Year:1986 Genre: Hardcore Punk/Thrash Metal Label: Subcore Records Tracks: 13 Length: 31 Minutes My Rating: 6/8
The Accüsed are a hardcore/thrash band from Seattle, Washington. They formed in 1981 as a standard hardcore band with their original vocalist, John Dahlin, was the old singer... things took a change sometimes in 1984 when the band decided to venture into a more heavy metal-influenced sound, and they recruited the new singer, Blaine Fart from another Seattle punk rock band called the Fartz. This is the first full length LP the band ever released, and it chronicles, well, the return of MARTHA SPLATTERHEAD, the band's skull-splattering, flesh-ripping mascot.
1. Martha Splatterhead MARTHA... you can hear those palm-muted chords rev up the whole shit for the attack! It's fast and Blaine sounds fucking mad. This song originally appeared on the "Martha Splatterhead" EP.
2. Wrong Side of the Grave The intro is already real exciting! Feel the power in those beats and that violent guitar riff... the screams echo through the darkness. Some parts of this song are fast and some parts are slow.
3. Take My Time Another song from the E.P. I just love how crazy Mr. Fart sounds here... this makes Minor Threat seem slow. TAKE MY TIME!! The lyrics are about not wanting to waste your time trying to get rich and how striving for power is pointless and stupid anyways.
4. Distractions Originally from "Martha Splatterhead". Fast and angry. Not one of my favorites from the album, but still pretty decent. The lyrics are about a person who's striving to be a straight member of society and then starts getting distracted by fights and drugs and porno.
5. Buried Alive This sounds so much like Bad Brains. Bad Brains but really angry instead of Rastafarian. Rastafari sucks anyways. Remember "I Hate Reggae" by Poison Idea? Yeah. Sweet fucking guitar solo in the middle!
6. Show No Mercy Another one o' muh favorites. It's not quite as fast as some of the others, but it has a really great guitar riff and it's extremely AWESOME, what the hell else can I say?? Wish I had the lyrics for this one.
7. Slow Death Originally appeared on the Martha Splatterhead 12". This song's about heroin addiction. It starts out slow and then it gets very faster. The song reminds the addict that while they may use their drug as an escape from their problems, it brings them more near to death each time they inject.
8. Autopsy Slow creepy intro... then it goes into a slightly faster part, and then a very fast part. Check out that groovy riff for the verse part! It's like a wackky spider on crack!
9. She's Killer Yet another great. It's intense, super fast, the singing sounds great. It's a wild ride! There is one slow part in the middle. Everything else is frantic just like it all should be! Sounds amazing.
10. In a Death Bed The guitar riff is awesome. DYING. YOU'RE DYING (i'M dying)...
11. Lonely Place THE WORLD'S A LONELY PLACE AND YOU'RE ALL ALONE. The lyrics to this one are kind of sad. And it's fast.
12. Fucking for Bucks In this song, the band advertises their FUCKING4BUCKS task featforce in which they will fuck rich women in exchange for CASH! ORAL, ANAL, IN THE PUSSY BOX! Ya heard it... MOE LESTER. AND I AM THE WIZARD. FUCKING FOR BUCKS. FAST SHREDDIN' CHORDS. SKFDSKKDGKDFKGFDKKGKKKGKGJFDHGFGHFGHFGJGHJGHJHJHKJL;KJLKJ FUCKING FUCKING FOR BUCKS FUCKING BUTTS FOR BUCKS... originally appeared on "Martha Splatterhead".
13. Martha's Revenge I love the moaning and laughing at the beginning... fucking AWESOME. Great job, Mr. Cook. BLAINE, that iz. MARTHA'S GUNNA KILL YOU. What else can I say? Listen to the goddamn song yourself. I'm tired. WE'RE GONNA GET YOU. TIME TO GO TO SLEEEEP...
So that's the Return of Martha Splatterhead. This record got various re-issues with different cover art but I chose the original to be displayed here. For the most part this record is pretty good but there are a few weak spots. But, it's the fucking Accused and they're awesome so who cares? Personally I think their stuff from "Maddest Stories" to "Splatter Rock" is the best. But still definitely check this out, I don't think you'll regret it if you like gory, splattery, abrasive, rock music that is meant to be listened to late at night when the zombies come out to play. GOOD NIGHT! DON'T LET MARTHA BITE!
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Wrong Side of the Grave 2. Show No Mercy 3. Buried Alive
Year:2011 Genre:Hardcore Punk Label: Abubilla Producciones Tracks: 6 Length: 17 Minutes My Rating: 7/8
Las Sexpeares are a punk rock band from Madrid, Spain. The band formed around 2009, with the members Benny (guitarplay/sing), Kinki (drumdoes), and Dhiva (playingofbass)... their main influences are bands like Nirvana, Hole, the Smashing Pumpkins, and the She Devils. The members of the band are all very lovely women, but of course, they are also lesbians. Actually, I'm not entirely sure what city they are from since they always list themselves as being from both Madrid, Spain, and Barakaldo, Argentina... how can ONE group exist in TWO places which are far away from eachother? HUH? HUH??!!!!! (over-used gag)
This is the band's first release (besides their demo recordings), and it's quite awesome. The music is more interesting than the average hardcore band, because the songplaying and songwriting are very well-done here! Who doesn't love GOOD MUSIC? Oh yeah, the same people who think good music means popular music... silly me. Actually, some good music used to be popular. Some of it still is. What am I saying, you've heard this shit before many times... so yes, this is another one of my favorite records to be released this year so far. Because it doesn't suck. In fact, it's cool.
1. Que Asco De Gente The guitar riff is great... the bass progression is cool also... that's one thing I like about this EP, the bass playing is pretty un-bland. There's some backing chorus vocals... I like the drumming in the mid-section. I can't help but think of fire when hearing this song. The lyrics of this song express a notwant of milk and feelings of depression.
2. Catnip It is said that when the band recorded this song in the studio, they first ate large amounts of catnip and got totally fucked up. One section features a pounding drumbeat and the band screaming... the other section of the song features, well, singing and a different chord progression of course. And it's good... the chorus section sounds extremely nice. Yet anoother good song from Mrs. Band.
3. Parasitos My favorite song from the record. The guitar playing here is really awesome... just listen to the guitar riff... it's as energizing as it comes. The bass line is great in itself. It's not as fast as the other songs but who cares because it's awesome... at the end there is a wild-ass guitar solo that makes Jimi Hendrix roll in his grave with INSANITY! The lyrics are about how we're all gonna die someday or something... I know this because of the Spanish-to-English translator so it might not be entirely accurate.
4. Suicidas Another awesome legit great song. This was the first song by the band I heard, though it was the demo version. Some parts are real fast and other parts are slower... the chorus guitar chords grind yer face to the floor! SUICIDAS! The song's about hating normal stuck-up people and the spirit of punk rock energy and lust for life that will never die!
