SHAM PAIN interview 1993

MRR interviews are often boring and quite generic to say at least. And this one ain't an exception unfortunately. That being said, I don't think there are many interview with SHAM PAIN, probably the best hc band ever from Puerto Rico, out there. So enjoy it. Taken from MRR#119, april 1993

2010-2019 TOP TEN

Like any true record nerd out there, I do love top ten lists. Could I miss the opportunity to write a end of the decade one? Afterall, it only happens every ten years. Hence a good reason to reanimate my now defunct blog.

In 2010 I was 33 years old and still trying to check out as much new bands as I could. 10 years later, I've almost lost interest in new bands and I'm generally listening to old music only. After being into, for a lack of better words, extreme music for almost three decades, I guess it's a natural process. Everything has already be done way better years ago. The hardest part of writing down this list was indeed the new releases part. I'm not totally out of touch but most of the time I gave a chance to the flavor of the month, I usually got disappointed quickly. 

That being said, people are still able to write good music for fuck's sake! For sure the 10s' won't be remembered as the most innovative decade ever, but at least something interesting has been released. I'm also pretty sure I've missed out awesome and incredible new bands, so feel free to fill up my gaps!

NEW RELEASES
-V.A. "¡Brutales Matanzas!" lp (2010, Cintas Pepe Records)

The debut release of what would soon became a cult label was a compilation lp. Full of new and obscure bands from Mexico and Perù. What might sound like a financial suicide to many, turned out to be the most solid compilation of the decade and proved that south america scene is still healthy and strong.

-FOGNA "s/t" 7" (2010, Bat Shit Records)

Ok this was released as a demo in 2009 but it was put on wax the following year so I've decided to include it anyway. Straight outta Sicily, gloomy and pessimistic hc deeply rooted in the golden era of our penisula tradition, perfectly mixed with some goth/post punk. A true gem, I still hope their "Paura Nella Città Dei Morti Viventi" ep will see the light one day.

-ネメシス (NEMESIS) ‎"慟哭 (Dou-Koku)" 7" (2011, Ratbone/ Flower Of Carnage/ Solar Funeral)

A truly underrated japanese future classic. If this was recorded in the late 80s', it would have been another must-have from Selfish Records. It sounds like a rabid inbreed between Nightmare and Kuro. Perhaps being a shortlived band didn't help their legacy. Check also their second ep which is equally good.

-PEOPLE "Fairy Tale" lp (2012, Damaging Noise Records)

Between late 00s' and early '10s, noisepunk became trendy and suddenly all the smelly crusties started playing this style. Japan of course had the best bands. But most of these bands didn't age well to my ears. Of course I like my hardcore chaotic and noisy but when you're focused only on distortion, you forgot to write good tunes. People from Fukuoka instead followed the path traced by the Swankys and assembled a very remarkable album. Too bad it came out on a dodgy american label that ripped many people off.

-GUTTERGODS "Innersense" lp (2013, Cool Death Records)

When hardcore has became generic and predictable, these aussie weirdos managed to break all the rules and assemble an unique album that sounds like nothing you've listened to until now. Early Agnostic Front meets Christian Death meets Leftovers? Yes, please.

-INFERNOH "7 Spar E.P." lp (2013, D Takt & Rapunk Records)

Sweden kept unleashing tons of great bands paying homage to their ancestors. But no one managed to do it better than Infernoh. Brutal kang punk with memorable tunes and catchy riffs. A future classic for sure!

-FRAMTID "Defeat Of Civilization" lp (2013, LVEUM/ Crust War/ Black Water)

Framtid finally released their second full length and we all immediately understood that all the noisepunk or crashercrust (I hate this term) released during the hype of the genre was totally useless and forgettable. While producing a wall of noise, Framtid proved again that your songs can also be memorable. Since Kawakami is gone, these guys had no competitors.  

-TERCER MUNDO "Ser Nosotros Mismo" lp (2014, Cintas Pepe Records)

This was one of the first band that kept coming to my mind when I started thinking about this list. While their debut ep is equally good, I've opted for the lp since it has a slightly better production. But it's still the perfect mix of rawness, political awareness and, at the same time, catchyness that make south american hardcore unique. And Tercer Mundo were absolutely the best at doing it. Que viva hardcore!

-経血 (Keiketsu) "Scapegoat" cd (2017, Hikan Label)

I've only discovered this band recently hence not owning this album yet (but the lp reissue is on my way). It was love at first sight, er...listen. Total on point The Comes and The Nurse worship with an ADK touch. I can't get enough of this shit! 

