Land of Stone, Castle of Emptiness

Martyrdöd's first LP is a storm landing just after spring's first thaw, despoiling the promise of renewal with its shroud of jagged ice, turned gray by the blackened sky.  For years, I thought the excellent "In Extremis" was their debut, but after following the soot-streaked snow trail that eventually leads to "Paranoia," I came to know of their savage and impetuous origin.  Given to us by the same madmen who brought Asebia into this world, "Martyrdöd" is a lost classic of righteous conviction smothered in a haze of Scandinavian bleakness.

Martyrdöd LP (Plague Bearer Records, 2003)

Recently re-upped:
Saké - Discography
Crow/Artimus Pyle Split 7"
Himei 7"s
Undone- 2 7"s and a comp

Peace, Bastards

Finally, a post, and fittingly on this day of resurrection.  You'll get no Christ from me though.  This season so far hasn't encouraged me to want to get the blog back together much (hence the month-long delay in getting this one up) or doing anything involving staring at a monitor.  But I 'm hoping some of the spring giddiness has been expelled and things will change.  We'll see.  What we have today is a band I probably would have overlooked if it weren't for a keen-eared commenter.  All he (she?) really had to say was it's Elenor's new band (from To What End?) and I was in pursuit.  Peacebastard is a fairly new band based in Germany who just put out their third release (a split with Dishonorable Discharge).  For free today are the band's first two EPs, which stay with the theme of resurrection but without the rehash.  Brought back are the fury and idealism of the early days of Profane Existence and Flat Earth, drawing gracefully from so many bands of those two rosters that it's futile to list.  I will say that Elenor's vocals this time around are more guttural and abrasive in the manner early Ebola and Unhinged-- a 10 megaton warhead on an already deadly rocket.

Peacebastard 7"s 

Heart First Records
Truemmer Pogo

Recent Re-uploads:
Life... But How to Live It
Zero Hour (EP and Apeface split)

Screaming at the Wind- Receive No Replies

Greetings from after the blogapocalypse.    The bustling marketplace of free music exchange has quickly taken on the eerie quiet of an Anasazi cliff dwelling. Transmissions have been weak and infrequent, as has motivation. Impulses to post come but then go before I can see a rip through to completion.  I'm fighting through this as much as I can, but surrender may be imminent.  Until I quit these ruins for good, I have at least a few posts I'd like to unload on you (a few sneak peaks are listed below).  For one, I've been wanting some decent rips of the two Abc Weapons records, and I figured why not share with all (three) of you.  When I first posted about these Aussies, I used some stolen rips.  But the ones below are homemade and hopefully of at least passable quality.  In case you haven't heard, The Weapons were a project with Schifosi/Pre-Pisschrist members and played that good ol' dark crusty hardcore made famous by Tragedy, and honed and refined by bands like The Holy Mountain, Muga, Jeniger, Ambulance, etc.  Like these bands, Abc Weapons kept their guitars tuned for maximum despair-induction, used only semi-melodic guitar leads, and avoided the pitfalls that make some neo-crust bands a bit irritating (screamy vocals, dramatic guitar dissonance...).  The "Process of Decay" 12" is one of the finer examples of this style, while the "Bitter End" 7" has enough shining moments and riveting blast-beats to make up for its slightly less stellar songwriting.  You can hear some samples from the unreleased "Excessum" 12" at the band's myspace page, and you can pick up the vinyl pieces posted below here and there about the web.

Abc Weapons- "Process of Decay" 12" and "Bitter End" 7" (Endless Blockades and Global Warning Records respectively).

Upcoming posts: Tragatelo 12", Memento Mori discography, Lost Goat, any requests?



Recent Re-ups:
Zygote- "89-91" LP
Acursed/Bonds of Trust Split 7"

Masquerading in a Failing World

Here we have another situation where a commenter has helped me with my procrastination problem.  I've been sitting on this Calloused post for months now, and with all of the Minneapolitan madness of recent posts, now is the perfect time.  As mentioned previously, Minneapolis has produced an enviable number of great crusty hardcore bands, many of which escape notice outside of that area.  Calloused may unfortunately be one of these bands. They wowed me on their now classic split LP with Shitlist, and as with any band this uncompromising, their other releases are no let down.  Posted today are the band's final 7" and "The Masquerade" 12" (the tracks from this one I believe also appeared on the CD version of the Shitlist split). Calloused is of interest to any hardcore nut who can appreciate the musical benefits of repetitive cranial trauma, but also welcome a touch of sadness thrown in for complexity and a sense of tragic resolution.