5. Libertad Cadavercia The first half of the song is pretty calm and the second half is more loud and buzzed-out. It's about everyone you knew and loved having died or committed suicide, and being always lonely... the curse of the survivor. As with the others, this is a very good song.
6. Descontrol Starts off with a soft, depressing intro... then it gets all thrashy and pissed-off... it's like my little kitty, Steve. She's all sleepy and meowy one moment and then she starts trying to bite off my leg. It's SOOOOooOOO cute/annoying! I love/hate her so much!! THERE IS DYNAMITE UNDER MY BED... KA-BOOM!!!!!!!!
That's my review of the Las Sexpeares CD. EP. Thing-E. CDEPThingEDingyWingy!!!! I've never even heard the She Devils before. But this shore is some real awesome punk rock and you should, like, listen to it because the record is free. Don't believe me? Can't argue with this string of text: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2Y3U45W0
So this is one of my favorite new records because it's good and the songs are all good and they sound good becuase SHIT, WHY DO I HAVE TO SAY SHIT AFTER I'VE ALREADY REVIEWED THIS RECORD? WHAT AM I EXPECTING MYSELF TO SAY, HUH??
THEY'RE A BAND.
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Parasitos 2. Suicidas 3. Catnip
Year:2010 Genre:Hardcore Punk Label: Unknown Tracks: 3 Length: 6 Minutes My Rating: 6/8
Low Places are a hardcore punk group from L.A., California! It is the first release by the band and a couple of other E.P.'s have been released by the band since. Soon a 12" record called "Spiritual Healing" will be released by the band on A389 Recordings as well. I don't know a ton else about the band, but they can either be really fast or really slow, and these guys are very much "hardcore", in the musical sense, at least... I mean, just look at that cover! Exploded humans! Cool! But I digress... it's time to do that thing I do...
1. Sleeping In Feedback. And then a droning, low-pitched riff commences. It's like the Melvins if they were more serious... actually, that's pretty lazy of me to say, this doesn't sound very much like the Melvins at all besides being slow and heavy. Oh, wait, nevermind, they do remind me of the Melvins a little bit. But the singer screams. More fucking screaming... and it's not fucking awesome screaming like the Accused, but hey, it's their band, should they sound exactly like the Accused? WELL WHY THE FUCK NOT? I LOVE THE ACCUSED! Anyways, yeah, I'll just namedrop some more Seattle-originating punk/metal hybrid bands and not fucking talk about the song. And then I'll be self-critical and throw you some more proverbial curveballs. Heh-heh... "Balls". HAHAHAHAHA! The guitar feels pretty goddamn chuggin', like one would chug a bottle of milk, perhaps. The middle part is all fast! Fuck yeah!! Nice guitar riff also... it's a very pissed off song. I think these guys were totally not happy when they recorded/wrote it. It's just too bad I don't know the lyrics. Hey, Low Places, wanna tell me your lyrics, maybe?? PLEEEEAZE??!!
2. Detached This one's real awesome as well. Starts off with a beat that kinda gets you revved up for action, and then it really fucking kicks off and gets really loud. FAST! YES! AWESOME FURIOUS GUITAR RIFF AND DRUMMING AND SCREAMIN' LIKE A DEMON AND ALL THAT STUFF. Y'know, it's like the kind of song you intentionally get into a car wreck to. Because you're just so DETACHED!!
3. The Doors Are Closing Starts off with a sample of some people talking and then some guy says "The Doors Are Closing". Then the song begins. It's very slow and massive. Then the band kicks into thrash mode, and this goes on for a bit until the band becomes backed into a corner. The singer begins lashing back out at the listener, screaming his shit while the rest of the band has calmed down a bit. More people talking. That's all.
So that's my review for the day... this band seems to pump out a lot of stuff in a short amount of time, so we'll probably hear more about Low Places on the site again. If anyone has lyrics or additional info on this group, then lemme know. The songs are equally good I'd say, but I do appreciate the short/sweetness of numero two. Can't go wrong with a short fast song. Unless it sucks. But that song didn't suck. So we're okay. The tape is out of print so you can download the record for free off of the band's BandCamp website. I'll be back with another review tomorrow.
Year: 2011 Genre: Hardcore Punk Label: Unknown Tracks: 7 Length: 14 Minutes My Rating: 7/8
Hi y'all. I've just come back from the doldrums of a really bad fucking trip, so just bear with me, bears. Or whatever, I dunno, I'm just here to say that things got really shitty for a few days and I'm slowly starting to feel loike muh old self again so I'm sorry if I can't be mister sunshiney for a few days. People have their little moments... mine just seem to happen more frequently than not lately. But ol' Chuck Fuck is gonna be okay. I'm pretty sure I don't have permanent brain damage and I should be alright by the end of this week. Let's just say I got fucked up on robitussin and saw n' heard some EXTREMELY frightening, traumatizing, cosmically lame shit. Ever seen the divide between life and death? Yeah, it was gettin' REAL bad, man. When you're sitting on a chair shaking and staring at the shattered remains of reality like a broken mirror, you're about to tip over that edge and you need a break from drugs. It seems like this whole month I've been getting myself into shit. But tonight I'm gunna start writing this review, which is something non-destructive (but still fun, kids) that I can do with my time.
Okay, so we know that T.S.O. is an Italian hardcore ponk band formed in October of 2010. Which is cool. Okay, okay, so we know that. The band's name is an abbreviation for an Italian phrase meaning "mandatory medical treatment" (in English). This is the band's first demo recording and it has a really cool name like PARASOMNIA PSEUDO SUICIDE, and they're not afraid to whore out a jillion images of Lung Leg (who iz cool), and that's awesome... the music rocks really hard also... fast, energetic, harsh, y'know, the works! The members of the band are Sarah Lynn (vocals/guitar), Nicola (bass guitar), and Guido (drums). They even gots a GG Allin cover, which is pretty kol. Look, if we're gonna go review shit, then let's review it. sh but this review isn't SHITE, it's LEGITE, so lut's go listen to these songs and then state the obvious or make really dumb jokes about them or something. I dunno. Here we GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..............................
1. My Mind The chorus is kinda catchy. As with many albums, it's too bad I don't know the lyrics. I SMASH YER FACE AGAINST THE WALL, FUCK YEAH!! I like how she yells that "Right noooOOOOOOOWWW" at that last part a lot. Cool song.
2. A Bloody Diving Down Slow song... yaeeeyyyy! The guitar sound is really thick and sludgy, which iz great. Starts out with a kind of psychedelic phaser sound... I love it. YAY FOR HARD-ASSED GUITAR DISTORTION. I like the chorus part a lot... Sarah Lynn (yes, that is the singer's name) has a cool singing voice and the vocal melodies she comes up with are very nice. There's a guitar solo in the middle of the song. Still think the chorus iz the best part. I like this song much. YAYAYAYyysfdsgjdflkgldfgdfjlkgfdlkdfkhfghfghflgjhfg It's like some dude was getting really bloody as s/he's diving down a scrapey scraggly concrete tunnel of PAIN. Pain sucks.
