Sairaus - "A Siege Of Sickness" Demo Tape & "A Sickness Called God" 2xCredit Card CDR 2010

Finnish in name only, and musically a nod to "Burning Spirits" melodramatic song structures, this very short lived side project featuring half of Kontraattaque and Cthuwulf should have been headlining local shows. I'm unsure why Sairaus/Disease disbanded so quickly, though guitarist Dirk also wanted to focus on the simple fastcore of his other band I'm Diet (as in the Japanese legislative branch, the "dee-it"). The best song on both demos is still "Who Protects Me From You?"

Dirk died on Inauguration Day from a textbook freak accident. All he did was bump his head, literally that was it, had a seizure and dropped dead. The guy was completely sXe, avoided drama like the plague, and in my scant dealings with him over the decades he was ALWAYS friendly and cordial. He nerded hard at a Total Fury gig when he saw Max Ward give me my artist's copies of the Protes Bengt LP. I only asked for 6 bucks from him, and if I wasn't an alcoholic at the time I would have just given him one. He also wore my art and kept the shirts in immaculate condition. I wasn't bestys with him, but it's so melancholy in general the memories that come flooding back when one hears of a "scene death".

Rapt - "Mind Your Head" CD 2004 ('84-'86)

Listening to Rapt ("Abduction") is like getting slapped with obese fish by Mick Harris at full blast. "French Larm" is the easiest answer, though Rapt's walls of noise erupt more violently, are of prolonged duration, and possess a characteristic "blubbery" feel to the productions not always inherent to the recording methods. If Larm affirmed optimism in their rage against the machine, Rapt affirmed pessimism at it's iciest. Complete collection of all known recordings (31 tracks in 38 minutes!) spanning demo/reh/live/comp and the aborted 12", 1984 to 1986. 

Method Of Destruction - "U.S.A. For M.O.D." LP 1987 (CD Rip)

Sometimes ya gotta listen to retarded shit. I fuckin' LOVED this record when "it first came out". It was moshier than S.O.D. and just as offensive...but more roughly played by ne'er-do-wells in flipped up No Mercy caps instead of pizza thrash party heshers. I was crybating to Napalm Death a year later, but I can't deny that M.O.D.'s debut was a twisted bridge between metal and hardcore for me (if only in finally parsing the punk out of the metal of crossover). If you're down with major label sexism, racism, homophobia, and fat shaming set to short-ish, sometimes fast-ish, but always loud songs, then take my hand (tightly!) as we board the Trump Train to auditory elysium!

http://www.mediafire.com/file/9z261f5520aybf7/MOD_-_USA...zip

Attitude Adjustment - "No More Mr. Nice Guy" 12" 1988 (CD Rip)

I dunno why this mini-LP gets crapped on...it's faster, simpler, and thrashier than American Paranoia, with a more powerful but still underground production. The overdriven guitar tone is the most noticeable change, but that's an improvement too. The record's abbreviated length (and distillation of catchy songs) should be a touchstone in hardcore's philosophical essence: getting to the goddamn point with indomitable energy. Heresy re-releasing it on their boutique label still didn't muster any praise. Regardless of other people's glaring lack of taste, this is my fave output from the band.

Vromb - "Jeux De Terre" CD 1993

This was one of two specific CDs I always played while driving into the mountains very late at night (to drink, oh and the other disc was Voice Of Eye's "Vespers"). Erroneously cited as sampling actual insects, digital wing flutters and macromolecular roars are pulped and sifted into a darktronic symphony of breathtaking majesty (it's still revered as Gerard's best work). It's too easy for me to say "this shit's cray like smokin' PCP in the butterfly tent at the zoo"...which it is...but I don't think it's intentionally engineering fear. Gerard seems to be hailing the insects, hacking their little souls to see how their view of this dimension ticks. So while the tracks can be "creepy", they have an alien disconnect to them...like they were crafted for arthropod ears and not human ones. Whatever the species, this release is flawless!

Rupture - "Orangutan Suicide Sessions" 1990-2001 4 x Cassette 2014

The very definition of "complete discography" (of home recordings). Demos, rehearsals, full sessions from the earliest EPs and splits, unreleased songs, half songs, live soundboards, and side band Mob 48 (lol) aaaaaalll duped from the masters. I really wanna hammer at how clear and loud most of the recordings and duplication came out, as though the label was shady (they even pissed off the band swapping out their original art for the "joke" cover), every fan of piss raw 4-track fastcore/thrash/nasty ass drunkpunk would fastly piss themselves raw at the care taken into the transfers. My bladder burst, but after enduring ripping these tapes in one sitting, I don't think I'll be able to revisit Rupture again for at least a decade (or tomorrow).



Uncle Slam - "Say Uncle" LP 1988 (Japanese CD Rip)

There's something about 80s cholocore that's addictive to me. In Uncle Slam's caught case, the crossover is usually upper midpace with ridiculously high school hesher lyrics (one song is even groove-metal rap). Each track is honed for supreme pit power, with airy production and riffs that chuggily shank you like broken 40s. And they were on Caroline. Fuckin' CAROLINE (for the millennials, that's a fat juicy 'member berry to old fucks). Throw on a white t-shirt and iron that bandana, tonight...you SLAM!

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ptf9q3p6i44su0i/UNCLE_SLAM_-_Say_Uncle_1988.zip

Mick Harris - '88 Troubled Times Radio Interview

I was arsed to find the tape! So here it is: the March '88 Troubled Times radio interview with Mick Harris. Topics include ND's style (which seems to amuse the host more than impress), E.N.T., Larm cheating playing fast, crustys, zines, and just about everything else going on in extreme thrash at the time. Highly informative and brutally truthful, the only downer is the host's stony disassociation from reality (his speech patterns alone are annoying). A fun and sentimental listen for those born with a Scum test press in their ass, or those who downloaded a copy to teethe on decades later.






Shock Troop - 1998 Demo

Geisha batterin', spirit burnin' trad-core from...Austria?! Cultural appropriation can fellate itself, if it was never put on blast how "foreign" the band was, you'd swear on Ishiya's trihawk they were as Japanese as cephalopod porn. Impressively produced and obsessively played, everything about their existence and ethos is rendered with the same conviction as any of the surly old black tooth cokeheads y'all kowtow to. FUCK Y-O-U! (PUNK!)


Dejecta - Demo '93


Post-Repulsion dark thrash from Aaron and Matt. There's blasts, and the drummer is human, but his entire performance is so strongly processed that I can't tell if they're bad triggers or the band got him in after this session. It's not the worst detractor, as the rest of the recording has an excellent mix and capture (and juuust enough structural commonality to Repulsion for me to cosign it). Vocals are super clean, songs aren't too long, and thematically it's still skulls-for-soup-bowls and necrophilia. Not a mediocre project at all, just heavily overshadowed by their previous band's still living legend. 

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