Calloused - "Still Failing World "7" (Sin Fronteras, 2003) and "The Masquerade" 12" (Fired Up!, 2002)

The Darkness Revisited

In wading through the bone heap of dark and obscure hardcore that this blog has become over the years, it's hard not to stumble over a few relics that could use a bit more polishing, or which deserve some further exposure befitting their hallowed place (at least in my world).  The records you see above and below are getting the treatment today due to previous ripping issues, such as low bit rate (Zero Hour),  a turn table apparently on meth (Asebia- thanks Mikexxx for pointing it out), low volume (Nux Vomica), or a barely-attached needle (Ambulance).  Obviously, I felt they were worthy of doing this all over again, and I can't recommend these bands enough if they are new to you.  We begin with Zero Hour, who became one of my all time favorite bands on the strength of their 7" alone way back in 1995.  I still can't listen to these four songs without feeling like I've been nailed in the chest by a flying hobo sack of wisdom and emotion.  This is the EP's third and probably last appearance on this blog, the first being almost five years ago.

The folder also has re-ripped versions of the band's excellent tracks from the split LP with Apeface.

Zero Hour Tracks

Original Post

Asebia was incredible, dark, metallic Scandi-thrash from Denmark.

"Face of Civilization" LP

Previous Post





Nux Vomica have former members of Wake Up On Fire, and are now based in Portland.  Their fantastic debut always kills me.

The Uninspired 7"

Original Post

Ambulance didn't last long with this line-up, sadly, but they managed to put out one unrelenting, long-playing manifesto of Swedish gloom and despair.  This was the last record I ripped/played before my last needle broke off the cartridge.  I should have re-ripped this long ago...
                                                "The End of Our Time" LP

                                                            Original Post

A Very Special Brew

Whether you're of the opinion that Axegrinder was derivative or just happened to be doing similar things at the same time as other early UK crusties, you can't deny their place in the 'evilution' of the genre.  I for one have thoroughly reveled in their savage and methodical torments since discovering them for myself about a decade ago.  "Grind the Enemy" was Axegrinder's raw punisher of a demo released before their opus, "Rise of the Serpent Men;" but the rips I've been stringing along for years were a bit lacking. Now that I think of it, I probably could have found better rips if I was more persistent.   But, enter the (Italian?) bootleg operation, Pelvic Alee, who got it in their minds to release the demo on LP recently.  When this arrived at my doorstep, I was quite the giddy mess-- so much so that I decided to rip it.  The "label' did a quality job all around from the sound (keep in mind this is a 26 year old punk demo), to the covers, to the insert which includes lyrics and a biography of the band.  Check it out; I don't know if the quality is any better than what you have, but I wouldn't be much of a host if I didn't share.

Axegrinder "Grind the Enemy" demo, unofficial LP release

No Beer in Heaven

With such a shit week, it's great being a hardcore fan, where any record I put on brings instant commiseration, or at least makes me feel grateful I live in a place that hasn't been annihilated by some kind of holocaust, or been completely raped of basic human rights, like the right to drink beer. Staying with the theme of Profane Existence related bands and/or Midwest crusties, this post concerns Path of Destruction and Provoked, but is a little heavy on the Provoked side. These lager-quaffers shared one hell of a priceless split, which I'm linking below along with both of Provoked's LPs. POD is a brilliant blend of Portland and Minneapolis ingredients with Japanese icing, while Provoked venture into darker terrain like their predecessors Unhinged, or their contemporaries, Schifosi (but maybe a little snottier, like their antecedents, Detonate).

Path of Destruction/Provoked Split 7" (Self-Released, 2002?)