-OUTRE TOMBE "Necrovortex" lp (2018, Temple Of Mystery Records)

This decade saw me going back to my first love: death metal. The old school one, of course. While most of the modern bands weren't able to capture my attention, Outre Tombe second album instead was an instant winner to my ears. They sound like a perfect mix between two of my favourite bands ever: Bolt Thrower and Autopsy. Throw in that they "sing" in french, the most delicate and less brutal language ever, and somehow it bloody works! 

Honorable mentions: ANTIMOB both lp, EXIT UNIT 7", PSICOGALERA 7", CUNTS/ ANAL BUTT split 7", CONTROL/ EXITHIPPIES split 7", INNUMERABLE FORMS lp, SACRIFICIO lp, PERVERTED CEREMONY lp,, MUSTANG lp, URBANOIA first 7", EXACERBACION 7", TEARGAS lp, HIMEI eps, LARMA lp, ROCKY & THE SWEDENS lp

REISSUES

Ok, I've cheated here since I've posted 11 records but it was impossible to cut any of these. There have been tons of excellent reissues during this decade so it was pretty hard to decide what to include and what to exclude. Tons of mediocre stuff has been kept on print over the years but there were some classics that for some obscure reasons managed to get a proper reissue treatment only recently (Gauze albums are the perfect example). Plus there are some super obscure records that are almost impossible to find that finally got properly reissued. I think my list is a mix of both:

-ZOUO "The Final Agony" 7" (2011, Crust War)
-SAGATRAKAVASHEN "Sexual Lust" 7" (2013, Umbrella Records)
-THE FIX "Vengeance/ Jan's Rooms" 2x7" (2014, Touch & Go)
-VA "Rodrigo D. No Futuro" lp (2015, Beat Generation)
-ASTAROTH "Guerra De Metal" 7" (2016, Epidemia Records)
-SHITLICKERS "GBG 1982" 7" (2017, Negative Insight Fanzine)
-NURSE "discography 1983.1984" lp (2017, LVEUM)
-ATOXXXICO "Punks De Mierda" 7" (2017, F.O.A.D. Records)
-GAUZE lps (2017, XXX Records) 
-CONVULSE "World Without God" 2lp (2018, Svart Records)
-ソドム (SODOM) ‎"聖レクイエム" lp + 7" (2018, F.O.A.D. Records)

LIVE SHOWS
I'm old and jaded. Most of my old friends moved to something else many years ago. Gigs in italian squats still start way too late and are usually filled with way too many crappy opening bands. I don't like being in overcrowded place. Yeah, I didn't attend that many shows during this decade. These days, I can persuade my lazy ass to go out for a live show only if there's a band that I do really like. Anyhow, I've still managed to see some great live action:

-NERORGASMO
-BLASPHEMY
-IRON MAIDEN
-DEATHSIDE
-MUSTANG
-MORTUARY DRAPE
-IMPACT
-GOBLIN
-TERRORIZER
-RADIO BIRDMAN

Sistema Para La Violencia

When Discogs surfaced in the record market, I've immediately quit using eBay for buying. I was tired of auctions that ended for way more than the real value of a record, shill bidding and all the other bullshits you had to deal with the infamous auction site. In its early days, Discogs seemed to be a more fair place to buy rare records from. Almost everything was priced honestly and you didn't have to deal with boring bid fights anymore. Like all the good things, it didn't last for too long. Once a record was sold for a high price, the next copies were of course priced way more expansive. It didn't matter if they were in worse conditions or missed something. Prices skyrocked over the last 10 years. And to say fair grading disappered is an understatement. But, overall, it seems like good deals online are still out there if you are patient. Recently a first press of Herpes "medellin" 7" popped up for an extremely good price. It was from a new seller with zero feedback and  it was graded VG/G+ so I was a bit sceptical about the real conditions. But the price was too good not to take a chance. Not only the record took only three days to land in my mailbox but, to my surprise, it was one of those rare cases when a record is not simply conservatively graded, it's totally undergraded! While I was expecting something totally thrashed & partied and a few pops and tons of surface noise were expected at least, it turned out to be in pristine conditions and it plays perfectly. Couldn't ask for more, especially for one of my most sought-after records of the last 10+ years. I've already talked about this EP here, so I won't waste more words about it. I'll just add that it was a real pain in the ass to find a proper plastic sleeve for the stupid oversized cover. Never understood why colombian bands/labels printed such big covers....
At this point I've almost completed my medellin hc/punk collection. I just miss 5 eps. Please get in touch if you can help, I'd love to finish it this year.