3. Scummy Human Being This one is really fast. Fucking great guitar riff, I already know that... the vocals are packed with an intensity and fire, the beat is fast like Minor Threat... it's simple but it get ze job done, which is the job of being an awesome, fun to listen to punk song. Human beings can be pretty scummy if thuh haven't showered in a long time. It has a great energy to it. Awesome production also.
4. Dried Root I like this song a lot too. Starts out with a bass riff and then a guitar riff and you can hear the (henry) rollin' (s) drums and then things get all kicked off n' shit. Part of the reason I like this song so much is because the verse riff is the same riff as the ending part of one of my own songs that I wrote... and I wouldn't have used that chord progression if I didn't like it. The chorus section is more upbeat-soundin'... like those maniac "HAHAHAHA"s she throws into the second verse, it's awesome... kind of a Johnny Rotten-soundin' flair; violent and sarcastic like good punk muzick should be, fucker!!
5. Beat to Death (Murders) Once again, this has got cool chords. I like the singing. A bunch of other shit I've said about other songs. But it's a good song, OKAY??!!!! Towards the end there are a bunch of samples of people talking to eachother. There's a solo, too.
6. Lotta Per Il Potere This is a cover of a band called Kollettivo. It's really fast and aggressive and the singing is very fast here. It's the shortest song on the record, being just under a minute long. But it's short and sweet and awesome! Great song to slam to in a power-pit o' mayhem.
7. Bite It (You Scum) Who doesn't know this one? OH YEAH... PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW THIS ONE! SILLY MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHEEEHEEEEHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! Oh, fuck. This a mid-tempo, angry but confident rock song (what'd ya think it was gonna be, hip-hop?) about wanting to kick the ass of somebody who wants you to do a bunch of shit for you... the "you" in this case being Mister Allin, of course! In a way I have to say this is the weakest track on the demo, not that it isn't good, or even musically my least favorite, but it doesn't feel nearly as angry or fucked-up as the GG Allin version... GG sounds really angry and the vocals here don't sound as convincing... not knocking, it just doesn't feel exactly the same. But it's hard to be exactly the same as GG Allin, isn't it? Oh shit, I must be the very type of person this song is raging against. Fuck me! FORGIVE MY SINS, OHHH LORDIE! There's a guitar solo in the middle too. But yeah, it's a decent cover but obviously not as good as the original.
So there's my review on the T.S.O. demo. Definitely worth listening to... one of the hardest-rocking releases to come out this year so far, almost every song on this is totally awesome and it's got all the right ingredients to some good, totally awesome music! The chord progressions are very potent, the singing is good and unlike a lot of hardcore nowadays, Sarah actually attempts to sing, which is really refreshing... c'mon you motherfucks, it's not THAT un-punk to actually use vocal melodies! Try it, it might actually make your band BETTER! I think this band has "it". What is "it"? THEY SAY "what is it?" THEY SAY "what is it?"... YOU WANT IT OUT BUT YOU CAN'T HAVE IT... (yeah yeah yeah), IT'S IN YOUR FAAACE, BUT YOU CAN'T GRA --sorry 'bout that. Sorry very much, sirs n' ladies of the world. Okay, yes, listen to this band, they are on MySpace, they are Reverbnation, so go listen. NOW!!!!!! Bye bye.
(p.s. -- lyrics and names of other band members would be nice to know of.)
Top 3 Favorites: 1. A Bloody Diving Down 2. Scummy Human Being 3. Dried Root
Year: 2011 Genre: Hardcore Punk Label: None Tracks: 2 Length: 5 Minutes My Rating: 6/8
Okay, okay. So this is my first review I think I have done in about two months... school, and then eventually sheer laziness/apathy led me to slack off for awhile. BUT I NEEDED A BREAK, OKAY?? People (in other words, Facundo) started asking why I wasn't doing reviews anymore. No, I didn't quit. I was just taking a break. I'm writing right now, isn't that a step in the right direction? OKAY. OKAY.
Anyways, I saw my first punk show ever last Friday (the one before the most recent Friday) and I got to see Secondhand Destruction, Mr. Clit & the Pink Cigarettes, the End of Time, and the Defendants all in one night at the Brewery in Troy. I got to meet Mike from the Defendants and the other members of the Defendants and I also got to hang out with the members of the End of Time for awhile. They gave me a copy of their 2-song demo CD for free and practiced for awhile in the back room behind the stage. Later that night, the End of Time played (third band of the night) and they played harder and wilder than anyone else! Some of their songs were really fast... the band's singer, Xerxes, started slicing his forehead open until he was bleeding, and he sang by screaming and growling really fucking loud into the microphone. Sometimes he would jump off the stage and try to hit people! It was really fucking awesome to see. I got to sing one of the band's songs on-stage also but I didn't know the words so I just yelled a bunch of gibberish. Towards the end, the band played a GG Allin cover... I forget exactly which song it was, but it was about molesting children or something. L;SDALKSGD/sasfdsfd anyways, it was a really great show and definitely one of the more interesting bands to play that night.
So, this is the End of Time's first (?) demo, I think. The band is from Dayton, Ohio and they formed in 2009. The current members of the band are Angelo Viera (guitar), Josh Coffman (bass), and Alex Jones (drums). Xerxes is not singing for the band anymore currently, so according to the band, the remaining members will fill in his place. Anyways, uh, it's a demo, and it has two songs on it. So let's hear THIS FUCKING MASTERPIECE NOW, SHALL WE???!!!!!!! SHALL WE????????!!!!!!!!!!!
(yeah.)
1. Baconator Uhh, so this song's about bacon... not, it's about a baconATOR. Maybe "bacon" is supposed to be a euphemism for the police or something. I don't know, I can't understand the lyrics. Alex sings on this one. It's a real fast song with a razorblade-cutting guitar riff and sometimes the drums are off-time but it's okay 'cuz it captures the aggression of this one! Really like the urgency in Alex's singing on this juan.
2. Blows and Hoes This one's slower. But the guitar riffs are great here and they sound really awesome with the hard-assed distortion used however the fuck they recorded this. Xerxes sings here... his screams are as corrosive as shit here... not that SHIT is corrosive, IT'S A FIGURE OF SPEECH, YOU MOTHER FUCKER!!!! (which is also a figure of speech, so let's not get stuck in a fucking vicious cycle here... GODDAMN IT!!!! Wait a second... GODDAM-- it's done.) The chorus riff is the best... Xerxes sounds like he's going to kill you or something... Alex is providing the backing chorus vox here. This song used to be an instrumental called "Exaggeration". Some parts of it are pretty fast, and other parts are slow.
So yeah, you get two songs and both of them are good, SO WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, MAN???? WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT??? I'M TALKING ABOUT THIS CD I JUST REVIEWED... IS THAT OKAY??!!!
