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.

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!

Danger Situation

Αντίδραση"Κατάσταση Κινδύνου". No, I'm not trying to improve the intellectual level of this blog by throwing down random greek letters to get rid of you dumb punks. I'm talking about one of the highlights of the greek punk/hardcore scene: Antidrasi (reaction) debut lp "Κατάσταση Κινδύνου" (danger situation). The greek scene has always been not well-known outside of their borders. I guess  the main reason was the language barrier: their peculiar alphabet made it simply impossible for non-greek speaking fans to remember the band's names. Nonetheless, in the early 80s' greece had a strong punk scene with incredibly solid bands such as Stress or Γενιά Του Χάους (Chaos Generation). While hardcore was already sprouting all around europe, over there it erupted only around mid/late 80s'. One of the first band doing it was Antidrasi. Their 1989 debut ep "Αίμα Στους Δρόμους" (blood in the streets), released by Wipe Out! Records, is unanimously recognized as the very first hardcore slab of wax that ever came outta greece (one of my TOP WANT, by the way). Their debut full length was released the following year on the same label and it's a milestone: rough, without compromises and energic HC with a sound and songwriting that remind a lot hc/punk bands from mexico & south america from the very same period. You know I'm a sucker for this kind of sound so I immediately felt in love for Antidrasi as soon as I discovered them recently (never paid attention to the greek scene until recently, shame on me!). The artwork features a zombie-cop with a greek flag dripping blood so, even if you don't understand a single word of their lyrics, it's not too hard to figure out that they are not talking about tzatziki or moussakà. Greece has always had a strong political protest tradition (as we saw as well in recent years), so of course it's not a big surprise that its punk/hc bands are extremely political.

There are three presses of this record: the first one from comes with a 'zine, 2 posters and stickers (if you can provide scans, please get in touch); a repress from the same year without inserts and different labels (the one I got) and a third and final press from 1993 on red wax. I've got mine for very cheap so it's not that hard to find a copy for a good price if you look around...

In Nome Del Loro Potere Tutto E' Stato Fatto

Over the years, I've managed to slowly cover pretty much the entire Wretched discography in this blog. Considering that I will never own a copy of their split with Indigesti (unless I get pretty lucky or rich), their only record that kept eluding me was "in nome del loro potere tutto è stato fatto" (in the name of their power everything has been done) 7", self-released by the band in 1983, even before their own legendary Chaos Produzioni label was born. I was tempted by the recent offical box repress but, since it was the only one I was missing, I decided to wait. Of course it could have been easier if I'd shell out the  money that sellers on discogs ask, but it was always way too overpriced. Recently I was setting a trade with a japanese friend who I know has multiple copies of it (!!).  I asked if he wanted to part from one copy and, when he agreed, I couldn't believe my quest was finally over without shelling out a single euro. Coming from the land of the rising sun, of course it is in immaculate conditions. It misses the italian insert but, oh well, I can definitely survive without it.

Here we got early Wretched finest moment. From the legendary artwork to the matrix, everything is simply perfect here. The eight songs featured here are some their most iconic: "la logica del potere", "spero che venga la guerra" & "non posso sopportare" are some of the highlights of their entire discography in my opinion. The sound is perfectly balanced in its roughness: not too raw like the Indigesti split ep material but also not too well produced like in their full length. The perfect recording for a hardcore/punk band. One of the few reasons to be proud of my hometown.

Hymn To Abramelin

Last week I went to the local record fair. My main goal was to conclude an already settled trade. Once the trade was done, I started lurking around the various crates. A first press of Blasphemy "fallen angel of doom", exposed on the wall of a stand that was mainly selling dad-rock, captured my attention. I decided to check it later since I thought there was no one around that could be interested in this particular record. After visiting a couple of overpriced dealers (300 € for a Declino ep in shitty conditions, lol), I went straight to the Blashemy one with no hurry at all. Of course, as soon as I arrived, I immediately noticed the record wasn't exposed anymore. Then I saw, right in front of me, a bloody metalhead buying it in that exact moment. Well, this time I've had to bite the bullet since it was nothing but my fault. As soon as the lucky bastard left, I started to talk with the dealer to only discover that the price was  good too, damn it! Then he told me "well, check these 3 crates, there's good stuff in here as well!". So I hopelessly started the process of flipping through endless piles of records. Of course there was nothing I was looking for so I gave up after the second crate. While I was quietly leaving, hoping of not being noticed, the guy told me loudly: "what, you don't check the last one?". I felt forced so I submissively went through it as well. While I was almost done with this crate as well, I finally found something I was looking for: a copy of Messiah "hymn to abramelin" with the red cover (it's the second press but I like it more than the first one on black). I briefly negotiated the price with the dealer so I ended up paying a fair price for it.