Provoked- "Infant in the Womb of Warfare" LP (Profane Existence, 2003)

Provoked- "Prepare for the Cold" LP (Profane Existence, 2005)

Cast Aside Your Chains and Dance

It appears that another crime against humanity has been committed: the Kakistocracy LP remains out of print. When I picked up my copy around 2006, it was a revelation. A hardcore band could in fact be politically charged, devastating, intelligent, moody, modern, even a bit polished in their production, without succumbing to the pitfalls of pretense or stigma of categories. While these well-read anarchists raise the hairs on your neck, they simultaneously raze the rickety foundations of our masters' illusions-- at once with the wrenching dissonance of their chords, taken together with their words inspired, and at times directly lifted, from Goldman and Berkman. The outpouring of idealism, aggression, frustration, and perseverance is almost too much to take in one listening, but it can be worked up to one side at a time. The band has several other smaller releases, my favorites of which are their last 7" and their split with Nux Vomica. There have been a couple of rumors bandied about as well, one involving a split LP with Chronicle A/D, the other promising a second LP. I've given up on the first, and eagerly await the second. For now, the first LP should be easy to find is such places as this.

Kakistocracy LP (@ 320 kbps)

Minimum Wage Slave Tirade

I've got another handful of random requests to fill, starting with Default's "Die With Honor" one sided 7" (sorry, I don't yet have the other EP requested). There was a time when Default 7"s were being sold for a dollar, and in one instance, I received one free with an order. What a travesty. Maybe it was because they were from Wisconsin and didn't release an LP (I don't think), but they never received their due respect. The "Complacency" comp was my first exposure, and those 44 seconds of gonzo crustcore made them standouts even among the honorable company they were in. "Die With Honor" thankfully continues along these lines, burning with such intense fervor that the tracks disintegrate shortly after starting. The impression is lasting, though, due in part to some flourishes in the songwriting, but mostly due to the tornado-like ass-kicking they deliver.

I got a request a while back for the first Scorned 7", and why not? Scorned is one surly political hardcore ensemble with a scary guitar sound. Being a pretty raw and rough outing, I would maybe not recommend this EP for the uninitiated. After listening to either their LP, split 7", or more recent 7", the first one can be a lot of fun, if fun includes the hardcore equivalent of a jackhammer and a chainsaw trying to drown out the shouts of an angry neighbor. Scorned is another in probably a long line of mid western bands that deserve way more attention, so give 'em a shot.

I was going to post the "Double Crossed" 7" by feisty Texans, Manchurian Candidates, but then I remembered that Mike included it in his post of the LP. For now, we'll just have to settle for some comp tracks until I track down their other 7" and split 7" (which I thought I still had...). Two tracks were re-ripped from the "El Guapo" comp ("Blind Lives" is still my favorite) and the other comes from "Reality Part 4" (a much more metal manifestation of the band).

Default, Scorned, Manchurian Candidates

War- is the new Dis-

All request week begins, and although I have three posts planned, feel free to try and get one more in (the catch being that I have to actually own the thing already). This and the next post are requests from way back, so the guys who asked for them may very well not be around to enjoy them. We are though, and like all requests made from commenters thus far, they turned out to be splendid choices for anyone with ears for the good noise. The first is from a couple of Portland bands from the late nineties, War Machine and Yankee Wuss. The first starts off on side A and then continues leveling and blasting its way through part of side B. These guys had something to say and weren't gonna stop until it got said (except for the track "Yuppies out of Punk" which I can't locate on any of the grooves). Portland, 1990's pretty much sums up what to expect musically: D-beats until tomorrow, and simple yet catchy riffs. My knee-jerk comparison was to Excrement of War, but there are probably a ton of local references that would do just as well. In fact, members probably played in those bands too (Detestation is one I know for sure).
Yankee Wuss have overlapping political sentiments with War Machine, but the similarities end there. Their lyrics are less broad and more snide, and musically they tend to flee frantically from the cliches of their time and place. The tempos range from fast to faster, and the shouting and screaming matches this; but then there are the melodic vocals and the light guitar distortion. This might throw people off, or it might suck them in. I find it refreshing myself, like all the best aspects of Ottawa, Manchurian Candidates, and The Hated congealed into eight tracks. The light distortion is even more perplexing considering the members' connections to Atrocious Madness, Midnight, Detestation, and (to a lesser degree) Harum Scarum, but fuck type casting. This thing rages raw and pissed in its own kind of way.

War Machine/Yankee Wuss split LP (self-released (?), 1999, 300 pressed)

Peace, Love, and Soy

I'm not sure where the last two weeks went. It was like a time warp brought on by my over-scheduled life, or perhaps my head was stuck in a wormhole or some other hole. This problem and an incident involving these three EPs here, a hyper-active dog's tail, and a glass of homebrewed IPA delayed the end of my random Japanese 7" week. After some cursing and cleaning, I'm ready to finish this thing. Let's start with Breed. I've been waiting for their 7" to go out of print from TVG Records for some time, because it rocks hard and I wanted to post it. These guys played fast hardcore and, as the artwork might suggest, some occasional rock'n roll and metal inspired rhythms and riffs. All the tracks are solid as fuck, including the Minor Threat cover.