GRIEF interview 2000

Not a huge fan of sludge but I do really enjoy the big names from the 90s. And Grief, along with Corrupted, were the undisputed kings of this sub-genre back then. Taken from #2 of canadian 'zine Infection that came out around 2000.

Ruido Unidad Ideologia

You know, a scene is solid when even an obscure compilation that totally lacks of the classic big names is flawless. V.A. "Ruido Unidad Ideologia" lp, presumably self-released by the bands in 1991, is the perfect example of the aforementioned theory. I've been praising old & modern mexican hardcore for a long time, but this compilation explains it all. Like old italian hc/punk, all the bands from this scene sound unique and with that peculiar urgency that makes a hc band great. Even the most obscure ones. Here are featured four bands with 3 tracks each: Clamor Inexorable, KK Core, Libertad Para Todos & Adictos Al Ruido. Not only this is the only appearance on wax for all of them. It's also their only release ever. I know KK Core put out a killer demo and I've been told that there's an Adictos Al Ruido rehearsal tape flowing around (if you have more infos, please share them!). But this lp is the only official artefact left for the posterity. Yet, all the four bands featured here bloody rule. Not only they rule, they all also have a peculiar sound that don't make them sound like the clone of any other of their contemporary country mates. One of my fave compilation ever, glad I finally scored a copy for a decent price. Not sure about the pressing infos, but I've been told recently that almost all mexican old records were pressed in a quantity of 1000 copies since the pressing plants wouldn't simply press in lesser number. Comes with a nice inserts with all the infos you need.

Colhendo Desespero

Not for everyone. You've probably seen this sentence often associated with bands, labels or zines that wanted to give themselves a trve underground aura. You know, just to give you the feeling you're part of something special & exclusive. But, in an era where both punk/hc & extreme metal have been decontextualized and deprived of their original meaning to become another meaningless product for insecure teens looking out for an easy rebellious identity, it just sounds like mere posturing. Although, it still fits in perfectly for a band like Putrefacao Humana. Here we are entering in one of the darkest corner of brazilian noisecore underground. A very obscure band from the early 90s that's almost unlistenable. And when I say this, I mean that this trio makes bands like Ulster, Necrobutcher or Noise sound overproduced and polished. Shit-fi recording and noise not music attitude at their worst (or best, according to your point of view). Before being repressed on wax for the first and only time three years ago, "Colhendo Desespero" was originally released as a demo tape in 1994 and, according to the artwork, it features 85 tracks. But, unlike more "organized" noise bands like Anal Cunt or GBN(!!), here you can't really say when a track start and finishes. It's just a blurred mess 'till side one ends. Then, you'll flip it to side B and it's again an aural butchery until the end. Honestly, everything is so messed up and confused that it can only make you say: "what the fuck is going on here?". But that's part of the charm of it: while their resources were obviously very limited, they still put so much passion and energy in what they were doing to make the final result epic. This was pressed in a limited quantity of 300 copies and it's still available out there. But, seriously, it's not for everyone. It's just for the true noisecore fanatics!

Desastre Humano

Last summer I visited Nicaragua. While organizing our trip, I realized that my knowledge of this country's scene started & ended with Sacred Reich "surf nicaragua" 12" (great song, btw). I've asked to some internet nerds who seem to know every obscure band from the most remote places on earth with no success. On the process of trying to get any infos, I've ended up chatting with this guy from Costa Rica on instagram. He knew jackshit about nicaraguan scene but at least he introduced me to Flor De Cana (the best Rum from there) for which I of course developed an addiction as soon as I landed in Managua. He also got me curious about Costa Rica so I started looking around for good bands from there as well. One of my first discover was grindcore band Exacerbacion. When I saw they had an ep on SPHC, I knew I must check them out. Flash forward to 6 months later, and I've finally managed to get a copy of their "Desastre Humano" 7". This is old school grindcore the way it was supposed to be played: songs are fucking memorable, not just mere blast beats & virtuosity bullshit. Music is raw and brutal but, on the other side, they keep it simple and direct and, most importantly, they have great catchy riffs as well, if that makes any sense when we are talking about grindcore. Kinda like Terrorizer, if you got my point. These guys have been releasing tapes & records in the underground scene for 10 years but, since they are not coming from a cool western country, they are not getting the recognition they definitely deserve. And that's a shame, since this is some of the best grindcore I've listened to in the last 10 years. So do yourself a favour and check them out since Exacerbacion simply rules!