What can I say about this record? Perhaps one of the most underrated and overlooked band ever. Hailing from Switzerland and featuring a future member of the mighty Fear Of God, these guys got unfortunately overshadowed by Hellhammer/Celtic Frost. But in 1986 they released this monster of a debut album that was way ahead of its time. While there's still an undeniable slightly thrash influence going on, the main ingredients are definitely more closer to the first black metal wave and even proto-death metal, I'd dare to say. Something not too far from another classic album released during the same year on the other side of the globe: "Morbid Visions". With whom it shares also the same kind of raw production that would soon become a standard for the second wave of black metal. For sure a pioneering band that set the standard for the bands to come and still sounds relevant today. Too bad they never got the attentions they absolutely deserved.

Pulidores De Tumbas

I didn't want to buy this record at first. Their debut ep was good fast hardcore but nothing far away from your average hardcore band. Plus, I was scared that they turned "goth" like most of the mexican hardcore outputs of the last two years. And both artwork and title presumed that everything went exactly in that direction. But since it was released by SPHC, basically the only modern label that's releasing new bands I care about, I decided to give it a try. And I'm glad I did it since this is a huge improvement compared to "juvetud descerebrada". Sacrificio debut full length "pulidores de tumbas" has a perfect recording: everything is balanced smoothly so you can hear distinctly every instrument. The songwriting has improved a lot compared to the ep. It's an awesome riff after another. Like for Tercer Mundo, the only other modern mexican band I'd dare to compare to Sacrificio, they didn't rip off the classic mexican hc sound. They created their own style which is always a nice touch in an era where hc/punk has became an endless repetition of the usual boring clichés of the genre. I don't think I've heard another 2017 hardcore release that sounds so fresh without upsetting the rules of the game. A serious contender for the best lp of the year if you ask me.

The leader of the fuckin assholes

Not being a big fan of UK punk/hc bands in general, I've skipped the first two issues of Negative Insight'zine. But their third effort got my attention as soon as they mentioned its not so imminent publication over a year ago. I guess everyone was excited about it since it comes with the first official reissue of one of the most fundamental record ever: Skitslickers "GBG 82" 7". If you're reading this blog, I suppose you're already familiar with this unfuckwithable masterpiece so I wont waste your time with too many useless words. It's one of the top 5 best HC eps ever. Period. Also, I was happy with my late 90s bootleg of it so I didn't buy this for the record. I've bought it for the 'zine. Not the cheapest 'zine you'll find around for sure, but worth every penny. Pro-printed in full sized glossy paper, it comes also with a huge Skitslickers poster. Focused on the early 80s' Gotheburg scene, it shows through every page that the editor knows what's he's talking about and is very passionate about it. It starts with very good interviews with Absurd (although, I would have loved to discover more about the rumours of the singer becoming a priest!!) & Disarm. Then you'll get a lot of "behind the scene" pictures from photographer Sebastian Todor. But the cherry on the cake is of course the very long and in depth chat with Lasse, the singer of Skitslickers, where he goes into details about the concept behind the band and you'll discovered a lot of unexpected infos about their attitude. Then you'll get another long one with the other swedish hc institution: the mighty Anti-Cimex. Here drummer Charlie tells a lot about their eps days. Another highlight of NI#3 is the report of the infamous Anti-Cimex/Agoni Chainsaw tour of the UK that happened in 1986. All written by point of view of the organizer & various direct witnesses (including well-known names of the UK scene from back then) of every single date. All in all, a high quality publication that I'd strictly recommend to everyone out there. I think they pressed a lot of copies but I'd get it as soon as possible since this will be sold out quickly. Too bad the next issue will be again focused on something I don't care at all... 

