the typical banal and boring militant squat uberPC rethoric. Side B has just one track and it's a goddamn soporific interview with an ex alcoholist that I've never managed to listen to completely. What a waste of wax. To make it short, if we cut all those useless parts, we got left enough music to fill perfectly a 7" ep. This record would have been indeed way better if it was just a split ep. Hydra mere contribute is just a classic punkrock song with female vocals. A good one but it pales compared to the sheer brutality of the main reason why you should get a copy of this: Agonia. These guys hailing from Modena, featuring Zambo from Wretched under the skins, unleashed some of the most primitive proto-noisecore that I've ever had the pleasure to hear. Fast, violent, brief and unpredictable stuff that was waaay ahead of its time. Is this perhaps the first noisecore record ever? Before noisecore exploded around late '80s, I can't think of another band with such short, abrasive and fast "songs" in the early days of hardcore. A truly underrated classic in my opinion.
This record should be filled with tons of inserts and pamphlets about the stuff I've mentioned before. Unfortunately mine is missing'em all except for Agonia lyrics sheet which in the end is the only one I'm vaguely interested in. On the other hand, what really pisses me off is that inside the sleeve I've found a recent price tag that says that someone sold it for just 5€. And unfortunately I'm not the lucky one who paid that amount for it...
Here's a weird interview with the legendary Parabellum from Medellin, Colombia. Kinda pointless interview but still worth reading it. Taken from Hell'zine#7, not sure about the year. Both spanish and english translation. Thanx Jum for providing again awesome stuff!!
Here's the record I've got for free that I've mentioned in my previous post: the vinyl debut of Oslo's Shipwrecked "artic nights" on Anger Management Records. I keep thinking about this as a recent release but goddammit it's already ten years old! Here we got a healthy dose of perfectly executed boston hardcore (SSD "the kids..." above all) with a hint of Oi! and norwegian/vikings mythology as graphic & lyrics background. The final result is probably the most coherent band doing this kind of stuff.Way better than most yankee bands that recently attempted to reproduce this sound. While I'd tag them as a bunch of tuff skinheads solely based on their music and imagery, the recent interview on Chunks'zine proved that these are mature and serious people, not a bunch of kids playing tuff. Featuring an ex-Insurance Risk member, if I haven't convinced you yet. No(r)way delivers again. Solid stuff.
Another big want that I'm finally able to knock off from my want list: the uber rare Darvocets "do the crop circle" 7" released exacly 20 years ago by Non Commercial Records in the mere quantity of 300 copies only. I've been worshipping these guys for such a long time that is still hard to believe that I finally own a copy of their debut release. A mate from downunder unloaded to the masses his collection recently. I've asked him to sell me his copy so many times that I kinda feel like this copy had to be mine. The deal went super smooth (he even thrown in a great extra ep for free!) and a couple of weeks later this ep's journey from the other side of the globeended safely in my mailbox. Darvocets were the weird band from the clevo scene. While all the clevo
bands have that distinctive sound that make them unique and easily
recognizable, this stuff would indeed fit better in a Killed By Death
compilation. Both musically & lyrically, D. sounds like that dumb
retarded kid who did way too much psychedelic drugs and had a morbose
obsession for ufos, aliens & sci-fi horror movies. All of course done with a
good dose of tasteless humour that makes me appreciate these guys even
more! Not only this record is quite hard to find, but there are several cover version. Regular one with coloured back cover, super limited "Darvisettes" version and photocopied sleeve (this one, unsold stock copies that the band sold around 2005-06). Good luck scoring one!
Here's one of the first interview with one of the best US band from the last decade. The demo and the first two eps are already unfuckwithable classics. Originally featured in cult canadian zine Town Of Hardcore#2. Taken from Town Of Hardcore zineography book from 2007.
The mysterious Antitodo Records, as I easily predicted, finally did it again. This time it was Lockjaw's debut ep "shock value" turn. Again an excellent work, a perfect reproduction of the original. I would have loved a reproduction of the limited "ted bundy" sleeve but, hey, you cannot always win. Some on orange wax, other on blue. Essential record. A friend recently introduced me to Lockjaw unreleased full length. I didn't even know about it's existence until a week ago. It's titled "gang violence" and was recorded around 1985. I hope the fellas at Antitodo are planning to finally put this out properly (as far as I know until now it has only been released on a discography cd that came out in the 90s' on Grand Theft Auto) since it's definitely worth it. But please next time remember to include a bloody dust sleeve in the package. I hate when records come without it!
Last year during April I did some of the best scores of the year and 2015 seems not too different. I've indeed finally been able to cross off one of my major wants. Long story short, a japanese friend found a copy of Deathside second full length "bet on the possibility" in excellent condition for basically half the current amount of money people ask for it on eBay or discogs. As soon as he informed me he found it for that price, I immediately wrote back to secure it. Two weeks later, this jewel is finally in my greedy hands!I find it still hard to believe that I've finally got a copy of my main Selfish Records want. Of course I could have given up and get that bootleg that came out a few years ago (easily recognisable for darker cover and label as well as single sheet insert without lyrics in inverted colors), but I'm glad that I patiently waited for an original for the price I wanted to pay for it.
While there's an endless diatribe about which Deathside album is the best one, I got no doubts. As much as I worship their first full length "wasted time", 1991's "bet on the possibility" is their masterpiece. It has more diversity and each song is even more perfect than the previous one if that can be possible. Not to mention the incredible clean but still powerful production that makes it flawless. Not sure if it's true or just a legend, but I've heard that Selfish went bankrupt with the release of this album since they spent way too much producing it! For sure this is also the best packaged record that ever come out on Selfish. Gatefold cover with four different artwork and big double sided insert with almost unreadable lyrics since they are printed in inverted colours.Nothing more to add, this is indeed a genre defining record. Without it, burning spirits and generally japanese traditional hardcore wouldn't be the same for sure.
One of the most anticipated album of the last year (well, at least for me) was the Wetbrain "s/t" debut lp on Painkiller. I was totally sure that this was gonna rule that I even put it on my end of the year list even before actually listening to it. The more I played their 2012 demo, the more I got excited about this upcoming debut. Of course it's release date has been delayed for a few months. Then it seems like no euro distros was carrying copies and there was no way that I was going to pay overseas shipping. When I've finally found one that had it, it never showed up. After waiting for a month and a half, I gave up and ordered another copy. Luckily this time it took only 4 days to arrive here. Well, I can
assure you that the wait was worth it and all my expectations were even
exceeded. Featuring some of the usual clevo suspects (including Larry
Darvocets with his trademark vocals style), this is more KBD oriented
hardcore that sounds like a more straight forward version of, duh,
Darvocets. Even lyrically it's full of sci-fi movies, mind control and
time travel references that cannot not bring to mind a comparsion with
the mighty Darvocets. If you were disappointed like me by Folded Shirt,
Wetbrain are the answer to your unholy prayers. Half of the tracks are from the demo, the rest is new material. Cleveland confirms again
to have the best and most solid scene in the whole US of A.
Here's an great interview with probably the best hardcore band that ever came outta USA, the Fix. Taken from Pederast Prophet#1, released around '08/'09.
