Atolls and Serial Killers Part II

The time has come to rehash the surliest and burliest metallic hardcore of the nineties.  Two factors prompted this (yet another) Enewetak post: a request for a re-up, and a long ago kick-down of some rarities, compliments of a mysterious stranger.  The first link below includes re-rips of the band's "Easyrider Sessions Vol. 1" 7" and 8 previously unposted tracks including a Guns n' Roses cover and another recording of "Deadbird" among other raw and nasty numbers.  Dirty sludge twists around chunky mosh in this JG Ballard-like collision of tissue and metal that always sends me reeling.

Enewetak- "Easyrider Sessions Vol. 1" and rarities

It has come to my attention that the Enewetak/Unruh split 7" link died, so here is a refresher:

Here

Uña de Gato...

Spring cleaning and some recent landscaping endeavors have rekindled a tight bond I once held with compilations. Cuing a few of them up while knocking out some grueling task just seems to work: fade in when the winners come on-- fade out during the duds. And so we arrive at another compilation week, but one that I hope will rejuvenate interest in a format tarnished by saturation and mediocrity. I can try at least. The best way to start is with "Uña de Gato- Cuerno de Vaca," a rare 2X7" of heavy bands Tee Pee Records put out 15 years ago. There are many reasons to start here, one is that a nice commenter requested it, but you may be more interested in reasons like El Dopa, Corrupted, Logical Nonsense, and Cattle Press. Some of the other bands are interesting too, but with a line up like this, they become an after-thought.

"Uña de Gato..."

On a side note, the same commenter who was looking for this was looking for other Cattle Press and IaborHer rarities. Justin at Mustard Relics tracked down a couple.

Cleansed by Flame

Here's Unruh's two part prescription for the most brutal form of Euthanasia: the first to knock you out, the second to end it all. This is the most extraordinary of renditions Arizona-style that's caught in the Rorschach dilemma of being either metallic hardcore or hardcore influenced metal depending on what angle you view it from. After all these years, Unruh's Hell is still hotter than Satan's crotch, like a chunk of coal emerging as a shining jewel after smoldering in His loins for 13 or so years. For the take today is Unruh's debut LP "Misery Strenghtened Faith" and...
their follow-up/swan-song "Setting Fire to Sinking Ships." While both are nearly equal in their raw brutality, I would venture to say that "SFTSS" surpasses its predecessor in production and technical precision, as well as in the impact and originality of the lyrics. As to which I enjoy more, I lean toward the first, but really you just can't go wrong with either one. Both have been ripped from the vinyls at 320 kbps as per request from Mike, but you may want to check Pessimiser Records (if you can find them) or ebay to find the CD version of "SFTSS".

"Misery Strengthened Faith" by Unruh
"Setting Fire to Sinking Ships" by Unruh

Metal-Grinding-Voices-Screaming

Among the many jewels in the Satan's Pimp crown is today's offering, the Ruinacre LP. The band also brings us back to Arizona, but this time we venture to the highlands (Flagstaff) and this time we step completely out of mid-paced metallic hardcore territory. The terrain occupied by Ruinacre is an alien one where otherworldly entities resembling tech-metal and others vaguely reminiscent of nineties hardcore battle for dominance. In our own dimension, they might be a temporary peace pact between later Abc Diabolo and Creation Is Crucifixion, and in our language we would be made to use adjectival phrases like fast as fuck and perplexing as bloody Hell.

Ruinacre LP

As Poetic As a Sunset

It seems ages since Jake (I believe) requested this here Absinthe 7". All these months with peeled back eyelids paid off, and tonight I offer rips of one incredible record! Absinthe was a band forged from the same blazing furnace as Unruh, Wellington, Jeremin, Suicide Nation, etc., and fashioned themselves as a similar metallic implement, albeit one with a bit more groove from the rhythm section. They manage to be alternately rough, tight, chaotic, gritty, clean, and unabashedly modern, but without seeming the slightest bit contrived. Really impressive!

