Review #238: Siege - Drop Dead (1993)

DROP DEAD

Year: 1993
Genre: Hardcore Punk/Grindcore
Label: Lost and Found Records
Tracks: 9
Length: 16 Minutes
My Rating: 7/8

Siege was a Boston hardcore band that existed from 1983 to 1985... they are said by many to have been the first grindcore band ever. The band's music definitely was different -- really fast, really angry, with some of the most brutal recorded vocals ever for the time. Similar to Napalm Death, who would further define the genre, the band touches upon lyrical themes such as starvation in 3rd-world countries, social barriers, and injustices perpetuated through capitalism. The band's main line-up was Kevin Mahoney (vocals/saxophone), Kurt Habelt (guitar), Henry McNamee (bass guitar), and Rob Williams (drums).

Siege never saw release on an actual record of their own while they existed aside from an appearance on the compilation, "Cleanse the Bacteria" on Pusmort Records. The songs on this record were recorded in 1984 at Radiobeat Studios (same place where Deep Wound recorded their songs!). As far as I know, these are either all or almost all of the songs recorded by Siege in the studio, taken from two different sessions. Now LISTEN!

1. Drop Dead
Extremely fast! The vocals scream with a corrosive fucking shattering force! They remind me a bit of the early Meat Puppets vocal style... about as furious as it gets! Almost doesn't sound human, and it's pissed-off without sounding canned or contrived like a lot of more "extreme" bands today.

2. Conform
"Monkey see, monkey do, monkey has low I.Q." -- great!!! The verse section is slow and the chorus is really fast. The lyrics are about people who try to dress and even act like others in their social group/society/whatever they belong to just so they can be accepted... after all, being different is SCARY! FUCK YOU!!

3. Life of Hate
Awesome!! FAST, FURIOUS, FURIOUS, FAST!! The lyrics describe all those fucking bigots who direct their anger towards anyone of a different race/sexual orientation.

4. Starvation
Fast but not grindcore fast. The song describes the plight of those who are starving in the truest sense -- struggling to find a grain of rice to eat with bloated stomachs protruding from their skeletal bodies! According to the song, a big reason that these people cannot eat is because their leaders waste the money they could be using to help on buying more fucking weapons.

5. Armageddon
More extremity in speed. The lyrics of this song reveal how pointless and self-defeating the entire concept of war, especially a world war is. Don't buy into that shit. If you have the choice and any self-respect, don't join the military. I know a lot of people are wanting to do that right now because a lot of people feel they don't have options, but I really hope if you have any other options that you would not choose that one.

6. Walls
Another great... violent guitar riff and beat... the vocals are rough. Despite the aggression, this song has a positive (at least for most) message. It describes the ages-old borders between people, nations... social barriers suck. The song encourages the listener to help tear these walls down.

7. Cold War
It gets even more grinding and chock-full of fury. As you might guess, it's very fast, the guitar riff is great. There's even a real good guitar solo in the middle of the song. It describes the power exercised by the two nations who fought the Cold War and their obvious thirst/blindness for blood spilt.

8. Sad But True
This song recommends that we "disarm every bomb and unload every gun". Kevin also screams of the hypocritical supporters of "peace" who shed blood and participate in violence in order to spread their influence.

9. Grim Reaper
This is a very long song compared with the others. Slow, also. Feel that heavy vibration from the bass guitar. It doesn't sound so happy, does it? This song is more experimental than the others, with a lot of weird guitar noise shit going on in the background and a lot of saxophone-playing as well. Kevin's screams echo and bounce back and forth across the walls. The song's lyrics describe a man who is dying of lung cancer due to a mistake made by a doctor at the hospital, and his fear and eventual encounter with death, which is personified by a skull-faced grim reaper who cuts off his head... "OH GOD, I WANT TO LIVE!!" The song trudges on with Kevin shouting and ranting at the taker of life. Towards the end, the song collapses into an unstable explosion of musical chaos.