The second 7" in the folder is from Isolation and was released on the UK's Destroy Records. This band is more of a peace punk/crust core band, complete with noisy guitars and dual-gender vocal trade offs. The simple riffage is catchy and a bit thrashy on the first track. Definitely a good band to know if you're a fan of Nausea, Mankind?, etc.

Finally, we have Claysea whom I imagine have been blogged about before. The band pumps out an abusive cacophony of grinding and crusty noise punk. The deep bass offsets the over the top distortion, while the grunting vocals and galloping d-beats try to push their way through the miasma. Eternal Agony, indeed.

Get all 3 7"s here.

Q: Mankind? A: Dirt.

I won't get into all the reasons for this blog's dormancy; it's the usual case of taking on too much and having too little left to give by the end of the day. I'll slowly get the cogs moving again, and by the end of November, it should be back to clacking and clanking at its old pace. But what really matters is the music, so I'll continue on the therapeutic simplicity of the last post with a couple of splits by Connecticut's Mankind?. This short-lived peace punk/hardcore ensemble channeled all the best aspects of the 80's and 90's, albeit through only a handful of songs...

The first split represents arguably the best material from both bands present, the other being UK veterans, Dirt. Dirt's flickering presence throughout the 80's had exceptionally luminescent moments, but their brief return in the 90's was for me their most focused appearance. Maybe you'll enjoy their more raw material better, but the stylized direction of Deno's vocals just do it for me on this one.

While disappointing by comparison, Mankind?'s two offerings on their split with Final Warning are still solid efforts. The disappointment for me lies in the poor production and in the decision to not make Stacey the lead vocalist. Other than that, "Utopian Nightmare" is a more than passable contribution to American political hardcore, and their cover of "Electrodes" is a boiling, frothing brewpot of angst and loathing.

The original idea for this post was to gather a bunch of Final Warning tracks, including the Warning 7". Both Warning and Final Warning were New York-based bands featuring Neil, Nausea's original vocals-man. Mike of Twisted Tracks must have been eating the same thing this week or been tuned to the same frequency as me because he beat me to it. To complete your Final Warning collection, the track "Wasteland" on the split above is one of the finer examples of FW's post-Discharge bleakness, complete with Neil's burliest angry-sailor vocals. You can get FW's "Eyes of a Child" 7" here, some compilation tracks from both FW and Mankind? here, and FW's live LP here. In an interesting twist, on the LP Final Warning takes their stab at an "Electrodes" duet between Neil and Stacey (Mankind?).

Mankind?'s splits with Dirt and Final Warning

Powerless with a Guitar

When the clutter of life becomes so entangled as to become a hindrance to living it, I look to bands built on a framework of simplicity. The last month has been one of those times, and Disaffect has been one of the remedies. By now the band is infamous as part of the Scottish division of the more hardcore branch of peace punk produced in the late eighties/early nineties in parallel with Nausea, Disrupt and the like. "Powerless With A Guitar" is a posthumous live document that proves to me at least that Disaffect only gets more classic as the years pass. Side "Punk" is a superior recording of a set in Glasgow in '92, and side "As Fuck" is perhaps one of the band's last sets (1994), and was recorded in Dijon. The 23 tracks hereon make a great bookend to their studio discography, the main contents of which can be found on the resurrected Stay Female Fronted blog.

Disaffect - "Powerless With A Guitar" Live LP

Rock-Out Without Your Cop-Out

For your sake, I hope you already have Ebola's "Imprecation" 7", as it is quite the classic of nineties fast/grindcore. I thought I had convinced myself of the superiority of the band's more hardcore material, but hearing these nine tracks and their split with Servitude has me constantly swaying and reassessing. The band however, could always be counted on to pinch our self-righteous nerves with the forceps of their scathing honesty, and at times to slam our hypocritical ideals headlong into the meat grinder of their sour chords and unforgiving blast-beats. These musicians and people rank way up there in my personal cannon of UK hardcore, so as with the last post, the honor is all mine in presenting this to you...