888 Noise

There's no informations at all in the Control/Exithippies split 7" released by Paank Lyvet earlier this years. No song titles, no band logos on the cover. Nothing. Which is quite annoying. That being said, I'm glad that Control from Fukuoka are back! I'm pretty sure you've heard endless bands being compared to Confuse. Usually, most of this stuff is just utter crap. But Control is perhaps the band that nailed their city mates legendary sounds perfectly. 6 years has passed since their split with Stagnation and "live to distroy public places" ep came out. But I'm happy to say that their sound didn't evolve at all. Pure Confuse worship perfectly executed from the start to the end. Nothing more, nothing less. While the noisepunk trend faded away few years ago, these guys kept doing their own thing, not caring if it's hyped or not. One of the best band outta japan right now. On the other side, Exithippies. An unique band that usually leave me speechless. I like them when they play noisepunk, but I don't get it when they mix it with techno/electronic music. We tried to do something similar with my grind band in the mid/late 90s. It doesn't work, simply. Well, there's tons of people praising this band so maybe it's simple my problem. But if you want my 2 cents, this ep is worth for the Confuse, ooops, I meant Control side only.

Carrion For Worm

I still remember a copy of Nuclear Death second full length "carrion for worm" lp sitting for years in New Zabrinskie Point's metal section. While flipping through records, every time I bumped into it, I always stopped, grabbed it and stared at the cover. It had one of the ugliest yet intriguing artwork ever. It looked like it was drawn by a very disturbed 7 years old kid. Seriously, a creepy long haired dude with  a dead cat hanging on his belt that's ripping flesh out of what looks like a dying calf with a human face? And a worm shaped zombie looks at it while crawling out of the soil? They definitely knew how to get my attention. But this artwork was too disturbing for 16 years me so I always put it back and went through the rest of the crates. Then one day, while talking with the drummer of a local grindcore band from back then, he mentioned them as one of their main influences and started praising them. So next week I finally asked to the record shop owner to listen to it. I wasn't prepared for what came outta the speakers. This wasn't nor your average overproduced yankee technical death metal neither classic grindcore. Like the cover, the music was ugly, dirty and with one of the lowest production ever. I didn't like it immediately. It took me several years to finally understand and digest it. Nuclear Death was, and still is, the most unique band that came outta US in the early 90s. Fronted by Lori Bravo (perhaps the first female death metal singer ever?), this Arizona trio assembled some of the most original music at the time. While they never stand out for their musical ability, they created a dark and gloomy atmosphere by lowering down their sound as  much as possible. Compared to their debut album "bride of insect" that still show some thrash metal influences, here they tuned down their sound so much to create one of the most depraved atmosphere ever. The only other record that has the same vibe is perhaps Blasphemy "fallen angel of doom", another contemporary masterpiece also released by Wild Rags. Add to that also an original lyrical approach. While everyone was dealing with satanic, horror/gore or political stuff, Nuclear Death went for the darker side of the human mind, its most depraved ideas and perverted thoughts. Something as hard to deal with as their music and artwork. If the word "cult" has been definitely abused in the last few years, well Nuclear Death is absolutely a band that deserve this adjective & status. Scored this copy recently still sealed for a good price.

Hombre: Oveja Negra Del Universo

Do obscure records still exist in 2017? For the better or worse, long gone are the days when a serious effort, time and lots of dedication were essential to  build a decent underground music knowledge. Now every goddamn record is virtually just a few clicks away from you. At this point, the concept of "obscure releases" must be completely reconsidered. And the mere fact that Nemesis "hombre: oveja negra del universo" 7" (originally self-released by the band back in 1987) has just been repressed, would probably answer to my question. If such a forgotten gem from Medellin got the repress treatment, even if in the limited quantity of 300 copies, it means there's a market for it. What once was a well-hidden secret among the collector nerds, now has been democratized for the masses. If this means I can no longer dream to find an OG first press for cheap, then I should be grateful to Epidemia Records for this reissue. Nemesis was a short lived band from Medellin that fits perfectly the ultrametal parameters. Think to a mix of Slayer & Celtic Frost, filter it via south american lo-fi metal production, and you got a solid release. Perhaps not on the same level of greatness of Parabellum, Reencarnacion or even Astaroth, but we're not too far from it. Apparently Epidemia also reprinted the band demo on cd but for some reasons I completely missed it. A must have for all the ultrametal and south american metal fans in general. But stay away if you can't deal with lo-fi production and tons of rawness!