...the answer is no. But who cares? Hopefully the End of Time will create more awesome music and they are playing their next show on June 11th at the Brewery... so go see them if you like the music. Their songs can be found here:
http://www.reverbnation.com/#!/theendoftimedayton
So there, there's my review for the day. BYE BYE, KIDS!!!! BYE!!! BYE!!!! BYE!!!!! BYE... bye... bye-- wait, where are you going? COME BACK! :'(
[ The End of Time live photos from 5/20/11 (the day they released this demo) ]
Year: 1982 Genre: Hardcore Punk Label: None Tracks: 11 Length: 9 Minutes My Rating: 6/8
DEEEEEEEEEEEEEP WOOUUUUUNNNNNNDDDD...!!!!!!!
Deep Wound was a hardcore band from Boston that existed from 1982 to '84... aside from being made up of two future members of Dinosaur Jr., the band was along with Siege, practically the fastest punk band ever at the time. The songs are short, usually ultra-fast, Charlie Nakijama sings fast, and J Mascis drums like a MOTHERFUCKER... all that and they were only in high school when the band was around... just like Siege. Deep Wound came first, though. Anyways, "American Style" is a the band's 1982 demo tape, which was later on released as a 7" vinyl bootleg. A few of the songs on it later appeared on the band's E.P. from 1983.
1. Pressures Really fast, great guitar riffs! It's about being driven to confusion by pressures and social anxiety in life. Awesome!!
2. Training Ground This one's a little slower. More Ramones-like. The vocals are really screechy due to the production.
3. Deep Wound It's like the THEME SONG (not a cover of Clown Alley, by the way), DUDE!!!! Really fast. This song later appeared on "Deep Wound". At the end there's a scream.
4. You're False Charlie's vocals sound awesome on this one. Crazy drumming, great guitar riffs, neato song, FUCK-HEADS.
5. Your Head is In Your Crotch I like this one a lot. The song is ultra-fucking-fast. Charlie sings ultra fast, and then there's that thumping, pounding YOURHEADISCROTCH chorus. Really awexxome song. I the verse is super awesome too. End of Side A.
6. Sister Once again, it's the ultra-fastblast attack!! It's about a guy's (or girl's) sister who goes off to parties and fucks a ton of older guys and gets all the attention... I'LL SHOVE IT THROUGH HER FACE ! Later appeared on the 7" EP.
7. Patriots Nice riff. Charlie sings really fast, the drums are fast, it's another really fast good song. FUCK YEAH & YAEY FOR DEEP WOUND!!
8. Never Let You In Great chorus riff. The chord progressions here remind me of early '80s Suicidal Tendencies... but twice as fast.
9. Adults This song makes fun of all of the "adults" in society who readily jump into the preconceived social roles they're "supposed" to fit into... if you're a girl you're supposed to marry a guy and be a homemaker and rely on a guy for everything and if you're a guy you're supposed to go to work every day and pay for everything... y'know, wear the same clothes and always cut your hair and suck your boss's cock and work in a boring job so you can have enough money to live in a nice house but still not enough to make your boring job not the main aspect of your life. Super angry and fast!!
10. Don't Need Another one that's also on the '83 EP. DON'T NEED... he says that a lot.
11. Video Prick The longest and fastest Deep Wound song... there's a solo at the beginning... the lead guitar bits are amazing, the verse riff rocks hard, and it's about a creepy child molester. This one's also on the E.P. that came out after this. I HATE YOU SO MUCH... definitely an awesome song.
The sound quality varies from song to song... I suspect that these were taken from various sessions... actually, the songs on here that later got on the studio E.P. pretty much sound the same except for not being mixed as crisply. I'm not sure exactly which mix sounds better... the fuzzy, blurry feel works for this type of music in my opinion... ultrafast music really doesn't sound good with high production values. Take note of that, you current-day grindcore bands! Anyways, yeah, Deep Wound was awesome and this record is another testament to that. YAEY FOR PUNK ROCK, KIDDIEZ. Man, I felt real depressed for the last week and now I feel better again. I wonder if it's Deep Wound's fault that I feel better or not. WHO CARES? Yep, that's my review today. Seeya tomorrow or whenever I write my next juan.
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Your Head is in Your Crotch 2. Video Prick 3. Never Let You In
Year: 2008 Genre: Hardcore Punk Label: Unknown Tracks: 17 Length: 32 Minutes My Rating: 6/8
Suicidal Tendencies formed in Venice, California in 1981. Their first album is one of the most famous hardcore records ever... before that, they were recording demos and being notable for connections with gang activity and violence at their shows. The original line-up of the band was Mike Muir, Mike Ball, Carlos Egert, and Mike Dunnigan. This line-up of the band recorded demos in 1982 to cassette tape... now about three years ago, these demos got released in bootleg form FOR ALL THE WORLD TO HEAR -- AHAHAHAHA, S.T., YOUR SECRETS ARE OUT NOW!!! BUAHAHAHA. Anyways, yeah, we (me) here at Legit Music Reviews do not endorse suicide and GO KILL YOURSELF whoops, I mean, "DON'T KILL YOURSELF"... PLEASE. JUST LOOK AT HOW MUCH IS GOING RIGHT FOR YOU RIGHT NOW... what's that? Nothing? Oh well, whatever, nevermind...
1. Suicide's an Alternative The grainy quality of the recording adds an extra CRUNCH to the sound of this song... kick-ass riff, AWESOME guitar solo, it's about being sick of the world and wanting to die because everything sucks so bad.
2. I Shot Reagan Slow intro, fast verse n' chorus... ever have one of those days when you just wanna shoot Ronald Reagan, Sadat, the Pope, and John Lennon? WELL NOW'S YOUR CHANCE, JUST LISTEN TO THIS SONG AND ALL OF THOSE PEOPLE WILL BE DEAD!!!!!! DEAD, I TELL YA!! This version's only about half as long as the album version.
3. Suicidal Failure A slow, depressing song. Excellent guitar playing, as can be heard. The song's about wanting to be dead and being sick of life, but too scared/lazy to kill yourself... actually, if you listen to the lyrics, Mike really DID try killin' himself all these times, but somehow he didn't die. HE IS IMMORTAL. Damn, this sore on my tongue really hurts. The ending part is essentially the same verses and choruses, but sped up to a more intense pace.
4. Memories of Tomorrow This song exemplifies the future-anxieties of all of us, and in this case kids back in the '80s who thought that Ronald Reagan was gonna kill everybody in the Cold War. Mike sees visions of what could happen in this situation and probably still could happen and decides he'd rather kill himself before the visions become reality.
5. I Saw Your Mommy (Version #1) This is a kind of long song... the guitar riff rules... the drumming is great too. It's about seeing a kid's mom's dead body washed-up and rotting on the street and thinking it's kind of funny. "I took a picture 'cause I thought it looked neat"... the song describes the condition of the dead mommy in great detail. The chorus sections are really fast. Great guitar solo towards the end... man, this band has really good guitar-playing. Hardcore should have more solos.