The "Imprecation" 7" by Ebola (UK)

Studiocidal Transmissions from Planet Fascista

With this other oddball 7", we keep kindled the One by One fire with the waning hope that one day the former members will catch our signal and release the mythical discography CD. In the meantime, click the One by One label below for a bunch of their vinyl efforts, and the link below for the "Atrapad@s en el Fascista Planeta Tierra" 7". This one features a "studiocide" ("Silent Consent" and "Virtual Reality '93") and a "live evil" side ("The Monsters Almost Look Human Now," "Making Bacon," and "Nazi Raus"). Regardless of how you feel about live recordings, this is One by One, so it doesn't matter, but I do have to apologize for the abused condition of the vinyl being ripped here. By now you know the drill: One by One played passionate and unique political hardcore, members of which would go on to play in Ebola, Jinn, etc. Always a joy to hear, and an honor to post...

"Atrapad@s en el Fascista Planeta Tierra" 7" by One by One (Flat Earth & Victimas del Progresso- Crimines de Estado)

Starving The Starving

So maybe we won't be leaving Canada alone just yet. I got bitten by the summer bug since the last post and thus the delay; but in the meantime I secured a cheap copy of the Wisigoth/Jobbykrust split LP which I'm happy to share with you today. Wisigoth continue with their raw and ugly doom/crust/metal, and Jobbykrust compile some early demo material for 12 tracks of charged-up political hardcore done right. Both bands are so distinct, yet the pairing seems just perfect and both match each other in intensity and sincerity, making the 47 minutes of music seem all too short. Get more Jobbykrust music and info here, here, and here, and get the Wisigoth 7" here.

Wisigoth/Jobbykrust split LP (Funai Records)

The Slaughter of Immortals

I was looking for more Wisigoth material in order to compliment this excellent 7" and offer a more extensive post. Unfortunately, this didn't happen before the urge to post it took over. Wisigoth was a Canadian band that sliced and trampled its way into the secret society of bands ruled over by Dystopia-- bands with a definite metal base, but with leanings toward crust, a DIY hardcore ethic, and tempos that earn them sludge honors. If you're into other French-Canadien metal/crust/grind/sludge, you either already dig these guys or will have no problem doing so. Since I'm on this whole kick of doing series, look out for more Canadian stuff this week.

Wisigoth- "Une Hécatombe Pour Les Immortels..." 7" (Spineless Records, 1997)

One Less God

Reasons to rejoice over the Godless 7": 1. It's fucking Godless! 2. Rough versions of "OCA", "Equal" and "Blood and Tears." 3. Two exclusive tracks. 4. A ripping Sin 34 cover. As unpolished as the production is, the recording dates indicate that this may have been their last release. The band also added two more musicians, freeing Leslie up to focus solely on vocals; but rest assured, this is the same Godless of Portland who caroled at your virtual door last Christmas, ate all your cookies, drank all your schnapps, and left a year's worth of melody on your lips.

The Godless 7"

Shrieking in Three Movements

Alarido is an anomalous arctic blast, ravaging the sun-smitten Nevada desert landscape. The band's first cassette is a three-part odyssey of what Painajainen calls "crust/d-beat with black metal influences," and that sums it up as well as any label could. What he's too modest to say is that this tape completely rules. What turns out to be nineteen minutes of music, seems like only five, as the band seamlessly navigates through violent blizzards of blast-beats, searing d-beat siroccos, and the occasional rest on an inland sea of acoustic tranquility. You definitely don't want to miss this one, or the next tape which is in the works.

Buy the first cassette here

Download here

Starving with our Stomachs Full

Another commenter has prompted me to dust off yet another post from '08 which I've been wanting to polish up for a while anyway. Asebia would make a great bookend to another slab of cold Northern gloom posted recently, and I daresay these Copenhageners stabbed even deeper into humanity's diseased viscera. They then proceed to mop up the filth left by this ailing beast with its own entrails. The attack is swift like all great scandi-thrash, but the evil metallic flourishes and abundant tempo changes really lend Asebia a singular signature I've come to admire in them and similarly gifted bands like Konfrontation and Acursed. Below their LP has been re-ripped at 320 kbps, and I've included the minimal graphics of the layout. Apparently there was a cassette version of these 10 excellent tracks, but its production is a bit mysterious and its distribution a bit shoddy.

Asebia "Face of Civilization" LP (Plague Bearer Records)