The A.B.C.'s of Noisecore

A is for Anal, B is for Butt and C is for Cunts. Body cavities always had an important role in naming noisecore bands. Glad to see new bands keeping this important tradition healthy & alive. Here we got indeed Cunts from japan sharing a slab of wax with Anal Butt from USA. SPHC delivers again some noisecore at its best (or worst, it just depends on your point of view). Cunts from tokyo have been around for over a decade and they are part of that peculiar japanese tradition of making noisecore with only vocals delivered via a special microphone that also unleashes a wall of feedback noise & drums. Nikudorei and World indeed immediately come to mind while listening to their side. If noisecore is already a minimalist style, Cunts reduced it to its mere bones. An aural assault that's the equivalent of a caveman hitting a skull with some femurs while simultaneously screaming his guts out. Simply brilliant. Anal Butt from baltimore, who of course won the prize for the best band name ever, are more traditional. Stick clicks, blast beats and noise for 10 or even less seconds. Repeat it for a copious amount of time, close the record with a hardcore stomper, et voilà. We got a masterpiece. No metallic bullshit here, just plain ol'noisecore the way it's supposed to be played, like the forefathers of the genre taught us almost 30 years ago. No song titles for both bands, a cover that would embarrass your girlfriend (or should I better say your mom, since chances you got a girlfriend while listening to this kind of stuff are close to zero) make this even more a modern classic. Considering that it's the debut on vinyl for both bands, I got high expectations for the future! Only 300 pressed.

For The Security

Let's talk about a forgotten jewel from the golden era of swedish death metal: Carbonized debut full length "for the security", released by Thrash Records outta france back in 1991. Considering that it's one of the best five album EVER that came from that scene and that Lars Rosemberg from Entombed and Christoffer Johnsson of Therion were part of the band, I cannot really understand why people don't praise it like they should. My guess is that this album is quite peculiar for your average death metal fan. It doesn't follow strictly the classic swedish death metal formula, it goes beyond it. It's full of blast beats (making Carbonized probably the first swedish grind band ever?), riffs are way far from the classic swedish DM recipes and there are a lot of tempo changes and weird song structures in general. The final result is something unique in its greatness. Death/grind with an almost psichedelic vibe going on for the whole album. If you can image a weird mix of Nihilist, Repulsion & Voivod, then you'll get a vague idea of how Carbonized sound. If they were on a bigger label than Thrash, they would have probably gotten all the attention they deserved. Essential classic. Scored this copy easily and for a very good price, too. Later stuff is too weird for my taste, but this and debut 7" are mandatory!

Sangue Inutile

If you happen to dig a bit in the the early 80s' hc/punk scene from my hometown, Kobra is one of those name that, sooner or later, will pop up. It's one of those quite obscure bands that's mainly known between the collector nerds for their only release, 1985's "corri nel sangue dei tuoi nemici" (run in the blood of your enemies) self-released 7". Like it frequently happens, obscure doesn't necessarily mean great. It's like how Wretched would have sounded if they had a poor guitar work and were influenced by bad metal. Not even the fantastic cover could save that ep from its mediocrity. Apart from that, Kobra are mainly known for their 1983 UK tour with Wretched. Recently I was reading in General Speech #9 about a great live recording captured during that aforementioned tour. I usually avoid live recordings but this one intrigued me. I've asked around but since I'm not cool enough in the tape trading circuit, I couldn't get my hands on it. Then this bootleg ep, pragmatically titled "live queen's walk community centre nottingham 13 aug 83" surfaced in a distro. Recording is of course raw but not bad at all for being captured on stage. What really surprised me is that you can hear a completely different band here. While "corri nel sangue..." totally lacks of the trademark urgency of italian hardcore, songs here are more energic, faster and direct compared to the material they released 2 years later. It reminds a lot the Wretched side of their legendary split with Indigesti. All the eight songs featured here were also completely unknown to me. Perhaps material for a demo that unfortunately never got recorded? Anyhow, this bootleg re-evaluated completely Kobra in my books. A great piece of history for Milano and 80s italian hardcore in general.