6. Fascist Pig This song's about the police state. Y'know, riot cops, tear gas, unkillable drones of the machines beating protestors to their deaths. I like the part about brains being "the fascists' favorite meal". Makes sense. Te-he!
7. Possessed The first section of this song has a more metal-type guitar riff... then the chorus riff kind of ascends out of that. The lyrics are about being possessed by a demon and being caused pain n' stuff. Once again, kick-ass guitar playing. HAVE I ALREADY LOST MY MIND? DO I STILL HAVE A SOUL?
8. I Saw Your Mommy (Mystic Records Version) This is the version of the song that was on the Mystic Records Sampler #1. The quality is great, and it sounds really good. Actually a studio recording.
9. You Are Forgiven (Version #1) An early song that didn't make it on the album. Starts off with a creepy/really good/depressing guitar solo. I think it's a nice intro for a song like this. The song is fast, the "YOU ARE FORGIVEN" chorus is really memorable and effective. The song is critical of the mentality of organized religion. The part at the end has a sad-sounding riff and it's slow.
10. War Inside Myself This is actually "Parents for Adoption", not what the title says. It has a real cool guitar riff and it's about Mike being pissed off at how much his lazy hypocritical parents suck, and begs the listener to "adopt" them so that he can be free. You can barely hear the vocals, they're kinda muffled. End of Side A.
11. Stupid Genocide This song is extremely similar-sounding to "Suicide's an Alternative"... the lyrics are different, though. The quality of this recording is ultra-grainy. Good song, still.
12. Kill (Version #1) This one also has pretty poor quality. I really like this song... there's a slower version on this one documentary film that sounds even cooler, however... the song's about how obsessed society is with murdering.
13. Pseudo Mom I can't even hear the lyrics for this one, they're totally muffled. The song is fast, pissed. He was probably pissed off at his mom or something.
14. Two-Sided Politics This is actually not "Two-Sided Politics", it's a completely different song. However, it does sound pretty damn awesome, whatever it's really called. The guitar riff rocks, there's a sweet solo, the rhythms and beats just rock!
15. You Are Forgiven (Version #2) This isn't actually You Are Forgiven, once again they got the song title wrong! It's fast. The chorus guitar riff is pretty cool. Frantic drumming! You can't even hear Mike's voice.
16. Burn the Constitution THIS is "You Are Forgiven". THIS IS IT, GOD DAMN IT!! The guitar intro is really beautiful... it's like depression and self-loathing embodied in a guitar melody. It's really good. After this, the song explodes into the thrashing verse and chorus parts. The chorus is reassuring and sarcastic all at once. BUT YOU'RE FORGIVEN. I like this version better. Mainly because I like the intro for this one better.
17. Kill (Version #2) This version sounds creepy as fuck. You can't hear any vocals. The guitar riff is bordering on scary, especially with how the quality sounds and stuff. The beat is kinda fast. As the final track, it's like that final moment looming right after a hypothetical suicide with the dead body bleeding out as it's already dead.
So, there's early Suicidal Tendencies for ya! I think this LP is interesting for the unreleased tracks -- the songs that didn't get put on their album, even though I find it annoying that most of the time the titles are wrong. But yeah, these are all real cool songs, and it rocks! The second half could practically be considered an instrumental side since you can't even hear Mike's voice. Maybe he was just off having sex with every species of animal in the Universe while they were recording those songs. Anyways, that's all I've got to say for now. Lemme know if I missed anything.
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Two-Sided Politics 2. Burn the Constitution 3. Suicide's an Alternative
EVEN OLDER VERSIONS OF "KILL" AND "PARENTS FOR ADOPTION"
Year: 1992 Genre: Hardcore Punk Label: Eye 95 Records Tracks: 7 Length: 7 Minutes My Rating: 6/8
Void was an amazing hardcore band from Maryland that existed from 1980 to 1983. The band's sound was, well, it was pretty fucking chaotic... their half of the Faith/Void split LP as evidence... and their live shows. Well, before Void made any records, the band recorded a demo tape in late '81, which caught the attention of Dischord Records. The Condensed Flesh 7" EP is basically that demo tape in the form of an E.P. So let's listen to the sounds of this band. NOW.
1. Organized Sports/Annoyed The first noticable thing about these songs is that the vocals are a jillion percent more intelligible. Jon Weiffenbach sounds less like the Tazmanian Devil's bastard offspring and more like a human. No weird-assed group vocals in the chorus either. Both versions rock. Then there's "Annoyed"... that song is really short and it's about BEING ANNOYED ABOUT YOUR MOM'S FOOD SHE COOKS AND SHIT!!! The beat is sloppy, Void-style!
2. Controller/Revolt HA HA HA HA HA HA... things are startin' to get a little wilder, I'm noticing... you can hear that Darby Crash/Bobby Pyn-like growl in place, incubated LIKE A LITTLE BABY WABY. Next song is "Revolt"... FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!! Fast, intense, sloppy, got psycho lyrics!! YAEY FOR +VOID+
3. Condensed Flesh Another song that later appeared on the split album... the riff is in a different key, and I like it! This song is about Nazis taking burned flesh of their victims and putting it in cans... the chorus bubbles up like a bomb waiting to burst! End of Side A.
4. Black, Jewish, and Poor This song's about a guy who's about as fucked in the ass by society as you can get... there's a little more of the lead guitar/cool metal-esque stuff going on here. BUTTHOLE SURFERS!! "It could be worse, I could be gay"... a later version of the song appears on the "20 Years of Dischord" CD.
5. War Hero This song's about a crazyman who WANTS TO DIE IN A WAR!! Just like them crazy rednecks all over the U.S.A. Unlike his friends, this guy ain't no wussy afraid of bein' drafted, he wants to kill himself and burn his body to serve his country! YAEY YAEY FOR U.S.A. Later appears on split LP from '82.
6. Get Out of My Way This song's a little slower... I like how it starts off fast and then the tempo shifts to being slower... the kind of reasons I love this band. Awesome singing. The riff in the chorus part has a real grind and slice to it!
7. Go South The longest song. Not in the world, just on this record. Cool riff, nice fast, fucked drum beat! GO SOUTH GO SOUTH GO SOUTH -- total awesomeness!! TOTAL +VOID+?!? WHAT BERT AND ERT+ Y76P TIME IS UP SO GET THE FUCK OUT OF HEAR... HERE? The ending part is slow.
The E.P. doesn't quite reach the heights of insanity that the band would reach by the time they recorded the split album (see "Think", "Time to Die", "Change Places", "Explode")... several of the songs here were recreated for that record, but done even better that time. Still, even on its own it's unique compared to other hardcore acts. Just don't expect it to be as good as what came after it. Anyways, that's all I've got to say for now, so long...