The band also produced a follow-up 10" which I went ahead and included in the folder...

Absinthe (7" & 10")

Hotter Than Satan's Crotch

The summer temperatures have finally arrived over here. Before you start to one-up me... I know... it's 10 times hotter where you are. It wouldn't be so uncomfortable if it weren't for my pledge to ride the bike to work 3-4 days a week. Nothing like riding uphill, sandwiched between baked asphalt and the 100 degree sun to make you feel alive!

At times like this, I like to think of those less fortunate souls, like the people of Arizona. Then I get to remembering how awesome the metallic hardcore bands were that used to come out of that state. Unruh is a great example. I always reminisce fondly about their later LP, "Setting Fire To Sinking Ships," but I often forget the unbridled devastation of their early "Friendly Fire" 7". Upon first hearing the distorted chords of the title track, I thought for sure this was a lost Wellington recording. But the tempo changes later on verify that this is indeed Unruh, in its primal phase, setting down its blueprint for global annihilation.

"Friendly Fire" 7" (Edema/King Of The Monsters/Abiology Records)

Atolls And Serial Killers

Alright, broseph, here it is. The Southwest of the United States was a terrifying place in the mid 1990's, if you knew of the right bands. Two of these behemoths crossed streams circa 1996 to forge this little tainted eucharist of pure malevolence. Now you too can ingest the evil!

The Enewetak/Unruh split 7"

Praying Into The Void

So this is it. The beginning and the end. This blog has a special emphasis on under-appreciated bands of the '90's, and Suicide Nation rank at the top. Black metal, grindcore, the sweaty chaos of living room shows, and blunt atheism... it was all harnessed and re-released in a cohesive tapestry by these five Arizona minstrels. The best material by them is always a little rough and ugly, but I wouldn't have it any other way. These two tracks, "A Prayer To The Void" and "City Of Demise" are superbly representative of this tradition and are essential if you enjoy the band's first LP. You can pick up their entire discography on this site, minus the second LP which is available here. If you know of any other vinyl output by SN that I've missed, please let me know!

The 7"

Creation Is A Suicide Nation

Some pretty rad cover art, huh? I call it... "Polar Bear in Ice Storm." If you look very closely, you'll see that this is indeed the Suicide Nation/Creation Is Crucifixion split 7". Unfortunately, I don't own the original press which actually does have cover art, but at least you get the two tracks and the lyric sheet. It saddens me a little knowing that this is probably my second to last post concerning Suicide Nation. Make sure you have their first LP and their split 7" with Yaphet Kotto (which are excellent!), and check back here in the next couple of days for one last piece to the puzzle. And, if SN's beautifully titled track, "The Covenant Of Shit," wasn't enough, we also have here the debut on this blog of noise/tech-grind/metalcore activists, Creation Is Crucifixion. Their track is pretty brutal and hair-raising; it's just too bad the production is so darn shitty!

The split

Brutiful

If you were able to squint and see the band names on this 7" and know either Yaphet Kotto or Suicide Nation, you have probably skipped to the download link already. In case you don't know these bands: Yaphet Kotto were one of the better second wave Ebullition bands, who played dissonant and emotionally charged hardcore/rock. "Critical Response" is recorded rather muddily, and the vocals are difficult to hear; considering that they consist of indecipherable screaming anyway, I don't think that matters much. The track itself is urgent and intense, and deals with a certain empire's economic pillaging of third world countries. Being the only song of YK's present, you can't complain this time around that their songs sound too similar to each other. Now, the reason I combed the corners of the earth for this split was Suicide Nation. And man, was it worth it! "Collapse & Die" musters all of the band's conviction, musical proficiency, and 90's emotive angst into four of the most powerful, blackened minutes of the band's existence. The production is a step up from the first LP, but the songwriting is much in the same vein (which if you've heard it, is reason to rejoice!). Is this the best SN song of them all? Quite possibly! But I am a little biased right now...

