Gus Chamber.

Rupture. The band that continues to divide fans of fast obnoxious hardcore worldwide. For a great overview of their career read the back issues of Seven Inches to Freedom that give an interesting and informative overview of their varied career highs (and many many lows). This is one of a glut of releases (of varying quality) that have seen the light recently.

This is the limited to 60 (30 black, 30 clear) 'Shat From the Tomb" 5" Acetate cut by Rest In Punk records in 2011.  I really dig the design on this release. The black on the thick clear plastic looks really great. The same label also put out the Disease Process tape (R.I.P. records having a member involved with that band) using the same look and it looked just as good on their tape. Both of the songs on this release are covers given the Rupture treatment. Side A being "What the Fuck" originally by Black Easter and side B "Job" by The Nub. Listening to the originals you can see how Rupture would have taken influence from these bands as both tracks are obnoxious, rude and straight forward no bullshit punk. Not their finest material (IMHO the'Lust and Hate' or 'Corrupture' LPs) but definitely worth tracking down.

Merchandise Merchandise

Scored this in a trade about 8 months ago, but really wanted to post about it as this band rose quickly to being one of my favourite bands. Merchandise - Strange Songs in the Dark. Put out as a dual release between Katorga Works & Drugged Conscience in 2010.

Heard about them through excellent and worthy blog I Could Die Tomorrow around the time of the release of the Schoolyard Remix 7" (2010) and that song hooked me immediately. One of the few songs in which I prefer the remix to the original. Beautiful pop songs buried beneath layers of noise, at times reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine in approach as much as sound. The combination of vacant yet tuneful buried vocals and shimmering noisy guitars has echoes of the better side of the 80s underground. Go and do yourself a favour and buy this record (bigcartel currently down). You can also download almost their entire discography thanks to their label/blog gods ICDT linked earlier.

Death Before Dishonour. Dead by Dawn.

With an order from Coffin Cut Records recently they threw in this:

A test press of their upcoming Chickenshit - Death in Battle 7". Forming in 93 and being over and done by 98 Chickenshit were just a wee bit before my time (but not a lot before) but being a bit of a Perth hardcore historian I was planning on picking this up. The 7" is half unreleased tracks (Side A) and half of a live set (Side B) previously available (good luck finding a copy!) on the "Live at the Castle" cassette released by Pagan Waste Tapes in '95.

They describe themselves as being "influenced by the sounds of anarchy and violence, Japanese Blastcore, old UK Crust & Scandinavian Hardcore, cold beer and a good time" which I think sums their sound up pretty nicely. Thrashy, chaotic and fast crusty hardcore. I might spend some effort tracking down their other releases (I already own the split with UG Man) as i really dig what I have heard.

I got a kick out of the run off groove pictured below which reads "CCHC 1% A Toohey Red".

Petrol Sniffer

Was very happy to grab this from The Bay recently. The Self Titled 7" by Sydney rippers Taipan. Notoriously violent live, this 7" attempts to capture that raw intensity. I prefer the material on this to the much better recorded and produced "Ten Day Dawn" 7" of last year.

Many people make a big deal about the supposed "black metal" influence in their sound, no doubt encouraged by stunts such as the Darkthrone aping cover art of their demo. Personally though I wouldn't say I hear 'Black' per se but I definitely hear Death. Especially on the raging 'Khanate' with it's melodic trem picked riff, very reminiscent of Dismember's 'Override the Overture'.

Instead of centre labels both sides have an amusing hand scrawled note:

 

"This ain't it sucker"

"Gross, not even in a fun way"

Here is some footage of Taipan getting themselves into a lot of hot water. Total chaos.

Enter the realm of chaos, your nightmare has just begun.

One of the bands that helped introduce me to grindcore (and extreme metal in general) are England's mighty Bolt Thrower. I really lucked out and picked up first presses of both Warmaster (1991) and the gatefold edition of Realm of Chaos (1989). Both records are absolute masterpieces of their style and arguably their best material.

Guitarist Gavin Ward's dense crushing tone and vocalist Karl Willetts' guttural vocals form the backbone of the classic Bolt Thrower sound, perfected on these two records. Hitting a great mix between the fast blasting material and a slower death metal influenced riffing style are what make the band so unique. Riffs like the epic and catchy "Eternal War" and the grinding mid paced "World Eater" are hardly bettered in the world of extreme metal.

'Realm of Chaos' had the original lyrics booklet featuring the lyrics aside artwork taken from the world of Warhammer 40k, obviously a massive inspiration on the band. For closeups on select pages see below. The dark unforgiving world depicted really adds to the whole experience of the band and the original artwork is infinitely better then the recent CD release. For an interesting read as to why they had to change the artwork and how the band feels about this (VERY displeased) read the Ask Earache blog here.

Gene Mutation

So this is the Kromosom demo released by singer Yeap's label Hardcore Victim in 2010.

I don't think I really need to talk about this too much as most of the people who read this blog would already be into this band. I will just say I like this band more then I liked Pisschrist.

For bragging rights I also have a copy of the "Official Bootleg" version released by Total Fucker for the US tour. It basically looks the same except the cover is orange. So i figured it wasn't worth a photo, plus i am feeling slack tonight. Mine is hand numbered 14/50 for those who want to geek out with me.

Distort Finlandia

Caught these cats live a while back with The Zingers and they absolutely blew me away. Total Finnish hardcore worship of the highest order. Soon as i got home I sourced a copy of their demo from Magick Crowbar. Since then i have seen copies floating around at Missing Link and distros here and there. I can't recommend seeing them live and picking this up enough.

Unique aggressive screaming/yelled vocals and wailing guitar, self described as a mix between Discharge, Disclose & Disorder this should appeal to fans of Kromosom. No big surprise seeing as they have an ex-member in their ranks (Matt for those curious).

 

You can read a short but interesting excerpt of an upcoming interview with them from 'Stitches in my Head' zine here. Amusingly the first time i stumbled across that zine was the day after i received 8 stitches to my head after an Extortion show that they happened to be reviewing. This tape has got me wired to hear the Flexi when it comes out. Brisbane fans if you dig you can catch them on tour June 15th (Animal House) and June 16th (Squatters Arms) with all round great dudes Vaginors.