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Black, Jewish, and Poor 2. Organized Sports 3. Get Out of My Way
Year: 2011 Genre: Hardcore Punk Label: Cowabunga Records Tracks: 6 Length: 5 Minutes My Rating: 6/8
The School Jerks are one of the coolest, most legit bands outta Toronto hardcore. They've got that razor-blade guitar attack and drunk, Darby Crash-like vocals that sound about as punk rock as you can get... this is the brand new E.P. from the band, featuring six new songs, and it's cooler than ever. Anyways, yeah, you know what to expect... the only main thing I'd point out is that their songs are actually getting shorter! Only one of the songs on the record is over a minute long.
1. Screamer Nice riff... Luke's (the singer) vocals actually sound kinda clean in the very beginning. Fast, furious, sweet-o!
2. Control I like the guitar riff for this one a lot... the beat is a little slower, but awesome. This one's really short.
3. Ready to Die This one reminds me of early Black Flag... I dunno if it's more in the guitar riff or the drum beat. Anyways, it's pretty awesome. I like the chords played in the part of the song starting at around 38 seconds. End of Side A.
4. Ugly Minds, Ugly Faces YOUUU'VE GOT AN UGLLLYYYY MINNND, ANNND AN UGLLLYYY FACCEEE... by the way, those aren't the lyrics to the song. The verse part is really thrashy and fast. The chorus is half the speed, but just as violent! This band's got awesome drumming. At the very end, the beat continues to slow down until it's over.
5. Moral Addiction I'M ADDICTED TO NOT DOING DRUGS AND NOT KILLING PEOPLE AND STUFF. This one's also pretty fast. The guitar riff is nice and reminds me of early Black Flag or Off! (get their album if you haven't already)
6. 4-F This song's a minute and a half long, making it the "long" song of the EP. Once again (hate to keep bringing them into this), there's a Black Flag-type of dynamic going on here, mainly in the rhythm. Great guitar riffs, neat song. That's all there is.
So, I definitely say that this EP rocks, just as hard as the last two records the band has put out! They keep putting out great guitar riffs, hard songs, great fucked-up singing, it's all really good... simple but sturdy. If you haven't listened to this band yet and you consider yerself a "punk", then I think you're going to love this, because THE SCHOOL JERKS HAVE JUST GOT THE GOOD SONGS, Y'KNOWWHATI'MSAYINGTODAYING? (also, the back of the EP cover sheet has the lyrics to "Ugly Minds, Ugly Faces" on it)
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Control 2. Ready to Die 3. 4-F
Year: 1983 Genre: Hardcore Punk Label: Boner Records Tracks: 8 Length: 16 Minutes My Rating: 6/8
Landshark was the first album by the Berkley, California band known as FANG. Actually, it's kind of funny 'cuz there's this other band from Germany or something that existed around the same time also called "Fang" and they had this really catchy song called "I Don't Go" and I liked it a lot, but it doesn't sound anything like the other Fang, so it really confangused me for-a-while until I found out they were different bands. And shit. Anyways, yeah, this album is a lot different sounding from the first Fang 7" -- faster songs, harder songs, wilder lyrics. It tells tales about homelessness, skinheads, death, fast cars, etc. Y'know, a day in the life for a California street punk. Anyways, even then, this is more interesting than your typical hardcore album because Fang fought the trend by having a bunch of real slow songs. Anyways, time for the TRU REV-U...
1. The Money Will Roll Right In This is a song is about a guy who goes to Hollywood in hopes of becoming rich and famous. It's kinda slow, and we all like it that way. This song is the most famous Fang song because Nirvana played a cover of it during one of their most notable shows. The riff rocks. The singer (Slammy) sings about how he would have shared some of his fame n' fortune with his friends if they really gave a shit about him, and now they "must feel pretty stu-pid". Real fuzzed-out guitar sound.
2. Land Shark I really fucking love this song! It's real fast, it's got awesome guitar riffs, good lyrics, it's a real fun song! It's about driving a fast, indestructible car that runs on a set of its own rules. I really fucking love the way this song sounds... just pure energy n' action in musical form!
3. Law & Order This song is slow. The guitar riff in the verse is pretty tough, while the chorus riff is more dischordant and dreary. There's little moments of brief chaotic noise-spurts punctuating the chord progressions. It's about how the institutions and laws of the world have created a sterile, boring, cruel existence for all people to live in... "MY MOTHER WAS A JUNKIE, MY FATHER WAS A FAGGOT"... Slammietown rants about how he's been sent to various institutions to fix his problems but they couldn't do shit to help him.
4. Diary of a Mad Werrwöulf The riffs seethe and spit with anger. Real thick and hard... and I ain't talking about no pennis! The lyrics are not far from something that the Misfits would write -- it's about a werewolf who goes out at night on full moons and seizes his feasts of flesh from unwitting victims, regardless of the petty useless rules of society. The song fades out at the end... of Side A.
5. Destroy the Handicapped Once again, great riff-age!! A little more upbeat than the two other songs we've just heard... still totally skull-splitting, however. The lyrics to this one are narcissistic to the core, it's all about how handicapped people are inconvenient to the singer's life and how they have poor hygiene and make the government pay for them to live and whatnot. Y'know, stuff that makes hippies and liberals cry by the thousands.
6. Drunk & Crazy Another real fast one. Who doesn't love gettin' drunk n' crazy ever now and then? The singing really rolls with the pummeling beat (of the drums, not of the peoples' faces) and the swerving guitar riff that makes you just WANNA GO WILD!!!!
7. An Invitation I think this song's about either a guy raping a girl in an alley or a guy wanting to have a romantic suicide with a woman. Not sure. Goddamn it, I never get no fucking invitations. Unless you're people I've known since I was five years old, of course. Not meant offensively or anything. Slammy just sounds kinda tortured, here. I know that sounds real pretentious but the way he groans and shit suggests it.
8. Skinheads Smoke Dope Starts off with a real FACEPUNCH type of beat and then it gets faster and the guitar riff here JUST KILLS, MAN! It's a pro-skinhead anthem about why skinheads are so great and how they smoke dope (and that ain't no fucking joke) and all of that other stuff. An ultra-kool song in my opinion. Seriously, you've gotta hear this one, man! Ends with a nice scream.
Well, that's LANDSHARK by FANG. Nice lil' record, now wasn't it? The band is kind of notable for reasons besides its actual music -- the thing with Nirvana that I mentioned earlier in the review, and plus, Slammy killed his own girlfriend (maybe she should've listened to his song "Invitation" before getting to close to him, eh?) -- the weird thing is that he only did about 6 years for it, even after running from the cops for a few days! But yeah, after that Fang re-formed and they're still around and shit. To be honest, this and the first 7" is all I've heard from them so far -- that's right, Fang are still pretty new to me. So come on, my fellow fuckfreak brethren, let us rejoice in the side-piercing sounds of FANG!!! YAEY.