Seasons Are Going And Going...And Lives Goes On

A couple of weeks ago, while I was listening to the recent SPHC repress on wax of Final Exit 2008 "seasons are going and going...and lives goes on" 3"cd, my partner suddenly came in the room. While she sporadically appreciates some hc/punk music, she usually hates grind/death/noise and everything in the middle. To my surprise she said: "I like this band. Who are they? They remind me Melt Banana. No wait, how was called that John Zorn band?". "Naked City", I promptly answered with my heart full of pride. "Yeah, Naked City! They sound like them". And I think she nailed it perfectly. It would be indeed too reductive to tag this album, and this japanese duo in general, simply as a noisecore band. 

I've been enjoying Final Exit since they released their first split eps in the mid 90s. They've always been an unique band that was able throw in their low-fi noisecore assault a lot of weird and unexpected parts. But on "seasons are going and going...and lives goes on" they've outdone themselves to assemble their masterpiece. In barely 10.30 minutes, they melted perfectly their aural decimation with NWOBHM, Death Metal, HC/Punk, Pop, Doom, Surf, Rock, Industrial and Jazz parts. While they've obviously taken clue from Anal Cunt and Meat Shits (they are indeed named after the last ones), both Hisao and Ryohei are excellent musicians who could play whatever genre they wanted but consciously choose to stay loyal to their roots and keep gracing us with their wonderful noisecore. They've been able also to avoid the usual clichés of the genre: "SAGAGALGO" is a twelve tracks concept album about the flowing of the time. Tracks are named after the 12 months and the artwork reproduces perfectly the four panels of the cd version. It's housed in a full-coloured gatefold cover with a beautiful picture to represent each season. SPHC has given this reissue all the attention and quality it needed.

Muerte Convencional

Recently I've been finally able to cross off from my wantlist one of my mexican top wants. I've scored it again from that endless pit of insanely hard to find south american records that is my friend Jum's collection. I'm talking about the Desgarracion Brutal/ Regimen Democratico split 7", the only vinyl effort by both bands (DB also released a demo tape). Released in 1992 by Producciones Septima Regione (a label run by the Hereja guys), this might not be as well known as other mexican punk/hardocore classicos, but it's on the same level of greatness. Both bands offer two tracks each. DB are the undisputed winner here, uber brutal & wild mexican hardcore with guttural vocals in the vein of Atoxxxico or M.E.L.I. This sounds way better than their demotape. Regimen Democratico plays a more controlled & predictable style of hardcore/punk, but still with an unquestionable mexican flavor. Solid band as well. Scored this copy in immaculate conditions for a great price. The artwork looks like it has been draw by a 8 years kid and I love it for this reason. An awesome split that should be in every south american hardcore fanatic's collection, good luck finding one!

Privilege Of Evil

Some saturday afternoon of 1993 I was, as usual, digging through New Zabrinskie Point's grind/ death/ black metal lps crate, looking for a way to spend the few money I've saved during the week. Instead of buying bus tickets or food, I used to save every lira I got to buy an lp during the weekend. I had just discovered death metal a few months earlier and everything was new and exciting to me and my friends. We usually bought records basing ourselves solely on how cool an album cover was or on the sporadic suggestion of older metalheads that were lurking around the shop. I bumped into a copy of Amorphis debut lp "the karelian isthmus" and was immediately intrigued by it. I liked the logo & the artwork and the guys on the back cover looked cool as fuck. Then I timidly asked to Stiv (the shop owner) if he could play it for me. While he usually blasted only Oi! or hardcore bands (and I've always suspected he hated metal in general), he was always extremely kind and friendly and played whatever we asked him. After the melancholic intro, "the gathering" erupted in all its slow brutality and a few seconds later I was immediately a devoted fan of this unknown finnish band. Flash forward to one year later. As soon as I found they just released a new album titled "tales of the thousand lakes", I immediately bought it. Of course again on vinyl simply 'coz back then they were cheaper than cds. Loved every single notes out of it just like every one else. While being weird and experimental, it was still brutal as fuck death metal! Expectation for the following album were of course high but when "elegy" came out in 1996, I was extremely disappointed. It wasn't metal enough for me and I simply lost interest in the band.

