Saturday, November 22, 2008

When The Orcs Ruled Arizona

I've spent the last week ripping through (correcting) about 150 essays written by 8th graders. Persuasive essays. The only thing they've persuaded me to do is to put my fuckin' head through a wall! Luckily I have grindcore as my safer and more preferred method of therapy. Since a couple of you out there expressed the desire to see Uruk-Hai's 7" posted here, and since I please to aim, I'm finally ready to deliver the goods. Some recent posts have seen this blog slowly descending the Arizona family tree of nineties hardcore bands, and today we arrive at the roots. Before there was Tho Ko Losi, Wellington, and Suicide Nation, Uruk-Hai recorded the "Give Up On God" 7" (Fetus Records, 1994?) which I believe to be their only non-demo release (I'm only assuming they did a demo at some point). The band spews out nonsense-free grindcore that's more raw and straight-forward than Tho Ko Losi. The mathematics of this release may sheds some light on the brutality: 10 tracks on a 7"; 3 vocalist, plus the other 4 musicians all provide some vocals as well (and none of them are named Mike!). Yes, their name comes from The Lord Of The Rings, but Orcs are badass and the band existed long before the films came out, so it's okay.

Click here if you've given up on God

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

thanks! been looking for this for a minute. keep up the great job on the great blog. cheers!

RyGar said...

I had heard their name before, but assumed they were Black Metal, because of the LOTR reference (Probably a Burzum rip-off, I thought. I'll check 'em out.

Papst Benedikt XVI said...

thanks for this Mark!

I didn't know there was a U.S. band with that name.
when I heard the name URUK-HAI I always thought it's the pre-BURZUM band!

Zmaj said...

Whaaat, so are you a teacher or something awesome like that? :D

That aside, thanks for the Uruk-Hai.

Batguano said...

Gen, You're welcome and thanks! I'm looking forward to that Negative FX tribute!

The Pope- I thought there was a black metal band with this name. Thanks for clearing that up.

Zmaj- yep, teacher.

RyGar said...

I guess I was half-right. Haha.

Anonymous said...

First learned about "the Claw" on the B side of this record. Curbcrusher!

Anonymous said...

Killer stuff. Thanks.

degelh said...

Obscure and Awesome! I bought this 7" when Wellington and Unruh came through Seattle! Thanks!