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Skinheads Smoke Dope 2. Land Shark 3. An Invitation
Year: 2008 Genre: Hardcore Punk Label: Unknown Tracks: 8 Length: 17 Minutes My Rating: 6/8
Once in awhile you come across a band that should really really scare your trendy brother and sister. I think U.T.I. is a good example of this. I don't know if they're still around, their MySpace page was created in 2007 and last accessed in '09, so it's likely that this band has broken up, but at least they left behind something spectacular to be remembered by. It's an 8-song EP... almost long enough to be an album I guess, but we'll just kall it an EP today. Did I tell you that yesterday it was my birthday? Isn't that GREAT? Anyways, the band consists of Magnus (guitar), Conrad (drums), Jeff (bass guitar), and Leah, the fucking screamin'-like-hell vocalist. Not since Babes in Toyland have you heard a girl in punk rock this menacing! Anyways, musically it's a bit more interesting than standard hardcore. That's a plus in my book. Time to talk about the songs, shall we?
1. Stavrogin Starts off with a cool beat and a lead guitar melody, and then the rhythm kicks in and the beat goes all BUM-BOMP-BUMBUM-BOMP on us. Leah's singing sounds like a screamin' demon. The riff is angry and cool as fuck, as is the drumm-beat! Great awesome legit song!!
2. Mr. McGloob There's an intro riff, and then the verse riff is about as high-energy as you can get! More crazy psycho (not quite cyco) singing! In a sense it vaguely reminds me of the Ramones, but much angrier. I guess it's not really that much like the Ramones. Like, the Ramones if they had a bunch of broken glass-encrusted cheese graters lodged in their anuses. The drumming is real cool sounding. Who is this Mr. McGloob guy, anyways? He sounds kinda, y'know... Glooby? What's a gloob, anyways? So many unanswered questions in life... who will ever know?
3. Limp Generation Even faster than the previous two songs. "YOU CAN'T GET IT UP"... that's pretty damn funny. Maybe it's some sort of commentary of how "limp"/apathetic/bored/fucked our generation is. Just like a guy who can't get it up. I dunno.
4. Cunt Who doesn't just love the word "CUNT"? I do. CUNT is a cool word. "YOU DON'T HAVE A CUNT!!". Actually, it'd be nice if these songs came with lyrics. Or maybe it'll just be a Melvins type deal where I find out that the lyrics don't really even mean anything but sound hilarious anyways. FUCK YEEEEOOOOWWWW!!! The mood of the song is a little oppressive/dreary, but in a hard, punch-you-in-the-face way.
5. Schadenfreude A slow song. The riffs are pretty sweeto. The singing is really screechy (not in the metal way) and the chorus riff is a little sadder. It's only about two chords, but it's just kind of effective in that way.
6. Nope. Really fast song! The verses are ultra-fast, and then the choruses are kind of slow. Cool lead guitar solo in the middle of the song!
7. Bull Tits First song I heard by the band (just last night!). Starts off with a cool riff, which changes to another riff in the verse section of the song. Do bulls even have tits? Like, I know that COWS do 'cuz they've got milk and the cow's tits are called UDDERS, but do bulls even have tits? I always thought they had BULLCOCK. NEVER MIND THE BULLCOCKS, IT'S THE SEX PISTOLS. TE-HE-HE! Anyways, this song... angry, fast, freaky, I like it much! If those pissed-off riff-offs and pounding, punching drums don't get your motor movin', I dunno what will. At the end, there's a Black Flag-ish part with a different beat with Leah ranting and yelling stuff and it sounds cool.
8. A. Fish Albert Fish? This song starts off really friggin' fast. REALLY fast, I mean. After the first part of the song, it gets real slow. I guess the drummer would feel like doing anything but that after drumming so goddamn fast. Then the next part of the song is ultra-speedy, once again! Then another slow chorus with what could be considered "death metal" vocals. The bridge section is also really fast. Pretty much, this song alternates between being both the fastest and slowest song on the record. Slows down a little bit after that part, and then even more. The band plays the chorus section one more time and then it's over.
See, little Jimmy? U.T.I. wasn't really that bad. It's ALLL OVERRR NOW... no more seeing the SCARY DOCTOR/BAND PLAY/OPERATE ON YOU ANYMORE. UNLESS, OF COURSE, YOU LIKED IT... YOU KINKY SEX FREAK!!!!!! OUT OF MY HOUSE!!!! I'LL CHOP OFF YER WILLY, GODDAMN IT!
Anyways, that's U.T.I. Yes, as the johnnycumslately poser I am I found out about this band LAST NIGHT AFTER THEY'VE ALREADY BEEN BROKEN UP FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS. I guess I wasn't "there" so I shouldn't be listening to this band's music. I don't deserve it. I'm going to delete all of my U.T.I. music and if I want to listen to them I'm going to just read this review and imagine what the songs COULD sound like by reading my description of them. Shit, now EVERYONE'S going to like this band and now it's not going to be cool to like them. See, I liked them before it was cool to like them before it was cool to like them before it was cool to like them before it was cool to like something before it was cool to like it before it was cool to like YOUR MOTHER. Shit, I really wish there was more I could say about this band. I don't know if this record even has cover art. Just a lil' MySpace page and some dude posted up the songs to download on his blog. I don't think this record is even in print anymore so don't feel bad. DON'T FEEL BAD, JIMMY. JIMMY... JIMMMYYY.... to be honest, I probably wouldn't like this band as much if it had a different singer. Y'see, it's the vocalist that does it for me. She makes the band sound so much cooler. Anuhwaez (Anheuser?), if you like Babes in Toyland you might like this group 'cuz they remind me slightly of that band. Like, not as good as Babes in Toyland, but still the most similar thing I can think of. Faster than that band, though. Like, I Kat Bjelland is a waitress now or something. She should re-form her old band. That would be kool. Or maybe you don't want to listen to this inferior rip-off. You only listen to music that's 100% original and not explicitly derivative of anyone else's. Well, guess what, buckwheat? YOUR FAVORITE BAND FUCKING RIPPED OFF PEOPLE TOO, they were just big enough of douchebags to find a way to hide it and act like it was totally their idea. Myself included. Anyways, yeah, this is a good band and a good record so you should check it out. Here's their MySpace page:
http://www.myspace.com/urinarytract
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Mr. McGloob 2. Schadenfreude 3. Stavrogin
Year: 1985 Genre: Hardcore Punk Label: Unknown Tracks: 9 Length: 24 Minutes My Rating: 6/8
Napalm Death is notable for being one of the definitive grindcore bands and they are well-respected as a death metal band as well. However, when they first started out in 1981, they were a punk rock group whose members were only 13 years old! Actually, none of the original members were in the band after the recording of their first "real" album called "Scum" (only half of it), but alas, here these fuckheads are, ready to rock and roll. They weren't playing grindcore yet, but they were still pretty aggressive. The style here is U.K. type hardcore with a slight metal influence (typical of U.K. hardcore) and also a big "post-punk" influence. The members of the band at this point were Justin Broadrick (guitar), Nik Napalm (bass/vocals), and Mick Harris (drums).