Recently I've been playing Amorphis first two full lengths a lot. While checking their discography on discogs, I've discovered their ep from 1993 titled "privilege of evil" that I've never heard of back then. It has just being reissued by Relapse in 2013 for the very first time on vinyl. After a quick listening on youtube, I immediately ordered a copy. While it came out one year after "the karelian isthmus", it has been originally recorded one year before it and was supposed to be a split lp with Incantation (!!). Here Amorphis doomish death metal was extremely raw and the melodies that characterized their sound were just outlined. The result indeed is not too far from other finnish death metal institutions from the same era (Demigod, Convulse & Disgrace above all). Three of these tracks are indeed a rougher version of songs that would be featured on their debut full length. Cherry on top, an Abhorrence cover, "vulgar necrolatry" with Jukka Kolehmainen (Abhorrence singer) doing vocals!! While you basically get only 2 unreleased tracks, this is an essential listening for all early finnish death metal maniacs! 

Excrete Your Own Shit!

Time to fill in some embarrassing gaps in my collection of two heavyweights of 90s grindcore. You know them since I've talked a lot about them in this blog: Warsore & GBN. Let's start with the australian undisputed kings of grindcore. Their split with Nee!, released in 1997 by Mortville Rec. was the last piece I needed to complete my Warsore collection (well, not considering all the posthumous releases that keep coming out). Scored it for cheap from a swedish dealer. Here these melbourne hillbillies have been captured at their peak: everything is balanced so perfectly without being overproduced that the final result is probably one of their best studio performance ever. Can't praise this band enough. As far as I know, this is their only release that came on coloured wax (or was the lathe cut with Egrogsid on clear?). On the other side,  dutch noisegrind  band Nee! pales in comparison. Poorly recorded and badly mixed (drums are way too high!!), they are just another number in the endless list of forgettable bands. 

I've been listening to Gore Beyond Necropsy a lot lately and since I still enjoy them as much as I did 20 years ago, I've decided it was about time to finally complete my collection. I've started with their split with tasmania's Egrogsid, released by Dry Retch twentyone  years ago. GBN was and still is one of the most extreme noisecore band ever. Started as another mere Carcass clone, they quickly morphed, or I'd better say mutated, into something deformed, scary & unique. Their ultra downtuned putrid sound, surrounded by a constant wall of feedback noise, mixed with some of the lowest growls ever and insanely fast drumming shaped what has become their trademark sound. Here they still used a drum machine and it fits perfectly in the gloomy atmosphere they created, making these eleven tracks sounding even more extreme. Not only GBN were a true aural butchery, their records also always looked damn cool. They had one of the most putrid logo (and band name) ever, all their artworks were dark and filthy and they used the coolest font ever for all their inserts/backcovers. No band pics were in their releases, adding more mystery to surround these japanese maniacs. The only one I saw in the 90s was a very blurry one featured in a zine. They simply built the perfect iconography for the putrid noise they played. Eighteen years old me was impressed just as much as forty years old me still is. Egrogsid performance on the other side aint bad at all. Filthy grindcore not too dissimilar to Warsore (with whom they shared some members). Overall, a very solid split release!

Shotgun

Over the years, there has never been too much bands outta Rome that caught my interest. The roman scene always seemed to me more youth crew & Oi! oriented. And I've never developed any interest in these two sub-genres. That being said, there are a couple of classic roman bands from the early 80s that played pure hardcore in the classic crazy italian style. One of them is Shotgun Solution. The best HC band that ever came outta the capital city. They released only a four songs EP titled "shotgun" in 1983 on High Rise Production. Simply a masterpiece. High-octane, fast & unpredictable hardcore that resembles a bit Negazione but, like all the italian bands from the golden era, simply sounds unique. Scored this record via a trade with a guy that I've met a few times at some gigs more than 10 years ago and then completely lost touch with him. Ahhh, the internet era! Cover has seen better days but this is what I call "italian EX conditions". For some reasons it's almost impossible to score local hc classic that weren't used to party hard back then...