According to Discogs.Com (I do not know how reliable this info is so take it with a grain of salt), but Kevin and Rob from the band are now in a new band called the Spoils. Also, even though Kevin was the singer, Rob Williams actually wrote most of the songs for Siege. Also, in 1991, Seth Putnam (R.I.P.) from Anal Cunt became the vocalist for a briefly-reformed Siege. This version of the band only has one released song called "Cameras", which was featured on a compilation that came out 13 years later called "13 Bands Who Think You're Gay". So yes, if you like grindcore OR hardcore then Siege is a pretty under-rated and important band... they really pushed the limit musically and they still kick ass. I'm a young person, I should know!

Top 3 Favorites:
1. Drop Dead
2. Walls
3. Cold War

SIEGE LIVE ON TELEVISION:

Review #204: Hatred Surge - Isolated Human 7" (2009)

ISOLATED HUMAN (EP)

Year: 2009
Genre: Hardcore Punk/Grindcore
Label: Painkiller Records
Tracks: 6
Length: 5 Minutes
My Rating: 6/8

Hatred Surge is a grindcore/"powerviolence" (which apparently means hardcore punk played even faster than normal), and the group is from Austin Texas, and they've put out a lot of records before this one so I'm guessing they probably started around 2003 or '04. The band is made up of Alex, the bassist/vocalist 1, Chris, the guitarist, Mike "The Trike", the drummer, and Rahi, the vocalist 2. There are two singers for the band. That's one thing that I thought was RAEEALY cool. Alex has a beard and does the whole bulldog-in-a-blender-sounding grindcore vocals. Rahi sounds like Lydia Lunch and she's really fucking hot (really hot)! Like, the two singers will sing different parts in the same song. It sounds awesome. The band's name comes from the title of a Napalm Death demo tape. A lot of the band's releases before this are out-of-print, which sucks ass. Oh, wait, so is this one! Shit. Well, I ILLAEEEAAGULLY DOWNLOADED IT if that's okay, but there would be a higher chance of me actually buying it if it weresn't outta print already, man! Anyways, the EP starts off with the sounds of strong static fuzz before the first song starts, so let's keep listening until the first song starts... then we'll listen to it even MORE!!!!!!!

1. Black Box
Kind of slow compared to the other songs. But it's actually the best one. The riff is great-sounding, there's alternating sung lines between Alex and Rahi which adds another sort of organized chaos to the mix of sound, the guitar sound is real heavy. The chorus section is extremely awesome and brutal-sounding. I LOVE this song!! It's all about death and how you can't escape from death and stuff... yep, wee're all gunna die, kidz. But this song really doez rock.

2. Hell and Back
Starts out slow and then it gets really really fast for a few seconds. Then there's a slow part with just drums and yelling and then one more ultra-thrash moment.

3. Isolated Human
Fast, but in more of a hardcore-punk way... then there's some slow parts and very fast parts. The lyrics are real claustrophobic-sounding. End of Side A.

4. Monster
REALLY FAST! A cool guitar sound is made in one part towards the beginning. One part is only half as speedy as the rest. The guitars continue to sound loud as ever. In one part they play a riff that sounds JUST like the opening riff for "Oven" by the Melvins.

5. Fatalist
Really really fast verse part with Alex singing and the chorus is fast but not as fast with Rahi singing "ONLY DEATH IS CERTAIN!". The song's about how nothing in life is as real as death because death is the only thing that truly lasts forever.

6. Gaining Momentum
Alternates between really fast parts and really slow parts. More great vocals, cool riffs, dark lyrics, etc. Then the record outro sounds similar to the intro... weird fuzzed-out noises. Maybe it actually sounds like something else when you speed it up a ton.

You'll probably either love or hate this EP, depending on how you feel about really really fast/extreme music with ridiculously harsh vocals. I like it, though. Mainly for the opening song, "Black Box". That's just a really great song. The other songs are good also, but not quite to the level of the first tune. This is really the only Hatred Surge record I've listened to in its entirety. They have a ton of other EPs and singles and they have an album, also. Maybe you'll hear more about them from me in the future. Like how great-looking Rahi is. It'd be cool if she punched me in the face a bunch of times. But it's really really snowy outside. So I guess I'm an "ISOLATED HUMAN" right now, huh, huh??

Top 3 Favorites:
1. Black Box
2. Monster
3. Isolated Human