Listen for yourself

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

Christ 4 Prez

Since we're on the topic of evil seminal metallic hardcore of the mid nineties Arizona, I've finally gotten around to posting the Tho Ko Losi 7" (thanks to Lloyd who inadvertently put the fire under my ass!). Prepare yourself for five rugged tracks of pathologically anti-Christian grindcore from this pre-Suicide Nation outfit. Bonus points are due for the blasphemous The Simpsons soundbite. After you get used to the production, I think this should be adequately brutal for you...

Total war!

For When Life Is A Toilet...

Mike was interested in seeing some Wellington posted here; more than happy to oblige! The only reason I hadn't done so already was the possibility that their discography CD may still be in print, so this may be one of those limited-time-only downloads. So who the fludge was Wellington, you ask? Yeah, they were a little overlooked during their time, but not for any good reason. Historically, they were the primordial slurry that would one day ossify into Unruh. But let's get back to the topic at hand: Wellington played scathing sludge metal that could only be produced by the clinically depressed. Their guitar sound had all the subtlety of a rusty, runaway saw blade, the power of which seemed to disguise the fact that they were merely a trio. The longer tracks make good use of space at certain points, allowing the bass to come forward and lull us before the next attack. This tactic does wonders to enhance the power of the heavy parts, but those chilling, quiet junctures really add a compelling demension to the writing. Perfect music to stalk by, but if you're on any kind of medication, I wouldn't recommend listening to it all at once.

As I said, Deep Six supposedly has copies of the Discography left (?) as does Ebullition Records (if you've got 100 ducats to spring for an order). It's totally worth it. The layout is nice, but unfortunately the script is a bit small and I don't have a working scanner. I went ahead and included pics of the LP ("Thank You Jesus") and the split with Noothgrush to compensate. I may have to remove the link soon so...

download if you like Rorschach, Dystopia, 13, Graves At Sea, Noothgrush, Unruh, Enewetak...

192

320
Part 1
Part 2

Sun-Blackened Metal

It seems almost too often that a reviewer will describe a band as "metal played by hardcore kids," but I think it's appropriate with Suicide Nation. The metal in question here would be mainly of the black variety. Suicide Nation comes from the land of saguaros and cookie-cutter tract homes as far as the eye can see: Arizona-- the same steaming, earthen cauldron that birthed Absinthe, Unruh, Structure of Lies, etc. Posted here is their raw and devastating first LP released around 1998 on King of the Monsters Records. There's a bit of an older black metal feel, combined with some emotional nineties hardcore dissonance, and finished off with a beautiful acoustic instrumental epic. Although a bit hard on the ears at times, this one's a ripper!

Click if you dare.

Jeremin - Arizona's Forgotten

How many posts out there begin with "I don't really know much about..." Well, I don't know much about Jeremin. They put this 7" out in the mid nineties some time (King of the Monsters #06), and promptly erased all signs of existence. I got the ep from a distro on a whim, and thought it was the promise of future greatness. Perhaps it could have been. The sound is a good mix of 90's "emo" (those who were listening at the time know what I mean) and some of the more metallic yet emotive bands of the time. The result is chaotic and vicious, yet thoughtful and compelling. The guitarists employ angular, discordant riffs, but they and the drummer let up every once in a while to let the bass be heard. And check out the soft part at the end of the first track with the attempt at singing. I did not expect that when I first listened to this thing. While they did flirt a little with odd time signatures, they weren't exactly "mathy" or anything, they were just a solid, tight-playing hardcore band.

If you manage to track down a copy of this ep, you will enjoy the layout, guaranteed! It may be the best packaged 7" I have ever seen. The cover has a little plastic window with a slug-type organism screened on it, and when you close the sleeve properly the window lies on top of a little patch of foil on the back cover flap. Insanity! The sleeve has a 14 or so page booklet stapled in side. The layout on these pages is simple, yet somewhat elegant. Lyrics are provided, and are, for lack of a better term, personal (sometimes bordering on political). This little nugget is worth tracking down, and if you know anything about this band, comment away!

Jeremin 7"