1. What Man Can Do The intro is kind of ominous sounding. Slow, with just a wispy, spooky guitar sound and a thumping bass drum. Then a more aggressive beat kicks off (snares n' all). The guitar sounds really cool. Then the bass riff changes. The angry-as-fuck vocals also set the attitude for this song. I like how two people sing, not just one. The lyrics are about how humans seem to do nothing but destroy and kill everything they get their hands on. The ending section has a real scary type of beat.
2. Instinct of Survival Definitely the best song on this tape. The intro is kinda cool, but one of the best parts is that second riff that plays. It sounds SO awesome. I swear that directly influenced the Melvins when they wrote the intro part for their song "#2 Pencil". The lyrics are fucking awesome, they're sung fucking awesome, it's just such an awesome song, the riffs all fucking rock! It's so angry and energtic! The lyrics are about corporations which abuse the people of 3rd-world nations and even people from their own countries and suck away resources and money and people like vampires latching onto the world with their undetachable fangs. The "multinational corporations" part at the end also FUCKING ROCKS. This song later appeared on the "Scum" LP.
3. Abbatoir Really wispy intro. The guitar sounds wispy, in the very beginning you're just hearing these feedback and humming noises floating around the room like LITTLE GHOSTIES. Then a solid riff and beat gets set off. Totally different feel from the previous song. I love the drum beat. After this part, the guitar riff changes to something a little angrier. The song's about about how much life has been has been wasted by social conformity and people who try to succeed and be "normal" in the system, while it's pretty much a lie and people encourage others to follow this path and seldom question it.
4. Control A fast song. The riff is cool, the singing sounds grate (like what you do to cheese), and the lyrics are about how behind every useless social system we follow, there's a fascist behind the curtain. I like this song too.
5. Sacrificed Another really awesome song. Starts off with a feedback sound loud and long enough to deafen one for life. This song's even faster than the song before it. The chorus riff is so awesome, especially how they're just singing "SACRIFICED!!" in unison alongside the fast drum beat. Total aggression... by the way, doesn't "Total Aggression" sound like it would be a name for a hardcore band? After the chorus, the song stops for a few moments with just a bunch of guitar noise being made, and then the chorus is played one more time and then the song's over. I think it's about animal testing for cosmetics (this band loves bunny rabbits and hates make-up and hair products) and how "spiky hair makes rabbits cry" -- actually, yeah, you'll see pictures of bunnies with green crap coming out of their eyes. The "real beauty is denied" part stands out to me as well because we live in a society where artificial beauty is worshiped and all of the things that actually are beautiful about humans are ignored. But yeah, this iz another one of my favorites. Doesn't get old! This song also later appears on "Scum" in a 100x faster form.
6. So Sad I like the beat. The guitar riff has kind of a sad-feeling to it. I can't find the lyrics to this song. The drumming is extremely good on this tune.
7. Caught in a Dream The beat in the beginning is awesome. The riff, also. Then the song gets a little faster. The song's about how people are attracted to entertainment and constantly use fantasy and television and other things of that type to ignore reality. Hell, I'm using a computer right now, I guess I'm kind of doing the same time. I mean, fuck, this NAPALM DEATH music is pretty entertaining to me, I guess that makes me Satan! At least I recognize that I deserve to die unlike most people. Hah, look at me, I'm trying to justify my fucking shortcomings by saying something shocking, isn't that so cute? The chorus sections are really fast n' thrashy. Later appeared on "Scum".
8. Private Death Really fast! The lyrics are about people who are dying a "private death" by being slaves to the system and try to escape "but they're nailed to a cross" -- I really liked that lyric. The mid-section is only half as fast. THEN IT GETS ALL FAST AGAIN AND SHIT. EVERYONE'S GONNA DIE, KIDDIEZ!!
9. Cheswick Green This one's taken from a live recording. The sound quality is really poor on this tune. Not THAT poor, but you can't make out riffs or lyrics or anything. It's just kind of a normal punk song from what I'm hearing. It has a guitar solo in the middle, also. Then a bunch of chaps in the audience clap for the band. YAEY!!!!
Contrary to what I originally believed, this was NOT the band's first demo tape -- they had been making demos since 1982. This was their third demo or so. They made another demo after this in '86 and then they released Scum after that. What surprised me even more is that the members of the band were even younger than me when they recorded this -- they're really fucking talented, that's for sure. Even if you don't like grindcore or death metal (I'm not a big death metal guy), this record doesn't sound like those and it's just some really good, creative, angry punk rock! So yeah, check out this record because I really like it.
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Instinct of Survival 2. Sacrificed 3. Control
Year: 1986 Genre: Hardcore Punk Label: Huh-Bag Records Tracks: 4 Length: 4 Minutes My Rating: 6/8
The Lemonheads formed in 1986 in Boston, Massachussetts, U.S.A. The band's original line-up consisted of Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz. The three shifted duties on instruments on the four songs on this record, and Evan sings most of the songs here, but Ben sings on one too. The band is more famous for their '90s stuff like "It's a Shame About Ray", but their earlier records have a sound that's melodic like pop punk but also dirty and aggressive like hardcore. This is the first Lemonheads record that was made, and it's really short. They released it themselves.
1. Glad I Don't Know I like this song a lot. Evan's voice is technically good but still kind of rough-sounding. The guitar riff is awesome... nice guitar playing. It's about being glad about not knowing something. I actually I don't know what it's about. I should read the lyrics. It's really upbeat and happy-sounding. This song was later re-recorded for the band's album "Lick".
2. I Like To This one's fast. Some parts are fast, some parts are really fast, and some parts are slow. The chorus part has a really fast beat and it sounds awesome! Then there's a short guitar solo in the middle. Great riff. Really cool song! End of Side A.
3. I Am a Rabbit This is a cover of a song by the New Zealand punk band, Proud Scum. It's about not wanting to get committed to a girl and just fuck her and run... BECAUSE YOU'RE A RABBIT. Contains allusions to the carrot as a potential pennis-like object. Later re-recorded for "Lick".
4. So I Fucked Up This is the exact same version of the song that appears on "Hate Your Friends". Ben sings the first verse of the song, Evan sings the second verse, and then they both sing the last part. It's about having FUCKED UP and being RAELLY SORRY. GOODBYE!
All of the songs except for "I Like To" appear on the band's albums after this, which sucks because I Like [listening To] that song a lot! But it's a pretty good record. It's fast and slammable, but really happy-sounding. The EP was re-released in 1993, but as you might guess, that edition's out of print also. So, that's all I've got to say for now. A good EP to litsten 2.
THE RETURN OF MARTHA SPLATTERHEAD 
